A few months ago I built a 58 ft T2FD antenna. Happy with the results, I decided to build a larger one, the largest I could reasonably fit with the available trees. I have an Oak tree at the top of a hill, and decided to locate it there. The top support rope is about 85 ft high in the Oak, measured from the base of the tree. The ground slope down the hill gives me some additional vertical distance, while still allowing for about a 45 degree slope with a 120 ft antenna length with the current installation. I may be able to get the top end of the antenna a few feet higher, and bring the bottom end closer to the tree, for a steeper angle.
Below are my built notes. I'll start out by saying that a 120 ft T2FD was not twice as hard to build and erect as a 58 ft T2FD. It was probably ten times as much work
The wire is 16 AWG stranded hookup wire, from a 500 ft spool I bought on eBay. I prefer using this type of wire now over traditional bare stranded antenna wire, it's much easier to work with and does not kink. It's probably not as strong, of course.
A reminder about the T2FD antenna layout, courtesy of this diagram from G4RAA:
Each side of my T2FD is 60 ft long. Each end was assembled on my driveway, then transported separately to the installation site. By transported I mean bundled up, carried over, and then untangled. The top end was hoisted up part way first, then the center pipe was attached to that, then the other end was attached. Then the rest of the antenna was hoisted up, while trying to keep it oriented correctly and not getting tangled in nearby branches.
The center and end supports of the T2FD are made with 1" diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe. The spacers are made with 1/2" diameter PVC, for less weight, and are spaced every 10 ft. I got more 1/2" pipe than needed, as it was less expensive per piece to get ten of them, I'll use the extra pieces eventually for other projects. Or so I tell myself.
The 1/2" spaces cut to 5 ft lengths:
I drilled holes about 1" from the end of each piece of pipe for the wire to pass through. The holes are barely large enough for the wire. So the wire spacing is about 58 inches.
I then wrapped some duct tape around the wires on each end of each spacer, to help hold them in place, so they don't slide around:
On each end pipe, the wire is taped in place with duct tape:
The center pipe, again with duct tape on the wire to help hold it in place, it also passes through two small holes in the pipe and there is a knot as well:
Also visible is the 12:1 Cyclops Antenna Transformer which allows for a good match from the 900 ohm antenna impedance to 75 ohm RG-6 coax cable:
https://www.blackcatsystems.com/rf-products/cyclops_rf_ham_shortwave_radio_matching_transformer.htmlA Jellyfish matching transformer would work equally as well:
https://www.blackcatsystems.com/rf-products/potted_matching-transformer-unun-balun-beverage-longwire-k9ay-flag-ewe-dipole-antenna-shortwave-ham-radio.htmlThe connections have wire nuts and then tape over them for moisture protection.
At the top end of the center space pipe is the 850 ohm termination resistor, also potted in resin like the transformer:
The coax cable attached. This coax happens to have a separate wire as part of the cable (probably to supply power in security camera applications). I don't use it electrically, but it does serve as an additional mechanical support. Hey, I got a good deal on a 1,000 ft spool of the cable at a hamfest.
A view looking up from the bottom end of the installed T2FD:
Rather than a complicated Vee made of rope at each end of the antenna, there is a single hole in the center of the PVC pipe, just large enough to pass the rope, which then has a very large knot on the opposite end, to hold it in place:
Top end of the T2FD:
An SWR plot courtesy of my Rig Expert Zero. The red plot is this T2FD, the green plot is the 58 ft T2FD. As expected the shorter T2FD has a flat SWR to about twice the frequency, although SWR is not everything:
I just finished installed it before sunset last night, so today is my first real use of it. It will take a while to determine how well it is working, I'll update the thread with some additional posts over time.