Yep. I've been running my 133' long home brew doublet for 6 years now. It was meant to be a temporary installation, but ended up being permanent. My antenna tuner (MFJ 941e - MFJ Enterprises, RIP) is acutally inside the shack, with the ladder line connecting directly to it, with a short coax jumper to the radio. I have literally worked the world with it.
A way to keep the coax short between the tuner and the BalUn is to use a remote tuner. That way you can run any length of coax you want back to the radio.
I am one of the doublet guys out there. The coax length is 2 feet after I managed to put the ladder line inside the shack. Using a 1:4 coax balun by pa0fri found a better result than ferrite while using FRI-Match ATU. Ladder line dist. 3.6" more or less 600 ohms. Thanks for the video.
You are absolutely right about people tuning out if you record a bunch of your contacts. I have a few more YT faves I watch but if they get too deep into their contacts I slide the bar over past that stuff. Great video showing every bit of the setup. Thanks.
Great job Lord Mike ! Some tuners like the MFJ roller inductor manual tuner has a built in 4:1 Balun. would work very well on Doublet antenna . you use a PL259 to PL259 adapter and put that 4:1 right on tuner. after the tuner you can use like 50 ft Pota flex 7 cable, That 600 Ohm Ladder line. during snow and ice build up the SWR will change . just re tune. yes keep ladder line away from metal and off ground. When you take time to install Doublet correctly it really gets out. you just proved that ! 73
Popsicle stick home brew open line is my go to. Doublets can be of ridiculously compromised lengths and still perform amazing on several bands. If it worked great in 1921 it will work well today. For real POTA or QRP portable performance look up the NorCal Doublet.
The doublet is my favorite antenna because it is all-band, simple, quiet, and doesn't get RF on the radio chassis. You don't need a balun because many tuners have a built-in balun so you can run the ladder line right into the tuner. Instead of bulky ladder line, you can use old school 300 ohm TV twin lead antenna wire instead which makes it far easier to store and setup.
Mike!!! Hey man, if your going down to 69 watts, just go on down to 50 watts and use the emergency tuner in the 7300. That is a 10:1 tuner. No extra stuff to fool with. Used that with a 10 to 40m OCFD my last activation and was able to tune up and make contacts on all bands, even the WARC bands which it was not built for. The emergency tuner in that 7300 rocks! de Robert KD4YDC
That looks so fantastic the Way you installed the Doublet. I own a home made ZS6BKW with the 450Ω Wiremen Feeder. It's definitely one of my very favorite Antennas. Good Job, Mike. Happy weekend into the Lone Star State. 73 de Uncle Günter from across the Pond 💯🙋♂
Hey Mike. Huge fan here. Just wanted to say, contrary to the data, I really like your "on air" videos. As a newly licensed operator, I find it very helpful to hear you work contacts. I really enjoy your POTA pileups. It's my opportunity to sit over your shoulder (virtually) and watch you operate. Please don't stop recording your POTA activations. Thanks. KJ5GKK, Paul
I know the theory and science runs wild with this, but I just run the balanced line straight to the tuner in the field. No balun or unun. If you want to run a choke then I would suggest a 1:1 of some kind on the input (or output) of the tuner. I have never had a problem with antennas running from 66 ft to 300 ft running 100 watts in the field. Better yet a balanced pi network tuner. Mine is big so I just use the little mfj manual tuners or one of the auto tuners in my collection when working portable. Definitely performs better than an EFHW! 73
My first 200 or so Parks on the Air activations were done with a doublet. I wouldn't try open wire for portable use, but 450 or 300 ohm twinlead doesn't get tangled. About 99% of my contacts from home are on a doublet. The other 1% is on my DX Commander Sig9.
Great video Mike. I recently made a ~120 foot doublet with some old 300 ohm TV twin lead. It quickly has become my go to antenna. Oh and for everyone raising hell about the shirt, it's an antenna video not a tshirt video, let's try to stay on topic!
