DIY Solderless Ham Radio Antenna
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- Can You Make A Ham Radio Antenna Without Using Solder? Wolf River Coils Vs. HamSticks??
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I can't see why anyone would not be able to solder even in the smallest of apartments... You're not getting lead fumes since the temperature is not hot enough to vaporize lead... You're just getting the rosin flux fumes, so it's more of a pine scent... And the amount of soldering that you would need to do for a antenna is very minimal anyway... And if you so wimpy that even that little bit of fumes makes you soil your panties, then just move your soldering into the bathroom -- surely it has an exhaust fan, right?
I think your name says it all. Let this be a lesson to anyone reading. There are many keyboard commandoes out there, much like this guy. Hey Curmudgeon, you're not in his shoes. You don't know what he's going through. You are the cancer that exists in ham radio. Just know that. Fortunately, guys like you are dying off quickly. I hope you're next.
Awh, did I trigger you, snowflake? Bless your little cat-lady heart... I reload my own ammo and cast my own bullets, so I am quite familiar with molten lead and the dangers associated with it. Hell, I create more toxic fumes when cooking than when casting bullets, much less a little bit of soldering.
Or perhaps Curmudgeon, people don't own a soldering iron, solder and braid? Maybe there are people in I dunno *warzones* or places Amazon don't deliver that would like to know how to get back on the air without stable electrical supply. Maybe someone needs to be able to disassemble and conceal their antenna as parts of something else because people who carry such things are suspect of being dissidents? Or maybe someone wants to teach their little kid how to make an antenna but either they or the kid lack the motor co-ordination for a hot iron? Think outside your smelly little box for a minute.
@@SquillagusNiggle -- And yet he's able to get everything else that is necessary to get a transmitter on the air? LMAO... More than likely just someone who is so clueless that they think that soldering produces LEAD fumes...
Just solder over your kitchen sink with a chopping board. What's the worst that can happen? Don't forget your N95 mask though! Good video though of what can be done without having to do that.
OUTSTANDING VIDEO. I wish there was something greater than a thumbs up I could give it. I am in much the same situation that the person that asked the question is. I DO have a window with a 1 inch inside ledge. I have a distance of 13 feet parallel to the window and appox. 35 feet perpendicular to it. Worst is is a government owned building so NOTHING outside you window at all.
The best solution that I have some up with is:
#1 An adhesive mounted window 2m/1.74cm/70cm antenna made for a car which I can stick onto the window glass. That should work pretty well for VHF/UHF
#2 The Indoor Outdoor Window Clamp HF Antenna for 2 to 40M MFJ-1622. Which I can put up after dark and take down in the morning. :(
# 3 TWO speaker wire dipoles like you are making here. Cut and tuned to the middle of the 6 and 10 meter bands. Hang that up using picture hooks on each wall and hope that there is not so much rebar in these walls that it absorbs all of my radiated signal.
Any more suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you for taking so much time to put together not one but two solutions to my question about the solderless antenna. It was a delightful surprise to see this video. :)
I'll definitely be building one of these at some point.
Hey my pleasure, thanks for asking it. Really good question. Hope to catch you on the air.
I always find your videos informative, educational and interesting. Keep up the good work.
Very simple. Very practical. Something that can be done by almost anyone. I have already past on the link to other newbie hams who have been fretting about the supposedly difficult "black art" of antenna making. Excellent stuff.....keep them coming. Cheers ZL2VTH
Hey that's so awesome, thanks so much!
Hi Mike,
Zero solder, that's heresy. 🙂 Nice simple dipole build. Have a suggestion for the Hamsticks. Instead of loosening the screws to slide the whip down for storage, lock down the screws and then loosen the whip adapter. That way just remove the already tuned whip and store it into the main body of the Hamstick. To get ready for use, now just hand tighten the whip. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
That is how I have done it for years. Also before you throw away a broken ham stick you can tune the whip portion for a different section of the band. CW/SSB.
That's a great video. Thank you for sharing such valuable information. I recently "McGyvered" a dipole like your suggestion using the banana plug/bnc connector for the center connector. The wire I used is 16 gauge wire each on the spool it came with and the wires just happened to be red and black.
I will leave the wire on the spools for ease of transport and adjusting during use. I'm looking forward to experimenting with it as the weather gets warmer.
Thank you again for all the great videos.
Stay safe and happy hamming everyone 🤠😎
Great antenna build options. Love the south pacific work boots 😎
nice di pole antenna build. I did something like that in the past. still in my go bag. I made it all in a park with little tools. knife and pliers with cheap stuff from hardware store. instead of crimp terminals I used nut and bolt with washers and wing nuts. love how you come up with things. 73's
That's even easier. No crimper required!
Thanks Man great vid. Keep them coming. Very helpful.
Great video! Very helpful
Cool video bro! I had a CB radio and a DV-27 Antenna to in my teens!
Excellent project!
You sure are getting a lot of milage out of that cutting board! 👍👍👍 As much as I love soldering and as skilled at it as I am as well these types of projects really have a place in everyone's kits. The BNC to Banana adapter is awesome, but the cutting board antenna really deserves an award for simplicity and for using parts you probably have 😎
Yeah I think it's about at the end of its life cycle but I've made quite a few things out of it so I'd say I got my $.88 worth lol!
@@hamradiotube I went to Walmart this evening looking for that 88 cents cutting board. The cheapest one was a tiny thing at $2.77. I did find a few at Dollar tree for $1.25 each.
@@michaelmullins9874 Inflation got ya
Great Mailbag Show Mike!! 👍📻⚡Love the content, especially for the aspiring or new ham! 🤘Cheers, WA7FLY
Another good one....way to go...Mike....👋👋👋👋👋
Wow, that easy peasy solderless dipole was a great idea. 🎉
Glad you liked it!
Thanks for your video.
The guy that ask the question about the no solder antenna was located in an apartment on the ninth floor with no balcony! The type of antenna, a dipole may not be a good choice. The best antenna In your case would be a magnetic loop antenna as for home brewing one there are plans online but most require soldering! If you don’t have the skills or are worried about any issues with soldering I’m sure you can get help with that from fellow hams in your area or buy a pre made magnetic loop like a chameleon FLoop. They are pricy and it’s way cheaper to build one but for convenience it might be worth looking into buying one. Also magloop antennas don’t handle a lot of power like at the most 30watts but in an apartment you don’t want to run to much power anyway to avoid interfering with your neighbors electronics! I have the Chameleon PLoop and run it with my IC705 at 10watts and I do ok I’ve made several contacts all over the US and Canada from inside my apartment!
Have you ever hook up speaker wire to a tuner in a loop?
Yes, I have a 6 meter dipole with 2 sticks.
Maybe see you again at Orlando in a few
weeks. We are now at Merritt Island, FL,
about 1hour east of the Hamcation for
for now, until Feb 18th. Ray W2CH.
Hi Mike. Rather than unravel the shield, if you open a small hole in the shield where the shield comes out of the cover and than pull the center wire through the hole, it works a lot better. Less messy. Bob AA7B
Hamsticks and triple mag mount have an advantage running mobile. They can handle 80 mph highway speeds where the Wolf River Coil is too fragile for anything other than stationary deployment. Screw driver antennas are more convenient but the cost is high. The choice comes down to personal decisions on cost, performance and convenience. What are you willing to deal with on your budget and operating style
You're like the MacGyver of radio!
In the NW Houston area, Ace Electric tonics on Antoine and 34th St has the BNC 🍌 plug connector.
It's a miracle you still have a full compliment of fingers.
why?
When you need to unbraid your coax, take a piece of that steel rod you got from trimming your ham stick and sharpen it to a point. Then use that to comb it out.
Great job mike
Thanks so much
Most folks don't realize for a mobile or portable setup you're WAY better off using crimp/compression fittings vs soldered connections. Anything that's going to "vibrate", like in a vehicle, or routinely gets stuffed in a pack for SOTA ETC will eventually _break_ a soldered joint regardless of your solder skills. That's why the wiring harnesses in cars for the most part ALL use crimp fittings vs solder! The only solder bond work-around I've seen that works is done on race rigs for like Baja or Dakar Rally rigs, where the wiring solder joints are done inside a small box then "potted" by filling it up with epoxy resin.
Cool tools there, Mike. You've been holding out. 😉 KI5TOC, 73's
Somehow it did not occur to me to mark the whip on a ham stick and then slide it down in to the coil. I learned a thing.
When you said solderless antenna and busted out that roll of speaker wire I really expected the old KG6HQD dipole, though.
With the wolf river coil you can set the radio to where you want to transmit, turn up the volume then slide the collar to where it sounds the loudest. That will get you pretty close.
Yep. That's a great way to do it without an analyzer.
Not only more radiating length, but more receive capture area.
Excellent.
Many thanks!
Seriously sell that kit. I'd buy it. It's as QRP as you can possibly get. Or I just get a wolf river. Any specific recommendations on type and whip length?
Will this work for any band (solder-less)? Thanks much for the great vids!
So long as you cut it for the band you want to work, yes.
I can't tell you how many dipoles I built during my Marine Corps career deployed and field ops using those BNC to banana plug splitters. That and a roll of speaker wire and the world is at your finger tips.
