I have the same antenna, wound up cutting a few inches off the whip as well. I mounted my antenna on the bumper of my truck, that makes for a very good ground so the whole truck is a counterpoise. works great for me. great video.
I just returned from a three week trip with a 20 meter hamstick mounted to the bed of my F-250. I ran 10 watts using my TX-500. I made many contacts of more than 500 miles. My best was from central Iowa to central California. I had read that hamsticks are junk so I wasn’t expecting my setup to work at all seeing as I was running low power. After my first QSO of an hour from Idaho to Michigan I became a believer. I think that part of my success is that I mounted the antenna to a rail running across the top of the truck bed about a foot from the back. This put the entire radiator above any sheet metal except the truck cab. Anyway, it worked spectacularly
Oh dude, the car is a spectacular ground plane. I have done zero bonding or grounding. Just put the mount on the car and start calling CQ. Works like a charm. Of course they are a "compromise" but every antenna in the world is. If you are making contacts, it's working.
Bob’s your uncle! I was about to say, when the stinger is so low that it penetrates the loading coil, it acts as a ferrite core, which increases inductance and that explains why it’s lowering in frequency as it’s shortened. I learned the hard way, with a 40m hamstick, that the tip of those stingers inside the coil get EXTREMELY hot. Had a scar from that for a while lol.
Well, see, you are exponentially smarter than me, and I'm happy to admit that, and I'm happy to call you a friend. I'm just glad that I had the wherewithal to figure it out on my own, without calling a friend. Plus, I have a grinder and I love breaking that out to cut some Metal!
Aloha Mike, I have been using the MFJ 347 Dual Dipole version for 10 meters which on sale at Gigaparts for $23.90, and works very well. Yes, I had to trim both of my wires for 10 meters but made regular contacts into South America, NZ, PI, Australia, Japan and Borneo. Great video!
@@hamradiotube Its the NUMBER 1 , reason why most new people dont get into the hobby. Things are way too expensive as companies are trying to make Billions overnight. Then people wonder why they can barely get anyone to stick around the hobby. No one wants to be spending thousands of dollars like this. Ive seen equipment such as a antenna tuner, a damn antenna tuner go for $450, just for a tuner for gods sakes. Tons and tons of people get put off by these ridicules prices. Its no wonder why this hobby looks like a geriatric ward. Only retiree's with a bit of money to spend in their golden years are spending this type of cash. Very rarely you see young people. I for one am not spending $3k for a damn HF radio let alone $2k or $1k. Not happening. and I am not alone on this. When Icom 705 goes for $499 then ill get it, or the 7300 goes for $599 then ill get it, til then, its staying in the store. This is why I like videos like these. Its videos geared for real working people on a real work persons budget.
@@hamradiotube mot quite sure!; I turned on my little G90 after not using it for a while, went to 20m called CQ and got a station from Russia, the farthest I have got into Europe with 20w, 73 de WP3BM!
I have doubles in the 10, 20, 40 & 75m bands and I love them. They work great in the dipole mount and I’ve found when used as a ground mount vertical, for example how you showed with your Wolf River Coil radial as the spike, to lower that SWR get the feed point / base of the antenna just about 4”-6” off the ground. It looked like you had to too high. I’ve also found making sure the counter poise radials extending out to opposing sides and NOT near the coax helps as well. Very easy to drop that SWR down.
There's prob a couple reasons for the vertical not being as good. The first would be that I was using radials that I made for a different antenna lol. I just had them lying around. I really use them for my PackTenna 9:1 antenna. This was the first time I've used a ham stick in years. The last time I used one was very early in my portable ham radio adventures. The antenna was mounted about 5' off the ground and had horribly long radials, I had to use an external tuner to make it resonant. I used that antenna on my Michigan Summits On the Air video when I climbed up to the top of an abandoned parking garage and activated it lol! After that, I did cut them to length and it was very resonant.
@@hamradiotube Thanks for the reply, and no doubt...and that PackTenna is a beast. I use the hamsticks for quick deploy or when an end-fed isn't feasible / practical. I've had peers poo-poo them and I'm like hey, I'm making contacts on 20M in Italy w/50 watts...hush. LOL. 73
Nice work Mike! When I was living in Florida I lived in a very strict HOA controlled gated community. So, I had a garage attic mounted 37' OCFD up 10 ft. It was not very effective and I only made a few contacts. I then tried a mag mounted 40m MFJ Hamstick on my extended cargo van in the driveway. Wow...what a difference! The contacts started pouring in. That was my best antenna and the HOA never said a thing. They are well worth the $25-$30. But, as you found out, those Hamstick antennas are very fickle when it comes to setting the SWR...lol!
Stick the 10m hamstick on top of the bottom half of the 40m one. It will improve performance and increase the bandwidth. Takes some fiddling and you can't drive with it like that, but if you ave both of them already it is worth a try.
I have doubles of these antennas to create a dipole using the MFJ adapter. I ended up having to shorten the "stingers" on several for the same reason you did. The instructions even state this might have to be done since you don't want the "stinger" end to be in the coil area (were it is the heaviest) of the antenna.
In my experience, the dipole configuration works really really well up at 25 feet, but poorly at 10 or so. In fact, your better with a vertical if you can't put the dipole up high.
I have a set of MFJ hamsticks. I tried the 20 meter one and contacted a station in Texas from the Atlanta area. I tuned slightly down in frequency and had a station in British Columbia, so those things do work well.
I worked Bob Heil, K9EID, in IL from CA while mobile with an MFJ 75 meter hamstick and cheap Alinco HF rig about 8 years ago. He played our QSO on Ham Nation. He was demonstrating how you don't need a whole lot to get on the air. Great video! 73
i used to have one of these on a lay-over breedlove mount on my truck bed, i got contacts in New Jersy from North Carolina while driving down the highway.
GREAT vid. I love that you're really going through the gamut of things people can use/do to get on the air with POTA. You know how they have the octopus thing? Seeing your ground-rod clamp vertical thing made me wonder if something could be rigged up as a fan vertical with my 20 and 40m hamsticks. Does that make sense? I might try to rig something up. My HOA would never see 'em.
Thanks Jarrett. Just trying to play my part. I've seen the octopus thing yes. I'd wonder how they'd react as a fan vertical. Never though of that. I'll expect a full report on your findings lol!
Mike: Dave, WB8LWS in Almont, MI here. I've been inactive for over 20 years but watching you with POTA is getting me excited again I had a hamstick, probably still do but I don't know where it is or what frequency it is for, but I had to cut the whip also to get a good resonance, I had a similar problem you did. I think the whip acts like the core of a coil and as you lower the whip it adds inductance and here we go whoop t doo! I think I worked you on 2 meters years ago, I was quite active on Clarkston and Rochester repeaters. 73!
Hi Dave, thanks for watching. Glad to hear you are getting excited about radio again! POTA in particular is my favorite thing about radio (next to my fascination with antennas). Get your stuff out of the closet and dust it off. The solar cycle is on the upswing and bands are only getting better. I've activated parks recently on 17 and 15 meters. Those bands have been dead forever! I was only licensed in 2016 so I'm not sure if we made contact but if I was on a repeater, it was probably the Clarkston. Thanks again for watching and I hope to catch you on the air!
I had to do the EXACT same thing with my MFJ 20M hamstick- cut off about 8 inches so it didn't couple with the inductive lower portion. I also made a WRC-style coil with 3/8x24 threads which goes at the bottom of the antenna and converts it to a 40M antenna.
If you want, you can also measure if you have two spots that are resonant for the band ( not like atmospheric conditions or locati0on variables with a magnet mount would EVER change for the day, right) A sharpie AND a tape measure are ghod tools
Yup, I had to do the same sort of trimming when trying to get the high end of 40 on one of these. If the stinger sticks down too far into where the coil is, it starts interacting strangely, almost like you are playing with a variable inductor. In my case it was about 4 inches removed in total before it would behave.
