J-Pole Antenna Project
 by: N3FJP, W3JX, KA3SEQ & KB3KCN

J-Poles are excellent 2 meter homebrew antennas!  They are easy to make; the parts are VERY inexpensive ($6.20 for all the antenna hardware from Home Depot in January 2004), and virtually indestructable.  Best of all they put out a very good signal.  The following are the steps that Steve - W3JX, Kim - KA3SEQ, Chris - KB3KCN and I followed to build a J-Pole and hang it in a tree on a cold January morning in 15 degree weather!
 

The picture at the left is the plan for the J-Pole that we built.  The parts list is as follows: 2 hose clamps, 2 caps, 1 T connector, one elbow, 10' length of 1/2" copper pipe, and coax with connector.

The center conductor of the coax is connected to the 58" element, and the shield is connected to the 19" element.  Slide the hose clamps up and down to obtain the best SWR.  The stub can be used to attach the antenna to a tower, and it slides beautifully into a TV antenna mast!
 

Measure twice...
 

Cut once!
 

Measuring 19" for a cut
 

Basic J-Pole
 

W3JX Soldering joints
 

Drilling hole to attach the hoist rope
 

N3FJP attaching coax with hose clamps
 

Tying the hoist rope on the top
 

The "host" tree
 

The throw
 

What a throw, Steve!  I've never seen a wrench go that high! OK, let's go inside, thaw out and get some signal reports. We're frozen!