This turned out to be quite quick (about 4 hours) and easy. I used VK4LHD's construction method. The materials were under $50.
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| Only 8 parts |
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The aluminum tubing is cut into 6 lengths : 2 x 1200mm for the base reflectors and 4x 520mm for the top elements. These are inserted into a 40mm diameter/1000mm long pvc pipe with 1 hole drilled at 520mm from the top and the second hole 550mm from the top and at 90 degrees to the first hole.
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| The 90 degree holes |
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| Bottom section |
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| And top section done |
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The 4 way junction box is mounted to the top of the pipe by inserting a block into the end and screwing the junction box to it. The elements are drilled at one end to accomodate the terminals for the coax cable harness. I drilled 2 holes in the sides of the junction box to allow an access feed point for the coax.
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| The drilled elements |
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| The finished product |
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| The turnstile mounted |
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Thats basically all there is to it. On the first pass of NOAA 19 today, the image quality is vastly superior to any antenna i have tried before. Some more fine tuning and i should have some decent images. Here are some NOAA 18's after a bit of tinkering with WXtoIMG:
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| NOAA 18 26/5/2013* |
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| NOAA 18 26/5/2013* |
* Received with the RTL E4000 and SDR#
That's excellent mate, and well explained. Good stuff. Should serve you well for years.
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