Ham Radio - My durable and portable 2 meter Yagi antenna. (2025)

Very nice design! I definitely intend to make one of these antennas! Thank you for the design information. Incidentally, I retired from Air Force in 1992 afterspending 26 years in Antenna Maintenance Career field. I just got my HAM Radio license last week! KF0OYN. I built many antennas during my Air Force Career. The ines we fabricated ourself were all HF Frequency. All the VHF and UHF antennas we installed were premade. The largest Ground plane antenna I constructed was made of forty ten foot steel tower sections.stacked on top of each other, with 72 400 foot long wires buried in the ground every five degrees apart! It was for a LORAN Station we built during January and February 1980. You can see the antenna on Google earth just outside of Hampyeong S. korea.

I have found that 1/2 inch copper tubing on the interior of the PVC give excellent bandwidth. I have simply used stainless machine screws to hold the internal tubing to the external structure. The feed point can have external connections as you have built on the screws securing the internal tubing to external structure.

Just built this following your instructions......SWR almost 1:1 made a local contact who said it sounded great. Thanks Kevin.

I have recently been looking at building a yagi! This is just the inspiration I need!!! Thanks Kevin!

This has no bearing on the video but in case you are curious, the snap on piece you use to mount your antenna is called a saddle. You use PVC cement to glue it to a pre-existing waterline, once the glue dries drill a hole in the tap and then add pipe to your new tap. ;-)

I love PVC pipe! But I just realized I've never used it for actual plumbing, just oddball projects!

This is a great project for the new ham, when all I had was my Tech license I built a lot of antennas since I was limited on what I could do. Always enjoyed your mag loop projects, and look forward to more antenna ideas.

Nice picture of Table Mountain in Cape Town in he background. !!

Out of all the ham channels, yours is my favorite. Thanks for keeping up the great work! Digging the backwards hat, your fellow kids are with you!

Kevin,
I love simple projects that can be shared. Thanks for taking the time to document the effort (blog entry) and share the results. Will be sending out to our Co. ARES, today. 73.
GO, N5GDO

All good Kevin I’m in the UK and still work in feet and inches keep up the good work.

I would suggest electrical PVC (grey) because it is UV resistant. Great design!

I see what is up hoosier..hihi
Nice 2m yagi beam, very nice.
I built a variation with 1/4" copper plated steel tubing without the hairpin back in 1994. driver was fitted with sliding internal rods to adjust center and match. clamps to hold these rods from moving were merely the wire lug clamps from an old contactor or the same from a scrapped 30 amp air conditioner disconnect.
Gain in S units was not quite 7seven and only about 2two db over my copper j pole but for portability and direction is good too. I use the tree trimmer pruner telescope extension and a three foot tripod at home for the mast, with some poly rope to stabilize it in breezy weather.
If I add an extra ten foot of 3/4" pvc the total height from ground is close to twenty three leaving a foot of extension inside telescope sections.
I put it to good use during the 1995 Field Day event for local comms at my camper.
Anyway, I appreciate simple but effective projects like these, Kevin, keep them coming.
73, Gary
KB8QLZ

Nice build Kevin, it just so happens i have some spare ladder line and pvc tubing lying around, just need to shop for a few of the other parts. 73's

8:55 All around the world diameters of hydraulic pipes are measured in inches and the length in mm. That prevents i.e. leaking if someone would like to match a metric substitute. It would end up with failure and life-changing injuries in some cases.

What a great little antenna! I love these inspired antenna experimental build videos.
I'm encouraged to use thin wall aluminum electrical conduit for a Yagi, with custom 3D printed fittings. I thought it was bad when I had FDM printers, but now that I have MSLA resin 3D printers, everything is a 3D printer project. 😎
BTW - If you run 200 watts into an antenna with 45 degree cuts at the end of the PVC, it'll shoot ball lightning out the ends of the driven element. 🤣

👍Thanks for sharing Kevin. I liked the little self-tapping screws to secure the window line to the pipe.

Thanks so much for the time you took to do this project, for the detail that is in the video and for the blog post. This is the best instruction video that I have seen. Well done.

