Building a 2m loop antenna for some 144MHz Ham radio fun
To get some better results on my Yaesu FT270RH I was searching the web for some nice (easy and cheap) homebrew antennas, after spending way too much time I have settled for a Delta Loop.
The Delta Loop is a triangle shaped antenna, as this is VHF it does not need any fancy ferrite rings to reduce interference and such. So the part list is quite small, which makes a perfect little project. In case you are looking for further information and the guide I did follow it can be found here (in Dutch)
So what do we need:
- 210,9cm copper cable (or any cable you normally use to buid antennas)
- 35,5 cm 75 Ohm COAX cable
- 50 Ohm Coax cable (to connect to radio)
The 210,9 cm are easily explained as
L = 306,380 / MhZ frequency
As you maybe remember, lightspeed divided by the frequency gives you the wave length, so the delta loop on 2m actually works with “delta”, makes perfect sense. The 210,9 are adjusted for 145.150 Mhz, which is quite in the middle of the band, I also did some quick calculation with the general caller frequency for NL and DE, but it does not really matter (NL: 210,5cm, DE: 210,8cm), so both should work just fine.
So the side length of the triangle would be at 70,3cm
It took me a while to order all the material, also soo many decisions you need to take, but on January 23, 2022 I have all the orders arrived.
The build was rather straightforward as I decided to use BNC twist on connectors it was basically just measuring, cutting and twisting on.
I also decided to go for a window mount, so with the help of some stick on holders I could make it quite easy to be stored
I adjusted the shape several times after taking the picture.
Last but not least, I checked with my NanoVNA if I have been at close to the targeted frequency
And we’ll, close enough I hope.
That’s it for today, 73
References:
- Original design and post has been found on Radio Amateurs Zoetermeer : https://www.pi4raz.nl/razzies/razzies201403.pdf
This article was first posted here: https://pd8jo.blogspot.com/2021/12/building-2m-delta-loop.html