Thanks Tim. Finished a homemade 1:1 balun with 140-43 core and 1mm copperwire and build a 1/4 vertikal today for 20 meters, got it tuned with the help of a VNA. Hopefully I can do some live testing later this week. Used 20 3.5 meters radials made of old network cabel and the ariel is 0.75mm electrik cabel. Mounted on a 5 meter fiberglas fhishing rod and its sitting on my garden fence ground mounted. Nice to see this video on your build. Hope to hear you on 20 meters. 73 and many thanks
Useful video Tim 👍🏻 Two tips for the viewers: #1 When using the balun for a vertical as in your example, check which side is connected to coax centre and which to the braid, as it’s the centre which makes the vertical element. #2 Often your local radio club has kit for loaning out, so that’s a good way to get your hands on an analyser if they’re a bit too expensive to buy.
Thanks Ian. I have to say I’ve not had an issue with using either connector of the Balun for either of the vertical elements. A very useful tip about clubs and analysers. 73
Another great video, thanks. Particularly interesting for me as I'm station building as a returning ham at present. I was particularly interested in the raised verticals. Some advocate a raised vertial for part of the counterpoise length with the remainder on the ground. Must look into this more.
WB4BKO-Ned Interesting video. Very informative. All the necessary details for building a simple, inexpensive and effective antenna. You proved what a friend of mine, now a silent key and a ham for over 60 years, often stated: "if you paid more than $10.00 for antenna parts, you spent too much". Your relaxed and friendly style of presentation is a plus. I have never used a 1:1 balun on a vertical. Usually five to 8 turns of coax wound around a 2" piece of PVC pipe (when using RG58 or RG8X) near the feed point should be adequate to choke off any RF on the feed line. That piece of PVC pipe also works well as the center insulator. Thank you for your video.
Good video Tim. One of my fave antennas. I think I have a few shown on my basic YT channel too. I have messed about with balanced feeding too for multiband. Another cheap end insulator is a plastic dolly peg (you can cut them up and make a few) - they don’t appear to soften in a microwave so appear to be decent for HF. Cheers
Brilliant Tim, I’m definitely making this and taking it away on holiday. I’ll be close to the sea at Primrose Valley, May 31st. I’ll update you on my progress. 73 M7BCN
Lash ups are my speciality, it really is that simple to make a single band aerial, the best sort. Great useful vid, thanks for posting and encouraging hams to get out there and do it for themselves at very little cost and learn a lot too👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻73 de M0AZE.
Thanks Tim. I built this antenna ,first trip copied R7 , VE, YB , and several Europeans , I was really pleased with it. I would be interested if you could research Ground Tuning Unit for 1/4 wave antennas . Many thanks, Roger G3KMV
@Tim G5TM: Hi Tim. Just one small point: @ 7:34 “How do we calculate how much wire we need?” The 234 imperial formula includes a 0.95% velocity factor, whilst the 75 metric formula figure you quoted does not. The correct metric formula, including the 0.95% velocity factor, should be 71.25 / f. To advise others who might read my posting, in my own antenna construction experience I have found the 0.95% velocity factor is only a nominal figure, and in real life have always found the velocity factor to be lower - even as low as 0.87% or 0.88%. A combination of various factors affects the velocity factor, such as (i) thickness of antenna wire, (ii) whether or not the wire is insulated, (iii) type of ground beneath the antenna and (iv) height of antenna above ground. In all cases, I have always found that using either formula (both with the built-in 0.95% velocity factor) has resulted in antenna legs that are longer than required, so the legs can easily be shortened to the correct length. Excellent advice from Tim, guys - if you are into serious antenna-building, get yourself an antenna analyser. Far better to spend your money there than on an ATU (which should, of course, really be called an Impedance Matching Device (IMD), which is all it does - it matches the impedance of the antenna to the 50 Ohm impedance of the radio). An ATU does NOT tune an antenna! The biggest "con" in Ham Radio! I hope this helps any newbies, and welcome to them to the hobby. Iain.
