How to build a high gain vertical antenna for the UHF amateur or CB bands You can use low-cost coaxial cable to make a simple, high performance, omnidirectional vertical antenna that is ideal for both home station and portable applications. colingor antenna has been ‘around © long tne. Various versions enjoyed populorly en the amateur VHF and UHE bands in the eras belore and after World Wor 1. But the collinear fel out of favour when the Yog| array became populor since the late ’$Cs. The Yagts popularity is oftributatle to its feature of the hes! bang for the Buck’ But itis 6 beam: which requires rotating. With the rise in Popularity of FM ‘operation on the WHF and UHF bands srce the “70s, the prolteration of commercial ameteur rigs, ond the development cf repeater natworks ofoure the country. the demand for omniditactional ontennes grew opoce. A lot of FM activity Is mobile, with o cegiee of base or home station eperclion. too. For the latter oppication, an omnicirectional antenna with gain Gtfers distinct advantages, particularly where comporatively low-powered mobile figs oré used ot home. The growth of UKF CB has followed a tinier path, boosted by the avalabatty Of locally-monutactured transceivers selling clongside imparts. Open access repeaters helped the grewth ot LHF CB, too. ‘A home-constructed antenna can seve you big bucks, Many constructors Make Up o simple groundplane or cooxia! dipole, which nave the advantage of simplicity. However, something that offers @ respectable ‘omount of gain ond can be assembled with Etlle more etfort is bonus The collineor ontenna ta be ‘described offers considerable goin and improved bandwidth over the conventional groundplane, coayial Gipote. ‘Slins Jims" oF siti antennas. It is simpla to construct ona erect since it does not require tuning or pruning, ond uses Cheap. commonly avaliable: “quarter-inch’ G88 coax The word colinear means ‘inline’, the: elementsof the colineor antenna baing, placed in Ine, end to end. Two hal wave dipoles ploced end to end ond fod out of phase make the simplest two-element collinear, Figue LA coawol colingar consists of an even number of elements mode of coaxial cable. each an electrical hait th korg, Joined end fo ena with the inner conductor and outer conductor transposed at each joi. A collinear from coax Te make a colinear antenna trom ‘coaxial coble, o number of elements, och on electrical hat wovelengm long.are joined together with the inor conductor ond the shield brokd Warsposed ot Gach joint. as Hlustrated inFigure 1 An-even number of elements Is requited. By trangnasing the coax’ Inner ord outer conductors at each jon, each holf wave element is fed out of phase, I fist ran across this form of the collineor Ino scientific publication iin the: early “70s The published paper desorbed 0 monstrous, 400 metre long, 104 element ony used for aS0Miz radar located at Jicamarca in Peru, used for probing the ionosphere, The beamwidth of this wonder was. reported 1o be just ane degree! The number ot determines the gan, bondwidth of @ coal collinear antenna. The goin increases by 308 every time you double the number of Blements. Two elements provides.o gain of 208 compared to a dipole. four dlaments would give 6d8, eight elements dB, etc. For the technically inclined, the bandwidth is generaty defined as the ain! at which the galn degrades. due to phose verintions greotet than one- sich pi rackans on the end elements Youcancoiculate the bandwidth from: bondwidih = 21/(@3n + 1) where T is the centre frequency of operotion. ond ‘nv is the number of ‘elements in the aay. The interesting thing/is.if you use lossy: com, the antenna’s performance improves without motkedly decreasing the gain or increasing the beamwidth, Hence the ue of commor-or-gardent RGSE elements used beamwidth and Feeding it Youhave two opporhavities fo connect A teadpoint to the coma collinear — in the midale, orn the end. When centre feo, the feeding Is connected across {he contra joint, os Bustrated In Figure 2 ‘As you may olready appreciate, this Isabotonced connection and requires abolanced tne or a balun transformer to connect unbalanced coaxial feedine, The feedpointimpedance is faw huncted ohms. clowing the use of osimpe 4) bon But feeding collinear in the midcle awkward when you want fe mountit ‘vertically. The feediine must come away fom the aray at angles. So, fooding it from the is the ‘solution. and you gat a direct match to SQ ohm coat However, you can't just connect the coax fo the end of the array. the ‘radiation from the elements wil counte _onto the outer conductor (shleid Brad) ‘of the coax ond you get 0 ‘hot’ Ine. There ore: various ways te overcome ths, but one of the simplest to groundpiane @ quorter wavelength below the feedpoint. These groundplane elements, just like those on a conventional quorterwave ground. have It on the air the same evening. The general arrangement and ihnensions of on gelemnent costal i UHE CB, There are two bond segments ‘reserved’ on the 70cm amateur band ‘As | soi earter, each element Is an electrical half wavelength long. That is, Figure 3. The general form of the UHF coadal colineor antenna described physically shorter. The velocity factor of common RGSS is approximately 085-066. tts fortunate that the bandwidth of ‘the colinear is quite broad - about ‘SSMHz, of around 8 per cent - as this allows plenty of tolerance in the dimensions, Around plus/minus Seam, octuoly. teteed to os “RGSECU Retalers such as Dick §mith Electronics, Captain ‘Communications and Emtronics cory suitable RGSS. In oddtion, you wil need SOOmm of 9mm or 27mm diameter hectshrink tubing and about 5mm ot eam heotshvinik. ‘As you would oppreciots, the colinesr lb not self-supporting: It's distinctly floppy, To hokd itup, attoch it often RADIO EXPERIMENTER'S HANDBOOK = 23,fo ony nonconducting support: Deweling rod rom your local hardware store is grect for this job and it comes instondard two metre lengths, which is ust tight. Choose (27mm or 19mm diometer dowel to suit yourself. New, go through the following procedure stap by stp ond youll find your colieor goes together quite easily. Tho vary fst ting to co & propere the colinear’s support. using o 27mm of enn diameter wooden dowel 16d. Tis ts choap, teacly avclable ond strong enough for the job. The dowel should be thoroughly sealed with on utdoor wood stan or inseed od poving particular attention to the ends. Stand fr aside to dry property. 2)Now for the colineor Itself, The ‘working’ langth of each element ls the disionce between the ends of the braid To sineaify motters. ond to allow forthe odd enor, cut eignt lengths of RGSS, each 260mm long for the 70cm amateur band. of 230mm long tor the: UKF CB bond These lengths moke allowance for cutting ond. stripping back the ends of the elements to make the joints 3)Prepare each end of seven elements, and only one end of the eighth alement, os detolled in Figure 4 The eighth element wil become the ‘top’ element of the antenna. Cut the coox's outer sheath 1mm back from the end uling a Bka! penknife oF hobby knite, it shoud be blunt so as to avold nicking the shield brakd here. Bo not unravel the shieid brad, 4)Now cut the broid, this time using sharp knife, 8mm back from tha and Toke care not to cut though the dilechic to the centre conductot. Combined use of a sharp knife ond sharp. pointed sdecutters con be effective ond rasuit in a neat cut 5) Next. cut bock the dielectric fmm back from the end to expose the centre conductor. Do this carefully 20 you don't nick the stranded centre conductor wires. Othanwse, later you may get a break in the centre conductor, of 6 stray stand may short the joint. ther way. your antenna won't work propery. 6) With the ends of oll the elements prepared as per Figure 4 now fin the exposed centre conductor ond shield braid on each Use a hot iron, preferably 6 temperature controled type. A flat- Yoced (spade’) tip is best for this job. Apply the tip t6 the part to be tinned Figure 4. Each element is cut from a piece of RG5B SO ohm coaxial cable ‘and the ends prepared ike ths. Yor 0 few seconds to heat itthen apply ‘the solder. Use thin gauge, resin-cored solder. But remember 10 oniy opply enough sokler to lightly “wet” the conductors, Z)Now to solder the elements together, Fist sio-0.35-4Omm length of ‘9.5mm oF 127mm diometer heatshvink ‘on soch element. Solder the elemants together. end to end, as showninFigure 5. With each joint, offer it has cooled, ‘app slicone seclant fo-the area of the [pint to sealit, then, whi the siicone is Hl plastic, she the hectstvink tubing over ‘he joint and apply a blast of hat arr (hot dryers ore great for this). But dont ‘overdo the hot ait, though, or you're fealy 10 soften the Cuter sheoth of the ‘coat and possio domage it, 8)The top ekrnent needs to be sealed. Apply 0 Gob of silcone sealant to i, sip on a 30-4Cmm jength of ‘6mm heatsink whi is stil soft, then ‘apply a shed blost of hat air to shrink it in pce. 9)ine next step is to attach what ‘you've just completed to ifs suppor Plastic zip-up coble ties ore great for ‘his, as are the plastic: zioock tles that come with packets of garbage bogs. Tie the colinecr to the dowel storting with the top element, putting a tie either side of each joint, The top element should bs tied about 50mm below the topend. The other elements should be near tha joints. While the collinear shoud be oid ‘when fyingit to the clowal ont foo much tension to ovoid racluing the soldering at the Joints Dont depend on the heatshink tot 24“ RADIO EXPERIMENTER’S HANDBOOK mechanical support. its prime purpose is protection, TO)Now for the feedpolnt and groundpione. You'll have a short engi OF RGSB let! over. Attach a suitable in fine connector, such 05 a BNC mole, to one-end and prepare the other end as or Figure 4. Measure back along the coble, trom the end of the shield broid, @ quarter wavelength (this time, “free spoce wavelengin) For the 7Oem omateu band, this it WOrne: for tho UMF CH band, 15Smnm. Mark this, point. ‘Using 0 blunt knife, or carefuly using sharp knife, make two CutsGround the cable's outer shecth, each a few mitmatres either side of this point, Sil the sheath between the two cuts ond Femove the section to-expose the shiekd bold. Using alhot Fon. quickly ond ightty fin the bead Sip two 30-4Omm lengths of 64mm chamneter hectshrink down the: cable, placing them either side of the exnored shield braid I)Cut two lengths of tines! copper \wk@-0r brazing rod fo size each 3éOrrm for the 70cm amateur bard ord ym ong for the UHF CB band (see Figute 3). If you're using tinned copper whe. straighten i fist. Tris canbe cone by clompingions end inc vise, graspir Ine other end with © pol of pllers Gnd Qing ta good tug It wil bow'a it after you fake If out-of the vise, but then yeu Con straighten tt eosty by hanel Tin the -centre of each groundplone e'ement, IZ) Now attach the prepared cable to the feedpoin’, making o joint os por Figue 6. Seal it and cover it with heatshring Put a tie either side of the