Being new to Ham, my philosophy was to go cheap until I knew where to spend my money and to go QRP until I have learned how to maximize the power I have. So the current antenna I have used for mid-USA to Japan and Europe contacts is a 1/4 wave vertical made out of electrical EMT conduit leaned against a tree along with speaker wire counterpoise and a banana plug connector. All for about $30. Now I'm ready for my next step and your video has given me some good ideas.
Great antenna list. I use a few of those myself with favorable results.. You asked about listing our top 10 antennas.. Well here ya go.. (remember, you asked for this, LOL) 10. The Dumpster (somewhat portable but a little bulky to use elevated) 9. The Church Bell (NOT a good portable antenna, but it will propagate groundwave for miles when rung) 8. The 80' Grain Augers (VERY portable, height and direction are adjustable) reaches Puerto Rico on 5w SSB, LOL 7. Creek Water (Very cumbersum to put together, wont work in Iowa winter when creek is frozen) 6. The Corn Stalk (easy to find in Iowa late summer, Only good for about 1 hour usage and dries up) 5. . The Grain Cart Auger (portable, collapsible and easy to set up) 4. John Deere Loader Tractor (portable, height adjustable) 3. Collapsible 16ft Aluminum Ladder (portable, collapsible and easy to set up in different configurations) 2. 70ft Steel Silo (NOT portable, Great omnidirectional radiation, provides good shade on hot summer day) 1. Old Farm 40ft Windmill (Not portable, Great omnidirectional radiation, 1w QRP SSB from Iowa to South Carolina) That's all I have.. Thanks for sharing your video and keep it up.. k0klb
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES Believe it or not.. I actually have the "one upper" experts tell me how these wont work too... LOL... So fun to play Ham Radio ! ! !... k0klb
A link in the description for each of your choices would’ve been nice. Great video Walt. Ham Stick are only copies of the original. The original Lakeview ones were coated with a thin coating of copper.
Even when I am operating at the qth I'm still operating "portable". The curse of apartment living. Tops for me is the 1/4 wave vertical. I've got a ground rod driven in to the flower bed and I mount the mfj 17 footer on the spike at about 5-6 ft. Doing POTA or camping I mount the antenna to my ever present spade. I use tuned, raised radials alligator clipped to the bracket or shield and it just works. Small footprint, quick to deploy/take down, and easy enough to tune with a little practice. Sunday morning I deployed the antenna and worked Slovenia on 17. Ran out side shortened everything up and less than 15 minutes later worked Bulgaria on 10m. Hamsticks are an honorable mention. I use them on a fender mount on the truck for 10 and 12m. I get terrific signal reports and completely amazed "wait.... you're actually driving" comments all the time. Mag loops are really interesting in my type of situation. Eventually I will get around to building one. I've also had really good luck with T2LT "flower pot" type antennas on 2m/70cm. I plan on making one for 6m as well. I see no reason why they wouldn't work equally as well for 10 and 12m naked. KC3UVF
Excellent! Mostly non commercial antenna specific. I started with the dipole (Army) and various wire antenna configurations. When I became a ham, I tried the Buddipole (basically a OCF dipole or vertical) and I still use it today. Love it for the versatility and the excellent results I always get with the antenna. I like EFHW antenna, especially for SOTA. One in particular is the Par EFHF MTR 20/30/40m that I bought for use with my LNR MTR3B LCD Radio. Cut to length, it is resident on all three bands. Perfect for my little MTR3B, I don't carry a tuner with it anymore. And, of course, it also works with my Elecraft KX2 and KX3 radios.
Great list. Every antenna on the list is a winner. I bought a complete Buddi stick/pole set up before the Silver bullet came out. A little bigger to carry, but I think it compares well to the Silver Bullet. The EFHW is my favorite. Operating portable, resonate antennas make things go so quick and effortless. They also use almost all the power fed to them with no tuner needed. That G-90 is a great radio for portable ! Thanks Walt !
Great video! Love seeing other people's perspectives on antennas. My top antennas are resonant dipoles and EFHWs. For tuner required antennas, I like the W3EDP and other random wires. For 2m, I like Roll-up JPoles and Yagis. For limit spaces, the AlexLoop. You've got me interested in the Rybakov; I've got your video from November on the Rybakov queued up to watch next.
Feed the dipole with ladder line instead of coax and turn it into a multiband doublet with ATU. I agree that hamsticks and a mag mount are really convenient and offer surprisingly good performance. If you can find one (not made anymore), get yourself a High Sierra screwdriver antenna (similar to MFJ but better quality). Quick and easy and now back in production, try the Eagle One vertical. 73 and have fun.
@@eduardopower5254 I always suggest to new hams to save their money and put up a doublet, add a match or tuner, and work the world. The doublet is a simple but performance antenna.
Good video. All these methods are great, and it serves to demonstrate that there is no magic in aerials, despite the ramblings of some YT "experts". I am a retired Pro and Old Ham. I even had a commercial(not ham) aerial factory last century. 🙂 Even the most expensive over-hyped commercial offerings are basically just the correct length of wire/metal, or a convenient length of wire with appropriate matching. Many of them advise the use of an "ATU " somewhere in the system, which just shows that they don't really offer anything that a cheap piece of wire can't do. Even non-technical Hams, can have a lot of fun experimenting and learning, by using simple cheap materials, with great results. There is a recently launched product that is a step in the right direction, if you look around.
Walt, having watched your vids for a while now. I think you have hit the nail on the head. A great review of what is out there. EFHW are good antennas, but need a tree, pole etc. Your no.1, packs small and looks easy to set up. Awesome
Excellent video! I usually only operate 20 through 6 meters while portable, so the PAR EndFedz (end fed wires) have been great to deploy! And you don't need a tuner too! Worked the world with those suckers, running only 20 watts!
Hey Walt I just listened to Indigo! Very impressed. Happy for both of you. Plus I wondered where you got your intro and now I know! I love it you are an inspiration to me as a new ham and wannabe youtuber
Great video. Vertical antenna with coil is the number one portable antenna. I have a MFJ 2286 big stick portable vertical antenna. It is portable and multi-bands. It can be mounted on a triple and very convenience.
I did all over the USA and even to Japan with a 66' OCFD split 44' + 22' hung about 15' up between trees at a special event station. This is a very easy antenna to set up. Works 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 10 m.
Super Antenna has a great covered coil. Worked 40 thru 10 mobile. Setting for 20m is a pointing finger length from the bottom; the coil remains covered. While driving, you can tune 20 - 10 with a tuner. If it's raining, the covered coil is best. Durango Setup... diamond hf mount grounded, 4' mast, coil, and 6' metal whip. For 20m only, use the whip off a 20m hamstick. For 40m, use an 8ft marine whip. It's light weight. Tie off with 10 lb fishing line while moving. Worked the world with this mobile.
Some great ideas there and some I want to try some of them. My son travels for his company and takes his Xiegu X6100 and uses an EFHW very successfully. For portable I'm using an IC-705 with AH-705 and 25 ft RG-58 and 25 ft control cable. I haul the tuner up in a tree or hang it on a 24 ft extendable painter pole and extend two wires out as an inverted V. Seems to work really well. Something I'm working on is to set up a rod to drive into the ground with a trucker antenna mount to hold a MFJ telescoping vertical and hang my AH-705 off the bottom with a double male PL-259 and attach a few radials to the mount.
Great video my friend! As you said, many flavor bunch of tastes 👍🏼. My portable favorites antennas: - EFHW - flat top Doublet. - Delta Loop. . Quarter wave vertical (on salty water)
I picked up an older model outbacker from a local ham friend. It works great on top of the car on a mag mount or mounted on a tripod with 4 short counterpoise wires. Has taps for different bands, so it’s like several ham sticks in one.
