Wouldn't it be INTERESTING to see all of these antennas cut in half? Every time I hear this explanation, in my head I hear a voice in an Australian accent saying: "Don't turn it on....Take it apaaaart!" 73 DE W8LV BILL
I’ve seen a few comparison videos that seem to show amazing RX performance, how is the TX performance? I’m new to Ham… probably be taking the Technician&General class exams in two weeks. I picked up an AnyTone 878UVII+ a few days ago and am looking at a few DMR mobile radios that might pair well with this.
I can attest to the claim of the Compactenna, regarding a longer antenna having more dramatic dropouts in a mobile application than the Compactenna. My friend and I conducted tests on 2 meters using a 5/8 wave antenna versus the Compactenna dual bander and 25 watts. I live 12 miles south of Ithaca, NY on a hill top at 1700' of elevation looking down at Ithaca that has a descending elevation from 1200 to 835 feet of elevation. The test was he would descend down into Ithaca while transmitting on 2 meters with the 5/8 wave for the first run, then return to the starting point east of Ithaca and return downtown again transmitting on the Compactenna. Amazingly with both antennas, the peak signal levels were equally consistent but the difference was actually, the picket fencing/dropouts with the Compactenna were gone compared to the 5/8 wave antenna that had faster picket fencing and actual dropouts while following the same path through town. The Compactenna had a smoother signal level and the propagation was consistent, almost like an AGC was kicking in. Whoa, I said to myself, the Compactenna really does work.
I have the COMPACtenna 2M/440 PLUS from HRO. For its size, its awesome and works well. That being said, the "5 dB-MEG" figure he states does not beat the gain of my Pulse Larsen NMO2\70. It simply won hit my VHF repeaters as far away as the NMO2\70 (VHF 3.8 dBi, UHF 5.2 dBi gain)
Correct. Dr Jack says in person and in his speeches, the COMPACTenna will not outperform larger antennas. It's not designed to do that. It's designed to be small, efficient, and reduce "picket-fencing" while driving.
It's sounds great in theory, I just need to see an independent test on video. If it does what it says, it would be revolutionary and turn the antenna industry upside down.🙃
I had one of these cans on my car. two ways, magnet mount and using an NMO though the roof of my car (2018 honda crv)..I returned it the day after. It may be ok for receive but my SWR was all over the place. I tried the magnet mount on every corner of my car, center, trunk, engine cover... and it was awful. I'd like to see a video showing me otherwise and if I did something wrong. As soon as I placed my whip back I had zero issues. I'd love to have a stub antenna as I tend to bang on things like the drive through or branches. It's just my experience, it may not be the case for anyone else.
@@thebugg333 Sounds like there was a manufacturing problem with the antenna, if the SWR was out of whack. It happens, occasionally. Maybe a replacement would have worked better.
@@HamRadioOutlet Julian is correct. That said, each antenna is quality tuned and tested and ~99% of the time a problem occurs, it is in a magnet mount, a connection/connector, or adapter. Many customers can attest to this after reaching out to me where I then spent much time patiently working with them to help them problem solve their equipment, installation. With good mounts/equipment and the COMPACtenna mounted at an upper corner, where there are no substantial parasitic structures nearby (other antennas, high racks, etc.), virtually everyone is highly pleased.
To quell the negativity and build interest, if HRO feels this is a product worth promoting which I assume that they would sell, then maybe HRO should circulate some evaluation units to some of the well known ham radio youtubers for a non-biased review. That seems the logical approach to me.
Or maybe some of the well known TH-camrs should contact COMPACTenna to get evaluation units? All the people speaking negatively about this antenna have not tried it. There are two people in the comments here (so far) who have tried it and both say it works great for them.
I tend to disagree. I don’t think it would be the TH-camrs responsibility or even interest to reach out to the mfg or distributor to request a demo unit. Especially on new tech that as some are considering “snake oil”. To say their are people in the comments that say it works just doesn’t hold as much weight. Me as a consumer would not buy into that as it’s easy to fake reviews/comments nowadays. Watching a TH-cam video from a trusted source hold a lot more clout. As a consumer I as others turn to TH-cam to see real world test before investing in a product. Reviews, not sales pitches. If these are as versatile as they claim then there shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve seen plenty of other manufacturers and distributors send out review units. Some for the reviewer to keep and others with the terms of returning or sending on to the next reviewer. It is smart marketing and all comes down to a low ROI. Either for the Mfg or the distributor. If HRO has exclusivity for a while then it makes sense in your case. Look my comment was not meant to be snarky but rather neutral and suggest a way to boost sales and consumer confidence.