I love my moxons. Rugged when made from 1/2 copper pipe, and compact. This project would be good video material. This this type has a very broad bandwidth, nearly 10 megs. I use 3 to 5 '' sections of cheap 1/2 black poly pipe to hold the ends together. ID is the same as the OD of 1/2 copper pipe. Heat and lube the copper with flux and the poly pipe fits tightly. Gain is only 5.75 dbi, but the f/b is 20Dbd and the center null is nearly 40Dbd at the design frequency. The main advantage of the moxon is broad forward coverage and excellent rejection to the rear.

Thank you for this! Maybe, if you get a chance, you can make another video showing how to actually build it.
I know there's a blog post and i read it. But still, showing hands on, step by step, would be extremely helpful for beginners, like myself.
Thank you again, from LZ2CBC.

Great vid! Still loving the tape measure Yagi antenna. Gotta say tho, I do find myself in high wind conditions quite a lot and the stability of the ladder line build is appealing. That build looked rock solid. Nice stuff.

Nice job Kevin. May have to give this a shot. I have a light-weight rotor that I may even put into the mix so I can access more repeaters here in the Phoenix area. Thanks for sharing.

Another great vid Kevin!
For the same reasons as you, I want to build this antenna, but with a twist.
I have been totally engrossed in John Portun's (W6NBC ) presentation of his 'Optimum Loop Antenna' where he uses 2" PVC Pipe covered with adhesive backed ALU Tape to cover 40M thru 10M. It's an absolutely great concept.
I will construct your antenna using John's methods.
Again, great vid and presentation. Over the years, you have inspired me many, many times......
Russ, KA1RUW

Great job Kevin!! I am a VERY RUSTY ham from many years gone by. So, I am trying to learn from your project. I was watching your RUclips for inspiration to build a Yagi antenna array for improved cell tower reception. However, I know the frequencies are much different in the cellular bands but nevertheless should be doable. Thanks for sharing your wisdom on your RUclips channel.

Excellent use of ladder line. Always enjoy your vids. Keep rocking the #RVlife 🙏

This is simply brilliant. However, I guess that the tape measure yagi too can be made firm like a ladder line by drilling holes and fixing a screw to the pvc boom in all three elements
73

Great project Kevin. For sat use, I made a tape measure version on 2m (with an old 7 ele 70cms boom) that was in essence unusable unless no wind so re-made from coathanger wire. I have also been using pvc pipe & fittings for other small easy up antennas mounted on a magmount (a PL259 outer hot glued into pipe to mount on mag). Hope you had a great Xmas. Thankyou for your interesting content in 2020.
Cheers, Nick

Hi Kevin I do think that your antennas are brilliant
Especially this one and very cost effective it's a pity you don't get in to production of a cupple of these I do think that you will sell them
It would be great to see you do it.....

very cool looking build im impressed with the difference in the slimjim compared to this. nicely done. thanks for sharing.

Very cool, I haven't seen that design before.👍

@xszl4 года назад ⁺¹

Good to see that 2m is still in use in some countries.
I've never heard any local conversation on 2 here.
btw. You might wanna check your older blogposts for spam in the reactions.

This is awesome. I tried building a tape measure yagi but it didn't work well in windy SD. I'll have to give this a go. 73 KB2SDR

Hi,what a good idea, cheap as chips to construct, good for you 👍, keep up the good work, 73 from Rotterdam

Kevin this is great - I am going to make one. We are now in full lockdown in the UK midlands so will have to get pipe delivered!! This is an excellent video mate - just exactly what a practical ham antenna build should be. Many thanks. Tom M0RMY

for waterfittings here in Norway we use inch 1/2" 3/4" and so on, but piping is in metric units. go figures lol

Excellent project Kevin! Also enjoyed the video. Thanks

Hi Kevin ! I'm going to build this for a rotator project I'm working on. Cant wait to try it out ! Apologies I referenced your name wrong in my video, but provided the link to yours in it. Thanks again ! 73, 2E0FWE

good video, great idea for other yagi 73 kd0qcs

A 2 meter dipole resonant on 146 mhz, when inserted in a pc of pvc, drops to 140.5 mhz.
If you adapted a tape measure yagi and did not compensate for the dielectric effects of the pvc your antenna is probably most directional outside the band.

Thank's Kevin, I built this antenna and it work Great!

I have thought about this a little since I watched the video and reckon that using window line for VHF/UHF antenna elements is perhaps a really smart idea. With antennas like this, the characteristics of the wire elements mean that you are working with known values. If you use random bits of pipe or copper wire with different types of insulation, you may copy a design and find that the feedpoint impedance or element spacing is way out. If constructors adopted the approach of using common types of window line for projects like this, it would be a lot easier for other hams to make copies that worked? Just a thought?

