Three Easy DIY Antennas for Beginners

It’s RG58. Not good for F connectors.

It is very clear from word mcx that @DarkPlatinum has Generic DVB-T which has mcx connector, but everyone is guiding him to purchase SMA adaptor.

F%20female%20to%20mcx%20male%20pigtail

Trial and error is the fun part. If you have the cable, use it, see how it works and use the experience to improve by building better antennae/antennas/aerials or buying better hardware.

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So I buy a MCX male to F female? Connector
and also buy this F screw?: f type screw

Thanks for the help any help given.

But how would it fare in ADS B? I am have taken the diameter of the cable, and it is 8 mm sheathed. What my other problem is, would it be ok for the use in the tutorial for the spider antenna at the start of this post? The cable that @abcd567 used is not the same, it did not have 2 conductors as shown in the data sheet for the cable. (link above)

The cable I used has same two outer conductors (a braid and a foil), but it may not be obvious in photos. In fact the two outer conductors fully touch each other throughout their circumference and length, and electrically they are one conductor.

You have to insert the radial wires between outermost plastic jacket, and the core insulation. It does not matter if it is between outer jacket and braid, or between braid and foil, or between foil and core insulation. The important things are:

  • Each radial wire touches the braid or foil. After assembly you can check this by cheking continuity between F-connector’s body and each radial one by one.
  • The end of wire inserted shoul not have sharp edge, else it will damage braid & foil. Cutting wire by a cutter/pliers results in sharp edges. Smooth these sharp edges by a file.

TFC%20U-GIN%20RG58

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My first link is for MCX adapter :stuck_out_tongue:

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Oops! I missed it…

And i just said my guess there wouldn’t be a direct adapter. (obviously there is one)

Also he needs some cable which he doesn’t have yet.

Is there something wrong with the cable I have?

It’s of unknown quality that means it could very well reduce the signal on a long run. (1090MHz is higher frequency than typical television COAX is made for, also TV signals are often stronger than the signals you are trying to pick up)
(maybe this will help a bit dB calculator, plus explanation. Convert dB to watts or watts to dB just for reading you don’t need the calculator)

If you are using the cable you have anyway i would think about not using the two additional F connectors but just using one F connector on the end of the cable and having the antenna directly at the other end.

As long as it’s not more than 15 feet it will probably be fine.
Anyway i have no doubt it’s gonna work anyway just the range you are going to get can differ.
But even a rudimentary system with the antenna outside will get 100 nmi of range if there are not mountains or buildings blocking the view :wink:

Just build the system so that it works and worry about improving it after that.
Good luck! :slight_smile:

No, nothing wrong if you use it for making a Quick Spider.

If used for connecting antenna on roof to dongle in room, a short length (say 5m or less) is ok. For longer run, better use RG6.

Ah, it might look like ill have to buy some cable as it does not look like i have enough to extend from behind my desk to my window sill. Ill pop into my hardware store sometime and get some RG6.
https://www.diy.com/departments/nexans-rg6-coaxial-cable-white-5-m/1810649_BQ.prd

As a side note, his cable looks like it was RG58A (50 ohm) not RG59 (75 ohm), unless he read the code wrong.
RG-58A/U was used for older coax Ethernet networks (10MBps) and it’s probably worthless for 1GHz.

Attention the “F” connectors for RG59 and RG6 are different, because RG6 is thicker in outside diameter and has a thicker core conductor!
PS: Signal Loss (in dB) per 100 ft is about 12dB for RG59 versus about 7dB for RG6 (at 1GHz).

The only thing my cable said is U-JIN/TFC-T10. It probably is some networking cable as In the shed there was a very old router and scart cable.

Are these compatible with each other? https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X77BJG2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=AIF4G7PLKBOZY&psc=1

No doubt about it. More like definitely worthless at 1 GHz.
It’d be OK for a short run, e.g. 1 or 2 meters. Anything longer than that, and the signal loss
gets excessive. At 1 GHz, RG-58 is one of the lossiest types of coaxial cables made.

Even then, it’d be worth it to use RG-6 or something better. (e.g. LMR-240)

The coaxial Ethernet was called T10. So that’s what that cable was for.
The connectors you linked are for RG6, 7mm in diameter.

Would it be ok to use the copper in the wire for the radials?

What I meant is, the two links i gave, would connectors be compatible.

p.s it was two links not one, one of them changed to an image.

His U-JIN/TFC-T10 cable is aerial drop cable manufactured by Times Fiber.
Used by telecom (e.g. cable TV) companies to deliver content to customers.

It should be some decent stuff provided it hasn’t absorbed any moisture.