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The "Bow"
No, this is not about a bow as in bow and arrow!


It is about a novel, unique and simple way to use PVC with ladder line, tv twin lead or wire antennas on ham radio VHF/UHF bands!

Courtesy of N9TAX
Two Way Electronix.com 


One thing I get a lot of requests for is a way to rigidly mount an antenna made with ladder line for mast or tower mounting. Most people want to mount the antennas inside pvc.
 
This makes them extremely hard to tune because the dielectric constant of pvc is anything but constant hi hi and usually detunes the antenna drastically at VHF/UHF frequencies.

I have developed a solution that may not be the prettiest but is definitely usable. I call it the "bow" and anyone can build one.

It consists of a piece of 3/4" pvc about a 6" longer than the antenna, two 90 degree elbows, another foot of pvc and a few zip ties.

Basically you drill holes in the ends of the long piece of pvc and bow it to the length of the antenna and zip tie the ends to the holes you just made.
See picture below .

Affix the elbows on the bottom to bring the short piece parallel with the antenna and you have a rigid mount that will not interfere with the antenna's tuning. Here is a photo of mine on my tower below. That's it on the top.

I'll tell you what...... that thing really talks up there! I have worked repeaters over 100 miles away.

The antennas (450 ohm ladder line VHF/UHF "Slim Jims") are available on my website with an assortment of different connectors and with or without long coax cable.
The VHF only antennas are custom tunable from 130 - 225 mhz at no extra charge. See details at my webstore at the link below for more info.


Thank you for your interest in my antennas and the "Bow".

Joe N9TAX

This link will take you to my webstore where you can buy one of the antennas.
 See the
review of them here on Hamuniverse.com.


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Thousands of Electronic Parts here! 



 

 
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