Rather it be too long than too short thats for sure. I don't mind trimming to make it resonant where I want it. I suppose they prob do that on purpose.
ps. there's a note in the instructions regarding the maximum you should allow the whip to penetrate into the coil area, and that it could damage the antenna at higher power if you don't observe that.
That would insinuate I actually read the instructions lol! I do remember hearing that somewhere though. Thanks for sharing. Dont want to break my antennas.
May also try to bend the top 2 to 4 enches horizontal (90%) to the whip. We did this is the middle east a lot on the trucks. Never hurt, almost always lowered swr.
10:28 I’m going to have to file a hurt feelings report from Canada, eh! Hahahaha! Yeah, that was pretty cool. Peurto Rico on a ham stick! Hehe! Loved your video. Just goes to show that a person really doesn’t need to get expensive or complicated to have fun in ham radio. Great job, and a great video. This is easy to watch material :-)
I have several of these in 40 meters and 1 in 20 meters. they work good but need a tuned counterpoise the right height from the ground to get a good match. Adjust the counterpoise for the lowest SWR after setting the whip length for resonance. The counterpoise works better at an angle down and not at 90 degrees. I use them portable.
Yeah that’s how I used them before was elevated. I didn’t make the ground mount to use with this antenna, I just had it lying around, and the counterpoise wires were for another antenna as well. Still worked.
I put those puppies in the middle of my car's metal roof with a mag-mount. My biggest problem isn't a compromise antenna, it's all the QRM you get in the middle of a city. Worked Slovenia two weeks ago from a nearby parking lot!
Great Video Mike! I bought the MFJ hamsticks and I also couldn't get it to tune out of 13Mhz!! I thought it was defective so I just put it away. I'm now going to have to pull it out of the closet and try it again. Thanks for the instructive video!
Hey Ron, glad to hear I'm not the only one. I suppose it's good they send them long but good lord, they should tell you, you need to tune them. Granted, I didn't read the, what's it called, "instructions" or something? Hope you have success with them. Never let an antenna sit too long in the closet. There's a reason you got it lol!
I unscrew the whip addy and put the tip into the fiberglass and place that inside a piece of CPVC pipe in my trunk when not in use. The ball on the tip does not dig in and scratch up the fiberglass. 📻📡
Works great. Copper ground rod even better. Drive the rod 1 foot in the ground. Leave 6 -7 ft above ground. Attach mirror mount (Amazon) on top . Now the secret. Attach 4. 1/4 wave radials to rod using two hose clamps. Extend the radials out at about 60 degrees (45 is better) and terminate to insulators (.5" PVC tube sections 2" long) attached to paracord and held in ground with cheap tent stakes or landscape spikes (Home Depot). You will match at around 38 ohms with lower VSWR. You will still need to shorten your whip section a 1/4" at a time to tune. Feed with at least a half wave of coax. Make 6 turns of your coax around 2 litre plastic bottle or PVC form (ugly balun/rf choke) placed below feed point. You can make other radials cut to 1/4 wave length for the band your using and hamstick you select. I use 20,17,15, and 10. Thank me later. It works well. Still not a vertical half wave or 1/4 wave ground plane, but dang good. I live in an HOA and this is how I work the world
Now that you have the whip marked, put a piece of heat shrink with the internal adhesive at that mark to give you a positive stop at the resonant point.
I find a great way to experiment is use a laptop or smartphone to tune to a WEBSDR like utah or KFS etc and see what your signals look like far from your QTH. I found out a HamStick on the back of my van does 2 to 5 db better than the 19' tunable endfed on the back of the van. I use a 15 and 20m hamsticks on a plate in the back yard for worldwide WSPR coverage. Yep they get out and receive well.
I tried two 46"x84" aluminum window screens as a counterpoise for my MFJ-1879 17' telescoping vertical & it was like my 5w QRP signal had a 10dB amp on it. Now I am going to try it on my 40, 20, & 17m hamstick. I can't find a 30m version or I'd try that too! Cheers, Davey - KU9L
Hi Mike, Awesome video. I have pairs of the MFJ Ham Sticks for 80, 40, and 20. Used a pair as vertical dipoles for 80 and 40 and worked well until the mast fell over. They will be my primary POTA antennas until I settle on another antenna. One big improvement I made was to ditch the setscrews and replace with stainless screws. Much easier to adjust with a screwdriver and you don't have to worry about rounding out the setscrew. Do have to admit it looks uglier with the screws. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Nice, my dad has a dipole thing for them too that he used for his RV. I should get better screws. The stock ones are junk. One of them is already stripping from when I was tuning it. Doesn't matter how it looks so long as it works.
Good video, Huntsvill State Park is a very nice little park, not far from you at all, and makes a food testing ground for antennas. I bet in no time time you will have the the most park activations. I am looking at the new Buddy Stick.
Thanks Mike. Yeah its about a 10 minute drive. I love living this close to the park. It's become my "office". I do have the most activations there by a wide margin now. I also have the most contacts too. I still have about 6 logs I need to upload too. A lot of people are really liking the Buddy Stick. I've only had a little bit of time to play with one so I don't have an opinion on it yet, but I haven't heard anything bad about it.
I appreciate the review on the Ham Stick. I have a Hustler mobile HF antenna that consists of a mast and I have a 20, 40 & 75 meter resonators. It’s not a bad little mobile antenna. I usually get out to stations with 100 watts about the same signal report that I give them. There have been a few times that I’ve tried contacting POTA stations that just didn’t seem to hear me. But what do you expect from an HF mobile that cost me $75 I think about 3 years ago that I found on FB Marketplace. It doesn’t reach perfect resonance in the bands they are designed for. That is a good idea to try trimming the extra whip that is inside the coil. I, like most people never thought that would matter. Thanks for giving me an idea! Love the videos; keep it up! 73, Carl KB9HPM
I’ve been able to work DX in Europe and have heard Spanish speaking stations fairly regularly on 20 meters. My 75 meter resonator needs a tuner to be able to get acceptable SWR. There might be an issue inside the coil causing this.
I have worked all over the US and Europe with my G90 and a 20m Shark “ham stick” on a magmount on my truck doing POTA. I’ve also just sat in my truck in my driveway and answered European stations calling CQ. They work great. Super easy to set up and cheap. I had to trim a little bit off as well. I get the entire 20m phone portion with mine.
I had a 20 meter Shark antenna on a magmount and it turned out to be a piece of crap - in fact, it broke!. Going to switch to MFJ and see if it works any better.
You have done what I have been trying to figure out. The last step I need is to make the radials. Mind sharing how you did that? Thank you so much for all the awesome help! You rule, Mike. :)
I just crimped a wire into a ring terminal, put a power pole on the other end, then crimped 3 wires into a power pole. Done and done. I did this because I use these radials for a couple different antennas and why not put power poles on everything?
If you use a meter that shows the power level you will see that the power out increases as you get SWR closer to 1. The best antenna is one that is tuned to a very low SWR without the use of any tuner.
I had to take about 6" off my ham stick. The instructions that came with mine actually said to cut off any more than a couple of inches. Do they sell that little MFJ analyzer still?
Good to know I’m not the only one. Weird how they can’t just make it the proper length to begin with. Looks like you can still get it per Jarretts comment. It’s the MFJ-223
Thanks That issue has had me perplexed I bought several of those awhile back and that issue frustrated me to the point I just hung the antennas in the garage until I had more knowledge and experience. Thanks for the knowledge. Jim KI7SSO
A few years ago, I used a Lakeview hamstick on the car, a Ford Tempo, with a TS-50 at 50w, no problem working contacts, perhaps I need to resurrect this same set up for POTA, seems to be working for guys/gals. I do use a double hamstick set up for 20m on top of a pole, made 25 contacts Sunday of 2016, best DX that day was France CQWW 73 al ve3gam
A ham stick was the very first antenna I ever used for portable. I've since become obsessed with antennas and mainly use an EFHW or a DX Commander Expedition, but for price and ease of setup they really can't be beat.