Thanks for sharing. I have the DX Commander all band vertical. I find that the swr is high on all bands with 10 meters being unusable even with an external tuner. I like your set up.
Tim thanks for the video, very informative, I'd like to give it a try. What do you use for poles? I'd like a permanent solution, I'm not intending to make it portable. Thanks Peter
As a semi permanent solution at home I use a cheap 10m fibreglass pole but with each section stuck together with araldite. Four years so far and no issues
Tim, I'm looking at a very similar design. You should give this a try with the ends of the radials at 82cm above the ground and the feed point at 3m above the ground. That's where it seems to model for best performance. Take care.
Nice one Tim… I’m gonna try this out next as I’m always exploring different ways to make portable lightweight antennas for SOTA. Have you tried this with the feed point and radials down nearer the ground?
Yes it’ll work as long as the feedpoint is at least say 4-5 feet above ground. Keep the radials off the ground. The flatter they run to the feedpoint the higher the impedance so the swr may climb away from a 1:1 match but still should present a good swr. 73
Hi Eddie. The same as the vertical element. Some designs for this antenna state to have the radials 5% longer others do not. I have to say that whenever I’ve made this antenna I’ve kept it equal and it seems to always tune easily and work very well. 73
Hi Tim, I have built your 2M EFHW from another video (and it works brilliantly thanks) so I’m going to give this one a go as well Question before I start though, you’ve tied off the radials at what looks like fence/shed height, so is there an optimum height for the ‘inverted v’ created by those 2 radials? Or maybe an optimum angle? Many thanks, Rob 73 M7ASU
You should try and have each radial around a 45 degree angle from the feedpoint. Try and keep their ends above head height (high voltages) then good to go!
Nice job & explanation Tim! TNX. In mountain area each mass in "gram" matters...special in winter time (portable). Have to try out before snow over knees....:-)
Hello Tim I also have a small back yard would a 40m inverted Vee with manual perform better than 9:1 unun 54’ vertical wire. Trying to also have multiband capabilities? Inverted vee feed 30’
the 1/4 wave vertical is a magical antenna, i'd be interested to know how you found the noise levels compared to other antennas on the same band. 73 G7KDM
I’m hoping to create a 2 m Multi element vertical dipole To use as a base station antenna at home I would like for all of the elements to be in phase so that they all radiate at the same time I just don’t know how to create the wiring harness to attach it all to get it to work correctly Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated
Robert Barrie you can simply solder the centre conductor of the coax to the vertical wire and the coax braid to the radials. Or make the same connections using choc block connectors, taking care to waterproof connections 73
@@timg5tm941 Sorry if this sounds dumb but do you split the outer braid and connect to each radial or does the radial become one length with the outer braid connected ?
No such thing as a dumb question 👍 Both or all radials will connect to the single piece of braid. That’s why most installations will have this soldered and covered with heat shrink or good quality tape to further waterproof the connection So to recap, in my case it would be both radials connected to the single braid of the coax. Hope this clarifies it?
Just watched this - very useful thanks. Will give it a try. One thing, is your conversion factor for wire length in metres correct at 75/f? One foot = 0.3048 m so 234/f for feet converts to 71.3/f for metres. Just curious!
@David Kerr: Hi David. I am about to leave a posting for Tim, G5TM, regarding this very topic. The 234 imperial formula includes a 0.95% velocity factor, whilst the 75 metric formula figure Tim has used does not. The correct metric formula, including the 0.95% velocity factor, should be 71.25 / f. However, in both formulae, 0.95% is only a nominal figure, and in real life I have always found the velocity factor to be lower - even as low as 0.87% or 0.88%. A combination of various factors affects the velocity factor, such as (i) thickness of antenna wire, (ii) whether or not the wire is insulated, (iii) type of ground beneath the antenna and (iv) height of antenna above ground. In all cases, I have always found that using either formula (both with the built-in 0.95% velocity factor) has resulted in antenna legs that are longer than required, so the legs can easily be shortened to the correct length. Excellent advice from Tim, guys - if you are into serious antenna-building, get yourself an antenna analyser. Far better to spend your money there than on an ATU (which should, of course really be called an Impedance Matching Device (IMD), which is all it does - it matches the impedance of the antenna to the 50 Ohm impedance of the radio). An ATU does NOT tune an antenna! I hope all this helps, Dave. Iain.