For people who live in climates where snow, ice, and rain are a factor, I wonder if the ladder line could be buried or run in an underground tube? Maybe not even use ladder line (unless the spacing is critical) but run 2 separate wires in 2 individual conduits underground. Then run them up inside a hollow mast. The ends could be fastened to the radiating part of the antenna in a junction box. That way the only part seeing moisture in its forms would be the radiators. Am I off-base here?
Of all the antennas I've made, this was by far my favorite one to run. I got silly and made a 160m version since I had the room to pull it off. I think I walked 5 miles getting it set up but I was very impressed with the results on the air. I quit running it because it was deaf ( to some degree) on 20m due to my orientation. While I had a massive signal into the Midwest (KS, OK, TX), I couldn't hear anyone very well, if at all. There are documents out on the web from Cebik that show the radiation patterns for each band. You have to watch the lobes and your orientation. When I went back to the Cebik documents, I realized the Midwest was in-between lobes on 20m and that had to be my issue hearing. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't go all the way like I did and, in fact, there is another design using 1.25 wavelength on the highest operating frequency (vs a 1/2 wavelength on the lowest) and if I remember correctly, making it for 1.25 wavelength on 20m will give you 40m and 80m. It comes out to about 3/8 of a wavelength on 80m, which isn't the best or optimal, but it would work in a pinch. The only other downside to this is the external tuner aspect but if that isn't an issue, then it isn't an issue. Enjoyed the video and seeing someone else giving this beautiful antenna a go on the air. 73
If you put the tuner next to the balam in a waterproof box and run two wires for activate the automatic tuner you can use a longer run of coax to your radio. Have used this particular setup Field Day 2 years ago and it was a great antenna. Keep up the great work enjoyed the video.
Hey Mike, i use the doublet antenna for 1 year now and it works great. Using a homebrewed 1:1 balun . The mat 30 tuned 80 to 10 mtr easily. Even with 10 feet coax between the balun and tuner. No problem. Great antenna
K8MRD, the only history/geography teacher you need.. From how doublets were invented back in the 1900s by the doublemint twins.. to how the mississippi river meets the pacific in pacific beach!
RE: Long Coax runs & doublets... use a remote ant tuner at the base of your mast. Trim the ladder line appropriately. Use a 4:1 balun at the tuner output as you did in this video. Many of the MFJ auto tuners have a bias tee at their input which allows the 12vdc operating power for the tuner to be fed down the coax cable. LDG makes a very nice remote auto tuner as well. This works REALLY WELL. 73 de Don KO7i
You CAN use more coax. I’ve been using doublets for 50 years - dipole or inv. V are both fine, but I like the straight out dipole. Get the feedpoint high enough to keep the balun off the ground and twist the ladder line to cause some choking action to keep the current on the antenna. Get the tuner at the balun and power it with a bias-T at your operating position with a random length of coax. That’s the secret ! I use a ladder and zip tie the tuner/balun (in an ammo box) on the paint can drop of the ladder. Works perfectly. 73, Jamie WB4YDL
What's amusing to me is I have some home made ladder line that looks like it is almost the exact same setup. I haven't gotten to really working with testing it properly, but it needs to get stuck on the list. Where I think the down side would be is trying to jam it into a tree like you would an inverted V or an EFHW.
I love the Doublet antenna. Yes, it's a lot to put up but talks circles around endfeds. I would have liked to see some on air video but super glad you're trying different antennas.
The LDG AT100 proii can be used remotely and is a better tuner than the mfj. Next time sweep the antenna with the radio and balun only. This will give us a better idea how well the antenna matches. Bought some M&P connectors for LMR500. Great connectors and shipped fast
I find it surprising that you can get such a good match on 160 m with only 45 feet on each side. Could you tell us how long the ladder line is and what is the spacing? It looks like 600 ohms? Also, is there a website or PDF that has more information on this antenna. I have been running tablets for many many years, and they are far superior in my mind, to any other antenna for multi band use! Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to demonstrate it as you did a very great job 😊 73!
