Simple $3.00 Ham Radio Antenna. 2M Moxon

I had the opportunity to find some old Camping stools from SAVERS, a local thrift store, so I destroyed them and made a Moxon antenna!
I have heard the stories of a Lawn chair dipole and Yagi - (Check out • The Lawn Chair Dipole ... for Ham Radio Crash Course's Lawn Chair Dipole) or qsysociety.org/2009/01/04/6-m... for a 6 meter lawn chair moxon (This idea is nothing new)
Links referenced:
Antenna Top Moxon build instructions (VERY GOOD INSTRUCTIONS) - These instructions are super easy to understand and the detail that is gone into is not overly complicated : www.antentop.org/w4rnl.001/mvh...
Moxon calculator in multiple measurements (Inches, Feet, MM, etc) - tippete.net/cgi-bin/moxgen.pl
I forgot to mention why this Moxon really wasn't $3.00:
the metals were $3.00, but nuts and bolts cost me 11.50 cents. I used stainless steel nuts and bolts.
The coax was RG59 which was laying around. The PVC I also had laying around. I would still say this could be built for less than 20.
I will have the spacers available on Thingiverse in the future.
In FULL clarity: My motivation from that spacer came from my Hygain 5 element Yagi, which uses a cool, similar piece. I have a few ideas for the future improvement.
I realize this is a long video, but I wanted to document how i went through this build, in order to help others. I openly admit that I am in pursuit of knowledge every day and I am just as wet behind the ears as most, but I ENJOY this kind of learning and I know others do as well.
Thank You for watching.

[@user-lb1er7ph5b]

3 dollar antenna. Assuming you already have a 3D printer, PVC and Aluminum tubing, wire connectors, bolts and nuts, coax and appropriate connectors, etc. I was disappointed when I discovered this was basically click bait. Very cool project tho

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

You don't need a 3-D printer. You could go to the library and they print things for free at almost every library across america. Although I can't be a psychic and predict what happens in other countries or libraries. Maybe your library doesn't have a 3-D printer. Then maybe you can actually go to a club and find that one of your club members has a 3D printer and would probably do it for free. This video is hardly click bait

[@DenaliDad]

Your initial description reminds me of my own son. When he was a young teenager with his own room, his mother and I would give him our unused, usually inoperative, electronic devices such as radios, irons, toasters, and one old phonograph. He would take them apart and try to put them back together. I remember one experience when he brought an iron to me that he had put back together. He had two pieces in his hand and told me, "I think there were extra parts in this because there's no place for these." We never, *ever* plugged any of the "repaired" items into an electric socket...for obvious safety reasons! I But later, as an adult, this inquisitive kid got into computers and eventually was certified as an MCSE. He got a very high-paying job with a computer contractor responsible for national and international networks, data centres, and call centres. I guess taking an iron or two apart worked out, eh?

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

It's funny. I was just thinking about this today. As I tore a battery apart and took a look inside, then went to my junk drawer for something.... I thought, "hey i'm still doing it... imagine what my parents would think". Very good, and thanks for sharing :)

[@user-ng8dk1ie5n]

I nearly fell down laughing at the "SWR Oil." You just threw that in there without skipping a beat. Too dang funny. Great video. I love the re-use of everyday items as homebrew materials.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

I try to frequently add a zinger or sly joke in there every now and then 🤣 Thanks!

[@hammathguy3995]

Number 1 - SWR Grease only works on 11 meters. A well known fact. Number 2 - Any antenna that shapes its radiation pattern to "steal" power from the back and focus it in front is a "beam". Whether it be a Yagi, Moxon or a log periodic. So, yer good to go. Number 3 - I think the word you were looking for to describe the holes you really wanted was "slot". By using slots you could adjust the spacing. Number 4 - There isn't a number 4. This has been great fun. Let's do it again soon.

[@azarellediaz4892]

The problem is that if he mentioned that he wanted to include a slot… the slut next door might volunteer😂😂😂

[@haramanggapuja]

Sweet video. After I took my first wind-up train apart with a butter knife, Dad bought me a box of tools and let me loose on old radios, lawn mowers, piles of wood & a couple bicycles. So now I have to (a) get over Omicron BA4/5, (b) test negative for same & survive my next doctor’s appointment, (c) find a couple aluminium camp stools, some PVC tubing & a person with a 3D printner, and (d) build one of those doodads. ;-) Thanks for the grand tour. We tool users are getting more rare by the day. Stay well! 73 de W8IJN

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

I'll send you some of the spacers. Are you good on QRZ? I'm excited to see what you can do!