@@iainmeteorscan1555 Good reply. I was also going to mention that the velocity factor was applied only to the Imperial measurement and not to the Metric, but you beat me to it. I have an IMD in my rig (IC-7300), so just need to buy an analyzer, then it's antenna building time!
@@nrgxpert Hi nrg. Good you picked up on it also. Beats me why UK Hams still use the imperial formula - we’ve been metric for over 50 years now! The Yanks obviously still use imperial, as they haven’t discovered metric yet! It also beats me why Hams still talk about their bands in metres (meters in Retardistan) when even the band plans are listed in kHz and MHz! I can’t remember the last time I saw a radio calibrated in metres!. Great you are considering purchasing an antenna analyser - as an ardent antenna builder myself, apart from my radios, it’s the best piece of kit in my armoury! I know you will have fun with your antenna building, as you can see exactly what’s happening as you make adjustments. Iain.
So, just out of curiosity, what frequency did you cut for? And what length did you make the radials? Where they the same length as your antenna? Thank you in advance
Hi Pat if the radials are on the ground then they are effectively de tuned. In that case you don’t need a specific length but as many as you can fit on the ground. 73
Hi Tim! Thanks for sharing your experience. I build a lot of vertical antenna and i have a question: why balun? Vertical antenna should be already unbalanced. Best 73 de iw2hus, Franco
Hi Franco. From my perspective it is just to provide a convenient feedpoint for portable use and to help eliminate any stray common mode. Thank you very much for watching and commenting. 73
Tim, thanks, I've just come across this as looking to build my first antenna and this is incredibly useful - I've only used bought antennas thus far, and this is a great first. Out of curiosity, would you think that the same design with appropriate proportions work well for 40m? Although I suppose that the radials length might be a bit prohibitive within your constraints (which are similar to mine).
Hi Giuseppe yes you can scale this for any band. For 40m you'll need 22 feet (10m) wires. Use the formula 234/frequency for the length in feet. 71/frequency for length in metres. 73
Hi Pete. Only 10m with my 33ft doublet caused tvi with a neighbour. That was at 40 watts or more. We tested all other modes and Hf bands 40-10 with no issues thankfully. I’ve changed the 10m antenna to a vertical and sited it further away from them and no issues. Ah the curse of modern living lol. 73
Just one late question here, Tim. Are you making your radials the same length as your element? Thx for the video. Just what I was looking for. Brent VA7HUM
Hey Brent, yes same length although designs often have them 5% longer than the vertical element. Doesn’t seem to matter in the real world either way. 73
Golf Five Tango Mike Thank you, repeat your call sign Golf Five Tango Mike And the last digit again? Mike, Tango Mike. Mike, Mexico, Tokyo Mexico One more time? MIKE! MEXICO! TANGO MIKE MIKE MIKE! MEXICO, MIKE, TOKYO MEXICO! MMMMMMMM Thank you Golf Five Tango Mike, you're 59! 😂😂😂
Another great video Tim, I love the simplicity of a 1/4 wave vertical and it goes to show our hobby doesn't have to be expensive. Paul M0TZR.
Thanks Paul I totally agree.,73
The humble 1/4 wave vertical :) They work well and i always take them with me on my DX-expeditions.
Simple works well Roly! Take care and thanks for stopping by 73
I just built this vertical a few days ago and was very pleased how easy it was to make and how good it works. Thank you for this presentation!
Glad it works well 👍👍
Thank you Tim, love these type of videos, simplicity at its finest.
Some of my best work has been a lash up. Well done Tim.
