A while ago Christi ZS4CGR was looking to purchase a Coax Antenna Switch to use with his VHF antennas. He quickly realize that a commercially made 2 way switch would set him back R1040.00 and a 3 way would cost him R2914.00. Not willing to pay this absorbent prices he decided to roll his own which costed him a mere R120.00.
I am not going to go into the detail on how to construct the switch as the photos are self explanatory. The aluminum dome comes from a DIY Diesel Filter top housing that Christi had lying around in his scrap box. Please note that the connecting copper wires must be kept as short as possible to prevent stray RF in the dome. Suggestion: If you have RF causing issues you can isolate the connecting wires into compartments using aluminum plates. Using any coax antenna switch will result in losses but if you have a good antenna, coax and enough power the loss will not be substantial.
Working of the DIY VHF COAX Antenna Switch:
Christi indicated that the switch is working well and that so far he did not experience any problems related to the switch.
Comment by Raoul ZS1C: At the risk of being pedantic, shorter leads would have been better or the use of uhf coax inside the housing. But I cheer the home brew construction any day!
Images: Click on images for large view.