Yep.... the double obeys the "more wire in the air the better" as it greats more intense fields rule. Think of it like an electric magnet more windings equals stronger magnet. In this case it means stronger signal to air. The law of reciprocy also applies.... gain on tx is also gain on rx. Don't be fooled its a horizontally polarised aerial. So skip from people using verticals could be down. It shoudl sound quieter too as natural noise is vertical. Be careful though, due to it's height from the ground (and the band you are on) it's going to be largely running in NVIS mode. A simple notion to follow there is any 1/2 wave dipole at 1/2 wave free space in the air will be when you get 30 degrees to the ground and broadside lobes. A 1/2 wave dipole at 1/4 wave (free space) over the ground for the frequency you are on , will be going straight up. Then you need to be aware of what the ionosphere is doing for the time of day.
I use a cobra ultralight doublet at the QTH which the dipole is 70ft of 3 conductor cable connected to itself in series on each side of the dipole giving me about 400ft of wire in the air. Im using a hybrid 4:1/1:1 balun on the rooftop of my house where the 450ohm windowline connects and 50ft of RG213 going into the house to the back of my tuner.
I realize its often a matter of ease/convenience, but if all possible, just like a normal dipole, you should try to keep the ends some number of feet off the ground rather than pinning them down to the dirt. But I'm sure you know that. I'd venture to say it would perform better if you could accomplish that though.
Try a longer or shorter patch cable from the unun. OR add or subtract a couple of feet of the open wire. If either has a high voltage node near the radio, it may cause tuning issues.
You can have long coax from the antenna tuner to the radio, you loose a bit of power but in that led the SWR should be perfect anyway so minimal. You just need a remote tuner for ease of use, it could even be at the bottom of the fibreglass pole. I'm curious how this would work with the Xiegu G90 and or the Xiegu power AMP as they have a built in tuner that's a lot better than the ICOM's etc.
Good video Mike; I enjoyed watching you discovering the doublet antenna. I've been using the doublet, portable now for over 25 years, with great success. I think the analytics are correct........ who wants to watch someone making contact after contact? Maybe someone..... Question: how did you have your Spiderbeam mast mounted.......just the guy wires?
❤my 160m doublet 250’ of balanced feeder zig zagging between trees and up to my 2nd floor shack where I dump 1kw into it from my Alpha77dx. Does all the bands and it cost me two reels of 12awg Thhn solid conductor. You can use stranded but I prefer solid. I use two maple trees to hold my NE element another to support the feed point then the SW element is in a 90’ pine tree on neighboring HOA property, there not happy about it but did not want to hire a tree climber to remove it 😉 as the support rope is embedded into a limb with a sap retaining compound 😊 feeder spacers are from tractor supply electric fence ribbed isolators and 12-14” uv resistant wire tie to hold the wire on each end of the isolator. Best to make the feeder element and ant element as one piece so no solder joints. 4” spaced feeder should ohm out to close to 600 ohm. Tuner is a dentron super tuner and a palstar at5k
I would love to get back into Shortwave listening again but I have too much interference. Bought a nice Tecsun radio and only get static. I miss listening so much.
Before I start my rant, I must say that Ladder Line is far superior to Coax. Now, when the ICE and SNOW and sometimes RAIN gets on it, it becomes useless. I've tried both and COAX works no matter what and I don't need a power robbing Balun in the line. After building and trying every kind of antenna in the world, I ended up with a 160 meter L shaped horizontal DIPOLE and an LDG autotuner and it does everything that the DOUBLET did. Cost? Just the price of the Wire and Coax.
I watched this with interest. Have you the AT-705? Can you give this doublet a field run with an IC-705 and AT-705? Would be interesting as the AT-705 is a great little tuner.
I see you use a mac, can you share which software you use for logging. etc. I have had my ham license for a few years but am just now getting on the air. Thanks!
Nice shirt. And the lake looked nice, but that view not so much ;) I've got one of those Cobra antennas they advertise on QRZ and have been wanting to bring it out to a park. It's kind of a bear to setup, but it did well for me even when running 2.5w SSB off the battery in my 817.
I don't think the MFJ tuner is made to tune 6m. I use my internal tuner to tune 6m. It's hard to do test's with antennas these days for POTA. So many people are using online SDR's to listen to stations they cant hear from their home QTH. Looks like a nice antenna though.73's
Your videos are really cool. The problem with antenna tests is always these couplers. Do a real test, without a coupler. I doubt whether this antenna is of good quality. Show how it actually works, without using couplers. You seem to be a poster boy for brands. 73
Running it in the inverted-v configuration, I doubt it had much directivity. Inverted-v tends to go omnidirectional. The patterns he showed would be applicable if it was run as a flat top.
I think it was funny. You were bent over facing away from the camera and said it was a good view! Sorry about that chief! Yes I am a smart ***! 73 W4DES
That +- 600 Ohm open wire feed line is my favorite way to connect an antenna. No loss at all and it looks cool. Too many people are afraid of it...
It’s the best antenna for me!
Heck ya man. Glad to have you try it.
Just subscribed to your channel.
I would love to get ahold of one of these. Any way to contact you?
I am interested in getting one of these as well. Please sent me your contact info.
Yep. I've been running my 133' long home brew doublet for 6 years now. It was meant to be a temporary installation, but ended up being permanent. My antenna tuner (MFJ 941e - MFJ Enterprises, RIP) is acutally inside the shack, with the ladder line connecting directly to it, with a short coax jumper to the radio. I have literally worked the world with it.
A way to keep the coax short between the tuner and the BalUn is to use a remote tuner. That way you can run any length of coax you want back to the radio.
Once you go doublet, you don't go back!! LOL!! Been running mine for a couple of years now and LOVE it! Welcome to the club, Mike!! W5ODP 😎
Nothing like twins. LOL
I mount the balun right on the back of the tuner using a double UHF male adapter… One less coax patch.
I’ve done that at home 👍
I am one of the doublet guys out there. The coax length is 2 feet after I managed to put the ladder line inside the shack. Using a 1:4 coax balun by pa0fri found a better result than ferrite while using FRI-Match ATU. Ladder line dist. 3.6" more or less 600 ohms. Thanks for the video.
You are absolutely right about people tuning out if you record a bunch of your contacts. I have a few more YT faves I watch but if they get too deep into their contacts I slide the bar over past that stuff. Great video showing every bit of the setup. Thanks.
Great job Lord Mike ! Some tuners like the MFJ roller inductor manual tuner has a built in 4:1 Balun. would work very well on Doublet antenna . you use a PL259 to PL259 adapter and put that 4:1 right on tuner. after the tuner you can use like 50 ft Pota flex 7 cable, That 600 Ohm Ladder line. during snow and ice build up the SWR will change . just re tune. yes keep ladder line away from metal and off ground. When you take time to install Doublet correctly it really gets out. you just proved that ! 73
Popsicle stick home brew open line is my go to. Doublets can be of ridiculously compromised lengths and still perform amazing on several bands. If it worked great in 1921 it will work well today. For real POTA or QRP portable performance look up the NorCal Doublet.
My reports are 2S units better with my tablet than my dipole
The doublet is my favorite antenna because it is all-band, simple, quiet, and doesn't get RF on the radio chassis. You don't need a balun because many tuners have a built-in balun so you can run the ladder line right into the tuner. Instead of bulky ladder line, you can use old school 300 ohm TV twin lead antenna wire instead which makes it far easier to store and setup.
Back in the day I used foam filled TV twinlead from Radio Shack for doublet antennas and it worked very well.
@@redstickham6394 I like the older non foam twinlead TV antenna wire, but it is hard to find now. Non foam is easy to roll up for storage.
