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.

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.

Figure 8

loop
22m
are
figure

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.

Figure 9

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.
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

Materials:

20mm of 20mm diameter plastic waste pipe

Enameled copper wire
2 4mm bolts of a length greater than the diameter of the copper elbow
joints
2 4mm nuts
Coaxial cable
Plastic container to shield the balun from weather, I used the lid of
an aerosol can with a length of rubber tubing taped inside.

The first step is to take the piece of plastic pipe and drill a
small hole 7mm from an end. Then, along the same line, drill a
hole 15mm from the same end. The turn pipe 90 degrees and
repeat, before turning it 90 degrees again and repeating so you
end up with six holes, as in figure 12.

Figure 12
Now, feed a length of copper wire from the inside through hole
1S, before make two turns and feeding it into 1F. Then again from
the inside thread another length of copper wire through 2S and
after making two turns thread it back into 2F. Finally do the
same with 3S and 3F (figure 13).

Figure 13
Now bend 1s down through the middle solder it to 2F. Then take 1S
and solder it to 3F. Make sure the exposed lengths are still
quite long. Take your two bolts and bend 2S and the 1S/3F
combination each around the head of either bolt. Solder them to
ensure good contact. Finally, take the sheath of the co-ax and
solder that to 1S/2F lead. Then solder the inner wire to the 3F
lead. Make sure that these dont short, either with some shrink
tube, or by smearing some melted glue gun glue around them.
Hopefully, you should end up with a balun similar to that in
figure 14.

Figure 14
Now make sure you construct some sort of waterproof sheath for the balun. As
mentioned, I used the cap of an aerosol can. Drilling two holes in the top 20mm
apart for the bolts helps keep them and the copper elbows separate on the tope of
the antenna. Now feed each bolt through a hole in the copper elbows on the top of
the antenna before securing with a nut. You may find adding a washer improves the
electrical contact.

And that is your antenna finished.

Some final notes:

Weatherproof your antenna! I used some instant silicone gasket to waterproof the
contact between bolts and copper. Also I added an upside down bottle to shield it
from the worst of the weather.
To make a mount, I used several lengths of the plastic waste pipe. As can be seen
in a previous image, I secured four lengths together with cable ties. Perhaps not
the most elegant solution, but it was cheaper and works very well.
Make sure that you mount your antenna as high as possible. You want it to ideally
get as good a view of the sky from horizon to horizon as possible.
If you do not want to solder the Belling-Lee connectors for the USB dongle to the
other end of the co-ax, you should be able to find lengths of co-ax on Ebay with
these connectors pre-installed.