70 cm Tape Measure Yagi // Ilteber Dover

Completed 70 cm tape-measure Yagi antenna on a PVC boom with yellow tape elements, printed holders, and feedline attached — Completed 70 cm tape-measure Yagi with the PVC boom, printed element holders, yellow tape-measure elements, and feedline installed.

A portable 70 cm Yagi built from spring-steel tape-measure elements. The boom is PVC pipe cut to length, with 3D-printed saddles holding each tape element square to the boom. The driven element uses a hairpin match at the feedpoint.

Element Layout

Dimensions are measured from the reflector along the boom. Element lengths are full tip-to-tip lengths.

Element	Boom position from reflector	Full element length
Reflector	0 in	12-31/32 in
Driven element	5-5/16 in	12-3/32 in
Director 1	7-9/32 in	10-27/32 in
Director 2	12-1/16 in	10-5/8 in
Director 3	17-25/32 in	10-7/16 in
Director 4	24-13/16 in	10-1/4 in
Director 5	31-13/16 in	10-3/32 in

Feedpoint Work

Workbench view of the 70 cm tape-measure Yagi feedpoint during soldering before final assembly, with a soldering iron, fume extractor, PVC boom, and yellow tape elements visible — Feedpoint work before final cleanup: the driven element and matching section were soldered on the bench before the antenna was fully finished.

Construction Notes

PVC boom, cut after marking reflector-to-director spacing.
3D-printed element blocks clamp or capture the tape measure sections.
Tape elements keep the antenna light, flexible, and field-repairable.
Hairpin match used at the driven element for feedpoint matching.

Measurement

NanoVNA screen showing an early 420 to 460 MHz sweep for the 70 cm tape-measure Yagi before final soldering and tuning — Early NanoVNA sweep before final soldering and tuning. This bench reading is useful build context, not a final free-space measurement.

The NanoVNA photo is a build-context image only. The antenna was on the bench during this stage, so the reading in the photo should not be treated as the final tuned free-space measurement.

Files

CAD, print files, and measurement exports can be attached here when the build files are finalized.