Thank you Andy! 73
Hey Tim, Love the back to basics approach - Yes it works with a little imagination thrown in - some folks throw cash away !!!
Thanks Peter. Yes the simple way often works!
Thanks for all of the great videos! You are helping a great many fellow hams!
You are far too kind 73
Thanks Tim.
Finished a homemade 1:1 balun with 140-43 core and 1mm copperwire and build a 1/4 vertikal today for 20 meters, got it tuned with the help of a VNA.
Hopefully I can do some live testing later this week. Used 20 3.5 meters radials made of old network cabel and the ariel is 0.75mm electrik cabel.
Mounted on a 5 meter fiberglas fhishing rod and its sitting on my garden fence ground mounted.
Nice to see this video on your build.
Hope to hear you on 20 meters.
73 and many thanks
Sounds great Lars!
Useful video Tim 👍🏻 Two tips for the viewers: #1 When using the balun for a vertical as in your example, check which side is connected to coax centre and which to the braid, as it’s the centre which makes the vertical element. #2 Often your local radio club has kit for loaning out, so that’s a good way to get your hands on an analyser if they’re a bit too expensive to buy.
Thanks Ian. I have to say I’ve not had an issue with using either connector of the Balun for either of the vertical elements. A very useful tip about clubs and analysers. 73
Another great video, thanks. Particularly interesting for me as I'm station building as a returning ham at present. I was particularly interested in the raised verticals. Some advocate a raised vertial for part of the counterpoise length with the remainder on the ground. Must look into this more.
WB4BKO-Ned
Interesting video. Very informative. All the necessary details for building a simple, inexpensive and effective antenna. You proved what a friend of mine, now a silent key and a ham for over 60 years, often stated: "if you paid more than $10.00 for antenna parts, you spent too much". Your relaxed and friendly style of presentation is a plus. I have never used a 1:1 balun on a vertical. Usually five to 8 turns of coax wound around a 2" piece of PVC pipe (when using RG58 or RG8X) near the feed point should be adequate to choke off any RF on the feed line. That piece of PVC pipe also works well as the center insulator. Thank you for your video.
Thank you sir for taking the time to watch and comment. Really appreciate it. I’m a big fan of home brewing antennas too. 73
Thank you Tim, I enjoy all your videos
You are very welcome Denny and thank you.
Fan....bloomin'......tastic! Excellent little project to do and looks like some great results. Thoroughly enjoyed! 73' and stay safe mate.
Thanks buddy hope you are all good 73
Thanks Tim, I shall have a go! Taking my Foundation exam on 26 June and have just bought a Yaesu FT-840, can’t wait to get DXing. Thanks again, Marc
Brilliant Marc! Good luck and enjoy the bands! 73
Good video Tim. One of my fave antennas. I think I have a few shown on my basic YT channel too. I have messed about with balanced feeding too for multiband. Another cheap end insulator is a plastic dolly peg (you can cut them up and make a few) - they don’t appear to soften in a microwave so appear to be decent for HF.
Cheers
Dolly pegs... one for my list. Cheers Nick hope all is well 73
Brilliant Tim, I’m definitely making this and taking it away on holiday. I’ll be close to the sea at Primrose Valley, May 31st. I’ll update you on my progress. 73 M7BCN
Fabulous hope it works well
Really good video. So good I even watched it twice!
Glutton for punishment!! 73
Great video Tim. It really helped me get it into my head the way it works.
2I0FIP
Thank you John I’m glad it helped you 73
Cheers getting back on the air soon nice and straight forward. Thank you Lee M3NVO
Good luck with getting back on air. Hope to work you someday 73
Lash ups are my speciality, it really is that simple to make a single band aerial, the best sort. Great useful vid, thanks for posting and encouraging hams to get out there and do it for themselves at very little cost and learn a lot too👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻73 de M0AZE.
