I've got the same MFJ tuner and SWR-power meter. The same Cameleon choke. My antenna is a 40-10 49:1 EFHW. The only difference, is I have a Yaesu FT-891 radio for my base station. Fun stuff.
Mike with that noise level you should use a magnetic loop. Using a MFJ-1786 you can send the noise level 30 db down by rotating the loop. Further the loop only needs to be 4 feet off the ground. Keep in mind you can use the loop for receive only and transmit on the half wave wire.
I have very similar noise at my location, its caused by my neighbor led sealing lights. I bought a QRM eliminator to see if it would help, let say it's not helping that much for this kind of noise, but it allows me to have a RX antenna on my IC7300. I setup a magloop as a RX antenna pointing the null towards my neighbor and the further away as possible from his house. It does help get the noise to a more manageable level.
I just purchased a QRM Eliminator that should be arriving in a few days. It uses a secondary receive antenna that is used specifically to pickup just noise. Then you phase the noise out to hear the signals. A couple people I spoke with swear by it. I'll let you know how it goes - This might be something to use for your noise problem.
@@hamradiotube If the solution is going to take a while, may as well do something to get back on the air in the meantime. 🤷🏻♂️ That's my take on it anyway.
I had to mod my ARRL Antenna box to add an eye bolt to hang the box and use the eye bolt next to the antenna post as the strain relief for the wire. I suppose I could have made that eye bolt do double duty but I chose to add another instead. I did this because the first time the wire pulled out of the ring terminal. Problem solved. It's fortunate for you that you have accommodating neighbors that let you use their trees. No tall pines like that in my California neighborhood.
Thank you! I'm using a stealth 71' end-fed sloper, high end is 15' going down from a balcony to a 6' wooden fence, 9:1 unun at high end, 50' RG8x, 3' jumper from XPA125B amp to a common mode choke. Center band SWR is 1.4 to 1 or better on 40, 30, 20, 15, 10 with no antenna tuner. SWR on 160, 80, 40, 30 is 1.7 to 1 or better using the Xeigu XPA125B amp internal ATU. I've had SSB QSOs on all voice bands. Get good signal reports everyday on 80 & 40 phone nets. From California I've worked Japan, Australia, Portugal on 40 SSB. I feel very lucky, its amazing what a "compromise" antenna can do!
Been loving all of your videos Mike. I live in town and I'm VERY lucky to have an S1 or less noise floor. I don't know what your schedule looks like, but it seems like some RF noise "hunting" is in order. Given your talent , I'm sure it would make an excellent video. Best of luck to you, and thanks for all of the educational and entertaining content over the years.
I took a Quick Look on eBay and was able to order the Tenntenna transformer. I am going to do the K8MRD mod when it gets here. Thanks for the link for the strain relief doohickey things 😎👍
@KMRD RADIO STUFF you need to try the W6LVP Amplified Receive-Only Magnetic Loop Antenna - With T/R Switch it saved my HF went from a S 20 noise floor on a 49:1 EFHW to a S1 using the Loop to receive and the EFHW to transmit. It saved my HF
A lot of people are suggesting things like this but to me that doesn't solve the problem. That's just putting a bandaid on it. I'd rather find the source and eradicate it.
@@hamradiotube its not really putting a bandaid on it because the loop performs way better for receiving compared with the EFHW even when the EFHW has a low noise floor. The main reason I got the loop was because the neighbour is still useing an old plasma TV that splatters 20+
Wow that noise floor would drive me nuts. I thought I had it bad when I lived in the middle of Sharonville OH. I was seeing noise levels around S7 to S9 on most bands during the day up to around 10 PM, then it would at least drop to about S5 or S6. Since I moved to West Central Florida those numbers are around S3 to S5 most of the time. so playing radio is a lot more fun. and when I go out to the woods those numbers are almost always around 2 to 3. It looks like that antenna you have will work quite well for you. I have built a couple of 49 to 1's and one 64 to 1, both of which do really well. My best antenna is a kit for a 5 to 1 using a 17 foot whip on a spike in the ground. It gives me great results for in the field across the bands 80 to 10 and if I adjust the Whip I can bring in 6 quite nicely. All with out a tuner. I still use the internal tuner on 12 and 15, but I can work them with out a tune in a pinch. The SWR is around 2.5 to 2.7 to 1 on those bands. Thanks for what you do mister and take care. Vic de KE8JWE
Oh absolutely buy it. I have like 4 myself, gave one to my dad, now he has one up, my neighbor has one…I’m using it right now in fact. Chances are, if you work me on ft8, it’s on this antenna.
great video. love the k8mrd mod. that DX 10 wire great ! found a better wire DX 50 from DX commander. will handel out routh winters in NY .I would like to do a 160 meter one but I do not have the room. may use loading coil to shorten. I have done 160 meters in a park. we just did center fed with a 1:1 . put it down on top of the snow. had to shorten foot or so, the snow shortened the dipole. worked all over at night. when working 80 and 160 meters just string the wire out. it will get out. at the time was THHN 12 AWG stranded wire. 73's
Dude you have to have a nearby transformer that is on its way out or something. That noise floor is insane. Look for one that looks like it is stained. When they leak, they overheat and they can do all sorts or weird stuff. Hope you can get that figured out man. 73's.
Mike...how did the 136' wire work on all the bands...specifically 80m? I just brought one, and think ill cut a 66' wire and then a 132'ish wire to see how it will play on 75m.
Works so great I have 2 of these up now. Though I may be wrong about the 136', it could very well be ~132'. On 80 SWR is about 2.4:1 at the bottom of the band and about 1.5:1 at the top. The dip is at about 3.740 and SWR is about 1.2:1.
