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DIY sharkfins (Ramsey LPY41)


jason porter

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I finished mine this evening. I used RG174 to keep it light. I have Female BNC's on order so I'll change these SMA's out later.

I mounted them with an old mic clip, using the existing screw and 2 rubber washers to take up space and to hold them snugly into place. They seem to work pretty well so far. I put an HM on the other side of the house and it had nice signal...I chose that to test because it doesn't have an external antenna..But I also tested with my LT and it worked even better. 20150624_233958.thumb.jpg.b667c96d4847d020150624_233944.thumb.jpg.be7af17632c384

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  • 1 year later...

My DIY sharkfins. Super easy to make (thanks Ken Wilkenson for the encouragement). 

I took some aesthetic license and went with PC board green, wood and brass. I used commercial conduit for the crossbar, but I didn't figure the paint would adhere to the galvanized surface too keenly. And it didn't. I'll switch it out for aluminum eventually. I also got SMA disconnects for the cabling. Been using them for a while now, and they work great.  

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On 3/1/2017 at 10:15 AM, Rachel Cameron said:

Thanks Mark, for the suggestion. Currently, I'm working on a storage/quick deploy system for them. I've yet to figure out a way to hang the two splitters in a permanent, but out-of-the-way spot on the cart, too.

I mounted mine to a piece of aluminum bar stock by means of some hardware store L brackets, with the lower back corner of the circuit boards held in a sandwich of pieces of ABS plastic, bolted through.  (With a "baby" receiver bolted to the center of the bar.)  With the L brackets attached to the bar with a single bolt the antennas can pivot inward, so the thing folds flat--easier to transport--can even go in a case w/o being disassembled.   You can for sure think of a more elegant way to mount the fins, and I must say that they've held up really well over 15 yrs of use.  btw, what's inside the black fabric covering of an RF "Venue" antenna is basically the same "circuit board" type LPA.

I would not recommend trying to move the connector to the back--you might ruin the antenna by removing the connector from where they put it...

 

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