I share the options of my field setup by... the scale of laziness. From several full-size dipoles and QRP power (if I go somewhere for a long time), to a vertical with a coil and 100W (if it's a short outing). I am deeply convinced that the antenna - is 95% of success. So the question boils down to whether I want to test myself or just relax. And of course all the intermediate options)
I’m so mad that you didn’t pick my antenna. LOL just kidding. I agree on the wolf river coil that is my go to antenna. My next antenna is a speaker wire dipole in an inverted V. I have one cut for 20m and one for 40m, I rarely use the 40m. Anyway it is super light and super quiet. If I am in a more urban area I go for the speaker wire dipole. If I am out in the middle of no where then the WRC. I just find that I get less background noise on the dipole. Thanks for the video, I just found you and subscribed!
Thanks for this unique review of portable antennas. It gives me a clear view of the alternatives I have to set up my ham HF station that I will operate mostly portable.
My main antenna is an EFHW. I used a 20’ flagpole and sloped it down to 10’. The 49:1 is on the low end. 100 ft of unchoked coax, no other counterpoise. It works fairly well. Next week, I’m going to try the WRC sporty 40 with the 213” whip. I’ll report back.
Good job! I need to think about my top ten. Going to be hard! I guess I need two categories top ten single band and top ten portable. For home use Top ten single band is easy: 160 is an inverted L, 80 is a half square, 40 is a dipole, 20 is a full size 4 element Yagi at 70 feet, 15 is a dipole, 10 is a full size 10 meter Yagi at 70 feet. For portable most used is Hustler Mobile, best overall performance would be dipoles, best all band would be Random end fed wire with a home brew L network tuner. Each antenna has advantages and each antenna has disadvantages! I guess that’s why some of us have lots of antennas both in the air and in buckets, milk crates and hanging on the wall! Enjoy you videos keep up the good work! 73 de N4DJ
MFJ ham sticks and EF 40 and 80 m antennas. Building a 9:1 for the random wire, and yes bought 100ft of speaker wire. 11.99 who could be without. 18awg. going to try for 102 feet I hear that is one of the magic numbers. Thanks again for the fun videos. 73
I agree with the EFHW but I would put it ahead of the Wolf river coil. The WRC I didn't have that good luck with. The reason you've had good results with the WRC is because you used it at the beach with nothing in the way and a salt water ground. For camping the EFHW by my antennas the 10-40 has a 60 foot wire and fits on the typical camp site. Quick set up with the airboss shooting a wire in the tree, and a site with a tree is mandatory 😉 73, K9AT
Not a ham yet, still studying, but I take my SDR and my laptop and go to random parks in my area just to receive signals, its a ton of fun. If you new hams aren't doing POTA or anything like that, give it a shot!
Excellent video, thank you! I’ve experimented like you over the years and ended up buying a commercial JPC 12 multiband centre loaded vertical, collapsing down into a mini travel case. For my main station I run a couple of commercial Italian mag loops that smash my end fed and dipole wire arrays. 73 Neil G4LRV
Hamsticks are awesome. I remember one of my first SOTA activations on a peak in Nevada, making a contact with F4WBN in France with my G90 and a 20m Hamstick with about 10 radials. I was blown away! These days, I'm more inclined to use a random wire or EFHW in an inverted-L configuration, for ease of set-up. I've made DX contacts (Japan, Argentina and France) with both using a FX-4C 10w transceiver from summits in Utah. You've given me a few more antennas to think about. Thanks!
Thanks for watching and commenting. I've had my eye on a FX-4C for a while. Actually ordered one from china but was scammed. Looking forward to the next version of that radio that's coming out soon!
Still fairly new to portable operation. #1. For when I know I am going to be in a place, maybe camping, I love to put up my dual band vertical. It is a full quarter wave on 20m then there is a coil and another couple meters to make it resonate on 40m. I elevate the feed point 2 meters and only need two tuned radials for each band. It works SOOOO good. #2 For quick car based POTA activations the Shark hamsticks are so good. I have done a number of activations with these hamsticks and the (tr)uSDX QRP. #3 EFHW. Of course I love this antenna. I have built a number of them. My home install is the full 135 feet. One portable 100 watt version is 65 feet then a 110uH coil and a telescoping section so that I can tune to any narrow portion of 80m. Hope to use that one camping this summer. A second version is for QRP and is 65 feet without 80m capability. I am trying other antennas but really have not found another favorite. I have tried some wire dipoles and a hamstick dipole. Thanks for this video. WE9O
When I select an antenna for any given scenario, I consider what I will be doing. If my plan is to CQ I want an antenna that is resonant on the exact frequency that I'm using (where I'm parking and staying)...if my plan is to hunt I want an antenna that is semi-resonant across a wide section of band(s)...this is worth mention, IMO.
Fantastic run down Walt! I've got three favourite portable antennas at the moment, one of which is the Slidewinder DX with AT271 whip same as you. I use it either clamped to a length of copper pipe pushed into the ground, or clamped to any suitable railing or whatnot. I find it really easy to tune without an SWR meter just by tuning for maximum receive noise, and always end up close to 1:1. One of my other favourites is Ampro whips, same as the Shark and other Hamstick type antenna. So easy to put on the roof of my LR on a magmount, and fantastic contacts every single time. And lastly, I've made a copy of a Bushcomm Mil-1 which is a broadband HF antenna. No tuning required, I set it up at head height and can turn just hunker down and operate anywhere on HF. And although I only ever operate QRP, 99% CW, I've had great QSOs across the world with it. I absolutely love your TH-cam content! 73 M3KXZ
Saludos desde España amigo. Tiene usted un canal fantastico. Tanto.por el contenido.como por su clara forma de esplicar las cosas y sus consejos. (Su trabajo es de gran ayuda para los novatos que estamos enpezando en este maravilloso y loco mundo de las ondas. 👌. -Mucha salud y enhorabuena por su granntrabajo.
Great video. Love your antenna presentations. Personally the EFHW sloper is my favorite. I use a transformer fairly close to the ground near my vehicle or travel trailer with no radials or ground. The 65 ft wire extends upward to the top of a 31 ft pole leaning into trees. 30 ft of coax is routed from the transformer along the ground to the radio. However, I have Hustler resonators for all bands from 80-10 and I like them (three at a time) when I'm taking my truck to a park. Hustler has a little bracket where you can mount 3 resonators at a time. I like to be able to operate multi-band without tuning or changing configuration. Many of your others interest me....maybe someday I'll get around to trying them. Thanks, Walt....😀😀😀😀
#9 Dipole. They don't need to be installed high up if installed as a sloping dipole. Mine are for 20m and 17m, and the bottom ends are only a few feet off the ground. They provide excellent performance across the Atlantic. Plus, you only need one tree. 🙂
When I use a base coil loaded vertical antenna I ensure I have a ground stake and a static voltage bleed away resistor from central conductor to ground. I have found wind blowing over aerial creates static voltages. Not a problem on end fed 49-1 as centre conductor has dc path via balun to outer conductor and earth. Cheers from old George.
So far I’ve only used a Cobra Sr center fed dipole. And I ordered a Buddi stick Pro that I should be getting in the mail today. So I’m anxious to try that out for portable operation with my new FT-891.
I built a linked inverted V dipole 80m through 10m for portable use. An insulator at the phone length of each band with a male female connector on each link. Join the links down to the band I am going to use. I then have different length tails that can be inserted into the link to give me resonance at the cw portion.of each band. An 8.5m fiberglass sectional mast with a small pulley at the top to facillitate a quick drop to change the band. I use it for SOTA, POTA and field station work.
