When I was a 15-16-17 year old I had an HF radio and I would listen during all of my down time and every single time I heard hams chatting about antennas, antenna testing, tips/tricks, debunking silly designs, etc etc etc. Your series of antenna testing videos are what I need! It wasn't until you tested the vogue LOG antenna that I actually decided to try it. Keep it up Cal!
Nice one Callum! I once had a 1000 feet Beverage at 5 feet above the ground, pointing to the USA, in a field sloping to the north-west. I did some pretty good measurements, and it seemed that it was giving me about 20dB signal to noise advantage over my transmit vertical on 80m trans-Atlantic! It was lovely to hear the delight in the voices of the state-side guys with their "apple-tree" wire antennas! 😀
During Lighthouse Weekend we use a 400+ foot long end fed antenna. We were located on a cliff about 100 feet above salt water. The antenna was supported by a 40 foot tall flag pole in the middle. To date it was the best antenna we have used at this location. We were at the Horton Point Lighthouse in Southold, NY
Just thought I'd make a quick comment on this gentleman. I wrote to him once about something I don't even remember. He actually wrote back in under ten minutes. I had never previously written to him either. He's a very down to earth guy. Very innovative as well.
I love these presentations- Not a lot of “ums/uhs” and he speaks with confidence, his voice doesn’t drop out, and his pace is good. No 1.5x playback required!
A couple RX antennas I have is a 450ft loop on the ground, using a home-brew binocular torroid 9:1 transformer, and I also have a nearly 500ft beverage antenna, 7ft off ground, oriented towards Europe. I left my beverage "ungrounded", or without termination on either end, which enables it to be bi-directional on the RX signals. Both antennas are 14AWG stranded copper wire, and fed with 75ohm RG11 coax. Both are great tools in the ham radio tool box. My beverage, hands down, is my best RX antenna bringing weak signals to the forefront simply by reducing noise ratio from the signal. One TX antenna I use is an EFHW cut for 160m, 64:1 transformer, put up in an inverted-L configuration, also made of 14awg stranded copper wire.73 and thanks WD9M
Naturally, you are earth grounding the side of the transformer connected to the aerial wire. The other side of the transformer, leading back to the shack, is of course never earth grounded.
i'm in the center of Ohio and had a sched. with my father on Long Isand mornings for many years. I've tried several types of antennas. My best success came from a twenty meter dipole that is strung below the eves of my home. It is about 30 feet long and I can almost reach up and touch the feedline . It works best for contacting Dad on 40 meters!. Another oddball contact occurred on a CB whip antenna I tuned to 40 meters. I live below grade and the antenna was laying on the floor. I heard a station, called him, and he responded. I misheard his location and was shocked when he told me he was in Hungary!
Cal I just had a conversation with a friend that has an end fed pointing east west and how he can hear Vancouver from his farm just outside of Moose Jaw. We didn’t understand why he could receive well along the length when we understood the transmit signal is strongest broadside to the wire. I still don’t understand but you just proved it’s not uncommon. Cheers from Moose Jaw Tim VE5THF
not sure how I got here but this brought back fond memories. in the last 60s I built a heath kit receiver (still have it and last time I checked, it still works on the original tubes!) and ran a wire out my bedroom window to a walnut tree out in the field, end fed. I used to listen all night real quiet so my parents couldn't hear, keeping careful records of where I could identify the sender. This was in California and I listened all over the world. Good ole days...
Your antenna is working well. I've never been a fan of endfed antennas myself. I've built 1000 ft loops fed with 450 ohm line and they seemed to tune a lot easier with the auto tuners and with low Rx noise. I had one at my HF station in Maui on the beach at 35 ft off the ground with 14 guage wire and it worked well for 1.8 to 7 MHz operation. I used fixed beams pointed to the US mainland for higher frequencies.
Many years ago I met a American veteran living Canada, whom served in Italy. He is/was a ham. He told me he dragged a long wire on the ground up Monte Casino. He stated that long wire could reach his HQ better than anything the other guys had(with shorter antennas). He stated it was very directional. The part he hated was repairing the long wire when the German snipers kept cutting his wire. VE6KBI Dana - enjoyed your video. Thanks
One of the local hams was big into DX. He had DXCC on all bands. He ran 4 beverages N S E W. All were up about 4 feet with wooden stakes in the ground. Each had a termination resistor. Worked great. Another great video 73 Cal.
When Callum started describing this I thought "Cool, a beverage variant, gotta watch this". But all band DXCC and 4 beverages. Wow indeed. That's dedication.
I've been using a "snake antenna" on 160m for years. I increased the length to 250 feet recently and worked 43 stations on the Stew Perry with only 5 watts from Massachusetts. (Both transmit and receive) The antenna sits on the ground but I was told to put it on top of some logs and that would increase the performance. Very nice presentation: Fantastic results.
I've always enjoyed the older books, and not just on subjects like this. In the days before the internet and whatnot, it was more about making do with what you could actually get your hands on, as opposed to what you could afford. It is always neat to go through those old books and see the things that we have generally moved beyond and kind of forgotten over the years, but are still very valid and useful today. There's a lot of that "old school" stuff I learned over the years that I still find incredibly handy in my job as a bike mechanic, despite all the electronic doo-daddery they absolutely jam into those things these days. Very, very cool stuff. Really looking forward to see what else you dig up from the book.
I'm quite literally a 100watt guy with a wire in one of my apple trees (Yaesu FT-857 with N9SAB OCFD). Thanks for thinking of us! I actually need to admit that I have a piece of scrap wood clamped to a flag pole with some old 3/4" and 1" tent poles cobbled together for a 3 element 10m beam. Was able to get a fella from Ukraine using FT8 from Northwest USA pointing across the Pacific. As a new ham, this is all pretty fascinating. Measured the yard this afternoon and realized I can probably run a 130 foot long EFHW across the back yard for 10-80m. Now to save up to get the parts to build. Really appreciate your content!
