CVARC Portable Antenna Build Group Project

On Saturday August 12th, CVARC will hold an antenna building group project starting at 9:00 A.M. at the East County Sheriff Station located at 2101 E. Olsen Road in Thousand Oaks. Participants will build a simple, but effective end-fed wire antenna from a commercially available kit.  The resulting antenna will have a UHF-female connector and will be capable of handling up to 100 watts. The antenna will be light-weight and low-profile. There are a limited number of discount kits still available. Please review the information below and reserve or purchase your kit as soon as possible.

Instructions and a description of the antenna kit may be found here:

The antenna may be built as an End-Fed Half Wave or End-Fed Random Length wire antenna. 

The manufacturer has posted a video that shows how to assemble the QRP version of his kit.  The assembly is similar but not identical to the build that we will be doing.  His instructions on winding the toroid are good for our build. 

There are many other videos on YouTube that show how to build the exact kit we will use.  This is only one of the many videos available.

The cost of the kit itself is $30.00.  Bring a check to the event, payable to Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club.  Wire for radiating elements and counterpoises will be extra and may be purchased at the event.

Sign up for the event here.

The club has 15 kits at a discount price of $30.  Beyond 15 participants, members will need to purchase the full price kit ($37) from Amazon and bring it to the event to assemble.  (Members wishing to purchase additional kits should also work through Amazon.) Use this link.

If you are purchasing your kit from Amazon, please act as soon as possible. Kits ordered today (7/25) would be delivered between August 7^th and 9^th.

The club will provide all the tools and materials needed to construct a working antenna, but if members can bring along any of the following items,  the assembly process will move along more quickly. 

Needed Items:

Soldering Iron

Solder

Wire cutters

Crimping tool

Sandpaper for stripping

Pliers

Wrench (for tightening the SO-239)

Tweezers

Heat gun to activate shrink wrap

¾ inch open-end wrench

18 mm open end wrench

Needle nose pliers

Multi-meter