LIVE FIELD TEST of MFJ-1899T Antenna: Will It POTA???

[@gregmihran8616]

Hey Mike, great to see u have a channel, I just found it and subscribed! Thanks for testing out the MFJ antenna ... I strongly recommend that you attach at least one ground radial at the vertical antenna base (not the radio). Even though u are not using an RF choke at the antenna (which I always do and it dramatically helps SWR), u should use at least one radial (more is better). When radials are on the ground (ground-coupled), they don't need to be 'tuned' to the frequency. I would try three 10' radials and attach them to the base of the antenna. This works for me on 20M-6M and even works on 40M depending upon ur conditions. The reason MFJ is asking u to 'tune' the radials to a certain length because they assume u are doing a 'walkabout' - not ground mounted but elevated on ur backpack. Try it and it should work much better for u :) 73 KJ6ER, Silicon Valley

[@Ham-Solo]

Thanks Greg I will try that as soon as I get back to the QTH after working here this week in Vail. It’s always an easy contact with you in California when we are both in POTA parks and I appreciate the advice. When I switched over to the Elecraft about 13ish minutes into the video I did put down my 13’ counterpoise that I normally use with the Elecraft AX1 telescopic antenna which is very similar but I still had issues. After watching one of Mike’s K8MRD earlier videos apparently the instructions might be incorrect and the tap point may be position 1 and 3 for 20m instead of 1 and 2 like in the instructions. I will be trying all of these changes soon when I get home and can also grab my analyzer to help. Thanks for subscribing. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@gregmihran8616]

@@Ham-Solo Ya Mike, antennas can be a 'non-exact science' sometimes ... as Dave Casler KE0OG always says, 'everything affects everything' with antennas! Using an antenna analyzer at home in ur yard with different coil plug points and whip lengths is a good idea. While I review what the manufacturer recommends, I understand that was in their test environment, not always my real world :) Good for u - do the testing and share back ur results. Try different radials and even an RF choke, I bet u will find the setup will work (albeit a compromise antenna). 73 buddy! KJ6ER

[@kb9jqu]

Great to finally work you in a park Mike! Glad you recorded me calling you Ham Solo. Catch you later down the log. POTA Rocks!

[@Ham-Solo]

Thanks Curt, neat to be recognized by a subscriber. I appreciate the QSO. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@vladtepes481]

I had one of these some years ago. It is an dummy load with a 20dB attenuator built in.

[@terryadams8012]

Glad you were able to get the park activated, bummer about the MFJ antenna. Hope you can get that one figured out.

[@Ham-Solo]

Yeah it was weird. Not being able to start the process till after 5PM didn’t help either. The UTC time change would mean I have to get either 10 contacts before 5 or 10 contacts after 5 and Im in the cold mountains out in the woods so weather and light become a factor and increase the urgency to try and get done. Harder to concentrate that way with the circumstances. I’ll give it a shout again once I get done working up here and can get home and spend a little more time on that one. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@o00scorpion00o]

The MFJ-9232 QRP loop tuner works great, I made up a loop for 10m with 10mm soft copper pipe and it works great at 5 watts, you'd probably want to use wire for larger antennas as larger rigid loops can be hard on the terminals on the tuner. The MFJ-935c works great with the FT-891 and 100 w, never fail to make contacts on it, really great tuner, just be far enough away at 100w and tune at 5w.

[@Ham-Solo]

I believe I’ve used that loop tuner a couple of times a while back. Check out this video while I use it at a 10 pt SOTA activation in South Dakota. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHXNhXyXfN-eoc0 Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@ellisc.foleyjr9778]

Thanks Mike for taking the time to make the video and check out that antenna, my only suspicion is the radial going off the radio and nothing off the antenna itself? it looked like you had it tuned fine. and the band was there because you worked stations on the other antenna. so not condition problem. swr fine. so had to be antenna propagation capabilities . or may be height/ground conditoins under the antenna. experiment with that and counterpoise off the antenna. my 2 cents worth. thanks again for posting this interesting. de Ellis WA1RKS

[@Ham-Solo]

Just wait brother I am uploading a follow up with a greatly different outcome. Should post by tomorrow morning. Thanks for watching and stay tuned for the solutions to the issue. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@tomprovo6204]

A great video. Thanks.