If the noise goes away when it rains, it's definitely an electrical distribution problem. If you can hear the noise on an AM radio, start walking around with it to identify where the bad connections are. Then, the trick is to find the correct number at the electric company to call.
That's kinda what I'm thinking. It's been quieter the last few days and it has been raining. I'm gonna take the 705 out one day when I have time and see if I can isolate it.
@@hamradiotube Try a portable Short Wave radio. The ability to go all over the bands helps to narrow down the noise. Add a directional antenna and it even becomes easier. I've found noise quickly and also searched for days.
Hey Mike, quick question! I have an 8360 as well and I'm curious my backyard is not long enough and I go to pro and inverted L how sharp of an angle can I get away with on the downward turn?
Have you tried a receive loop? I get some noise (Not as much as you have!) on 80, but I bought a MFJ T/R switch and an MFJ loop.... Noise pretty much gone! Just a thought!
Hey Mike, Geez that's worse noise than I had when I lived in Denver, and that's saying something! Do you still see the noise when you connect the radio directly to a dummy load? Do you still see it when connected directly dummy load and running from battery? i.e. battery, radio, coax, dummy and nothing else. I'm expecting you' might getting noise on power and ground as well as noise on the air.
Mike, do you have some battery charger running in the house? They sometime can create a lot of RFI. That looks like some really close RFI in your radio, power meter maybe?
I can’t tell what MFJ Tuner that you are using but I don’t know of any Automatic Tuners that they make that will tune 6 meters? I have the MFJ 929 and it works great on all of the HF Bands but it will not tune 6 meters at all.If I need a tuner for the Magic Band I have an LDG that was made for HF& 6 meters just for an ICOM.
I hope your next video will be how you dealt with the noise 😆Good grief, your noise is unacceptable. Don't know if you have tried one of the noise eliminators by changing the phase of the incoming signal with a second noise pickup antenna. I use the German one sold by DXengineering - works great. Walk with your IC-705 around your neighborhood to try and see where its coming from
Great video. I know this is a year ago, but I'm curious if you still have that pulsating noise floor. I have the very same noise intermittently, but only on 40m. It was almost constant around the clock, summer 2022. Through fall and winter, it would be present sometimes and gone at other times. Either +10 or nothing at all. I could be in the middle of a qso and it would just suddenly start. The 40m band was unusable when this pulsating noise would start. It has happened a few times this summer but less often.
Oh god it's incessant. It's a different noise floor, but it's just as high. The power company came out and did fix some issues, but then about a month later they came out and ran new wire and messed it all up again. Sometimes are better than others. I've put up multiple different antennas since I made this video and I'll tell you, the last antenna I just put up was another TennTennas EFHW cut for 80 meters. So now I have 2 TennTennas that I use (cut for 80). One radiates E/W, the other radiates N/S. I recently put up an OCFD in hopes it would be quieter and the noise only went up. So I grabbed my other TennTennas EFHW and put it back up. It's a struggle, I assure you, but damn are these antennas great. I'm always looking for a better solution to lower the noise floor from the antenna side, but I've also kind of given up. As a mostly portable operator, it's not the biggest deal for me. 40 and 80 are terrible and I mostly can't pick up stations unless they are pretty strong, but 20-6 are manageable. It's just the struggle of being a ham. You have to come to grips with the compromises that you have to make.
Mike, what AWG wire are you using for this antenna? Is it the same 22AWG as you used on the lower power units of this brand? BTW, it was good to talk to you at the BARC field day in Bryan.
noise doesn't care if your antenna is tuned or not. I guess one of the reasons to tune the antenna is so that you can use a 'no-tuner' rig, don't know how you would measure it but it would be interesting to know if the antenna projects a stronger signal if tuned to resonance on the bands? al ve3gam
The antenna isn't totally out of tune lets not forget. I just didn't bother getting it perfect. It's more in tune than it is not in tune. The more tuned an antenna is, the more noise you would hear. In this case, because it is so close to begin in tune, I don't think it would really matter.
I can see why you do so much POTA. Did you know about the S9 noise floor before moving? We are looking to move to the NC mountains and I bought a QRP rig to test the noise floor at houses we are considering, I also carry a 2 meter HT to make sure I can hit the local repeaters.
It wasn't as bad when I moved in. I actually brought a portable HF radio and hooked it up to my TarHeel to check the noise level when I first looked at the place. I knew it was a higher noise floor but it wasn't this. This is newer. Not new to me but new to the channel. It wasn't happening when I first moved in though. Thats awesome you're looking in the mountains in NC. I've spent a good part of my life up there around the Brevard/Waynesville area. About 30ish miles West of Asheville.
Angle grinder to the rescue again, lol. Dremel guy here. Nice video. I’ve built about 10 EFHW portable antennas using the toroid winds by the eBay seller Eddieson (read about him on Hackaday). I’ve used #26 Silky Wire from The Wireman…copying the Packtenna build by George KJ6VU. Btw, does your background music bed in this video hav3 a wage dripping beat? I took out my EarPods a half dozen times to see if my sink or ice machine was dripping, lol. 73 de K4FMH
Try Poly-Stealth Wire, www.amateurradiosupplies.com/category-s/218.htm its even better. I switched from the Wireman stuff a couple years ago and never looked back. I don't know what a wage dripping beat is so I can't answer that.
my obsevation and question is why didn't you put the eye bolt on the opposite end from the pl239 that way you could hang it on that end and not be upside down. Just sayin. 😮😅
Mike, curious if you have any dimmer switches in your place? I had a similar "bouncing" noise floor and found out it was from a really old dimmer in my dining room.
