The Quantum Technology Club held their amateur radio antenna making evening on the 1st February. This is the first such activity that they have undertaken and it appears to have been very successful.
Eleven members and visitors took part and each built a 2m Slim Jim antenna made from 450 ohm ladder feed cable.
Iain, M0MZR, helped folk test the VSWR of their antennas. We’re pleased to say that they were all well within the VSWR of a normal rubber duck antenna supplied with handheld transceivers. A little tweaking at home and they should be spot on for there frequency they intend to use it most on.
Wire slim Jim antennas like these are great for portable operations where you have to travel light. A fishing pole with one of these hanging from the top will perform pretty well out in open space, such as from the top of a summit, or in a park. We hope to see some of them in operation at our forthcoming SOTA afternoon on Longridge Fell – keep a look out in the calendar for details when finalised.
Antenna making for Brickworks
The making of an antenna fulfils one of the activities on the RSGB’s Brickworks scheme so all those who took part, and are registered for Brickworks will have the ‘making’ activity ticked off.
The kits were supplied by Ham Goodies, run by M0ZPT.
Further reading
The original Slim Jim article appeared in Practical Wireless’ Out of Thin Air book-a-zine and was written by F.C. Judd, G2BCX.