Get a cheap cutting board from the dollar store and make some wire winders, use a pattern like sotabeams or chameleon antennas makes for that purpose. Wind your radials or counterpoise up in a helical or figure 8 pattern, wind em up or pay em out- simple! Plus you can mount a t130- 2 toroid on the end of one and fit some bolts and wingnuts on it and have a 9:1 UNUN for random wire 25-30' of wire . Just food for thought... from an old QRP field operator.
@@HamRadioNewb I don't want you to think that I'm knocking what you did, I just think that you can use wires and double up their duty. I've used something similar to the coil loaded antenna that you have there. I have a super antenna ( an MP1 it's old something like 20+ years) and I would carry all sorts of radials, tripods etc. And it got to be a real chore . I got a QRP ATU, and then found out how to make UNUN's and BALUN's I figured that it was so much easier to carry an end-fed antennas. Wire winders came in handy and I added my BALUN's or UNUN's right to them even a 1:1 choke. So it really helped me out back when I was younger. I'm just happy to see you younger guys still experimenting with gear. Keep up the good work! When I started in radio it was a major undertaking just to get a rig into the field. I have a full analog/digital station with a Raspberry PI 4 that fits in a small pack. Ham radio is better than ever! Glad you are part of it! 73
You just need to either keep the radials on a kite-winder, or, roll them up in a figure 8 configuration. They won't tangle. You can just throw them out on the ground.
I have never had good luck I guess, lots of tangling. These worked great this weekend. I made them 17ft for 20m (tuned up better than 25ft) and got into several European and south American countries!
Folks have been using tape measures for a long time for both radials and wire antennas. I used to have a dipole made out of two tape measures. You have to be careful not to twist the tape measure as once you kink it you are basically screwed. However I find them cumbersome and don’t have any issues deploying radials. Its all in how you roll them up. I use 3 33 foot radials with my WRC and it works fb. Kudos to you for thinking outside the box . Btw, I use power pole connectors for just about everything. One of the nice features of using tape measures is the ability to use them as different length radials for different bands if you choose to do that. de ke4d
Thanks for the comment, I just hadn't really come across it much for specificly wrc, I've seen the "antenna tape measure" with fq instead of inches. A better winder would almost definitely help, but for 30$ I found this to be a good option
Because I didn't have the time when I was shooting that video! These take at least 4 hours everytime I make one, adding a trip to a park doubles that! I also figured the deployment was pretty self explanatory.
@@wolfwizard406 a pigtail goes to a ring terminal on the wolf river coils, just like a radial wire does, then the tape measure plug into that with power poles
I have done this in the past it’s a great method. Thanks for showing people
Get a cheap cutting board from the dollar store and make some wire winders, use a pattern like sotabeams or chameleon antennas makes for that purpose. Wind your radials or counterpoise up in a helical or figure 8 pattern, wind em up or pay em out- simple! Plus you can mount a t130- 2 toroid on the end of one and fit some bolts and wingnuts on it and have a 9:1 UNUN for random wire 25-30' of wire . Just food for thought... from an old QRP field operator.
Interesting idea, it was a fun project and this does work pretty well. No regrets!
@@HamRadioNewb I don't want you to think that I'm knocking what you did, I just think that you can use wires and double up their duty. I've used something similar to the coil loaded antenna that you have there. I have a super antenna ( an MP1 it's old something like 20+ years) and I would carry all sorts of radials, tripods etc. And it got to be a real chore . I got a QRP ATU, and then found out how to make UNUN's and BALUN's I figured that it was so much easier to carry an end-fed antennas. Wire winders came in handy and I added my BALUN's or UNUN's right to them even a 1:1 choke. So it really helped me out back when I was younger. I'm just happy to see you younger guys still experimenting with gear. Keep up the good work! When I started in radio it was a major undertaking just to get a rig into the field. I have a full analog/digital station with a Raspberry PI 4 that fits in a small pack. Ham radio is better than ever! Glad you are part of it! 73
Don't Wolf Ricer Coils recommend 32ft ground radials......
They sell it with that, pretty much any configuration if number and length will work and more radials that are short almost always work better
You just need to either keep the radials on a kite-winder, or, roll them up in a figure 8 configuration. They won't tangle. You can just throw them out on the ground.
I have never had good luck I guess, lots of tangling. These worked great this weekend. I made them 17ft for 20m (tuned up better than 25ft) and got into several European and south American countries!
Very quick to deploy and pack up too. Had all 6 out and connected in under 5 minutes
Folks have been using tape measures for a long time for both radials and wire antennas. I used to have a dipole made out of two tape measures. You have to be careful not to twist the tape measure as once you kink it you are basically screwed. However I find them cumbersome and don’t have any issues deploying radials. Its all in how you roll them up. I use 3 33 foot radials with my WRC and it works fb. Kudos to you for thinking outside the box
. Btw, I use power pole connectors for just about everything.
One of the nice features of using tape measures is the ability to use them as different length radials for different bands if you choose to do that.
de ke4d
Thanks for the comment, I just hadn't really come across it much for specificly wrc, I've seen the "antenna tape measure" with fq instead of inches. A better winder would almost definitely help, but for 30$ I found this to be a good option
Nice idea. So some months later Ham Radio Newb.....how did the counterpose with the radials work with the tape measures?
Works great!
I wouldn’t say Wolf river coils suck. Radial wire deployment and winding in the field sucks.
The antenna is great overall, radials just make it a pain to deploy and pack up.
Why didn’t you cut the build, and show the deployment?
Because I didn't have the time when I was shooting that video! These take at least 4 hours everytime I make one, adding a trip to a park doubles that! I also figured the deployment was pretty self explanatory.
@@HamRadioNewb you didn’t show how you connected then to your antenna.. If you could, that would be nice.. de wi7ard..
@@wolfwizard406 a pigtail goes to a ring terminal on the wolf river coils, just like a radial wire does, then the tape measure plug into that with power poles
WRC does not suck… Only takes me 5~ min to set up with 3 radials and I tall coast to coast.
Watch the full video!
I got the free ones from harbor freight to do this
Nice idea!!