COEP Foxhunt & DIY Antenna Workshop: Hands-on Fun for Amateur Radio. Late monsoon 2024, the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) hosted one of its exciting events that combined hands-on learning with real-world application: the COEP Foxhunt and DIY Antenna Workshop. Co-organized by Parth Darade, VU3ZNE of the members of the VU2RCP club in collaboration with Vinit Patel and Shruti Keskar, the event brought amateur radio enthusiasts together for some unique learning in the art of radio direction finding and building your own antenna.
The DIY Antenna Workshop
The participating teams had a workshop on building an Uda-yagi antenna on 14th September, instructed by Parth, and led by Vinit and Shruti. The objective was to build a Yagi antenna, for direction-finding with high gain and directional sensitivity. The workshop would give participants a taste of basic theoretical antenna knowledge and the hands-on skills to have their very first build and tuning of a Yagi antenna from scratch.
In this interactive session, teams learned:- Basics of Antenna: The concept of antenna gain, directionality, and polarization.-
Yagi Design: Selecting the appropriate size of elements for the reflector, driven element, and directors to achieve the highest possible reception of the desired signal at the target frequency for the event.
Assembly & Tuning: Basic ways of constructing the antenna using available materials and proper tuning for maximum signal clarity and directionality.Armed with their DIY Yagi antennas, participants embarked on their journey of gaining confidence and an understanding of the technology involved with radio
– all this before the foxhunt even began: putting new skills to the test.
Once the antennas were ready, the participants used them to participate in the foxhunt challenge. Every new round, the hidden transmitter was broadcasting somewhere within the COEP campus, and the participants were using their home-made Yagi antennas to locate the transmitter by checking direction of signal and strength. This hands-on test of the newly-built antennas brought out the competitive spirit as teams huddled together, rotated their antennas, and ran to interpret the propagation. The culmination of the workshop was really exciting, with nearly every team locating the fox.
. The event was closed with a debriefing, where the participants could reflect on their learning experience and even show appreciation for the capabilities of radio technology.
The COEP Foxhunt and Antenna Workshop was a huge success with proper skill building in a fun, hands-on application. These events can only further inspire amateur radio within COEP and beyond. They only further open up avenues of self-exploration and the leading into communication technology and its varied applications. Know about upcoming events by joining the VU2RCP club. Peace.
VU3ZNE Parth