A Compact 160-Meter Dipole

by Larry Pasman - WA8VVG

This antenna will take about the same space as an 80-meter dipole; mine is 65' at its apex, and the ends are about 80' apart; the antenna will also work well at 30' [apex height]. The higher the antenna, the higher the resonate frequency. I originally had mine at about 30', then put it up to the current 65', and had to add about 3' back on the antenna to bring it back to resonance on 1872-KHz. The antenna will be about 30-KHz wide, but tunes easily with a good tuner anywhere on the 160-Meter band.


Materials:

  • PVC glue
  • 3 eye-bolts
  • 1 ea: 1 1/4"PVC "T" coupling
  • 4 ea: 1 1/4" PVC end caps
  • 2 ea: 10' 1 1/4" PVC pipe
  • 240 ft. stranded 14 ga. insulated wire
  • Coax of choice
Construction:
You will need to cut 2 lengths of 1 1/4" PVC to 5 1/2', 1 piece 1 1/4" to 18", and 1 piece to 10". Cut 2 lengths of 140' wire.

Wind the first 70' around the 5 1/2' PVC with about 1/2" spacing ( not critical) with 70' of wire hanging out one end and about 12" out the other, do this 2 times. Glue on "T" PVC coupling with the 12" wire on the inside of the "T". I drilled holes in the PVC to allow the wire to pass through the end caps and "T".

Glue the 18" piece of PVC to the top with an eye-bolt through the end cap of the 18" piece; also an eye-bolt is at each outer end of the boom and connect with a dacron truss line to the top eye-bolt.

The 10" piece encloses the coax connection which is soldered to the center wires. The antenna will be a bit long for the 160 band; however, once in place, trim the ends for best SWR; you should be able to get 1.2-to-1.


73
WA8VVG