Racal ANT-129 tripod support

I've built a more stable support for my military antenna. The support is made with a almost square slice of steel tube, a gift from Mimmo IZ8SQL, which had also the main idea of the support (TNX Mimmo!). Other items may be easily found in any hardware shop.

Parts needed:

• nr. 1 slice of square steel tube, approx 5cmx5cmx5cm
• nr. 1 inox bolt M10x20 (10mm dia x 20 mm lenght)
• nr. 1 "big" 10mm nut (lenght approx 3 cm
• nr. 1 20mm electrician grey PVC coupler
• nr. 2 10mm washers
• nr. 1 banana female connector

Drill three holes in the square tube:

Mount the banana connector, the bolt and the big nut on the support:


Cut the PVC coupler to the same lenght of the big nut. Cover the nut with a few layers of electrician tape: in this way the nut fits snugly in the coupler. Mount the coupler with the help of a rubber hammer. The final result, before painting, is this:


The support varnished, ready to operation:

My new Military whip antenna Racal ANT-129

A few weeks ago, I've bought via ebay a military whip antenna for a few euros. The whip is a Racal ANT-129, collapsible in 8 sections, total lenght 260cm circa, and seems rated for 21-30MHz.

The base of the whip is terminated with a M10 screw (10mm metric), is very easy to find a nut for radio connection. I arrange a quick base with a camera tripod and a piece of wood. I've connected the whip with a wire to my Elecraft T-1 tuner using a 5m wire counterpoise. The antenna needs NO tuner for 21 and 28 MHz, (ok, SWR is not 1:1, but may be acceptable) and with tuner loads in 20, 17 and 12 meters. No way to use this antenna in 7MHz and less. The foto below shows me (left) and Nico "The President" IZ8KTL (right) near antenna, tuner and FT-817 in /P. Many nice QSO with european hams. (TNX to Carmine IK8GYQ for photo)


I've built a more stable support for my whip, I'll show it soon! Stay tuned.