Tape Measure Yagi Antenna

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2022-04-04 | By bekathwia

License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

My interpretation of this classic ham project utilizes bits of standard measuring tape steel as radials, a 1-inch PVC pipe as the pole, and 3D printed couplers to connect the radials to the pole.

For this project, you will need:

1″ OD diameter PVC pipe at least 3 feet long
Steel retractable tape measure
Coaxial cable
USB RTL-SDR module with antenna for testing
Computer running CubicSDR software
Solid-core wire (just a small piece)
Soldering iron & solder
Eye protection
Flush diagonal cutters
Wire strippers
Helping third hand tool
Heat shrink tubing
Tape
3D printer (I’m using my Creality CR-10s Pro)
PLA filament
nanoVNA (optional but handy for tuning)

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You can print or modify my design on Tinkercad.

constructing the antenna

I followed 2m band specs I found online for the length and spacing of the tape measure pieces. Many have built these before and documented their designs. Here are the writeups I found most useful:

The driven element pieces are connected to each other with a wire folded into a hairpin shape. I sanded off the paint from the tape measure steel where I wanted to solder and connected the driven elements with the hairpin wire as well as the two parts of the coaxial cable.

You can read more about my adventures listening to satellites with this antenna on my website. To make your own, pick up the following supplies from Digi-Key: