Design and Construction of a Quadrifilar Helix Antenna for receiving NOAA Satellites VHF transmissions

Receiving images from the NOAA series of satellites can be a very exciting and rewarding activity. Aside from the sheer thrill of receiving images direct from satellites moving at speeds of five miles per second at altitudes of greater than five-hundred miles, careful study allows the hobbyist to study their environment independent of other sources. Whilst creating a setup that allows detailed images from space to be received at home sounds like a near-impossible feat, it is certainly not beyond the reach of most sensible people. Whilst researching this topic, I found it very hard to find clear, concise instructions. It is therefore my intention over two articles, to describe clearly the processes involved. This first article focuses on the hardware, whilst the second focuses more on the software. In both articles, I will add an appendix of sources for materials, which will be referenced in-text. However, due to the volatile nature of the internet, I cannot promise that these will remain true for any amount of time.

General Overview

Figure 1; the hardware layout As can be seen from figure 1, a room-full of computers and high tech instruments is not required to receive telemetry from the NOAA satellites. Starting with the quadrifilar helix antenna (we will discuss this later) the signal is fed through a balun to a length of co-axial cable, to which I attached a PL259 connector to allow connection to my radio. I then built an adapter out of a female PL259 and a male Belling-Lee connector to allow connection to the digital TV USB dongle. And thats it. It would certainly be easier to omit the PL259 connection and simply connect the coaxial straight from the balun to the dongle with only a Belling-Lee connector.

Quadrifilar Helix Antenna Whilst it has a complicated sounding name, the QFH (figure 2) is a pretty simple piece of kit, and is also incredibly good at the job it is designed to do. Like other helical antennas, it has a wide bandwidth and is particularly good at receiving circularly polarised signals. Just as visible light can be polarised through diffraction gratings, so can radio waves (figure 3). This has the benefit of allowing them to transmit better in a certain direction, or receive better from a certain direction. However, if we try to vertically or horizontally polarise the signal from a satellite, we make it very difficult to receive on the ground, as the satellite is constant changing position. This can be overcome by circularly polarising the signal by polarising so that each piece of data is sent during one circle we get the benefits of polarisation with the benefits of the signal being easy to receive. Figure 2; a rained-on QFH

Figure 3; vertically polarised (a), horizontally polarised (b) and right hand circularly polarised (c). Note, is the spiral were in the opposite, it would be left hand circular polarisation. A QFH is a balanced antenna, constructed of two loops, one name the large loop, the other the small loop. A balanced antenna is one that is not ground referenced. As it is connected to an unbalanced line (the co-axial cable), it will need something called balun to connect the two. Do not worry about calculating dimensions, each will be given to you.

Building the Antenna Materials: 6 m copper tubing I used 15mm diameter in my first build, but this was very hard to bend. I plan to use 8mm diameter in the next build. I have also been told of a type M copper piping, which is apparently much easier to bend. 10 copper elbows 1 copper T piece 500mm of 20mm plastic waste pipe more if you intend to mount it as in figure 2. 1 bending spring

Method: We will start by constructing the large loop first. Cut the copper pipe so you have two one-meter lengths. These will form the helix of the large loop. Mark one a distance of 804mm on each length, leaving enough space either side to get a good grip (figure 4). Then cut two pieces 175mm long and one 367mm so you have five pieces of pipe in total. Figure 4 Now, using the the meter long bend finishing 5). Kinks will meter length. bending spring, carefully bend one of sections into a semicircle, with the right on the 804mm markers (figure simply not do. Repeat for the second

Figure 5 Now, you must offset each side of the tube. Figure 6 shows the end result after the first bend from head on, leaving an offset from the centre of 86mm. Once this is done, offset the other end by 86mm in the opposite direction. Repeating for the other length. The end result from head is in figure 7.

Figure 6

Figure 7

Make sure that the pieces are quite symmetrical before cutting them at the marked points, leaving you with two helix arms of length 804mm. Now take four elbow joints and the T piece. After cleaning and fluxing the ends of all five pieces, I recommend soldering the two 175mm pieces to ends of the T piece,

to form one section that is the same length as the 367mm piece. Once this is done, assemble the loop, with the T piece section on the bottom and the 367mm section on top before soldering the sections together with elbow joints. Dont try to solder one joint at a time without the loop built up, as any slight offset will make it rather hard to contruct a proper loop. Now check and twist the loop. Ensure the bottom and top sections are parallel and that the loop is 542mm tall (figure 8) Very well done! Now the same must be done for the small loop. This time, however, cut two one meter lengths and mark out 752mm instead of 804mm. Bend it in the same manner, but leaving it with an offset of 80mm at each end instead of 86mm. The top and bottom sections are 343mm long. One that is soldered, again check the top and bottom are parallel and that this time the overal height of the small loop is 517mm. Now mark the middle of the top of each and measure 11mm either side. Cut this long section out of both loops. So you left with two loops looking similar to 9. loop 22m are figure Figure 8

Insert the two loops into each other, so the top and bottom sections are perpendicular. Cut a length of the waste tube pipe about 100mm long. Mark a hole 15mm from one end and drill it out through the other side to just over 15mm. Then from the same end, mark 50mm down and perpendicular to the first holes. Drill this out to about 18mm. Cut a pair of slits to each hole from both ends (figure 10), and then carefully slot the pipe into place, secure the splits with tape or cable ties. The bottom sections should now be quite secure, but be careful with them yet. Now take two elbow joints and drill through the top and bottom of the elbows, in order to facilitate the bolt size for you balun. I suggest something around 4mm.

Figure 9

Then, in the configuration shown in figure 11, solder the joints to join the two loops at the top. And thats the QFH finished.

Construction of the Balun