Homebrew Slinky Ham Radio Antenna

[wa1ufo]

Thanks! I have used a small tuner with 300 ohm twin lead and it worked 40 up to 10 meters very well. 73s de Hans in NH!

[lcfgroup]

Interesting-We owned the original Slinky Dipole Antenna company in the 70's and sold many of them. Our company was called the 'Blacksburg Group' we still have one unused in a box. They were originally designed as clandestine antenna for fast set up on various frequencies. They are useful but really as you say for the ham bands we don't really need an antenna that will tune most any frequency. A tuner & long wire works sort of OK and tuned antennas like a dipole is hard to beat. Dave KK4WW N4USA

[johnrob281]

@lcfgroup

Dave,

Tnx for your comments for following along. I really enjoy your videos; you always have good information.

73

John

[FarceTheory]

If your going to turn a Inductor/slinky into a antenna keep this in mind. 1 You can tap into the different spots of the line to find a desired frequency. 2 Doing so can also create a capacitor affect/tuning, Trimming the coil down can also change things, And adjusting the distance between the coils will have a affect! Please keep in mind I'm just speaking basic fox hole logic.

[johnrob281]

@FarceTheory

Thanks for taking time to send along those good comments. Your suggestions will help the user adjust the antenna.

73

John/W5CYF

[lu3dcs]

thanks for this video

73"

LU3DCS

[raypsi]

The yl always tells me it's the length that counts, seems you need more length there OM.

I used a 4:1 balun only once now I only use choke, sleeve or ferrite cores over the coax baluns. If I have a lot of coax I use a choke, If I have lots of conduit laying around I use a sleeve balun. When I found a deal on some ferrite torroid cores I really like the ferrite.

I like your lathe there OT by golly.

73 OT

de n8zu

[johnrob281]

@raypsi

Ray,

Tnx for your comments and for following along with my videos.

You are correct, the slinky antenna can be tricky but can be made to work. Since the video, I've added lenght and a balun. Now it works fairly well.

73

John/W5CYF

[DG1MJH]

your slinky antenna is a very good idea! Thanks a lot for sharing this video! vy 73 de DG1MJH, Munich/Germany

[G0IFI]

Couple of feet of wire on each end would have brought that thing into band. A choke balun at the feedpoint helps a whole lot too, if only to keep common mode currents off that braid.

Has anyone ever fed a slinky doublet with open wire line via a tuner?

FWIW: I've had a whole lot of success this summer running QRP with a home made magnetic loop of 8 and a half feet of stiff, lowloss coax , that coils up and fits into a small package very nicely. Just hangs off the nearest tree branch.

73 de Perry

[ka5mei]

thanks for making the antenna you also need a 4/1 balun for the antanna and two more slinky andtennas works coool even indoors, apt.s H O A ,s stpo it get on the air ! I was working uptoo 500 w out the thing work 75 meters also make it to take the power too hoooo also the XYL

[johnrob281]

@ka5mei

Thanks for following along with my videos.

I do need to get the slinky antenna down and revisit it and try a balun.

73

John/W5CYF

[ka5mei]

you need a 4 to 1 balun on the feed side of the antenna think about  it de ka5mei

[UpcomingJedi]

What is that...an mfj 2500? I am curious to find what the impedance of a bird(s) is when they sit on the elements.

[bluejay148]

you can make them longer to adjust the swr did you do that yet

[wb3ebb]

Thanks for the video on this. I dug into the QST archive about slinkie antennas. I noticed that without exception the antenna was either mounted as a vertical or as a horizontal dipole, not as an inverted vee as you did. Don't mean to be mean. Just trying to help. 73 de Greg

[johnrob281]

@wb3ebb

Greg,

Thanks for watching and for your comments. You may indeed be on to something. I'll try the Slinky antenna again. However, it was mainly an experiment to see if I could get the thing to work for only a few dollars. I actually ended up with a Buddistick that I really like for portable work.

--73--

John/W5CYF

[pspbarry]

Iam a bit shocked it doesnt work well, i have a slinky dipole in my front window and have worked some good dx from it, Jordan from the UK 5 and 5, 2400 miles, looking on google earth....... this has opened my eyes tho, time to try new things.

Barry M6PEC 73

[kc2wrf]

nice try! i guess that slinky is just cheap metal from china only good for 1 thing...not like duct tape... 73s

[sonick808]

they're tough to tune. for 40 meters like you're trying you will need two slinkies on each leg. With what you have you should be able to get it to 20 meters no problem.

I used an analyzer on a slinky antenna i made to experiment with and tuned it to 20 meters, and it worked pretty good. Impedance was a bit high but not even as bad as the best hamsticks. Tuning is a matter of millimeters once you get into range. I used mine for 20M for two RTTY contest in 09, got out great!

[sonick808]

@sonick808 also, the slinky material is a real pain to bond. I had to clean off the coating with sand paper overlap almost a full half turn, flux it before placing the surfaces together, lash it with copper wire, then use plumbing torch/solder to braze them together. Just binding the surfaces together won't work.

[johnrob281]

@BackpackerTom

Tom,

Thanks for your comments. I’ll go back in the QST archives and see what I can find.

I suspect it is more of ‘operator error’ combined with a lack of patience than anything else. As you know, there are many folks that have achieved fairly good results with this type of antenna.

--73--

John