20 and 40 Meter Antennas

The date for the crane was scheduled for August 21, so the pressure was on to get the 40 and 20-meter antennas assembled.

I purchased a 40-meter 2-element Moxon from W3YQ. I have always wanted one of these. The antenna was originally built by N8AA and it was a work of art. Everything was done properly. Because Tim was able to deliver it to me on his 20′ trailer, I didn’t have to do much more than assemble the pieces.

August 6, 2025

I started with the sidemount attached to the tower. Then assembled the boom and added the elements.

What makes a Moxon complicated and unwieldy is the crosspieces on the elements.

For the feedpoint, I used a DX Engineering choke placed inside a piece of PVC pipe with shrink wrap covering everything. The PVC provided some structural integrity, so I could elevate the choke from the boom and use hose clamps to tighten it all down. This was all left over from my 40m stack in MA.

The antenna is nearly 100 pounds and is almost more than I could lift. I pulled it up a few feet and took an SWR reading. It had a curve that looked ok, but was below the band. Good enough to confirm everything was connected.

August 10, 2025

With the 40 done, it was time to turn attention to rebuilding two Hygain 205-CA antennas for 20 meters. I had just enough room to do this in the yard.

These antennas had been up for more than 30 years in MA. One had lived through a severe ice storm. I was surprised to find the boom-to-element clamps had bent (warped) on some elements. When I put the antenna together, I could have elements that were drooping or looked like raised wings. Thank goodness for standardization. I found some undamaged Hygain clamps on one of the TH7DXX that were in the barn. This helped me get both antennas looking a bit more normal. I regret that I didn’t take more pictures to show how the clamps warped.

August 20, 2025

I installed a sidemount for the lower 20.

Everything was ready for the crane to arrive.