2m-70cm Dipole made with Wire Hangers

thingiverse

Recycling Wire Hanger into 2m/70cm Dipole AntennaWe were cleaning out a closet when my wife handed me some wire hangers and told me to go recycle them. I was wondering if I could use them to make some kind of antenna so I researched wire hanger antennas on YouTube University and watched someone use hot glue and some connectors to make a 2m/70cm dipole antenna (Mike M0MSN). I thought of a better way and since I have a 3D printer, I designed a mount for the wire hangers and coax.I used a free online 3D CAD program called Onshape and printed it using my Creality Ender 3 Max printer. It would be better to use a material like PETG because it will be used outside and this material possesses better UV stability. For this print though, I just used PLA since it was loaded in the printer.This design uses two wire hangers that have been trimmed and bent and a old piece of coax I had laying around with a connector only on one end. After scratching the paint off the wire, I soldered one wire hanger to the center conductor and the coax braid to the other wire hanger (see attached image). Zip ties were used to secure the coax to the 3D printed base.After trimming the longer side to approximately 19” for ½ wave 2m and the shorter length to approximately 5 7/8” for ½ wave 70cm, I checked the VSWR using my NanoVNA.I was pleased with the VSWR ratio on 2m with a maximum of about 1.5:1 or below across the whole band.For 70cm, the VSWR was a little higher and oddly shaped but it was less that 1.75:1 across the band.The hanger wires are a little flimsy so I am not sure how long they will hold up outside.One advantage of this design is that this antenna can be easily mounted for horizontal or vertical polarization.If you have extra wire hangers and are looking for a project, you might consider making one yourself.Hope this sparks some ideas.73sKerwynN6YHX