Amazing work, Kevin! Thanks for your great explanation and attention to details. Well thought out!

Nice project Kevin, thanks for sharing

If you use a pvc structure looking like an inverted L ,, and hang the slim jim at least a foot and a half away from the mast, it will improve the performance of the slim jim . KK5VN

That’s cool. That will be my first antenna

This looks cool and very rugged.
Well done sir!

Very interesting build, and thanks for documenting it in such detail!

Very interesting video Kevin. It's got me thinking on modifying your design for use on 4m / 70Mhz. Keep up the good work, 73s Tom EI5IEB

You are a top bloke and I would love to see you go in to production with you tube perhaps helping the odd one's like your self
It would bring more people using it and more trying to do stuff

Congratulações belíssima antena bom rendimento na transmissão e recepção muito bom 73 do pw8gts bons dxs

Hi from the UK. do not worry about the imperial/metric thing. Officially we are imperial, miles per hour for example. but also metric, liters of petrol, so even us oldies are bi lingual. As we no longer use inches for plumbing, 1/2 inch is 15 mm and 3/4 is 19mm. . Metric does have it's uses, with 25 point something to the inch it is easy to cut accurately to better than a 1/16 inch, which is the smallest practical measurement in imperial. Just a thought, if you built it out of 3/4 tube, could the ladder line fit inside the tubes, being kept tight by fishing line? This would keep the elements out of the wind, and end caps would stop the dreaded whistle! Nice job Jim M7BXT

Great video Kevin!

So, if I leave my pipe ends flat, then drill a few holes in various spots, I can create a ery wind chimes too? Cool Bonus! 🎵

Now I know it may sound like I'm smoking the strong stuff, but I wonder how well duct tape would work. Actual duct tape mind you, not the cloth stuff. Getting a positive connection would be tricky, I suppose hose clamping the wire to it would do but I have doubts about corrosion eventually messing with it. Anyway, it could be an interesting experiment.

Always great to see your projects! Did you say how far it was to the repeater you are hitting?

Thanks Kevin!

My bad...I forgot about your newly acquired 705 with HF and FM. So not a 9700.

Great project. Thanks for sharing.

Nice build 👍👏👏

Another good entry. I was hoping you would include on-the-air demos of the various modes of operation to gauge its performance using the IC-705 and a full 100W transceiver (if available). RS/RST reports from non-repeater stations, etc. Kind of a soup-to-nuts evaluation of the complete system(s). Just a thought... 73 de N5XS
(PS . Do consider writing up an article for QST publication consideration. I think it would be well received. < N5XS ar>)

Believe it or not, you must ID "your transmitter" (emissions), but you are not required to get your ID through the repeater, it has it's own ID. (we need to operate and ID at the same power levels) The Yaggi seems to have +3. dB of gain over the "J" pole antenna. If you have a few coins you can buy or build an "arrow" Yaggi, or make one from copper tubing. Ron W4BIN

Great antenna

For the elements, I would think that you could have made them from tape measure still and just attached them to the PVC for stability, correct? I have "free" Harbor Freight tape measures laying all over the house.

Kevin, this is a brilliant project and a fascinating design. I have two questions for you: 1) Should you cable tie the split of the reflector and director across the boom to keep them from moving (every so slightly)? 2) Did you consider adding another director to the forward end of the beam for a little extra gain?
I hope to be in Quartzite in a little more than a week. A couple friends and I are heading down there from Carson City to get away from here for a few days and enjoy a little warmer weather and some of the fun stuff down that way. I might try to activate a SOTA while I'm down there. It will be my first time to Quartzite and I'm looking forward to it.
73 de AG7TX

Good video. KB9NMZ here.

Why did you reduce from 3/4" pipe to 1/2" pipe on the arms? Seems like it would be easier & cheaper to just stay with the same size!

Hey Kevin,
There is good information in this video. Would you mind doing a video of this antenna in use? Please. I'd love to see how you use one of these for a simplex and repeater contact. It looks as if you can change the polarity quickly too. Thanks Kevin. 73 KE0OAP

I have a U.K. spec. 9700. When you were turning the power up in % of output power. The 9700 at 0% power, outputs 5watts. So at 10% it was likely you were outputting over 10watts, and not 1 watt. Apologies in advance if I have this wrong. Nice video, by the way. 73’s. Geoff. G4SQJ.