How do you tune the dipole antenna? Can it be tuned without special equipment? I am old and retired on a fixed income. So cheap, and easy is best. Fast is optional.
10 meter loop for the condo. I use a whip on the balcony and receive online using websdr. You can hear people online sdr that the antenna cant.
Great stuff! Not so good on my Island as I am surrounded by Salt Air, Saltwater. ;(
Those scissors 🤤
Aah, when you cut those 3 holes on each side of the plastic i though you were going to build a dipole that could be switched between 3 different cable lenghts using cable connectors 😊
What kind of scissors are those? I'd like to get some, they look very handy
www.gigaparts.com/messi-paoloni-special-coax-scissors.html
I think the Hamsticks have a very narrow “sweet spot” within a given band vs WRC when properly tuned which if true is a material difference.
For sure they do. I've tuned mine for the center of the phone portion. Don't really need to make adjustments unless I want to go lower in the digital/cw portion.
Hey Mike. I use a EFHW 80-10 1kw antenna at my QTH. it’s 30ft in the air on a mast running horizontally to a tree with a 2 liter bottle tied to a rope attached to the end of the wire for tension. I was thinking of changing that configuration to an inverted V with the ends 4ft off the ground and center point at the top of the 30ft mast. My question is about orientation. Should it be north south or East west? I’m in SC and am interested in contacts to the west and northwest. Right now I do well on the east coast and SA. It’s current orientation is north south about 300 degrees limited by the tree.
You'd have to try it and let me know. In theory an inverted V should be more omnidirectional. I'll tell you, I have two horizontal 80 meter EFHW's at home, both about 30' up, one radiating N/S, the other E/W and I've gotten some pretty surprising contacts on the N/S configuration that I wouldn't expect. It's all about experimenting. I'd be curious what you find out though.
New guy. Why do some dipoles use baluns and others dont?
Need scanner for 36043 alabama 😮py lunch brunch 😊
Question so does this replace a regular antenna I’m not a ham but learning about this stuff
Well there are about a million different kinds of antennas. This is just one type. A dipole to be specific. So I wouldn't say it replaces an antenna as much as I would say it is an antenna. There's verticals, dipoles, end feds, Yagi's, off center fed, loaded, etc. The list goes on and an. But, depending on the frequency you want to use, that will determine the length of the antenna. Lower frequencies will need a longer antenna, higher frequencies will use a shorter antenna.
20 yrs ago took down my beams scrap man 👨 my handbag brief case 😅
Can old cable tv coax cable work to make a antenna
That's a good question. I honestly don't know. I know people have made antennas from radio coax which is 50 ohms. TV coax is 75 ohms so there might be some matching you would need to do, but I would suspect you could still do it.
High AC voltages across Power Pole connectors can be a problem..
Hi Mike. Your analysis of Wolfe River vs Hamsticks didn't include one very important factor. The operating environment. Those telescoping whips would not survive very long running mobile If the wind at 70 mph didn't snap the whip in half, the first low hanging tree branch would. However, if the plan is to operate in a stationary car, I say "go for it". For every reason you said.
Of course, you don't have to use the telescoping whip with the Wolfe River. Have you ever considered a 102" CB whip? The stainless steel ones are not very expensive and are rugged as all get out. And, they use the same 3/8 mounting stud. Well, that's my 4 cents thrown in. Used to be 2 cents. But, you know, inflation. I hope to catch you on the air some time. 73.
Why are you you running mobile in 70 mph winds again? Are you in a tropical storm?
👍👍👍
Based on the waiting intro, I'm not sure if I'm waiting on a new cult to be announced or if I just injested a hallucinogen.
Yes!
ALL RIGHTY THEN
Hi Mike I get a icom 705 I love it 73’s ke4hpq
Imma put a hamstick on the roof of my truck with a manual tuner on top of the dash.
Cant add to playlist change for kids setting
These videos are not made for kids and are set that way.
TURBO KITTY
You should drill your holes in the plastic cutting board before you cut out the shapes. Saves you from needing to use the vise or scraping your fingers. Why drill on the tiny pieces?
Because that would make too much sense lol!
Coils lose over 90% of your power. Unless you have antenna cap on the top. Then they lose slot less.
Soldering is just one part of being a proficient, skilled amateur operator. If you somehow think you're going to be able to avoid soldering and are actually worried about burning your carpet, you need to OVERCOME and adapt. It's not that hard, really! SKILLS are worth building.
MAKERSPACES!!!! Find one in your city, they'll let you solder,weld,plasma cut! If there isn't one, maybe you start one? Sure there are other cave dwellers that need space!
L I K E 👍👍👍👍👍💥💯🤍💯🤍💯🤍😻😻😻😻😻