Gerry,

The X atop the capacity hat was created by using simple u clamps.  I drilled 
them originally to clamp around a boom from a 6 meter beam.  So they were 
centered and I clamped on right above the other but at right angles so it 
looked more like a wide spaced X.

Phil.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry Learry" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 4:55 AM
Subject: Re: A SHORT VERTICAL FOR THE TOP BAND


> So how did you attach the horizontal elements to the tube?  Did you drill
> through the tube at 2 apposing angles?  Did you flatten the center of the
> two elements and screw them together?  The rest is easy for me to
> understand.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 8:47 PM
> Subject: Re: A SHORT VERTICAL FOR THE TOP BAND
>
>
>> Gerry,
>>
>> I was flying blind, sort of speak, by the seat of my pants, building this
>> vertical and pieced together things I had picked up discussing antennas
>> with
>> other hams so don't feel bad about not getting how it was assembled.  I
>> made
>> the vertical antenna in two pieces in order to climb up to the roof on my
>> tower bolted to the back of the house.  The antenna was bolted to the
>> other
>> end of the roof so I could get right to it as needed for fine tuning.
>> Right
>> about roof level, the first section stuck up, therefore about a foot or
>> two
>> over the peak of the roof.  The second section of antenna was made up of
>> three parts.  Two pieces of tubing, one short and one longer, and between
>> the two was a coil form with wire wrapped around it.  It was insulated
>> wire
>> and I used about three feet of PVC tubing as my coil form.  The longer
>> piece
>> of tubing that served as the bottom of the assembly, I think it was 7 
>> feet
>> of aluminum tubing, I stuck up inside the bottom of the PVC pipe the wire
>> was wound around, or coiled, around.  It was wrapped closely, like a bull
>> constrictor snake, because the wire, as I mentioned, was insulated and I
>> was
>> only running 100 watts.  So that insured there would be no arking when
>> transmitting.  If you run higher levels of power, it is best to use coax,
>> the heavier the better, based upon the power, because the voltage is very
>> high on the coil when transmitting.  Next, I took another 3 foot length 
>> of
>> aluminum tubing and stuck it inside the top of the pvc pipe.  The pvc 
>> pipe
>> was big enough so I could drill into the tubing and the pvc pipe to hold
>> the
>> bottom tubing and the top tubing to the pipe or coil of wire.  This is 
>> all
>> vertical so far.  The signal, therefore, had to pass through the coil
>> before
>> getting above the pvc pipe to the top hat, which was the difference
>> between
>> 32 and about 130 feet; which is a quarter wave on 160 meters.  About 98
>> feet
>> of coil wire in other words.  The horizontal part of the top hat is also
>> aluminum tubing whereby I used simple hardware clamps to clamp them in 
>> the
>> shape of the letter X at the top of everything, that is, at the very tip
>> of
>> the tubing.  The reason I made the whole top assembly separate, was so I
>> could climb the roof, walk over to the vertical clamped to the end of the
>> peak of the roof, and loosen another clamp which held the whole top
>> assembly
>> in place.  Once I put the X on top, I didn't have to raise or lower the
>> top
>> assembly more than once or twice to get the antenna to resonate where I
>> wanted it in the CW portion of 160 meters.  It was fun making it, I
>> learned
>> a lot, and from that time on, when I put up a bigger tower that same year
>> but in this house we bought that year, I really got into all kinds of
>> wires
>> and loops and shunt feeding my tower, and trying phased verticals and 
>> wire
>> antennas.
>>
>> Phil.
>> K0NX
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Gerry Learry" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 7:53 PM
>> Subject: Re: A SHORT VERTICAL FOR THE TOP BAND
>>
>>
>>>I don't understand how it is assembled or connected to the top of the
>>> antenna.  I understand that the two elements are in a X pattern and they
>>> are
>>> both horizontal, but I don't understand the mechanics.
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 1:50 PM
>>> Subject: Re: A SHORT VERTICAL FOR THE TOP BAND
>>>
>>>
>>>> Gerry,
>>>>
>>>> What specifically were you asking about as far as the capacity hat is
>>>> concerned?
>>>>
>>>> Phil.
>>>> K0NX
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "Gerry Learry" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 3:39 AM
>>>> Subject: Re: A SHORT VERTICAL FOR THE TOP BAND
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Can you describe the construction of the top hat a little more?
>>>
>