Hey Tommaso, they certainly allow a lot more flexibility in how you operate. I've seen people load up fences or bridges with their ATU to make contacts in the field!
The concept of the " random" wire antenna is fantastic. Not being resonant on any frequency presents an impedence that the tuner can match. I have seen a few videos of other who look at the swr readings at the end of the wire before connecting it to the tuner and as with yourself, found it to be presenting something like 10:1+ across all bands. But although high the joy of this type of antenna is that it will present with a usable tuneable impedance across a range of bands where a resonant antenna would be restricted to its frequency as possible some multiple harmonics along the way. But two bits of wire and a binding post and you can get almost all the bands. I love mine and greatly enjoy watching others experimenting with wire anyennas as well. Keep up the grate content.
Great video, makes me want to go out and do some more pota with my g90. Did you buy the antenna or did you make it chap? Also just discovered your channel, keep it up! Cheers Tim M7TLT
Thanks Tim! The g90 is a fine rig and it has a great tuner inside it, I’m sure you can do something similar to what I did. The antenna is just a bit of wire with a 4mm speaker plug I connected to it. Really easy to make. Hope we can work each other when we are both out portable 😄73
I may have missed something.. but, you seemed to have very poor results as checked with your stick analyzer.. Do you have any idea what the SWR's might have been? Nice video..
Hi WJ, yep you’re correct, the SWR with just a wire was pretty poor and it wouldn’t be possible to use it without a great tuner like the one that the KX3 has got
Ideally you should use an elevated radial, NOT a counterpoise! The difference is it works ‘efficiently’. The mast should ‘vertical’ the radiating element to where the feed-point (binding post) is suspended about 6’ above the ground. The elevated radial should slope in the direction of your DX (gain), to terminate about 3’ above An efficient antenna, is more important than a tuner. The Elecraft antenna tuner is a great help to improve the match…, but the Antenna is of primary importance.
Running a QRP rig can be so frustrating but when propagation and antenna Gods are in alignment and you snag a DX station with a 59 report, it is so satisfying!!! The KX3 is such a phenominal rig even if you use it at home!!!
Hi Jed it’s 14awg (2mm) multistranded cable called polyweave. It has the advantage over speaker wire of being stronger and less prone to tangling or breaking. I’ve used standard speaker wire before though and it works fine too
Hi cool way to go hiking with some light wight material, I do also have the KX3 and try to copy your antenna, but unfortunately there must be something wrong with my then I just have 1 band working 1-1 40m band. Could you tell me more about your build? What cable you used and also what are the length of your cable then you told something like 15,50 m maybe it's longer as wire I used a 18AWG with 23 ohm/km. THX in upfront.
Haha yeah I originally planned to use 5W and that’s when I recorded the CQ QRP message. However since the internal batteries weren’t working I connected the external battery and just turned up the power to 15w.
My ham radio Brother! The idea of a series called "will it Antenna" is brilliant ♡ a group of us had done something very similar when the g90 came out♡ one guy even tuned up a sign at a lake they were fishing at... he tuned up the fishing sign! LoL❤ Really appreciate your work! Be well hamFam 😊
appreciate the nice energy on all your comments 😁 that is so cool! There are some really cool videos on YT of people tuning up and making contacts on bridges, fences, bed frames and all sorts of stuff! have a good one 73
Great video H, you did really well with that setup. Quite surprised the trees didn’t kill your signal on 40m but they may be the cause of not being able to tune on some of the other bands. Take an earth rod with you next time as an alternative to the wire counterpoise. 73.
Thanks a lot, yes that’s correct. You may want to try with different lengths which aren’t a half wave on any of the bands. I have a friend who uses about 9m radiator and an 8m counterpoise who has good results with his kx2. 73
This is practically the exact way I set mt KX3 up for all POTA and SOTA activations. However I hoist my 21 foot collapsible pole as far up a tree as I can strapping the pole to the tree with bungee straps. I attach the END of my 88 foot long wire to the pole. The other end goes right through the top of a four foot hiking pole and then into the radio as you have done. I run a 37 foot counterpoise that I just lay out on the ground. I get the same results with the tuner on the same bands you showed. Usually 1.2 to 1.0. I routinely pull in stations running 15 watts from 1,000 to over 2,000 miles away. Especially if I am on a SOTA summit. Simple, lightweight and it works. What was that app you were using?
sounds like a great set up! you can do so much with 15w and some wire :) the app I use is just the notes app on my phone, I find it the quickest and simplest to use. 73
You must have seen K0KLB’s QRP videos where he tunes a metal fence and Silo. I’d like to see you do that in the UK and will keep an eye out for your videos. Great job.
