15m Moxon Project

I had just finished building myself a 40m delta loop, I had wire left over and wanted to build another antenna. I did learn a lot from the delta loop project, so armed with my new found knowledge and appetite I set out to build another antenna.

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A fellow Ham from the UK mentioned the moxon, so I googled it for more information and read the reviews. I decided I would build myself a 10m moxon with the materials I had left. After reading through lots of material on the web and countless sites I came across a web site: http://www.kg4jjh.com/moxbeam.html# It made everything look easy, listed materials, where to buy them, measurements, and it had detailed drawings. So this was the one for me!! After looking at KG4JJH moxon table I decide I would make a 15m. This way if I messed up I could just cut down for 10m.

KG4JJH, 6m Moxon shown

15m Moxon Project

KG4JJH Drawings :

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KG4JJH Drawings : 10m shown

15m Moxon Project

KG4JJH Drawings :table KG4JJH Moxon

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KG4JJH Moxon table

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15m Moxon Project

The Hub:

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I have a friend that works in a local machine shop who I asked to build this for me. The drawing is easy to follow, I just do not have the right tools.

My hub is made from nylon, my friend had at his shop. KG4JJH hub is made from the plastic deck type material ( fake wood ) that you by from a hardware store.

15m Moxon Project

The wire:

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I pre-made all the wire lengths as per the 15m table and put a paint mark at the B & D dimension for assembly purposes. Better to just solder the rings than crimp, makes it easier if you need to re-adjust lengths

Budwig

15m Moxon Project

The insulator:

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I used some red insulator board that I found at work in the garbage. Plexi glass or even wood would work, better with something thin and light weight.

Assembled view

15m Moxon Project

The Spreaders: The Spreaders on the materials list can be used from 6m to 17m, for 20m see the moxon table on slide #4 you will need a 20m hub adapter slide #3

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I ended up with four & two tubing, long story but worked fine anyway, other people have just used plastic pipe, fishing rods, bamboo, hey whatever works, cheap or free is always better for a Ham !! KG4JJH List:

I inserted my fiberglass poles and numbered 1 to 4 just in case my hole depth on the hub were a little different. Then I drilled through the hole with a drill bit the same size as the buttons for the snap on buttons I had.

If you decide not to use buttons you could just thread the hub hole and put a thumb screw, should work fine.

15m Moxon Project

The Spreaders:
I took my two, fiberglass 8ft tubes and cut them in half (4ft each), so four 4ft poles, then I cut 2 inches off each poll to use for my corner clamps.
inch poles 2 inch x 4 , poles

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Small self tapping screw

I glue to the end of the tubes and drilled a hole big enough for the ring terminal to fit through. Later I decided to put a self taping screw to make more secure, make sure hole is in correct position, I fully assembled antenna first then put set screw in.

On the corner clamp I just put the wire through put my paint mark in the centre and put tie wraps on to hold.

15m Moxon Project

The Assembly:

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I attached the spreaders to the hub.

Inserted a 1 inch pole through the hub.

A standard Canadian Basement hockey nets and a rink painted on the floor!!

15m Moxon Project

The Assembly:

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Inserted the driven & reflector wire through the corner holes and tie wrap at the noted dimensions for your antenna.

I did not set the length of the poles until assembled then adjusted as needed to take up any slack wire. I pulled the tube out of the tube to take up the slack, put a small C clamp and some tape to hold.

15m Moxon Project

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I attached to the side of my deck to check the SWR.

21.0 MHZ 1.1

21.2 MHZ 1.3

Looks good the hole band <1.5 Good enough for me.

15m Moxon Project

I put coax seal around the ring terminals and did heat shrink them after soldering the wires prior to assembly.

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Preparing it for the Canadian winter: As you can see the snow, this was the first snow fall and just happened to be my project day.

Heat shrink around PL259 and wrapped with electrical tape.

To Shack

To Budwig

Air Balun 6 turns

15m Moxon Project

My 40m delta loop My 44ft tower, TGM 5 band 3 element hybrid quad

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View from the ground. Approx. : 25ft

My 40m delta loop

View from the back window. ( 3 story house )

15m Moxon Project

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15m Moxon Project

On the Air:

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Well had the day off work, 15m propagation did not seem to bad, Moxon beaming Europe.
Called CQ: A few stations called back. I like to have a chat to the people I make contact with. Im not really a 59, bye 73 type of guy. I switched back and forth between the moxon 20ft up and my hybrid quad 44ft up, reports were the same with both antennas running 100watts.

Note: VK7 using my moxon ( long path )

15m Moxon Project

Conclusion: I would recommend this antenna to any Ham looking for a simple small antenna that performs like a 2 element full size Yagi. I would love to build this antenna for 40m but not feasible at my QTH. You could make a assorted moxon using the same construction method like the picture below that would be great for a field day.
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KG4JJH : Consruction

Special Thanks to: KG4JJH, Allen for the great web site full of great projects, http://www.kg4jjh.com/

Also to : MW1CFN for sharing his projects, ideas and time to keep me informed.
KG4JJH, assortment Moxon shown