Introduction
Cooper elements for a 6m three element LFA Yagi Antenna (aka LFA Yagi-Uda Antenna) have no use until secured to a boom.
This post completes our construction notes for the LFA Yagi made with copper tubing.
LFA Yagi Antenna Materials
Copper pipe element construction was covered in previous posts.
The boom mounting materials use PVC plumbing tees with a PVC pipe glued in to strengthen the holes which hold the copper pipe elements onto the boom. This inspiration for this technique came from K5DIY featured on Justin’s 6m web page.
An 8 foot aluminum pipe serves as the boom for this 6m LFA Yagi.
A boom/mast plate from DX Engineering holds the boom to my aluminum mast.
A three foot wood dowel reinforces the break in the copper at the loop feed point.
LFA Yagi Assembly Photographs
Conclusion
Well, it appears I now have a functional field portable 6m three element Yagi-Uda beam using LFA techniques. I’ve only used it once during KX4O Field Day 2012 (Link below), but no Magic Band openings were found like in 2011.
I’ll try it out during a VHF contest for more aggressive testing and report the findings here.
Thanks very much for the extensive and useful article; I'm chomping at the bit; just finished a 6m j-pole. Couple of questions. I assume that in the "cutting" article when you said, "Test fit then solder" you omitted first slipping on the tee on one leg? The feed point tee can be added later as the pipe is to be cut.
What diameter boom did you use? Fittings? What type of copper pipe – the I.D.s are different.
Thanks, Christian KD2LIN