Great info. Actually helped me with my OPEK HVT-400B. It would have taken me ages to think that the steel inside is affecting the "coil". FYI if you are cutting with your angle-grinder like that its VERY dangerous. Horrible accidents happen with these things. It should have come with an extra grip and a "guard" - and get yourself some kind of clamp for your small workpieces. I've seen an accident with these not long ago myself; its no joke. If that guy would have worked alone with no-one around... he would not have been able to stop the bleeding. Be safe please! (Not trying to be overly cautious guy.)
Olli - Thank you for pointing this out to the folks on the post. A few minutes of insuring practicing proper safety & preparation goes a long to way to insure against permanent injuries.
Awesome, glad it helped you out! Yes, my angle grinder did come with all the fancy safety things like you mention. I took them off immediately. I have seen accidents for sure, but in my previous line of work, they tend to get in the way. At least I was wearing safety glasses though. I do appreciate your concern. Thank you, and thanks for watching. 73
Great video. I have the 20 meter dipole configuration. Heard a lot of negatives about these but decided to try it out anyway. With my LDG Z 100 tuner I can work on 40, 20, and 17. I’m on the coast of Georgia and have worked Nearly all states including Alaska. Canada, South America, The Caribbean, and many countries across the pond including Russia and Slovenia. I love simple low cost stuff that works. Thanks for the video. Hopefully catch you in a park sometime, KO4DNI
Thanks Lee. I've found that there are a lot of negatives that people will tell you about any antenna. Everyones an expert right? Sure these are compromised antennas, but honestly most are. That's sweet you're getting DX with them too! You can't beet an affordable antenna the just works.
I think the upper element is a steel alloy. Moving it into the loading coil increases the inductance resulting in lower resonant frequency. As you found, one has to cut the upper element to raise the frequency. Thanks for sharing this video
I store mine like a musket ramrod in a barrel. Unscrew the whip and turn it around and shove it in the fiberglass tube but great video I learn a lot from you
I use a Hamstick Dipole with great results. I removed some of the insulation from the top of the coil and soldered 3-4 coils together that way I could use all the tuning whip instead of cutting it.
Great video Mike - as always. Which MFJ mirror mount did you use for the ground mounted version, and can you share any detail on how you designed the brilliant Powerpole counterpoise? This will be going down the river with me on my October kayak portable.
Thanks. Its this one: mfjenterprises.com/collections/mfj/products/mfj-342t?_pos=4&_sid=e386af5f4&_ss=r As far as the power poles, I made a small lead with a ring terminal on one side and a power pole on the other. For the counterpoise I put 3 lengths of 26awg poly stealth wire, www.amateurradiosupplies.com/category-s/218.htm into another power pole so I can quickly disconnect it. I did not make the counterpose wire for this antenna mind you. I just had them from another project and they were close enough to use with this one. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. 73
The MFJ 1620T 20M HF Stick rocks! 2 weeks ago I got British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California & Arizona all the way from K-1732 in Delaware. All copyable. And Spain to the east! I have the 40M stick too. Looking to get some more bands.
@@hamradiotube I’ve heard a lot of good about them and have had some great success with them so far. So great that I went out last weekend and got a MFJ 10m & 17m HF Sticks. I still need to tune them and get them ready for use.
I wonder if a capicitity hat might bring the SWR down even more. I saw a video on the Elecraft AX-1 that brought it way down. It was made with an alligator clip and four even 11 cm wires
In the original ham stick manual it say to NOT slide the whip down too far because I can cut the wire inside and avoid warrentee.. so taking it apart is a better option..
Great video on the Hamstick. I went to my local ham store a couple weeks ago and they talked me out of it, then tried to up-sell me. I just placed my order for one and a lip mount. Great tip on tuning. Thanks for the video Mike!
Wow, imagine that, trying to up sell you. These antennas work great, especially for the price, size and portability. There's really nothing else that works so well that is so small.
Hey Mike, a little late watching this video, but have heard a lot of good things about Hamsticks,, and they sound great from those that are using them, so I went ahead and ordered a couple of them today. What make and model of mount are you using on your car? Also, do you drive with the Hamstick attached? Wondering how they hold up back there?!? Thanks! Mark - W7MMG
Hi Mark. The mount is a Diamond K-400. I don't actually drive with the ham sticks on the mount, but I absolutely could. I have a Little TarHeel II antenna the takes permanent residence on the mount. I will tell you that it can withstand 100MPH winds :)
Just started using hamsticks the other day. Surprisingly easy to tune. I have mine connected to a mag mount and on a pizza tin for a counterpoise/ground and it actually works well. Got the SWR down to the 1.3 to 1.4 range and beaconed out pretty far with FT8. One thing you can do once you have your length dialed in that's easier than a sharpie, the metal part at the top of the black base (that the antenna wire goes into) actually unscrews from the base. I unscrew mine and feed the antenna upside down into the black part. Fits nicely and some blue tape will hold it in place (if you don't just put it back in the bag). To deploy, just pull the wire out and screw it in, and it will be at the desired length by default.
I used a HamStick dipole setup with my Ft-891 while camping at Lake Livingston State Park. Still learning how to do POTA so I didn't activate. Great antennas for how cheap they are.
That should work well for you. My dad did the same thing with his RV. POTA is easy. Just get on the air and start calling CQ POTA. I have a video on how to get started too: th-cam.com/video/oQr5NoNY6Pc/w-d-xo.html
Hi Mike, bit late to the party with this question ! How would you say the MFJ single band hamsticks compare to something like a Wolf River Coil mounted on a Magmount on the roof of a car ? With the WRC, you wouldn't need a separate hamstick for each band you wish to operate on. Thanks 73
I wonder if two of these would make a great dipole with the double screw-in mount and elevated to a safe level for stability, it would make a great 10M inverted-V also. Thanks for the video! 72 es 73, Davey- KU9L
Frequency going down as you shorten the whip? I have had that happen when I have tried to increase the frequency folding back a wire antenna. Had to actually cut wire. You are probably experiencing the same when the whip is pushed into the body.
I have both the MFJ and SHARK ham sticks. I started with the MFJ and they have worked great for over two years. I recently got the SHARK version and I do think they are better made and tuned easier but I would recommend either brand.
I use a 40m hamstick dipole on my g90, I had to cut maybe 12" off of each wire whip to get the antenna resonant @ the middle of the phone portion of 40m
You car people are funny. Love the use of the table. Us pedestrian only hams don't have that luxury. I am glad you were able to make contacts. Too bad New York's Central park does not allow for wire on the trees or anything to be put into the ground. Can't use "just some Parks on the Air" as they don't recognize the 5 large New York City Parks that go from 700-2000 acres. Continue the good work my friend and hope to work you some day. Is there a way that you can let people know when you will be on HF so some of us can try to have a QSO with you? 73 from N2LRB.
Lol, you car people haha! Looks like you should get a Wolf River Coils. That would solve all of your problems, other than Central Park not being a POTA. You could submit to the POTA admins to add the park to the program. That would be pretty sweet. I will sometimes post on twitter (@k8mrd) when I'm on the air, but the best way would be to keep an eye on the POTA spotting page.
@@hamradiotube I asked the POTA people about Central Park and other New York City Parks and they were not very nice in their replies via e-mail or on Facebook. They also said they have enough to do without having to add the work that New York City Parks would add to their workload. Oh well. By the way I do own and have used Wolf River Coils in Central Park. Very nice antenna. Thanks. Great communicating with you. Hope to work you someday. It would be a real honor.
