Ask Michael, KB9VBR: Do Tiger Tail antennas work?

A viewer asks: Do tiger tails (counterpoises for VHF handheld radios) work? Do they offer a benefit? Joe and I talk about it.
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[@bobkonkel6344]

Thanks Michael for the contact! Looking forward to meeting up with the group in October! KD9TQH POTA Bob from Indiana…

[@walteredwards544]

I've used them with a rubber duck before and it made a noticeable improvement making contact on certain repeater nets. I have a signal stick and it works well. I also have the Abree Antenna also and it was phenomenal,but it was very long and a bit unweildy

[@sporeviking]

I have a home made tiger tail (Personally I prefer to call it a “ground plane wire”) that clips on to the outer bnc ring of my signal stick. It seems to help my signal quality on repeaters 20+ miles away. It lowers my SWR from 3 to

[@daveN2MXX]

It is a counterpoise, not a ground plane.

[@jamesgeorge1709]

Te radio case is a decent counterpoise for 70cm but not anywhere close for 2meters and that is where the Tiger tail realy works.😊

[@Mason-hs9oz]

I used to use them. Pretty easy set up and would be in my pack woth a coorded mic. Did SAR.

[@RLPnKY]

Did I miss the answer to the question about using a tiger tail when using a shoulder mic? I am assuming that it would not help since your hand and body act as a grounding plane when holding the radio & wire.

[@hillwooky]

On a UV-5R the lanyard loop is ground! Just tie the wire to the lanyard loop. No need to have anything under the antenna mount.

[@rilosvideos877]

Can i make a dual band counterpoise for 2m and 70cm VHF/UHF with two wires of different length (each 1/4 wavelength) and put them together at one end? Would this work or can i only use one at a time?

[@KB9VBRAntennas]

Using two wires will work. Multiple length counterpoises for HF vertical antennas is a common practice and the same concept can be scaled for VHF/UHF.

[@rilosvideos877]

@@KB9VBRAntennas Thanks for the quick answer! Best to test and tune with a NanoVNA 🙂

[@elkabong6429]

It always makes me cringe when I see anyone pick up an HT by the antenna! The antenna connector is the weakest part of any HT. Oh well.

[@stevenemert837]

@elkabong6429 You must be yelling at the screen through the whole video when watching Notarubicon then!

[@elkabong6429]

@@stevenemert837 No, not yelling at all. Just made me cringe a bit. I enjoy watching Mike’s vids and have been a subscriber for a while now.

[@maxtaylor6278]

His name is Randy. 😆

[@dontaskmeforusername]

They don't work if connecting to ground. I've tested this using the weather channel. You remove the antenna so that you don't get a good reception, touch the tiger tail to the ground and nothing improves. Touch the tiger tail to the "hot" and you get improvement. The way they tell you to connect to the ground is not effective at all.