Flagpole Antenna Project

I made an experimental flagpole vertical antenna. It seems it works the best as an off center fed antenna for 20 and 15 meters. My goal is to create antennas which are resonate into 50 ohms where no tuner is needed. Many are asking about the SWR Analyser. It is an HP-8712B.

[@qrplife]

Nice to see a KZbin ham radio video with a simple antenna and a reliable old radio, and no sales pitches.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Agree

[@spaceflight1019]

You don't need a 7300 and a hex beam to have fun with ham radio.

[@shaddoty]

I swear to god every ham op has the exact same garage

[@jamess1787]

What about those of us who don't have garages and work mobile? 😂

[@iNFiNiTY125]

My grandfather, uncle, cousin, and I are all ham operators we are involved with arrl have met with hundreds of other operators. I can safely say that I’ve never seen another operator with a similar garage setup, at least only referring to the workbench that was displayed in video. That is, however, a very nice workbench set up.

[@RangerSewer]

Excellent! I put up my fair share of antenna masts and antennas and you gave me some great ideas. You never know enough to know everything!The spacers are also known as "Donuts" by me in the plumbing trade. 73's

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Cool, thanks

[@dougtaylor8735]

I like your idea of not using tuners. I use older radios without built in tuners. I used to have a tri band beam but I live in West Texas where the wind blows all the time and it was destroying the beam and the rotator, so I installed an OCF dipole and got it resonant on 10, 20, 40, and 80 meters. The wind doesn’t affect it and I’ve talked to multiple countries. Good luck with all your projects. 73.

[@spaceflight1019]

The simplest, easiest antenna for 30-160 is an Alpha Delta DX-B 1/4 wave sloper. My lot is 60'x180' with the neighbors' houses 20' away. Once upon a time I had a Butternut Butterfly beam on a 30 foot TV tower but when the wind took the tower down a Cushcraft R5 replaced the beam.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Lots of wind issues here too. The PVC spacer in the flag pole gives it a lot of flex.

[@richardchandler9027]

Nice work, now to prevent a law suit a fence and buried coax. I really like your creativeness and great video.

[@victorlima9373]

I have the same flagpole 4 sections and my is atached to a fence post split 1 to 3 with a Myantennas 4:1 balun . To stop the sections from movements drilled and installed 3 aluminium rivets in each section good luck with the Flagpole VA3FH

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Hi Victor, rivets may be the answer. I used stainless screws on each section but the wind would shake them loose. Thanks

[@sleeve8651]

As I used my cheap Harbor Freight Flag pole, for an antenna mast, I drill and used pins to go thru the mast, instead of fighting with Hose clamps ! No more worry of variable wind speeds vibrating mast to collapse ! Just a thought ! As everyone has their own way of doing things ! The pins I used, have metal rings on one end, making for easy disassembly ! 👍😉

[@tahoma6889]

Run a single radial into the water and feed it at the SO connector with 1/4 inch spaced coil in the insulating section. Use a remote tuner at the base where you have the balun and you are in big DX business. With a remote tuner/coupler, you should have 80 and up. No ladder line to attract neighbors attention. Slot and clamp the sections to stop wind effect.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

An interesting project well described, thanks for making the video. I picked up a few tips and ideas for my own vertical antenna.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Thanks much. I just talked to EI0CL in Ireland on 15 meters USB. Flagpole working great.

[@aerofart]

Nice job. Congratulations on your new antenna. With a little fine tuning and an antenna tuner, it looks like you’ll have stealthy setup covering 3-4 bands. I’m wondering about your electrical grounding though. The way I understand it you should have all your electrical grounds bonded to the main grounding point (usually at your mains panel EGC). Otherwise you have a ground loop condition which opens you up to the potential of a varying ground reference and RFI, not to mention ground voltage gradients and last but not least, code violations. You might want to look into it.

[@karlschulte9231]

Yes. Water vapor in air will condense in winter. Sealed antenna tuners will fill up slowly over time. Motorola Triton/ Micom tuners and their SGC and Icom clones all had to include small drain holes.