I run a 80 to 10 meter 59:1 End Fed Half Wave antenna with about 132 feet long wire in a Inverted VEE up about 32 feet using a army surplus mast held up with a T-Post and rebar into the base wrapped with plumbers tape. I've had great results with this antenna, background noise is low. I also use a 20 foot counterpoise as well.
Hello Callum: I love your energy as well as your continued strive for bringing us groundbreaking antenna information + the digital data thru your videos. Most hams think they know antennas but in reality it's what there buddy said or out of the ARRL HANDBOOK. O'l chap please keep on kicking it up, 73's , good health, 👍, God Bless. TMP, Unit 22 from N.J.
Wonderful experiment and demonstration, really goes to show how much a quiet receive antenna helps. Not just signal to noise but it's also easier on the ears. 👍
I operate almost entirely portable. I've built and deployed dipoles, verticals and used hamsticks. By far, my best results have come from my homemade end fed and a 35 collapsible pole. I can deploy in under 10 minutes and work all of the US with very little effort with occasional DX.
Especially well done Callum, this is a prime example why most of the contest stations use beverages/recieve antenna's, "Phat" example of a good tech example/educational story. Respect!
THIS IS AWESOME. I operate portable (SOTA) so every activation is a set-up in a new location, new conditions, varying ground conditions... etc. I'm also packing light so I don't have a bunch of meters/analyzers with me and the majority of my time is eaten up by the drive and the hike. So... watching your in-the-field experimentation with those variables made me feel A LOT better about my gear. Everyone acts like their "No-Tune Antenna" acts the same on the summit as it did when they analyzed it at home. THIS VIDEO explains that... no, there are so many other variables other than your antenna length when you deploy. Grew leaps and bounds watching this several times. Thank You!
I bought an end fed (40m long) several months ago and contemplated how to erect it. I think I’ll do as you did: start with the grove of trees in the back yard but really high, then make an L back towards the house over an even higher tree. I have a mechanism that will allow my drone to release the wire. Excited! Great videos.
Absolutely brilliant and so enjoyable to watch. Every time you walk around a field with a reel of wire, sometimes in the cold or drizzle, you post a video, and it feels like we’re there with you! You continue to experiment with ‘things radio’, (which, as we know, is the purpose for which we were all granted amateur radio licenses), and you share your results, good or bad, with the rest of us, to increase our knowledge. For this, I thank you, and long may you continue to make these videos…73.. John..G4EIJ
It's not that older information has been forgotten. It's that sharing that information seems to turn in to an argument. The massive influx of new hams over the past few years has seemed to breed a "buy a plug and play solition" mentality with a lack (and sometimes fear) of experimentation. Thank you for stepping out of that box!
I once built a full wave 160 meter loop. The first time I transmitted on it, it opened my garage door and scared the crap out of me! It worked really well but the spurious emissions where so great my neighbors (and wife) hated me because I blackout every TV and radio in the area. It was great fun and the garage door opening and closing every time I transmitted was always worth a laugh with my ham buddies. 😂
Inspired me to have a go at this, have the 64:1 built now, wire is ready. Just going to be 1 to 1.5 meters off the ground right now but looking forward to testing! *Now if it would quit snowing and do springtime that would be swell*
17:59 Bits of wire... I wholeheartedly agree! I'm still "young" in ham radio, but that comment resonates with me a LOT as I don't run an amplifier. Thanks!
Hi Calem !! I've just come across you doing this really good bit here.. !!! Great, it's nice to see people learning and discovering the arts of antenna's.. I am a very old hat !! Merchant Marine Radio officer from the past ,, I was looking on the internet at how the modern day ham "looks" at wires antenna's of various descriptions. I was really amazed to see not much info at all !!! ,,,, and there you are !!! explaining the concepts,, through experimentation ,,, "well done" . It only gets better,,,, (good song that),,, thing can only get better !!!!.. At the moment I have 2 old fashion un-terminated V-beams, one is 320 mtr up at 40 mtr, and the 2nd is at 70ft and 120 mtr legs,, no1 points NW/SE,, no2, North and South over the poles,, not much in it really,, but amazing difference is signal strengths,,, I think when you get yours up a tad more, to lower the angle, the difference will be really there,,, to be seen.,, carry on, I will be looking with interest at your results,,,, my very best regards to you,, and your followers .. Carl
Hello.. I think your name might be Carl. Welcome.. Yes, I'm mucking about with wires! V Beams also fascinate me, not sure I have the room.. See you again soon, I absolutely LOVE your credentials!
That's been my experience too. I run an OCF random wire dipole on a 4:1 balun, 205' on one leg 90 something on the other leg about 3 meters up. The noise just disappears. It's awesome. Thanks for putting this out, can't wait to try this on a longer setup!
Long time ago when I first licensed (1981) we lived in the arse end of nowhere in North Norfolk. I used two sides of a field, the barbed wire along the top of the fence, so 1 metre off the ground , as a V antenna, fed with ladder line into an ATU. I ran 20 watts and could easily get into the USA. (Then I moved to a flat in Brighton. Big reality check.) Where I live now there is a fence about 100 metres long, not far away but too far to run a feed ,so I plan to go portable to test that out. I am waiting for the weather to improve. Interesting experiments, something Ham Radio lacks in the modern era.
I’m sharing this. I hear so many stations calling cq, then the whole North America answers the cq but the station doesn’t copy anyone. This with a qrm eliminator would solve a good part of the hearing issue big gun stations have. 73
if you can't hear them, you can't work them. Having a dedicated receive antenna is great. For everyday use the DX Commander is a fine antenna but this will help you chase that DX.