Mike!!! Hey man, if your going down to 69 watts, just go on down to 50 watts and use the emergency tuner in the 7300. That is a 10:1 tuner. No extra stuff to fool with. Used that with a 10 to 40m OCFD my last activation and was able to tune up and make contacts on all bands, even the WARC bands which it was not built for. The emergency tuner in that 7300 rocks! de Robert KD4YDC
That looks so fantastic the Way you installed the Doublet. I own a home made ZS6BKW with the 450Ω Wiremen Feeder. It's definitely one of my very favorite Antennas. Good Job, Mike. Happy weekend into the Lone Star State. 73 de Uncle Günter from across the Pond 💯🙋♂
Hey Mike. Huge fan here. Just wanted to say, contrary to the data, I really like your "on air" videos. As a newly licensed operator, I find it very helpful to hear you work contacts. I really enjoy your POTA pileups. It's my opportunity to sit over your shoulder (virtually) and watch you operate. Please don't stop recording your POTA activations. Thanks. KJ5GKK, Paul
I second this, I probably wouldn't watch 20 straight minutes but definitely like to hear 8 or 10 good contacts for the same reason.
@@scotch8 couldn’t agree more,
8 to 10 contacts is a great compromise
I agree. A few years ago as a new Ham, I got a lot of inspiration from your POTA contact videos. Keep inspiring new hams.
Is that windshield washer fluid next to u😅😅
Great to see you out. I love how you take the 7300 into the field. I run a G90 but want to try my 7300 sometime. 73s
I know the theory and science runs wild with this, but I just run the balanced line straight to the tuner in the field. No balun or unun. If you want to run a choke then I would suggest a 1:1 of some kind on the input (or output) of the tuner. I have never had a problem with antennas running from 66 ft to 300 ft running 100 watts in the field. Better yet a balanced pi network tuner. Mine is big so I just use the little mfj manual tuners or one of the auto tuners in my collection when working portable. Definitely performs better than an EFHW! 73
Agreed. Try without a balun or unun.
To use long coax, use a remote tuner.
My first 200 or so Parks on the Air activations were done with a doublet. I wouldn't try open wire for portable use, but 450 or 300 ohm twinlead doesn't get tangled. About 99% of my contacts from home are on a doublet. The other 1% is on my DX Commander Sig9.
Great video Mike. I recently made a ~120 foot doublet with some old 300 ohm TV twin lead. It quickly has become my go to antenna. Oh and for everyone raising hell about the shirt, it's an antenna video not a tshirt video, let's try to stay on topic!
For people who live in climates where snow, ice, and rain are a factor, I wonder if the ladder line could be buried or run in an underground tube? Maybe not even use ladder line (unless the spacing is critical) but run 2 separate wires in 2 individual conduits underground. Then run them up inside a hollow mast. The ends could be fastened to the radiating part of the antenna in a junction box. That way the only part seeing moisture in its forms would be the radiators. Am I off-base here?
Of all the antennas I've made, this was by far my favorite one to run. I got silly and made a 160m version since I had the room to pull it off. I think I walked 5 miles getting it set up but I was very impressed with the results on the air. I quit running it because it was deaf ( to some degree) on 20m due to my orientation. While I had a massive signal into the Midwest (KS, OK, TX), I couldn't hear anyone very well, if at all. There are documents out on the web from Cebik that show the radiation patterns for each band. You have to watch the lobes and your orientation. When I went back to the Cebik documents, I realized the Midwest was in-between lobes on 20m and that had to be my issue hearing. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't go all the way like I did and, in fact, there is another design using 1.25 wavelength on the highest operating frequency (vs a 1/2 wavelength on the lowest) and if I remember correctly, making it for 1.25 wavelength on 20m will give you 40m and 80m. It comes out to about 3/8 of a wavelength on 80m, which isn't the best or optimal, but it would work in a pinch. The only other downside to this is the external tuner aspect but if that isn't an issue, then it isn't an issue. Enjoyed the video and seeing someone else giving this beautiful antenna a go on the air. 73
If you put the tuner next to the balam in a waterproof box and run two wires for activate the automatic tuner you can use a longer run of coax to your radio. Have used this particular setup Field Day 2 years ago and it was a great antenna. Keep up the great work enjoyed the video.
