Every time a storm would roll in, so basically every day in the spring and early summer, I would have to go out and undo the tangle of wires that would become of my 80/40 fan-diple-style inverterted vee antenna. The antenna was at one time connected to the eye-bolts on the body of the balun – something that experienced operators know is a cardinal sin. I payed the price as I re-hoisted the antenna late one night, and one side of the antenna came-slack, nearly falling to the ground.

The next build, used a dog-bone insulator, which supported the balun in the middle , and the two wires from each leg on the outside holes. This worked well, and allowed me to get it on the air in just a short amount of time. The downside was that there was no improvement to the wire tangle issues I was having. My next thought was that I needed to add another pair of spacers to keep the wires from getting too close to eachother. Had I solved it? Yeah, kinda. The spacers, located nearer the feedpoint, separated the wires well and kept it looking cleaner. The problem was that I had not really solved the issue, I had just made it more difficult for the wind to be able to spin the 40 wire around the 80 wire.

Next! So, one day as my wife, Sarah, was cleaning out the kitchen of unused items I spotted a cutting board which had been elected to be tossed. Faster than the constant C, I darted to the pile and adopted said plastic sheet for use in antenna projects. This plastic was perfect for building insulators from! I hauled out the jigsaw and made a series of incredibly poor cuts into this sheet and ended up coming out with a house-shaped lump of it that I would then line with copper on each side and drill a number of holes for rope and wires.

Thanks to the wonder of Imgur, here are a few photos I am happy to share! Check them out in their full HD glory here: http://imgur.com/a/qRQEI

Cheers,

VE7WNK