I used to work aurora and meteor scatter in the early 90s on a G5RV on 2m FM when it was in the "down" position for high winds. It ran North/South at about 2m above ground, it lay along the top of a old thin hawthorn hedge. Compared to a 4 element yagi and a 2 element quad up high it had load of gain. I recall experimenting with some barbed wire fence-tops too out on the moors, using a field gate to create a break at the feed point. IIRC I used croc clips to a chocolate block connector on the end of coax lol. Again, worked good for auroral if N/S, and I worked some 200km stations to the south that were completely inaudible on a vertical colinear on the car. That was the clincher, a long wire oriented end-towards the target station at 2M would produce nothing end-on UNLESS it provided good gain off teh end of the wire (needs to be very, very long in terms of wavelengths) Can't remember how i fed these long wires at VHF now - my mind i blank for matching arrangements. Age is a killer lol edit:I believe I used the original NEC on IBM PC XT to check out the pattern/gain potential. All DOS-based programs and quite a lot of hand-plotting of the output onto graph paper. MININEC made life easier later on. edit2: I recall seeing some graphs in an ARRL antenna manual, possibly in the beverage, vee or rhombic sections that gave a clue of likely gains. 30 years ago now, memory is hazy sorry.
Excellent video, quite interesting. And you have a great diction for us non-native English speakers. I shall never have enough space for such an antenna, but I've learned a lot from your experiment. Thanks for the entertaining 20 minutes.
Thanks for the best source of information about end fed antenna as well as on 'Beverage' antennas. Just started to experiment with long wire, but my backyard is small and neighbors are noisy (including my own house). So far, long wire antenna do not outperform simple dipole, but hope to rise wire as much as possible to get more out of it. Thanks again!
Years ago when I was running my antennas business, I had a customer call and ask about using some abandoned phone lines on his Texas ranch as a long wire antenna. I said it should work and asked how long it would be. He said, well, from one end of the ranch to the other it would be about 20 miles...Ah, Texas. The only ham conventions I ever went to where people were embarrassed about "only" having a 2 element 80 meter beam.
Super interesting, I'm an SWL only but always been fascinated by long wires. That long receive antenna was so much quieter and really gave an edge in terms of signal to noise. Mind you, it should at 160m long! Love these experiments, only recently discovered the channel and made the DX Commander connection. Subscribed.
Love the down to earth approach Get R Done I have an arrow connected to fishing line ready to shoot over the tree for my new sloper. I just like to listen! First nice day! I practiced a few times took the tip off! I have a Boston terrier chasing the arrow ha haha just having fun! knew that bow would come in handy. I use a 1886 loop for mw reception I have received am radio stations 800 miles away on a good night. New York to Chicago. I was that kid with a transistor radio under the bedsheets.
I just bought a 2.5 acre lot with a chain link fence around the perimeter. I am going to try this technique. Thanks so much for the inspiration Cal! 73 K6TjO formerly of CA now residing in OK
I get good results on my EFHW 49:1 , I have it mounted in a sort of sloping inv L, half is up around 55-60 feet and rest slops down to around 3 feet off the ground, I have the transformer there and grounded. It’s got a ceramic capacitor in the middle to increase resonance on 80m without having to physically shorten it which would mess up the other bands. It does 80-10m , I get good NVIS and good DX. Very happy with it. When propagation is good I’ve no problem having qso on 80m.
I just watched your video and I must say the "enthusiasm"you have for science/experimentation/ and ham radio is inspiring ! soi want to share my experience with 160M end fed, 1/4 wave. An Elmer I know taught about this, 1/4 wave doesn't require a balun. I have since added 3 more wires to that same coax, at a junction point , 160M, 40M, 30M, 20M. They run about 15 feet vertical, then out to a tree limb, horizontal. I compared these to an OCFD that I had ran for 5 years, only HF antenna I had ever used until this. The End Fed were quieter than the OCFD. WHen I compared RX to the 1/4 wave 160M end fed, it receives better than the OCFD where it is resonant. Looking forward to the next videos in this series !
land I have and wire is cheap! I am just considering what radio to buy but a long wire is a game changer. The snow fence is up and your low budget,long reach wire sounds like a good choice.
I experimented with a 49:1 and a wire as long as I could afford. The transmission is highly affected by the height, as expected. I used a very long fishing pole in the middle so it looked like an inverted V. Transmission and reception improved dramatically. Time and weather didn't allow me to continue experimenting but I have a 20m wire to install on top of my apartment, about 20m above ground. I have high hopes in this configuration
For some reason, this video is just hitting my feed. Fabulous video. I am so encouraged by your spirit of experimentation and innovation. This is what originally attracted me to the craft. I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on the need for more focus on antennas as a key--perhaps THE key--component of the experience. Although my CW skills are weak, I can imagine that this antenna would have just as dramatic impact on CW-receive as it does for SSB.
This is brilliant, Callum, cheers! I've only recently begun to think about having a separate receive antenna. When I was knee-high to a hedgehog I used to string up longwires everywhere to try catching SW stations, and the occasional amateur operator. And despite the fact that I had no bloody idea what I was doing, I seemed to be able to pick plenty of low-level signals out of the noise. Fast-foward to when I got into ham radio, and once I learned about all these sexy new transmitting antennas, I just assumed (no doubt stupidly) that if they can transmit to the 3rd outer ring of Saturn, they should be able to receive anything! Turned out not to be the case. Anyway, this is really an eye-opener that takes me back to those wonderfully experimental days when I wasn't worried about being bloody precise or 'correct'. I happen to have a lot more land where I am now than I ever have before, so I'm really looking forward to trying some of these things out. I'm going to start with the LoG from your previous video (which you mentioned here at the end. Seems like it's way too easy to do, so I just have to try it!
One of my first contacts, on a borrowed 30w national tube radio on 40m using a full size 1/4 wave antenna on 40m I built on top of a barn with a good set of ground radials, was with a station in Antarctica , built by a scientist with a long wire pointing north ! I was the only one who could hear him, and he only responded to me !
My secondary antenna is a, "straight," piece of wire extended across 12 hectares. I use it for receive. I can pick up aviation beacons across the continent sometimes.
Callum, when I model this antenna, it appears that having it lower to the ground provides more gain at very low angles compared to installing it higher like at tree level. All very interesting. Thanks for your efforts testing this out. 73 -Steve KN4IQE
I don't know how accuate the model is because we are SO LOW to the ground however, after the live stream last night, I was chatting to Mike and Roly and modelled it again and sure enough, roughly at 10 feet, I'm getting about 6-6dB. So maybe it's fairly correct..?
