DIY Yagi Antenna from Tape Measure
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
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I built an antenna for listening to satellites out of a metal tape measure. ⬇️ Open for links:
Files and links to all references: beckystern.com/2021/03/29/tap...
00:00 Intro
00:17 Making the couplers
01:10 Assembling the antenna
04:41 Hardware and software setup
05:51 Attempt to listen #1
06:14 Measuring SWR with nanoVNA
07:09 Attempt to listen #2
09:07 Successful results
09:55 Sponsored message
10:40 Outro
Becky Stern is a maker living in NYC, publishing DIY projects about technology, and crafts from her Brooklyn studio.
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My dad always seemed to have broken tape measure metal tape he refused to throw out because he felt he’d find a use for them. I feel like 20 years later he has a “told yah” finally.
😆 That's great!
I had no idea this was even possible. Although indeed inaudible, it’s super cool to hear something coming out of space, in between the static. I hope you will be sharing future progress if you are able to make improvements. Thanks for sharing and teaching!
Glad you enjoyed it! I hope I'm able to make improvements as well... 😀
Absolutely amazing. So many good skills and techniques.
Good progress! I completed my first FM satellite QSO last fall with a very similar homemade antenna (but your 3D printed mounts make a much neater result). When you start to hear a signal, try twisting the antenna by 90 degrees to find the right polarization angle where the signal is strongest. And when you add the 70cm elements, arrange them perpendicular to the 2m elements so they don’t interfere with each other. Good luck!
Thanks for the tips!
mine are all polarised the same and the VNA shows both resonate and good swr. many contacts made via LEO but now moving to qo100 for the winter
Ahh, there's the problem...if trying to capture 2 metre band, you need a metric tape measure...lol. Good video.
Haha! 😆
That wasn’t indecipherable static you picked up. That was the latest release from Fløg, the Swedish deathgrind noisecore band.
😆😆
I want that album!
The signal traces were USB, and the passband set to listen to it (if that’s what the vertical lines were showing), is far too wide. From that, I would guess the SDR was configured to demodulate FM or AM, which makes indecipherable noise from a single sideband signal.
Very nice work! Awesome to see a girl this smart, creative, and handy with tools. -applause-
Great content and spectacular soundtrack
Love the videos! Thank you so much!
Hey Becky, I like the extra color. I trimmed the corners of the elements a little and put heat shrink on them. they are sharp. one thing you can incorporate is a loop to fold your elements into, it makes for easy in and out of a car. there are photos of this around they used PVC T's for the storage which could be incorporated in your design. also don't forget the space station's repeater! KE8OBK
This is cool information that i didn't know I needed .
Happy to be of service. 😀
also try when u tracking the sat to try move the antenna back and forth to vertica and horzonal as well because sats have ccw rotation as they go aross and what you was hearing on the no weater sat was amature radio sat if u lisen close u can hear some one calling cq
Space pictures are soo coool!
Agreeeeed!
Thats so cool! I gotta try this out.
Thanks Sean! And you should!
@@BeckyStern IF you want to recive noaa sat they are in 137 range and also try when u tracking the sat to try move the antenna back and forth to vertica and horzonal as well because sats have ccw rotation as they go aross and what you was hearing on the no weater sat was i am a sat chaser my self using a sdr play and build my own tape messure yagi
Nail Paint and Solder oh wow what a combination !!! One of a kind!!
Very cool video Becky, this has always been on my list of to-do projects... Thanks!
Now, if I could only remember how smithcharts worked again! :P
That's fun! I think I'm gonna give this a try!
Go for it! It's a pretty easy build for the payoff.
What a cool build and a fun video to watch! Now I want to go listen for satellites with a tape measure!
Thank you!
Love the slidy design, ideal for backpacking! Be sure to catch the next ISS SSTV event even on the road.
...But how the coax have I missed nanoVNA, that thing is amazing! My calibration method so far consisted of pointing at a PLL circuit from a distance while gingerly poking the hairpin.
Awesome job. So refreshing to see people still into RF stuff.
Thanks!
RF is everywhere - but most people are so much abstracted from those layer that they will barely see the RF anymore in its "natural" state.
This is so cool! I love using Tinkercad for stuff like this. Great project 👍🏼
Thank you Ruth! Cheers!
so cool to be able to get data being transmitted from space! it is amazing you could get an image from the weather satellite
Agreed, and with such simple parts! I'm definitely excited to try it more
Great video, very informative. Like Jodi Foster in Contact. : ) Congrats on sponsorship. Mahalo for sharing! : )
Thanks so much!
Ahhhhhhhh......... Smithcharts and VSWR! I remember those!
