Sdr Diy Antenna Download The Template

It should be possible using Gqrx on Linux, but Im sure how to pipe audio from one program to another.

Ive had one of these for months, and havent really done anything cool with it.

Recently Ive seen a lot of people on the rtl-sdr reddit building quadrifilar helix (QFH) antennas to receive images from satellites using automatic picture transmission (APT).

This is a pretty old ham radio project and now a lot of people are redoing it with the RTL-SDR, so there is a lot of information out there.

I probably used this blog post the most, because it has links to a ton of other helpful posts.

I already had copper pipe from a very old project to use for this antenna.

The default values for 137.5 MHz are good.

Put the diameter of the conductor, which was 5mm for me.

Then just scroll down and insert the two PVC diameters in mm.

I measured 1 as 35mm and 0.75 as 25mm (although I know 1 inch is 25mm when converted directly) using a tape measured that had cm on it, but your pipe may be different.

Sdr Diy Antenna Download The Template

Download the template and print it out, but make sure the printer doesnt scale it.

Cut out the template, tape it to your pipe, and get drilling.

I had a cm measuring tape, but you might have to convert the measurements to inches if you dont.

A useful tip from here is to use a door jamb to make a line down the pipe.

Follow the template exactly, with pipe from hole A going to A, and D to D, etc.

You should be aware that the larger loop from the template is holes B and D, which makes the smaller loop holes A and C.

I went through my pile of coax and picked the highest-quality, stiffest coax.

Then you drill a hole near the top, feed to coax in, and solder it on.

I was very confused about which wires go to which loop until I found this post, which has a nice graphic.

The real tip here is to sand the copper before you solder it.

Later I used a piece of particle board to create a simple stand for it, but dont have any pictures.

If you have any experience with wood you can probably build one better than mine.

My RTL-SDR (in the altoids can in the picture) already has an F connector, so I just plugged it in.

Then I used a usb extension cable to provide distance from the antenna.

To receive the images I referenced this post and used SDR, VB-Cable and WXtoImg on Windows.