Hi Walt, Here in Elizabeth City. Using a Buddipole Deluxe vertical 80m but even with a 100 Watt amplifier and SWR of 1.37 at my targeted frequency of 3.874 at 9:00 PM EST couldn't work anyone in the net because they were all more than 300 miles away. Just not enough radiating power. Need to go to a wire. Waiting for the Schrader valve to complete my tennis ball antenna laucher and hopefully can rig my Buckmaster 80-10m 7 bander if I have enough room. 90+45 feet arms. Have used Alex Lopp on top of Mt Mitchell in western NC with contacts to Israel and Troy New York. In Natchez MS, would use the Par Endz Fed 20/40 trail on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi. I have a portable EmCom III which I haven't used yet. Plan on hitting the beach in Nags Head at the Hungry Pelican in two months to try my BP again vertical on 20 or 40 m- before the spring break crowd arrives, maybe also my Alex Loop. 73's AF5LQ
We agree on the same antennas for portable use... Just in a little different order. My 1st choice is a home brew 63ft - 49:1 EFHW -OR- the homebrew 9:1 random wire antenna with the internal tuner in my radio. I use them configured as a sloper or with a fiberglass pole to make an inverted L - My 2nd choice is the Wolf River coils silver bullet vertical on a camera tripod with 8 radials. All of them net plenty of contacts. - Thanks for another great video Walt.... I always enjoy hearing about what others are using to launch their portable signal !! - - 73 - Steve
For dipoles, I like an inverted V. Set up as an X. 40M for 1 crossing pair and 20M the other crossing pair. Or an inverted V with a reflector under the main wire. A great NVIS setup.
I agree with most of your choices. But, my eye kept getting drawn to that beautiful Hammarlund receiver in the background. I had one about 30 years ago...might have been the same model. Even then, it was a classic but worked great!! Ivan VE7IVN
Great video Walt. Those are all good antennas. My favorite is the wolf river coil for portable. At home I have 3 EFHW going in different directions and they have for me contacts all over the world. Good DX. 73
Great video! Have never had the pleasure of trying a mag loop. Aside from that, it's pretty much the same order for me, both in favor and in actual order of experiments I did to arrive where I am with the WRC being my favorite! I set it up with the legs that the TIA kit came with (extra long ones) for 40m/80m or directly to a lip mount on my trunk for 20m and up. The main two for me. at the moment, for pretty much every day use, is the WRC and a "random wire" : 73' with a 9:1 unun (25' counterpoise attached) - I can go from 160m to 10m on that thing, no problem at all!
Great Video!, I agree that a Coil M/B Vertical is a great antenna, I myself use a Buddi-Stick Pro because it is a small package to carry when doing Bicycle portable. Keep up doing the videos and have fun doing portable!!!!!!! 73
Very Helpful List... Myself - Love the Buddy Stick coil antenna, but the two things i don't like about it are the tuning clips are a bit clumsy, & the antenna parts get corroded by the salty air in a short period of time ( 1 Year ) I switched to a Super Antenna, & been having equal or better success with that - the included radial counterpoise kit makes it easy to set up .. Just my 2 Cents... I have not tried the wolf river coil antenna.
Enjoy your videos very much as I am an avid QRP'er. My main rig now is the FX-4CR. If I'm "on vacation", I take my T41-EP SDR. The big problem with the mag loop is tuning. Al Peter and I developed a "double-double mag loop" (see my QRZ page for picture) that works well, but is less than portable. When the T41 project is done, I want to build a portable mag loop with remote tuning like the Double-Double has. (It's all Open Source.) If I can, I'd like it to tune using Bluetooth (e.g., Raspberry Pi Pico-W). Jack, W8TEE
Hi greetings from the UK. Great selection you have there. My least favourite is the Delta Loop only because I haven’t figured a way to design it light and portable, but it is on my list. As for the music you use I always thought it was really good but never thought about asking you where you got it. Thanks for sharing
Hi Vitor! Greetings. Thanks for mentioning the music. It is my son’s band Allen Hudson and the Halfmoons. Here’s a link to one of their recent songs: th-cam.com/video/vOQdkH659_0/w-d-xo.html
Nice video! If you get a chance, could you update the video description with links for the antennas you reference? Also, you referenced a couple other videos of yours. If you put those in the description, that would be useful also. Thanks again!
EFHW but with a loading could to reduce the length. Plus I use the wire fence around a field I visit, 100 metres of barbed wire with a 9:1 UnUn. Very long wire supported on a kite, works great at the beach.
Great video, Walt! I’ve learned so much from your antenna videos. And to show that I watched to the end, I dig the music your son has made for your channel! It triggers my air guitar and air drums reflex. Haha! Keep up the great work!
Hi, thanks for a nice discussion-starter video! 😀 At the seaside, I suggest vertical is much better that horizontal, for DX. A half-wave dipole should be low- z ~ 50Ohm in the middle on odd harmonics, so can be used on several bands... the lobes break-up, and the main lobes have gain increasing with length. For end-fed multiband horizontal, I suggest the City Windom. I am suspicious of the plethora of end-feds with ununs; I suspect that the co-ax has to do quite a bit of radiating.....
Thanks for the heart! P.S. The City-Windom should also work well as a vertical on its fundamental (i.e. lowest) frequency-band. It will radiate on its higher bands, but the lobes break-up and become predominantly high-angle; however, that is also true of an unun-fed end-fed vertical, once you get past about 5/8 wavelength.
Nice Video!! I also have the same manpac n also slide winder, used it a few months ago, n made contacts on 40 thru 10 same afternoon, nice combo, n my fav is the mfj-1979 cheers
Homeland receiver is in the background with some kind of 2m transceiver on top of it. Hamelin produce receivers for the American military and they were quite good-- OK same weather many AS22 tubes. This one was modified was then asked me to replace between the two radial dials ohh the frequency fly fly fly
Great info as always, Walt. I'd like to see you do something with ladder line like a doublet or something. It would also be cool to see you do something with a folded dipole. 73s, amigo!
Love your videos and have followed your lead by buying a G90. I have an EFRL antenna set up and it's working quite well for me. Hoping to go portable in New Hampshire for the first time this weekend.
My favorite is a 71" non resonant end-fed sloper, with 9:1 unun, 50' coax, common mode choke, no counterpoise. With my Xeigu G90 & XPA125B amp I get 1.5 to 1 or less SWR on all HF bands, and have made contacts on all HF bands.
We generally agree, except I just use a pool-noodle for the coil core on my number 1 vertical antenna. It costs essentially nothing except the cost of the bare wire for the coil, and an alligator clip for tuning. I can't believe there are hams who spend nearly $200 for some wire wrapped around a plastic form, one with more dielectric loss than a pool-noodle.
MY situation: A year and a bit ago, my VX-8 was stolen out of my car. The VX-8 is no longer made, so I bought a VX-6. I like the VX-6 VERY Much, but that VX-8 was my baby.A few months down the road, and a VX-8 Came up used at the HRO in San Diego The radio Two Batteries, and a Speaker Mic-ALL for $200 so I jumped on that. Then I saw a Video on the FT-4. I bought one for my wife, nd she likes it. Liking the FT-4 myself, I bought an FT-65; Because it had a low price and is a good radio. I saw the advantages of having an inexpensive handheld as my EDC Rig, so I bought a Second FT-65.One of the 65's goes with me and lives in my Computer Bag, and the other one sits on my Nightstand at home. My VX-6 and VX-8 are now cutaway in a Faraday Box in the event some "Awful" happens. I'm ALSO keeping the 6 and 8 Back for Tactical Use on 220 Mhz., as there are NO 220 Machines in my immediate area.The Two FT-65s are MARS modified in case that is ever needed. IF an EMP takes out the 65s and the FT-4, My wife will default to the VX-6, and I'll grab the VX-8.
Great video Walt. Think you are right with the line up. My number one would be efhw but that's only because I haven't got a slidewinder it's on my long list to get. Great work, I am still yet to make my first video. Motters M7TRS 73 👍🏻
suggestion for mag loops in hotel rooms... as they fire "around the plane of the loop" put it 90degrees to the window and not flat against it... that way it is trying to fire out the window and not into the walls..... there is the added benefit that if there is any metal spacer looping around the periphery of the double glazed window then that would be orthogonal to the loop & impacting it less (if the loop flat against the glass then the metal in the frame will affect it most.... you wouldn't want to burn their windows out!).
