rusty_curry

PaintStick Antenna adapter with GuyWire links.

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PaintStick Antenna adapter with GuyWire links. 3d model
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PaintStick Antenna adapter with GuyWire links. 3d model
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PaintStick Antenna adapter with GuyWire links. 3d model
PaintStick Antenna adapter with GuyWire links. 3d model

So you want to have a portable 20 meter full length dipole or one of the G5RV Jr. antenna's that you can get up off the ground quickly. Print up two of these. Stop by your local big-box store and pick up a couple of 24' or 32' telescoping paint poles, some rope, and 4 temporary dog run screws (they look like a piece of 3/8th inch stainless corkscrews that are a good foot and a half long with a triangle top, and a place to hook up a dog lead. (*OK these work well in dense soil, but if you have sandy soil, or muddy soil, they may not work out so well. Add a few Cement blocks for holding down the ground end of your guy wires. in addition to the screw, and try not to end up in the quicksand.) Figure out where you want your feed point to be, and how the antenna is going to be set up, and lay all that out. Guy lines should be pointing off at about 60 degrees from the line heading out from your antenna end points where the poles are going to be. If you're good with triganometry, you can calculate and pre-set where the guy lines should go into the gound, and how long they should be. At the very worst, go with a 3/4/5 ratio, with your mast being the '4', so divide that 24 or 32' by 4, giving 6 or 8, walk 18 or 24 feet out from where the mast is going to be, on each of those 60 degree angles, sink your screw into the ground, and tie either 30 or 40 feet of guy line (not paracord, but a length of dacron antenna rope, not the stuff with an embed conductor either) and tie the other end off to one of the two identical rings on the adapter. Use either a zip tie, a carabiner or a carabiner with a pully all queued up for lifting your antenna up if you would rather do that, and a rope to tie off to the far end of the antenna. Extend out your telescoping paint stick, fit the screw through the center hole, with the rounded exterior at the top, and the handle end off between your guy points, and tighten all the fittings so that the pole remains extended. You should now be able to lift the pole up most of the way towards vertical, go to the other end, of the antenna and do the same. Make any final adjustments and antenna attachments at the center, then lift the poles to be vertical, and start making contacts.

I don't really recommend this for 30' and below, mostly because you will want a bit more clearance off the ground, but you may be OK with a pair of 30' poles, as long as you realize it's a compromise situation. I'm pretty sure you're looking to put in sime sort of a permanent solution in any case.

For such a setup, I recommend printing 2, perhaps a couple extras just in case, and giving them a paint job to seal them from rain infiltration, as that may affect the operating characteristics of the antenna. If you end up really liking this setup, the paint will probably be a help in time for keeping the UV from breaking down whatever you print with.

I've included an 'edge' with a 45 degree surface on it for printing if you want to reduce how much of the print is directly printed on the bed. When I use this I use Tree support to deal with the various hole edges that will otherwise be an issue. These do not 'screw' onto the end of the paint pole. They are unlikely to just blow off in my opinion. But you're perfectly welcome to remix using a paint pole screw hole model if you have one available, or want to slice one off of another model and replace the tapered cone at the top of this.

This is a fairly simple model. I'm sure that there are a dozen of them out there. I put this one together so that I can have a setup for when I head out on a drive, I can set up a station at a rest stop along the way, and perhaps get some contacts made.

Have fun, stay safe, and keep your paint poles away from power lines. Those are a really bad match for your rig.


1 Likes3 DownloadsAugust 23, 2024


1 Likes3 DownloadsAugust 23, 2024