How thick is sufficient for 2m/70cm Yagies? (

Steven, KI5QAD, has noticed that the Yagi antenna has small elements and wire. He is wondering if increasing the diameter of the wire would be better? Increase range, Strength, Bandwidth, etc
Subscribe: / davecasler . Ask Dave Playlist: goo.gl/inaQeB. Tip Jar: ke0og.net/tip-jar
Edited by Callum Jakeman
To learn more about me, visit: www.dcasler.com/about/
Tip jar (on my website): www.dcasler.com/tip-jar/ (provides a method to use your credit card via PayPal, Also describes Patreon)
To pose an Ask Dave question: www.dcasler.com/ask-dave/ or www.ke0og.net/ask-dave/
To order the most recent and up-to-date Amateur Extra videos on a thumb drive: dcasler.com/aevids-on-stick/
Theme music is "Sour Tennessee Red," by John Deley and the 41 Players, courtesy KZbin Music Library.
I use drawings from OpenClipArt.org, including the "walking man"
Technician training videos, see www.ke0og.net/training/
General training videos, see www.ke0og.net/general/
Amateur Extra training videos, see www.ke0og.net/extra/
List of the Ask Dave videos, see dcasler.com/ask-dave/#askdavelist
Thanks to my sweet wife, Loretta, KBØVWW, for both audio and video assistance! (Her website is www.aldea-art.com.)
My primary website: www.dcasler.com
The ham radio part of my website (direct link): www.ke0og.net
My publishing website: www.mtsneffelspress.com, where you can find my fantasy and science fiction books, as well as some local history books I publish for the Ridgway Railroad Museum and the Ouray County Historical Society
My Amazon author page, which lists my print and Kindle books: www.amazon.com/-/e/B00471I0Q4.
I'm often asked what equipment I use to create the videos. The devices include the Panasonic DMC-G7 camera, Panasonic HDC-TM90 video camera, GoPro Hero2 HD camera, Tascam DR-05 audio recorder, Audio-Technica ATR-3350 lapel microphone, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W560 digital camera, the Kodak Zi-8 video camera, my iPhone 5S. Software used: CyberLink PowerDirector 17 on an HP Gaming Pavilion, also using Smoothdraw 4.0.5.0, FastStone Image Viewer 5.3, FastStone Capture 8.0, Audacity 2.1.1, LibreOffice 5.0.4.2, and Ink2Go 1.7.2. You can see how my studio is set up by viewing • Tips for Making Instru... .
Twitter: @dcasler

[@K5JHP-John]

Love your content. Been watching you for months.

[@AdamosDad]

I've been at 72 years of age been a ham for almost 2 years, 1 month as a tech and the rest as a general. I bought a 1 inch aluminum square tube and some 3/8 aluminum rod, to make a 2meter 3 element YAGI it is wide banded.

[@LuckySawdust]

About to do some DIY yagi and quad work - thanks for this!

[@markg6jvy135]

Good info Dave, thanks 👍👏👏

[@user-ki2ok6ww4y]

Casler You made it sound like the elements could be plastic or wood..for those who are a mature amateurs..

[@BusDriverRFI]

On EZNEC, I have modeled an 80m dipole passive which exhibits better than a 1.5:1 SWR over the entire band. I Think it looks feasible without resistors.

[@howardhiggins9641]

I built a Yagi 50 years ago with a steel beam, and it didn't work worth beans. In a fit of desperation, I replaced it with a small broom stick, and it worked great.

[@jamess1787]

That's great 😊👍

[@stridermt2k]

Great stuff and an interesting question too! Thanks Dave! 73 de N2NLQ

[@KillerSpud]

The Antenna Dave was talking about is called a "Caged Dipole," go ahead and google that term. They do look pretty difficult to work with physically, especially if you want to build an 80m version. Fortunately 80m is the only band where you can't always get away with a simple thin wire antenna. If you want to be able to receive broad band around something like 400-500mhz, then some thick elements might not be very hard to build. There is no reason you can't go out and do some experimenting. Edit: An 80m/75m fan dipole would be a lot easier to build than a Caged Dipole.

[@kelvin0mql]

Kevin L., The Old Tech Guy did an experiment recently with a caged EFHW on 20m & got impressive bandwidth improvement, however dubiously it might be to say it was needed. Interesting, nonetheless. As for me, I run an inverted V with a motor in the middle that runs 2 spools of stainless thin cable… so I can lengthen or shorten the dipole at will without leaving the shack. It’s pretty nice to never (OK, rarely) need to engage the tuner at all. Every antenna is a compromise… I compromised on up front cost. LOL

[@david_W5QDF]

The thicker elements results in higher wind resistance which can be detrimental for the average pole the yagi is mounted on. Lower wind resistance puts less stress on the structure holding the yagi up in the sky 📻

[@mmpiforall5913]

In the OWA example, is the characteristic impedance 50 ohms or is a balun required. Can the spacing of the first director be used to tune impedance?

[@DontTreadOnMe825]

Thanks Dave - informative as always :) 73 de M7CCQ

[@zephaniahpickering4658]

Why don't you show how to do 70 cm 3 element yagi?

[@abitofeverything9970]

half an inch is 12.7mm not 13.1

[@davecasler]

you are correct. I had the wrong conversion factor in my head. My 13mm wrench works very well on 1/2" bolts.

[@zephaniahpickering4658]

All you ever cover is 2 m

[@garrysekelli6776]

I'm still not comfortable with the radical leftist propaganda but I find the technological info provided on the channel interesting. Slightly.

[@gaptastic]

huh?

[@garrysekelli6776]

@@gaptastic watch his previous videos where he explains the Waco massacre as just the government doing it's job.

[@BryanTorok]

@@garrysekelli6776 Link? Title and/or date of that video? I would agree with you, but I've watched dozens of his video and seen nearly no political commentary.

[@kelvin0mql]

@@BryanTorok Well… Dave recently got pretty animated about 80m. Some of that could be seen by some (not me) as political. Depends on one’s perspective.