This was helpful to see. I've wanted to try a doublet and hope to get around to making one soon.
Hey Mike, i use the doublet antenna for 1 year now and it works great. Using a homebrewed 1:1 balun . The mat 30 tuned 80 to 10 mtr easily. Even with 10 feet coax between the balun and tuner. No problem. Great antenna
K8MRD, the only history/geography teacher you need.. From how doublets were invented back in the 1900s by the doublemint twins.. to how the mississippi river meets the pacific in pacific beach!
Hey, I'm working hard to bring you the facts! Surprisingly no-one got the reference to the names of the double mint twins yet.
RE: Long Coax runs & doublets... use a remote ant tuner at the base of your mast. Trim the ladder line appropriately. Use a 4:1 balun at the tuner output as you did in this video. Many of the MFJ auto tuners have a bias tee at their input which allows the 12vdc operating power for the tuner to be fed down the coax cable. LDG makes a very nice remote auto tuner as well. This works REALLY WELL. 73 de Don KO7i
Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun! I always giggled when I was a kid at the Double Mint gum twins.
Some antenna tuners can be connected directly to the ladder line. They include a balun internally to the tuner. 73
Nice! Thanks for studying the analytics. It’s cool to see the contacts, but just a summary. We’re all watching to see under the hood.
You CAN use more coax. I’ve been using doublets for 50 years - dipole or inv. V are both fine, but I like the straight out dipole. Get the feedpoint high enough to keep the balun off the ground and twist the ladder line to cause some choking action to keep the current on the antenna. Get the tuner at the balun and power it with a bias-T at your operating position with a random length of coax. That’s the secret ! I use a ladder and zip tie the tuner/balun (in an ammo box) on the paint can drop of the ladder. Works perfectly. 73, Jamie WB4YDL
What's amusing to me is I have some home made ladder line that looks like it is almost the exact same setup. I haven't gotten to really working with testing it properly, but it needs to get stuck on the list. Where I think the down side would be is trying to jam it into a tree like you would an inverted V or an EFHW.
This premieres on my birthday ! was a super duper present...
Hey happy birthday buddy!
@@hamradiotube thank you my brutha from anutha mutha !!!
I don’t about the analytics, I guess I’m part of the minority because I watch your videos all the way to the end. 73 Mike and thanks for sharing
No way i'm gonna unwind this thing! My patience is more than low! Thanks for the video and effort, but... i will stick with my EFHF for sure
I love the Doublet antenna. Yes, it's a lot to put up but talks circles around endfeds. I would have liked to see some on air video but super glad you're trying different antennas.
The LDG AT100 proii can be used remotely and is a better tuner than the mfj. Next time sweep the antenna with the radio and balun only. This will give us a better idea how well the antenna matches. Bought some M&P connectors for LMR500. Great connectors and shipped fast
I find it surprising that you can get such a good match on 160 m with only 45 feet on each side.
Could you tell us how long the ladder line is and what is the spacing? It looks like 600 ohms?
Also, is there a website or PDF that has more information on this antenna.
I have been running tablets for many many years, and they are far superior in my mind, to any other antenna for multi band use!
Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to demonstrate it as you did a very great job 😊 73!
Mike, thanks for the detailed video 👍
I've always wanted to try a doublet antenna.
Try a remote tuner like the LDG RT100 which will work without any batteries and uses DC up the coax and put it at the base of the pole.
That antenna is very close to the same measurements as the ZS6BKW. Doublets are much better than any end fed design.
Yep.... the double obeys the "more wire in the air the better" as it greats more intense fields rule. Think of it like an electric magnet more windings equals stronger magnet. In this case it means stronger signal to air. The law of reciprocy also applies.... gain on tx is also gain on rx. Don't be fooled its a horizontally polarised aerial. So skip from people using verticals could be down. It shoudl sound quieter too as natural noise is vertical.
