Even in today’s digital era, the world of ham radio with its thousands of enthusiasts is still a large one. Matter of fact, it’s actually seeing a resurgence in the last few years. With all that digital devices offer today, there’s still something to be said for creating something by hand and being functional. And it can be fun to create something and use it to communicate with others across the globe, as one FORMUFIT customer in the San Francisco area has shown!
This particular customer was inspired by our plans for a three-point mast antenna holder and with a bit of engineering ingenuity, constructed his own spiral dipole antenna. Without getting too much on the technical side of things, a spiral dipole antenna is basically called as such as there are two poles that form the antenna, with a wire spiral strung in a particular fashion around the two poles. This creates a very powerful yet inexpensive and compact HF radio antenna that is popular with so many ham radio operators. Plus, by using our furniture grade PVC piping and fittings, the result is a construction that is also lightweight and durable.
To many, the idea of constructing such an antenna may seem like a daunting task, but this particular customer outlines his plans and parts along with step-by-step instructions on his page here. Though he gets into great technical detail on that page, you’ll find the parts list and instructions for building the antenna to be very straightforward. The antenna is compact enough to fit on his apartment patio, yet powerful enough to communicate with ham radio operators as far away as Australia!
By utilizing FORMUFIT furniture grade PVC piping, our plans for the three-point mast antenna holder and taking it a step further with some engineering know-how, this California customer shows that the options for using our products are absolutely limitless!
