Low VHF antenna designs

[eggman531916]

I am very pleased to announce that this antenna project has been a success! Mistakes were made, four letter words were used, but in the end, it works. I had to change a few things in the design. The Changpauk calculator for the folded dipole is too short. I lengthened it to 66 inches and lengthened the reflector to a little over 69 inches. Everything else stayed the same as far as spacing and director lengths are concerned. I have a good, reliable signal with the exception of a line of pixelation that occurs every so often on the screen which I'm assuming is interference of some kind, but it doesn't cause the picture to freeze or anything. It's just there. I used 1/2" UV resistant PVC for the boom and soft copper tubing for the elements, which I nearly destroyed and had to disassemble in order to get it out of my basement. Lesson learned. Don't build an 8'x6' antenna in the basement and expect to get it out of a 5'x3' door easily.

[eggman531916]

Also, just to give credit where it is due, the folded dipole being too short was pointed out to me by someone who is trying to get approved to post here in the forums. He had been following this thread and when he realized he was somewhat near my area, he direct messaged me as he is trying to pick up reception on the same channel. Even though he can't post yet, he still follows this thread. In the house he bought, there was a large yagi cut for RF 3 for back when PBS in our area still broadcasted on RF 3 that he is trying to recondition for RF 6. I'm hoping his project goes as well as mine did.