@@misteraon All good points... especially your last. I have not once defended the product as I have never tried it - though I know some who have and it's still on their personal vehicles even though they have plenty of other options available to them. There have been several comments from people who say it doesn't do what it claims to do. In some instances, the people making those comments did not accurately remember what was said in the video and they attributed their own words to those of Dr Nilsson. One thing all of the people speaking negatively about the COMPACTenna have in common, so far, is none of them have tried the COMPACTenna. Regarding trusted TH-camr reviews: The reviews I personally trust, are the ones which begin "I bought this product with my own money."
Nothing more than some aluminum foil sandwiched between layers of non-conductive plastic sheets and shoved in a tube with a matching network...caveat emptor.
@@HamRadioOutlet I have one too…and when compared to industry standards-based antennas, it falls quite short. People can spend their money on whatever they want, but that doesn’t make it good.
@@SIGINT007 The question is, does it do what he claims it does vs what people think it should do? His claims are it's a compromise antenna that allows you to keep it attached to your vehicle while entering your garage and parking structures. As Jack Nilson clearly says in the video, it will not work as well as a full-sized antenna. He says it does not suffer from the same multi-path issues that other antennas suffer from, a comment I have heard backed up many times from people who use this antenna. If you're expecting it to pull in signals from distant repeaters better than your full-sized antenna, that's not what this antenna is for. If you're looking for an antenna you can keep on your vehicle while pulling into the garage and an antenna that works well enough for you to contact the local repeaters in your area, this is a good choice. (This comment is pretty much a copy of a reply I gave to Zer01, below). The answer to the above, from most people who have one and use one, is "Yes". The next question logically becomes, "Do the antenna's benefits outweigh it's compromises for my installation?" If the answer to that question is "Yes", then it might be a good choice for you. If the answer is "No", then buy another product that better suits your requirements.
"constructed of ‘extended flat monofilar spiral Tesla-like coils’ + geometric components" From Jack's website. Plus "magnetic field resonator" Fancy way of saying flat coiled wire?
@@K4AX Have you tried the COMPACTenna? Does it do any of what he says in the video it does? The claims he makes in the video are: that it's "A reasonable or good antenna that is short"; that when you shorten the length of an antenna the efficiency and bandwidth decrease; when you put the matching system into the construct of the antenna itself, it resonates; when you make an antenna this way you get "Much better than expected performance, particularly when you are non-line-of-sight"; this antenna deals with multi-path better than a regular antenna; a long antenna "will have a slight edge when you're on top of a mountain with purely line of sight" but the COMPACTenna will beat it in every other circumstance; this antenna decreases flutter on multipath signals; use the larger antennas with a groundplane for base stations. For HF, he says a full sized antenna will beat his COMPACTenna; "It's crazy incredible how well it works for 20-inches"; you should use foil as a good groundplane for his antenna.
2:50 "much better than expected performance" crap cut in half is still crap. I love going to my local HRO and the people there so my negative statement is toward COMPACTenna. Thanks for the video since I don't see much on it. I already commented on my personal experience with it so I wont do it again. This guy is talking in technical buzzwords...that should be a red flag given many of our HAM's understand technical concepts.
Most people who have a COMPACTenna understand that it is a compromise antenna that, as Jack Nilson clearly says in the video, will not work as well as a full-sized antenna. He says it does not suffer from the same multi-path issues that other antennas suffer from, a comment I have heard backed up many times from people who use this antenna. If you're expecting it to pull in signals from distant repeaters better than your full-sized antenna, that's not what this antenna is for. If you're looking for an antenna you can keep on your vehicle while pulling into the garage and an antenna that works well enough for you to contact the local repeaters in your area, this is a good choice.