Couldn’t agree more Mike. Experimenting with wires is what makes it all fun! 73
A very simple and reasonably effective antenna, very well explained, as usual. Good job. 73 de VE2DPE Claude
Thanks Claude it’s great to have you watch and comment. Hope all is well. 73
Thanks Tim. I built this antenna ,first trip copied R7 , VE, YB , and several Europeans , I was really pleased with it. I would be interested if you could research Ground Tuning Unit for 1/4 wave antennas . Many thanks, Roger G3KMV
Glad it worked well Roger… check out Dave G4AKC who goes bicycle mobile with a 1/4 wave and GTU next to the sea and works DX every time
Simple simple simple! What it’s all about and we’ll explained.👍☘️
@Tim G5TM: Hi Tim. Just one small point: @ 7:34 “How do we calculate how much wire we need?” The 234 imperial formula includes a 0.95% velocity factor, whilst the 75 metric formula figure you quoted does not. The correct metric formula, including the 0.95% velocity factor, should be 71.25 / f.
To advise others who might read my posting, in my own antenna construction experience I have found the 0.95% velocity factor is only a nominal figure, and in real life have always found the velocity factor to be lower - even as low as 0.87% or 0.88%.
A combination of various factors affects the velocity factor, such as (i) thickness of antenna wire, (ii) whether or not the wire is insulated, (iii) type of ground beneath the antenna and (iv) height of antenna above ground. In all cases, I have always found that using either formula (both with the built-in 0.95% velocity factor) has resulted in antenna legs that are longer than required, so the legs can easily be shortened to the correct length.
Excellent advice from Tim, guys - if you are into serious antenna-building, get yourself an antenna analyser. Far better to spend your money there than on an ATU (which should, of course, really be called an Impedance Matching Device (IMD), which is all it does - it matches the impedance of the antenna to the 50 Ohm impedance of the radio). An ATU does NOT tune an antenna! The biggest "con" in Ham Radio!
I hope this helps any newbies, and welcome to them to the hobby. Iain.
Been watching your vids for a while now as an Mw3 license holder your info is invaluable going to get some wire up shortly not sure what as yet mind 👍
Fabulous! Enjoy!
I'll give this a go next month, thanks for sharing!
Good man.. let us know how you get on Dom. 73
Thanks for sharing. I have the DX Commander all band vertical. I find that the swr is high on all bands with 10 meters being unusable even with an external tuner. I like your set up.
Thanks for the comment. 73
Thats funny first could not hear your call sign, only after 3 attempts, then he give you 5.9. Good video mate
I was thinking the same thing 😅
Tim , you keep putting out great videos. Thanks 73 ! VE1EPB
Andy that’s very kind! 73 and thank you for watching and stopping by.
Thank you 👍 I’ve made many wire dipole antennas but no vertical antennas. Must give your design a try 👍
Go for it!
Tim thanks for the video, very informative, I'd like to give it a try.
What do you use for poles? I'd like a permanent solution, I'm not intending to make it portable.
Thanks
Peter
As a semi permanent solution at home I use a cheap 10m fibreglass pole but with each section stuck together with araldite. Four years so far and no issues
Tim, I'm looking at a very similar design. You should give this a try with the ends of the radials at 82cm above the ground and the feed point at 3m above the ground. That's where it seems to model for best performance. Take care.
Thanks I’ll check that out
Nice one Tim… I’m gonna try this out next as I’m always exploring different ways to make portable lightweight antennas for SOTA.
Have you tried this with the feed point and radials down nearer the ground?
Yes it’ll work as long as the feedpoint is at least say 4-5 feet above ground. Keep the radials off the ground. The flatter they run to the feedpoint the higher the impedance so the swr may climb away from a 1:1 match but still should present a good swr. 73
@@timg5tm941 Thanks Tim, I’ll keep that in mind and give it a go.
Thanks Tim. Can I ask where your poles are from? Thanks. Peter M0LMG
Three main sources for 7 or 10m poles: sotabeams; DX Commander or eBay I’ve used all three.
Hi tim good video , but you missed telling us how to work out the length of the radials , please update thanks
Hi Eddie. The same as the vertical element. Some designs for this antenna state to have the radials 5% longer others do not. I have to say that whenever I’ve made this antenna I’ve kept it equal and it seems to always tune easily and work very well. 73
Tim G5TM thats great , if you did say in the vid i missed it but that clarifies it , good work tim
No problem Eddie. Great to have you stop by. 73
Nice job Tim, pity the bands are not in good shape, although 10/6M are workable
Yes at least thats something! 73
Hi Tim, I have built your 2M EFHW from another video (and it works brilliantly thanks) so I’m going to give this one a go as well
Question before I start though, you’ve tied off the radials at what looks like fence/shed height, so is there an optimum height for the ‘inverted v’ created by those 2 radials? Or maybe an optimum angle?
Many thanks, Rob
73 M7ASU
You should try and have each radial around a 45 degree angle from the feedpoint. Try and keep their ends above head height (high voltages) then good to go!
Tim G5TM excellent, thanks for the clarification
Great Video Tim. Are the two radials the same length as the vertical?
Thanks! Yes they are. Although many make these with the radials 5% longer. It doesn’t really seem to matter either way. 73
What type and height fiberglass mast are you using? Thanks for the great video. 73 KF6EFG
Hi john it’s a 10m fibreglass mast supplied by DXCommander. Thank you very much for stopping by and leaving a comment. 73
Nice job & explanation Tim! TNX. In mountain area each mass in "gram" matters...special in winter time (portable). Have to try out before snow over knees....:-)
Nice one! I agree weight matters Eden portable. 73
Explained extremely well, first time watching your channel, thanks for the info de 2E0SQA
Thank you for the feedback and for watching! 73
Would this work if the radials were at 90 degrees to each other rather than 180?
If you have two radials it would skew the pattern and possibly cause common mode currents
@@timg5tm941 OK, thank you. I am looking at my possibilities.
thank u so much sir from india. the length of green wire is 5.28m and the angled grey wire is 2.6m each correct sir
Great video! What mast are you using in this video?
Fibreglass telescopic pole
Hi Tim. Have you done any vids on FT-8? I was wondering when setting up what you put in for grid ref?
Hi Martin FT8 / digital isn’t my thing sorry.
@@timg5tm941 No probs. 73
Hello Tim I also have a small back yard would a 40m inverted Vee with manual perform better than 9:1 unun 54’ vertical wire. Trying to also have multiband capabilities? Inverted vee feed 30’
If I was a betting man? Yes. At least in my experience
@@timg5tm941 thanks Tim I’ll be putting up the inverted vee in couple of weeks. Thanks for the insight. Keep making the videos also!
@@glennfinney1595 thank you and good luck. 73
the 1/4 wave vertical is a magical antenna, i'd be interested to know how you found the noise levels compared to other antennas on the same band. 73 G7KDM
Hi Colin about the same as an efhw and about 2 s points more than a centre fed dipole
@@timg5tm941 thanks Tim, that's not bad at all considering the H v V polarity differences and the vertical picking up noise from all directions.
I’m hoping to create a 2 m Multi element vertical dipole To use as a base station antenna at home
I would like for all of the elements to be in phase so that they all radiate at the same time
I just don’t know how to create the wiring harness to attach it all to get it to work correctly
Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated
I am unsure on that one - maybe someone else can chip in with some advice here..
Thanks Tim, going to give this a try looks like a great home made antenna. 73 David W5DPV
Hope you enjoy! 73
Nice simple build and very well explained, how high is the tip of the vertical element from the ground ?
Thanks Robert. The Balun in the video was 10 feet off the ground so the top end is 26 ft high. It can go higher of course. 73 and thanks for watching!
@@timg5tm941 If you don't use a balun how is it connected ?
Robert Barrie you can simply solder the centre conductor of the coax to the vertical wire and the coax braid to the radials. Or make the same connections using choc block connectors, taking care to waterproof connections 73
@@timg5tm941 Sorry if this sounds dumb but do you split the outer braid and connect to each radial or does the radial become one length with the outer braid connected ?
