Do NOT use this, it will transfer all the weight & pull of heavy coax to delicate connecto of prostick.
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Use a RG316 pigtail, which is flexible
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you could also use a short USB cable instead of plugging the dongle in directly, then it’s no problem in my opinion.
the pigtails are nice though and i prefer them myself.
Any links for those pigtails? I googled around a bit the other day and didn’t have any luck for SMA to F.
NOT OK. It is RP-SMA (does not have a center pin). Use SMA
Also 1m is too long. Try shorter 50cm or 30 cm.
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/283159808244
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Thank youagain.
Pretty strong Chinook winds at my location. Do you think the legs of the spider will move around given that they’re wedged in between the inner and outer layers of the coax and clamped with cable ties? Would using a small metal hose clamp instead of the cable tie be OK or would the metal cause problems with reception?.
I have never tried it, but I think using a metallic hose clamp instead of plastic cable ties should not cause any problem with reception.
i’m using a metal clamp. It holds the radials on a connector, not the cable but that shouldn’t matter.
But i’m not sure if the coax would withstand the crushing force of a hose clamp.
I guess if you don’t tighten it too much it should be fine. 2 hose clamps above each other and not tightening them too much sounds like a better solution though.
The radials should not be moved by wind too much, they offer little resistance.
I would rather worry about securing your 2by4 and how your house owner like that 
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice. I’ll probably experiment with the cable ties first and see what happens.
The landlord is pretty cool about stuff like that. They didn’t have any problems with me drilling a couple of holes through the wall to pass through coax for the old satellite dishes. Those were mounted on pieces of plywood held down on the gravel roof with sandbags.
The balcony is wood and the 2x4 will be screwed down so it should be secure and easy to take down to mod the antenna if required
You could also bend the radials from longer pieces of wire and make two pieces at once. then connect multiple ones to the structure and secure it around the coax wire with cable ties or whatever.
Then you just need to make sure you connect it electrically to the coax shield (which is normally accomplished by ramming the radials down between insulation and shield. But soldering to the coax shield is also very good. Or you could fold back the shield over the insulation when you expose the center wire. Then you can just clamp your radial contraption onto the shield.
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Been over a year and my home-made spider has survived being outside in weather conditions that included blizzards, ice, wind gusts exceeding 55 MPH, torrential rains. Missed the heavy hail in SoDakota this past year, which I suspect would have stomped it. The crows seem to leave it alone. Cable ties and hot-melt glue have kept the radials in place for me.
Here’s a closeup:
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Thanks for the suggestion. Lots of hot glue would lock the legs in position and waterproof everything.
I’m currently using a cut off stock antenna.
I’m thinking about using an old cable TV RG6 wire (6 feet), cutting off one F connector to make a spider/cantenna. I noticed that the guides says use connectors and was wondering if I can just connect the radials/can directly (most likely following the no tools guide) stripping the end into a whip. Will I have an issue with this? I don’t want to get additional F connectors and related tools to build an antenna that might not improve my situation. (I live on the lower floors of a concrete jungle 
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The amount of cable between the quick spider and the next connector doesn’t matter. Less connectors are actually better.
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What you described is a Quick Spider.
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Cantenna without an F barrel connector at bottom of Coke Can is also possible. Someone has forked a connector-less design from Cantenna, and has named it Coketenna
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Thanks for the link. The weather proofing idea looks interesting. Would the water droplets on the plastic bottle covering the antenna degrade reception significantly?
Thanks this is what I wanted to know
Yes, I’m referring to your quick spider and thanks for the design. I asked because I noticed you used a blue plate/cover at the bottom with connectors which I was wondering if I can do away and just glue gun the cable
Blue plastic plate and connectors are not needed for normal use. I installed it to interchange spider and cantenna easily whenever I wanted.
You can use a continous piece of coax cable, one end connected to the dongle, and on the other end build the Quick Spider.
I am in the process of building the 8 radial spider, but I’ve noticed the calculations in the original directions seem to be a bit off. Directions mention to cut the copper wires to a final length of 2.575 inches for a 1/4 wave antenna. This is extrapolated from what I believe is an incorrect calculation of ADS-B wavelength of 10.3 inches. Correct calculations below:
Speed of Light (m/s) / ADS-B Frequency (Hz)
299792458 / 1090000000= .2750 (m/s)
.2750 (m/s) converted to inches: 10.828 inches
10.828 x .25= 2.7070 inches or, 2 11/16
Not sure if this really matters all that much, but I’m going go by these calculations rather than what’s in the guide.