Thanks for Linking the files, I'm studying for my Tech and my General, plan on taking them next month. The goal is to work satellites when my radio comes in from china.
The Baofengs are cheap and great, but I do recommend upgrading your HT at some point.
SOOOO GOOODDD!!!
Thanks Xyla! 😊
Awesome Stuff you do here! I recently discovered your channel :)
Thank you! Welcome!
GREAT VIDEO. WE ARE TESTIGN ATTACHING THE ANTENNAS TO A CELSETRON SR NOUNT AND USING STELLARIUM SOFTWARE FOR TRACKING. MAY NEED TO USE LIGHTER MATERIALS. SOME RECOMMEND ARCHERY ARROWS INSTEAD OF TAPE MEASURE.
Super cool
Thank you Bob!
Great video Becky, 73s KI4TOL I pan on building a 3 element Yagi real soon. Working on a 2m/70cm dipole, then a GMRS for the mobile. Keep up the great work....:-)
Thanks for showing it to the world. Good job. 73 de Alex.
That's what I'm going to do 🙂
Make a antenna for fun
Becky you may find going from vertical to horizontal (twist it 90 degrees and back) may help. Circular polarization is a good option. Very Jealous of that roof deck! I'm an amateur radio operator in East TN.
Very cool. I work with satellite antenna, but never built one.
When you add the 70cm elements, consider placing them perpendicular to the 2m elements so that the two sets of elements don't interact with each other.
Will do!
Tape Measure Antenna's are even used on the ISS from NASA
I'm wanting to build a Yagi to try making contact with the ISS soon. I think that would be the pinnacle of my Ham Radio "tenure" so far.
Sidenote: I just recently used Ham Radio Prep as my study guide and upgraded to my General. Hopefully you've gotten yours by now! I passed mine on 11/18/23 and am looking at making the dive into HF. Glad to have resources like theirs available for use. I don't know if I'm going to upgrade to Extra, it doesn't offer much more than what I have now.
Anyway, thanks for the video. Awesome stuff. It's so cool seeing Amateur Radio being promoted like this!!
73,
KI7YDM
Better hurry, the ISS is being decommissioned soon!
@@BeckyStern from what I'm seeing, I still have about eight years. That might be just enough time! LOL!!
@@ammoshortage 😆😆 the blink of an eye to a Ham!
@@BeckyStern don't say that!! I don't need grandchildren any sooner than nature intends. I'm already approaching "middle-age" at lightning speeds and I don't like it.
wow, tape measure? no way! nice project :)
Great video! Happy signal hunting.
Thanks Peter!!
i use a 5/8 element for contacting ISS and sats using tape measure drywall screwed to a wood baton. its lasted 3 years.
i made one of those about 15 years ago .. i now make them with a gamma match insted of the hairpin match .now if you make a 5ele for 2meters and a 8 element for 70cms on the same boom you would be laughing even at 5watts from a HT :)
de m6pnp
I was wondering about the hairpin... I had thought one wanted the two halves of a dipole (with or without the surrounding yogi) to be more electrically isolated than that? I mean, I know there’s a lot I still don’t know about antennas, but I’m surprised to see such a junction... I guess I’ll have to go look that up. Thank you for giving the “match” terminology that will allow me to do so...
At 7:22 you seem to be getting JY1sat (JO-97) on 145.840 MHz. This is a BPSK digital signal that you can hear using the SSB setting on the SDR software. There's also a linear transponder on board. I am the designer of the radio on that satellite, and some others like FUNcube (AO-73), Nayif-1 (EO-88) and Delfi-C3 (DO-64)
That's so cool that your designs are in space!! Upper or lower side band?
@@BeckyStern Both will work for data, but voice downlinks are USB by convention!
Nice Work and nice documentation.
The problem with satellite reception here is that you have a directional linear polarized antenna, while the satellites signal is circular polarized. Even when pointing exactly at the moving satellite (which is nearly impossible by hand) you don't get the best signal. An omnidirectional circular polarized antenna would be better, like cross dipole or helical antennas.
Also the SWR of the antenna at 137MHz for NOAA Satellites is probably not very good,
maybe you can add a little variable capacitor (20-30pf) at the feeding point to fine tune the SWR for 137MHz.
And for absolute overkill you can use a LNA to bring the SNR as high as possible. Than you can get amazing captures of passing satellites, even from behind the horizon.
Maybe an idea for some other Videos.
Would be cool to see
Very cool! (Though somehow I’m sad for the tape measures that got sacrificed? I don’t know why I don’t have the same qualms for other bits of metal...)
Good luck with the General upgrade! I’ve been studying up for one, too. :) 73s!