This is nothing at all that's totally unuseful unless you use it for gmrs and murs which this antenna was never designed for anyways and I doubt that this person could ever design such a thing for those bands like another guy kb9vbr he designs all sorts of antennas for many different bands using copper jpole technology when are the leading antenna makers anyways because he even makes them for broadcast all the way to the TV and the other bands and it's a lot less expensive compared to this one which costs an arm and a leg Jpole is the best
The people who have them and install them as the directions describe, love them. They are not designed to be DX antennas. They are designed to be small and allow even tall vehicles to fit in a garage without having to remove the antenna. they're designed to reduce FM picket-fencing, and according to all reports from people who actually use them, they do that extremely well. As for this guy not being able to design anything that's multi-band, think again. He has several patents for antenna design and sells multi-band antennas. Why not try one and report back?
I wonder if you have ever used one of his antennas? Did you hear what he said at 1:09? Have you read other people's reports about the antenna, people who have tested the antenna? I haven't used his antennas, but I've heard good reports from people who have (see BillyLapTop's comment as an example).
@@KB4QAA What outrageous claims did he make in this video? He said it's a compromise antenna, it shorter than other antennas (and that's its main selling point), that with the HF antennas you can make contacts to south America, that you should use sheeting as a ground-plane, and if you have a full size Yagi the Yagi is going to work better. Further, there are people who use his antennas who said they work well (within the limitations already mentioned), especially considering their size.
Does it work? See Ham Radio Crash Course's testing at th-cam.com/video/AcS-XBjDrTM/w-d-xo.html The results are at 9:14 in his video.
Does it have a flux capacitor and a European business adapter??
Dr Jack is awesome, pleasure to have meet him and known him for 25 years.
The passion, the way he knows to talk science yet translate to laymen terms to capture all types of audiences. Awesome.
"science"
Thank you, Pedro. Have a great day.
Jack Nilsson is a Genius who knows how it goes. Thx for this Video, Sensei Julian...💯👍🙋♂
Anyone have one of these antennas and field tested??
Jack is break dancing while everyone else is doing the waltz. Very cool stuff.
Thank you for pronouncing Xenia correctly.
Wouldn't it be INTERESTING to see all of these antennas cut in half? Every time I hear this explanation, in my head I hear a voice in an Australian accent saying: "Don't turn it on....Take it apaaaart!" 73 DE W8LV BILL
There is a thread on QRZ with this thing completely taken apart, it's pretty bad.
I have had one for about 8 months. Works great in Houston Area.
I’ve seen a few comparison videos that seem to show amazing RX performance, how is the TX performance? I’m new to Ham… probably be taking the Technician&General class exams in two weeks. I picked up an AnyTone 878UVII+ a few days ago and am looking at a few DMR mobile radios that might pair well with this.
I can attest to the claim of the Compactenna, regarding a longer antenna having more dramatic dropouts in a mobile application than the Compactenna.
My friend and I conducted tests on 2 meters using a 5/8 wave antenna versus the Compactenna dual bander and 25 watts. I live 12 miles south of Ithaca, NY on a hill top at 1700' of elevation looking down at Ithaca that has a descending elevation from 1200 to 835 feet of elevation. The test was he would descend down into Ithaca while transmitting on 2 meters with the 5/8 wave for the first run, then return to the starting point east of Ithaca and return downtown again transmitting on the Compactenna.
Amazingly with both antennas, the peak signal levels were equally consistent but the difference was actually, the picket fencing/dropouts with the Compactenna were gone compared to the 5/8 wave antenna that had faster picket fencing and actual dropouts while following the same path through town. The Compactenna had a smoother signal level and the propagation was consistent, almost like an AGC was kicking in.
Whoa, I said to myself, the Compactenna really does work.
I have the COMPACtenna 2M/440 PLUS from HRO. For its size, its awesome and works well. That being said, the "5 dB-MEG" figure he states does not beat the gain of my Pulse Larsen NMO2\70. It simply won hit my VHF repeaters as far away as the NMO2\70 (VHF 3.8 dBi, UHF 5.2 dBi gain)
Correct. Dr Jack says in person and in his speeches, the COMPACTenna will not outperform larger antennas. It's not designed to do that. It's designed to be small, efficient, and reduce "picket-fencing" while driving.
It's sounds great in theory, I just need to see an independent test on video. If it does what it says, it would be revolutionary and turn the antenna industry upside down.🙃
Who knows, maybe someone will do it!
I had one of these cans on my car. two ways, magnet mount and using an NMO though the roof of my car (2018 honda crv)..I returned it the day after. It may be ok for receive but my SWR was all over the place. I tried the magnet mount on every corner of my car, center, trunk, engine cover... and it was awful. I'd like to see a video showing me otherwise and if I did something wrong. As soon as I placed my whip back I had zero issues. I'd love to have a stub antenna as I tend to bang on things like the drive through or branches. It's just my experience, it may not be the case for anyone else.
@@thebugg333 Sounds like there was a manufacturing problem with the antenna, if the SWR was out of whack. It happens, occasionally. Maybe a replacement would have worked better.
@@HamRadioOutlet Julian is correct.
That said, each antenna is quality tuned and tested and ~99% of the time a problem occurs, it is in a magnet mount, a connection/connector, or adapter. Many customers can attest to this after reaching out to me where I then spent much time patiently working with them to help them problem solve their equipment, installation.
With good mounts/equipment and the COMPACtenna mounted at an upper corner, where there are no substantial parasitic structures nearby (other antennas, high racks, etc.), virtually everyone is highly pleased.
He sounds like the guy in the turbo encabulator video.
So many red flags.
Real world tests? Don't be blinded by the science
See BillyLapTops' comment for a real world test.
To quell the negativity and build interest, if HRO feels this is a product worth promoting which I assume that they would sell, then maybe HRO should circulate some evaluation units to some of the well known ham radio youtubers for a non-biased review. That seems the logical approach to me.
Or maybe some of the well known TH-camrs should contact COMPACTenna to get evaluation units?
All the people speaking negatively about this antenna have not tried it. There are two people in the comments here (so far) who have tried it and both say it works great for them.
I tend to disagree. I don’t think it would be the TH-camrs responsibility or even interest to reach out to the mfg or distributor to request a demo unit. Especially on new tech that as some are considering “snake oil”.
To say their are people in the comments that say it works just doesn’t hold as much weight. Me as a consumer would not buy into that as it’s easy to fake reviews/comments nowadays. Watching a TH-cam video from a trusted source hold a lot more clout. As a consumer I as others turn to TH-cam to see real world test before investing in a product. Reviews, not sales pitches.
If these are as versatile as they claim then there shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve seen plenty of other manufacturers and distributors send out review units. Some for the reviewer to keep and others with the terms of returning or sending on to the next reviewer.
It is smart marketing and all comes down to a low ROI. Either for the Mfg or the distributor. If HRO has exclusivity for a while then it makes sense in your case.
Look my comment was not meant to be snarky but rather neutral and suggest a way to boost sales and consumer confidence.
@@misteraon All good points... especially your last. I have not once defended the product as I have never tried it - though I know some who have and it's still on their personal vehicles even though they have plenty of other options available to them. There have been several comments from people who say it doesn't do what it claims to do. In some instances, the people making those comments did not accurately remember what was said in the video and they attributed their own words to those of Dr Nilsson. One thing all of the people speaking negatively about the COMPACTenna have in common, so far, is none of them have tried the COMPACTenna. Regarding trusted TH-camr reviews: The reviews I personally trust, are the ones which begin "I bought this product with my own money."
Nothing more than some aluminum foil sandwiched between layers of non-conductive plastic sheets and shoved in a tube with a matching network...caveat emptor.
And yet, those who actually use them, seem to love them.
@@HamRadioOutlet I have one too…and when compared to industry standards-based antennas, it falls quite short.
People can spend their money on whatever they want, but that doesn’t make it good.
@@SIGINT007 The question is, does it do what he claims it does vs what people think it should do? His claims are it's a compromise antenna that allows you to keep it attached to your vehicle while entering your garage and parking structures. As Jack Nilson clearly says in the video, it will not work as well as a full-sized antenna. He says it does not suffer from the same multi-path issues that other antennas suffer from, a comment I have heard backed up many times from people who use this antenna. If you're expecting it to pull in signals from distant repeaters better than your full-sized antenna, that's not what this antenna is for. If you're looking for an antenna you can keep on your vehicle while pulling into the garage and an antenna that works well enough for you to contact the local repeaters in your area, this is a good choice. (This comment is pretty much a copy of a reply I gave to Zer01, below). The answer to the above, from most people who have one and use one, is "Yes". The next question logically becomes, "Do the antenna's benefits outweigh it's compromises for my installation?" If the answer to that question is "Yes", then it might be a good choice for you. If the answer is "No", then buy another product that better suits your requirements.
