I bought three of these 18.4 ft antennas from eBay. There's a fix for that weak base connector. Find a aluminum tube just wide enough to slip over the antenna, base connector and adapter. About a foot should do and won't add much weight. Cover the adapter, base connector, and the length of the antenna that'll be covered with a layer of J-B Weld steel-reinforced epoxy. Then slide the tubing over all three, turning it to spread the epoxy around. Let it dry overnight to harden.
I've been playing around with this antenna to create a portable version that'll fit on a tripod with the antenna mounts made by Workman. One works well to create a vertical whip. Play around with the version of the mount with two channels and you'll find a way to use two of them to bolt them together and mount two of the antennas horizontally and one on top for a vertical whip. That gives you multiple antenna options. (1) A vertical standing alone. That'll need wire radials. (2). A vertical with two horizontal antennas as radials. The latter will need to have their center grounded with a banana plug to function as radials. 3. A horizontal dipole. The center of one of the SO-239 connectors will need to be grounded. 4. Two antennas, one vertical and one horizontal, so you can switch to the one giving you the best signal.
We experimented with those whips awhile back. The base connector is too weak to handle tension, wind load and antenna falling to the ground. They broke under 48 hours of testing in our parking lot.
Hi William, wondered if you had an update on the antenna? I just received my antenna but forgot to order the adapter. I can pick one up on amazon for $10 which is about how much i paid for the whip. Just wondered what you thought of the durability and how the base connection with the adapter has held up. Thanks!
If you check out the "Ham Jazz" TH-cam channel he uses the MFJ whip as an elevated vertical with 1 or 2 elevated radials and it works really well. I'm tempted to get this but wondering about the quality between it and the MFJ and Chameleon whips. Do you have experience with either of those and if so how do they compare?
I just talked to Simon today on 10m Fb . He was doing pota so i was on his live stream. I don't have any other whips. I would think those are better quality but for me I'm not willing to pay 3 or 4 times as my much for that quality. This will fit my needs and I can afford to replace
@@K0WDB oh nice! I was at the light house with him last week. Did you hunt then? Maybe we had a QSO? I'm with ya. You could buy a few of these for the price of one of the other whips. I'll probably get one soon. Or maybe two and make a dipole 😀
I Shortened it and checked swr with my Rig Expert AA-35 Zoom to see where was resonant. It took about 5 minutes to get it through correct length for 10m.
With a decent ground plane, radials, or the body of a car (as here), a resonant quarter-wave shouldn't need any more matching than a transceiver provides. On ten meters this antenna is long enough to be a half-wave (about 17' 3") with a lower radiation angle than a quarter wave Someone might want to check if the usual matching elements for a half-wave work with it.
I bought three of these 18.4 ft antennas from eBay. There's a fix for that weak base connector. Find a aluminum tube just wide enough to slip over the antenna, base connector and adapter. About a foot should do and won't add much weight. Cover the adapter, base connector, and the length of the antenna that'll be covered with a layer of J-B Weld steel-reinforced epoxy. Then slide the tubing over all three, turning it to spread the epoxy around. Let it dry overnight to harden.
I've been playing around with this antenna to create a portable version that'll fit on a tripod with the antenna mounts made by Workman. One works well to create a vertical whip. Play around with the version of the mount with two channels and you'll find a way to use two of them to bolt them together and mount two of the antennas horizontally and one on top for a vertical whip. That gives you multiple antenna options. (1) A vertical standing alone. That'll need wire radials. (2). A vertical with two horizontal antennas as radials. The latter will need to have their center grounded with a banana plug to function as radials. 3. A horizontal dipole. The center of one of the SO-239 connectors will need to be grounded. 4. Two antennas, one vertical and one horizontal, so you can switch to the one giving you the best signal.
Thanks for this value video operating the antenna on the field, I hope catch you soon on my rig! TI2GBB Greg.
We experimented with those whips awhile back. The base connector is too weak to handle tension, wind load and antenna falling to the ground. They broke under 48 hours of testing in our parking lot.
Thank you for your feedback.
I'd be interested in testing out the CHA SS17? William.d.byrd@gmail.com
Hi William, wondered if you had an update on the antenna? I just received my antenna but forgot to order the adapter. I can pick one up on amazon for $10 which is about how much i paid for the whip. Just wondered what you thought of the durability and how the base connection with the adapter has held up. Thanks!
If you check out the "Ham Jazz" TH-cam channel he uses the MFJ whip as an elevated vertical with 1 or 2 elevated radials and it works really well.
I'm tempted to get this but wondering about the quality between it and the MFJ and Chameleon whips. Do you have experience with either of those and if so how do they compare?
I just talked to Simon today on 10m Fb . He was doing pota so i was on his live stream.
I don't have any other whips. I would think those are better quality but for me I'm not willing to pay 3 or 4 times as my much for that quality. This will fit my needs and I can afford to replace
@@K0WDB oh nice! I was at the light house with him last week. Did you hunt then? Maybe we had a QSO?
I'm with ya. You could buy a few of these for the price of one of the other whips. I'll probably get one soon. Or maybe two and make a dipole 😀
What are you using as a tuner?
I Shortened it and checked swr with my Rig Expert AA-35 Zoom to see where was resonant. It took about 5 minutes to get it through correct length for 10m.
@@K0WDB Ah Ha so you were using an antenna analyzer to tune it not an actual Antenna Tuner. Thanks, just trying to understand. 😉
@@rickknapp5796 yes sorry for the confusion.
With a decent ground plane, radials, or the body of a car (as here), a resonant quarter-wave shouldn't need any more matching than a transceiver provides. On ten meters this antenna is long enough to be a half-wave (about 17' 3") with a lower radiation angle than a quarter wave Someone might want to check if the usual matching elements for a half-wave work with it.