Thanks, same to you!
Cool.
Straightened metal coat hangers ( if you can find them) make a good element for this type of antenna. Also, a wooden yardstick can be used for the boom.
Nice tips! Thanks!
The Couplers are outstanding! 73, K8JCL
This would be very cool to connect it to a TinyGS station (esp32+lora). And since it's LoRa based, your antenna will most likely pick all of the current sats (433mhz).
good video ma'am.
are you using AM to hear *something* ? cast a wide net? that voice waterfall looks like upper side band, we might have been able to hear it, but you probably need 2 operators for that.
That's pretty cool!
73s, AF5CG
Nice..........💓
is there any issues with the fero magnetic material of the tape? i wonder what the effect is verses the more onventional allumnum ellement material. would think this would have a detramental effect on signal quality and possibly the reason for the high static. also mounting it from a cammera tripod would help for one person opperation.
Hmm, I exploded a tape measure with the mower last fall (kids left it in a leaf pile) but I don't think any of the pieces left are long enough to do this project... Still might give it a try...
Yeah the Heavens Above app is awesome...
Cool stuff!
nice how the elements can be folded if needed.
Just wondering... but aren't those satellites typically using a circular polarisation? I remember seeing a project for a homemade sat antenna that used a very nice 'helical' design, to properly deal with the circular signal from the Sat.
Just a thought. Lovely beam though!
Nice one Becky, I want to have a play with SDR at some point.
Thanks, James! Yeah SDR has been really fun so far, and it was easy to get started.
Hi Becky!
"Hairpin shape" - Took me (non native speaker) some secs to interpret. :) Cute!
😁
What is the purpose of the white U shaped cable that you soldered on the radiating element ?
It looks like the later satellite was a linear transponder, listen in the Upper sideband mode.
I will try that next time, thanks!
@@BeckyStern It looks like the one @9:15 was CAS-4B. Yes upper side band with a filter of about 3 KHz and the voices will come to life. You might even hear me! :)
you did good just need to put your sdr into the SSB mode then they would of been strong hope you record that pass so you can tune it in in ssb
Absolutely this - the signals were there and very strong on the waterfall, it's a linear transponder rather than a channelised one.
Still, great build Becky!, and I had no idea changing the hairpin patch shape like that changed the SWR so much. Very lovely tip.
No Impedance matching balun transformer, between the antenna and coaxial feedline termination?
that's what the hairpin wire (white wire) is... a hairpin match.
You're still using the Fenix 6s, Becky? How has it been holding up over the year?
It's still going great!
I love this video so very much! At 2:03 what is that tool? What are you doing there?
I'm drilling a hole, that's my flex shaft rotary tool. A regular drill would be fine!
@@BeckyStern ah thank you for the response!! 73s!
Wack! Thank you for this, I kept on to a "clothing rack" antenna and want to use it for this :-)
Try that v Antenna for the Meteor-M2 Russian satellite on 137.1000mhz, I set it facing South, check for best direction with orbitron/ or?. Legs 120 degrees apart, 53.4 cm to the brass ring where it screws together. The picture from that is in a different league but harder to get due to the Doppler effect which can be mastered by some softwares.
There is a plan for a omnidirectional LRPT 137.1mhz Turnstile Antenna RHCP made from a tape measure, which saves all that waving around.
With tube and wire a QFH can be made, this also must be right handed like the turnstile. I'm thinking a yagi is pants for circular screw like signals.
If you have a good connection the sound is like a metronome and you and your neighbours will know your connected. The clearer the sound the clearer the waterfall and the picture.
In all urban spaces height is key as it gives you more time above the horizon, and the longer you can see it the more data you get. If you're lucky one will pass right over your house but the building opposite means you don't see it for long enough. The pass an hour later or earlier might be better for your position.
I use a Raspberry pi connected close to a QFH in the highest part of my loft. I access it downstairs on the pc by the network on RTP_TCP or another method. I use a SDRplay-dx so I can have a Dab radio antenna in the loft also, and wall to wall digital music downstairs.
The dx is a recent addition so my best picture is still from my v3 dongle connected to a Pi. Like all radio there are times when conditions are good and bad due to the Sun. With Orbitron and wxtoimg the whole process can be automated as passes start early in the morning. In a built up area filters may be needed to cut the strong local broadcast bands.
The Raspberry Pi and SDR have pre written scripts on their sites, and software and even images for writing to the Pi with all the software needed, just plug in and go.
The Noaa crafts are time limited and coming to the end of their lives. But others like GOES and Meteor-M2 are up there also. Goes is miles away but takes a whole globe shot so is worth an effort if your in a good spot and have the antenna and software.
