Close
0%
0%

20 Meter Inverted V Dipole

Homebrew amateur radio antenna for Summits on the Air

Similar projects worth following
120 views
This antenna was designed to be cheap to assemble and light to carry up a mountain.
The inveterted V antenna is a tried and true design so I used my love of 3D printing to make my own little concept.

The main part is a 3D printed head that fits on what seems to be a standard tent pole tip and holds the two arial elements of the inverted V which are soldered to a common BNC connector. I used a single guy wire made from standard parachute cord and the two arials to get the mast standing. The arials are terminated with little 3D printed ties and more p-cord

The most expensive part of this was the coaxial cable, which I ordered from DX engineering: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-8xdb050

The arial elements are made of reallt common stranded THHN wire I picked up from my local hardware store. The BNC connector fell off a truck somewhere.

All 3D printed using standard PLA on ubiquitous Creality printers. All printed parts were designed in FreeCad and I will make them available so you can adapt them to the materials you have handy.

I have tested this on my Xiegu X6200 radio, and its little SWR meter reports less than 1.5 SWR.

I'll connect it to the NanoVNA and see if I can get a smith chart to show on here, but it works surprisingly well.

PoleFoot.FCStd

A little spiked foot to keep the bottom the antenna from moving.

fcstd - 24.36 kB - 08/08/2025 at 03:35

Download

CableEnd.FCStd

Freecad file for the end of the elements. Can be used to tie down with p-cord

fcstd - 23.40 kB - 08/08/2025 at 03:35

Download

Third20mInvertedVAntenna.FCStd

Freecad file for the main head of the Antenna

fcstd - 236.71 kB - 08/08/2025 at 03:01

Download

  • REI provides upgraded support pole.

    Dusty08/08/2025 at 03:19 0 comments

    I went to REI recently to get some unrelated stuff, and saw they had a little 'Build your own tent pole' station set up where you could repair or make a replacement tent pole. This is perfect for this project, because I didnt want to sacrifice one of the poles from my tent. If you have REI in your area, I recommend checking that out, I think it was $2.50 for each segment. The resulting pole is a little shorter, but is thicker diameter and so it takes the weight of the dangling coax much better. Its also a nice shiny silver color so other people dont accidentally walk into it as easily. 

    I got talking to the guy working at REI and he turned out to be a Ham too!

View project log

  • 1
    Main head assembly

    The main head assembly is printed in two parts.:

    One is essentially a cover.

    The other has a hole where the BNC connector is screwed in, and then the element wires can be soldered to the connector body and middle pin. Then the cover can be installed with two 4:40 screws. This will clamp onto the arial wires to prevent the solder joins from taking strain. I was hoping to get a better seal to prevent water ingress, but my first print came out a little rough.

    Once this is assembled, your tent pole wil hopefully fit into the little barrel at the bottom. I have tried two different poles and they both had the same diameter and length head on them where they usually fit into the grommets on a tent.

View all instructions

Enjoy this project?

Share

Discussions

Does this project spark your interest?

Become a member to follow this project and never miss any updates