KG7GTE 2 Meter Slim Jim Antenna Project from Arizona

Arizona's most famous nickname is "The Grand Canyon State".
It also has another nickname,
The "Copper State" (The state of copper Antennas!)

KG7GTE Shares A First Time Experience Building the Slim Jim Antenna for 2 Meters

I put the formulas above into excel, and cut the individual pieces as close as I could get with the exception of the 1/4 wave section which I cut 1" short.

Construction was straight forward, and very easy, however I did learn that you do not want to use a welding torch for soldering..  WAY TO MUCH HEAT as is evidenced by the photographs.  The center feed is a piece of #10 electrical wire cut to length, and soldered to the center of the SO239, and again I learned that you DO NOT want to do this with the antenna in a vertical position ,see the evidence in the pictures.  I put a small bend in the wire, lined up the torch where I wanted it, grabbed the feed with a pair of pliers in one hand and the solder in the other..  it worked, but holding that sucker in place while waiting for the solder to set was a pain.  Then I soldered the SO239 to the other side.

For testing, and pictures, the bottom edge of the antenna is located 525mm (23 inches) above ground level.

I used an old MFJ-249 Antenna Analyzer and connected it to the feed point with a 1' section of LMR400, 
VERY HAPPY CAMPER HERE. The swr is nearly flat across the entire 2meter band. As evidenced by the accompanying photographs. See photos below for swr readings across the 2 meter band.

   
 

The SWR readings above were taken using an MFJ-249 Antenna Analyzer and the antenna was fastened to a piece of 1 1/4" Schedule 40 PVC with the bottom of the antenna about 20" off the ground. The coax is a 1' section of LMR400 with a PL259 on each end. See photos below for testing setup, air gap and SO239 connection.

Test setup

 
Covered Air Gap on left------Feed point connection on right

I had planned on making a change, by threading one of the end caps and putting an adjusting bolt so that the air gap could be modified in hopes of making it easier to fine tune the antenna, however, my taps were no longer in the shop, so I ended up with a MUCH wider air gap than was calculated.  However it did not seem to hurt though it did raise the feed point drastically.

I stripped the insulation from a section of #10 Electrical wire and soldered it into the SO239 connector.  What I will do next time is NOT try to solder this connecter onto the antenna with it in a vertical position.  You will really laugh when you look at the pictures, I had solder dripping all over the place. 

I did do one other thing, I cut a piece of 2x4 down until it just fits inside the 1 1/4" PVC in order to stiffen it.
This should prevent movement from the wind, which often reachs 50-60 miles per hour here.