Ótimo vídeo trabalho gualidade total a melhor antena de todos os tempos bazuka Foz do Iguaçu pr Brasil

Satellites: I use my tape measure yagi for portable satellite work and I bet yours will work also. It should receive ok on 440 as it is. Try the ISS, AO-27 and SO-50, they are 2m up and 440 down. The ISS is 145.825 aprs when the cross band repeater isn't on. And 145.800 for SSTV from time to time. And check your swr on 440, it won't be good but I bet it will radiate on 440. Give AO-91 & 92 they are 440 up and 2m down. And don't forget the NOAA WX satellites. Your handle might need a little modifying to make it more comfortable for sat's but give it a try as is. 73 Have fun on the birds

I really admire and appreciate your Yagi video.......You're worth listening to......What is your day job or career? ? ? ?

Just out of curiosity: Why not put the window line INSIDE the PVC pipe, and put END CAPS on the elements instead of the 45% angle? This would make it fully weather resistant. Also, for Satellite work, have you tried to work out a version for 2M/70CM? Great video, thank you! 73, Jacques Redmond - WW1ZRD.

Hi Kevin! Nice video! Do you think its possible to make a 10m band yagi with pipes? I'm considering making one

Thank you for the great video and blog post! Is there any performance reason this could not be built entirely of 3/4” or 1/2” PVC as long as measurements were maintained?

Looks great, Kevin! When I get a 2 meter rig I shall make one. Can it be scaled up to 10 meters do you think? That's as far as my boat anchor tx can go at the moment. de KD2ORG

YT will not let me post the link. For a direct connect 6 element (Optimized Wide Band ) OWA yagi < 1.5:1 142 to 150Mhz , used these terms and this name, L.B. Cebik

Simple question, not obvious to me, but why not enclose the 450 ladder window line inside each PVC for UV and corrosion protection? Would it really have marked radiation effect?

I was intrigued by the design and decided to build it. I've now screwed around with it off and on for two weeks and I can't get it to resonate anywhere above 138MHz, no matter what I do. I've checked and double checked all the measurements several times over, adjusted the length of the driven element and it still won't resonate in the two meter band. I give up. I'm about to tear it down and use the parts to make a tape measure Yagi instead.

Great video again, Kevin. Thanks. vk5pt

Gives me some ideas for antennas, Thanks.

Very good video! Very nice work too. Had you considered putting the 450 Ω line inside the pipes by curling it a little bit? If you didn't consider it, what do you think would be the outcome? If you did consider that, do you think the dimensions would remain the same? 73//KK0DJ

On the 9700 2M FM is 100 watts So 30% on the scale is not 3 watts It is more like 30 watts give or take

"Imperial units" originated in the UK, FYI...

Hi, what window line are you using, 300 or 450ohm? Do you think it would it increase any gain if additional elements are added? Also heard you on K6ARK SOTA earlier. All good stuff.

Just a question from someone who would love to have someone make a similar yagi antenna for fm radio. Has anyone ever put out a video on RUclips or shared plans for something similar to this for fm radio?

As I also said, in my comment. “Apologies in Advance”.

I build UHF antennas out of wooden bars. And galvanized wire.

Good video and a Great Idea 73's W3AMT

Kevin, I’ve never worked with windowline and don’t know much about it. Is all of it pretty much the same or can you describe the characteristics? Thanks much.

Random question, what are you useing for passthrews for the coax to go threw the wall of the rv. I need some for mine

Hi Kevin...Is that an ICOM 9700 you're using to test your homebrew 2M yagi.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but On that 100 watt icom 9700, 100% power should be 100 watts, and therefore every 10 % should be 10 watts right?

That window line does not look fatter than a tape measure?

Did you use 300 or 450 ohm ladder line?

What if anything would it do if you had window line on both sides of the driver

Unfortunately, this wonderful symmetrical cable is not available in my country.

Could I place the ladder line inside the tubes?

3 DBi of gain is NOT 3 DB gain over a reference dipole. It's more like 1 DB gain over a dipole....which is undetectable at the receive end......which means if you make a two meter dipole out of wire...feed it in the center....all for about two bucks...it will perform just as well as a slim jim.

At 125 deg pvc starts to sag

could you make it dual band, 2m and 70 cm ?