[@haramanggapuja]

@@HAMRADIODUDE QRZ? Yep. In there. . . . Nice simple design like that, should be easy to replicate. Without mutations, of course ;-) Stay well, amigo. Paxlovid does work but having to take it ain't no fun at all.

[@billwhite659]

Built one for 220 from cheap TV antenna works great and used the rotor that came with the TV antenna. sweet

[@thunderjagman]

Thank you for your explaining how to tune the moxon. I tried to make one a few years ago. I could not get the tuning right using heavy gauge galvinized steel. I did not know what I was doing. This makes it easier. The way you commented on shining the antenna reminded me of CHristmas vacation where Clark tells his son, "You want it to look good, don't ya Russ? Of course you do."

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

You are welcome!

[@stevethibodeauxn4sfc257]

SWR Oil, goes great with a box of gridsquares.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

It's true. Mine are in a box at storage at the moment

[@phildurall7466]

Nice! Educational and entertaining. You have found your groove Sean!

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

I appreciate it, those are very kind words to hear. I look forward to more! Take care, Phil!

[@user-cv3px9gv4n]

If you are noticing pattern problems, put a balun on. Such a balun can also keep electrical noise from the house from being *conducted* onto the antenna by the coax shield. Sometimes an antenna with a choke balun will be quieter than one without. The more you care about your antenna's directional pattern (long boom yagis, etc) the more you need to worry about making sure the feedline doesn't become part of the antenna and radiate in unwanted directions.

[@richard-fy2mu]

I ran your calculations for 1 inch and got 2.305 ft. or 27.713 inches. As a lightweight antenna with mine 10 gouge. I strap to bad arm and just point. Use other for radio dial and log. Estimate mine is $12.54 from Home Depot. Issue is I never got 50 ohms but about 48 as fine measure on gap never happened. But I did ISS, SO50, and now going QRP with FT 857 for dual USB/LSB sats.

[@tangle70]

Join or Die tat, love it. There is nothing wrong with taking things apart as a kid. How else do you learn how it works?

[@radiotests]

Thanks brother, Im disabled and all my money goes to medical and this lousy cost of living. Videos like this are worth gold! And you can steal your wife's sewing cloth tape for corners, lol at your own risk. An old timer who invented the QUAGI informed me that larger diameter does have a big change on the center of the band. I shoot for 146mhz for voice. You should look up the QUAGI of the 1971 QST 73 😁

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Shoot me an email. I know we're close.. let's talk

[@howardkarse9915]

Repurposing material - excellent! Cool project and one of many cool ways I am seeing to build a Moxon. The club I am in had a DIY Antenna Day in which you could build a 2M Moxon or 49:1 Unun. Had more building the 2M Moxon and in a variety of ways including a pvc pipe frame and wood frames: some used wire others 1/8" easy form aluminum tubing (me). We used the dimensions from the same site you used and most passed muster on the analyzer. Folks had fun and left with a working 2M Moxon - some of whom used them to improve their signals on our weekly simplex net!

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Awesome! I am glad to hear others are enjoying the homebrew stuff and finding useful uses for stuff that may not longer be useful! Thanks!

[@ozone385]

Great stuff Dude, keep up the good work.

[@K7VZ]

Neat video. I built a 2m moxon years ago out of 1/2" copper pipe. I had issues with the spacers and should revisit it now that 3D printing is an option.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Do you want me to scale these spacers down for you?

[@K7VZ]

@@HAMRADIODUDE Nah, I think I'd probably draw up my own spacers. I have it mounted slightly different. Great video and motivation to homebrew antennas.

[@garyclark4930]

Great video. The diameter of the tubing makes a big difference on the length of the sides. Like you said, the web sites are usually talking about wire and not tubing. I made a tape measure dipole antenna, the tape measure I used were an inch wide. Because of that my calculations for the different bands were all way to long. Figuring it all out is part of the fun building antennas. Nice video Gary KF6EWO

[@jonathanhaynes9950]

I was unclear in this video that the antenna builder was measuring from the center-to-center of the tubing. It appeared he was measuring from the outer edge. Additionally, the calculator(s) I used didn't give ANY variation in the specs when I changed the diameter of the wire, or designated it as tubing. In fact, most of them gave "diameter out of parameters" warnings when I set the diameter to 25.5mm or 1". I built the exact same antenna and am going to test it today. This video would definitely benefit from some actual final dimensions clearly stated or printed anywhere. By the end I was unsure what size anything actually was. But... I built it!

