Beverage On The Ground Antenna - Converting my Long Wire to Beverage Antenna

[@johnkannengieser6751]

Dr. Harold Beverage was my great great Uncle. His work with transmission was instrumental in the war effort but he would be more proud that people were still talking about the science of his work.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

How WONDERFUL!!

[@sleeve8651]

@@DXCommanderHQ I had a Great, Great Grandfather we called, " Beverage " too ! But that was because he drank a bit ! 👍😂🤣😂 Cheers & Beers !

[@JReed305]

Would be cool to see how the on the ground version would work

[@weslindsey]

Anxiously awaiting the results of your Beverage conversion!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yeah me too - BUT I have a few other things planned that I need to get done before this.. Grrr :)

[@raydavidsonm0ray.777]

That's looking great Callum. I just wish I had more than 90 feet x 30 feet of back garden space.

[@MAV8865]

Looking forward to the next video Cal and the results - good luck bud.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

You and me both!

[@HamRadioLiveShow]

RX antenna is so important if you want to work DX. if you don’t have the room to put up a beverage antenna, a Wellbrook loop can improve your RX quality as well. SW DX’ers have been swearing by those antennas for years. Great video Cal!

[@bassangler73]

I look forward to the outcome

[@raydavidsonm0ray.777]

Great Video as well BTW. Kind Regards, Ray.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Many thanks Ray!

[@Vietnam_Vet_67]

I have a 14ga. wire beverage about 18-24 inches off the ground and 530ft. long. Running from here in Florida N/NW or 345 Degrees. I used a 4:1 Balun and terminated the far end with a 300 ohm resistor. I works well for Japan and that area. I used fiberglass 3/8" rods about 10 foot apart. But when I do a remote disconnect of the 300 ohm resistor it then receives more toward the UK and VK kand. I am wanting to put 2 more in and use a 120 degree separation on them. But all fed from a remote box from Ameritron I think it is called a RCS-4. And the 4th one will be a vertical for 60 meters. Well that is my plan for this summer anyway. I have 2 towers that are about 120 ft apart that I can run a rope between and use a pulley for the 60M antenna at 44 ft. long with 46' 3" ground radials. 73's de W4DRA

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Wow.. You are ahead of my curve. Sounds fabulous.

[@davidw460]

Hi - I use a Beverage for low noise weak Rx signal QSO UK to ZL. It is 40m long wire at 1m off the ground with 450 Ohm termination R and a 9:1 isolation transformer at the other end feeding about 40m of double shielded 50 Ohm coax up to shack. On the ground was just too little signal and above 1m was too much noise. For me, the best SNR was when coax shield is not grounded at the antenna, but fed by the galvanic isolation transformer.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Interesting..

[@DominicMazoch]

Just came up with a receive antenna idea. Got a 40m loop antenna with insulated wire on the ground with a 4:1 balum. Have a coax switch next to my operating position. Can switch back and forth. Good SWR protection on my 703 and Roman amp if I forget. Try Good Friday AM. Maybe I will be able to hear you.. Can substitute 9:1 and test long wire later.....

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes OK!!

[@NimblyJimbly]

Your experiments are awesome! Keep up the great work. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. One of your previous videos has inspired me to attempt a DIY full wave vertically polarized loop antenna for 10m using 14ga stranded cu wire and a small bit of 75-ohm coax for the impedance match. Going to try to join a local 10m net with it. 🤓

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Ah-ha! Good job!

[@TRWN2CU]

I had a 200' BOG terminated with 200 Ohms and 4:1 xfmr. Used in diversity reception with my K9AY loops it was awesome.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Ah! Nice.

[@pixotica]

Good stuff! Have not done the beverage, had a 450 foot long wire, a 60 foot loop on the ground, currently running a g7fek, which has been the best one so far for wide band general receive. I do longwave right on through to 29 mhz, I have a vertical transmit antenna for 26/27/28 mhz. Look forward to more vids on receive antennas for sure!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Sounds great!

