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A basic 70cm antenna

01 Jun 2023

Maybe you can tell from my other posts but I've had a lot of fun getting back into PCB design lately!

Here's a tiny PCB that essentially breaks out an SMA connector, for use as the central hub as a dipole:

For my first project I thought I'd make a 70cm dipole. I used 14 gauge magnet wire, spare from my 80M EFHW 1:49 unun, for the resonating elements.

Assembly was super easy - just remove some of the enamel coating, bend the wires, insert them into the board, and solder! I was easily able to finish the entire project on my lunch break.

I've never built an antenna for such a high frequency before. I was surprised by how little I had to trim off to change its resonance frequency! I centered it for 446MHz, since that's where I'll be using it. It has an SWR of 1.4 at this frequency.

Oh yeah, and my testing bench is my couch. Don't want to accidentally detune the antenna and ruin my measurements!