[@thecarys563]

I appreciate you sharing the experiment and the link. I might like to make a 6m Moxon for the top of my trellis in HOA. Horizontal shouldn't be seen by neighbors.

[@labcat73]

Great video! Once you have the material and know the correct length, things are easy. The baby steps calculating, cutting, measuring and doing it over and over again is what makes it sometimes a bit tedious.

[@vk3ut]

Great job Sean Amature radio operators are great intorvators top job mate Greg Vk3ut i keep an eye on your Channel 73 Uncle Tommy .👍

[@loclhst]

Instead of drilling the holes, you could make a clamping mechanism with the printed parts. It won't be as solid, however it will be more adjustable. And you can retrofit it on already drilled parts!

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

This sounds like a wonderful idea

[@LB0FI]

As someone who knows Central Illinois better than most Norwegians I would say that Peoria is more pretty much in the center of the state more than almost across the state :) Anyway, great video as usual, and great to see that you not only shows what works, but also what doesn't.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Hahha.. fair point.. .. that's still a haul. I made contact to Alabama on 2m ft8 this morning (with my 5 element ).. take care buddy

[@LB0FI]

@@HAMRADIODUDE That's a good haul on 2m. I'm impressed. I'm waiting on a working rotor so I can point my yagis towards northern Illinois to see if I can get W9FFF in my log on 6m and 10m. I guess 2m would be close to impossible.

[@KM4ACK]

Good video Dude!

[@Bass-guitarist]

Great video and given me lots of ideas, instead of using bolts to secure the plastic brackets to the metal, what about slightly changing the sloping design on the wings to straight and rounded and use heavy duty jubilee clips? Then any adjustment could be made. Good work! 73 m0kty

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

That makes sense! I've been having trouble focusing lately, but I will keep this in mind and it may be a good challenge for the brain. Good idea! Thanks!

[@davidgettman4695]

Well done!

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Thank you

[@kirkgroeneveld3191]

Happy Holidays and thanks for the instructional video. I took your advice and hunted for a used tubular leg fishing stool, and scored one for $5. I have drilled out the rivet, but the tubes appear to be somewhat narrower in size. I have the legs separated from the seat webbing. Do you have plans or a link to how to 3-D print those support braces?

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Thnaks! www.thingiverse.com/thing:5414598 If they are too large, you should be able to scale them down. Good luck!

[@aldewitt9]

Great video

[@crabbycrouton4925]

I just tossed two of those chairs I found in the garage last week because they were funky, damnit

[@DonzLockz]

I gotta get me some of that swr oil rub it on everything!😂 Neat antenna build, I think the swr oil helped alot.🤪👍

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

I'm going to try swr wax next

[@503Nick]

Very cool. Nice video Dude

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

I have some fun updates hopefully soon

[@ToppKatt7]

a tip.....if you want an easier way to slot aluminum tubing you can use a dremel tool with a cutting wheel rather than a drill press...🙂 also horizontal to vertical loss due to polarization is around 3 to 6 db dependent on frequency

[@azarellediaz4892]

Thanks for the introduction of an antenna I’d never heard of. Pretty cool build and great instructions to go along with it. Now, can these be built for other bands?

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

A moxon, absolutely. You may find it to be more beneficial on bands like 10m, 20m (hf in general). There is a lot of good build videos out there. Have a good one!

[@FreeStuffGuy916]

N6EF-I wouldn't have thought of using a camp chair for building a Moxon. Clever idea. I have to try that. I like the SWR oil idea. Adds some extra performance and looks good at the same time. How can you go wrong with that? Keep up the great videos.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Thank you! In fairness, the lawn chair idea was posted in many places for a Yagi (link on description), I just got lucky and found a good one at the goodwill. More to come, I believe

[@luisdj-intecnogy407]

Very funny, educational and entertaining video. Thanks de XE2B

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Thank you. I'll have more like this in the fall time. Take care

[@cmritchie04]

Did you try making battery packs for older commercial radios? With your 3d printer....

[@user-cv3px9gv4n]

Nice video and can I use RG-8X coax coil on 1/2" PVC tubing.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

For an air wound choke, I don't see why not

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Rg8x is lossy, but a few feet won't matter .. thank you, by the way

[@cmritchie04]

did you try the 2 meter Crutches?