[@FromthehamshackwithNJ4Z]

Callum, Great stuff... I am very interested in your results. I am planning my new station at my retirement QTH. We have 15 acres of property in NC we will be building on so I would like to have a couple of Beverages on the ground and a couple of RX loops. I am still planning on building the switch box to phase the small loops on the ground.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

John.. I like the idea of the phased loops more than I do the dark art of Beverage antennas.. I have a feeling the one on the ground might need a pre-amp (not keen!)

[@FromthehamshackwithNJ4Z]

@@DXCommanderHQ more than likely a pre-amp may be required, but you may find the one on your high end rig might be enough. I have the W6LVP receive loop I am using it has a built-in pre-amp. I find it works well on the lower bands, but when you get to 20 and above it is not as good.

[@kevinkc3onohelijeepworld953]

Dx Commander “Enjoy ur Radio” That should be ur bumper sticker

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes! :)

[@rojer9344]

I enjoy seeing the instruments in the background too, what bass is that?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I don't know..! LOL :)

[@raydavidsonm0ray.777]

I now have an ICOM IC7610, which has dedicated RX antenna socket on it. And yes, twin VFO'S like the 990. Just only 2 TX antenna outputs. Only 1 vfo for tx though, Grrrrr. I guess I became too impatient to save up for a TS 990S, lol.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Ah.

[@zelloToiletsTalk]

I have 2,8 foot ground rods 60 feet apart with a house in the middle a total of 120 feet do I make these into a dipole I don't understand how to hook it up. KO4MAX thank you

[@DXCommanderHQ]

OK, so ignore the ground rods. No good for the end on an antenna.. You need the ends off the ground and "fed" in the middle.. Take the coax. The "braid" goes down one leg and the centre core goes the other way.. I think I have several videos that might explain..!

[@zelloToiletsTalk]

@@DXCommanderHQ Thank you !

[@brianfields4479]

After many months experimenting with a bev, I ended up with a 40m run of wire on the ground, no radials just earth rods, no resistor =omnidirectional, it worked fantastic. I also so made a ant relay which was switched by the radio, so now I tx on the vert, once I stop txing it auto switches to the bev. I also tested a 20m long wire for 40m, it worked well but needed a preamp. 73 zl3xdj.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes OK Brian.. Good info.

[@fitzroyfastnet]

I think the radials are just to get the ground connection resistance down. I'd be interested in seeing the on-ground version.

[@don_n5skt]

I had looked into a beverage and I have the stuff to create one. Everything except the land 😁However, from my research, it was a transformer at the end of the long wire 500 to 1000 feet with a 450 to 600 Ohm non inductive resistor and a ground rod at each the end of the wire. Then a transformer to a 75 Ohm double braided coax back to the shack. The transformer was supposedly the same as I use on my Loop on the Ground as 12 turns to 3 turns. The Loop on the Ground is sometimes referred to as a mini beverage. And the Anan, Flex, Yaesu 101D and Sun SDR DX all have receive antenna inputs with the Anan being the best implementation of it I have seen. I won't buy a base radio without receive only connections.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Ah! I might use the Loop-on-ground transformer I have for this project. Good idea...

[@don_n5skt]

@@DXCommanderHQ And I might try your Balun trick on my LoG. I'd like to see how my receive would change. Also, I may wrap about 500' of wire around my property with ground rods and resistors and see what the receive is like. I have that done already as a counterpoise to a 160m Hamstick vertical. Maybe turn the wire into a beverage instead.

[@zelloToiletsTalk]

We have the same room, miked drums and I have 21 guitars on my wall.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

21? Wow. That's like Thursday night here.. Band night! The guitarists bring them all out!