[@johnhicks735]

They fold& lock together for tight fitting. And you could put some type of zip ties to keep them fastened locked with to.

[@garycook5125]

Interesting. I would go back when you have time, and take the ground rod C-clamp off, and clean the excess cement off of the rod. I would also discard the C-clamp, and replace it with a real ground rod clamp.

[@kencabanaw4165]

Interesting project. What is the reason it has to be sealed with no drain hole in the bottom? seems like condensate from nighttime dew and rain is going to accumulate down there no matter how much flex seal you use. It should have a way out. Hopefully that doesnt become a problem.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

The lake water table is only 1ft below top of lawn. Bottom of flag pole must be sealed. So far, no condensation issues.

[@johnhicks735]

Have you ever thought about putting one of those water line heat tapes on your flag pole for melting the ice.& Snow off with by flip switch inside of your house.

[@josephdurnal]

Nice, I've been thinking about a flagpole antenna for a dedicated 30-meter vertical in the front yard. 25' is about the right height, I'd put it over a field of ground radials.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

If you end feed the flagpole you will need ground radials. It seems off center feeding does not.

[@thuff3207]

Nice set up and I’m sure it works. I wonder if you added 16 or more radials would it lower your noise floor.

[@johnhicks735]

With snap collar buckle clips around the flag pole for securing it around it.

[@karlschulte9231]

You should drill drain hole in bottom of cap to drain condensation.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Can't do that. Lake water table only a foot down. Bottom must be sealed.

[@AdamosDad]

If you use conductive grease on the ball threads at the top instead of thread tape it will make a nice corona ball. This is one of the nicest builds I've seen, with very good attention to detail..🖐🏻73's🎙🎧KD9OAM📻 📡

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Ill keep that in mind.

[@ItsRonsway]

You might have worry about getting water on the inside from condensation. From cold am's and the heat of the day. Ron

[@melissasmess2773]

I'm sure it full of water by now, anytime you need to keep something dry it will fail😂

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

@@melissasmess2773 No water yet since summer of 2001.

[@FixitFrank]

Could you fill the pvc spacer sections with epoxy or something else to stiffen them up?

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Yea, I found a piece of wood stair railing that might work. The PVC does flex a lot.

[@johnhicks735]

Wrapping it inside of insulation for winter use installment purposes only.

[@AlanElBee]

Great demonstration! Glad the "KZbin algorithm" took me here today. Thanks for the walkthru, looks good! 73, K7KS

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Thanks for watching!

[@luish19779]

Pretty nice everything… I still fight with my Antenna, but I wait for a K.O in the next round. NYC

[@USMC-Sniper-0137]

Taper the inside of the PVC pipe and that coupling may slide in better. Maybe add a tad of grease or electrical grease if necessary

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Good point.

[@directcurrent5751]

I would not have thought of the capacitance issues with PVC adjacent to the mast. Good mind.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

So far the spacers in the base are holding up. 60mi winds yesterday. All ok.

[@directcurrent5751]

@@CIRCUITDESIGNER I guess any rubber will dry and crack over time. But with them being inside, I doubt they will fail in our lifetime.

[@MrBIG4D]

Nice project! What scope are you using to check SWR's?

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

I have a HP 8712B Network Analyzer.

[@tonyabruzzio7399]

Well done. I have a home brew 1/4w 40m vertical. I am thinking of doing a similar modification. I have seen some folks who run the ladder line through the bottom section of the vertical and then run it into a tuner or 4:1 at the base (yeah, I know). In any event it will be fun to go through the experimental process. Thanks for the video. 73 DE W4TYB

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

I saw a video of a flag pole with ladder line spaced inside the lower section like a balanced coax. Thought of trying that but I don't have HOA issues here.

[@K1ZEK]

Nice project..Antennas are always a fun thing too do. 73 Leo

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Been making some excellent contacts on 15M all around the world using ssb. Flagpole working better than expected.

[@donaldsmith3048]

Not sure that an HOA would belive this isn't an antenna. That is why most people do flagpole antennas. I have a friend that is in a HOA and can only do a wire in the attic, not very long. Do you know of something that would do more bands and no window line to the middle.

[@melissasmess2773]

I'm sure the attic antenna works much better than a flag pole. 73

[@spaceflight1019]

This is why HOAs are now banning flagpoles.

[@digitaldreamer5481]

Great videos about flag pole antennas. I was thinking that your flag pole antenna might experience a much greater improvement if you added four ground radials about 2-3” below the soil, especially if you want to do 10-12 meters and 40 meters also. I get these big plastic jars at Sam’s Club and Costco for my Skittles and M&M’s. They have these one inch tall by 5” diameter plastic lids that I drilled 16 holes all around the lid. I then drilled two one inch holes on top to run my vertical ground spike through and the other with a Anderson PP panel connector. So I threaded 22ga awg wire through those 16 holes to make eight radials @ 8’3” and eight at @15’ and these ground radials work awesome. With your flag pole antenna, it seems to me that you made a 25’ vertical antenna in principle. For 10-12 meters, I think the ideal height is between 96”-112” but I’ve done those same bands at 11’ with 1.4 SWR. If I knew you personally and lived near you, I would ❤ to test out my Xiegu G90 @ 20 watts with it’s built in antenna analyzer and built in antenna tuner. My G90 will Tuna Fish and a beer can, maybe even a full one…😂🤣😂 Thanks for the video! Here in HOA Land, flag poles can be the only way to go for most folks wanting to play HF. 🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻 Todd WH6DWF 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@gewglesux]

Take that!!! HOA!!!! I tell you where would the world be without crafty HAMS!!? Good ol HP i'd know that Display anywhere.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Hope I can keep the old HP going. Nano Vna is no where near as accurate.

[@gewglesux]

@@CIRCUITDESIGNER IT's a precision piece of test equipment! hopefully it'll keep on going.to thell you the truth i thought it was an "8921"

[@dangermandave67]

Call me lazy, but I probably would have just used the pulley for the flag to hoist the end of a random wire to the top of the pole and run the other end of it to my shack.

[@stevec5000]

What is the point of the SO239 at the bottom that doesn't connect to anything?

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

For me, Ham radio is for experimentation. That connector is for end fed access to the flag pole. I decided to go with off center feed point. Connector no longer needed.

[@brucebonkowski9568]

Why don't you drill and wire the pole before sealing the flagpole inside the P.V.C.

[@9999plato]

Wouldn't sand isolate the flagpole from the pvc. I thought PVC was non conductive anyway. When I worked for Navy Public works we installed several flagpoles and we used sand to fill the cavity between the flagpoles and the pipe we had set into concrete. these were 100 foot or more flagpoles.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

All I can say is air is the best dielectric so I went that route. So far the rubber spacers are holding up. Thanks.

[@DK5ONV]

The IC-745 and 751A were my favourite Radios for a long long Time. Yours looks in a cosmetically good Shape and that Flagpole Antenna seems to do its Job as well. 73 de Uncle Guenter 💯🔔🔔🔔🙋‍♂

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Getting hard to keep the 745 going. Seem to need to clean the VFO control once a year. Not easy to get to.

[@Jim-xz1ew]

Ya the whole ladder line thing kinda gives it away.

[@SuperSpecies]

Very interesting design. BTW the plural of inch is inches.

[@Jkauppa]

nice, also for full length big flag poles

[@Jkauppa]

or more like wind turbine flag pole antennas

[@Jkauppa]

also if you telescope the flag pole, any frequency

[@spaceflight1019]

Feed it with a gamma match and use a tuner. Supposedly there are military manuals that explain how to use a tree as an antenna via shunt-feed.

[@Jkauppa]

@@spaceflight1019 yep you could even hang an antenna from helium balloon, use the rope both as the tether and the antenna, get good views, from above

[@johnhicks735]

Like generator breather cover snap metal clips.

[@paulanomoly7977]

What did you do to keep the water out?