I also think an internal ATU is a must have for portable QRP operations. Good job as usual! I'm a little bit jealous actually.. Never logged a /MM :(
Hey Tommaso, they certainly allow a lot more flexibility in how you operate. I've seen people load up fences or bridges with their ATU to make contacts in the field!
@@RadioAntics I know! Someone tunes rain gutters as well ahaha!
You just never know when /MM stations will appear. I have worked one on 10m FT8 and another on the SO-50 2/70FM satellite 😲
@@M5JFS woah that’s pretty cool
The concept of the " random" wire antenna is fantastic. Not being resonant on any frequency presents an impedence that the tuner can match. I have seen a few videos of other who look at the swr readings at the end of the wire before connecting it to the tuner and as with yourself, found it to be presenting something like 10:1+ across all bands. But although high the joy of this type of antenna is that it will present with a usable tuneable impedance across a range of bands where a resonant antenna would be restricted to its frequency as possible some multiple harmonics along the way. But two bits of wire and a binding post and you can get almost all the bands. I love mine and greatly enjoy watching others experimenting with wire anyennas as well. Keep up the grate content.
Thank you Sam it was good fun. 73!
Great job Hamzah! I really enjoyed this video. Your enthusiasm and enjoyment makes it.
Thanks a lot Ady 😁 73
Great video, makes me want to go out and do some more pota with my g90. Did you buy the antenna or did you make it chap? Also just discovered your channel, keep it up!
Cheers
Tim M7TLT
Thanks Tim! The g90 is a fine rig and it has a great tuner inside it, I’m sure you can do something similar to what I did. The antenna is just a bit of wire with a 4mm speaker plug I connected to it. Really easy to make.
Hope we can work each other when we are both out portable 😄73
Great video man! Love the enthusiasm😁especially the maritime mobile station EPIC!
Very nice! Can you tell me what power supply you are using? Thanks and succes!
Hi Erwin, it’s called the OmniCharge 20+
@@RadioAntics Thanks! Did you buy that type for a special reason? Because there is so much on the market right now 😀
Great to see you out portable mate. Awesome video
cheers thanks a lot. I am pretty happy with how the station performed! hope to work you on the bands soon 73
I may have missed something.. but, you seemed to have very poor results as checked with your stick analyzer.. Do you have any idea what the SWR's might have been? Nice video..
Hi WJ, yep you’re correct, the SWR with just a wire was pretty poor and it wouldn’t be possible to use it without a great tuner like the one that the KX3 has got
Great video. What was the phone app you were using?
Hi Brian, the apps I use are idx for cluster, CloudLogOffline for log and AntScope for the rigexpert
Ideally you should use an elevated radial, NOT a counterpoise! The difference is it works ‘efficiently’. The mast should ‘vertical’ the radiating element to where the feed-point (binding post) is suspended about 6’ above the ground. The elevated radial should slope in the direction of your DX (gain), to terminate about 3’ above An efficient antenna, is more important than a tuner. The Elecraft antenna tuner is a great help to improve the match…, but the Antenna is of primary importance.
Running a QRP rig can be so frustrating but when propagation and antenna Gods are in alignment and you snag a DX station with a 59 report, it is so satisfying!!! The KX3 is such a phenominal rig even if you use it at home!!!
Is that just speaker wire ?
Hi Jed it’s 14awg (2mm) multistranded cable called polyweave. It has the advantage over speaker wire of being stronger and less prone to tangling or breaking. I’ve used standard speaker wire before though and it works fine too
A fun video. Thanks. What power pack are you using out of interest?