Hi Mike, Your noise floor is redonkulus (beyond ridiculous)! Call your power company, you shouldn’t have to live with a noise floor like that. Interesting antenna, I’ve got a similar EARCHI antenna that does great. 73 KM4SON
I have a similar noise floor on 80 with that pulsating garbage interference. Not quite as bad, it usually is only just peaking above 9 and not 20+ like Mike but I don't have an 80m antenna at the moment so haven't really done anything to get it fixed. 40 and 20m I'm usually at a S7-S9 noise floor though, but still can make many contacts and hear through the noise. Should probably do something about it and try and get it investigated though. I noticed in one of Mike's previous videos, he has power lines directly behind his house and even a transformer, I think running in parallel with the antenna. Might be the main source of his issue.
@@hamradiotube Hi Mike, The way it showed on the spectrum display seemed it was a wide band noise source. Have no clue where to start looking for that type of noise. I was thinking one of the noise eliminators might help get you on the air from home. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
I was just wondering if you now anything about or could make a video on stacking like a 40m and 20 m dipole antenna it that would work and have a different radio running each antenna what would happen
Kinda sounds like a fan dipole you are describing. That was the first antenna I ever made. 40 on top, 20 a few inches below that. I suppose you could have 2 separate antennas with 2 transmitters but you would need band filters so as to not cause interference with each other. If you watch my winter field day video from this year, we are using 1 antenna with 3 different radios. We have a couple things inline with it to make it all work. One, we're using a multi-band beam with elements for each band, that feeds into what is called a TriPlexer, then band filters, then the radio. You usually wouldn't want to run 2 radios on different frequencies that close to each other without some filtering inline as the interference from the other antennas transmitting is just too much for the front end of the radio in most instances.
Stupid newbie question ... I assume my question depends on one's specific radio. Your radio is going to remember each band's tuning for your current session? Does the G90 work that way? Thanks for the video!
I trust someone has already mentioned this, but it's my understanding you CAN'T auto tune using the internal tuner in a SSB mode... one has to use RTTY or AM (something with a constant carrier or output of sorts), and SSB (without voice, I guess) doesn't provide that. So not sure what your tuner is actually tuning, friend.
Sorry to inform you, but you are completely wrong. You seem to be describing some operators use of an external tuner. The internal tuner in the 7300 chatters for a few seconds, while it is reducing power, sending a mostly inaudible carrier, selecting the optimal tune, and leaving your radio ready to keydown and talk immediately afterward.
You need a "HAM buddies swat team" to chase down your noise problems. Thats the worst I've ever seen. Maybe you could do an entire series on it. Have you contacted your power provider? Not sure how responsive they would be in your area.
why not do the N0VTY mod and remove the antenna wire connection and install an eye bolt (screw) in its place and also make it your internal wire connection. strain relief and antenna wire connection all in one.
Do you have a neighbor with an electric invisible pet fence? I had one several years ago and I told him if he continued to use it I would report him and he did not turn it back on and about a year later he moved.It was Terrible I assure you.
That is a very good question and unfortunately, if I do, I would never know because it's invisible. I don't think so though. Most of my neighbors yards are fenced in and I know the few who have pets also have fences. Good thought though.
@@hamradiotube I figured it out from when they would let their dog out alone and it never left the yard for any reason and the noise would go away usually soon after they left it back into the house.I’m smarter than I look.😂🤣🎙
Wow, sorry about the noise floor, that really sucks ! Grow house near you ??? As to the antenna tuning, I sure understand the need not to get too anal about the SWR, but why not make it at least half way decent ? Not all that much extra effort. Increased SWR, even if corrected with a tuner always costs power output. We all have constrains as to power output, noise floor and antennas, but for me, I still like my signal to be as readable to the Ham on the other end as my equipment will allow. If I'm going to the effort to put up an antenna, I want it to have at least a 1.5 to 1 SWR on most every band, if not better if the antenna design will allow. Talking the CW or Phone portion, which ever you use. Not all will have low SWR, but an end fed will. I just think it's a bad example to be put out there, as if it doesn't matter. Yes, it will work, but as Ham's, we should strive to have our antennas be as good as we can get them.....within reason. Just a small coil over a piece of PVC added near the end would have made a huge difference at almost no cost. That is the video you should have made. Lots of instruction on the net on how to do this. Sorry about ragging on you, but new hams should not be shown how to just settle.
Boy you sure do know how to rub someone the wrong way don't you? There's always one of you in the mix who has to insert your unsolicited advise and tell me what I should do. Just about every band is under 3:1 which is most certainly "half way decent". I would also not add a coil at the end, I would cut it. It's too long. You should have noticed that when I showed every band on the analyzer, but, being an armchair quarterback, you prob didn't notice details such as that as you were too busy thinking of ways to tell me how wrong I am. Bad example?? Really? Perhaps you should browse my library of videos on antennas and read some of the comments from people all over the world who have gained knowledge from my channel. BTW, I can't tell you how many new hams I have inspired. It's a very humbling feeling. I've also done videos for the ARRL, who also find merit in my content. What have you done to further the good of amateur radio?? Sorry about ragging on you, but new and old hams alike have many videos of mine where I build, review, test, and show how to properly make a resonant antenna. The one time I don't, AND I EVEN SAY IT IN THE VIDEO, and I'm the bad guy? No good sir, I don't think so. But thanks for watching and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.
