220 Mhz, 6-Element Beam Antenna

I built this handheld 220Mhz, 6-Element beam yesterday. It’s constructed of a 48″x1/2″x1-1/2″ strip of Poplar, six silicon bronze welding rods, and a piece of coax robbed from an old, broken mobile antenna mount. The PVC handle added to the end is simply to make it easier to hand-hold. Initial testing of the antenna brought up a 220 Mhz repeater in Santuck, AL — 45 miles away — using a 5W Baofeng UV-82X H/T. Although the antenna is actually intended for my RFI Investigation work, it works so well I’m planning to build a second one for use on a pole with a rotor here at the QTH. This original one will obviously end up doing double-duty, since it is fairly portable (about 5′ long and 25″ wide at the reflector element).