DIY: UHF CB 9db gain collinear antenna

[Blake]

I'll let this first lot of pictures do the talking.
Long story short, my current base station antenna for my UHF CB at home, is crap.
Like really really bad.

I needed something that would do it better, hence I got researching, designing, planning, sourcing, making.

Before housing, connecting, elevated ground system and pigtail, it comes to 170cm ish.
Pretty happy with it so far, though i'm sure some of you experts will point out some obvious flaw.


Radiators (tubes) and conductors (wire) cut to size:


Custom made spacers:


Stripped back to the right length:


All shined up, ready for soldering:


Again, all shiny:


Soldering (don't pick on it ), which was very hard with the copper pipe:


Heatshrink, then tape, then heatshrink, then tape (overkill much):


170cm before housing, elevated ground etc.:


All done (well, the radiators and conductors):





It's still a work in progress, but progress has ground to a halt.
Unfortunately, life has got in the road.

[Blake]

Ooooh, an update

Got off my lazy bum today, bought some stuff, and got out the shed.
I'll let the photos do the talking again, but with some short descriptions.
Let's go:

First up, got in the roof, organising some cables a bit more.
Then, got up on the roof, took down the 165mhz magnetic loop, made a custom mount, and mounted it out on the boom.
Reason being, the loop is much lighter than the collinear will be.
Here's how it looks now (sans collinear):



Bought some 25mm PVC and some adaptors,
It turns out that now days, 25mm pipe, isn't actually 25mm???
IDK?

Since the pipe was now far to large, I made up some shims to keep everything centred and stop movement:


Then came soldering some elevated ground plane rods:




Made a custom reinforced mount that will slot into the mast, and adapt everything


Heatshrunk and taped the pull cord:


Marked lots of special measurements:


And made the scary cut:


Drilled a special ramped hole for the coax:


Fits perfectly:


And prep for soldering the feedline:



It's slowly coming together.
With another concerted day I should be able to finish it.
There's soldering, assembly, finishing/waterproofing, then hoisting it up onto the roof, and mounting the thing.

[Yipyip46]

Good morning Blake, a word of warning, the tape you have used contains metal and can effect the device it is wrapped around. I would suggest you invest in good quality insulation tape, not the stuff from Kmart or Supercheap. Also some heatshrink tubing can contain carbon. I recovered a marine antenna one day and wondered why it stopped working. I found out from the electronic wholesaler about the heatshrink. Used a different brand and everything was fine. I hope this helps avoid problems. Regards Yipyip.

[Blake]

Cheers for that yipyip, very valuable information.

Most of the tape you see in the photos isn't actually over/near the radiating elements, most is on the mast adaptor.
(Well, it kinda is, but only sort of )
I'm using proper nitto electrical insulation tape for the critical stuff.
Also, the heatshrink used was over the crossover joints, it barely covers the elements.
I'm not to concerned about it all, but thanks all the same.

Anyway, it's too late anyway, I got off my lazy bum, started early and have just about completed it.
It's sitting outside, letting glues cure, before it get put up this afternoon (maybe?).