{"id":10609,"date":"2024-08-27T15:52:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T10:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/?p=10609"},"modified":"2024-08-28T10:01:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T04:31:25","slug":"building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Tape Measure Yagi for LEO Satellite Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/poYtE2R3O8o?si=PZt7ubf8N1Fcgx9s\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThe Moxon Yagi which I have been using for my LEO Satellite operations had a Moxon rectangle for VHF and five UHF Yagi elements which were passively coupled to the VHF Moxon driven element. The gain was not that high when I thought of working SO-121 QRP satellite. VU2TEK had good success with his Tape Measure Yagi which motivated me to go for one. But I don&#8217;t expect the same success as he was operating outdoors, pointing the Tape Measure Yagi in the direction of the satellite pass. I am planning to use only in a mast mounted fashion which will limit its usability for satellite passes to a short period of about 4 minutes. I have chosen the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qsl.net\/dk7zb\/Duoband\/5+8_2m-70cm.htm\">DK7ZB design<\/a> which I have been looking at for a quite a long time. That design has 5 elements for VHF and 8 elements for UHF with a boom length of about 1.5m.<\/p>\n<p>First step was to get a wooden reaper to use as the boom. Earlier it used to be available in all electrical wiring accessories shops. But now with the usage of PVC channels for wiring, I was finding it difficult to locate one. Finally checked with my electrician, who told me that wooden reapers are now available in mirror shops. I could locate one shop in my locality and from the rather junk like collection of reapers there, I could find this one which was 6 feet long and would suit my purpose.<\/p>\n<p>Next I had to source the tape measure. I was thinking that it will be available as such. But VU2TEK told me that we have to go for the steel tapes from the market which comes in a spring loaded enclosure meant for use in the field and cut it according to over requirements. So this is one of the three which I bought online, as per the suggestions of VU3TBU.<\/p>\n<p>Screws, nuts and bolts needed for fixing the elements, most of them made of stainless steel, were also bought from the mirror shop.<\/p>\n<p>I had a used SO 239 chassis mount type of connector in my store, which I thought I would fix on the boom for connecting the coax. Many had directly connected the driven elements to the coax without any SO 239 in between.<\/p>\n<p>There was surplus RG 213 in my store, which had PL 259 connector at one end and the other side was a cut end. I could either connect it directly or use a PL 259 crimping type of connector there. But I have not made up my mind whether I should really use RG 213 or use my existing antenna cable with PL 259 at both ends, which is a light weight and easy to use HLF 200 cable. So the procurement part is over and now I have to start the painstaking homebrewing project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Moxon Yagi which I have been using for my LEO Satellite operations had a Moxon rectangle for VHF and five UHF Yagi elements which were passively coupled to the VHF Moxon driven element. The gain was not that high when I thought of working SO-121 QRP satellite. VU2TEK had good success with his Tape [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10615,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amateur-radio-ham-radio"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Building a Tape Measure Yagi for LEO Satellite Operations - Johnson&#039;s Techworld<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building a Tape Measure Yagi for LEO Satellite Operations - Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Moxon Yagi which I have been using for my LEO Satellite operations had a Moxon rectangle for VHF and five UHF Yagi elements which were passively coupled to the VHF Moxon driven element. The gain was not that high when I thought of working SO-121 QRP satellite. VU2TEK had good success with his Tape [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Johnson&#039;s Techworld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-27T10:22:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-28T04:31:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/johnsonfrancis.org\/techworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Building-a-Tape-Measure-Yagi-for-LEO-Satellite-Operations.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1204\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Johnson Francis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Johnson Francis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"headline\":\"Building a Tape Measure Yagi for LEO Satellite Operations\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-27T10:22:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-28T04:31:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":479,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6201c843e80ccd3578e6196b1d007027\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/Building-a-Tape-Measure-Yagi-for-LEO-Satellite-Operations.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Amateur Radio (Ham Radio)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/johnsonfrancis.org\\\/techworld\\\/building-a-tape-measure-yagi-for-leo-satellite-operations\\\/\",\"name\":\"Building a Tape Measure Yagi for LEO Satellite Operations - 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