146MHz 16 Element Phased Array

146 MHz 16 Element Phased Array - Oct 1996

The following construction details of a 2 metre l6 element phased array wasprovided by Ivan, VK2ARI. Ivan, one of the regulars on our Monday night net, is QTH Niagara Park and a member of the Central Coast Amateur Radio Club. The Design of the array is by Bob Wrigley, VK2ZAR alsofrom the CCARC.

The design is based on the modification of a 194/204 MHz TV antenna with a 26 inch spacing between the driven elements. Ivan constructed an array from scratch using a 30” spacing and found this gave good resuts. He says to make the 30inch array, you make the phasing line loops tighter. Ivan notes that you may have to experiment with the balun, he found 26" for the shieided co-ax section worked fine.

The theoretical specs for the array are:

Driven element spacing: 26" (or 30")
Driven el reflector spacing: 15”
Gain: I13 dB (26" version)
Horz Beam Width: 48.8 degrees
Vertical Beam Width: 51.6 degrees
Front to Back Ratio: 15 dB
Bandwidth 4 MHz approx
Impedance: 52 ohm (with 1/2 wave 4:1 co-ax balun)

Next month's QUA. will have construction detais of a l6 element 70cm array with dimensions for both 435 and 446.5 MHz also courtesy of VK2ZAR and VK2ARI. We also thank Ray VK2HAY for his part in obtaining this information for QUA.