[@Ham-Solo]

Thank you. Just unfortunate I couldn’t make that MFJ work like it talks about. I’ll take more time with it when I get home and throw an analyzer on it to see if it is operating at all. I even stopped using my AX1 from Elecraft which is similar because it just wasn’t getting out as well. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@tomprovo6204]

@@Ham-Solo Hi there. I was looking at the k8mrd channel, and he also did a test on this antenna a while back. .kzbin.info/door/jETc3psT6i7B5z6S1Y3ojQ He said that the instruction sheet was incorrect; the jumper is supposed to go to #3 and not #2. Also he had the antenna hooked directly to the HF out on the back of his radio, with no coax transmission line. I don't know if that makes a difference. Another utube guy found that running the counterpoise out from the base of his antenna instead of from the back of the radio made a significant improvement in the SWR. I am always getting involved in radio and antenna situations in the field and get pretty frustrated when things give me problems. Sometimes I just step back for a little while and think it through and study up. Eventually I get most things worked out. After much hair pulling I have some general setup rules. I put a good 1:1 current balun at the antenna feed point, I put a remote antenna tuner at the antenna feed point and not at the radio output and I custom make my transmission line to be close to 1/2 electrical wave length for the frequency that I want to use. I am by no means a radio expert but this setup helps me a lot. I still have much to learn.

[@Ham-Solo]

@@tomprovo6204 Well I’ll definitely try the #3 slot as well as directly to the outlet on the radio. I don’t currently have a 1:1 balun so thats something I’ll have to work on and the only current remote tuner I have is in my attic of the QTH for my base station. I have done several activations with Mike K8MRD and know he’s very thorough with his antenna building and testing as well so I will give both of yall’s suggestions a try when I get more time and I’m back at home with my other equipment. Thanks for the info and for watching. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@LouiseBrooksBob]

Any shielding in a coax, until it hits an RF choke, can be counted as a counterpoise, so I guess that if a counterpoise was attached to the radio, the counterpoise would be the length of the counterpoise and coax added together. If mounted on a tripod mount the counterpoise should go from the base of the antenna. I think these antennas were primarily meant to be mounted directly on the radio and tuned manually by adjusting the length of the telescopic section and the counterpoise. A wire on a spool is a good adjustable counterpoise.

[@Ham-Solo]

Thanks Sarah. I agree and already made the change with the counterpoise as well as placing that antenna specifically on the direct output of the radio per all of your guys suggestions. Plus there was also an issue with the correct tap areas on the unit compared to the instructions. And the actual height of the sections compared to SWR. A follow up video with all these changes and the result will be posted this morning with quite the difference. Thanks for watching and the advice it will payoff. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@usernamemykel]

There is an error in the MFJ instructions re: 20 M. The cable should go to tab #3. Maybe that's why 20M wasn't working for you...

[@Ham-Solo]

Yeah found that out and also changed distance on telescope. Check out video called Vindication about a week later for corrections and how it worked. Thanks for watching, Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@McPilot_W3DDS]

You should get a VNA to analyze the SWR

[@Ham-Solo]

I have a NanoVNA as well as a Rig Expert and just checked the antenna right before Christmas and the instruction chart is way off compared to what the antenna is really resonant at on each band. That video was made a year ago and so a lot has changed since I made it. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@adventuresofbobandlana4939]

i have one of these and I think it is a great little antenna. i never compare it to my big ones. but I have cover the west coast from oregon and on to the midwest and the yukon with it. I'm no antenna expert. pretty much anything will work if the condition cooperate. For me it is just a fun little toy. I almost always have a better antenna close by but sometimes I just want to sit at a table and tinker with the dial a bit. Its not intended to be a miracle worker. but sometimes it is.

[@Ham-Solo]

Oh I agree and found a solution to the instruction sheet being wrong. Here is a successful activation with a change in the antenna. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpq5coiPppagprs and then here is a new solution using a better ground system from the shores of California. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmm6Zp5vmZmkes0 Thanks for watching. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@zanado11]

Aha!! You discovered the same thing I did…. MFG = mighty Fine Gunk.