[@migalito1955]

You might like this for receive too. I decided to make a so called random wire antenna with the 9 to 1 transformer I had laying around. I'd like to have 80 meters so I used the customarily utilized 58 feet of radiator and 17 feet of counterpoise. I also used, I am QRP at 10 to 15 watts, for the radiator 3 wire audio, video, shield cable I had 60 feet of. I stripped all three wires at both ends and soldered the 3 at each end together to form a 58 foot stranded wire. I figured if I needed to raise the impedance I could snip one wire at the connection to the transformer turning it into what would be half of a folded dipole thus increasing the impedance by roughly a factor of 4. Rather than initially try to erect this conteaption vertically I sent it out the top of my 1st floor window as a sloper with the counterpoise more or less doing the same thing. This allowed the transformer to remain indoors. I then 1st connected the contraption to my SDR RSP-1A prior to using my Nano VNA. I was not sure what to expect in this configuration, but thought it might be excellent on 40 meters because it was essentially a half wave endfed except that it had its impedance reduced by being just above the ground by inches at its furthest end. Indeed the RSP-1A told me it loved 40 meters, but the Nano VNA told me it was under 1.29 from 6.8 MHz to 7.9 MHz which was my sweep. At 7.15 MHz its 1.22 and the SWR is very flat across the sweep. Boy, I have a 40 meter inverted V but this will beat the pants off it on receive. So, later I will try to get this thing going vertical and see if it does in that configuration give me 80 meters. My other thought is putting a switch on one of the three wires that then turns it into and out of being an element similar to a folded dipole element thus changing its impedance by a multiple of about 4. This later option might give me 80 m too. Anyway, not exactly what I'd like to have but gosh darn its sure nice for receive on 40 meters and I love NVIS anyway. Cheers & de kc2wvb

[@DXCommanderHQ]

The nice thing about receive is that our Pre-Amp works a charm!

[@karlsnow5281]

antennas are awesome. There's so much to know. But with the right 1 you can listen to everything. Well...and the right transceiver CQ CQ CQ !

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Couldn't agree more!

[@edcozart9916]

Great stuff Callum I love mt 500 foot LOG it works great for 20m and down thanks for showing the people that don’t think about this option Cheers de W9US

[@DXCommanderHQ]

OK, so you are LoG.. Cool.

[@edcozart9916]

I'm LOG 😎😎😎😎😎

[@DXCommanderHQ]

The LOG man..!

[@jakob5481]

Very interesting as always. Where did you learn all that stuff about antennas?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

It all came to me in a dream.. Seriously, a hell of a lot of trial and error - and reading books - then checking those books with real-life.

[@sleeve8651]

Watching you throw wire, rather willy-nilly through the trees and such, makes me wonder if being careful and keeping our wire antennas free and in the clear, is really that critical ? Have you ever done such a comparison, of especially wire antennas, in the clear, and ones draped through the trees, as an example ?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I've *NEVER* had a proplem.. Old timers just like to frighten us.

[@db3mi]

with good groud + radials you can mirror the wire into the groud and get some kind of a loop. Next thing to try here ... 73

[@timdbl7804]

Thanks for the demo, Callum. Some constructive comments: 1. I think you meant "unun", not "balun". 2 The RF impedance of the ground connection, using a simple earth-rod, might well be several hundred Ohm (depending on the frequency-band) so, on the lower HF bands, you might find that a lower-value terminating resistor is better. 3. Several radials will probably give a lower RF resistance. (They would need to be electrical quarter-waves, or odd multiples thereof, of course). They might be advisable, on the lower HF bands, in case the RF resistance, of the ground-rod earth, is higher than the required value of terminating resistance for the Beverage. Hope that helps! 🙂

[@DXCommanderHQ]

OK

[@JayN4GO]

Curious how well the BOG works. We operate 5 beverages “directional”1500 ft long at the contest station. One to Eu, SA,Vk,JA and dead west. They’re roughly 7ft off ground. Electric fence wire is cheap and does a great job. We’ve never used a bev on the ground but I can tell you that we know when one ends up on the ground by a fallen tree. It attenuates the signal severely. Look forward to the video soon

[@DXCommanderHQ]

That is extremely interesting.. I'm hoping the attenuation isn't as much..

[@Frankh77]

I always assumed beverages had broadside strength. Something new, everyday!

