3D Printed L-Band Helical Antenna
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This is a design for an L-Band helical antenna scaffold that prints completely flat.
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Updated at source:
Model information
- Source
- Printables
- Category
- Electronics
- License
- Creative Commons — Public Domain
This is a design for an L-Band Helical Antenna support structure (scaffold) that prints completely flat, thus avoiding the printing issues that can crop up with other designs featuring tall skinny elements. It is based up on the dimensions from the online helical antenna calculator at https://jcoppens.com/ant/helix/calc.en.php and is usable for both 1.55 GHz INMARSAT reception as well as the GOES satellites at 1.7 GHz. Both right hand circular polarization and left hand circular polarization are available from the same printed structure.
I used PETG at 0.2 mm resolution and it worked well. Organic supports were used only for the small horizontal slot in the spacers and probably were not needed.
As shown it is a 6-turn helix with about 11 dBi gain, but two helixes can easily be stacked for roughly an additional 2 to 3 dB.
A video showing the pieces and how to assemble the antenna is at: