I have to add another comment to this video. I built this to avoid trying to tune the 20m trap on my Hustler 5BTV before field day. I worked this design for field day this weekend and had no luck on Saturday. Even though it came in at a 1:2.5 on the model I built I thought oh man I did something wrong. I woke up Sunday morning and gave it another shot. I made 41 contacts on 10 and 20 meters in 4 hours that ranged from the Canadian Maritimes to South Texas from the QTH in Western PA. This works and it works damn well. Fantastic job Chuck, this made my weekend.
Gary, thanks for the nice comment!! That's awesome Gary, I am glad the video helped and you were able to make a lot of contacts and there is nothing like making a contact on a antenna you made yourself !!
@@CRSolarice it really isn’t directional at all. I typically run it in a NW to SE direction or vice versa and have done extremely well with the build. My longest distance so far is New Zealand at just over 8300 miles and well into Eastern Europe.
It took a new TH-camr with 47 subs to show me the simplicity of building a dipole. Make that 48 subs, thank you Chuck! With you all the way to that golden play button sir.
Chuck thanks for the tip on using the cut ends of wide zip ties as insulators/strain relief for linked dipole segments. I like to have another option if the end fed wire antenna does not perform well.
Thanks for making a video and sharing it with all of us! I'm always appreciative when somebody puts their antenna on the meter so we can see the actual readings. Just FYI the old school meter doesn't have a calculate function, that is calibrate, cal is calibrate
That's awesome good luck with the test!! Not sure if you know of Coffee And Ham Radios we stream on Saturday and Sunday mornings and we have a lot of great content for newer Hams. We also will have a line of antennas available soon that you construct yourself! th-cam.com/users/CoffeeandHamRadios
I know this is an older video but I was wondering what the length of the wire ended up being after you cut it? Thanks, very easy to follow the instructions you provided.
Tip: Heat with the soldering gun from the opposite side that you apply solder. The solder goes toward the heat, so you get more even coverage and will know when you have applied enough heat. As soon as the solder begins to flow, remove the solder gun. The opposite side is already much hotter, so the solder will draw in before it cools
Opposite tip: Initially add the solder right at the tip of the soldering iron, so that you create a puddle of solder in between the iron and the piece; that puddle will transfer heat into the piece faster. Then, as per the advice above, you can move to the other... Oh, it's done already. Yeah, about one second after sufficient heat is in the piece, the solder flows in almost instantly. So no need to be fussy about this end or that end. Perhaps the other advice matters if you're using an underpowered iron or soldering a 6kg item. YMMV.
Without converting your unbalanced radio to balanced for both legs of a true dipole, all you've made is a 1/4 wave antenna, on it's side, with the earth absorbing the majority of the RF being emitted, you've only got 1 active RF element. This is what a BalUn is for, long ago when radios had dual output screw down terminals labeled "balanced" you could easily hook up ladder line and make a true dipole, the amount of new ham confusion on this basic principal is concerning. Will it work? Sure, a bit, remember a dummy Load is also 1:1 vswr Get a 1:1 BalUn at the center point.
Hi Chuck @kk6usyhamradioadventures do you recall which similar video of yours included tips on using the goture fishing pole as part of the antenna build? I hit pause on it yesterday and can’t find it now. It’s buried in my watch later list so it doesn’t show up in my history! I simply can’t find it again!
Jorah, the SWR can chage some depending on a few things the ground where you set it up is one. The inverted V is usually the easy way if your portable make sure the V is atleast 90 degrees abd try to get the ends up about 6' off the ground. Tune the antenna the way your going to set it up every time and you should be fine.
@@KK6USYHamRadioAdventures So the best way to tune the length is to have it elevated in its operational position? I was trying to tune it screeched in my garage few ft off the floor using the NanoVNA and I was not getting good results.
Man0fMeans , The plan was to take it out and use it in a video I just made the antenna into a 20,40 meter fan dipole I will do a build and how I deploy it using the 4 ends as the guys, thanks for the comment and for watching!
Great video Chuck. I just made my first dipole about 2 weeks ago and still trying to figure out the radiation pattern. Trying to aim my signal in a certain direction. I like the center support design of your antenna. 73 George KB3WAQ
How high up do you mount this? For 20m, 40m, 80, 160? Does it matter if its 180 degrees from the feed (barely directional?). What if V shaped instead of T shaped, like 90 degrees apart rather than 180. And if you mounted it perpendicular to the Earth's surface (vertical, just changes the rf wave's orientation??) What if the ends of the wire were 12 inches apart? How would it propagate? I have a dipole kit from the 1950s new in package? I have to take another look at it for specs but it has a balun and all sorts of bake o lite in there (I'm thinking of using it but maybe I should hold onto it or sell it on ebay? I mean isn't that literally an antique? Highly collectable? I found it dirt cheap at an auction mixed in with a bunch of computer stuff.).
