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Tape Measure Yagi Antenna
2022-04-04 | By bekathwia
License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
My interpretation of this classic ham project utilizes bits of standard measuring tape steel as radials, a 1-inch PVC pipe as the pole, and 3D printed couplers to connect the radials to the pole.
For this project, you will need:
1″ OD diameter PVC pipe at least 3 feet long
USB RTL-SDR module with antenna for testing
Computer running CubicSDR software
Solid-core wire (just a small piece)
3D printer (I’m using my Creality CR-10s Pro)
nanoVNA (optional but handy for tuning)
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You can print or modify my design on Tinkercad.
I followed 2m band specs I found online for the length and spacing of the tape measure pieces. Many have built these before and documented their designs. Here are the writeups I found most useful:
Joe Leggio WB2HOL Tape Measure Beam Optimized for Radio Direction Finding
South Canadian Amateur Radio Society’s Tape Measure VHF/UHF Yagi Antenna
The driven element pieces are connected to each other with a wire folded into a hairpin shape. I sanded off the paint from the tape measure steel where I wanted to solder and connected the driven elements with the hairpin wire as well as the two parts of the coaxial cable.
You can read more about my adventures listening to satellites with this antenna on my website. To make your own, pick up the following supplies from Digi-Key:
Denmark