Bulldog Man here.
First, I wanna thank all you kind folks for the thoughts, prayers, and
kind words while I was laid up after my most recent surgeries. Although I am
still not back to 100 percent, it amazes me that I can feel my hands and feet,
I can feel heat and cold, and I can move my head without the agonizing pain of
pinched nerves in my spinal cord. It was
far worse than we thought, but the doc is hopeful for a full recovery. Life gets better day by day.
*****
While I was laid up, I did some studying, and picked
up on the idea of building a slinky shortwave radio antenna. If I can find the source again, I will be
happy to give credit where due. Update, found the site credit goes to Frank Dorenberg.
First, I took a 1 ½” PVC “T”, three plugs, some eye
hooks and associated hardware, and an SO-239 connector, and built the basis for
the antenna. I drilled holes to mount the eye hooks. The one on the top of the “T” is used to
connect to a tree or mast. The other two
are to support the slinkies and the rope/cord/paracord to hold the slinkies up
in the air.
I soldered some 12 gauge wire to the SO-239. After that, I screwed the SO-239 connector
into the bottom plug of the “T”.
I
pulled the wire through the open holes in the side of the “T”.
I bent the end loops of the slinkies to be able to
connect them to the eyehooks. I soldered
them to the 12 gauge wire. I then taped the soldered connections up to minimize
Oklahoma eating away at the connection!
I then sat
down with a yard stick, and drew out 20 yards of mason’s line (twice). These lines hold the slinkies up in the air,
and gives the user a line to secure the slinkies out in any direction you need
them spread out to. The end result is the slinky antenna, minus the
connecting cable as shown.
Then came the fun part! Since I still can’t work above my head, or
lift more than 10 pounds, Tank came to the aid of the old man. He beat the far end of an antenna mast that I
picked up (actually it was the top rail for a cyclone fence) into a nice flat
surface. He bent over the top to minimize the chance of rain getting into the
mast.
We drilled a
hole, put in another eye hook, a clip, and a pulley. I’m lazy.
I don’t want to work hard enough to take down a mast. A little untying of a piece of paracord and
the antenna is down at my level. I
attached the coax using a PL-259 connector, and stripped and dressed the other
end for the shortwave radio.
We tied the antenna up on the mast; I tied the
slinkies out as far as I comfortably wanted to pull them out (about 13 feet). I
pulled the “T” up the mast, tied off the paracord, and now I get far better
reception on my shortwave radio.
This antenna is more of a permanent but mobile
device. I removed the green telescoping
antenna to use for camping.
There you have it folks a better antenna made out of
children’s toys, costing less than $20.00.
