144Mhz / 432Mhz dual band yagi

I spotted a cool dual band yagi on Ebay, 5 element 144Mhz and 8 element 432Mhz all on one boom with a single coax feed. This sounds like just the job!

I ordered this antenna along with a 2 element HB9CV yagi for 70Mhz. I wanted to add a 50Mhz yagi as well, but it would be too big. The weather this weekend was fantastic, temperature 27 degrees, a real indian summer. Ideal weather to put up some new antennas!

It has felt like Christmas this week! I ordered some new antennas and a rotator, at last I am going to have my antenna array back again after many years. My first array was put up on the 24th September 1973. I then had an 8 element yagi for 144Mhz and an 18 element parabeam for 432Mhz made by J-Beam. In 1977 I moved them onto the chimney at my present location and they stayed there until about 1999 when I took them down and threw them away!

Would you believe that I bought this rotator from ebay, brand new from Germany, it cost only £19! Deciding on the antennas was not easy, I don't want a huge array of yagis, but I need something small and compact because this is going to be mounted on the side of the house and can be seen clearly from the street.

I was still waiting for the 70Mhz yagi, but I still wanted to make a start on the array, so my first visit was to B&Q to buy the fixings. Having looked on ebay and the internet, the prices at B&Q was quite reasonable for the 6ft aluminium masts and fixing bracket. Next I needed some coax cable, so a trip to Modern Radio was next. I haven't been to Modern Radio for quite a while, I always enjoy going there...lots of memories! I wanted some good quality 50 ohm coax, but not the expensive thick stuff. Diane at MR showed me some 'Mini RG8' coax instead of the cheap RG-58u. Good stuff at a good price (70p per metre) ideal for my set up, so I bought 20 metres and some BNC plugs.

Spent the rest of the afternoon drilling the wall and assembling the new 144Mhz / 432Mhz dual band yagi. This was easy to assemble, all I had to do was put the elements into the coloured numbered holes.

Now i'm all set up just waiting for the 4m yagi.