A Light-Weight 10 meter Mini-Spider

I live in a community that fobids antennas.  I have existed for ten years on vertical antennas that annot be seen or which go up at sundown and come

down the next morning.  I have always wanted a "gain" antenna and, obviously, a ten meter antenna would be the smallest possible of the HF possibilities.

My purpose was to develop an antenna that was very light-weight, ultimately a 1 pound goal. The rods are basically 9' fiberglass fly rod blanks. Driven element wire is #12 insulated wire and the other elements are #22 insulated wire. The basic structure is unabashedly stolen from the concept of the Spiderbeam, tho much smaller.

I wanted an antenna that I could erect for a weekend foray without raising the ire of the "condo cops." I want to be able to erect this at the top of one of those 33' pushup masts that are designed to support wire antennas, not beams like this. My feeling is that if I coudl get it light enough, the whole thing would work.

In the view below the support elements are all fiberglass fly rod blanks.  Total weight 6.6 ounces.

The driven element goes from left to right and the wire weighs 1 ounce plus 6 ounces for the balun.

The reflector element is the "V" in the bottom. The two director elements are the "V's" at the top. The total of both these wires is 2.2 ounces.

The only guy rope holds up the heavier front support rod so as to keep the antenna level. .

I was successful in getting this about 20' off the ground although with guying, the 30' objective would have been possible

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This is the central portion of the antenna showing the support structrre. The center of this weighs 23 ounces because I used fiberboard plate and aluminum tubes.

Replacing them with lighter weight fiberglass will be AFTER I get it working properly electrically will reduce that weight.

 

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Here are all the parts of the antenna.

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How about the results?

For the first time in my ham career, I have been able to get S9 reports from the East Coast, something I never have done with my vertical antennas in 10 years.

I still have some work to do, With some luck, I'll get it working electrically and then get some weight out and ultimately have an antenna I can erect in maybe 1/2 hour and take down in same amount of time and be "competitive" signal wise.

Only odd thing is the directionality. I pointed it east to the East Coast but was able to work LU and ZL easily. I wonder about that.  Was my signal so strong that I could be heard those directions as well?

I have not modeled it with EZNEC but I hope to do that and then to do some experimentation.

Stay tuned.

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