6M Dipole
6M Dipole Details
My research into the design of a 6 meter dipole antenna and using (free) ENEC PRO2 v7 antenna design software. This allowed me to gain experience using ENEC software. I wanted the antenna to be able to operate from 50 MHz to 55 Mhz covering the 6 meter band.
Design frequency is 52MHz
Using the formula 468 / frequently in MHZ I determined the half wave length of the antenna to be about 9.301 feet at 50.313 MHz. Dividing the 9.301 by 2 for the length of the antenna would about 4.55 feet each piece. From a 10 feet 1/2 copper tube I cut each element to 56 inches. Holes were drilled in one end of each tubing for mounting. A T shaped mounting plate was cut from an old cutting board. Using nuts and bolts to the T mount and spaced the ends apart for a space of 1 inch. The 50 ohm coax was attached to one of the bolts on each element. The antenna assembly was mounted to a 10 foot pipe mast with two U-bolts.
The antenna coax was run to the shack and connected to the station coax switch. Switching the 6 meter antenna to the transceiver with an swr of about 2:1.
It was time now time to model the antenna to see what maybe done to improve the antenna. Using the antenna as is I currently have 22 states confirmed in LOTW.
Below are the modeling findings:
————— WIRES —————
No. End 1 Coord. (in) End 2 Coord. (in) Dia (in) Segs Insulation Wire Loss
Conn. X Y Z Conn. X Y Z Diel C Thk(in) Loss Tan Cond(S/m) Perm
1 0, 0, 120 0, 112, 120 0.5 11 1 0 0 0 1
View of completed 6m Dipole at about 10 feet supported by the top fence rail.
The one red coffee can contain the ef wire connection to a 9:1 balun with ground and coax with 1:1 choke to station. Other red coffee can contain a relay to switch a coil for 160m.
WD8CZG 