Comet CGW-560 Counterpoise - Experimenting with Hamsticks

The Comet CGW-560 Counterpoise kit has the potential to make a real difference for portable ham radio operators using vertical antennas for Parks On The Air and other activities. Come along as I do some testing with good old hamsticks.

[@alzeNL]

Thanks!

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you very much! 73 from VE3TWM.

[@davidsradioroom9678]

You have to be pretty brave to be out in the cold like that. It is shirtsleeve weather at my QTH. I have had good results with my 10 meter hamstick. I reached British Columbia with it from the Atlanta Georgia area. Great video.

[@radioastronomy2001]

Great video. The 10m ham stick should work just fine even without any counterpoise. Tuning is very important, even a few mm makes difference. On my CB antenna, cutting off 3mm made all the difference and the antenna got tuned to perfectly match frequency of the CB channel 19. I strongly recommend MFJ1979 for all bands from 6m to 20m then a hamsticks for 30m and 40m. The 80m hamstick does not work well on the car (the capacitive coupling is not sufficient). You could try a "hair pin" match or a small capacitor between the the base and the antenna. Also, instead of the counterpoise system you could run a jumper cable from the magnetic base to the body of the car.

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for sharing your practical experience and knowledge, Tom!

[@walteredwards544]

I've used these with my Comet HFJ-350 M and a mag mount. I've gotten resonance in every band , including 160 meters. I placed it on a table. QRP can work but for me it was inconsistent. Using my Xiegu G-90, the results were much better and definitely more consistent ( even though my longest contact was from my QTH In Georgia to a station in Argentina with my Eiad FDM Duo using just 8 watts from my kitchen table). Everything just has to line up to be successful with these antennas at that power. Thanks for the video. Cheers✔️💯👍🏿🎯

[@joefrank430]

I have a 4 door full size gmc pickup and started out putting the hamsticks in the middle of the roof towards the back. This was roughly the center of the vehicle. But climbing up and down the the back adjusting got tedious because the swr would change depending on where i was at. There was a big difference in swr between the door open with me standing outside with the analyzer, and closed with me inside. Now i put the magnet towards the front of the cab just in from the drivers door and mark the whip with a sharpie and get repeat performance . P.s. love your vids!

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for sharing your experience! Very interesting.

[@ve2zdx]

Hi Tracy. RF will always follow the resonant path. This is what I do with my radials: I use 3 sets of 4. One set cut for 10 meters, another for 15 and another for 20. This allows the RF to go through the resonant path and use the other to build the ground plane. And Since the WARC bands are in between they also get a good swr. Having all your radials with the 5 meters length is fine and you can also get a good SWR with them. But giving the RF a path to be resonant makes your live easier. The DXCommander uses this behaviour of the RF in his antennas. The coils, RF Traps and transformers causes the RF behaviour to change, but using a set of radials as I described plus the SS17 makes an awesome wide band antenna for 20meters and above. 73!

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for your informative comment! 73 from VE3TWM.

[@Swamp-Fox]

I am impressed with the quality construction of the Comet products! 73, Patrick KF4LMZ

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for your comment, Patrick. 73 from VE3TWM!

[@denislacroix654]

Hi Tracy! Very nice vid! I sometimes use 20 m hamsticks with a very large magnet on the front of my suv, with a quick change connector. Works for me. Salutations!

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for sharing your experience! Turns out the hood of my Subaru is not magnetic.

[@Dap8998]

I have a 17’ whip antenna that I was playing around with the other week. The SWR with the mag mount on one vehicle (Trailblazer) was noticeably higher that my other vehicle (Suburban). Both mounted on the hood. I do not recall the numbers. I will revisit this with counterpoise wires as you have used in this video. Thanks for the informative video. 73,KE2CQF

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you and 73 from VE3TWM!