Your video got me to thinking about a receive antenna using the wooden privacy fence in my backyard then I ran into a partial spool (about 300' of 1000') of 16 awg stranded wire at a thrift shop and with some screw in eye loops to thread the wire through I now have a horizontal V loop (2 sides of the fence) running on the north and east. The bottom part of the loop is about 2.5 feet off the ground and the top part about 6 foot one continuous run the feed point is on the lower part of the run about 2/3 of the way from the V. Used an old balun and some coax to feed it into the house. It works better than I thought also got it to tuned on 40 and 80 running low power with VarAC was able to be heard into Europe and the West coast here according to the PSK map.
I use (rx only) a waist high Beverage that is 40m long with a 9:1 and 450 Ohm termination resistor. This gives best snr for me on 20m long path to VK / ZL … I’m inspired now to try another roll of wire :)
This experiment gives me hope for not having to be so strict when hanging an antenna! I already have and certainly will learn lots from it! Here's my story someone might learn something from... I recently went on holiday/vacation to a rental property and set up my 991a. I'm new(er) to HF and had always been strict with myself about putting antennas up "properly" in an inverted V or a sloper, etc. Well, this trip I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I strung my 50W end fed (40-20-15-10m) transformer from 4-5 feet high above ground on a patio/deck bannister; ran it along a 5 foot tall wooden fence and up into trees (about 6-7 feet high) in some spots and was basically laid out in a large, lazy "L" shape on the property. So from Bandera, Texas, on 10 meters, with 50 watts, I made a pretty lengthy QSO to Connecticut and made short QSOs to Japan and Australia in just over an hour. I WAS AMAZED! So from now on, I don't worry about getting the antenna up in the "perfect" position. I just go with what I've got! You'll never know what you'll get until you try! But you have to get out there & try. Thanks for the content Cal! Michael - WA5AZQ
Hi I am the typical low power 100w radio ham with an Inverted V antenna for 10, 20 and ,40m and like to play around with long wire antennas, based in South Africa. Thank you for these videos. Nick call sign ZS1NS.
OK, so this long wire stopped "working" and I traced it to the fact that it was cut by some workmen putting a car park in. I did re-join it but it's shorter now and just doesn't have the "bang" it used to.
Thank you for these insightful and informative comparisons! I've been thinking about setting up something just like this and now I'm even more motivated
I knew something like this would work magic, but never got down to trying it. Thank you for actually doing it. PS: BTW, I have seen this video about 7-8 times....
I am using a large loop antenna,270 m long shaped like a pentagon fed with home made 450 ohm ladder line into a 4:1 balun and 75 ohm coax to the rig. The highest point is about 75 feet above the ground. The far end is 3 feet above the ground where I have it terminated with 750 resistor. I use 100 watts and it performs very well. I have also tried a beverage antenna approx 1 km long about 6 ft above the ground terminated with 600 ohm at the far end to earth for receive only !
So at the current house I use 49:1 efhw and wrap it around the house to use the small plot. It works! I trimmed down after getting some stretch. The new house will get a Dr commander and a loop on the ground.
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I believe you are doing more for the future of ham radio than 99.9% of the rest of us. Thank you again.
I do this for me - but it's fun to share too!
Thankful you like to share.
Being an End-Fed guy currently... I will now be buying a DX Commander because of your fair review. Thank You!
Have confidence :)
When I was a 15-16-17 year old I had an HF radio and I would listen during all of my down time and every single time I heard hams chatting about antennas, antenna testing, tips/tricks, debunking silly designs, etc etc etc. Your series of antenna testing videos are what I need! It wasn't until you tested the vogue LOG antenna that I actually decided to try it. Keep it up Cal!
Nice one Bob!
Nice one Callum! I once had a 1000 feet Beverage at 5 feet above the ground, pointing to the USA, in a field sloping to the north-west. I did some pretty good measurements, and it seemed that it was giving me about 20dB signal to noise advantage over my transmit vertical on 80m trans-Atlantic! It was lovely to hear the delight in the voices of the state-side guys with their "apple-tree" wire antennas! 😀
Yes, I'll bet that was a delight!
During Lighthouse Weekend we use a 400+ foot long end fed antenna. We were located on a cliff about 100 feet above salt water. The antenna was supported by a 40 foot tall flag pole in the middle. To date it was the best antenna we have used at this location. We were at the Horton Point Lighthouse in Southold, NY
Just thought I'd make a quick comment on this gentleman. I wrote to him once about something I don't even remember.
He actually wrote back in under ten minutes. I had never previously written to him either.
He's a very down to earth guy. Very innovative as well.
Glad you had a pleasant experience..!
I love these presentations- Not a lot of “ums/uhs” and he speaks with confidence, his voice doesn’t drop out, and his pace is good. No 1.5x playback required!
He is ME! Thank you!
A couple RX antennas I have is a 450ft loop on the ground, using a home-brew binocular torroid 9:1 transformer, and I also have a nearly 500ft beverage antenna, 7ft off ground, oriented towards Europe. I left my beverage "ungrounded", or without termination on either end, which enables it to be bi-directional on the RX signals. Both antennas are 14AWG stranded copper wire, and fed with 75ohm RG11 coax. Both are great tools in the ham radio tool box. My beverage, hands down, is my best RX antenna bringing weak signals to the forefront simply by reducing noise ratio from the signal. One TX antenna I use is an EFHW cut for 160m, 64:1 transformer, put up in an inverted-L configuration, also made of 14awg stranded copper wire.73 and thanks WD9M
Lovely!
Naturally, you are earth grounding the side of the transformer connected to the aerial wire. The other side of the transformer, leading back to the shack, is of course never earth grounded.
I made a 160m square up 4m fed with 300ohm twin lead for receive only. Absolutely fantastic!
Nice!
I’m just rewatching this again. This was a cracking experiment, science right in front of our eyes (or ears). This is what the hobby is about.
i'm in the center of Ohio and had a sched. with my father on Long Isand mornings for many years. I've tried several types of antennas. My best success came from a twenty meter dipole that is strung below the eves of my home. It is about 30 feet long and I can almost reach up and touch the feedline . It works best for contacting Dad on 40 meters!. Another oddball contact occurred on a CB whip antenna I tuned to 40 meters. I live below grade and the antenna was laying on the floor. I heard a station, called him, and he responded. I misheard his location and was shocked when he told me he was in Hungary!
