I have never built a fan dipole, how do you keep the spacers from
sliding along the wire?
John KK9A
Jim Brown K9YC wrote:
I want to add a 20 meter wire to my 30 meter dipole and am looking
for suggestions for spreaders to separate the elements. Half inch
PVC pipe seems to bulky and heavy, any suggestions for something
lighter that will hold up to the sun? Also what is the best
separation distance?
Hi Jeff,
Over the years, I've made good use of fan dipoles. 1/2-in PVC conduit
cut into short lengths is what I've always used. I've built fans for 80
and 40, for 20, 15 and 10, and for 40, 30 and 17. Now that I have good
Al in the air for 20-6M, my only fan is for 80 and 40. I use a spacing
of roughly 9-12 inches, with holes drilled into the spacers for wires to
run through. For the longest element, I use #9 bare copper, with a wire
jumper soldered around the spacer to hold it in place. The shorter
element is #12 THHN, and can be held in place at each end by cable
clamps or split bolts. Spacers are roughly 6 ft apart. That 80/40 fan
has been up 120 ft or so suspended between redwoods for at least 10
years. The spacers aren't as pretty as they were when I built it, but
they haven't broken. They get plenty of UV exposure here in NorCal.
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