Roll up J-pole antennas for on-the-go

[W5TWX]

This is a flexible antenna that is easy to build, inexpensive and very handy to have in your emergency communications kit.

This antenna can be rolled up for easy portable use and will outperform a rubber ducky.

These antenna plans includes design dimensions for 2 meters, 220MHz, 440MHz and 810MHz.

http://www.fiu.edu/orgs/w4ehw/j-pole.html

 

[kb2vxa]

You cannot roll up a J-pole, the antennas in question are Slim Jims, a slightly different design with similar performance. Those are the bands you can transmit on however they receive well on the associated "scanner" bands. Good stuff, thanks for posting.

 

[W5TWX]

I didn't write the artical. I only copied it to share with others that might be interested in do a home brew project. Their cheap, fun to build, and they work well too. Mine has been working fine for about 10 years now.

 

[Grog]

You cannot roll up a J-pole, the antennas in question are Slim Jims

For those not familiar,, those are not to be confused with this...

P.S. They don't open cars that well either

 

[Firetxmi]

Very cool! Anyone have a pic of this setup (other than the drawn one for the instructions)?

 

[W5TWX]

I don't have any pics of mine but they're very simple to build. Just cut and solder. You can use them anywhere you go.

 

[Firetxmi]

I don't have any pics of mine but they're very simple to build. Just cut and solder. You can use them anywhere you go.

How well would the 220mhz one work on the milair band?

 

[N4JNW]

I have an MFJ catalog that has them for sale for like 20 bucks.. Seems a bit overpriced for a peice of coax and a BNC plug...

I made something similar once upon a time, per a reply made to a thread by KB2VXA here on RR. He suggested I make an indoor type antenna out of a peice of coax by stripping the shield off and doubling it back, leaving 16" exposed, or however long I needed for what bands I wanted to transmit/monitor.

I made this, coupled it to my Yaesu VX-170, and was full quiet into a repeater about 25 miles away. I was highly impressed.

Since then I've made two more and gave them to ham buddies for them to try out!