The fun of RF!! HAHA
Cal I just had a conversation with a friend that has an end fed pointing east west and how he can hear Vancouver from his farm just outside of Moose Jaw. We didn’t understand why he could receive well along the length when we understood the transmit signal is strongest broadside to the wire. I still don’t understand but you just proved it’s not uncommon. Cheers from Moose Jaw
Tim VE5THF
not sure how I got here but this brought back fond memories. in the last 60s I built a heath kit receiver (still have it and last time I checked, it still works on the original tubes!) and ran a wire out my bedroom window to a walnut tree out in the field, end fed. I used to listen all night real quiet so my parents couldn't hear, keeping careful records of where I could identify the sender. This was in California and I listened all over the world. Good ole days...
Great memories! And thanks for popping along!
Your antenna is working well. I've never been a fan of endfed antennas myself. I've built 1000 ft loops fed with 450 ohm line and they seemed to tune a lot easier with the auto tuners and with low Rx noise. I had one at my HF station in Maui on the beach at 35 ft off the ground with 14 guage wire and it worked well for 1.8 to 7 MHz operation. I used fixed beams pointed to the US mainland for higher frequencies.
I used to love those auto-tuners. And yes, they LOVE big antennas..!
Many years ago I met a American veteran living Canada, whom served in Italy. He is/was a ham. He told me he dragged a long wire on the ground up Monte Casino. He stated that long wire could reach his HQ better than anything the other guys had(with shorter antennas). He stated it was very directional. The part he hated was repairing the long wire when the German snipers kept cutting his wire. VE6KBI Dana - enjoyed your video. Thanks
Great comment!
One of the local hams was big into DX. He had DXCC on all bands. He ran 4 beverages N S E W. All were up about 4 feet with wooden stakes in the ground. Each had a termination resistor. Worked great. Another great video 73 Cal.
Wow
When Callum started describing this I thought "Cool, a beverage variant, gotta watch this". But all band DXCC and 4 beverages. Wow indeed. That's dedication.
I've been using a "snake antenna" on 160m for years. I increased the length to 250 feet recently and worked 43 stations on the Stew Perry with only 5 watts from Massachusetts. (Both transmit and receive) The antenna sits on the ground but I was told to put it on top of some logs and that would increase the performance. Very nice presentation: Fantastic results.
Nice one Callum, you might also want to run wspr on that antenna for 24 hours and see what shows up on the map!
That's a good idea!!!
I've always enjoyed the older books, and not just on subjects like this. In the days before the internet and whatnot, it was more about making do with what you could actually get your hands on, as opposed to what you could afford. It is always neat to go through those old books and see the things that we have generally moved beyond and kind of forgotten over the years, but are still very valid and useful today. There's a lot of that "old school" stuff I learned over the years that I still find incredibly handy in my job as a bike mechanic, despite all the electronic doo-daddery they absolutely jam into those things these days.
Very, very cool stuff. Really looking forward to see what else you dig up from the book.
Yes Thor.. We will try a few more!
I'm quite literally a 100watt guy with a wire in one of my apple trees (Yaesu FT-857 with N9SAB OCFD). Thanks for thinking of us! I actually need to admit that I have a piece of scrap wood clamped to a flag pole with some old 3/4" and 1" tent poles cobbled together for a 3 element 10m beam. Was able to get a fella from Ukraine using FT8 from Northwest USA pointing across the Pacific. As a new ham, this is all pretty fascinating. Measured the yard this afternoon and realized I can probably run a 130 foot long EFHW across the back yard for 10-80m. Now to save up to get the parts to build. Really appreciate your content!
Diamond!
I love the leg kick when you're throwing the wire.
Yes.. I think I almost took-off!
I run a 80 to 10 meter 59:1 End Fed Half Wave antenna with about 132 feet long wire in a Inverted VEE up about 32 feet using a army surplus mast held up with a T-Post and rebar into the base wrapped with plumbers tape. I've had great results with this antenna, background noise is low. I also use a 20 foot counterpoise as well.
Hello Callum: I love your energy as well as your continued strive for bringing us groundbreaking antenna information + the digital data thru your videos. Most hams think they know antennas but in reality it's what there buddy said or out of the ARRL HANDBOOK. O'l chap please keep on kicking it up,
73's , good health, 👍, God Bless. TMP, Unit 22 from N.J.
Erergy.. Yes, even though I might be wrong sometimes :)
Wow... I'm about to put up a long fence around my property. Thanks for doing the experimentation. Really looking forward to following the progress.
Nice
Wonderful experiment and demonstration, really goes to show how much a quiet receive antenna helps. Not just signal to noise but it's also easier on the ears. 👍
Yes, exactly :)
I operate almost entirely portable. I've built and deployed dipoles, verticals and used hamsticks. By far, my best results have come from my homemade end fed and a 35 collapsible pole. I can deploy in under 10 minutes and work all of the US with very little effort with occasional DX.
This is the kind of content that really inspires me with amateur radio.
Ah! Fabulous :)
Especially well done Callum, this is a prime example why most of the contest stations use beverages/recieve antenna's, "Phat" example of a good tech example/educational story. Respect!
Good point!
THIS IS AWESOME. I operate portable (SOTA) so every activation is a set-up in a new location, new conditions, varying ground conditions... etc. I'm also packing light so I don't have a bunch of meters/analyzers with me and the majority of my time is eaten up by the drive and the hike. So... watching your in-the-field experimentation with those variables made me feel A LOT better about my gear. Everyone acts like their "No-Tune Antenna" acts the same on the summit as it did when they analyzed it at home. THIS VIDEO explains that... no, there are so many other variables other than your antenna length when you deploy. Grew leaps and bounds watching this several times. Thank You!