Does it come with a free bottle of snake oil?
"constructed of ‘extended flat monofilar spiral Tesla-like coils’ + geometric components" From Jack's website.
Plus "magnetic field resonator"
Fancy way of saying flat coiled wire?
He tells you that it's made using "foil, not wire".
@@HamRadioOutlet you're right, and that changes everything 👍
@@K4AX Have you tried the COMPACTenna? Does it do any of what he says in the video it does? The claims he makes in the video are: that it's "A reasonable or good antenna that is short"; that when you shorten the length of an antenna the efficiency and bandwidth decrease; when you put the matching system into the construct of the antenna itself, it resonates; when you make an antenna this way you get "Much better than expected performance, particularly when you are non-line-of-sight"; this antenna deals with multi-path better than a regular antenna; a long antenna "will have a slight edge when you're on top of a mountain with purely line of sight" but the COMPACTenna will beat it in every other circumstance; this antenna decreases flutter on multipath signals; use the larger antennas with a groundplane for base stations. For HF, he says a full sized antenna will beat his COMPACTenna; "It's crazy incredible how well it works for 20-inches"; you should use foil as a good groundplane for his antenna.
layers of aluminum foil shoved in a tube :)
@@SIGINT007 Does it do what he claims it does?
2:50 "much better than expected performance" crap cut in half is still crap. I love going to my local HRO and the people there so my negative statement is toward COMPACTenna. Thanks for the video since I don't see much on it. I already commented on my personal experience with it so I wont do it again. This guy is talking in technical buzzwords...that should be a red flag given many of our HAM's understand technical concepts.
Most people who have a COMPACTenna understand that it is a compromise antenna that, as Jack Nilson clearly says in the video, will not work as well as a full-sized antenna. He says it does not suffer from the same multi-path issues that other antennas suffer from, a comment I have heard backed up many times from people who use this antenna. If you're expecting it to pull in signals from distant repeaters better than your full-sized antenna, that's not what this antenna is for. If you're looking for an antenna you can keep on your vehicle while pulling into the garage and an antenna that works well enough for you to contact the local repeaters in your area, this is a good choice.
This is nothing at all that's totally unuseful unless you use it for gmrs and murs which this antenna was never designed for anyways and I doubt that this person could ever design such a thing for those bands like another guy kb9vbr he designs all sorts of antennas for many different bands using copper jpole technology when are the leading antenna makers anyways because he even makes them for broadcast all the way to the TV and the other bands and it's a lot less expensive compared to this one which costs an arm and a leg Jpole is the best
The people who have them and install them as the directions describe, love them. They are not designed to be DX antennas. They are designed to be small and allow even tall vehicles to fit in a garage without having to remove the antenna. they're designed to reduce FM picket-fencing, and according to all reports from people who actually use them, they do that extremely well. As for this guy not being able to design anything that's multi-band, think again. He has several patents for antenna design and sells multi-band antennas. Why not try one and report back?
What a fraudster. It's a shame he is getting publicity for his snake oil.
I wonder if you have ever used one of his antennas? Did you hear what he said at 1:09? Have you read other people's reports about the antenna, people who have tested the antenna? I haven't used his antennas, but I've heard good reports from people who have (see BillyLapTop's comment as an example).
@@HamRadioOutlet I watched his videos several years ago when he first made his outrageous claims against physics.
@@KB4QAA What outrageous claims did he make in this video? He said it's a compromise antenna, it shorter than other antennas (and that's its main selling point), that with the HF antennas you can make contacts to south America, that you should use sheeting as a ground-plane, and if you have a full size Yagi the Yagi is going to work better. Further, there are people who use his antennas who said they work well (within the limitations already mentioned), especially considering their size.
Sounds like a snake oil salesman 🤔
See BillyLapTops' comment for his real world test.