Be careful though, due to it's height from the ground (and the band you are on) it's going to be largely running in NVIS mode. A simple notion to follow there is any 1/2 wave dipole at 1/2 wave free space in the air will be when you get 30 degrees to the ground and broadside lobes. A 1/2 wave dipole at 1/4 wave (free space) over the ground for the frequency you are on , will be going straight up. Then you need to be aware of what the ionosphere is doing for the time of day.
I have used a 1 t 1 balun on the end of the feedline sometimes.
You can use longer coax. The issue is loss. Use a good low loss coax and you can run it much further.
You could easily extend that ladder line with almost no loss. It would change the tuning, though.
I use a cobra ultralight doublet at the QTH which the dipole is 70ft of 3 conductor cable connected to itself in series on each side of the dipole giving me about 400ft of wire in the air. Im using a hybrid 4:1/1:1 balun on the rooftop of my house where the 450ohm windowline connects and 50ft of RG213 going into the house to the back of my tuner.
I am using the same Cobra Ultralight Doublet antenna and a 4:1/1:1 hybrid balun, but I'm having trouble only with 20 meters. I don't know why.
I realize its often a matter of ease/convenience, but if all possible, just like a normal dipole, you should try to keep the ends some number of feet off the ground rather than pinning them down to the dirt. But I'm sure you know that. I'd venture to say it would perform better if you could accomplish that though.
Try a longer or shorter patch cable from the unun. OR add or subtract a couple of feet of the open wire. If either has a high voltage node near the radio, it may cause tuning issues.
Nice shirt
You can have long coax from the antenna tuner to the radio, you loose a bit of power but in that led the SWR should be perfect anyway so minimal. You just need a remote tuner for ease of use, it could even be at the bottom of the fibreglass pole. I'm curious how this would work with the Xiegu G90 and or the Xiegu power AMP as they have a built in tuner that's a lot better than the ICOM's etc.
This is why I wish the Hendricks PFR-3B was still in production: balanced-line input, built-in tuner.
Cool video and great shirt
Thank you!
I wonder how many people outside the USA would understand it....
Good video Mike; I enjoyed watching you discovering the doublet antenna. I've been using the doublet, portable now for over 25 years, with great success. I think the analytics are correct........ who wants to watch someone making contact after contact? Maybe someone..... Question: how did you have your Spiderbeam mast mounted.......just the guy wires?
❤my 160m doublet 250’ of balanced feeder zig zagging between trees and up to my 2nd floor shack where I dump 1kw into it from my Alpha77dx. Does all the bands and it cost me two reels of 12awg Thhn solid conductor. You can use stranded but I prefer solid. I use two maple trees to hold my NE element another to support the feed point then the SW element is in a 90’ pine tree on neighboring HOA property, there not happy about it but did not want to hire a tree climber to remove it 😉 as the support rope is embedded into a limb with a sap retaining compound 😊 feeder spacers are from tractor supply electric fence ribbed isolators and 12-14” uv resistant wire tie to hold the wire on each end of the isolator. Best to make the feeder element and ant element as one piece so no solder joints. 4” spaced feeder should ohm out to close to 600 ohm. Tuner is a dentron super tuner and a palstar at5k
I use the same wire for my feeder and my elements anti-figure 8 knot at the turn
Use a 1:1 unun as a choke just after the Balun and then use more coax.
Not a bad idea. I was just going to put my tuner on the ground hooked to a tiny 3Ah battery by the antenna.
I love catching Greg KJ6ER on the air. He give me a coast to gulf coast for being in Louisiana.
Woo-hoo!!
I would love to get back into Shortwave listening again but I have too much interference. Bought a nice Tecsun radio and only get static. I miss listening so much.
Before I start my rant, I must say that Ladder Line is far superior to Coax. Now, when the ICE and SNOW and sometimes RAIN gets on it, it becomes useless. I've tried both and COAX works no matter what and I don't need a power robbing Balun in the line. After building and trying every kind of antenna in the world, I ended up with a 160 meter L shaped horizontal DIPOLE and an LDG autotuner and it does everything that the DOUBLET did. Cost? Just the price of the Wire and Coax.
