Tape Measure Antenna

I've seen just the "finished" picture and wondered if he just used it as a retractable wire. But that looks pretty neat as an all-in-one unit. I didn't watch the video but I assume you have to scratch the coating off the tape where the alligator clip goes. I love the creative, screw it I'll just try it and see if it works

Yesterday I saw a couple videos of this guy and his 1600' electric fence antenna he put up around a corn field. Spoiler alert, he later adds another 1600' to make it a full loop.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD3J7oP5_CU
 
NARS teaches kids to build a tape measure antenna.
I chuckled at those, but then thought maybe I should try one. I've seen a bunch that go overboard (IMHO) with the pipe clamps and stuff. Just (electrical) tape the elements to the PVC and save some weight, cost, scratchy bits.

Would the tape measure tape work any different than say some 14# household wire? Is the tape just somewhat of a gimmick? Technically it's probably more metal, therefore better, but I wonder how it matters in practice. I imagine with wire you could just fold the elements up, rubber band them and be on your way. Watch yer eye though.

ETA: I actually read the article now and can see how the measuring tape would be much better for getting in and out of the car during fox hunts, which is what this is really meant for.

Edit the Second: If one used (electrical) tape (vs hose clamps), could they also skip the T and cross connectors and just use a length of pipe, or a broom handle or a stick? The (measuring) tape might want to just roll up, but it could be worth a try. Maybe wire would win in this application.

Edit number thrrrrreee: I realized I was talking about two kinds of tape, so I went back and clarified. C'mon bro.
 
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i can see this working for several applications...pretty clever. ya gotta love this stuff, right?
 
I chuckled at those, but then thought maybe I should try one. I've seen a bunch that go overboard (IMHO) with the pipe clamps and stuff. Just (electrical) tape the elements to the PVC and save some weight, cost, scratchy bits.

Would the tape measure tape work any different than say some 14# household wire? Is the tape just somewhat of a gimmick? Technically it's probably more metal, therefore better, but I wonder how it matters in practice. I imagine with wire you could just fold the elements up, rubber band them and be on your way. Watch yer eye though.

ETA: I actually read the article now and can see how the measuring tape would be much better for getting in and out of the car during fox hunts, which is what this is really meant for.

Edit the Second: If one used (electrical) tape (vs hose clamps), could they also skip the T and cross connectors and just use a length of pipe, or a broom handle or a stick? The (measuring) tape might want to just roll up, but it could be worth a try. Maybe wire would win in this application.

Edit number thrrrrreee: I realized I was talking about two kinds of tape, so I went back and clarified. C'mon bro.
That "model" was designed specifically for fox-hunting, portable in-hand device.
 
I've seen just the "finished" picture and wondered if he just used it as a retractable wire. But that looks pretty neat as an all-in-one unit. I didn't watch the video but I assume you have to scratch the coating off the tape where the alligator clip goes. I love the creative, screw it I'll just try it and see if it works

Yesterday I saw a couple videos of this guy and his 1600' electric fence antenna he put up around a corn field. Spoiler alert, he later adds another 1600' to make it a full loop.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD3J7oP5_CU

If that guy is visited by aliens I won’t act surprised.

👽
 
I've seen just the "finished" picture and wondered if he just used it as a retractable wire.
Conceptually, yes. (Except for the balun hidden inside; but let that go).

If one used (electrical) tape (vs hose clamps), could they also skip the T and cross connectors and just use a length of pipe, or a broom handle or a stick? The (measuring) tape might want to just roll up, but it could be worth a try. Maybe wire would win in this application.
You've got to have a longer length of metal measuring tape
than on the Nashua antenna before it wants to flop around.
(That design has no "reels" - the tape is cut to length off of
some Harbor Freight tape using the moral equivalent of tin snips).

DRTL - to the point , will this unscramble porn on Cinemax late-night?
Ham equipment? It will actually cause the actors to become clothed.
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I abandoned my house wire yagi build and made a 2m moxon antenna. While making some measurements I decided this hateful "autolock" tape measure that should be called "no way to lock" tape measure might become a tape measure yagi.

But back to the moxon... it's speaker wire, an SO-239 connector, a couple pieces of plexi, some scrap wood, hot melt glue and electrical tape. It looks like hell, receives pretty well, and I have no idea how it transmits because nobody answered my calls on either FM or SSB. I listened to a roundtable on a repeater I believe to be in Woodstock, NY (Overlook Mountain ARC, 50+ miles away), but didn't know the tone so I couldn't call in.

Moxons are supposed to be directional but I could hear the roundtable pointing in any direction. I think I'll bring it to my super secret squirrel location next time and see if I can raise anybody on FM or SSB. If it works well I may try and rebuild it with better components and include a mounting location so I don't have to hold it. 2m is touchy when it comes to tuning but I got it pretty much where I wanted it. I was aiming for about 146.52 and got lucky on the last tweak. I question that SWR; most of the time I was getting less than 1.1, but 1.2 is fine.

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Haha, using some things I learned from the moxon build, I set to work this morning on the previously abandoned yagi. The SWR dip is about 148MHz and gets down to about 2:1. A couple adjustments to the driven element spacing and it's down to 1.5:1. Now just a little trim to move the SWR dip down around 146.

D'oh. No amount of trimming is going to move the dip to a lower frequency. I should have waited until after coffee to start working on it. Oh well, I think I'll move on to the tape measure idea. It's a shame to cut up a practically new FatMax, but AutoLock is ass hoe.
 
I was programming calling frequencies on my FT-818 the other night, and wanted to see if the 60m channels came pre-programmed. I had my "tape measure" yagi attached and when I got to 60m (CH 3 I believe) I started hearing FT-8. Mind you this is a 2m yagi that is sitting on the floor pointed down. I checked the other channels to see if it picked anything up and I didn't hear anything, but I'll be damned if that 1/30 wave antenna didn't receive.
 
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