[@joeblow8593]

Experiment! Try it on the ground but also try it 7 feet high too. It would be great if you could build both at the same time and running in the same direction and switch off one and then the other for a comparison. Being that sheep are grazing there, you don't have to leave the 7 foot high one up. But just leave it up long enough to test it out. You could use some sort of an electrical relay to switch back and forth so you wouldn't need more than one coax. Whatever you do, I'll look forward to seeing a video on it. Cheers from the Midwest U.S.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yeah, I have a number of coax lines so we can do that switching on the rig actually.. Good idea.

[@paulofernandoalvesalves2561]

Hi. Where is the second video with the beverage antenna on the ground?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Never happened. But on the list.

[@paulofernandoalvesalves2561]

@DXCommanderHQ and the beverage antena was better than THE 160MTS long wire Antenna with the 64:1 balun?

[@michaelharkey9675]

de KI5DPA. I have land and would rather have beverage on the ground for rx and DX Commander for tx, than a tower and a beam. I’ll be watching your progress, and thank you Callum.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Perfect.

[@BlueCubAdventures]

Wow that’s interesting

[@Trent28888]

It needs to be fed with a 9:1 for 450 ohm and radials are needed for it to work but for a variable termination style for the resistor just make a dk7zb mftf and then u will only need a 50 ohm dummy load due to the taps being used as a now variable resistor,ive done it a few times and it works good

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Thanks for the tip..

[@andylinton2798]

I think you need a 9:1, not a 4:1, with a standard Bev, one which is elevated. 450/9=50. I used to use one in EI for my KiwiSDR, worked well. I mean to deploy one here in EA too at some stage.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes Andy. I seem to remember seeing about 400 / 450 ohms in the material. I need Mike to mae me one..!

[@newsles2]

Oh, why didn't I watch this to discover you did an instruction vid for making a 4:1 balun before ordering one from HRO? Oops! Still learning, still listening, still only receiving so far, but about to set up a big LOG in my back garden once said balun arrives. I blame you entirely for this new/revived folly. 😏Seriously, thanks for all the great information and engaging delivery of. Btw, forgive my nosiness, but I stumbled over the fact that you did/do voice work. I used to work in commercial radio in Scotland, albeit news, and did some voice work myself at the time. I wonder if you know a guy called Rennie Griffiths, who was a presenter, commercial producer and is still a voice artist himself. Anyway, that aside, thanks again! I have a sinking feeling that this is going to start eating into my savings though. 😁

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I've done very little voice work.. I now turn it down. Too busy! But glad you are having fun with your hobby!

[@gvii]

The radiation patterns of the various types of antennas really is a fascinating subject. Of course, I've never looked into it too deeply. So for all I know about it, it may as well be alien space magic. But it is really fascinating. Anyway, what you're looking to do will be a really interesting experiment. Curious to see how all that works out.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes, it really is alien space magic! OK on the next experiment.. Hang on :)

[@Rick-se5qm]

I have been using a BevFlex beverage antenna for about one year. It is bidirectional with just a single 500' length of RG-6/U coax, that withstands falling tree debris FB. Since it can be fed anywhere it worked best for my QTH, where the shack connects about 1/3 the distance from one end. I alternate between this and a quad loop on the ground, with an amplifier. As mentioned there is not a single best antenna for all conditions. The more options available the better. BTW I don't sell anything and I am not affiliated with any company.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Sounds very cool..

[@henrikweiss4474]

Not that it matters much but theory says you need a 9:1 transform at the coax end. I have had 300m Bevs up at one point at 4-5fts on bamboo poles but also just strung along a tree/forest line up and down. They are very forgiving. One trick is also to put a mirror wire on the ground which should improve. I have an external 20dB pre amp on them. OZ1ING - Henrik

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes.. Not so keen on the pre-amp idea but it's probably required.. Grrr..!

