Last year for Field Day I built a 6 meter, 4-element Yagi-Uda antenna for the W5YA team.  I never tried to match the antenna for 50Ω, and it compared poorly to Doc’s Hex Beam antenna.  This weekend, in anticipation of FD 2014, I decided to finally try and match the antenna.  I tried several designs.  My initial try was a hairpin match, which brought the 100Ω impedance up to 200Ω.  Then, I tried a 75Ω, 1/2 wavelength coax transformer as a 4:1 Balun.  I played with this a lot, but could not get it to match well enough.

Today I tried a parallel 75Ω match based on this page.  Based on my Yagi dimensions, this showed a resonant frequency around 48 MHz.  I shortened my driven element whips about 2″ and brought the antenna to a perfect (enough) match!

Buddipole finally released a mini version of their adjustable shockcord whip, and today I got to test it with Wayne KD0VPR and his recently finished Bit20X transceiver. We made one contact from CO to NH but conditions were tough with a contest going on.

We had the Buddipole set up as a vertical, with 4 of the 11″ arms and the 9 section whip fully extended. We only needed 1.5 turns on the coil to make up for the slightly short 1/4 wave. Two opposing elevated radial wires were about 17′ each and dropped from the versatee at 8′ to about 2′ above ground at the ends. We made two more contacts, both to NH, from the same setup but 100w and an FT-450.

For anyone considering an adjustable whip, I would recommend this over the longer version, unless you go up to the 32″ one. The pricing needs to be updated for the 24″ version as it costs more right now than the 11″ version!

Ok, it took me a little while, but I finally have the feedburner plugin activated and working. Feel free to subscribe using the link in the sidebar.
Bryan N0BCB

I decided to try making my own shock corded whips for my Buddipole system. There are a couple of good reasons to do this. So far I’ve purchased all parts at 13″ or less to keep the Buddipole good for travel. The Buddipole whips look nice, but they’re 22″ long and are expensive.
For about $50 shipped from quest outfitters in Florida, I purchased (18) 13″ Easton 0.340″ tent poles. My plan is to machine brass adapters for a tight slip fit between sections, and a 3/8-24 brass adapter for the versatee. All parts will be held together with 1/8″ shockcord. This will give me a set that can be used as a dipole, or as a vertical with my RAK. More updates once I start turning metal!