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Chelmsford - the birthplace of radio


Construction details of the Skeleton Slots.

skeleton slot fed with open wire

Construction of this slot is very easy. Just three lengths of bamboo or fibre glass 10ft long. The top and bottom spreaders have holes in the ends for the wires to pass through and cable tied in place.

The center spreader has a center insulator to which the ends of the horizontal wires are attached together with the open ladder line. The other ends of the center wires connect to the vertical wires.

The open ladder line can be made with a spacing of 3 inches using spreaders purchased for the job, or these can be made using suitable materials, ie, perspex.

Bear in mind that the whole antenna is hanging by the top spreader so it needs to be able to take the weight of the whole antenna.

Attaching poly cord to both ends of the bottom spreader enable it to be turned to the required direction.

Reducing the center spreader to 1m, making a bow tie shape, will give you a little more gain and slightly lower angle of elevation.

Smaller version by GW3RQT(SK).

This version by GW3RQT(SK) is slightly smaller

skeleton slot by GW3RQT

but still offers good DX performance.

The four spreaders, about 3.4m long are mounted on a piece of marine ply measuring about 1ft by 2ft and secured by 'U' bolts. The wire is passed through holes in the ends and secured by using cable ties to stop the ends of the spreaders chaffing the wire.

A dog bone insulator is cable tied to the center of the board and the ends of the short wires (0.5m each) are secured to it and also the open ladder line feeder. The outer ends connect to the vertical wires.

A small hole is drilled in the top of the board to enable the slot to be hoisted up using a lanyard on a pulley. The center being pulled to the top enables the maximum height to be achieved. The bottom of the slot is about 15ft above ground on my 30ft mast.

A poly cord is attached to both bottom corners for turning the slot and the ends tied off to suitable anchor points.