[@barrykery1175]

Pretty creative ! Neat video. Barry, KU3X

[@nine7295]

So what's the velocity factor for aluminum tube, since you mentioned it?

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

.96 m/s for 1" aluminum tubing, which is probably not enough difference to matter. Any ideas? k7mem.com/Ant_Element_Lengths.html

[@W3OY-RAY]

Nicely done.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Thank you Ray. Had some improvement ideas this morning.

[@W3OY-RAY]

@@HAMRADIODUDE very cool. Use that guy to work Carlos on his next jump.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

@@W3OY-RAY I definitely will. I can get to the repeater near his jump site. 5 Watts, full quieting

[@W3OY-RAY]

@@HAMRADIODUDE I'm going to try my hand at building a yagi just to see if I can work him.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

@@W3OY-RAY well, depends on how many elements you have to work with and maybe conditions that day (tropo).. but o think he's actually been heard in PA. You should Totally do it

[@Porco_Utah]

I like Moxon antenna for portable use, because it is not as dangerous compare to Yagi. it has round corner not sharp pointed element of yagi. AG6JU

[@user-cv3px9gv4n]

What about RG58 coax for choke coil

[@behnamahmadzadeh688]

Do you sell SWR oil? Please share the link for it. ;)))

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Ah, just sold out yesterday! Sorry!

[@24So]

Nice, looking to build for 10meters

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Kk6usy built a 20m one on his channel. I used it and it was definitely a great performer. California to France on 10w

[@paulsengupta971]

That's going to need a big chair.

[@maikerumine]

Bad ass video man! I love 'custrom' antennas!! 73 KE8SDS

[@garrywoodward9049]

Waving ones' arms about can be quite distracting when making a demonstration video! Thanks for the subject matter.

[@johnlinebarger2922]

The grilfriend commemt just earned you a follwing and some likes! 😂😂😂😂

[@brentjohnson6654]

How much is that SWR oil, Dude? Haha. Great video! All the best!

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

usually it's about $200 for small 3 oz bottle. However, it's prime day so you get two bottles for that same price.. act now, operators are standing by

[@brentjohnson6654]

@@HAMRADIODUDE oh good. Time to stock up.

[@TheAndyRavage]

I’m in between Champaign and Danville. KD9VQU.

[@ZommBleed]

...25 dB gain of loss... I like your style.

[@devinholland2189]

If you ever revisit this put the slots you wanted in the print instead of the tubing.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

I just so happened to pick up 4 more of these at Goodwill on Wednesday. Thanks for the tip. Something better coming, certainly (once it warms up)

[@ambofh16]

FT8 in Peoria? good chance that was me!

[@ambofh16]

but, i've never seen FT8 on 2m.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

W9ff was the call, if I remember

[@ambofh16]

I've yet to put you in my logs.

[@Planedude60]

Very nice Dude! I'm going to send you some pictures of a radio bag I assembled using a BTECH 25x4 radio. I'll get them sent to you as soon as I can.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Nice! Looking forward to it!

[@milwman1958]

How about a 6 Meter? KF0HRF

[@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG]

MacGiver (sp?) would have used a coat hanger and chewing gum. Of course, this is only necessary if you're being shot at during the build...you're probably fine doing it your own way... (On the other hand, if you try to use your new moxon while camping, you'll have no place to sit...)

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Too bad there wasn't a quick disconnect to turn it back into a chair :)

[@InflatedDolphin]

Always measure from the centre of your material to the centre of your material, never the outside or inside edges, you'll always have the wrong tune if you do it that way.

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

I appreciate that, thank you!

[@TI2GBB]

The chairs came from Costa Rica? Really? 73s! TI2GBB - Greg!

[@user-il4ri3gy2o]

Probably be better for direction finding if it was flat metal due to skin effect maybe. great vid though

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Interesting and good point

[@dougdunlap5889]

drill out them rivets

[@HAMRADIODUDE]

Thanks!

[@DocDavidErickson]

Wouldn't it be awesome if SWR oil was a real thing lol

[@user-rg9bo4kp7l]

Perfect, wow! A nice project, thanx and good dx de DM1JF.

[@JediOfTheRepublic]

LMAO SWR oil

[@greenflagracing7067]

clickbait

[@tapaschakraborty3961]

Ok Nice de VU2TKC KOLKATA INDIA

[@DucatiMTS1200]

Brill. video. 73 de GI8WFA.