No such thing as a dumb question 👍 Both or all radials will connect to the single piece of braid. That’s why most installations will have this soldered and covered with heat shrink or good quality tape to further waterproof the connection So to recap, in my case it would be both radials connected to the single braid of the coax. Hope this clarifies it?
Fantastic video tim think ill have a go at this one thanks MW7BOI 73,s
Nice one go for it 73
Hi tim well i finally got round to building this antenna swr coming in at 3 which wire do i trim the vertical or radials
Works well. Tim great job bud 73
Cheers Andy, appreciate you stopping by mate 73
Just watched this - very useful thanks. Will give it a try. One thing, is your conversion factor for wire length in metres correct at 75/f? One foot = 0.3048 m so 234/f for feet converts to 71.3/f for metres. Just curious!
@David Kerr: Hi David. I am about to leave a posting for Tim, G5TM, regarding this very topic. The 234 imperial formula includes a 0.95% velocity factor, whilst the 75 metric formula figure Tim has used does not. The correct metric formula, including the 0.95% velocity factor, should be 71.25 / f.
However, in both formulae, 0.95% is only a nominal figure, and in real life I have always found the velocity factor to be lower - even as low as 0.87% or 0.88%. A combination of various factors affects the velocity factor, such as (i) thickness of antenna wire, (ii) whether or not the wire is insulated, (iii) type of ground beneath the antenna and (iv) height of antenna above ground. In all cases, I have always found that using either formula (both with the built-in 0.95% velocity factor) has resulted in antenna legs that are longer than required, so the legs can easily be shortened to the correct length.
Excellent advice from Tim, guys - if you are into serious antenna-building, get yourself an antenna analyser. Far better to spend your money there than on an ATU (which should, of course really be called an Impedance Matching Device (IMD), which is all it does - it matches the impedance of the antenna to the 50 Ohm impedance of the radio). An ATU does NOT tune an antenna! I hope all this helps, Dave. Iain.
@@iainmeteorscan1555 Good reply. I was also going to mention that the velocity factor was applied only to the Imperial measurement and not to the Metric, but you beat me to it. I have an IMD in my rig (IC-7300), so just need to buy an analyzer, then it's antenna building time!
@@nrgxpert Hi nrg. Good you picked up on it also. Beats me why UK Hams still use the imperial formula - we’ve been metric for over 50 years now! The Yanks obviously still use imperial, as they haven’t discovered metric yet!
It also beats me why Hams still talk about their bands in metres (meters in Retardistan) when even the band plans are listed in kHz and MHz! I can’t remember the last time I saw a radio calibrated in metres!.
Great you are considering purchasing an antenna analyser - as an ardent antenna builder myself, apart from my radios, it’s the best piece of kit in my armoury! I know you will have fun with your antenna building, as you can see exactly what’s happening as you make adjustments. Iain.
@@iainmeteorscan1555 I bought an MFJ- 259D and have built a half dozen POTA and SOTA antennas, plus my EFHW base antenna. It works wonders!
So, just out of curiosity, what frequency did you cut for? And what length did you make the radials? Where they the same length as your antenna? Thank you in advance
From memory around 14.220 MHz and yes the radials were the same as the vertical element.
@@timg5tm941 thank you for taking the time to answer back
Hi, can the anntenna be mounted at ground level or just above with the radials lyeing flat on the ground?
Hi Pat if the radials are on the ground then they are effectively de tuned. In that case you don’t need a specific length but as many as you can fit on the ground. 73
Hi Tim! Thanks for sharing your experience. I build a lot of vertical antenna and i have a question: why balun? Vertical antenna should be already unbalanced. Best 73 de iw2hus, Franco
Hi Franco. From my perspective it is just to provide a convenient feedpoint for portable use and to help eliminate any stray common mode. Thank you very much for watching and commenting. 73
Tim, thanks, I've just come across this as looking to build my first antenna and this is incredibly useful - I've only used bought antennas thus far, and this is a great first. Out of curiosity, would you think that the same design with appropriate proportions work well for 40m? Although I suppose that the radials length might be a bit prohibitive within your constraints (which are similar to mine).