Bond the Rig to the tuner to the power supply. Keeping all at the same potential and help rid RFI
Great video, Mike. Now I'm going to have to play with one of those.
My reports are 1 to 2 S units better with my doublet than with my dipole. Love my 40m doublet and enjoy watching comparison videos.
Wow wire got to love it 🇺🇸🇬🇧👍
Great video, and love your shirt!
I'm confused about the difference between this antenna and something like the G5RV. Is it just the length of the side wires?
great antenna.. i use one as one of my main antennas from the shack. thx for sharing your results. 73
This antenna seems like a good antenna for AF MARS frequencies?
The trick is winding that open wire feed back-up. One of the reasons coax was developed in WW2.
It was actually really easy. Just wound it back up on the winder.
@@hamradiotube Hmmmmmm, I have some open wire in my shed on a cardboard reel with sides. Maybe a new antenna is in my future!
I watched this with interest. Have you the AT-705? Can you give this doublet a field run with an IC-705 and AT-705? Would be interesting as the AT-705 is a great little tuner.
Is that windshield washer fluid next to u
Love the shirt.
I wondered if the internal tuner would have worked on 20, 40 and 80. I saw you tried it on 6 meters.
New ham here, what's the benefit of using a doublet over an EFHW?
I'm not familiar with that social media format you mentioned. Is there any way to get a link to order that daublet antenna?
Must have been that bottle of band juice sitting next to you.
Oh man, I meant to hide that better1
I see you use a mac, can you share which software you use for logging. etc. I have had my ham license for a few years but am just now getting on the air.
Thanks!
I use doublets and find them very easy to set up and use.
What logging software do you use?
Trying the choak was a good idea. You would think the 4:1 would have helped. Nice video.
good one! Thanks.
That tuner and the balun like device will not feed that antenna balanced... that migth cause the rf issue..
My best anttena home brew grate
Been using the Doublet for years actually Flat top 278 countries and counting...
Question: even if an antenna “tunes” and has low SWR does that make it a great antenna?
Hah. Old school for the win! Great video.
Nice shirt. And the lake looked nice, but that view not so much ;)
I've got one of those Cobra antennas they advertise on QRZ and have been wanting to bring it out to a park. It's kind of a bear to setup, but it did well for me even when running 2.5w SSB off the battery in my 817.
Welcome to old school antennas 🎉
Is there a page with a parts list etc so I can build one of these? :) (And what is the diff between that and a G5RV? :)
If you’re building it go for the ZS6BKW version which is the most optimised one.
I don't think the MFJ tuner is made to tune 6m. I use my internal tuner to tune 6m. It's hard to do test's with antennas these days for POTA. So many people are using online SDR's to listen to stations they cant hear from their home QTH. Looks like a nice antenna though.73's
Coast-to-Coast! Double Nickels! Wooo Hooo! 🤣You got me Mike! Cool doublet 😀 73 KJ6ER
Yeah buddy! I thought you might like that.
Are you able to say what Matt K7UAP sells them for?
Your videos are really cool. The problem with antenna tests is always these couplers.
Do a real test, without a coupler. I doubt whether this antenna is of good quality.
Show how it actually works, without using couplers.
You seem to be a poster boy for brands.
73
excellent shirt
Balun up up up. Higher up up in the air.
SO.... its an Inverted V antenna?
Easy to contact him at his email as listed on his QRZ page also.
cool! what was the geographical orientation of the antenna ? E/W N/S?
~N/W S/E
Running it in the inverted-v configuration, I doubt it had much directivity. Inverted-v tends to go omnidirectional. The patterns he showed would be applicable if it was run as a flat top.
Great video about very good antenna! 73!
I would have moved the table 😂 love me a doublet
It was chained down.
I think it was funny. You were bent over facing away from the camera and said it was a good view! Sorry about that chief! Yes I am a smart ***! 73 W4DES
No Tank Radio sticker on that laptop! LOL!!!
NEVER!
Imho the Chameleon URT-1 remote tuner would be perfect to use with this doublet. 73 Phil ON4VP