Beer-CanTenna - A antenna for 433MHz

Just in case someone needs a simple and easy to build ground station antenna, usable with any 433MHz TX, here is a solution:

What you need:
1x Beer can, height 170mm, outer diameter 66mm, top opening diameter 52mm
1x Steel welding rod, 500mm length, diameter 1.5mm
1x BNC or SMA panel mount socket with front side nut

How to build:

First, enjoy the beer, thats a mandatory step. ;)
Remove the top cover of the can. In a way, that you keep the outer folded ring.

-Drill a hole in the bottom center to insert the BNC/SMA socket.

Solder the welding rod to the BNC/SMA center contact.
Measure the length of the rod including the center contact and cut the overall length to 490mm.
Insert the socket through the bottom hole and fix with the nut.
Cover the top opening with some non-conductive material. I used some EPS foam.

That´s all.

I made a extension pipe with a BNC socket on one end and some tripod adapter on the other. This way I can raise the antenna up to 3m on the tripod.

The antenna connects with a 5m BNC cable to the transmitter.

I have tested the antenna during my 11km flight with excellent results.

FPV 11km out over clouds, controlled with EzUHF.

Note, a different size beer can may require a different length of the welding rod.

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