New Mini-Whip / FM Switcher with Bias-T

Only $5 for 10 PCBs and every new member get $5 bonus. + Express 24 hour / 48 hour service on www.pcbway.com/ ➠ ➠ ➠ Welcome to the channel. Today, we're diving into an upgrade for the Mini-Whip antenna layout. As you know, this antenna has been my trusted companion for all my radio restoration projects, delivering outstanding performance across the LW to SW bands.
However, I've faced a couple of challenges: the need to switch from the output BNC to the FM input for testing and a rather messy initial installation due to a rushed setup. To resolve these issues, I decided an antenna switch was necessary, and designing a PCB was the best way to achieve a neat and efficient solution.
With the help of PCBWay, I embarked on this project. In this video, I'll walk you through the entire process from concept to completion. I hope you find this journey both informative and enjoyable.
If you wish to order your own PCBs from PCBWay, the link is below:
➠➠ www.pcbway.com/project/sharep...
Notes:
1) The incorrect diode orientation mentioned in the video has been corrected in the PCB's being shared above.
2) At 07:29, I meant to say “reverse protection diode”, rather than “dc blocking capacitor”.
🙏 Want to support the channel? ●●●●●●
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#tuberadios #antiqueradio #radiorestoration
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[@DavidTipton101]

I wonder what you need it for in future episodes 🤔🙂

[@petersdelucaaa2vg306]

Your projects always sounded and worked well. Now with your new printer they also look fantastic!

[@electronicsoldandnew]

😊 thanks

[@SHarris64]

Maybe you can make a separate battery pack module that is always being charged. You could have several voltages going out of the back of the module to feed all the modules as well as a jacks on the front if you needed a quick bench supply for testing. You’ve developed a very cool bench system. Well done!! 🙂👍🏻

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@fotoralf]

Well done, as always. I would have liked to see the difference between direct connection of the MiniWhip and going through your un-un (or rather common-mode rejection transformer, because that's what it actually is), especially on long and medium wave. Maybe you could add this in a future video.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I actually only remembered that I’d missed that out after the video was published. Will do that in future video as you suggested.

[@fotoralf]

@@electronicsoldandnew As I'm getting a little too old to hold my breath for weeks on end... could you give us a little hint on whether it makes a difference or not? 😀

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Ok. Noise is the issue, because some noise comes in as common mode noise on the signal and ground lines. This noise is sometimes more audible in the direct connection. The isolation transformer clears some of it up.

[@haraldlonn898]

Maybe 3D print some slots to slide the board right in. Great work. I love it. Thanks.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@migalito1955]

Nice. I've been busy renovating a summer home here in the Catskills of NY for a good year so my radio projects have been on hold. None the less I do have the front end of a regenerative receiver off the dream board & on a piece of MDF board. Next but still on the dream board is a direct conversion receiver. I had mucked about, a year or more ago, with what claimed to be a mini whip, but in the end I assembled a 40/20 meter inverted V style fan dipole that works quite well for local traffic which is all that interests my QRP appetite in radios. I added a loop on ground to see if it lived up to hype & its still in place so its not horrible. It actually is about two S meter values quieter, but there is an over all signal loss too. On the other hand I tried a small magnetic loop transmit/receive antenna by using 4 inch aluminum clothes dryer tube for the main loop. This antenna is interesting. Its 4 feet square with a 23 inch square of copper pipe as the inner loop. Once you find the magic spot on the capacitor it becomes very usable for both receive & transmit. Its most efficient at around 80% on 20 meters, but is useful at 40 meters too. It has down sides but was fun to see a bunch of plumbing parts take on being a useful antenna & given a station within a couple hundred miles the darn thing does an excellent job at providing a bearing to the station.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I went through my antenna experimentation phase and it was absolute hell 😊 I finally settled on the miniwhip as it works best for me (receive only). It also adapts well to the roof of my apartment building as the other owners don’t see it as an eyesore. I’ll probably try a loop someday, but for now … I’ll leave well enough alone 😊

[@migalito1955]

@@electronicsoldandnew I suspect the mini whip I purchased on Ebay already preassembled was defective or did not match the actual unit designed by the European fella. I'd like to try it again some day with an actual functioning device, but here in the country I have no real need to be discreet, but I must confess the darn LOG does quite well & if the transformer used is sufficient I can't see why one can't use it for local Nvis rag chewing. I used the 60 footer or 15 foot per side square and 14 gage wire that disappeared in a couple weeks. If I was ambitious I'd swap it out for the larger loop that is effective on 80 meters & I'd bet if big enough even lower can be achieved.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@JonRig]

Very neat! I must get off my lazy butt and get the mini whip I have installed. It's been sitting in my workshop for months and I have been dithering around wondering where best to place it. I think I need to stop procrastinating and get the thing up as they do look to work very well!! Impressive!!

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I did the same thing: wondered and wondered and wondered some more 😊 Then I just stuck it out of my window and was blown away by the results. That’s what led me to take it a little more seriously and fitted on the roofAntennas can drive you crazy, as you’re always looking for that extra little bit of reception, which seems so illusive. Sometimes you just have to stop and accept what is 😊

[@JonRig]

@@electronicsoldandnew Good idea re the window test. I think I will give that a go. It may give me the inspiration to get it up on the roof (finally!)!!! 😁

[@electronicsoldandnew]

@JonRig : just don’t fall. Reception is really poor if you’re hospitalised 😊

[@JonRig]

@@electronicsoldandnew I'll try and be careful! Between falling off roofs, getting electrocuted or doing your back in moving a Saba Freiburg this hobby has more hidden dangers than one realises! 😂

[@electronicsoldandnew]

😊

[@tubeDude48]

As always another slick device! 😀👍 To reject spurious noise, I would aline the inside with aluminum and common-ground everything.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I may do that, want to check if noise is an issue first, because sometimes with the miniwhip the ground actually adds noise, rather than reducing it.

[@tubeDude48]

@@electronicsoldandnew - Yes, I agree. It was just a thought and concern. 🙃

[@johnnorton6085]

I would have put the LED and dropping resistor in parallel with C3. Then if the fuse blows you have an indication or rather a lack of one. :) I aways appreciate your videos.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@parkjv1]

Aloha Manuel, sent some coffee and pastries $ for the family. Enjoy from one islander to another! All the best! I really appreciate & enjoy your work and videos.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Thank you very much. At that rate, you’ll get me fat 😊

[@BobAndersson]

Nice! On another topic, and it's not something I ppersonally need, has anyone ever built a simple 3 kHz (plus possibly an additional 5 kHz) high Q tuned circuit filter plus a bit of amplification feeding into an AC millivolt meter? Why? I'm thinking a cheap and cheerful way to minimize THD during FM ratio detector alignment when the front end is fed with 1kHz FM audio. It doesn't have to be super accurate so long as you can see and minimize the 3rd (plus possibly 5th) harmonic. Or am I talking balderdash? 🤣

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I’ve been looking for a good THD meter for some time, may have to build one 😊

[@danielsaturnino5715]

As melhoras!

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Obrigado

[@mackfisher4487]

Challenge, make a project that PCB Way will sponsor, that will be popular with your wife and subscribers.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

😊 subscribers are probably easier to please than my wife 😊

[@mackfisher4487]

😃@@electronicsoldandnew

[@anandarochisha]

This video sure is popular with me, and I am a subscriber, which just goes to show that you don't speak for his subscribers, and to be certain, not his wife either. In fact, I suspect that you only get to speak for yourself, and given your comment, could well go unheard by me.