Dang it, Walt. You're going to make me go buy some of these. My first contacts were on a 29 ft random wire. It started as a 31 ft but after some research, I tried the 29 and it's been great ever since. Now I have a WRC SB 1000 Platinum, and I love it too. I'm dying to try that salt water ground out on Jekyll Island. Thanks again for the videos. 73
hahaha thanks Warren! Jekyll Island is a great location, you should be able to work some amazing DX from there. I used to live just south of there in Jacksonville Beach.
Great vid! I use the Wolf River coil on a highly modified BuddiPole - replacing the original coils and telescoping parts with MFJ 1979 17' telescoping elements in either dipole or inverted "T" vertical configurations. - I have had excellent portable DX results. - Cheers! VE3GHP
It's always interesting to read about, or see video's about simple multi band antennas. Love your hands-on live-out-and-about experience with these, fast to set up antennas. But what always left me puzzled is the power that is really radiated by these antennas when given a known transmitter power. Thanks for making these nice videos.
Great video Walt. For portable I use almost exclusively an EFHW or the Slidewinder. Also really like the HF vertical. Mounted one for 20m on a 18m DX Commander mast...feed point around 8m in the air, which is above the roofline. Worked fantastic. Would also work on other bands with the ATU in the radio (albeit that it was probably inefficient with the high SWR on the coax). Also love the 1/4 wave vertical for rural areas, although I've struggled with them in urban locations. I think the surrounding buildings attenuated the signal. Great list & excellent summary of each antenna.
@@garyh8315 It depends. If we are saying strictly for portable use (in the spirit of Walt's video), then an EFHW gives about the best performance for NVIS, which is primarily what we want in a SOTA/WWFF antenna in this part of the world. Having said that, recently I've defaulted to the Slidewinder for almost every activation in the last 2 months. Up until a few months ago, I would have moaned that it was a pain to re-tune the Slidewinder every time you change band. Now I'm coming round to the idea that I normally operate 40m, then 20m so I only have to tune it twice. I don't tend to hop bands much. It is a compromise (especially on 40m) but I'm still favouring it over the EFHW due to it's lightweight + small size when packed up, small footprint on the summit & quick setup. When I had the caravan I used to like the 20m EFHW vertical for portable use when on a campsite DXing from the caravan. It can also be quickly converted to a 1/4 vertical for 40m with a few radials & changing out the 49:1 for a 1:1 For fixed use at my home QTH, I like my cobweb antenna. It's a bit narrow-banded & doesn't cover all of the bands but the convenience of quickly hopping between bands without having to re-tune can't be understated. For 80m & 40m I use an EFHW cut for 40 with a loading coil and a tail to cover the upper end of 80. I think it very much depends on circumstances and what you are trying to do. I think every antenna has its place.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES awesome. Mine has M4 screw system but they launched a new one with 3/8 24 type. Although I think in both you need an adapter if you want to use a Chameleon whip or similar. As a beginner I find the telescopic whip provided with Gabil to be great.
Ugh, wish I didn't let my no-code technician license lapse back in 2006. Back then (and maybe now?) you got some 6 meter privileges along with 2 meter and 70cm, and I had really only got it for a 6 meter R/C plane radio setup that I never even ended up using. It was 2 meter local repeaters that really hooked me, could hit the TI repeater in Dallas from 30 miles away in Allen with 10 watts out of a Radio Shack mobile transceiver and a Ringo Ranger antenna mounted on an aluminum pole strapped to my parents' chimney. Probably could've hit that repeater with one watt with that antenna! Used a pair of series-wired 6V tractor batteries as a power source. Would have charged them with solar if panel technology had been as efficient and cheap as it is meow.
Certainly agree with your choices, if not your order! Also nice to see that you have actually tried these aerials, and not just (like some YTubers) pulled them out of a book. My main QTH aerial is a 20m long off-centre-fed dipole, but try feeding it at one-sixth the length rather than the traditional one-third, still with a 1:4 transformer. Mine is resonant on 40, 20, 15, 10 and 6 m and also matches well for local nets on Top Band. 73 de M1GWZ.
My #1 is a 134' EFHW, because I spend most of my time on 40 and 75m, plus with an alligator jumper cable I can drop the 49:1 Xformer out of the antenna circuit and work 160 with the straight wire. 73 de W8ZZX
Great stuff Walt. I have not heard of the Rybakov but it means fish pole. Lol I don't have HF yet but have the CAHRtenna to build and try once I get HF.🍻🤠
Being new to Ham, my philosophy was to go cheap until I knew where to spend my money and to go QRP until I have learned how to maximize the power I have. So the current antenna I have used for mid-USA to Japan and Europe contacts is a 1/4 wave vertical made out of electrical EMT conduit leaned against a tree along with speaker wire counterpoise and a banana plug connector. All for about $30. Now I'm ready for my next step and your video has given me some good ideas.
Sounds like you’re off to a great start! 73
Just learning radio and very new.
Don't have SWR meter....how important to have and what is a good one for a newbie?
as a new radio ham, i really appreciate this. Thank you Walt. 73 from Portsmouth UK.
Thanks for watching Chris! Greetings from Portsmouth, Virginia USA
Great antenna list. I use a few of those myself with favorable results.. You asked about listing our top 10 antennas.. Well here ya go.. (remember, you asked for this, LOL)
10. The Dumpster (somewhat portable but a little bulky to use elevated)
9. The Church Bell (NOT a good portable antenna, but it will propagate groundwave for miles when rung)
8. The 80' Grain Augers (VERY portable, height and direction are adjustable) reaches Puerto Rico on 5w SSB, LOL
7. Creek Water (Very cumbersum to put together, wont work in Iowa winter when creek is frozen)
6. The Corn Stalk (easy to find in Iowa late summer, Only good for about 1 hour usage and dries up)
5. . The Grain Cart Auger (portable, collapsible and easy to set up)
4. John Deere Loader Tractor (portable, height adjustable)
3. Collapsible 16ft Aluminum Ladder (portable, collapsible and easy to set up in different configurations)
2. 70ft Steel Silo (NOT portable, Great omnidirectional radiation, provides good shade on hot summer day)
1. Old Farm 40ft Windmill (Not portable, Great omnidirectional radiation, 1w QRP SSB from Iowa to South Carolina)
That's all I have.. Thanks for sharing your video and keep it up.. k0klb
I absolutely love this list Kevin! Awesome!!!
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES Believe it or not.. I actually have the "one upper" experts tell me how these wont work too... LOL... So fun to play Ham Radio ! ! !... k0klb
A link in the description for each of your choices would’ve been nice. Great video Walt. Ham Stick are only copies of the original. The original Lakeview ones were coated with a thin coating of copper.
Thanks Mark, I might go back and add the links when I get time.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES．．……
Even when I am operating at the qth I'm still operating "portable". The curse of apartment living. Tops for me is the 1/4 wave vertical. I've got a ground rod driven in to the flower bed and I mount the mfj 17 footer on the spike at about 5-6 ft. Doing POTA or camping I mount the antenna to my ever present spade. I use tuned, raised radials alligator clipped to the bracket or shield and it just works. Small footprint, quick to deploy/take down, and easy enough to tune with a little practice. Sunday morning I deployed the antenna and worked Slovenia on 17. Ran out side shortened everything up and less than 15 minutes later worked Bulgaria on 10m.
Hamsticks are an honorable mention. I use them on a fender mount on the truck for 10 and 12m. I get terrific signal reports and completely amazed "wait.... you're actually driving" comments all the time.
Mag loops are really interesting in my type of situation. Eventually I will get around to building one. I've also had really good luck with T2LT "flower pot" type antennas on 2m/70cm. I plan on making one for 6m as well. I see no reason why they wouldn't work equally as well for 10 and 12m naked.