Awesome video! Super excited to hear the Puerto Rico station!!! That’s back home brother! Now I’m in Texas baby! Wanna set up something small and portable to make contacts all the way down there as well as all the east coast. 73 DE KD5ERP
Well I guess I'm not the only one who knows where to move when we want to be free lol! Texas Baby! These are great antennas for quick portable operations. You should do well with them. 73
Ned Davis WB4BKO . I have found the ham sticks work quite well with increased bandwidth using a shunt coil of about 20 turns one inch in diameter placed across the feed point. Wire diameter doesn't seem to have much effect. Changing the coil winding spacing has a greater effect on bandwidth. Also, I found marking the length of the whip by cutting a small notch in it at the set point and coloring the notch with a Sharpie keeps the mark there longer. I have found replacing the set screws with a wing screw, or a screw with a knob on one end, helps the adjustment process with out having to fiddle with an allen wrench and possibly losing it. I haven't been mobile in several years, but you restored my interest in doing so again. Have you given any thought to trying a Ham Stick, or one of Lakeview versions, on a tripod elevating the feed point to about 10 feet and adding radials in a ground plane configuration? Could prove interesting. 73 from Battle Creek, MI
Lots of people have talked about replacing the set screws. Mine started stripping before I even started making the video. I have used a ham stick more elevated. I got it tuned it perfectly. That was very early in my portable radio career though. To be fair, the radials I used in this video for the vertical configuration were not at all made for this antenna, but a totally different one. They were close enough and were laying around so I used them. Still got decent results. I'm glad to inspire you to get out and do portable again. Doesn't matter what antenna you use. Theres a great saying that I've heard. The best antenna in the world is the one you have with you. I fully believe in that. Dont get too hung up on SWR, compromised antennas an all the rubbish. Just get on the air. Thats all that really matters. You will make contacts, I promise you that.
Great demonstration! Have you ever used the Shark antennas? I am trying to decide on this for mobile application. Something for our Bolt EV. Maybe some POTA as well. Normally my POTA activations are out camping with my homebrew antenna, but something like the MFJ hamstick or Shark antenna would be fun for short trips, etc...I would be interested in hearing your opinion. Thanks.
I saw the spot on Wednesday but the band wasn't good enough to get you over here. I think I've worked someone at a park in TX on a Hamstick, certainly worked plenty of people using them elsewhere in POTA.
love the video. new viewer here. which radio are you using in this video? and when you were here in detroit, what parks did you find you had the best results for making contacts. 73
Welcome to the channel. The radio is a Yaesu FT-891. I didn't stray too far from home on many of my activations but I went to Dodge State Park #4 a lot. I don't think it really matters what park so long as you can find a nice operating location. One with enough room to spread out whatever your station may be. Also one that doesn't hinder anyone else's ability to go about their day without walking into an antenna ;) I did activate Belle Isle once. I didn't film it but it was cool. Just sitting in the car with the 891 and a Wolf River Coils mini on the trunk making contacts with a great view of the city. I wouldn't want to do it every day, but that was one of the more memorable ones for me.
You don't happen to know which model number that stick is would you? MJF say's they are 44" with a 36" whip, that one sure looks a LOT longer than that! I'm thinking I'm going with MJF as Shark full length's aren't available anywhere :( Fun video!
Curious as to why once you've tuned it you don't just unscrew the top section, invert it, & slide it down inside the coiled section for storage/transport? Much less risk of wearing the grub screws out or losing them &/or the allen key. Even if it's got a plastic "stab protector" on the top it I'd bin that for the convenience of storage.
Because that thought never occurred to me until now. Thats a great idea! I think there is a stab protector on it I would need to cut off. That's not a big deal though.
I have used these before. I still have a bunch But tuning is a PIA even with an antenna analyzer and band swaps means stopping and changing. I went to a yeasu atas and i am happy with it. Ham sticks are great for the price but if you go mobile alot I would see if you can go with an antenna than can step the coil.
Yep. What you say is true for sure. Not too much different with other kinds of verticals though. As much as I love the WRC antennas, like you say, if you want to tune a different band, you have to stop, get up, do the whole thing etc. I have a TarHeel too. Even that frustrates my need for immediate gratification. I'm very much a resonant antenna guy. I primarily us an EFHW or a DX Commander Expedition when portable. If I want to change bands its so great to just be able to do that. However, these are great performing antennas, and they are really inexpensive. Which is something that all hams like to see.
I was wondering what you were using for an antenna. I normally hear you in the noise level into ND. You had a great signal with that antenna. 73's KB0EQH
@@hamradiotube I use 9:1 unun. I band hop constantly. I have a 49:1 set up at home tuned to 80 meters. I have a horrible noise floor at my qth so I am mostly portable. Thanks for all the great videos.
The instructions say to not let the whip go into the coil(the tight coil). To trim it down. That's why you were getting funky readings. Do you read the instructions or do I have to subscribe to patreon to make that happen?
See, you're implying that I read the instructions lol! Who does that first?? I think you need to sub to Patreon to make that happen. I still need a lot of Elmering! Mayhap you can be my HamRadio Hero. :)
yet again you're the only guy in a sea of videos to actually *show* tuning the whip rather than just use words to describe the process. Kudos Mike
"Parking Garages On The Air".. ahh.. the good ol' days... :D Interesting that the excess wire was loading from inside the whip.
Decks on the air or DOTA has a nice ring to it
The good ole days
Tree houses on the air 😁
I have the same antenna, wound up cutting a few inches off the whip as well. I mounted my antenna on the bumper of my truck, that makes for a very good ground so the whole truck is a counterpoise. works great for me. great video.
I just returned from a three week trip with a 20 meter hamstick mounted to the bed of my F-250. I ran 10 watts using my TX-500. I made many contacts of more than 500 miles. My best was from central Iowa to central California. I had read that hamsticks are junk so I wasn’t expecting my setup to work at all seeing as I was running low power. After my first QSO of an hour from Idaho to Michigan I became a believer. I think that part of my success is that I mounted the antenna to a rail running across the top of the truck bed about a foot from the back. This put the entire radiator above any sheet metal except the truck cab. Anyway, it worked spectacularly
Oh dude, the car is a spectacular ground plane. I have done zero bonding or grounding. Just put the mount on the car and start calling CQ. Works like a charm. Of course they are a "compromise" but every antenna in the world is. If you are making contacts, it's working.
Bob’s your uncle! I was about to say, when the stinger is so low that it penetrates the loading coil, it acts as a ferrite core, which increases inductance and that explains why it’s lowering in frequency as it’s shortened. I learned the hard way, with a 40m hamstick, that the tip of those stingers inside the coil get EXTREMELY hot. Had a scar from that for a while lol.
Well, see, you are exponentially smarter than me, and I'm happy to admit that, and I'm happy to call you a friend. I'm just glad that I had the wherewithal to figure it out on my own, without calling a friend. Plus, I have a grinder and I love breaking that out to cut some Metal!
U used a grinder for good. Not evil 😂
Aloha Mike, I have been using the MFJ 347 Dual Dipole version for 10 meters which on sale at Gigaparts for $23.90, and works very well. Yes, I had to trim both of my wires for 10 meters but made regular contacts into South America, NZ, PI, Australia, Japan and Borneo. Great video!
Thats awesome! Especially for 10 meters.
Always happy to see affordable equipment that works! Thanks 👍
Right? It sure is rare in this hobby.
@@hamradiotube
Its the NUMBER 1 , reason why most new people dont get into the hobby. Things are way too expensive as companies are trying to make Billions overnight.
Then people wonder why they can barely get anyone to stick around the hobby. No one wants to be spending thousands of dollars like this.
Ive seen equipment such as a antenna tuner, a damn antenna tuner go for $450, just for a tuner for gods sakes. Tons and tons of people get put off by these ridicules prices.
Its no wonder why this hobby looks like a geriatric ward. Only retiree's with a bit of money to spend in their golden years are spending this type of cash.
Very rarely you see young people.
I for one am not spending $3k for a damn HF radio let alone $2k or $1k. Not happening. and I am not alone on this.
When Icom 705 goes for $499 then ill get it, or the 7300 goes for $599 then ill get it, til then, its staying in the store.
This is why I like videos like these. Its videos geared for real working people on a real work persons budget.
@@hamradiotube mot quite sure!; I turned on my little G90 after not using it for a while, went to 20m called CQ and got a station from Russia, the farthest I have got into Europe with 20w, 73 de WP3BM!
Kool video. Very interesting about trimming the whip. Well done.
Thanks.
Great video, I regularly use ham sticks from the seafront here in the UK and they work very well.
Very cool!
I have doubles in the 10, 20, 40 & 75m bands and I love them. They work great in the dipole mount and I’ve found when used as a ground mount vertical, for example how you showed with your Wolf River Coil radial as the spike, to lower that SWR get the feed point / base of the antenna just about 4”-6” off the ground. It looked like you had to too high. I’ve also found making sure the counter poise radials extending out to opposing sides and NOT near the coax helps as well. Very easy to drop that SWR down.
There's prob a couple reasons for the vertical not being as good. The first would be that I was using radials that I made for a different antenna lol. I just had them lying around. I really use them for my PackTenna 9:1 antenna. This was the first time I've used a ham stick in years. The last time I used one was very early in my portable ham radio adventures. The antenna was mounted about 5' off the ground and had horribly long radials, I had to use an external tuner to make it resonant. I used that antenna on my Michigan Summits On the Air video when I climbed up to the top of an abandoned parking garage and activated it lol! After that, I did cut them to length and it was very resonant.
@@hamradiotube Thanks for the reply, and no doubt...and that PackTenna is a beast. I use the hamsticks for quick deploy or when an end-fed isn't feasible / practical. I've had peers poo-poo them and I'm like hey, I'm making contacts on 20M in Italy w/50 watts...hush. LOL. 73
Just learned of the need to cut the stinger. I thought I read the paperwork which came with it but do not remember reading that. Thank you.
Nice work Mike! When I was living in Florida I lived in a very strict HOA controlled gated community. So, I had a garage attic mounted 37' OCFD up 10 ft. It was not very effective and I only made a few contacts. I then tried a mag mounted 40m MFJ Hamstick on my extended cargo van in the driveway. Wow...what a difference! The contacts started pouring in. That was my best antenna and the HOA never said a thing. They are well worth the $25-$30. But, as you found out, those Hamstick antennas are very fickle when it comes to setting the SWR...lol!
What a great testament! A lot of guys front on these antennas and I don't know why. They absolutely work. And they're so inexpensive!
Stick the 10m hamstick on top of the bottom half of the 40m one. It will improve performance and increase the bandwidth. Takes some fiddling and you can't drive with it like that, but if you ave both of them already it is worth a try.
I have doubles of these antennas to create a dipole using the MFJ adapter. I ended up having to shorten the "stingers" on several for the same reason you did. The instructions even state this might have to be done since you don't want the "stinger" end to be in the coil area (were it is the heaviest) of the antenna.
In my experience, the dipole configuration works really really well up at 25 feet, but poorly at 10 or so. In fact, your better with a vertical if you can't put the dipole up high.
A lot of people, including my dad, use them in that configuration. I've not done it myself but I hear they work great that way.
I have a set of MFJ hamsticks. I tried the 20 meter one and contacted a station in Texas from the Atlanta area. I tuned slightly down in frequency and had a station in British Columbia, so those things do work well.
Absolutely they do. It's amazing how much you can do with so little. Always appreciate you being here David. 73
I worked Bob Heil, K9EID, in IL from CA while mobile with an MFJ 75 meter hamstick and cheap Alinco HF rig about 8 years ago. He played our QSO on Ham Nation. He was demonstrating how you don't need a whole lot to get on the air. Great video! 73
Love it when you bring out the power tools
go big or go home.
i used to have one of these on a lay-over breedlove mount on my truck bed, i got contacts in New Jersy from North Carolina while driving down the highway.
I absolutely love this channel. Another great video Mike.73
Well thank you so much. I absolutely love you being here! 73
GREAT vid. I love that you're really going through the gamut of things people can use/do to get on the air with POTA. You know how they have the octopus thing? Seeing your ground-rod clamp vertical thing made me wonder if something could be rigged up as a fan vertical with my 20 and 40m hamsticks. Does that make sense? I might try to rig something up. My HOA would never see 'em.
Thanks Jarrett. Just trying to play my part. I've seen the octopus thing yes. I'd wonder how they'd react as a fan vertical. Never though of that. I'll expect a full report on your findings lol!
Jarrett. Get yourself an umbrella base and a telescopic painter’s pole. That’s what I used to tune mine before putting it on my mast.
So glad you made this video! Missed it some how. I'm going to try this, along with my WRC, on a POTA activation.
Have fun!
Mike: Dave, WB8LWS in Almont, MI here. I've been inactive for over 20 years but watching you with POTA is getting me excited again I had a hamstick, probably still do but I don't know where it is or what frequency it is for, but I had to cut the whip also to get a good resonance, I had a similar problem you did. I think the whip acts like the core of a coil and as you lower the whip it adds inductance and here we go whoop t doo! I think I worked you on 2 meters years ago, I was quite active on Clarkston and Rochester repeaters. 73!
Hi Dave, thanks for watching. Glad to hear you are getting excited about radio again! POTA in particular is my favorite thing about radio (next to my fascination with antennas). Get your stuff out of the closet and dust it off. The solar cycle is on the upswing and bands are only getting better. I've activated parks recently on 17 and 15 meters. Those bands have been dead forever! I was only licensed in 2016 so I'm not sure if we made contact but if I was on a repeater, it was probably the Clarkston. Thanks again for watching and I hope to catch you on the air!
I've used those at school and they work great. SWR was low in the phone band of 20 and 40 meters. Great video as usual!
Thanks for watching Bill.
I had to do the EXACT same thing with my MFJ 20M hamstick- cut off about 8 inches so it didn't couple with the inductive lower portion. I also made a WRC-style coil with 3/8x24 threads which goes at the bottom of the antenna and converts it to a 40M antenna.
That ham stick worked great and I can't believe how cheap they are too! Awesome review Mike!
They are great little antennas. I used a ham stick my very first portable activation.
If you want, you can also measure if you have two spots that are resonant for the band ( not like atmospheric conditions or locati0on variables with a magnet mount would EVER change for the day, right) A sharpie AND a tape measure are ghod tools
Yup, I had to do the same sort of trimming when trying to get the high end of 40 on one of these. If the stinger sticks down too far into where the coil is, it starts interacting strangely, almost like you are playing with a variable inductor. In my case it was about 4 inches removed in total before it would behave.
Rather it be too long than too short thats for sure. I don't mind trimming to make it resonant where I want it. I suppose they prob do that on purpose.
I tried this with my whip, and made the SWR worse! Glad it's working for you.
Really? Interesting. You do need to have a good counterpoise for it though otherwise it won't be good at all.
ps. there's a note in the instructions regarding the maximum you should
allow the whip to penetrate into the coil area, and that it could damage
the antenna at higher power if you don't observe that.
That would insinuate I actually read the instructions lol! I do remember hearing that somewhere though. Thanks for sharing. Dont want to break my antennas.
May also try to bend the top 2 to 4 enches horizontal (90%) to the whip.
We did this is the middle east a lot on the trucks. Never hurt, almost always lowered swr.
10:28 I’m going to have to file a hurt feelings report from Canada, eh! Hahahaha! Yeah, that was pretty cool. Peurto Rico on a ham stick! Hehe!
Loved your video. Just goes to show that a person really doesn’t need to get expensive or complicated to have fun in ham radio. Great job, and a great video. This is easy to watch material :-)
I have several of these in 40 meters and 1 in 20 meters. they work good but need a tuned counterpoise the right height from the ground to get a good match. Adjust the counterpoise for the lowest SWR after setting the whip length for resonance. The counterpoise works better at an angle down and not at 90 degrees. I use them portable.
Yeah that’s how I used them before was elevated. I didn’t make the ground mount to use with this antenna, I just had it lying around, and the counterpoise wires were for another antenna as well. Still worked.
Fantastic, I ordered this exact setup for my POTA setup. KI5TKD in Oklahoma, hopefully be hearing me activating soon.
awesome
I put those puppies in the middle of my car's metal roof with a mag-mount.
My biggest problem isn't a compromise antenna, it's all the QRM you get in
the middle of a city. Worked Slovenia two weeks ago from a nearby parking lot!