[@henrikweiss4474]

@@DXCommanderHQ I know - I had to because of my 160/80 ambitions. Built a W7IUV design and works extremely well just connected to the bnc RX input here

[@KeepEvery1Guessing]

I don't know about sheep, but penned exotic deer work hard at digging up wire (don't ask me how I know). Sort of like people, if there's something new in the environment, they need to investigate.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Ah OK.. So sheep nibble close but stop before the earth..

[@G6EJD]

That’s a travelling wave, untuned dipole. The resistance load reduces the reflected wave.

[@jeffscaparra6985]

Was this ever done?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I have the bits - but then DX ENgineering placed the order for USA and I was swamped. I didn't make a video for nearly 6-months. Now waiting for an ethernet controlled antenna switch so we can judge how it might work. So maybe sometime this winter.

[@ZL1BQDRoly]

NO....... do not use radials at the terminating end of the beverage Cal, A radial field at the Transmitter end is OK. Just use a single earth stake at the terminated end.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Got it Roly!

[@WECB640]

@@DXCommanderHQ Roly is correct. The Beverage is really a terminated transmission line where one wire is the Earth. It causes a "tilt" to the incoming wave because each wire has a different VF. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Thanks Cal. 73

[@timdbl7804]

Hi Roly, could an earth stake have more than 500 Ohm RF resistance?

[@geoffmcwiggan2814]

Us CB’rs could learn a lot from this. Thank you cock. That is something I will be definitely be looking into. Hey… by the way. Sent you a email but I think I rogered it up. !!! Please tell me wtf it is..😆 ta mate. All the best 👍🇦🇺🥃

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Geoff.. If I don't reply then hit me again since it might have got lost. I don't do email at weekends though.

[@TR6Telos]

You can hear the Italians if you put a coat hanger on a foil hat and make a slight gap between your upper and lower jaw as a spark gap, opening your jaw slightly or closing will effect tuning ,where your fillings are run a wire to a crystal set and BINGO!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Brilliant idea!

[@DominicMazoch]

No reason for rigs the size of the 7300 and from K and Y not to have a receive port. Elecraft seems to be better at this. With radios being computers nowadays, receive ports should not be that costly to provide!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I can't think of a base station Kenwood HF rig that DOESN'T have an RX jack. Totally agree.

[@stevenyemc]

Would it be possible to burn to length, say maybe, a 27Meg long wire with that fiendish amp of yours? I'm asking ChatGPT but it is getting a bit emotional about safety ffs ha ha

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Steven.. Mike and I are determined to find out this year.. Probably in the summer.

[@bensmith4563]

I tried that chat gpt thing and it was all safety this illegal that massively disappointing

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Ben, depends what you ask it. I'm having good conversations. SOME of the data it's suggesting is incorrect. SO you have to check your findings. If you are asking it how to make a b0mb, then obviously you won't get the right answer..!

[@peterlowrie1216]

RX all the way. If you can't hear 'em you can't work 'em!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Yes Peter :)

[@IndependentNewsMedia]

Please place the Beverage on the ground 👍

[@Ztnerg]

A good family friend's demonstration on his 4x beverage set up. His channel has walk-arounds as well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5yomK2Xfr-mf7s

[@Judge_Judy]

they got telephones now days

[@DXCommanderHQ]

They do. Your mobile phone has an antenna in it - that communicates via RF to your cell-tower which in turn often has a microwave dish to another connection. 90% of the folks who designed all that were ham radio operators. I will happily continue to fly that flag because science is for inquisitive folks not fucking trolls like you.

[@galileo_rs]

You could have saved the 16 pounds, there is no reason to use fancy resistors.

[@DXCommanderHQ]

It's not fancy. Sort yourself out.

[@galileo_rs]

@@DXCommanderHQ What? Is fancy a dirty word in UK?

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Honestly, I have no idea what the hell you are saying..

[@galileo_rs]

@@DXCommanderHQ You could have used regular 20c resistors ...

[@DXCommanderHQ]

I see.

[@IndependentNewsMedia]

Please place the Beverage on the ground 👍

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Got it..!