Simple Dipole with Hot-Swapable Conductors
This is a super easy build but it is incredibly useful. Made from an old plastic 45 gallon barrel that was repurposed, the base is formed into a wire winder. You could 3D print a more elegant version to be sure. This DIY was made from scrap lying around in authentic ham style!
The simple genius of this build is the ability to change the wire dipole legs. You make one base and then various dipole lengths tuned for your desired band. With a simple ring terminal on the end of the wire, it makes it easy to swap them out when you want to switch bands in the field.
The center of the SO-239 connector is soldered to a jumper wire which goes to a mounting bolt while the ground side jumper connects to the opposite side mounting bolt. A wingnut holds the ring terminal in place. I drilled a few extra holes in the plastic base and wound the radials (speaker wire) through for strain relief. The ball bungee serves dual purpose. It hangs the dipole base as well as keeps the attached radials neat for storage.
The other gem of this build is how the conductors terminate. At Peavey Mart you can get electric fence corner insulators. An entire bag of them is pretty cheap. I drilled 3 small holes in the them so that you can wind the end of the dipole wire through it. This ensures the wire isn't going anywhere. It insulates the wires, as well as providing a place for rope or a carabiner to tie it off.
Thanks for checking out this build!
VE5REV 73!