I bought an end fed (40m long) several months ago and contemplated how to erect it. I think I’ll do as you did: start with the grove of trees in the back yard but really high, then make an L back towards the house over an even higher tree. I have a mechanism that will allow my drone to release the wire. Excited!
Great videos.
Fabulous!
Absolutely brilliant and so enjoyable to watch. Every time you walk around a field with a reel of wire, sometimes in the cold or drizzle, you post a video, and it feels like we’re there with you! You continue to experiment with ‘things radio’, (which, as we know, is the purpose for which we were all granted amateur radio licenses), and you share your results, good or bad, with the rest of us, to increase our knowledge. For this, I thank you, and long may you continue to make these videos…73.. John..G4EIJ
Yeah, I know.. The colder and wetter it it for me, the more you enjoy it! LOL
It's not that older information has been forgotten. It's that sharing that information seems to turn in to an argument. The massive influx of new hams over the past few years has seemed to breed a "buy a plug and play solition" mentality with a lack (and sometimes fear) of experimentation. Thank you for stepping out of that box!
Yes, mandatory!
don't no the subject but this channel has energy in buckets
Awe - thanks!!
I once built a full wave 160 meter loop. The first time I transmitted on it, it opened my garage door and scared the crap out of me! It worked really well but the spurious emissions where so great my neighbors (and wife) hated me because I blackout every TV and radio in the area. It was great fun and the garage door opening and closing every time I transmitted was always worth a laugh with my ham buddies. 😂
Woops!
Superb again Cal! Your enthusiasm is contagious 🤠
Haha.. You need to feel sorry for Wendy! :)
Thank you Lord Callum for your no nonsense, no bull video. 1959 is a great year 😊
You got that right!
Inspired me to have a go at this, have the 64:1 built now, wire is ready. Just going to be 1 to 1.5 meters off the ground right now but looking forward to testing! *Now if it would quit snowing and do springtime that would be swell*
17:59 Bits of wire... I wholeheartedly agree! I'm still "young" in ham radio, but that comment resonates with me a LOT as I don't run an amplifier. Thanks!
Hi Calem !! I've just come across you doing this really good bit here.. !!! Great, it's nice to see people learning and discovering the arts of antenna's.. I am a very old hat !! Merchant Marine Radio officer from the past ,, I was looking on the internet at how the modern day ham "looks" at wires antenna's of various descriptions. I was really amazed to see not much info at all !!! ,,,, and there you are !!! explaining the concepts,, through experimentation ,,, "well done" . It only gets better,,,, (good song that),,, thing can only get better !!!!.. At the moment I have 2 old fashion un-terminated V-beams, one is 320 mtr up at 40 mtr, and the 2nd is at 70ft and 120 mtr legs,, no1 points NW/SE,, no2, North and South over the poles,, not much in it really,, but amazing difference is signal strengths,,, I think when you get yours up a tad more, to lower the angle, the difference will be really there,,, to be seen.,, carry on, I will be looking with interest at your results,,,, my very best regards to you,, and your followers .. Carl
Hello.. I think your name might be Carl. Welcome.. Yes, I'm mucking about with wires! V Beams also fascinate me, not sure I have the room.. See you again soon, I absolutely LOVE your credentials!
Thank you for investigating the transformer end feds. I love my homebrew transformer and wire.
That's been my experience too. I run an OCF random wire dipole on a 4:1 balun, 205' on one leg 90 something on the other leg about 3 meters up. The noise just disappears. It's awesome. Thanks for putting this out, can't wait to try this on a longer setup!
Recently.. Performance has tailed off.. I need to check what's happened.. Maintenance probably!
Long time ago when I first licensed (1981) we lived in the arse end of nowhere in North Norfolk. I used two sides of a field, the barbed wire along the top of the fence, so 1 metre off the ground , as a V antenna, fed with ladder line into an ATU. I ran 20 watts and could easily get into the USA. (Then I moved to a flat in Brighton. Big reality check.) Where I live now there is a fence about 100 metres long, not far away but too far to run a feed ,so I plan to go portable to test that out. I am waiting for the weather to improve. Interesting experiments, something Ham Radio lacks in the modern era.
Ron.. I think this as a portable might be the way.. I need to do an on-the-ground test to see how fine it is for easy deployment.
"everything interferes with everything" - well said
Well done - great info. I may try this on my hunting lease, which is ~175 acres
Woah! Do it :)
the beverage antenna is very good and would work 12 inches off the ground
I’m sharing this. I hear so many stations calling cq, then the whole North America answers the cq but the station doesn’t copy anyone.
This with a qrm eliminator would solve a good part of the hearing issue big gun stations have.
73
Agh! I know :)
I’ve often wondered what a real long wire would do. Great presentation.
if you can't hear them, you can't work them. Having a dedicated receive antenna is great. For everyday use the DX Commander is a fine antenna but this will help you chase that DX.
Yes John!
Your testing helps us in our ham radio practice. I am a visual learned so videos are priceless
Perfect!
I have a square loop on the ground, 40 meters on a side. I am always amazed at the clear signals when it works. Good show Callum. 73
Great video! Love seeing the two audio feeds in the headphones.
Nice to see you so excited about your experience, which is what the best of Ham Radio is all about.
Couldn't agree more!
I used to work aurora and meteor scatter in the early 90s on a G5RV on 2m FM when it was in the "down" position for high winds. It ran North/South at about 2m above ground, it lay along the top of a old thin hawthorn hedge. Compared to a 4 element yagi and a 2 element quad up high it had load of gain. I recall experimenting with some barbed wire fence-tops too out on the moors, using a field gate to create a break at the feed point. IIRC I used croc clips to a chocolate block connector on the end of coax lol.
Again, worked good for auroral if N/S, and I worked some 200km stations to the south that were completely inaudible on a vertical colinear on the car. That was the clincher, a long wire oriented end-towards the target station at 2M would produce nothing end-on UNLESS it provided good gain off teh end of the wire (needs to be very, very long in terms of wavelengths)
Can't remember how i fed these long wires at VHF now - my mind i blank for matching arrangements. Age is a killer lol
edit:I believe I used the original NEC on IBM PC XT to check out the pattern/gain potential. All DOS-based programs and quite a lot of hand-plotting of the output onto graph paper. MININEC made life easier later on.
edit2: I recall seeing some graphs in an ARRL antenna manual, possibly in the beverage, vee or rhombic sections that gave a clue of likely gains. 30 years ago now, memory is hazy sorry.
