70cm Moxon antenna

A reminder that 70cm antennas do not have to be expensive. 

This is a Moxon made from an old coat hanger. It took me about 30 minutes to assemble and worked some useful DX when out portable on QRP SSB. 

Antennas do not have to be pretty to work!

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/70cm-moxon .

70cm Moxon antenna

Several years ago I had a problem: my rig covered 70cm SSB, but I had no antenna. I found a quick and easy solution in my wife's wardrobe. I think the whole antenna took about 30 minutes to make.

See https://sites.google.com/view/g3xbm4/home/antennas/70cm-moxon .

Moxon antennas

Someone today asked me if I still have my coat hanger Moxon for 70cms. Moxons (as the page shows) can be easily made and work well. I have not seen the antenna for many years, so I doubt I still have it.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon .

Moxon antennas

It was many years ago that I built a simple 70cm Moxon antenna in well under an hour from an old coat hanger.  I used this when out portable in a contest and it worked well.

Moxons have been made from HF to UHF. They are easy to make, have useful gain and bandwidth, a good front to back ratio and are quite broadband. In summary, they are useful antennas.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon

70cm Moxon antenna

Many years ago, I raided my wife's cupboard to make a 70cm Moxon antenna from a coat-hanger. If I remember correctly, the whole thing took about 30 minutes to make. It was used out portable with my FT817 and worked well.

Never say you don't have a 70cm antenna!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon

10m Moxon

With limited space and neighbours who would not approve, I can only dream of HF beams! One good choice where space is limited is the Moxon 2 element beam. These have useful gain, wide bandwidth and are relatively small. This would still look huge in my garden, even on 10m!

Some years ago I made one for 70cm from an old coat hanger. It was easy to make and worked well.

See http://www.innovantennas.com/our-antennas/view/productdetails/virtuemart_product_id/455/virtuemart_category_id/4.html

See also https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon

70cm Moxon Beam

This has been posted before, but it is to show amateur radio need not be expensive or hard. I built this antenna in minutes and it worked remarkably well.

Moxon beams have a useful gain, a broad main lobe, and they work. They are ideal for portable work. As this example shows they are low cost to make, especially if you scavenge bits.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon

70cm antenna

A lot of people are plagued by noise on HF. Not only that, HF conditions on F2 are likely to be poorer in the coming years, so people look elsewhere for their fun.

70cm is quiet here and there is always activity on SSB in the RSGB's UKAC activity contests each month. If you are looking for a really low cost antenna for the band raid your XYL's wardrobe! The antenna linked is easy to make, low cost and definitely works.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon .

Coat hanger 70cm beam

Some years ago, I was in need of a 70cms antenna for portable use and had to improvise by raiding my XYL's wardrobe!  The result was a 2 el Moxon antenna made in about 30 minutes which worked some impressive QRP (2.5W) DX into France on 70cms. Gain is quite low but all you need is a wire coat hanger and a few bits for insulation and to attach the coax feed. Simplicity! It does not look pretty, but it works. The mast was made from a short length of PVC pipe.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/70cm_moxon .

23cm activity contest next Tuesday

Having had some fun in both the 2m and 70cm cumulative contests today and last Tuesday my thoughts are now turning to the next contest which is on 23cm next Tuesday evening. As I don't have any transmit or antennas on that band I shall just listen. Once again I shall have to make a suitable antenna and the most likely will be either a small 4 el beam made from thick wire or a 23cm Moxon 2 element beam which would be about the size of my hand. My 23cm converter has not been used for well over 15 years so that will need to be checked carefully and the LO crystal re-netted.

More 10m antennas

Nick G4IKZ tells me he is using a Eagle Antennas 10m Moxon beam (see picture from the Vine site of this antenna). These are available for £149 and claim just under 6dBi gain and 38dB front to back ratio with a wide beam pattern. They are only 3.8 x 1.52m which is small for a beam with this amount of gain. I suspect Nick may have turned his beam my way now as the signal report on WSPR when I was running 1W was a massive +3dB S/N. Before I put up my horizontal halo I was lucky to get much better than -20dB when running 2 or 5W.