@@hamradiotube Oh, I noticed it was too long (words along the line of why bother to cut it off and the graph showed it too.). Point is, you told everyone that as long as you are at about 3 to 1, it's great. I guess everyone should throw out the aftermarket antenna that every video tells you to buy for your Baofeng and just put the stock antenna back on it. If you're hitting stations close to you with a strong signal, then loss of power matters little. It's the guy trying to pull you in when you are at his noise floor is where the lost power matters. It's your channel, put up whatever you want. To me, it's not right to tell new hams that 3 to 1 is just fine. If that's the best an antenna can be made to do, it's one thing, but that's not the case with an end fed. I would not settle for any of my resonate antennas to be at 3 to 1 in the portion of the bands the antenna is designed for, and neither should anyone else if there is something that can be reasonably done to make it better. It's not a temp antenna. It's just lazy. Yes, you have put out many good videos. some crap one's too. Sorry if I pissed in your Wheaties by bringing up the point that as hams, we should strive to do the best we can. This was not a "I'm going to throw a wire in the tree" and see if how many contacts I can make video. You took the time to put up the antenna the best it could be with what you had and put thought into how to do it. Except for the lousy SWR you settled for, it was a decent video. When trying to pull in weak contacts, I usually assume the operator has done the best he or she could with what they have and will work hard to make the contact. People should do their best to put out the best signal with what they have. New hams should be taught to strive to put out the best signal possible with the equipment available to them and shown how to make what they have work as efficient as possible. You have helped many new hams with your videos. I give you credit for that. You also have a great amount of influence. Strive to do the best with what you are presenting and set the example. If that ruffles your feathers, I'm sorry. I've been the new ham. I've bought antennas and ideas that were pushed as being fantastic only to find out the limitations rarely mentioned. I've got good and bad info from influencers. The best influencers put out less content, but the content they do put out is well thought out and has many more of the facts, good and bad. Just my 2 cents. Sorry if I'm not a fan boy no matter what. I look at the good as well as the bad.
@@hamradiotube Mike, when you go out looking for the noise, try something like a portable SW radio. I've found that using AM mode at lower frequency, electrical noise pops up better than when I used a G90. Many different ways to do it. This worked for me. Bad contact between a connector to a transformer and main feed line. Really made the noise pop out, but not until I got closer to it. It made it easier than when there is just too much noise picked up at distance.
@@johnk23705 I talked to Richard at MFJ and he's going to send me some stuff for sniffing out RFI. I don't have a SW radio but I might take my 705 out in the mean time. I've got a tape measure Yagi and a RX loop for direction finding. Not sure if it'll work but I'm curious to try. I'm not 100% convinced it's power lines though. I just hope I can find it and squash it.
I've got the same MFJ tuner and SWR-power meter. The same Cameleon choke. My antenna is a 40-10 49:1 EFHW. The only difference, is I have a Yaesu FT-891 radio for my base station. Fun stuff.
Well it sounds like we both have the same good taste.
Mike with that noise level you should use a magnetic loop. Using a MFJ-1786 you can send the noise level 30 db down by rotating the loop. Further the loop only needs to be 4 feet off the ground. Keep in mind you can use the loop for receive only and transmit on the half wave wire.
I have very similar noise at my location, its caused by my neighbor led sealing lights. I bought a QRM eliminator to see if it would help, let say it's not helping that much for this kind of noise, but it allows me to have a RX antenna on my IC7300. I setup a magloop as a RX antenna pointing the null towards my neighbor and the further away as possible from his house. It does help get the noise to a more manageable level.
I just purchased a QRM Eliminator that should be arriving in a few days. It uses a secondary receive antenna that is used specifically to pickup just noise. Then you phase the noise out to hear the signals. A couple people I spoke with swear by it. I'll let you know how it goes - This might be something to use for your noise problem.
A lot of people have been suggesting that but I'd rather find the solution than put a bandaid on it.
@@hamradiotube If the solution is going to take a while, may as well do something to get back on the air in the meantime. 🤷🏻♂️ That's my take on it anyway.
I had to mod my ARRL Antenna box to add an eye bolt to hang the box and use the eye bolt next to the antenna post as the strain relief for the wire. I suppose I could have made that eye bolt do double duty but I chose to add another instead. I did this because the first time the wire pulled out of the ring terminal. Problem solved.
It's fortunate for you that you have accommodating neighbors that let you use their trees. No tall pines like that in my California neighborhood.
Thank you! I'm using a stealth 71' end-fed sloper, high end is 15' going down from a balcony to a 6' wooden fence, 9:1 unun at high end, 50' RG8x, 3' jumper from XPA125B amp to a common mode choke. Center band SWR is 1.4 to 1 or better on 40, 30, 20, 15, 10 with no antenna tuner. SWR on 160, 80, 40, 30 is 1.7 to 1 or better using the Xeigu XPA125B amp internal ATU. I've had SSB QSOs on all voice bands. Get good signal reports everyday on 80 & 40 phone nets. From California I've worked Japan, Australia, Portugal on 40 SSB. I feel very lucky, its amazing what a "compromise" antenna can do!
Been loving all of your videos Mike. I live in town and I'm VERY lucky to have an S1 or less noise floor. I don't know what your schedule looks like, but it seems like some RF noise "hunting" is in order. Given your talent , I'm sure it would make an excellent video. Best of luck to you, and thanks for all of the educational and entertaining content over the years.
I took a Quick Look on eBay and was able to order the Tenntenna transformer. I am going to do the K8MRD mod when it gets here. Thanks for the link for the strain relief doohickey things 😎👍
@KMRD RADIO STUFF you need to try the W6LVP Amplified Receive-Only Magnetic Loop Antenna - With T/R Switch it saved my HF went from a S 20 noise floor on a 49:1 EFHW to a S1 using the Loop to receive and the EFHW to transmit. It saved my HF
A lot of people are suggesting things like this but to me that doesn't solve the problem. That's just putting a bandaid on it. I'd rather find the source and eradicate it.