Yeah the QRM will get you for sure. I bet your Slovenia contact was either S51DX or S57DX? They've got an impressive station!
@@hamradiotube S57DX, yes. He was so loud, it sounded like he was sitting in the car with me!
Great Video Mike! I bought the MFJ hamsticks and I also couldn't get it to tune out of 13Mhz!! I thought it was defective so I just put it away. I'm now going to have to pull it out of the closet and try it again. Thanks for the instructive video!
Hey Ron, glad to hear I'm not the only one. I suppose it's good they send them long but good lord, they should tell you, you need to tune them. Granted, I didn't read the, what's it called, "instructions" or something? Hope you have success with them. Never let an antenna sit too long in the closet. There's a reason you got it lol!
I unscrew the whip addy and put the tip into the fiberglass and place that inside a piece of CPVC pipe in my trunk when not in use. The ball on the tip does not dig in and scratch up the fiberglass. 📻📡
Can you post link to the mirror mount please? I want to try this setup, to mount it to a vertical rebar pole. Thank you
Works great. Copper ground rod even better. Drive the rod 1 foot in the ground. Leave 6 -7 ft above ground. Attach mirror mount (Amazon) on top . Now the secret. Attach 4. 1/4 wave radials to rod using two hose clamps. Extend the radials out at about 60 degrees (45 is better) and terminate to insulators (.5" PVC tube sections 2" long) attached to paracord and held in ground with cheap tent stakes or landscape spikes (Home Depot). You will match at around 38 ohms with lower VSWR. You will still need to shorten your whip section a 1/4" at a time to tune. Feed with at least a half wave of coax. Make 6 turns of your coax around 2 litre plastic bottle or PVC form (ugly balun/rf choke) placed below feed point. You can make other radials cut to 1/4 wave length for the band your using and hamstick you select. I use 20,17,15, and 10. Thank me later. It works well. Still not a vertical half wave or 1/4 wave ground plane, but dang good. I live in an HOA and this is how I work the world
You can find those in most truck stops.
Now that you have the whip marked, put a piece of heat shrink with the internal adhesive at that mark to give you a positive stop at the resonant point.
I find a great way to experiment is use a laptop or smartphone to tune to a WEBSDR like utah or KFS etc and see what your signals look like far from your QTH. I found out a HamStick on the back of my van does 2 to 5 db better than the 19' tunable endfed on the back of the van. I use a 15 and 20m hamsticks on a plate in the back yard for worldwide WSPR coverage. Yep they get out and receive well.
I tried two 46"x84" aluminum window screens as a counterpoise for my MFJ-1879 17' telescoping vertical & it was like my 5w QRP signal had a 10dB amp on it. Now I am going to try it on my 40, 20, & 17m hamstick. I can't find a 30m version or I'd try that too! Cheers, Davey - KU9L
Hi Mike,
Awesome video. I have pairs of the MFJ Ham Sticks for 80, 40, and 20. Used a pair as vertical dipoles for 80 and 40 and worked well until the mast fell over. They will be my primary POTA antennas until I settle on another antenna. One big improvement I made was to ditch the setscrews and replace with stainless screws. Much easier to adjust with a screwdriver and you don't have to worry about rounding out the setscrew. Do have to admit it looks uglier with the screws. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Nice, my dad has a dipole thing for them too that he used for his RV. I should get better screws. The stock ones are junk. One of them is already stripping from when I was tuning it. Doesn't matter how it looks so long as it works.
Good video, Huntsvill State Park is a very nice little park, not far from you at all, and makes a food testing ground for antennas. I bet in no time time you will have the the most park activations. I am looking at the new Buddy Stick.
Thanks Mike. Yeah its about a 10 minute drive. I love living this close to the park. It's become my "office". I do have the most activations there by a wide margin now. I also have the most contacts too. I still have about 6 logs I need to upload too. A lot of people are really liking the Buddy Stick. I've only had a little bit of time to play with one so I don't have an opinion on it yet, but I haven't heard anything bad about it.
I appreciate the review on the Ham Stick. I have a Hustler mobile HF antenna that consists of a mast and I have a 20, 40 & 75 meter resonators. It’s not a bad little mobile antenna. I usually get out to stations with 100 watts about the same signal report that I give them. There have been a few times that I’ve tried contacting POTA stations that just didn’t seem to hear me. But what do you expect from an HF mobile that cost me $75 I think about 3 years ago that I found on FB Marketplace. It doesn’t reach perfect resonance in the bands they are designed for. That is a good idea to try trimming the extra whip that is inside the coil. I, like most people never thought that would matter. Thanks for giving me an idea! Love the videos; keep it up!
73,
Carl
KB9HPM
I’ve been able to work DX in Europe and have heard Spanish speaking stations fairly regularly on 20 meters. My 75 meter resonator needs a tuner to be able to get acceptable SWR. There might be an issue inside the coil causing this.
I have worked all over the US and Europe with my G90 and a 20m Shark “ham stick” on a magmount on my truck doing POTA. I’ve also just sat in my truck in my driveway and answered European stations calling CQ. They work great. Super easy to set up and cheap. I had to trim a little bit off as well. I get the entire 20m phone portion with mine.
Thats awesome. Thanks for sharing too. Theres a lot of haters of these antennas but they work great, cost little, and are super easy to deploy.
I had a 20 meter Shark antenna on a magmount and it turned out to be a piece of crap - in fact, it broke!. Going to switch to MFJ and see if it works any better.
I use hamsticks as well and so far they have worked great for me, also made a hamstick dipole.
You have done what I have been trying to figure out. The last step I need is to make the radials. Mind sharing how you did that? Thank you so much for all the awesome help! You rule, Mike. :)
I just crimped a wire into a ring terminal, put a power pole on the other end, then crimped 3 wires into a power pole. Done and done. I did this because I use these radials for a couple different antennas and why not put power poles on everything?
If you use a meter that shows the power level you will see that the power out increases as you get SWR closer to 1. The best antenna is one that is tuned to a very low SWR without the use of any tuner.
That's cool man, Puerto Rico ! I'll be looking into these ham sticks. Thanks for the video ✌🏻
I'm always amazed to get DX when I'm doing a POTA. Its rare but its getting bigger over seas so thats pretty sweet.
I had to take about 6" off my ham stick. The instructions that came with mine actually said to cut off any more than a couple of inches. Do they sell that little MFJ analyzer still?
They do! Just looked it up because it looks nice. Found it on DX Engineering
Good to know I’m not the only one. Weird how they can’t just make it the proper length to begin with. Looks like you can still get it per Jarretts comment. It’s the MFJ-223
@@JarrettGreen Thanks, I may pick one up to use when the Stick won't work for me
I used a ham stick attached to my truck with an ft 891 to make a contact with Hawaii from Louisiana.
If I am using 2 of these in a dipole configuration, can I tune one of them like you are doing and then match the 2nd one to the first one?
Thanks That issue has had me perplexed I bought several of those awhile back and that issue frustrated me to the point I just hung the antennas in the garage until I had more knowledge and experience. Thanks for the knowledge.
Jim KI7SSO
Hopefully you can dust them off, get them tuned up and get on the air now. 73
Thanks for the suggestion of just letting the whip down into the lower section for storage. I'll try that out. 73
Glad to help. Thanks for watching.
A few years ago, I used a Lakeview hamstick on the car, a Ford Tempo, with a TS-50 at 50w, no problem working contacts, perhaps I need to resurrect this same set up for POTA, seems to be working for guys/gals. I do use a double hamstick set up for 20m on top of a pole, made 25 contacts Sunday of 2016, best DX that day was France CQWW 73 al ve3gam
A ham stick was the very first antenna I ever used for portable. I've since become obsessed with antennas and mainly use an EFHW or a DX Commander Expedition, but for price and ease of setup they really can't be beat.
Great info. Actually helped me with my OPEK HVT-400B. It would have taken me ages to think that the steel inside is affecting the "coil".
FYI if you are cutting with your angle-grinder like that its VERY dangerous. Horrible accidents happen with these things. It should have come with an extra grip and a "guard" - and get yourself some kind of clamp for your small workpieces. I've seen an accident with these not long ago myself; its no joke. If that guy would have worked alone with no-one around... he would not have been able to stop the bleeding. Be safe please! (Not trying to be overly cautious guy.)
Olli - Thank you for pointing this out to the folks on the post. A few minutes of insuring practicing proper safety & preparation goes a long to way to insure against permanent injuries.
Awesome, glad it helped you out! Yes, my angle grinder did come with all the fancy safety things like you mention. I took them off immediately. I have seen accidents for sure, but in my previous line of work, they tend to get in the way. At least I was wearing safety glasses though. I do appreciate your concern. Thank you, and thanks for watching. 73
No one ever accused me of being the safest person on TH-cam, but yes, you are correct.
Great video. I have the 20 meter dipole configuration. Heard a lot of negatives about these but decided to try it out anyway. With my LDG Z 100 tuner I can work on 40, 20, and 17. I’m on the coast of Georgia and have worked Nearly all states including Alaska. Canada, South America, The Caribbean, and many countries across the pond including Russia and Slovenia. I love simple low cost stuff that works. Thanks for the video. Hopefully catch you in a park sometime, KO4DNI
Thanks Lee. I've found that there are a lot of negatives that people will tell you about any antenna. Everyones an expert right? Sure these are compromised antennas, but honestly most are. That's sweet you're getting DX with them too! You can't beet an affordable antenna the just works.
Great video! Thanks Mike.
Good antennas. I am thinking of using these for my (procrastinated) tesla build
Well get on it!!
I think the upper element is a steel alloy. Moving it into the loading coil increases the inductance resulting in lower resonant frequency. As you found, one has to cut the upper element to raise the frequency. Thanks for sharing this video
Upper element is S/S PH 17-7
I store mine like a musket ramrod in a barrel. Unscrew the whip and turn it around and shove it in the fiberglass tube but great video I learn a lot from you
Hmm, thats a good way of thinking of it. And you don't need to worry about losing the Allen key either. Good idea, thanks for the tip.
I use a Hamstick Dipole with great results. I removed some of the insulation from the top of the coil and soldered 3-4 coils together that way I could use all the tuning whip instead of cutting it.
Thanks for sharing
Great video Mike - as always. Which MFJ mirror mount did you use for the ground mounted version, and can you share any detail on how you designed the brilliant Powerpole counterpoise? This will be going down the river with me on my October kayak portable.
Thanks. Its this one: mfjenterprises.com/collections/mfj/products/mfj-342t?_pos=4&_sid=e386af5f4&_ss=r As far as the power poles, I made a small lead with a ring terminal on one side and a power pole on the other. For the counterpoise I put 3 lengths of 26awg poly stealth wire, www.amateurradiosupplies.com/category-s/218.htm into another power pole so I can quickly disconnect it. I did not make the counterpose wire for this antenna mind you. I just had them from another project and they were close enough to use with this one. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. 73
you get what is called mutual coupling with the coiled wire.
have had to that with one of mine those ham sticks are great antenna's
Yes, thats what its called. I knew there was a term for it.
The MFJ 1620T 20M HF Stick rocks! 2 weeks ago I got British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California & Arizona all the way from K-1732 in Delaware. All copyable. And Spain to the east!
I have the 40M stick too. Looking to get some more bands.
Thats awesome! Another testament to how great these cheap antennas are. They get a lot of hate but I've made plenty of contacts with them.
@@hamradiotube I’ve heard a lot of good about them and have had some great success with them so far. So great that I went out last weekend and got a MFJ 10m & 17m HF Sticks. I still need to tune them and get them ready for use.
@@K3JRZOnTheAir Heck yeah! Buy all the antennas!!
In the manual of this antennas is written: Don't put the whip into the coil, cut it.
It helps to read the manual, right?
Manuals are for communists 😂
I wonder if a capicitity hat might bring the SWR down even more. I saw a video on the Elecraft AX-1 that brought it way down. It was made with an alligator clip and four even 11 cm wires
In the original ham stick manual it say to NOT slide the whip down too far because I can cut the wire inside and avoid warrentee.. so taking it apart is a better option..
I like to live dangerously.
I hear a lot of my contacts when I activate that’s awesome !
Thanks for the videos. I'm learning more everyday
Glad to hear it!
MFJ Ham Stick's kick butt i have the 10, 15, 20 and 40 and they work.. i had to cut a lot off mine too.
Heck yeah they do. Simple, light weight, inexpensive, portable, the list goes on and on.
Great video on the Hamstick. I went to my local ham store a couple weeks ago and they talked me out of it, then tried to up-sell me. I just placed my order for one and a lip mount. Great tip on tuning. Thanks for the video Mike!
Wow, imagine that, trying to up sell you. These antennas work great, especially for the price, size and portability. There's really nothing else that works so well that is so small.
@@hamradiotube I can't wait to receive it. Hope all is well buddy.
@@hamradiotube for a mobile mount, do you recommend the spring at the base of the antenna?
@@Blue-Collar-Radio You should do just fine. Just remember to #hamharder
@@Blue-Collar-Radio I've not used a spring so I cant say.
Hey Mike, a little late watching this video, but have heard a lot of good things about Hamsticks,, and they sound great from those that are using them, so I went ahead and ordered a couple of them today. What make and model of mount are you using on your car? Also, do you drive with the Hamstick attached? Wondering how they hold up back there?!? Thanks! Mark - W7MMG
Hi Mark. The mount is a Diamond K-400. I don't actually drive with the ham sticks on the mount, but I absolutely could. I have a Little TarHeel II antenna the takes permanent residence on the mount. I will tell you that it can withstand 100MPH winds :)
Just started using hamsticks the other day. Surprisingly easy to tune. I have mine connected to a mag mount and on a pizza tin for a counterpoise/ground and it actually works well. Got the SWR down to the 1.3 to 1.4 range and beaconed out pretty far with FT8. One thing you can do once you have your length dialed in that's easier than a sharpie, the metal part at the top of the black base (that the antenna wire goes into) actually unscrews from the base. I unscrew mine and feed the antenna upside down into the black part. Fits nicely and some blue tape will hold it in place (if you don't just put it back in the bag). To deploy, just pull the wire out and screw it in, and it will be at the desired length by default.
I run 20 & 40 minis on my truck (so I don't damage anything in drive throughs), I also have the full size and they work great too.
Thanks for sharing
I used a HamStick dipole setup with my Ft-891 while camping at Lake Livingston State Park. Still learning how to do POTA so I didn't activate. Great antennas for how cheap they are.
That should work well for you. My dad did the same thing with his RV. POTA is easy. Just get on the air and start calling CQ POTA. I have a video on how to get started too: th-cam.com/video/oQr5NoNY6Pc/w-d-xo.html
@@hamradiotube it worked way better than I imagined. I'll go check out the video!
Thanks Mike, been fighting with these MFJ Ham Sticks for a year, trying to get them resonant on a dipole...where are my tin snips 😂😂😂😂
That happened to me. When I snipped them, then the 20m and 40m was able to tune better. Just do little at a time.
Glad to help.
Great job Mike!! You're talking TH-cam by the Horns 👍
Thanks. I’m trying.
Hi Mike, bit late to the party with this question ! How would you say the MFJ single band hamsticks compare to something like a Wolf River Coil mounted on a Magmount on the roof of a car ? With the WRC, you wouldn't need a separate hamstick for each band you wish to operate on. Thanks 73
Performance wise they are going to be very comparable. The benefit of a WRC is the multi banded capability. Both work great, honestly.
I wonder if two of these would make a great dipole with the double screw-in mount and elevated to a safe level for stability, it would make a great 10M inverted-V also. Thanks for the video! 72 es 73, Davey- KU9L
I've not used ham sticks in a dipole configuration myself, but that is a very common thing that people do.
