One of us is a dummy - is it me or the JPC-12 antenna?

[@ralphnunn3]

I haven't had the best of luck with mine, either. But, a couple of times that I've used it, the coax has been at fault. When I've used good coax, I've gotten out. I set mine up the same way that you do. It seems to work better for me on the higher frequencies, as others have mentioned.

[@zl3pwm]

Hi Nick. The radials best as a raised counterpoise above ground. Also it’s vertical, not suited for short to medium distance. More likely effective on higher frequencies over longer distances.

[@zl2neb]

Thanks Peter, Yes I’ll need to try a different configuration and I should have expected that the vertical would have quite a different pattern of radiation. I had been spoilt a little with the success using the 10m mast in a vertical configuration. Really I was after something a little more portable and I recorded this video about 10 weeks ago - it’s just come through the schedule now. ZL3CC and I recently completed a JPC-12 - JPC-12 QSO which was an entertaining experiment but ultimately successful.

[@ZL2SEA]

Hi Nick, thanks for video, I have a JPC-12 and have made contacts with it, it performs quite well with my tests, but not as good as a dipole or long wire antenna. You can use it with the coil mid or bottom mounted so some testing to do to see what works best. Regards Nigel ZL2SEA

[@zl2neb]

Thanks Nigel - yes I’ve heard from others that they work quite well I suppose really it’s all a bit of a compromise. I was really after something that was a little more portable for taking easily on the motorbike and this seemed like a reasonable option.

[@ZL2SEA]

@@zl2neb Hi Nick, suggest you take a coax switch and the JPC-12 plus your wire antenna, then switch between antennas getting signal reports from both antennas and then you will have a direct comparison. Would be a good test. Cheers 73 Nigel

[@zl2neb]

Nigel - it’s as if you already know what next week’s video is about (although I didn’t take the switch which would have been the sensible thing to do). 😂 I did these ones about 10 weeks ago now so the problem I’m going to have is that people will be frustrated when they see that I don’t follow their good suggestions. Initially I wanted to have a bit of a buffer so that I could continue to release a video every week even if I had been unable to do an activation. Things have got a little out of hand so I need these scheduled ones to play out while I sort out a more practical system.

[@ZL2SEA]

@@zl2neb Cool, looking forward to the next video, :)

[@johnnorth9355]

You may have it set up wrong. The connector should be directly under the coil - not seperated by the extensions - and the whip on top of the coil. The extensions are to raise it off of the ground if needed ? I have a much more basic version of just ground spike, connector and whip And it works well with my G90. Radials help greatly - I use a faraday cloth as a groundplane. 73 and keep trying.

[@zl2neb]

Thanks John - yes possibly there is a better way to set it up. I just followed the instructions in the booklet that came with the antenna. Certainly having the coil closer to the bottom would probably help in the wind that we seem to get here. I have heard of people using faraday cloth, I’ll try and find some and see if how that works instead. Of course I am operating on 40m so it’s possibly asking quite a bit from such a short antenna. 73’s and thanks for the suggestions.