...or can we get Nathan and David on the air without offending the HOA?
Howdy! I am interested in the POTA PERformer antenna for temporary home use and for traveling to a local park. There are several good YouTube videos on the design and a particularly good paper (attached). One remarkable part of the paper, beyond the extensive tests and measurements, is the shopping list. I recognised many of the components from trips to AliExpress! Is there a value-oriented alternative? First is the 17-foot collapsible whip antenna. I picked up the 5-meter unit with the red barrel, mounting spike, and ribbon cable counterpoise. Everything you see is part of the design! Search for "five meter qrp antenna". Next, to get on 40 meters, you need a base loading coil. Once again, AliExpress provides. Search for "40 meter M10 Induction Coil". I decided to skip the tripod mount and other mounting bits in favor of a trip to Home Depot. A defining feature of the POTA PERformer is that both the feed point and the ground plane are 4 to 5 feet off the ground! Looks goofy. Check the math. To satisfy this requirement, we need a long, heavy-weight PVC pipe and some electric fence posts. Schedule 40 PVC is in Plumbing. Get a long section. The "Everbilt White Step-In Fence Post" is just the ticket. Now you know how long the PVC pipe will need to be, as well as how big around. We are going to store the fence posts in the PVC pipe! Use the HD app to find the bits in the store. The rest is connector bits. If the fence posts fit in a 2" PVC, we now need a 2" to threaded adapter plus a threaded cap. The other end can be a glued cap. The antenna, coil, and base all have M10 fittings. The mounting spike can be secured to the threaded cap using an M10 nut. The red base can be secured to the other cap with an M10 bolt. Spike -> cap -> PVC pipe -> cap -> red barrel -> coil -> 5-meter whip. BOOM! Done. The last bit is to read the paper to find the length of the radials. 40 meters need 33 feet. 20 meters need 16.5 feet. These can be linked from two pairs of two 16.5-foot sections. M10 ring terminals on the ends of the radial sections make for easy assembly with a pair of M10 nuts and short bolts. I am on my way to Home Depot, since I already have the 17' whip, red barrel, and 40-meter coil. Wish me luck! 73 Dan KJ5IZK
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