@@hamradiotube its not really putting a bandaid on it because the loop performs way better for receiving compared with the EFHW even when the EFHW has a low noise floor. The main reason I got the loop was because the neighbour is still useing an old plasma TV that splatters 20+
Wish I had room for a 80 meter EFHW. Those strain relief thingys look nice. Good video.
I can't believe I did. I though I was going to have to run it down the tree as well to make up for the extra length.
Wow that noise floor would drive me nuts. I thought I had it bad when I lived in the middle of Sharonville OH. I was seeing noise levels around S7 to S9 on most bands during the day up to around 10 PM, then it would at least drop to about S5 or S6. Since I moved to West Central Florida those numbers are around S3 to S5 most of the time. so playing radio is a lot more fun. and when I go out to the woods those numbers are almost always around 2 to 3. It looks like that antenna you have will work quite well for you. I have built a couple of 49 to 1's and one 64 to 1, both of which do really well. My best antenna is a kit for a 5 to 1 using a 17 foot whip on a spike in the ground. It gives me great results for in the field across the bands 80 to 10 and if I adjust the Whip I can bring in 6 quite nicely. All with out a tuner. I still use the internal tuner on 12 and 15, but I can work them with out a tune in a pinch. The SWR is around 2.5 to 2.7 to 1 on those bands. Thanks for what you do mister and take care. Vic de KE8JWE
Mike...Another great setup and video...I watch 'em all, several times each...Cheers and 73, Tom ABØJ
Wow, thanks!
The broadband "pulsing" noise is interesting. If electrical, I would expect a constant noise. The pulsing is interesting.
Thanks for the review. I was just looking at this on eBay. Probably going to get one.
Oh absolutely buy it. I have like 4 myself, gave one to my dad, now he has one up, my neighbor has one…I’m using it right now in fact. Chances are, if you work me on ft8, it’s on this antenna.
great video. love the k8mrd mod. that DX 10 wire great ! found a better wire DX 50 from DX commander. will handel out routh winters in NY .I would like to do a 160 meter one but I do not have the room. may use loading coil to shorten. I have done 160 meters in a park. we just did center fed with a 1:1 . put it down on top of the snow. had to shorten foot or so, the snow shortened the dipole. worked all over at night. when working 80 and 160 meters just string the wire out. it will get out. at the time was THHN 12 AWG stranded wire. 73's
Damn dude! That noise is crazy, I wonder if one of those qrm eliminators would help.
Wow
I thought I had it bad. Thanks for the vid.
I ordered one should be here soon
Mike, you should do a video on hunting RFI with a TinySA next!
Mike make friends with a telephone tech. They have access to weather proof-ish enclosures.
Good lord, that noise floor is insane. I'd stop hunting POTA for a couple weeks and start hunting what is putting out that obvious man made RFI.
It's on the to do list.
Big washer on the inside of that strain relief bolt would save a day of re hanging that wire.
Dude you have to have a nearby transformer that is on its way out or something. That noise floor is insane. Look for one that looks like it is stained. When they leak, they overheat and they can do all sorts or weird stuff.
Hope you can get that figured out man. 73's.
Where did you get the leedle wire doohickeys?
Call the power company . Thats a thing there . Holly crap
You're not chasing the perfect resonant antenna?!?!? 😱 🤣
I told you it was going to be shocking.
you and Josh KI6NAZ need to do some RFI hunting / eliminating
Right?
Nice job on the strain relief.. very professional.. thx for sharing... Kevin ~ k0klb
You bet!
Mike...how did the 136' wire work on all the bands...specifically 80m? I just brought one, and think ill cut a 66' wire and then a 132'ish wire to see how it will play on 75m.
Works so great I have 2 of these up now. Though I may be wrong about the 136', it could very well be ~132'. On 80 SWR is about 2.4:1 at the bottom of the band and about 1.5:1 at the top. The dip is at about 3.740 and SWR is about 1.2:1.
If the noise goes away when it rains, it's definitely an electrical distribution problem. If you can hear the noise on an AM radio, start walking around with it to identify where the bad connections are.
Then, the trick is to find the correct number at the electric company to call.
That's kinda what I'm thinking. It's been quieter the last few days and it has been raining. I'm gonna take the 705 out one day when I have time and see if I can isolate it.
@@hamradiotube Try a portable Short Wave radio. The ability to go all over the bands helps to narrow down the noise. Add a directional antenna and it even becomes easier. I've found noise quickly and also searched for days.
It looks like a arcing lightning arrestor on a pole close by. Have the power company check it out
On the list of things to investigate. Thanks, no-one has suggested a lightning arrestor yet.
@@hamradiotube We had the exact same noise at our winter field day spot and the power company came out and fixed it. The arrestor was the root cause.
Hey Mike, quick question! I have an 8360 as well and I'm curious my backyard is not long enough and I go to pro and inverted L how sharp of an angle can I get away with on the downward turn?
Have you tried a receive loop? I get some noise (Not as much as you have!) on 80, but I bought a MFJ T/R switch and an MFJ loop.... Noise pretty much gone! Just a thought!
Lucky no one ran over your tape reel! LOL Do you like this one better than the HF EFHW 40-6 kit? Yeah I only have about 75ft of room so no 80 for me.
That noise is in your house or close. The signature sure looks like a variable speed motor. Washing machine, dish washer? de K2LED.