KC3UVF
Thanks for sharing! 73, Walt K4OGO
Excellent! Mostly non commercial antenna specific. I started with the dipole (Army) and various wire antenna configurations. When I became a ham, I tried the Buddipole (basically a OCF dipole or vertical) and I still use it today. Love it for the versatility and the excellent results I always get with the antenna. I like EFHW antenna, especially for SOTA. One in particular is the Par EFHF MTR 20/30/40m that I bought for use with my LNR MTR3B LCD Radio. Cut to length, it is resident on all three bands. Perfect for my little MTR3B, I don't carry a tuner with it anymore. And, of course, it also works with my Elecraft KX2 and KX3 radios.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I've used a 20 meter ham stick mobile with the MFJ 20 meter Mono band rig. 4 to 10 watts depending on battery level. Worked 115 countries.
Great list. Every antenna on the list is a winner. I bought a complete Buddi stick/pole set up before the Silver bullet came out. A little bigger to carry, but I think it compares well to the Silver Bullet. The EFHW is my favorite. Operating portable, resonate antennas make things go so quick and effortless. They also use almost all the power fed to them with no tuner needed. That G-90 is a great radio for portable ! Thanks Walt !
Thanks John! I really need to try a Buddipole.
Great video! Love seeing other people's perspectives on antennas. My top antennas are resonant dipoles and EFHWs. For tuner required antennas, I like the W3EDP and other random wires. For 2m, I like Roll-up JPoles and Yagis. For limit spaces, the AlexLoop. You've got me interested in the Rybakov; I've got your video from November on the Rybakov queued up to watch next.
Thanks so much for watching and sharing your thoughts!
Feed the dipole with ladder line instead of coax and turn it into a multiband doublet with ATU. I agree that hamsticks and a mag mount are really convenient and offer surprisingly good performance. If you can find one (not made anymore), get yourself a High Sierra screwdriver antenna (similar to MFJ but better quality). Quick and easy and now back in production, try the Eagle One vertical. 73 and have fun.
Thanks for input! 73!
Hey mark, the doublet is my portable antenna with a EZ match QRP on the base. Great preformer and lightweight 👍🏼
@@eduardopower5254 I always suggest to new hams to save their money and put up a doublet, add a match or tuner, and work the world. The doublet is a simple but performance antenna.
Good video. All these methods are great, and it serves to demonstrate that there is no magic in aerials, despite the ramblings of some YT "experts".
I am a retired Pro and Old Ham. I even had a commercial(not ham) aerial factory last century. 🙂
Even the most expensive over-hyped commercial offerings are basically just the correct length of wire/metal, or a convenient length of wire with appropriate matching. Many of them advise the use of an "ATU " somewhere in the system, which just shows that they don't really offer anything that a cheap piece of wire can't do.
Even non-technical Hams, can have a lot of fun experimenting and learning, by using simple cheap materials, with great results. There is a recently launched product that is a step in the right direction, if you look around.
Great video. I am new to HF, my only QSO have been with a 50 foot random wire antenna. Made 2 contacts from Wa to Japan 5 watts QRP.
That's awesome. Here's to many more QSOs!
Walt, having watched your vids for a while now. I think you have hit the nail on the head. A great review of what is out there. EFHW are good antennas, but need a tree, pole etc. Your no.1, packs small and looks easy to set up. Awesome
Thanks Gary!
Excellent video! I usually only operate 20 through 6 meters while portable, so the PAR EndFedz (end fed wires) have been great to deploy! And you don't need a tuner too! Worked the world with those suckers, running only 20 watts!
Awesome, thanks for sharing
Hey Walt I just listened to Indigo! Very impressed. Happy for both of you. Plus I wondered where you got your intro and now I know! I love it you are an inspiration to me as a new ham and wannabe youtuber
Thanks! Indigo is one of my favorites that my son wrote. Good luck and keep going with the TH-cam journey!
Great video. Vertical antenna with coil is the number one portable antenna. I have a MFJ 2286 big stick portable vertical antenna. It is portable and multi-bands. It can be mounted on a triple and very convenience.
Thanks! That’s a great antenna
I did all over the USA and even to Japan with a 66' OCFD split 44' + 22' hung about 15' up between trees at a special event station. This is a very easy antenna to set up. Works 40 m, 20 m, 17 m, 10 m.
Yes this is a great antenna, I did a video on this antenna a while back: th-cam.com/video/GhZYgASVZZA/w-d-xo.html
Super Antenna has a great covered coil. Worked 40 thru 10 mobile. Setting for 20m is a pointing finger length from the bottom; the coil remains covered. While driving, you can tune 20 - 10 with a tuner. If it's raining, the covered coil is best. Durango Setup... diamond hf mount grounded, 4' mast, coil, and 6' metal whip. For 20m only, use the whip off a 20m hamstick. For 40m, use an 8ft marine whip. It's light weight. Tie off with 10 lb fishing line while moving. Worked the world with this mobile.
I enjoy your son's music! More of it is more than welcome! 73.
Thank you!
Some great ideas there and some I want to try some of them. My son travels for his company and takes his Xiegu X6100 and uses an EFHW very successfully.
For portable I'm using an IC-705 with AH-705 and 25 ft RG-58 and 25 ft control cable. I haul the tuner up in a tree or hang it on a 24 ft extendable painter pole and extend two wires out as an inverted V. Seems to work really well.
Something I'm working on is to set up a rod to drive into the ground with a trucker antenna mount to hold a MFJ telescoping vertical and hang my AH-705 off the bottom with a double male PL-259 and attach a few radials to the mount.
Awesome, thanks for sharing
Great video my friend! As you said, many flavor bunch of tastes 👍🏼.
My portable favorites antennas:
- EFHW
- flat top Doublet.
- Delta Loop.
. Quarter wave vertical (on salty water)
Awesome, thanks for sharing!
I picked up an older model outbacker from a local ham friend. It works great on top of the car on a mag mount or mounted on a tripod with 4 short counterpoise wires. Has taps for different bands, so it’s like several ham sticks in one.
Interesting, thanks for sharing
I share the options of my field setup by... the scale of laziness.
From several full-size dipoles and QRP power (if I go somewhere for a long time), to a vertical with a coil and 100W (if it's a short outing).
I am deeply convinced that the antenna - is 95% of success. So the question boils down to whether I want to test myself or just relax.
And of course all the intermediate options)
Hahahahaha great comment!
I’m so mad that you didn’t pick my antenna. LOL just kidding. I agree on the wolf river coil that is my go to antenna. My next antenna is a speaker wire dipole in an inverted V. I have one cut for 20m and one for 40m, I rarely use the 40m. Anyway it is super light and super quiet. If I am in a more urban area I go for the speaker wire dipole. If I am out in the middle of no where then the WRC. I just find that I get less background noise on the dipole. Thanks for the video, I just found you and subscribed!
Thanks so much and thanks for sharing your setups!
I have a Wolf River Coils antenna, plus several hamsticks. Love them!
Me too!
I love my Nelson EFHW antennas. I have several that I have modified for mono band (10m). Love them.
My Nelson 9:1 unun is my GoTo!
Thanks for this unique review of portable antennas. It gives me a clear view of the alternatives I have to set up my ham HF station that I will operate mostly portable.
Thanks for watching and commenting! 73, Walt
My main antenna is an EFHW. I used a 20’ flagpole and sloped it down to 10’. The 49:1 is on the low end. 100 ft of unchoked coax, no other counterpoise. It works fairly well.
Next week, I’m going to try the WRC sporty 40 with the 213” whip. I’ll report back.
That is my exact set up, works better than anything I have tried and goes up in minutes
Good job! I need to think about my top ten. Going to be hard! I guess I need two categories top ten single band and top ten portable. For home use Top ten single band is easy: 160 is an inverted L, 80 is a half square, 40 is a dipole, 20 is a full size 4 element Yagi at 70 feet, 15 is a dipole, 10 is a full size 10 meter Yagi at 70 feet. For portable most used is Hustler Mobile, best overall performance would be dipoles, best all band would be Random end fed wire with a home brew L network tuner. Each antenna has advantages and each antenna has disadvantages! I guess that’s why some of us have lots of antennas both in the air and in buckets, milk crates and hanging on the wall!