Lets not forget the Software defined radio which seems to be able to listen to anything that radiates, providing you've got the right bit of wire and software to decode what you can hear or see. A top tool of the age.
Hi Becky for what diameter off pipe is that? Maybe i sugest listen the ISS, the signal is strong ,and is very fun listen the astronauts aboard .See on the birds 73
How did you receive NOAA apt? Aren't Yagi antenna linearly polarised? NOAA apt is RHCP
🤷♀️ I was just trying whatever satellites were going overhead! I looked around and found somebody saying it's not optimal to use a yagi but has enough gain to work anyway... www.reddit.com/r/RTLSDR/comments/5wrtrs/best_antenna_for_apt_at_137_mhz/
@@BeckyStern weird... fair enough, ill give that a try then
Check out "Space Comms" TH-cam channel. That voice sat stuff appears to have been one of the "linear" SSB sats. Looked like you might have been in FM mode, though.
I went to sub. Already am. Good job previous me.
Edit: with a slight change to the connector, I bet you could retract the antenna and wrap it around the pole by twisting. Twist the other way, and the antenna deploys.
I'm not claiming that is some sort of genius epiphany. It's a retracting tape measure, so it's not exactly a leap. Just a thought for an portable antenna.
Thanks for the sub! That's a fun idea to extend this antenna project!
Could you possibly listen to phones with this?
Got your video from Thingiversa. Glad to see a lady is enjoying ham radio activities. What's your call ? Hope to see you on the air soon.
3.38 why did you short it with another piece of wire? i thought that you used a solid piece of tape measure, didnt you?
Gotcha For anybody with the same Question its for tuning pretty smart i must admit it never seen it before tho
Noticed you where holding the antenna horizontally and your helper was holding it vertically. not sure if orientation is that important with that type of antenna though.
Apparently you can rotate it to adjust the signal once it's pointed in the right direction. I learned from another commenter 😁
@@BeckyStern lol, stick it on a motor a spin the poop out of it. So long at the RPM is higher than the radio frequency it should work. #madscientistsolutions. ha ha nah don't do that. But I have to wonder . . .
2m circular antenna? getting both polarities at once? *gg*
it will be a bigger one - and maybe a mess of signals as well. ;-)
Here are the directions for the traditional construction (using standard easy-to-find hose clamps and PVC cross pieces instead of 3D printed parts - you know, in case you don't have a 3D printer, but you do have a hardware store)
www.n5dux.com/ham/tape-measure-yagi/
You can solder to a tape measure?? I would have guessed it’s spring steel
Excellent weekend antenna project for use on the 144 MHz (VHF) and 432 MHz (UHF) amateur radio bands! de Howie WA3MCK
Maybe someone already said this. At 9:28 it sounds like CQ.
Great job 73 de KA2PBT
Tape/glue/solder(?) 2 equal length pieces of meas. tape face to face to each other; this will make stronger 'elements' of your yagi - BTW, it is pronounced NOAA (one word), not N, O, A, A!!! Did you have your receiving software set to "FM?" Whenever the reception is garbled or unintelligible, play around with the different modes - for example, not all (read: Govt.), transmissions on 7mhz are LSB; especially outside the Ham Band. Have you heard of E-M-E? THAT is for the truly brave/independently rich ... how about QRP? - I think you would be especially intrigued (and challenged), by QRP; WSPR, FT8, etc.
IF you want to recive noaa sat they are in 137 range
Isn't SWR only important for transmitting?
no, you want to minimize loss of the receive signal as well, especially for weak signals.
If you want to play with the software side take a look at websdr.org You can loop the audio into software(such as gqrx.dk/) and pull NOAA satellite data. Also if you have a Pi take a look at github.com/luigifcruz/pisdr-image
In the static am I hearing numbers or am I crazy
Hum.... Should be easy to mod into an log periodic antenna
1:16 that just feels so wrong!
Sounds like wrong mode listening to fm while on am
Wait what wires are being soldered to what? Why isn't there a good video anywhere on TH-cam that just explains this and shows it clearly. Ugh
More detail at the link on the description. The coax and hairpin wires are soldered to the driven elements. Ugh.
Why bother with a 3d printer at all? Just drill and screw. G7VFY
While that works, it doesn't give you as much flexibility to adjust and tune the elements. These couplers make assembly super easy and reconfigurable.
Its not "N O A A" but rather "Noah"
Desperate need of soldering lessons
Eric. KJ4YZI has a tripod mounted auto tracker build that would work perfect for you.
@thisoldtony brought me here from the makers gift exchange.