Hey Mike, Geez that's worse noise than I had when I lived in Denver, and that's saying something! Do you still see the noise when you connect the radio directly to a dummy load? Do you still see it when connected directly dummy load and running from battery? i.e. battery, radio, coax, dummy and nothing else. I'm expecting you' might getting noise on power and ground as well as noise on the air.
Mike, do you have some battery charger running in the house? They sometime can create a lot of RFI. That looks like some really close RFI in your radio, power meter maybe?
Being new to the whole hf side I have a hf kit 49:1 I was thinking of doing the same do I need to add a counterpoise wire and if so what lenght
I can’t tell what MFJ Tuner that you are using but I don’t know of any Automatic Tuners that they make that will tune 6 meters? I have the MFJ 929 and it works great on all of the HF Bands but it will not tune 6 meters at all.If I need a tuner for the Magic Band I have an LDG that was made for HF& 6 meters just for an ICOM.
Its the MFJ-939. It's only advertised 160-10 but it works on 6 meters too. Not sure how or why and I'm not going to question it either.
@@hamradiotube I promise my 929 does not at all so it’s why I keep the LDG tuners around.The 929 is by leaps and bounds a far better tuner for HF.
Awesome
I hope your next video will be how you dealt with the noise 😆Good grief, your noise is unacceptable. Don't know if you have tried one of the noise eliminators by changing the phase of the incoming signal with a second noise pickup antenna. I use the German one sold by DXengineering - works great. Walk with your IC-705 around your neighborhood to try and see where its coming from
Great video. I know this is a year ago, but I'm curious if you still have that pulsating noise floor. I have the very same noise intermittently, but only on 40m. It was almost constant around the clock, summer 2022. Through fall and winter, it would be present sometimes and gone at other times. Either +10 or nothing at all. I could be in the middle of a qso and it would just suddenly start. The 40m band was unusable when this pulsating noise would start. It has happened a few times this summer but less often.
Oh god it's incessant. It's a different noise floor, but it's just as high. The power company came out and did fix some issues, but then about a month later they came out and ran new wire and messed it all up again. Sometimes are better than others. I've put up multiple different antennas since I made this video and I'll tell you, the last antenna I just put up was another TennTennas EFHW cut for 80 meters. So now I have 2 TennTennas that I use (cut for 80). One radiates E/W, the other radiates N/S. I recently put up an OCFD in hopes it would be quieter and the noise only went up. So I grabbed my other TennTennas EFHW and put it back up. It's a struggle, I assure you, but damn are these antennas great. I'm always looking for a better solution to lower the noise floor from the antenna side, but I've also kind of given up. As a mostly portable operator, it's not the biggest deal for me. 40 and 80 are terrible and I mostly can't pick up stations unless they are pretty strong, but 20-6 are manageable. It's just the struggle of being a ham. You have to come to grips with the compromises that you have to make.
Mike, what AWG wire are you using for this antenna? Is it the same 22AWG as you used on the lower power units of this brand? BTW, it was good to talk to you at the BARC field day in Bryan.
noise doesn't care if your antenna is tuned or not. I guess one of the reasons to tune the antenna is so that you can use a 'no-tuner' rig, don't know how you would measure it but it would be interesting to know if the antenna projects a stronger signal if tuned to resonance on the bands? al ve3gam
The antenna isn't totally out of tune lets not forget. I just didn't bother getting it perfect. It's more in tune than it is not in tune. The more tuned an antenna is, the more noise you would hear. In this case, because it is so close to begin in tune, I don't think it would really matter.
I was wondering why you were not using the specific SWR meter built into the 7300.
I can see why you do so much POTA. Did you know about the S9 noise floor before moving? We are looking to move to the NC mountains and I bought a QRP rig to test the noise floor at houses we are considering, I also carry a 2 meter HT to make sure I can hit the local repeaters.
It wasn't as bad when I moved in. I actually brought a portable HF radio and hooked it up to my TarHeel to check the noise level when I first looked at the place. I knew it was a higher noise floor but it wasn't this. This is newer. Not new to me but new to the channel. It wasn't happening when I first moved in though. Thats awesome you're looking in the mountains in NC. I've spent a good part of my life up there around the Brevard/Waynesville area. About 30ish miles West of Asheville.
You should had added a washer on both sides of the eye bolt, that noise floor is high, any idea of the cause?
There is literally zero purpose in that.
Just wondering why most people are having a high noise floor. It's every ware
Thanks for your videos
Crappy electronics everywhere. I'm thing the power lines but I have a couple other things I want to look at as well.
I purchased on but I can find out how long the counterpoise wire should be. Any ideas? N6JAI
Angle grinder to the rescue again, lol. Dremel guy here. Nice video. I’ve built about 10 EFHW portable antennas using the toroid winds by the eBay seller Eddieson (read about him on Hackaday). I’ve used #26 Silky Wire from The Wireman…copying the Packtenna build by George KJ6VU. Btw, does your background music bed in this video hav3 a wage dripping beat? I took out my EarPods a half dozen times to see if my sink or ice machine was dripping, lol. 73 de K4FMH
Try Poly-Stealth Wire, www.amateurradiosupplies.com/category-s/218.htm its even better. I switched from the Wireman stuff a couple years ago and never looked back. I don't know what a wage dripping beat is so I can't answer that.
Sorry…water dripping, lol! Thanks for the tip on the wire.
my obsevation and question is why didn't you put the eye bolt on the opposite end from the pl239 that way you could hang it on that end and not be upside down. Just sayin. 😮😅
Mike, curious if you have any dimmer switches in your place? I had a similar "bouncing" noise floor and found out it was from a really old dimmer in my dining room.