Great to see some POTA across the pond! Keep it up.
thanks a lot! you too. 73 :)
Hi cool way to go hiking with some light wight material, I do also have the KX3 and try to copy your antenna, but unfortunately there must be something wrong with my then I just have 1 band working 1-1 40m band. Could you tell me more about your build? What cable you used and also what are the length of your cable then you told something like 15,50 m maybe it's longer as wire I used a 18AWG with 23 ohm/km. THX in upfront.
He said it’s a 15M radiating element.
I came, i could not find you. were you up the top end of the wood
Did you say "crank it up to 15 watts" then call QRP? Not what I would consider QRP, but that aside.. great work with just a bit of wire! :)
Haha yeah I originally planned to use 5W and that’s when I recorded the CQ QRP message. However since the internal batteries weren’t working I connected the external battery and just turned up the power to 15w.
My ham radio Brother! The idea of a series called "will it Antenna" is brilliant ♡ a group of us had done something very similar when the g90 came out♡ one guy even tuned up a sign at a lake they were fishing at... he tuned up the fishing sign! LoL❤
Really appreciate your work!
Be well hamFam 😊
appreciate the nice energy on all your comments 😁 that is so cool! There are some really cool videos on YT of people tuning up and making contacts on bridges, fences, bed frames and all sorts of stuff! have a good one 73
Great video H, you did really well with that setup. Quite surprised the trees didn’t kill your signal on 40m but they may be the cause of not being able to tune on some of the other bands. Take an earth rod with you next time as an alternative to the wire counterpoise. 73.
Thanks very much, 73
great stuff Hamzah!
can I double check if we are talking
for 15m element
and a 5m counterpoise?
do I have these numbers right?
Thanks a lot, yes that’s correct.
You may want to try with different lengths which aren’t a half wave on any of the bands.
I have a friend who uses about 9m radiator and an 8m counterpoise who has good results with his kx2.
73
Absolutely fab video, thank you for the inspiration! 73, Jonathan, M0XXJ
Thanks so much 😄
Another great video! Very much enjoying your posts. Inspiring. Can't wait for the bird feeder episode 👍🏻 -73
i’m so glad. I can’t wait for the bird feeder episode either 😁
Great video , one thing that amazes is just what can be achieved with a piece of wire . The tuner on my G90 does a fine job too 73
Cheers Steve it really is! 73
Good morning!♡♡♡ beautiful location! Love me some POTA! :)
I'm seeing a lot if people with that Antenna analyzer ♡ very cool :)
Maritime Mobile!! Freaking Cool!!
@@wild-radio7373 good morning! ☀️ thanks a lot for the nice comment. it was the first MM station I worked which made it even more fun! 73
Good video. Brilliant!
Thanks very much 😁
What is the analizer u use in this please and love the kx3 they are great
It’s a rig expert stick.
Hi it’s the RigExpert Stick230 like Harry said. It’s a great analyser especially for portable ops. Cheers
Cool! Beautiful location.
Thanks William
This is practically the exact way I set mt KX3 up for all POTA and SOTA activations. However I hoist my 21 foot collapsible pole as far up a tree as I can strapping the pole to the tree with bungee straps. I attach the END of my 88 foot long wire to the pole. The other end goes right through the top of a four foot hiking pole and then into the radio as you have done. I run a 37 foot counterpoise that I just lay out on the ground. I get the same results with the tuner on the same bands you showed. Usually 1.2 to 1.0. I routinely pull in stations running 15 watts from 1,000 to over 2,000 miles away. Especially if I am on a SOTA summit. Simple, lightweight and it works. What was that app you were using?
sounds like a great set up! you can do so much with 15w and some wire :) the app I use is just the notes app on my phone, I find it the quickest and simplest to use. 73
Do you have any experience using the kx-1 w/ a wire antenna?
Hi Anthony I haven’t used the KX1 before but I’m sure a wire antenna would work just fine with it! 73
You must have seen K0KLB’s QRP videos where he tunes a metal fence and Silo. I’d like to see you do that in the UK and will keep an eye out for your videos. Great job.