You took the words out my mouth...Age is a killer!
Man with the tractor and hedge cutter will love you Cal. Interesting results I have a 240 m wire at my portable location. It does receive very well.
I did ask landlord if I could trim all these and he wasn't keen... Grrr.
There is a ZL running a 606m wire sloping down a hillside i believe he is in the ZLWRTC team heard on 20meters about 5 days ago
Excellent video, quite interesting. And you have a great diction for us non-native English speakers.
I shall never have enough space for such an antenna, but I've learned a lot from your experiment.
Thanks for the entertaining 20 minutes.
Thank you! 😃
Thanks for the best source of information about end fed antenna as well as on 'Beverage' antennas. Just started to experiment with long wire, but my backyard is small and neighbors are noisy (including my own house). So far, long wire antenna do not outperform simple dipole, but hope to rise wire as much as possible to get more out of it. Thanks again!
Years ago when I was running my antennas business, I had a customer call and ask about using some abandoned phone lines on his Texas ranch as a long wire antenna. I said it should work and asked how long it would be. He said, well, from one end of the ranch to the other it would be about 20 miles...Ah, Texas. The only ham conventions I ever went to where people were embarrassed about "only" having a 2 element 80 meter beam.
I love experimenting. What your doing is a lost art of this hobby.
Yes, I guess I'm a bit odd! :)
As a newb in VK3 with a farm to turn into an antenna farm, this is tremendously exciting.
Ah great!
Super interesting, I'm an SWL only but always been fascinated by long wires. That long receive antenna was so much quieter and really gave an edge in terms of signal to noise. Mind you, it should at 160m long! Love these experiments, only recently discovered the channel and made the DX Commander connection. Subscribed.
Welcome and thanks for the great comment.
This video was awesome!!! Thanks for being entertaining and informative. Amateur radio needs more Elmer’s like you.
Wow, thanks!
Love the down to earth approach Get R Done
I have an arrow connected to fishing line ready to shoot over the tree for my new sloper. I just like to listen! First nice day! I practiced a few times took the tip off!
I have a Boston terrier chasing the arrow ha haha just having fun!
knew that bow would come in handy. I use a 1886 loop for mw reception
I have received am radio stations 800 miles away on a good night.
New York to Chicago. I was that kid with a transistor radio under the bedsheets.
Keith Fenner loves that expression "Get R Done" :)
You've inspired me to do some experimenting myself, as I have about 100m long garden by 20m wide - loops and end feds sound very interesting. Thanks
Sounds great!
I just bought a 2.5 acre lot with a chain link fence around the perimeter. I am going to try this technique. Thanks so much for the inspiration Cal! 73 K6TjO formerly of CA now residing in OK
Brilliant! That length of wire did the trick! There’s always more to learn about this hobby. Thank you!
You bet!
Hello from Kentucky,USA. I’m a new amateur..enjoying your vids…
Welcome!
Brother you did it you got your 3to 4. More DB with the long wire wow. Works great. Thankyou. KC9LRA. Bob. . Indiana.
Yeah, it's truly wonderful..!
I get good results on my EFHW 49:1 , I have it mounted in a sort of sloping inv L, half is up around 55-60 feet and rest slops down to around 3 feet off the ground, I have the transformer there and grounded.
It’s got a ceramic capacitor in the middle to increase resonance on 80m without having to physically shorten it which would mess up the other bands.
It does 80-10m , I get good NVIS and good DX. Very happy with it.
When propagation is good I’ve no problem having qso on 80m.
I just watched your video and I must say the "enthusiasm"you have for science/experimentation/ and ham radio is inspiring ! soi want to share my experience with 160M end fed, 1/4 wave. An Elmer I know taught about this, 1/4 wave doesn't require a balun. I have since added 3 more wires to that same coax, at a junction point , 160M, 40M, 30M, 20M. They run about 15 feet vertical, then out to a tree limb, horizontal. I compared these to an OCFD that I had ran for 5 years, only HF antenna I had ever used until this. The End Fed were quieter than the OCFD. WHen I compared RX to the 1/4 wave 160M end fed, it receives better than the OCFD where it is resonant. Looking forward to the next videos in this series !
Yes, there does not seem to be ONE antenna that does everything :)
land I have and wire is cheap! I am just considering what radio to buy but a long wire is a game changer. The snow fence is up and your low budget,long reach wire sounds like a good choice.
Just found this channel. I live for antenna experimenting and I'm loving your content thus far.
Welcome aboard!
I will have to live vicariously thru you on this one. Wish I had access to enough space to give it a try my self.
I experimented with a 49:1 and a wire as long as I could afford. The transmission is highly affected by the height, as expected. I used a very long fishing pole in the middle so it looked like an inverted V. Transmission and reception improved dramatically. Time and weather didn't allow me to continue experimenting but I have a 20m wire to install on top of my apartment, about 20m above ground. I have high hopes in this configuration
For some reason, this video is just hitting my feed. Fabulous video. I am so encouraged by your spirit of experimentation and innovation. This is what originally attracted me to the craft. I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on the need for more focus on antennas as a key--perhaps THE key--component of the experience.
Although my CW skills are weak, I can imagine that this antenna would have just as dramatic impact on CW-receive as it does for SSB.
Yes, I am sure too.. Imagine being able to hear that well on CW..? Hell, you could get anywhere! :)
This is brilliant, Callum, cheers! I've only recently begun to think about having a separate receive antenna. When I was knee-high to a hedgehog I used to string up longwires everywhere to try catching SW stations, and the occasional amateur operator. And despite the fact that I had no bloody idea what I was doing, I seemed to be able to pick plenty of low-level signals out of the noise. Fast-foward to when I got into ham radio, and once I learned about all these sexy new transmitting antennas, I just assumed (no doubt stupidly) that if they can transmit to the 3rd outer ring of Saturn, they should be able to receive anything! Turned out not to be the case. Anyway, this is really an eye-opener that takes me back to those wonderfully experimental days when I wasn't worried about being bloody precise or 'correct'. I happen to have a lot more land where I am now than I ever have before, so I'm really looking forward to trying some of these things out. I'm going to start with the LoG from your previous video (which you mentioned here at the end. Seems like it's way too easy to do, so I just have to try it!