Nope. I've shut the power off at my house and ran off of battery power too. Didn't change a thing.
Is one of your neighbors actively jamming the ham bands? That's insane!
Well my neighbor is a ham...but no, I don't thing so. Can't rule it out yet though.
Hi Mike, Your noise floor is redonkulus (beyond ridiculous)! Call your power company, you shouldn’t have to live with a noise floor like that. Interesting antenna, I’ve got a similar EARCHI antenna that does great. 73 KM4SON
I have a similar noise floor on 80 with that pulsating garbage interference. Not quite as bad, it usually is only just peaking above 9 and not 20+ like Mike but I don't have an 80m antenna at the moment so haven't really done anything to get it fixed.
40 and 20m I'm usually at a S7-S9 noise floor though, but still can make many contacts and hear through the noise.
Should probably do something about it and try and get it investigated though.
I noticed in one of Mike's previous videos, he has power lines directly behind his house and even a transformer, I think running in parallel with the antenna. Might be the main source of his issue.
I'm gonna poke around with my 705 one of these days first and see if I can isolate it.
What is your preferred wire to complete the antenna?
I use 18AWG Polystealth wire with these.
Hi Mike,
Have you thought about trying one of the noise eliminators to see if it would help? Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
No I want to find the problem, not mask it.
@@hamradiotube Hi Mike,
The way it showed on the spectrum display seemed it was a wide band noise source. Have no clue where to start looking for that type of noise. I was thinking one of the noise eliminators might help get you on the air from home. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Wide banded doesn’t even to begin to describe it.
I was just wondering if you now anything about or could make a video on stacking like a 40m and 20 m dipole antenna it that would work and have a different radio running each antenna what would happen
Kinda sounds like a fan dipole you are describing. That was the first antenna I ever made. 40 on top, 20 a few inches below that. I suppose you could have 2 separate antennas with 2 transmitters but you would need band filters so as to not cause interference with each other. If you watch my winter field day video from this year, we are using 1 antenna with 3 different radios. We have a couple things inline with it to make it all work. One, we're using a multi-band beam with elements for each band, that feeds into what is called a TriPlexer, then band filters, then the radio. You usually wouldn't want to run 2 radios on different frequencies that close to each other without some filtering inline as the interference from the other antennas transmitting is just too much for the front end of the radio in most instances.
I'm guessing you already threw the main breaker and ran off batteries to eliminate your house from the RFI issue?
Um, yeah. I wish it were that easy.
@@hamradiotube Sorry man. But hey, if it was easy then you wouldn't be able to make a video about it!
@@chrisgaeth that’s a positive way to look at it. I like it.
Looked for the link to those little strain reliefs “dog bones” but couldn’t find it. Help?
They're in the description now.
Mike: check out the QRMEliminator sold on Amazon for @ $60 to eliminator that noise you have. You’ll be impressed.
No, I want to find the solution, not put a bandaid on it.
Nice.............
So nice
Stupid newbie question ... I assume my question depends on one's specific radio. Your radio is going to remember each band's tuning for your current session? Does the G90 work that way? Thanks for the video!
The G90 doesn’t remember tuning, no.
@@hamradiotube Thank you for the replay back!
Look like someone in the area has a plasma tv or something of the sort
Are plasma TV's still a thing? I think we're prob beyond that.
I see many using multi knob as a vfo ? It will fail sooner than the unclicking main vfo. Suggest the main vfo be used
My track record with 3 different radios suggests otherwise, but either way, it's just a knob. If I have to replace it I have to replace it.
What were those strain reliefs called? Don't see the link in the description yet.
Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. amzn.to/3syjcJB
@@hamradiotube Are those 1/16" or 1/8"?
@@laszlokovacs8827 1/16” per the description.
So I guess a QSO on 80 with you is out of the question?
Actually I was kicking ass on 80 the other day. Mind you it was FT8 but I was working DX like crazy. Got a special event station in Fiji too.
"That's what she said"
Giggity.
I trust someone has already mentioned this, but it's my understanding you CAN'T auto tune using the internal tuner in a SSB mode... one has to use RTTY or AM (something with a constant carrier or output of sorts), and SSB (without voice, I guess) doesn't provide that. So not sure what your tuner is actually tuning, friend.
It is my understanding that you don’t have any idea what you are talking about.
Sorry to inform you, but you are completely wrong. You seem to be describing some operators use of an external tuner. The internal tuner in the 7300 chatters for a few seconds, while it is reducing power, sending a mostly inaudible carrier, selecting the optimal tune, and leaving your radio ready to keydown and talk immediately afterward.
I’m curious how long your to do list is. Seems like the issue has been there a year ? lol
It's pretty long and I keep adding to it. Plus, I don't operate from home as much as I do portable so it's not on the top of the list.
You need a "HAM buddies swat team" to chase down your noise problems. Thats the worst I've ever seen. Maybe you could do an entire series on it. Have you contacted your power provider? Not sure how responsive they would be in your area.
It's pretty bad. Haven't done much to track it down yet. Love the Swat Team idea though lol!
Loctite?
Things vs. Doohickies. Must be an age thing. 😉
Don't forget doingies.
@@hamradiotube LOL. and thingamabobs.
Maybe your neighbors have marijuana grow lights.
I wish!
why not do the N0VTY mod and remove the antenna wire connection and install an eye bolt (screw) in its place and also make it your internal wire connection. strain relief and antenna wire connection all in one.
Because I don't follow, I lead.
to bad@@hamradiotube
Noise floor hell. I understand.
