Taking the end of one of the wires, pass it through the hole in the insulator until six inches are through. Next, bend the wire back on itself and immediately begin to wrap it very snugly and neatly around itself.
Ideally, you should have about six or seven turns. Using your soldering iron, heat up the wire turns and solder each of them until the wire is secured very tightly. This way, the loops take up most of the stress, but the solder keeps it from getting loose. Connect the other wire in the same manner. Make sure that you look over each connection thoroughly.
Next, take the remaining two insulators and connect the wire to them using almost the same method. Pull 18 inches through the hole before securing it. Don’t forget to leave a 1 inch loop! The extra wire allows you to trim the wire easily, while the extra wire acts as part of the antenna length. Six inches are used up at each end of the wire to secure it, and the other foot is used here to hang down for easy tuning.
Now it is time to connect your
Using a sharp hobby knife, carefully strip the outer insulation off of the coax cable by cutting all of the way around the wire, one inch from the end. Under this insulation is a thin layer of braided wire. Be careful not to cut these wires. Once the insulation is gone, move the
Using your knife, strip the insulation off of the center conductor 1/4 inch past where you stripped the outer insulation. Be careful not to cut the conductor itself, or you will have to cut down the wire and go through the whole process again. Twist the wires of the center conductor together and tin them. You should now trim the outer wire braid at the point where the threads begin on the
Carefully place the remaining piece of the connector over the end of the
Page 12 | RAMSEY DA SERIES DIPOLE ANTENNA |