The following is the familiar 2 meter Jpole: (from N5RCK) Now to modify it for 222Mhz. The following is a description of a J-Pole antenna made from 300 ohm TV twin-lead. They have quite a few advantages which include improved performance for HTs, portability, and low cost. | | do not short this end. | | (when trimming for vswr, cut both sides) | | | | | | 3/4 | | Technically-speaking, this is a 1/2 wave | | wave end-fed antenna with a 1/4 wave | | matching section. | | | 1/4" gap | | (trim for vswr _below_ gap) | | 1/4 | | wave | | coax ctr conductor=>* *<= coax shield 1 1/4"-| | -*- solder the twin leads together at bottom For a center frequency of 146 MHz: 1. Start with @54" of TV twin lead (flat, NOT foam core) 2. Strip 1/2" of insulation at bottom and solder wires together. 3. Measure 1 1/4" from soldered wires and strip insulation on both sides. This is the solder point for a coax feedline. 4. Measure 16 3/4" from coax shield solder point and cut out 1/4" notch. 5. Measure 50 1/3" from coax center conductor solder point and trim off twin lead at that point. 6. Feed with a length of RG58U coax. Tape coax at feedpoint to the twin lead for strength and seal coax for weather protection. To get the best possible match, in step three above simply MARK the "solder points" and measure from the mark for step 4 and 5. Now solder straight pins to your conductor and your shield. Insert the pins at the marked point and test for VSWR at the design frequency (146MHz). If necessary, probe up or down till you reach 1:1 (close as possible). Solder at the best points. To try this, you may want to start with the twin lead a little long and trim down to resonant length - note: you'll need to trim in a 3:1 ratio to maintain the 3/4 to 1/4 wave. (to keep RF off the feedline, use a ferrite bead or make a few turns of the coax to make a small choke, and tape it near at the feedpoint.) ----- I hacked a version of the above for the 222 MHz band. Figured I could scale the measurements by 146/223 (the 1/4 wave, 3/4 wave, and the stub). I have a Bird wattmeter to measure forward and reflected power to feel for SWR, Got a good match, and it seems to work as an antenna pretty well. numbers come out as: 3/4 wave section = 33" = 84cm 1/4 wave section = 11" = 28cm stub = 1" = 2.6cm stub is a little longer than a scaling would yield, maybe that compensates for the width of the twin lead not scaling, or maybe it's not critical?