Great video. To shorten the wire do you cut it or fold it back. I have heard that folding back is effective for bare wire and not insulated. I am building a fan dipole and am interested in advice
Luke, folding the wires back does still add length if that's what you're asking? I usually fold until I start getting close the trim some wire. When I end up I usually leave about 1' folded so I can tune as needed but usually I don't need, I try to set it up the same as I tune it.
Skip, thanks for the comment and for watching, I have since turned this antenna into a fan dipole I am going to shoot a new video and I will deploy it this time in the video and spend some time on how I deploy some of my Dipoles. this video shows a stake I made to make deploying a little easier. th-cam.com/video/Jm5VHkcxsXA/w-d-xo.html 73.
Hi there! Thank you for making this vid. I just passed my General and bought my HF radio. I like this design. One question. When you said you took the 6” off. Did you cut it off or fold in back on itself?
Keith always fold it back at first and as I get it close , I will start trimming and recheck it until I get the extra fold where I want it in length and then finish off the end.
Thanks for the video. You do a great job of showing the whole process. I will have to build one of these for myself soon. I have an end fed half wave antenna that I don't think I am getting good performance from. I use 20 meters mainly so this would be a good setup for me. How high do you have this above the ground and ends?
I think you will be very pleased on how this will work, I think I had the ends about 5-6' off the ground it can make a difference on swr . Thanks for the comment and for watching!
@@KK6USYHamRadioAdventures I subbed and hit the notification bell also. I just uploaded a video I shot this morning on using a Dewalt 20v max battery for portable ham operations on my channel. I wish I had your antenna right now. I am portable at my daughter's in CO but I did make contact with a guy in PA and AZ this morning.
Not sure that tinning the wire before crimping is a good idea. I would suggest either soldering or crimping but not both. A good crimp is probably better than solder. I have cut a good crimp in half and you can’t tell where the wire ended and the lug started it looked like one solid piece of copper!
I have to add another comment to this video. I built this to avoid trying to tune the 20m trap on my Hustler 5BTV before field day. I worked this design for field day this weekend and had no luck on Saturday. Even though it came in at a 1:2.5 on the model I built I thought oh man I did something wrong. I woke up Sunday morning and gave it another shot. I made 41 contacts on 10 and 20 meters in 4 hours that ranged from the Canadian Maritimes to South Texas from the QTH in Western PA. This works and it works damn well. Fantastic job Chuck, this made my weekend.
Gary, thanks for the nice comment!! That's awesome Gary, I am glad the video helped and you were able to make a lot of contacts and there is nothing like making a contact on a antenna you made yourself !!
That would be great for Emergencies I think I would cut it for 20 and 40
it calabrate not culate
wow, that's barely directional then?
@@CRSolarice it really isn’t directional at all. I typically run it in a NW to SE direction or vice versa and have done extremely well with the build. My longest distance so far is New Zealand at just over 8300 miles and well into Eastern Europe.
Would be great to see a shot of the finished antenna in place, to add context to the bunch of parts you showed through-out.
That’s a pretty lucky dipole construction with a super low SWR.
I’ll take a page from this constructing my own dipole for FT8. Nice video!
Hahah this is so old! Go for it a dipole is hard to beat for the money, Thanks for watching.
Chuck, i hit the like button after i heard the intro music !!!! Good video......73 from France.
It took a new TH-camr with 47 subs to show me the simplicity of building a dipole. Make that 48 subs, thank you Chuck! With you all the way to that golden play button sir.
Thanks for the comment, glad it was helpful!
Hi Chuck,
Can't get any better than those SWR readings. :-) 73 WB3BJU
Enjoyed the great explanations
thanks great job 73 from kb2uew
Great little cheap soldering iron...
Turns on: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
Funny stuff. Great video besides the QRM! LOL
Hey I want to say thank you! I built my first 20 meter antenna modeled after this. I got it tuned to 1:1 it works great! Thank you!
Hi Keith, great to hear it should work great for you! Thank you for the comment.
Fantastic video Chuck! Impressive build 👍
Excellent! Thank you.