Yes. Yes it is.
Se agradecer medidas en metros..... 73
Have you investigated what is causing all the interference?
Do you have a neighbor with an electric invisible pet fence? I had one several years ago and I told him if he continued to use it I would report him and he did not turn it back on and about a year later he moved.It was Terrible I assure you.
That is a very good question and unfortunately, if I do, I would never know because it's invisible. I don't think so though. Most of my neighbors yards are fenced in and I know the few who have pets also have fences. Good thought though.
@@hamradiotube I figured it out from when they would let their dog out alone and it never left the yard for any reason and the noise would go away usually soon after they left it back into the house.I’m smarter than I look.😂🤣🎙
so many antennas so little time.
I now right? I've got more on the way too.
@@hamradiotube I'll try to keep up.
4:31 - Wrong again. It's _41 metres._
41.45 meters
Wow, sorry about the noise floor, that really sucks ! Grow house near you ??? As to the antenna tuning, I sure understand the need not to get too anal about the SWR, but why not make it at least half way decent ? Not all that much extra effort. Increased SWR, even if corrected with a tuner always costs power output. We all have constrains as to power output, noise floor and antennas, but for me, I still like my signal to be as readable to the Ham on the other end as my equipment will allow. If I'm going to the effort to put up an antenna, I want it to have at least a 1.5 to 1 SWR on most every band, if not better if the antenna design will allow. Talking the CW or Phone portion, which ever you use. Not all will have low SWR, but an end fed will. I just think it's a bad example to be put out there, as if it doesn't matter. Yes, it will work, but as Ham's, we should strive to have our antennas be as good as we can get them.....within reason. Just a small coil over a piece of PVC added near the end would have made a huge difference at almost no cost. That is the video you should have made. Lots of instruction on the net on how to do this. Sorry about ragging on you, but new hams should not be shown how to just settle.
Boy you sure do know how to rub someone the wrong way don't you? There's always one of you in the mix who has to insert your unsolicited advise and tell me what I should do. Just about every band is under 3:1 which is most certainly "half way decent". I would also not add a coil at the end, I would cut it. It's too long. You should have noticed that when I showed every band on the analyzer, but, being an armchair quarterback, you prob didn't notice details such as that as you were too busy thinking of ways to tell me how wrong I am. Bad example?? Really? Perhaps you should browse my library of videos on antennas and read some of the comments from people all over the world who have gained knowledge from my channel. BTW, I can't tell you how many new hams I have inspired. It's a very humbling feeling. I've also done videos for the ARRL, who also find merit in my content. What have you done to further the good of amateur radio?? Sorry about ragging on you, but new and old hams alike have many videos of mine where I build, review, test, and show how to properly make a resonant antenna. The one time I don't, AND I EVEN SAY IT IN THE VIDEO, and I'm the bad guy? No good sir, I don't think so. But thanks for watching and don't forget to hit the subscribe button.
@@hamradiotube Oh, I noticed it was too long (words along the line of why bother to cut it off and the graph showed it too.). Point is, you told everyone that as long as you are at about 3 to 1, it's great. I guess everyone should throw out the aftermarket antenna that every video tells you to buy for your Baofeng and just put the stock antenna back on it. If you're hitting stations close to you with a strong signal, then loss of power matters little. It's the guy trying to pull you in when you are at his noise floor is where the lost power matters. It's your channel, put up whatever you want. To me, it's not right to tell new hams that 3 to 1 is just fine. If that's the best an antenna can be made to do, it's one thing, but that's not the case with an end fed. I would not settle for any of my resonate antennas to be at 3 to 1 in the portion of the bands the antenna is designed for, and neither should anyone else if there is something that can be reasonably done to make it better. It's not a temp antenna. It's just lazy. Yes, you have put out many good videos. some crap one's too. Sorry if I pissed in your Wheaties by bringing up the point that as hams, we should strive to do the best we can. This was not a "I'm going to throw a wire in the tree" and see if how many contacts I can make video. You took the time to put up the antenna the best it could be with what you had and put thought into how to do it. Except for the lousy SWR you settled for, it was a decent video. When trying to pull in weak contacts, I usually assume the operator has done the best he or she could with what they have and will work hard to make the contact. People should do their best to put out the best signal with what they have. New hams should be taught to strive to put out the best signal possible with the equipment available to them and shown how to make what they have work as efficient as possible. You have helped many new hams with your videos. I give you credit for that. You also have a great amount of influence. Strive to do the best with what you are presenting and set the example. If that ruffles your feathers, I'm sorry. I've been the new ham. I've bought antennas and ideas that were pushed as being fantastic only to find out the limitations rarely mentioned. I've got good and bad info from influencers. The best influencers put out less content, but the content they do put out is well thought out and has many more of the facts, good and bad. Just my 2 cents. Sorry if I'm not a fan boy no matter what. I look at the good as well as the bad.
@@johnk23705 ok
@@hamradiotube Mike, when you go out looking for the noise, try something like a portable SW radio. I've found that using AM mode at lower frequency, electrical noise pops up better than when I used a G90. Many different ways to do it. This worked for me. Bad contact between a connector to a transformer and main feed line. Really made the noise pop out, but not until I got closer to it. It made it easier than when there is just too much noise picked up at distance.
@@johnk23705 I talked to Richard at MFJ and he's going to send me some stuff for sniffing out RFI. I don't have a SW radio but I might take my 705 out in the mean time. I've got a tape measure Yagi and a RX loop for direction finding. Not sure if it'll work but I'm curious to try. I'm not 100% convinced it's power lines though. I just hope I can find it and squash it.