Six Meter Antennas


A 3 ELEMENT BEAM

Six Meter Beam 3-Elements

Reflector------------115 and 1/2 inches
Driven------------------------111 inches
Director-------------106 and 1/2 inches

Spacing between elements are 34 and 1/2 inches. The elements are 1/2 inch aluminum tubing of 1/16-inch wall thickness.(you can cut up an old TV antenna they work great). The Boom length is 72 inches (6 feet).The boom is 1 and 1/4 inch tubing. You can attach 50 ohm coax to this antenna after you add a gamma match.(see Below) To attach the gamma rod to the antenna you will need to mount an SO-239 chassis connector to the center of the driven element.This can be made from a piece of sheet metal about 1 inche wide by 3 inches long.Bend the long side of the sheet metal into and L-shape so that you now have a 2x1 inch surface and a 1x1 inch on a 90 degree angle. Then center punch the 2x1 side and mount the SO-239 connector in the middle. Next bend the 1x1 inch surface onto the center of the driven element and secure it with 2 sheet metal screws.
connection to gamma GAMMA MOUNT BRACKET side view

Now you will need to get some more sheet metal to build the SHORTENING strap of the gamma this may vary in size depending on the tubing size and the space from driven to the gamma match. The gamma match is mounted along the side of the driven after you have soldered the innner conductor of the gamma to the center od the SO-239. The spacing is usally about 1.5 to 2 inches from the driven element (Dosen't make much difference).To make the SHORTENING strap make a 1 inch strip about 6 inches long .Take this strip and bend it around the driven and over to the gamma.Make sure it folds back over so that you can drill 1 hole at each.

A GAMMA MATCH

50 MHZ GAMMA ROD

The gamma match is made from 3/8 inch tubing.The inner portion is cut from RG-8 coax after you remove the black 'skin' and the copper braid.

Once you have this antenna put all together you can adjust the match by sliding the shortening strap and the gamma tube in and out(or up and down however you look at it) for lowest S.W.R.


A 6 METER HALO

6M HALO

A good antenna that can be used for the car as well as the house is an HALO. This antenna maintains good omni-directional horizontal polarization. Basically the antenna is a half wave dipole bent into a circle,BUT shorter than a dipole for this frequency. The circumference is 60-70 inches. By useing the gamma match (see above) you can use regular coax.This is a high-Q antenna.So bandwidth is about 200khz. (Perfect for 50.100-50.200 where most of the 6m ssb activity is)

end cap plates

The 2 large discs can be about 4-5 inches round and the small disc about 1.5 inches. Mount the 2 larger discs at the ends of the halo by screwing end caps to the center of them and then the end caps will go over the ends of the halo. Next drill a small hole in one of the larger discs and the same size hole in the exact center of the small disc. Put a 2 inch bolt threw the center and run a nut up the bolt to lock it in place. Then a nut on each side of the large disc to secure the bolt to the larger disc. Mount the gamma rod the same as you did on the beam (see above) BUT bend the gamma to match the curve in the halo. Finally take three 2-3 inch nylon spacers and mount them between the large discs. You should drill 3 holes in a trianle patern and use 3 nylon bolts and nuts. This will ensure that the ends plates do not move around on you. You can mount this antenna on a mast by making some type of bracket for support. (Just try to put the bracket by the mount where the coax/gamma is so that the mount should not affect the antenna preformance.)

To match the antenna simply move the gamma around a few times(move it in small increments it really tough). Once you get the S.W.R. down below 3:1 then move the small disc by loosening the nut and turning the small disc.(AGAIN move it in small increments)

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