Chuck thanks for the tip on using the cut ends of wide zip ties as insulators/strain relief for linked dipole segments. I like to have another option if the end fed wire antenna does not perform well.
Awesome
Good work
Lots of information shared in an understandable way. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for making a video and sharing it with all of us! I'm always appreciative when somebody puts their antenna on the meter so we can see the actual readings. Just FYI the old school meter doesn't have a calculate function, that is calibrate, cal is calibrate
Good build!
I'm working on passing my General class license, so I'm all-new to this HF thing. This gives me some helpful antenna ideas to think about!
That's awesome good luck with the test!! Not sure if you know of Coffee And Ham Radios we stream on Saturday and Sunday mornings and we have a lot of great content for newer Hams. We also will have a line of antennas available soon that you construct yourself! th-cam.com/users/CoffeeandHamRadios
@@KK6USYHamRadioAdventures I'll check it out, thanks.
I know this is an older video but I was wondering what the length of the wire ended up being after you cut it? Thanks, very easy to follow the instructions you provided.
Tip: Heat with the soldering gun from the opposite side that you apply solder. The solder goes toward the heat, so you get more even coverage and will know when you have applied enough heat. As soon as the solder begins to flow, remove the solder gun. The opposite side is already much hotter, so the solder will draw in before it cools
Opposite tip: Initially add the solder right at the tip of the soldering iron, so that you create a puddle of solder in between the iron and the piece; that puddle will transfer heat into the piece faster. Then, as per the advice above, you can move to the other... Oh, it's done already. Yeah, about one second after sufficient heat is in the piece, the solder flows in almost instantly. So no need to be fussy about this end or that end. Perhaps the other advice matters if you're using an underpowered iron or soldering a 6kg item. YMMV.
Great video!!!
Thanks, Hope it helps!
Hey Chuck, nice job on your dipole, hope one of these days we can get to do a QSO.
73's from xe2ywi Jacob...
Jacob I was hearing Mexico today on FT8 20m , we should try SSB some day I'm sure that FT857 can make the trip!!
Oh heck yes!
Thanks a million man! You rock!
that was great many thanks.
Great job! Nice!
Lee Monaco
, Thanks for watching and the nice comment, stay tuned for a rebuild into a 20,40m fan dipole that will use the 4 leads as the guys!
Great video! Thanks for the help!
Without converting your unbalanced radio to balanced for both legs of a true dipole, all you've made is a 1/4 wave antenna, on it's side, with the earth absorbing the majority of the RF being emitted, you've only got 1 active RF element. This is what a BalUn is for, long ago when radios had dual output screw down terminals labeled "balanced" you could easily hook up ladder line and make a true dipole, the amount of new ham confusion on this basic principal is concerning. Will it work? Sure, a bit, remember a dummy Load is also 1:1 vswr
Get a 1:1 BalUn at the center point.
Great video - glad I subbed 👍
Hi Chuck @kk6usyhamradioadventures do you recall which similar video of yours included tips on using the goture fishing pole as part of the antenna build? I hit pause on it yesterday and can’t find it now. It’s buried in my watch later list so it doesn’t show up in my history! I simply can’t find it again!
Do you count on the ROSIN in the solder or do you use flux for soldering connections?
or most small wires yes , but sometimes I use flux.
Thanks for the tips. Im about to make my 1st 20m dipole. Will the SWR change depending if you have the dipole horizontal or as a inverted V? Thanks
Jorah, the SWR can chage some depending on a few things the ground where you set it up is one. The inverted V is usually the easy way if your portable make sure the V is atleast 90 degrees abd try to get the ends up about 6' off the ground. Tune the antenna the way your going to set it up every time and you should be fine.
@@KK6USYHamRadioAdventures So the best way to tune the length is to have it elevated in its operational position? I was trying to tune it screeched in my garage few ft off the floor using the NanoVNA and I was not getting good results.
@@jolebole-yt yes put it up the way it will be when you use it.
good stuff ty 73
So what was the end length of your sides,..and when you added for 40 meter, how long.. measured after you got is resonant..?
I would have liked to have seen the actual finished antenna
Man0fMeans
, The plan was to take it out and use it in a video I just made the antenna into a 20,40 meter fan dipole I will do a build and how I deploy it using the 4 ends as the guys, thanks for the comment and for watching!
Great video Chuck. I just made my first dipole about 2 weeks ago and still trying to figure out the radiation pattern. Trying to aim my signal in a certain direction. I like the center support design of your antenna.
