Homebrewing 6 Element OWA VHF Yagi (10dBi) – hamradio

Here are few photos that 9W2AZV and I have taken during the course of building our 6 element OWA yagi with 10dbi gain.

Materials used to contruct the antenna

• 8mm aluminium tube, 20 feet
• 6 feet length of 3/4″ PVC plumbing pipe
• Ordinary household plug box

We use a plan taken from LB Cebik (W4RNL) website, first covered in : 10dBi – 6 element OWA Yagi-Uda Antenna for 2 meter band

Here are the photos of the antenna in construction :

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Tools used

The total cost of the yagi construction was RM25 (USD 8.50) for the materials alone. Later we put it on a cheap tv antenna rotator which cost us another RM40 (USD 13.5)

Here are the video of the antenna mounted on ordinary TV rotator :

Antenna Performance
The antenna has 1.3:1 reading (20watt) tx on 145.575MHz. 1.1:1 on 145.0MHz and 1.75:1 on 148.0MHz.

Up until now the antenna have recorded a distance record of approximately 180km on 2 meter FM QSO (from Beseri, Perlis to Bukit Merah, Perak) on 5W (51, 53 signal report). Other record includes distance communication between Alor Setar and Parit Buntar (distance 110km) on 10W (signal report 53,53).

The theoritical distance of this antenna if is mounted sufficiently high enough above obstacle is about 400km-500km. We only manage to mount it about 20 feet above the ground

You can find the antenna plan on : 10dBi – 6 element OWA Yagi-Uda Antenna for 2 meter band