Ed Fong Antenna Arrived, Updated
Edison Fong’s DBJ-1 ham antenna arrived in the mail today, 3 days before the estimated delivery, and I’m excited to finally start building a base station! I’ll be posting more on the construction and mounting once I go shopping for the remaining parts.
Ed is selling the antennas, built and tuned, to help pay for materials for his RF Wireless Communications and I/O Design Fundamentals classes at the University of California Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley. I love that I am able to find affordable functional equipment like this and my uBitx HF Transceiver Kit, and am able to help others in the process!
As a seller, Ed is very forthcoming with information. In order to keep shipping costs down, the antenna doesn’t come with the PVC pipe used for the casing. But, for under $3, I can go to Lowe’s and get Item #23990, which Ed explains on his eBay store and in a personal note included with the antenna, thanking me for supporting his students. A warranty is also provided, for repair or replacement – as long as I don’t glue the PVC together. I’ve read stories where he’s even communicated with buyers, to help them install the antennas and attain a low SWR (Standing Wave Ratio)
More information about him, his classes, and the products, are available at his website, Ed’s Antennas. More information on how the antenna works is available to ARRL members in the QST magazine archive, FEB 2003 – QST (PG. 38).
Thursday night, at the May 17th informal meeting of the Wireless Society of Southern Maine, Rich KC1RHM loaned me a short coax with SO-239 connectors that he had on hand, so that I may at least try the antenna with my handheld while I work on measuring for the length of cable I’ll need for its final mounting location.
Friday night, I tried it with my handheld to see what repeaters I could hit, to my wife’s amusement. I was going to hang from a tree so that I didn’t have to hold it, but we ran out of daylight.
Sunday, I roped it to my son’s treehouse, and played with APRS. Nobody was listening for a radio test, but I was able to make some progress with APRS.