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Not too much water gets in. It's sealed pretty good. I have a small 12v self priming pump just in case.

[@PhilipHousel]

I noticed the idea of "water tight" repeated. Ive learn designing to minimize water infiltration BUT include a path for water to exit helpful. An example, ive installed "water tight" power outlet boxes only to find water finds a way in, but no way out and corrodes the internals.

[@WiSeNhEiMeR-1369]

HOWdy RCD66, ... thanks for sharing COOP the WiSeNhEiMeR from Richmond, INDIANA ...

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Your right down the road from here.

[@aperson9495]

Only problem is the SO-259/PL-259 aren't weatherproof - I would recommend a type-N instead.

[@weshawkins7165]

Not understanding why you have to seal PVC from the aluminum tube. Is PVC conductive?

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

The concrete base will always hold moisture thus, conductive. The air space between the aluminum tube and PVC reduces the capacitance to ground via the concrete. Thanks

[@seeharvester]

Is the flagpole full of water yet? hehe :)

[@patrickday4206]

I was watching trying to figure out your spacing and how it could work for wifi !! Lol then it came to me that it was ham radio!! Lol

[@chillychurchil5972]

u can make delta loop with these...Fan dipole

[@SPONGEATHONO]

What kind of spectrum analyzer is that? I need one.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

HP-8712B Network Analyzer 300KHZ to 1.3GHZ.

[@battlestarone]

When yiy attached the so239,,did you connect the centre pin to the antenna or did i miss this,,,but good project,,,atu should alway be at antenna end of feed line,,only ham tune from tx end,,,atu at antenna is way more effective.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Yea, It's connrcted.

[@utumven]

What's that analyzer your using?

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Hi, I added it to the description above.

[@1STGeneral]

I suppose I'm kinda old fashioned and would like to see 🇺🇲

[@robertoler3795]

well done WB5MZO

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Thanks

[@dannyfreitas2120]

thats awsume

[@bobjones1620]

Nice job, but you forgot the flag. Cheers.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Only in the summer.

[@raylrodr]

Sunlight eats Flex-seal.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

That's debatable. Flex Shot is supposed to be guaranteed for UV. Flex Seal seems to have possible issues. So far the Flex Shot has held up since 2001.

[@raylrodr]

@@CIRCUITDESIGNER I'm speaking from experience. Used it on my camper skylite and it flaked and crumbled under 3 years

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

@@raylrodr Yea, I saw online where people have issues with Flex Seal on RV's. Ill have to keep an eye on the antenna seal.

[@raylrodr]

@@CIRCUITDESIGNER you'd think for what that stuff costs that it would be an ideal solution.

[@charlesethridge5312]

You really should research the proper way to put the flagpole base in the ground. You use sand inside a 16 inch tube and the base of the flagpole is set in the sand and the 16 inch tube is set in concrete.

[@willhoward9190]

Well, you will know if you ever get struck by lightning because your cement will explode.

[@k8byp]

your GROUND ROD IS IN VIOLATION OF NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CODE. Nothing in Art. 800 indicates grounding antennas. When you ground the coax and connect it to the radio, you violate Art. 250.24 ,(a)(5) TWICE: May not reground at the load May not ground a not normally current carrying conductor.

[@k8byp]

PS Youve also violated Code because your antenna ground rod is too far from the Service Entrance rod to bond them together. Theyre only allowed to be about EIGHT FEET APART. YOUR GROUND IS DANGEROUS.

[@bovineexcrement8635]

It's only dangerous when it's struck by lightning 🌩, in the meantime it's an antenna

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Don't be using it anywhere neat 27Mhz as it will melt as 27Mhz is close to the resonet frequency of Chlorine.

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

10M would be nice but I don't even have that band yet.

[@joerowland7350]

It will sweet in side n build up water in side

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

No water yet since summer of 2001.

[@rl2109]

Nice video, full of information... Hoping it serves you well for many fine days! KH4KZT

[@CIRCUITDESIGNER]

Thanks, It's been working well during these great band openings.