Great comment.. Yes, conventional wisdom IS that the transmit and receive antenna should be same.. But hey, why not move into the past! :)
@@DXCommanderHQ And if it works, then all the better!
One of my first contacts, on a borrowed 30w national tube radio on 40m using a full size 1/4 wave antenna on 40m I built on top of a barn with a good set of ground radials, was with a station in Antarctica , built by a scientist with a long wire pointing north ! I was the only one who could hear him, and he only responded to me !
Lovely!
My secondary antenna is a, "straight," piece of wire extended across 12 hectares. I use it for receive. I can pick up aviation beacons across the continent sometimes.
Wow....!
Must be nice to have that kind of real estate !
Congrats !
👍😉
Very!
Very impressive. I enjoy these antenna R&D videos. Please keep them coming. Can't wait to see the other heights and end grounded.
Thanks, will do!
Great experiment with positive results, what more could a ham ask for
Callum, when I model this antenna, it appears that having it lower to the ground provides more gain at very low angles compared to installing it higher like at tree level. All very interesting. Thanks for your efforts testing this out. 73 -Steve KN4IQE
I don't know how accuate the model is because we are SO LOW to the ground however, after the live stream last night, I was chatting to Mike and Roly and modelled it again and sure enough, roughly at 10 feet, I'm getting about 6-6dB. So maybe it's fairly correct..?
Your video got me to thinking about a receive antenna using the wooden privacy fence in my backyard then I ran into a partial spool (about 300' of 1000') of 16 awg stranded wire at a thrift shop and with some screw in eye loops to thread the wire through I now have a horizontal V loop (2 sides of the fence) running on the north and east. The bottom part of the loop is about 2.5 feet off the ground and the top part about 6 foot one continuous run the feed point is on the lower part of the run about 2/3 of the way from the V. Used an old balun and some coax to feed it into the house. It works better than I thought also got it to tuned on 40 and 80 running low power with VarAC was able to be heard into Europe and the West coast here according to the PSK map.
Great!
I use (rx only) a waist high Beverage that is 40m long with a 9:1 and 450 Ohm termination resistor. This gives best snr for me on 20m long path to VK / ZL … I’m inspired now to try another roll of wire :)
Oh nice.. We will ALSO be trying that..
This sounds like a fun project.
This experiment gives me hope for not having to be so strict when hanging an antenna! I already have and certainly will learn lots from it!
Here's my story someone might learn something from...
I recently went on holiday/vacation to a rental property and set up my 991a. I'm new(er) to HF and had always been strict with myself about putting antennas up "properly" in an inverted V or a sloper, etc.
Well, this trip I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I strung my 50W end fed (40-20-15-10m) transformer from 4-5 feet high above ground on a patio/deck bannister; ran it along a 5 foot tall wooden fence and up into trees (about 6-7 feet high) in some spots and was basically laid out in a large, lazy "L" shape on the property.
So from Bandera, Texas, on 10 meters, with 50 watts, I made a pretty lengthy QSO to Connecticut and made short QSOs to Japan and Australia in just over an hour. I WAS AMAZED!
So from now on, I don't worry about getting the antenna up in the "perfect" position. I just go with what I've got!
You'll never know what you'll get until you try! But you have to get out there & try.
Thanks for the content Cal!
Michael - WA5AZQ
Great comment.. If you were by the ocean- there's another 10dB..!
Hi I am the typical low power 100w radio ham with an Inverted V antenna for 10, 20 and ,40m and like to play around with long wire antennas, based in South Africa. Thank you for these videos. Nick call sign ZS1NS.
Very interesting! An antenna laying on the ground sounds exciting!
It is.. Mine is currently broken - I think I need to re-string it.
You love to play antenna. I wish I had that room to just have fun and try it.
Interesting stuff, I'll be watching. Transmitting on the long wire will be interesting too.
OK, so this long wire stopped "working" and I traced it to the fact that it was cut by some workmen putting a car park in. I did re-join it but it's shorter now and just doesn't have the "bang" it used to.
Thank you for these insightful and informative comparisons! I've been thinking about setting up something just like this and now I'm even more motivated
Do it :)
I knew something like this would work magic, but never got down to trying it. Thank you for actually doing it.
PS: BTW, I have seen this video about 7-8 times....
HAHA!
I am using a large loop antenna,270 m long shaped like a pentagon fed with home made 450 ohm ladder line into a 4:1 balun and 75 ohm coax to the rig. The highest point is about 75 feet above the ground. The far end is 3 feet above the ground where I have it terminated with 750 resistor. I use 100 watts and it performs very well. I have also tried a beverage antenna approx 1 km long about 6 ft above the ground terminated with 600 ohm at the far end to earth for receive only !
Very interesting.. I wonder how it would perform without the resistor..
@@DXCommanderHQ with the resistor it appears to be more directional but still works well with out it
Congratulations on a great antenna project... I love it when a plan comes together!
Thanks!
Great video Cal. See you Friday for the livestream.
I have a 66ft wire on top of my garden fence with a 9.1 balun, its great for cutting the noise down on 40m and nothing else,
That’s amazing. I have the space for it too. Going to have to have a play.
Great!
Now this has me thinking how I can run a long long loooong wire here... very interesting info and tests .. great job Callum!!
Go for it!
Turn it into a beverage antenna and you'll be impressed with the lower noise floor!
Indeed and I think in the video, we discussed doing that. Soon. Bits on order.
So at the current house I use 49:1 efhw and wrap it around the house to use the small plot. It works! I trimmed down after getting some stretch. The new house will get a Dr commander and a loop on the ground.
Lovely!