73 George KB3WAQ
George thanks for the nice comment and thanks for watching!
Nice 20 meter ant. What was the hole size for vertical pole.
I want to say it was around 1/8" poles vary in size and strength start small work your way up untill you think the pole is strong enough to support.
@@KK6USYHamRadioAdventures tnxs KQ4CD
Fine
How high up do you mount this? For 20m, 40m, 80, 160? Does it matter if its 180 degrees from the feed (barely directional?). What if V shaped instead of T shaped, like 90 degrees apart rather than 180. And if you mounted it perpendicular to the Earth's surface (vertical, just changes the rf wave's orientation??) What if the ends of the wire were 12 inches apart? How would it propagate? I have a dipole kit from the 1950s new in package? I have to take another look at it for specs but it has a balun and all sorts of bake o lite in there (I'm thinking of using it but maybe I should hold onto it or sell it on ebay? I mean isn't that literally an antique? Highly collectable? I found it dirt cheap at an auction mixed in with a bunch of computer stuff.).
Enjoyed watching Chuck. The link to the merch shop is not working today. Is there an updated site? Thanks & 73
Thanks Reed , I will have to look into what's up with the merch shop I din't know it wasn't working
Reed the Merch shop should work now.
Great video. To shorten the wire do you cut it or fold it back. I have heard that folding back is effective for bare wire and not insulated. I am building a fan dipole and am interested in advice
Does folding the ends of the wires back to make a loop affect the length requirement?
Luke, folding the wires back does still add length if that's what you're asking? I usually fold until I start getting close the trim some wire. When I end up I usually leave about 1' folded so I can tune as needed but usually I don't need, I try to set it up the same as I tune it.
Would loved to have seen your kit deployed. :) I.E. How you have it set up in the field.
Skip, thanks for the comment and for watching, I have since turned this antenna into a fan dipole I am going to shoot a new video and I will deploy it this time in the video and spend some time on how I deploy some of my Dipoles. this video shows a stake I made to make deploying a little easier. th-cam.com/video/Jm5VHkcxsXA/w-d-xo.html 73.
Hi there! Thank you for making this vid. I just passed my General and bought my HF radio. I like this design. One question. When you said you took the 6” off. Did you cut it off or fold in back on itself?
Keith always fold it back at first and as I get it close , I will start trimming and recheck it until I get the extra fold where I want it in length and then finish off the end.
I did not see the finished dipole or did i miss something ?
I learned some stuff here
Joseph that's great , that is why I post videos! Thankyou for the comment!
Questio ? Can ya double the length and get 40 m ?
Take 468 and dive by the frequency and dive b2 gives each side, cur a little long and fold over the ends. 468/ 7.250= 64.55/2= 32.28
Do you have to stretch the dipole in its working position while you do the tuning? Or you can leave it on the ground, analyze and adjust the lenght ?
Put it in the working position.
Thanks for the video. You do a great job of showing the whole process. I will have to build one of these for myself soon. I have an end fed half wave antenna that I don't think I am getting good performance from. I use 20 meters mainly so this would be a good setup for me. How high do you have this above the ground and ends?
I think you will be very pleased on how this will work, I think I had the ends about 5-6' off the ground it can make a difference on swr . Thanks for the comment and for watching!
@@KK6USYHamRadioAdventures I subbed and hit the notification bell also. I just uploaded a video I shot this morning on using a Dewalt 20v max battery for portable ham operations on my channel. I wish I had your antenna right now. I am portable at my daughter's in CO but I did make contact with a guy in PA and AZ this morning.
That swr meter from radio shack for 11 meter no
Not gonna lie, I temporarily lost a bit of maturity for a moment when I laughed at the fishing rod search comment.🤣
Not sure that tinning the wire before crimping is a good idea. I would suggest either soldering or crimping but not both. A good crimp is probably better than solder. I have cut a good crimp in half and you can’t tell where the wire ended and the lug started it looked like one solid piece of copper!
I can't be the only person hearing the RFI caused by his soldering iron😂
DO NOT LOOP THE WIRES AT THE FEEDPOINT !!!!!!
That does BAD things to the fields....
PS my dipoles work Europe with 5/ 8 watt to the antenna...
Calibrate, not calculate
Or invest in a $2 metric tape measure and just measure out 5 meters.
It's a shame you quit Metallica, James...
I’m one of the “new hams” your talking about, at least to hf. Thanks for your video I found it very helpful!
73-KK4RGV
Great I'm glad it helps. 73
Really helpful video! Thanks!