VHF Halo Antenna Experiments
Still stuck inside in October of 2025, I started playing around with ways to get onto the 2-meter band, starting with halo antennas.
Since the initial feed proved not durable enough, I built a better one out of box section PVC that is still my go-to to this day.
I started having a lot of trouble getting reliable and repeatable results with this gamma match, which I only later realized was because the aluminum hoops were painted, and paint obviously wouldn't conduct electricity. That also explained why I was having a bear of a time getting any solder to stick.
In the meantime, with the issues with the gamma match, I decided to switch to a “plain” feed instead.
While this did prove to be a somewhat viable antenna, the feed point impedance was far too low.
The low feed point impedance prompted me to go to the same style of twin coax impedance match that I'd used for the 6-meter dipole.
That all sounds great, right? Well, the signal and audio quality were garbage because I'd cheaped out and used Amazon RG-6 instead of coax of higher quality. That certainly taught me a lesson, and I'd go for LMR-240-75 cable for 75 ohms in the future.