Back on the Balcony

The exterior maintenance on our building finally completed in early November of 2025, which meant that I could put a new pair of 6-meter dipole legs made from even thicker copper pipe out.

6-meter copper pipe dipole out on the balcony, with a NanoVNA attached

Basic feed point

NanoVNA: SWR of 3.397 @ 41.4 MHz, 14.77-j2.836Ω

After cutting it down to a suitable length for the 6-meter band, I started playing around with capacitive hats for the first time

6-meter copper pipe dipole end with a capacitive hat made from brass rod

NanoVNA: SWR of 2.113 @ 52 MHz, 23.66-j297mΩ

Twin coax feed from earlier 6-meter dipole attached to new dipole

This also prompted playing around with autotransformer baluns some more.

Autotransformer for 6-meter dipole

NanoVNA: SWR of 1.544 @ 50 MHz, 32.61+j3.152Ω

#AmateurRadio #HamRadio