Hi Giuseppe yes you can scale this for any band. For 40m you'll need 22 feet (10m) wires. Use the formula 234/frequency for the length in feet. 71/frequency for length in metres. 73
@@timg5tm941 thanks Tim, will definitely try that, and good shout on the QRP 1:1 balun, it seems a solid piece of equipment for a reasonable price.
Pleased to report that the 20m vertical works a feat! Thanks :)
Can you use any wire for vertical element?2E0KTX. Kev
Yes any wire will do Kevin.,73
Cheers,clad I saw your video, will carry on watching them👍👍👍👍
Tim, Looks like you have neighbours nearby. Whats the EMC situation like with this antenna for you? Pete
Hi Pete. Only 10m with my 33ft doublet caused tvi with a neighbour. That was at 40 watts or more. We tested all other modes and Hf bands 40-10 with no issues thankfully. I’ve changed the 10m antenna to a vertical and sited it further away from them and no issues. Ah the curse of modern living lol. 73
Just one late question here, Tim. Are you making your radials the same length as your element? Thx for the video. Just what I was looking for. Brent VA7HUM
Hi Brent - for the elevated radials the same length should be ok - they worked ok here. 73
Hi Tim. what length were the radials to start, same 1/4 wave as the element? Thanks, Brent VA7HUM
Hey Brent, yes same length although designs often have them 5% longer than the vertical element. Doesn’t seem to matter in the real world either way. 73
@@timg5tm941 Thanks.
Thanks
Great job Tim. Any chance you can provide a link to the supplier of the 1:1 choke balun?
Hi Adrian it’s in the description mate .. hamgoodies.co.uk 73
Tim G5TM cheers. Watching you on my phone without my glasses on lol
Ha! Without mine I’d never find the phone!!73
Hi, what poles are those? Cheers!
Hi Paul. The one I used in this video was a DX Commander fibreglass pole. Thanks for watching 73
Thanks!
Would a 9.1 unun ?
They work but need a good earth and either lots of radials or a long counterpoise. Even then they are prone to common mode issues.
Ok cheers I have a 10 metre pole , got some garden wire with green cover on, gonna give it a try .i got a balun coming .
Good one mate. I’ll try this for 15m.
Worth a go!
I make one for operater on my eletricvheelschair i make T2LT my vhoque have 7 turns work well 73 PY1AX TONY QRV
Nice!
Good..mr..?
is the length of the radials the same as the element? I plan on using 4. Thanks
Yes all radials and vertical element are the same. You can prune the vertical element to adjust swr if needed. 4 radials is fine. 73
Thanks a lot!
Noob HAM here from 🇮🇳!!
73 de VU2EHC
Nice well done :-)
Cheers Jez 73
Nice and practical! At a few points I thought I'd see a GW call :) 73 de Dafydd DJ0MZ
Ah yes I’m a Llanelli boy now living in Sussex! 73
Rhondda boy here, now in Guildford, but actually back in Rhondda at the moment. GW1YJY.
👍
Has to repeat call 5-times..."59". lol
Yes but he is only using 10 watts!!!
Golf Five Tango Mike
Thank you, repeat your call sign
Golf Five Tango Mike
And the last digit again?
Mike, Tango Mike. Mike, Mexico, Tokyo Mexico
One more time?
MIKE! MEXICO! TANGO MIKE MIKE MIKE! MEXICO, MIKE, TOKYO MEXICO! MMMMMMMM
Thank you Golf Five Tango Mike, you're 59! 😂😂😂
Yep! Lol
@@timg5tm941 haha great video by the way! Thanks for your contribution!
@@DeShark88 my pleasure, thank you for stopping by and saying hello.