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NorCal Doublet Antenna
By Doug Hendricks, KI6DS
The NorCal Doublet Antenna came about due to my desire for a simple antenna
that could be erected very fast, only needed one center support, and did not
take up much storage room. Dave Gauding, NF0R, is a close friend of mine, and
he had told me about a St. Louis Doublet, that used small wire for the
radiators and computer cable for the feedline. I took his idea a step farther,
and used computer cable for the whole antenna. Jim Duffey, KK6MC/5 and Dennis
Foster, KK5PY, also contributed to the design.
Jim was the one who told me that if I made the legs 22 feet on a side that the
antenna would have basically the same radiation patterns on all bands from
40 - 10 meters. This would be very handy to have for field operation, so I
decided to use it.
Here is how to make the NorCal Doublet. You will need the following materials:
50 feet of 4 stranded computer cable
1 #0 Fishing Swivel
1 Cable tie
2 pieces of fishing cord
1. Take the computer cable, and strip the outer two conductors down 22 feet,
leaving the two middle wires connected together.
2. Cut the two middle wires off about 2" above the 22 foot mark where you
stopped stripping the outer connectors.
3. Loop the 2" piece of double strands over the eye of the fishing swivel.
4. Secure the whole thing by wrapping the tie wrap around the feedline and loop.
(Dennis Foster showed me this idea)
5. Use the remaining 28 feet of 4 conductor cable as the feedline. The outer
two wires will be the feedline. Strip off about 1" of insulation on both outer
connectors to hook to your NorCal BLT tuner.
6. Tie a loop on each end of the two 22 foot wires.
7. Tie the fishing cord to the loops.
8. To erect the antenna, clip the fishing swivel to the eye of the 20 foot
fishing pole. Extend the pole and set it up. Stretch out the two 22 foot
wires and tie off the strings to suitable supports. Connect the feedline to
your tuner, and get on the air.
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