Frequency going down as you shorten the whip? I have had that happen when I have tried to increase the frequency folding back a wire antenna. Had to actually cut wire. You are probably experiencing the same when the whip is pushed into the body.
I love my Shark ham sticks. I do POTA all the time with them on the top of my truck. 73s
I have both the MFJ and SHARK ham sticks. I started with the MFJ and they have worked great for over two years. I recently got the SHARK version and I do think they are better made and tuned easier but I would recommend either brand.
right on. They work great.
good to know about the Shark. Thanks for sharing. 73
I use a 40m hamstick dipole on my g90, I had to cut maybe 12" off of each wire whip to get the antenna resonant @ the middle of the phone portion of 40m
I have a question. Do the ham sticks when you lay them out horizontally do they have to be rotated for a better signal?
You car people are funny. Love the use of the table. Us pedestrian only hams don't have that luxury. I am glad you were able to make contacts. Too bad New York's Central park does not allow for wire on the trees or anything to be put into the ground. Can't use "just some Parks on the Air" as they don't recognize the 5 large New York City Parks that go from 700-2000 acres. Continue the good work my friend and hope to work you some day. Is there a way that you can let people know when you will be on HF so some of us can try to have a QSO with you? 73 from N2LRB.
Lol, you car people haha! Looks like you should get a Wolf River Coils. That would solve all of your problems, other than Central Park not being a POTA. You could submit to the POTA admins to add the park to the program. That would be pretty sweet. I will sometimes post on twitter (@k8mrd) when I'm on the air, but the best way would be to keep an eye on the POTA spotting page.
@@hamradiotube I asked the POTA people about Central Park and other New York City Parks and they were not very nice in their replies via e-mail or on Facebook. They also said they have enough to do without having to add the work that New York City Parks would add to their workload. Oh well. By the way I do own and have used Wolf River Coils in Central Park. Very nice antenna. Thanks. Great communicating with you. Hope to work you someday. It would be a real honor.
Awesome video! Super excited to hear the Puerto Rico station!!! That’s back home brother! Now I’m in Texas baby! Wanna set up something small and portable to make contacts all the way down there as well as all the east coast. 73 DE KD5ERP
Well I guess I'm not the only one who knows where to move when we want to be free lol! Texas Baby! These are great antennas for quick portable operations. You should do well with them. 73
A happy weekend to all resonanters and non-resonanters on HAM Radio Planet. Thx for another great vdieo, Mikey. 73's de YourFriend Uncle Guenter
Many thanks!
Ned Davis WB4BKO . I have found the ham sticks work quite well with increased bandwidth using a shunt coil of about 20 turns one inch in diameter placed across the feed point. Wire diameter doesn't seem to have much effect. Changing the coil winding spacing has a greater effect on bandwidth. Also, I found marking the length of the whip by cutting a small notch in it at the set point and coloring the notch with a Sharpie keeps the mark there longer. I have found replacing the set screws with a wing screw, or a screw with a knob on one end, helps the adjustment process with out having to fiddle with an allen wrench and possibly losing it. I haven't been mobile in several years, but you restored my interest in doing so again. Have you given any thought to trying a Ham Stick, or one of Lakeview versions, on a tripod elevating the feed point to about 10 feet and adding radials in a ground plane configuration? Could prove interesting. 73 from Battle Creek, MI
Lots of people have talked about replacing the set screws. Mine started stripping before I even started making the video. I have used a ham stick more elevated. I got it tuned it perfectly. That was very early in my portable radio career though. To be fair, the radials I used in this video for the vertical configuration were not at all made for this antenna, but a totally different one. They were close enough and were laying around so I used them. Still got decent results. I'm glad to inspire you to get out and do portable again. Doesn't matter what antenna you use. Theres a great saying that I've heard. The best antenna in the world is the one you have with you. I fully believe in that. Dont get too hung up on SWR, compromised antennas an all the rubbish. Just get on the air. Thats all that really matters. You will make contacts, I promise you that.
another great video.. I have a couple of the shark brand ones, I need to give them more love.
Buy all the antennas!
It's like a 1-take narration but the scene keeps changing! Thanks for the low-down on this hamstick.
Just a little hollywood magic is all :)
Great demonstration! Have you ever used the Shark antennas? I am trying to decide on this for mobile application. Something for our Bolt EV. Maybe some POTA as well. Normally my POTA activations are out camping with my homebrew antenna, but something like the MFJ hamstick or Shark antenna would be fun for short trips, etc...I would be interested in hearing your opinion. Thanks.
QUESTION for my sensei: Re: ground mounted - is the stake (the Wolf River leg) for support only, or is it needed as a "ground rod"?
Thank you!
just support
@@hamradiotube Thank you!
I saw the spot on Wednesday but the band wasn't good enough to get you over here. I think I've worked someone at a park in TX on a Hamstick, certainly worked plenty of people using them elsewhere in POTA.
A little late responding here lol! The bands have since improved as you know haha!
love the video. new viewer here. which radio are you using in this video? and when you were here in detroit, what parks did you find you had the best results for making contacts. 73
Welcome to the channel. The radio is a Yaesu FT-891. I didn't stray too far from home on many of my activations but I went to Dodge State Park #4 a lot. I don't think it really matters what park so long as you can find a nice operating location. One with enough room to spread out whatever your station may be. Also one that doesn't hinder anyone else's ability to go about their day without walking into an antenna ;) I did activate Belle Isle once. I didn't film it but it was cool. Just sitting in the car with the 891 and a Wolf River Coils mini on the trunk making contacts with a great view of the city. I wouldn't want to do it every day, but that was one of the more memorable ones for me.
Holy Crap wasn't expecting to see my name come up on the channel lol-kc2bkm
You don't happen to know which model number that stick is would you? MJF say's they are 44" with a 36" whip, that one sure looks a LOT longer than that!
I'm thinking I'm going with MJF as Shark full length's aren't available anywhere :(
Fun video!
Curious as to why once you've tuned it you don't just unscrew the top section, invert it, & slide it down inside the coiled section for storage/transport?
Much less risk of wearing the grub screws out or losing them &/or the allen key. Even if it's got a plastic "stab protector" on the top it I'd bin that for the convenience of storage.
Because that thought never occurred to me until now. Thats a great idea! I think there is a stab protector on it I would need to cut off. That's not a big deal though.
Great video Mike. Would you rather the mfg or sharkStick?? Thanks again
I've not used a shark stick myself but I've heard nothing but good things about them.
I have used these before. I still have a bunch
But tuning is a PIA even with an antenna analyzer and band swaps means stopping and changing. I went to a yeasu atas and i am happy with it. Ham sticks are great for the price but if you go mobile alot I would see if you can go with an antenna than can step the coil.
Yep. What you say is true for sure. Not too much different with other kinds of verticals though. As much as I love the WRC antennas, like you say, if you want to tune a different band, you have to stop, get up, do the whole thing etc. I have a TarHeel too. Even that frustrates my need for immediate gratification. I'm very much a resonant antenna guy. I primarily us an EFHW or a DX Commander Expedition when portable. If I want to change bands its so great to just be able to do that. However, these are great performing antennas, and they are really inexpensive. Which is something that all hams like to see.
I was wondering what you were using for an antenna. I normally hear you in the noise level into ND. You had a great signal with that antenna.
73's KB0EQH
I usually am using some kind of 49:1 EFHW when I'm out. Or the DX Commander Expedition
@@hamradiotube
I use 9:1 unun. I band hop constantly. I have a 49:1 set up at home tuned to 80 meters. I have a horrible noise floor at my qth so I am mostly portable. Thanks for all the great videos.
What is the mount you are using on your car for the ham stick thanks 73s
The instructions say to not let the whip go into the coil(the tight coil). To trim it down. That's why you were getting funky readings. Do you read the instructions or do I have to subscribe to patreon to make that happen?
See, you're implying that I read the instructions lol! Who does that first?? I think you need to sub to Patreon to make that happen. I still need a lot of Elmering! Mayhap you can be my HamRadio Hero. :)