Enjoy you videos keep up the good work! 73 de N4DJ
Thanks so much! Was great getting you in the log!
MFJ ham sticks and EF 40 and 80 m antennas. Building a 9:1 for the random wire, and yes bought 100ft of speaker wire. 11.99 who could be without. 18awg. going to try for 102 feet I hear that is one of the magic numbers. Thanks again for the fun videos. 73
Awesome! Good luck with that random wire!
I agree with the EFHW but I would put it ahead of the Wolf river coil. The WRC I didn't have that good luck with. The reason you've had good results with the WRC is because you used it at the beach with nothing in the way and a salt water ground. For camping the EFHW by my antennas the 10-40 has a 60 foot wire and fits on the typical camp site. Quick set up with the airboss shooting a wire in the tree, and a site with a tree is mandatory 😉
73,
K9AT
Hi Walt, fantastic summary many thanks. I also use the Slidewinder DX as my main portable antenna. 73 Martin M0UMS
Thanks Martin, it really is a great setup for portable.
Not a ham yet, still studying, but I take my SDR and my laptop and go to random parks in my area just to receive signals, its a ton of fun. If you new hams aren't doing POTA or anything like that, give it a shot!
Good luck, get that license and get on the air!
Need to test all those from Alaska. Brutal from up north compared to lower 48.
Excellent video, thank you! I’ve experimented like you over the years and ended up buying a commercial JPC 12 multiband centre loaded vertical, collapsing down into a mini travel case.
For my main station I run a couple of commercial Italian mag loops that smash my end fed and dipole wire arrays. 73 Neil G4LRV
Thanks Neil! 73
Hamsticks are awesome. I remember one of my first SOTA activations on a peak in Nevada, making a contact with F4WBN in France with my G90 and a 20m Hamstick with about 10 radials. I was blown away! These days, I'm more inclined to use a random wire or EFHW in an inverted-L configuration, for ease of set-up. I've made DX contacts (Japan, Argentina and France) with both using a FX-4C 10w transceiver from summits in Utah. You've given me a few more antennas to think about. Thanks!
Thanks for watching and commenting. I've had my eye on a FX-4C for a while. Actually ordered one from china but was scammed. Looking forward to the next version of that radio that's coming out soon!
Still fairly new to portable operation. #1. For when I know I am going to be in a place, maybe camping, I love to put up my dual band vertical. It is a full quarter wave on 20m then there is a coil and another couple meters to make it resonate on 40m. I elevate the feed point 2 meters and only need two tuned radials for each band. It works SOOOO good. #2 For quick car based POTA activations the Shark hamsticks are so good. I have done a number of activations with these hamsticks and the (tr)uSDX QRP. #3 EFHW. Of course I love this antenna. I have built a number of them. My home install is the full 135 feet. One portable 100 watt version is 65 feet then a 110uH coil and a telescoping section so that I can tune to any narrow portion of 80m. Hope to use that one camping this summer. A second version is for QRP and is 65 feet without 80m capability. I am trying other antennas but really have not found another favorite. I have tried some wire dipoles and a hamstick dipole. Thanks for this video. WE9O
Thanks for watching and sharing your setups!
love this video, it's a great summary of the top antenna options for operating portable.. great work Walt !
Thanks so much! 73
When I select an antenna for any given scenario, I consider what I will be doing. If my plan is to CQ I want an antenna that is resonant on the exact frequency that I'm using (where I'm parking and staying)...if my plan is to hunt I want an antenna that is semi-resonant across a wide section of band(s)...this is worth mention, IMO.
Not a bad plan. 73
Fantastic run down Walt! I've got three favourite portable antennas at the moment, one of which is the Slidewinder DX with AT271 whip same as you. I use it either clamped to a length of copper pipe pushed into the ground, or clamped to any suitable railing or whatnot. I find it really easy to tune without an SWR meter just by tuning for maximum receive noise, and always end up close to 1:1.
One of my other favourites is Ampro whips, same as the Shark and other Hamstick type antenna. So easy to put on the roof of my LR on a magmount, and fantastic contacts every single time.
And lastly, I've made a copy of a Bushcomm Mil-1 which is a broadband HF antenna. No tuning required, I set it up at head height and can turn just hunker down and operate anywhere on HF. And although I only ever operate QRP, 99% CW, I've had great QSOs across the world with it.
I absolutely love your TH-cam content!
73 M3KXZ
Thank you so much Pete and thanks for sharing! I need to look into that Bushcomm Mil-1.
Saludos desde España amigo.
Tiene usted un canal fantastico.
Tanto.por el contenido.como por su clara forma de esplicar las cosas y sus consejos.
(Su trabajo es de gran ayuda para los novatos que estamos enpezando en este maravilloso y loco mundo de las ondas. 👌.
-Mucha salud y enhorabuena por su granntrabajo.
Gracias y 73 de los Estados Unidos mi amigo
Great video. Love your antenna presentations. Personally the EFHW sloper is my favorite. I use a transformer fairly close to the ground near my vehicle or travel trailer with no radials or ground. The 65 ft wire extends upward to the top of a 31 ft pole leaning into trees. 30 ft of coax is routed from the transformer along the ground to the radio. However, I have Hustler resonators for all bands from 80-10 and I like them (three at a time) when I'm taking my truck to a park. Hustler has a little bracket where you can mount 3 resonators at a time. I like to be able to operate multi-band without tuning or changing configuration.
Many of your others interest me....maybe someday I'll get around to trying them. Thanks, Walt....😀😀😀😀
Thanks! And thanks for sharing!
Loved the Songs in the early intros❤
Thank you!
Nice report, good pictures, very informative, thank you !!!! 😄👍👍
Thank you!
#9 Dipole. They don't need to be installed high up if installed as a sloping dipole. Mine are for 20m and 17m, and the bottom ends are only a few feet off the ground. They provide excellent performance across the Atlantic. Plus, you only need one tree. 🙂
One of the best parts about operating portable and mobile is being able to get away from man made noise. You can hear everything!
Absolutely
When I use a base coil loaded vertical antenna I ensure I have a ground stake and a static voltage bleed away resistor from central conductor to ground. I have found wind blowing over aerial creates static voltages. Not a problem on end fed 49-1 as centre conductor has dc path via balun to outer conductor and earth. Cheers from old George.
Thanks for the info, cheers!
So far I’ve only used a Cobra Sr center fed dipole. And I ordered a Buddi stick Pro that I should be getting in the mail today. So I’m anxious to try that out for portable operation with my new FT-891.
I built a linked inverted V dipole 80m through 10m for portable use. An insulator at the phone length of each band with a male female connector on each link. Join the links down to the band I am going to use. I then have different length tails that can be inserted into the link to give me resonance at the cw portion.of each band. An 8.5m fiberglass sectional mast with a small pulley at the top to facillitate a quick drop to change the band. I use it for SOTA, POTA and field station work.
That’s awesome!
Its funny that your #1 is what I have been using for years. You can use a mini VNA to tune it quickly.
Hi Walt,
Here in Elizabeth City. Using a Buddipole Deluxe vertical 80m but even with a 100 Watt amplifier and SWR of 1.37 at my targeted frequency of 3.874 at 9:00 PM EST couldn't work anyone in the net because they were all more than 300 miles away. Just not enough radiating power. Need to go to a wire.
Waiting for the Schrader valve to complete my tennis ball antenna laucher and hopefully can rig my Buckmaster 80-10m 7 bander if I have enough room. 90+45 feet arms.
Have used Alex Lopp on top of Mt Mitchell in western NC with contacts to Israel and Troy New York.
