Original article from: Rob Dennis (ve3sjn@igs.net)
 Reposted by Rob Dennis,Moderator HAM_TECH,for use of the FIDO HAM_TECH echo.
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Home-brew 2m Rubber Duckie:
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 Something I did one afternoon while listening to one of our local `geniuses'
"debating" on how you could -NOT- build a 2m rubber-duckie antenna yourself.
 He was insisting it could only be done by a commercial manufacturer with all
sorts of hi-tech equipment to design,model,make and tune etc,blah-blah-blah.
 BULL!
 This was done during the 30 minutes he rambled on about how "impossible" it
was to make yourself,then put on the air and tested with him as one of those
on the repeater asked for a signal report into the repeater.
 He was very,very quiet after he found out what antenna was I was testing....
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Home-brew 2m duckie from scrap bits:
 The bits:  1 BNC connector          (reclaimed from an old network cable)
            24 inches of RG-58 co-ax (scrap from a 11m antenna)
            Some heatshrink tubing   (short bits never used for anything)
 The tools: A VHF/UHF SWR bridge
            Some adapters to connewct the HT and antenna onto the bridge
            Solder and 25-40w soldering iron
            Small nippy-cutters
            Co-ax or wire strippers
 The method:
 Strip and solder the BNC connector onto one end of the RG-58 co-ax as you
would normally solder any BNC to co-ax.
 8-9 inches up from the end of the BNC connector,where the locknut goes into
the base,trim off the outer jacket of the RG-58 and leave the braid bare.
 Carefully roll the braid back down over itself and onto the outer jacket of
the RG-58 towards the BNC.
 When you have the braid rolled back to the BNC you can trim off the excess
if there is any so that the braid is 1/4 inch above the BNC.
 Use the heat-shrink tubing to cover the braid from where it starts to roll
over itself,down onto the base of the BNC connector.
 To tune the duckie,mount the duckie onto the antenna jack of the SWR bridge,
and then the bridge onto the top of a 2m handie-talkie.
 Use nippy cutters to trim the tip of the center-conductor for the lowest SWR
you can over the range you want to use it on. (simplex or repeater inputs)
 NEVER trim more than an 1/8 of an inch at a time!
 If you trim to long of a piece in one shot you may take off too much.
 Once you have the antenna tuned for where you want to use it,heatshrink the
tip to protect it from moisture and your all set to go out and try it.
 My Results:
 Mine had an SWR of 1.2 to 1 across 146.500 to 147.900 with a 2.5w input from
my TH-26 Kenwood 2m HT on a fully charged battery pack.
 The repeater I used for the test is over 15Kms. from my house and I stood in
my kitchen while transmitting with no other objects closer than 4 feet to the
antenna or radio.
 Recieve was normal compared to the stock Khul-Duckie I normally used on the
TH-26 and the transmit only had minor white-noise on it into the repeater.
 The white-moise vanished when I stepped out the front door and stood on the
front porch to access the repeater.
 Not bad for a butt-ugly "rubber" duck that was slapped together from scrap
parts you may already have lying in a box somewhere in the shack.
 Also a nice little emergency duckie if you need one NOW when the one you had
just got smashed by someone knocking it off a picnic-table on field-day!
--- GoldED 2.42.G1219
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