Going Seaside Portable

I've tried a number of antennas, some more practical than others, when going seaside portable.

The most convenient by a long shot is the I-AM end-loaded vertical dipole covering 20-6m.  It's just 6m high when deployed.

The proof-of-concept model was a fibreglass pole, timber and wire affair.  It worked very well indeed, working global DX with ease.

So, I've now gathered the parts for a more robust model, made of aluminium tube.

I've got two pieces, each 2.5m long, of 1.25" tube, separated by a timber insulator - a handle off a new floorbrush!  You can use PVC, fibreglass rod and so on, but it's nice to use commonly-available materials like wood.

At the end of each 2.5m vertical tube is a 1/4", 2.5m long tube that is the end load.  It's attached with aluminium 'Stauff' clamps fixed to a 2mm aluminium backing plate.  The plate is held in place with stainless steel 'U' bolts, tightened with wing nuts for ease of operation.

And that's it!  Just connect 300 Ohm twin to the vertical sections, and away you go!   The commercial version of this antenna costs about £240.  This homebrew version, which has lower losses owing to the twin, as opposed to coax feed, comes in at about £60.  Not bad!  Images coming soon...