[@Ham-Solo]

Zanado, check out my next video as I fixed the problem and got crazy good contacts afterwards. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmm6Zp5vmZmkes0 Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@vladtepes481]

Tune is CW mode unless in a portion of the bad where RTTY, AM or FM is OK.. A super cheap key or intermittent switch is all that needed to key.

[@Ham-Solo]

Yeah thanks. I got it all figured out and that video was over a year and a half ago. Subscribe and keep watching if you want to see my resolution. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@ferny107fg]

You probably figured out that on 20 meters should be tab 1 &3. 1&2 is for 40, mfj mis print.

[@Ham-Solo]

Yeah I appreciate it but that was two years ago and I did some follow up videos showing success and then an activation from the coast of California using that antenna. Here are the links: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmm6Zp5vmZmkes0si=3u5Giqt9d2zK0KOI kzbin.info/www/bejne/rpq5coiPppagprssi=Tt2EulF3N2FB5TYp Thanks for watching. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@aj4eo388]

I did not see any ground radials. Also when you are at home, use a permanent marker, Not actually Permanent on that whip, anyway with an analyzer make all the bands and you will not even need a tuner.

[@Ham-Solo]

Ok I will give it a shot with the marker, however I did have the antenna at exactly 39” for 20m as well as a 13’ counterpoise that you can see at minute 13:05 and still could hardly hear anyone and no one responded. Yes I plan on using an analyzer when i get home to see if finding the resonant spot makes any difference. So this was the first test of the antenna and more to follow. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@nr3rful]

I have that antenna and i think your instructions are wrong. Mine says the second tap is 30-40 meters and the tiird tap is 17-20 meters next 12-15 than 10 than 6-4-2 meters. So you are tapped for 40 meters

[@Ham-Solo]

The instruction sheet for that antenna is completely wrong from the factory. After this video I used it extensively in parks, summits, and at sea level and with an analyzer found the correct positions and settings for the lowest SWR that I will try to include here. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@Ham-Solo]

Here are the best SWR settings per band. 17m doesn’t work on mine. 80m No Jumper 48” 40m No.1 & No. 2 47” 20m No.1 & No. 3 Retract top section and set total to 31” 17m is out 15m No. 1 & No. 3 6 sections down then extend 1” up 12m No. 1 & No. 4 2 sections down then extend 1” up 10m No. 1 & No. 5 1 section down 6m No. 1 & No. 6 4.5 sections down 2m No. 1 & No. 6 All the way out Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@lousadventures2111]

that antenna is really made for qrp radios. for you to attach it to the rear of the radio. Don't get me wrong it will work but not with that tripod. I sent you an email hope it helps 73s de n3lou

[@Ham-Solo]

Thanks Lou. Check out some more of my videos and you will see the vindication of the antenna and some deployments of it like in California and Nevada for SOTA and POTA. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@ssyoumans]

The instructions are wrong. For 20m, you are supposed to connect 1 & 3, NOT 1 & 2. Bad instructions.

[@Ham-Solo]

Yeah I find that out and do follow up videos on it. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@Ham-Solo]

Here is a link to one of the follow up videos. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmm6Zp5vmZmkes0si=0xix3TrdU4SPyGgT

[@billdillon8139]

I couldn't get the MFJ 1899T antenna to work. Piece of junk IMO.

[@Ham-Solo]

Check out my Vindication video and then my California POTA video and it will explain what to do. Ham-Solo K0FYR

[@o00scorpion00o]

I have good success with the MFJ-1820T mono band whip and the FT-818, proper counterpoise is key to getting it to work. I make contacts all over Europe from Ireland and into Russia, usually if the signal is loud they will hear me and better again if they use a beam antenna. I would like to try the 1899T. I've also had good success with the MFJ-939C Loop tuner and the FT-891 at 100 watts, absolutely no problem making contacts on that at all and it's fun to experiment with the different loop sizes. The QRP MFJ-9232 loop tuner works great also and no need to mess with radials. The tuning can be difficult at first, always have to make sure you're tuning at 5 watts but once used to it you can write down at a particular frequency with a particular loop size where the lowest SWR should be a tuning is a breeze but at 5 watts QRP these loop tuners work great.