My club, the Falmouth (Massachusetts) Amateur Radio Association, does a big class 2 A Field Day operation every year, using a central tent and outlying CW,phone, and VHF towers, each of which supports three antennas. This means using a lot of coax runs between the tent and the towers.
When Field Day is over, all of this coax must be neatly rolled and stored for its next use, whether it’s the following year’s Field Day or an unplanned activation. This is an onerous task, because we use long lengths (150 ft.) of coax and they must be rolled up by hand. It takes forever on a hot field and manpower resources are limited. Necessity being the mother of invention, I decided to make a coax roller that would quickly and neatly allow one person to take charge of rolling up all of the coax.
Starting with a Cable Reel
While working for a company that used large cable reels with plywood faces, I began to see the possibilities of using these to build a coax reel. Our company discarded these cable reels after use, so they were readily available. This project will use both plywood faces to build the reel, and if you don’t have access to a cable reel, the faces can be cut from 5/8-inch thick plywood.
Reels such as these have a cardboard core held together by three or four long, thin steel bolts. I removed these and discarded them, as well as the cardboard core. You will only use the plywood faces, which have a large 21/2-inch diameter hole in the middle, perfect for 2-inch schedule 40 PVC pipe.
I purchased a short 2-foot section of 2-inch schedule 40 pipe from the scrap pile at the local home-improvement store and a female 2-inch PVC socket flange (see photo A). This forms the axle hub for the reel. The socket flange is screwed onto the bottom plywood face, directly over the 21/2-inch diameter hole in the center. A local machine shop turned the flange such that it had a bearing surface that was 13/4 inches above the surface of the plywood face. A random 8–10 inch length of the 2-inch schedule 40 pipe is glued into the flange to form the actual hub and axle. The pipe is long enough and does not need a clamp to hold the top face in place. If you plan to use the reel often, a thin sheet of plastic, cut with a 2-1/2 inch diameter hole, should go between the flange bearing surface and the wood. Otherwise, use some grease there.
Next, I purchased five small, thirteen 4-inch high casters and screwed them onto the opposite (top) plywood face, on a circle 2 inches from the outside edge. These are, in effect, the bearings that allow the reel to turn on the PVC axle shaft and wind the coax. To finish, I bought five 1/2-inch cast pipe flanges for the steel pipe nipples used as the winding supports and winding handle. These were placed evenly on the top surface of the plywood face, on a circle centered 3-1/2 inches from the edge of the plywood so that the coax, when wound, would have a 16–17-inch inside diameter when wound onto the reel. Finally, four 1/2 × 6-inch long pipe nipples, and one 1/2 × 10-inch nipple (the winding handle) completed the job. A piece of PVC pipe and cap completed the winding handle, providing a free-spinning handle on the pipe nipple. For the first reel I built, I used a 3/8-inch flange and nipple for the winder, and that might work better.
Finally, drill two 1/2-inch holes in the bottom flange, about a foot apart, and get two 3/8 × 12-inch-long deck spikes. These are driven through the holes and into the ground, as the winder lies flat on the ground when being used. Leave an inch or so to grab and pull when you are done. A broom spring clip on the top flange provides a place to clip the coax connector before you start to wind.
Winding Your Coax
To use the coax winder, place it on flat ground and lift off the top section. Use the deck spikes and spike the bottom section into the ground. Don’t drive the spikes all the way into the ground (you might never get them out!). Then put the top section back in place.
Lay out the coax in a straight line along the ground. Clip the end of the coax into the broom spring and hold it in place for a moment as you begin to wind it on the outside of the pipe nipples. A couple of 2×4s placed under the first 10 feet of the coax is helpful by keeping it off the ground as it enters the reel. Keep winding (it should be easy.) making sure that the coax does not jump over the top of the nipples; you can control that with your non-winding hand. When finished winding, slip a couple of cable ties under the coax to hold it and lift it off of the winder. It should come off reasonably easily, and electrical tape can be used instead of cable ties to secure the coax after it’s lifted from the winder. Some silicone spray on the nipples helps the reeled coax come off more easily.
It Works!
This reel has been used successfully for two Field Days, as well as being used to reel up rope and coax at four station sites at WRTC 2014, including the “winning station site.”
(from October 2014 CQ magazine article by Henry-K1WCC)
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