In Natchez MS, would use the Par Endz Fed 20/40 trail on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi.
I have a portable EmCom III which I haven't used yet.
Plan on hitting the beach in Nags Head at the Hungry Pelican in two months to try my BP again vertical on 20 or 40 m- before the spring break crowd arrives, maybe also my Alex Loop.
73's AF5LQ
Howdy neighbor! Yes I like to work the beach in the OBX during the off-season. It's almost impossible in the summer.
We agree on the same antennas for portable use... Just in a little different order. My 1st choice is a home brew 63ft - 49:1 EFHW -OR- the homebrew 9:1 random wire antenna with the internal tuner in my radio. I use them configured as a sloper or with a fiberglass pole to make an inverted L - My 2nd choice is the Wolf River coils silver bullet vertical on a camera tripod with 8 radials. All of them net plenty of contacts. - Thanks for another great video Walt.... I always enjoy hearing about what others are using to launch their portable signal !! - - 73 - Steve
Thanks Steve and thanks for sharing your input!
For dipoles, I like an inverted V. Set up as an X. 40M for 1 crossing pair and 20M the other crossing pair. Or an inverted V with a reflector under the main wire. A great NVIS setup.
Those are all really good choices, especially with the type of operating you do.
Thank you for watching Jeremy!
I agree with most of your choices. But, my eye kept getting drawn to that beautiful Hammarlund receiver in the background. I had one about 30 years ago...might have been the same model. Even then, it was a classic but worked great!! Ivan VE7IVN
Hi Ivan! That’s a HQ-180. Great radio!
Great video Walt. Those are all good antennas. My favorite is the wolf river coil for portable. At home I have 3 EFHW going in different directions and they have for me contacts all over the world. Good DX. 73
Thanks! Good DX my friend!
Great video! Have never had the pleasure of trying a mag loop. Aside from that, it's pretty much the same order for me, both in favor and in actual order of experiments I did to arrive where I am with the WRC being my favorite! I set it up with the legs that the TIA kit came with (extra long ones) for 40m/80m or directly to a lip mount on my trunk for 20m and up. The main two for me. at the moment, for pretty much every day use, is the WRC and a "random wire" : 73' with a 9:1 unun (25' counterpoise attached) - I can go from 160m to 10m on that thing, no problem at all!
Thanks and thanks for sharing your setup!
Great overview, thanks for sharing! I‘m a new ham and starting out with a vertical with adjustable coil, your no. 1. 73 HB9HUK
Great Video!, I agree that a Coil M/B Vertical is a great antenna, I myself use a Buddi-Stick Pro because it is a small package to carry when doing Bicycle portable. Keep up doing the videos and have fun doing portable!!!!!!! 73
Thanks!!
YOU ROCK! I have hamsticks for portable. that's the easiest way to work qrp or qro. thanks for your opinions love your content.
Thank you so much!
This is such a great video on this subject. And what I like as much as the content is the deep Enthusiasm you have underneath it all.
Thanks so much Jimmy!
Very Helpful List... Myself - Love the Buddy Stick coil antenna, but the two things i don't like about it are the tuning clips are a bit clumsy, & the antenna parts get corroded by the salty air in a short period of time ( 1 Year ) I switched to a Super Antenna, & been having equal or better success with that - the included radial counterpoise kit makes it easy to set up .. Just my 2 Cents... I have not tried the wolf river coil antenna.
Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!
I worked the world with those hamsticks from my car. Have the 40, 20 and 6 meter one and used a Diamond trunk lip mount.
Pete WB4CGA
Awesome!
Awe , u will love a delta, my favorite. 👍 I'm trying to use more verticals portable, thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching, I have built a Delta Loop since this video and you are right, I love it!
Enjoy your videos very much as I am an avid QRP'er. My main rig now is the FX-4CR. If I'm "on vacation", I take my T41-EP SDR. The big problem with the mag loop is tuning. Al Peter and I developed a "double-double mag loop" (see my QRZ page for picture) that works well, but is less than portable. When the T41 project is done, I want to build a portable mag loop with remote tuning like the Double-Double has. (It's all Open Source.) If I can, I'd like it to tune using Bluetooth (e.g., Raspberry Pi Pico-W). Jack, W8TEE
Thanks Jack! I’ll check that out on your QRZ page. 73, Walt
Thank you for the insight, it’s inspired me to try different antennas. Currently using a Dipole.
Thanks for watching!
Hi greetings from the UK.
Great selection you have there.
My least favourite is the Delta Loop only because I haven’t figured a way to design it light and portable, but it is on my list.
As for the music you use I always thought it was really good but never thought about asking you where you got it.
Thanks for sharing
Hi Vitor! Greetings. Thanks for mentioning the music. It is my son’s band Allen Hudson and the Halfmoons. Here’s a link to one of their recent songs: th-cam.com/video/vOQdkH659_0/w-d-xo.html
Number 2 isn't bad! Great video Walt.
73, Walt NE4TN (TennTennas)
Thanks Walter! My TennTennas 49:1 is my favorite and best!
Nice video! If you get a chance, could you update the video description with links for the antennas you reference?
Also, you referenced a couple other videos of yours. If you put those in the description, that would be useful also.
Thanks again!
EFHW but with a loading could to reduce the length. Plus I use the wire fence around a field I visit, 100 metres of barbed wire with a 9:1 UnUn. Very long wire supported on a kite, works great at the beach.
I actually have plans to do a kite antenna at the beach!
Great video, Walt! I’ve learned so much from your antenna videos. And to show that I watched to the end, I dig the music your son has made for your channel! It triggers my air guitar and air drums reflex. Haha! Keep up the great work!
hahahaha thanks Anthony!
Hi, thanks for a nice discussion-starter video! 😀 At the seaside, I suggest vertical is much better that horizontal, for DX. A half-wave dipole should be low- z ~ 50Ohm in the middle on odd harmonics, so can be used on several bands... the lobes break-up, and the main lobes have gain increasing with length. For end-fed multiband horizontal, I suggest the City Windom. I am suspicious of the plethora of end-feds with ununs; I suspect that the co-ax has to do quite a bit of radiating.....
Thanks for the heart! P.S. The City-Windom should also work well as a vertical on its fundamental (i.e. lowest) frequency-band. It will radiate on its higher bands, but the lobes break-up and become predominantly high-angle; however, that is also true of an unun-fed end-fed vertical, once you get past about 5/8 wavelength.
Nice Video!! I also have the same manpac n also slide winder, used it a few months ago, n made contacts on 40 thru 10 same afternoon, nice combo, n my fav is the mfj-1979 cheers
Thanks and thanks for commenting! 73, Walt K4OGO
Homeland receiver is in the background with some kind of 2m transceiver on top of it. Hamelin produce receivers for the American military and they were quite good-- OK same weather many AS22 tubes. This one was modified was then asked me to replace between the two radial dials ohh the frequency fly fly fly
Great info as always, Walt. I'd like to see you do something with ladder line like a doublet or something. It would also be cool to see you do something with a folded dipole. 73s, amigo!
I’ve got a G5RV packed and ready for next months trip back to Poland!
Love your videos and have followed your lead by buying a G90. I have an EFRL antenna set up and it's working quite well for me. Hoping to go portable in New Hampshire for the first time this weekend.
Thanks Christopher! Good luck and great DX this weekend!
My favorite is a 71" non resonant end-fed sloper, with 9:1 unun, 50' coax, common mode choke, no counterpoise. With my Xeigu G90 & XPA125B amp I get 1.5 to 1 or less SWR on all HF bands, and have made contacts on all HF bands.
Awesome, thanks for sharing!
We generally agree, except I just use a pool-noodle for the coil core on my number 1 vertical antenna. It costs essentially nothing except the cost of the bare wire for the coil, and an alligator clip for tuning. I can't believe there are hams who spend nearly $200 for some wire wrapped around a plastic form, one with more dielectric loss than a pool-noodle.
Thanks for sharing
How do you do this?
I’d love a few links to some of these products you mentioned… like the coiled antenna traps
nice... saorry i missed the premiere, but one thig i have done is a hamstick dipole... works great and is rotatable too
Yes they are great!
MY situation:
A year and a bit ago, my VX-8 was stolen out of my car. The VX-8 is no longer made, so I bought a VX-6. I like the VX-6 VERY Much, but that VX-8 was my baby.A few months down the road, and a VX-8 Came up used at the HRO in San Diego The radio Two Batteries, and a Speaker Mic-ALL for $200 so I jumped on that.
Then I saw a Video on the FT-4. I bought one for my wife, nd she likes it. Liking the FT-4 myself, I bought an FT-65; Because it had a low price and is a good radio. I saw the advantages of having an inexpensive handheld as my EDC Rig, so I bought a Second FT-65.One of the 65's goes with me and lives in my Computer Bag, and the other one sits on my Nightstand at home. My VX-6 and VX-8 are now cutaway in a Faraday Box in the event some "Awful" happens. I'm ALSO keeping the 6 and 8 Back for Tactical Use on 220 Mhz., as there are NO 220 Machines in my immediate area.The Two FT-65s are MARS modified in case that is ever needed. IF an EMP takes out the 65s and the FT-4, My wife will default to the VX-6, and I'll grab the VX-8.
Great video Walt. Think you are right with the line up. My number one would be efhw but that's only because I haven't got a slidewinder it's on my long list to get.
Great work, I am still yet to make my first video.
Motters M7TRS 73 👍🏻
Thanks so much Motters! 73 my friend!
suggestion for mag loops in hotel rooms... as they fire "around the plane of the loop" put it 90degrees to the window and not flat against it... that way it is trying to fire out the window and not into the walls..... there is the added benefit that if there is any metal spacer looping around the periphery of the double glazed window then that would be orthogonal to the loop & impacting it less (if the loop flat against the glass then the metal in the frame will affect it most.... you wouldn't want to burn their windows out!).
Roger that, that’s what I was attempting. I’ve found the best solution is to get a room with a balcony hahaha
Dang it, Walt. You're going to make me go buy some of these.
My first contacts were on a 29 ft random wire. It started as a 31 ft but after some research, I tried the 29 and it's been great ever since. Now I have a WRC SB 1000 Platinum, and I love it too. I'm dying to try that salt water ground out on Jekyll Island.
Thanks again for the videos.
73
hahaha thanks Warren! Jekyll Island is a great location, you should be able to work some amazing DX from there. I used to live just south of there in Jacksonville Beach.
a great round up! thanks for sharing your experience.
Thank you!
Great vid!
I use the Wolf River coil on a highly modified BuddiPole - replacing the original coils and telescoping parts with MFJ 1979 17' telescoping elements in either dipole or inverted "T" vertical configurations. - I have had excellent portable DX results. - Cheers! VE3GHP
Great video thank you!! 73s
It's always interesting to read about, or see video's about simple multi band antennas. Love your hands-on live-out-and-about experience with these, fast to set up antennas. But what always left me puzzled is the power that is really radiated by these antennas when given a known transmitter power. Thanks for making these nice videos.
Thanks Ron!
Good job on the presentation! Really like my Wolf River Coil - using that with the G-90 makes POTA easy!
Thanks Dean! Perfect combination for POTA
Great job with the video Walt, my top two are Random 9:1 and EFHW 49:1.
Thanks Ape! Solid choices
Walt appreciate your time to create some awesome content and videos.
73 Steve AA4SH Tennessee
Thank you Steve!
Great video Walt. For portable I use almost exclusively an EFHW or the Slidewinder.
Also really like the HF vertical. Mounted one for 20m on a 18m DX Commander mast...feed point around 8m in the air, which is above the roofline. Worked fantastic. Would also work on other bands with the ATU in the radio (albeit that it was probably inefficient with the high SWR on the coax).
Also love the 1/4 wave vertical for rural areas, although I've struggled with them in urban locations. I think the surrounding buildings attenuated the signal.
Great list & excellent summary of each antenna.
Thanks so much!
James, which would be your no.1?
@@garyh8315 It depends. If we are saying strictly for portable use (in the spirit of Walt's video), then an EFHW gives about the best performance for NVIS, which is primarily what we want in a SOTA/WWFF antenna in this part of the world.
Having said that, recently I've defaulted to the Slidewinder for almost every activation in the last 2 months. Up until a few months ago, I would have moaned that it was a pain to re-tune the Slidewinder every time you change band. Now I'm coming round to the idea that I normally operate 40m, then 20m so I only have to tune it twice. I don't tend to hop bands much.
It is a compromise (especially on 40m) but I'm still favouring it over the EFHW due to it's lightweight + small size when packed up, small footprint on the summit & quick setup.
When I had the caravan I used to like the 20m EFHW vertical for portable use when on a campsite DXing from the caravan. It can also be quickly converted to a 1/4 vertical for 40m with a few radials & changing out the 49:1 for a 1:1
For fixed use at my home QTH, I like my cobweb antenna. It's a bit narrow-banded & doesn't cover all of the bands but the convenience of quickly hopping between bands without having to re-tune can't be understated.
For 80m & 40m I use an EFHW cut for 40 with a loading coil and a tail to cover the upper end of 80.
I think it very much depends on circumstances and what you are trying to do. I think every antenna has its place.
Shoutout to that sexy alinco on the shelf I always kick myself for not buying one back in the day 😂
Love that radio, hmmm I need to take it out and play with it hahaha
Very useful to have this summary of antennas. Suggestion: based on your #1 antenna, maybe you will like the Gabil telescopic antenna (10-80m). Cheers!
Model is GRA-7350T. Coupled with their small tripod, it's a great kit!
Thanks Levy! I will look into that!
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES awesome. Mine has M4 screw system but they launched a new one with 3/8 24 type. Although I think in both you need an adapter if you want to use a Chameleon whip or similar. As a beginner I find the telescopic whip provided with Gabil to be great.
Ugh, wish I didn't let my no-code technician license lapse back in 2006. Back then (and maybe now?) you got some 6 meter privileges along with 2 meter and 70cm, and I had really only got it for a 6 meter R/C plane radio setup that I never even ended up using. It was 2 meter local repeaters that really hooked me, could hit the TI repeater in Dallas from 30 miles away in Allen with 10 watts out of a Radio Shack mobile transceiver and a Ringo Ranger antenna mounted on an aluminum pole strapped to my parents' chimney. Probably could've hit that repeater with one watt with that antenna! Used a pair of series-wired 6V tractor batteries as a power source. Would have charged them with solar if panel technology had been as efficient and cheap as it is meow.
Certainly agree with your choices, if not your order! Also nice to see that you have actually tried these aerials, and not just (like some YTubers) pulled them out of a book. My main QTH aerial is a 20m long off-centre-fed dipole, but try feeding it at one-sixth the length rather than the traditional one-third, still with a 1:4 transformer. Mine is resonant on 40, 20, 15, 10 and 6 m and also matches well for local nets on Top Band. 73 de M1GWZ.
My #1 is a 134' EFHW, because I spend most of my time on 40 and 75m, plus with an alligator jumper cable I can drop the 49:1 Xformer out of the antenna circuit and work 160 with the straight wire. 73 de W8ZZX
Awesome, thanks for sharing
How is this jumper cable rigged? I want to try this.
My fav while rving is the MFJ-2289 Big EAR DLX Kit
Cool, thanks for sharing
Great stuff Walt. I have not heard of the Rybakov but it means fish pole. Lol
I don't have HF yet but have the CAHRtenna to build and try once I get HF.🍻🤠
Thanks my friend! I’ve been meaning to get a CAHRtenna too
Great list. I’m moving up to hamsticks and a msg mount + ground rod. Now just need to find somewhere that’ll ship to my loc!
Thank you!