J-POLE Building 2 meter Copper Pipe Jpole
FULL PALNS &
HOW TO BELOW:
K0bet home built " SUPER J-pole "
I put this J-pole together using 1/2 inch copper pipe

and parts from
home depot,
minus the one S0-239 antenna connector that I bought at a
local ham radio store. ( RadioShack also has SO-239
connectors). I had been reading about the best way to put
together a J-Pole for use on my FT-2900 2 meter band radio.
After several days of reading I decided go to home depot with my parts list and buy some copper. The only significant change I made to the normal plans was attaching the feed line using copper hose clamps. I decided that it would be easier to adjust the tuning & SWR by using copper hose clamps and machine screws rather than soldering directly to the pipe. The tuning is simple,
unscrew nuts and move the clamps up or down until you get the SWR correct. ( my clamps are about 3 inches from horizontal T & Elbow). I took a lot of big pictures because there is a lot of info on how to build a J-POLE but there are no sites with good photos of how it was built. A decent photo is worth a thousand words. This J-POLE hits repeaters over 50 miles away. Everyone says I come in full and clear. One old guy told me to stop, don't touch, the sound is so good that if I bumped it taking pictures I might cry.
I'm no plumber and dint have flux,
I know my solder is blobbed on.
tools decided that it would be easier to adjust the tuning &
SWR by using copper hose clamps and machine
screws rather than soldering directly to the pipe.
The tuning is simple, unscrew nuts and move the
clamps up or down until you get the SWR correct. ( my clamps
are about 3 inches from horizontal T & Elbow). I took a lot
of big pictures because there is a lot of info on how to
build a J-POLE but there are no sites with good photos of
how it was built. A decent photo is worth a thousand words.
This J-POLE hits repeaters over 50 miles away.
Everyone says I come in full and clear. One old guy told me
to stop, don't touch, the sound is so good that if I bumped
it taking pictures I might cry. I'm no plumber and dint have
flux, I know my solder is blobbed on.
<-- SUPER SIZE HIGH RESOULTION PHOTO
Take a close look at how I used a mother board screw and
mother board riser peg to attach the SO-239 to the hose
clamp screw. There wasn't a good way to get the SO-239 to
stay in place. You may have to play with a different screw
for the SO-239 to attach to the clamp. A smaller machine
screw and nut would work best.
TIP:
Notice how the screw washers are both facing toward each
other.
It is needed to tighten the washer to the feed line.

The long end has the so-239 connection to RG8 coax the short
end has the machine screw nut holding the wire loop around
the waster nut . This is because the long end is stronger
than the sort end.
J-POLE - Jpole Building Design Pans
JPOLE CONSTRUCTION
1 - SO-239 connector
(Ham Shop or last resort Radio Shack)
1 - 10' length of 1/2" copper
4 - copper 1/2 inch hose clamps
1 - 1/2" copper tubing "T" fitting
1 - 1/2" copper tubing elbow fitting
2 - 1/2" copper end caps
4 - machine screws with nuts ( take the hose clamp
over and make sure the screw will fit the clamp opening
1 - 1 foot romex or other 14 gage copper wire
1 - 50 ohm coax cable with connector for
radio.
Tools:
propane torch, pipe cutter, solder, heavy grit sand paper,
hammer, drill, Blade (drill to make new hole in flattened
copper hose clamp.
Cut the pipe to length using copper pipe cutter.
Using your solder
Using pipe
cuter, cut the pipe to the size. Three lengths
57 inch long, 2 1/4 inch
long and one 19 inch long.
The left over pipe goes in the bottom for support
mount. I didn't solder the long bottom left over end
that the pole stands on.
Cut the romex or other 14 gage wire to 4
inch length.
Take 2 of the hose clams and pound them flat. This
will be the back for the support of the clamp to mount
against the pipe. Since 2 of the clamps have been
flattened. You will have to drill 2 new holes in
the flattened Clamp. Make the 2 new holes the same size as
the original holes that cannot be used. See how there are
extra holes left in flat clamps next to red arrow.
Use steel wool to clean the copper and solder the antenna together as you would with normal copper tubing. Make sure you get the joints snug.
Attach the hose clamps about
3 inches up from horizontal 2 1/4 elbow and "T". Next
attach screws to the hose clamps and SO-239. The Feed line
should be centered between the clamps.
Top view of J-pole Hose clams with machine
screws. Small amount of solder to feed line and SO-239
connection. Look at the loop made around the machine screw
nut to hold it in place for the feedline.
.
Tools and a few pipe solder pics