[@BrentTaylor]

VY2HF here. I have a few Hamsticks and that exact same Comet combination of mag mount and the adapter, purchased at HRO in NH last fall. I have made my own radials with banana plugs, and I think they work quite well. I took my HF dipole down last fall in preparation for a a hurricane, and saw it was in poor condition so didn't put it back up after the hurricane passed. Instead, for the winter, I just used a (Chinese) spike base in my backyard, adapter, and a few Hamsticks to play on the bands. I did the RAC Winter Contest with a 40M Hamstick, and it worked quite well. Then, I swapped in one of my 17M (18 MHz) Hamsticks - and worked the Clipperton DXPedition. Needless to say I'm impressed with Hamsticks. This coming season I plan to activate some parks with the Comet mag mount on my RAV4, with assorted Hamsticks, radials, and my RigExpert 55 to check the SWR. Thanks for the video, and I'm looking forward to Part 2!

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for sharing your experience! That's an amazing result.

[@nr3rful]

I got rid of the "Allen" screws and used thumb screws. No key to lose.

[@gregmalonewa3gm680]

Where did u get the thumb screws?????

[@nr3rful]

@@gregmalonewa3gm680 At Home Depot hardware section in one of the drawers.

[@thuff3207]

Burr dang it must but really cold. Thank you for this video and for reminding me I hate cold.

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing" 😀

[@alzeNL]

Nice work ! Really intressing and admire you sticking with this and showing the results. I have Comet HFJ-350M toybox antenna which goes on the side-mount (which came from canda!) to the LC-192 and have put the similar counterpoise wires (CGW-560 HF) on it, adding more helps. I made a QSO from my QTH on 10w of power - was super impressed. I couldnt get it to work in the field with a computer, but I think thats because signal was getting back into the computer and it needs an in-line choke to stop that somehow... but for a back-pack HF with counterpoises, yep it works !! 73s and thanks for these great videos, always inspriing and getting out there on the air 2E0FWE

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for sharing your practical experience!

[@imahamjim]

You look like muck luck of the north 😂😂 keep up the good work

[@MikeN2MAK]

I've been thinking that I should give a counterpoise a shot for when I use a mag mount.

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Great minds think alike! More to come...

[@BobN.WB1EVU]

I have found my 10 meter hamstick is still too short when fully extended to be resonant anywhere close to 28.400. Time to try some radials. Thanks Tracy.

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

I've got another video coming on this topic, stay tuned!

[@Sidmi5utc]

Tracy I had a similar swr issue but cured it with a common mode choke. RF was coming back to my analyser and skewing the results. 73 Sid MI5UTC

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Fascinating! Thank you, Sid. 73 from VE3TWM.

[@kd5you1]

I might have to try this out as I have had only fair results with a 40 meter ham stick on a jaw clamp and a single counterpoise. On a different note, parts of southeast Texas was blanketed in white stuff... not snow but hail. About 3am a severe thunderstorm passed by 10-15 miles south of my QTH with baseball size hail. I saw a picture of a house under construction that was demolished by the hail. 73 KD5YOU

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Yikes! I'll take the snow over the hail. A lot of people complain about the 40 meter hamstick. I'm going to work with mine and share the results in a future video. 73 from VE3TWM.

[@kd5you1]

@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Me too! Ok thanks for the great video! 73 KD5YOU

[@barrygkx]

Nice job. All great information. You Canadians must love the cold? Hi Hi No way and I setting up portable until the temp goes above 60 F / 15 C. BURRRRRR ! Barry, KU3X

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

😂

[@gregmalonewa3gm680]

Terry did u try adjusting the steel rod???? I did not see that in the video

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

I like the way you think! Yes I did and still had the issue. Watch my new Car Roofs video for more info.

[@billmcilwee566]

Thanks for the video. Antenna magic is, well, magic. I like the quick deploy counterpoint from Comet. I will add it to my wishlist. 73, KF0NNQ.

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thanks for your comment and 73 from VE3TWM!

[@hamradioattitude9712]

I've found hamsticks to be a pain to adj. (ended up using a small manual tuner) and useless without at least one radial on 20m. I gave up on 40meters hi hi. The 17 ft. whip and a counter poise is much easier to use and sees to perform better. Good information and thanks for the great video's. 73 Gary wb3dsj ("ham radio attitude" is my much less professional you tube channel)

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thank you for sharing your experience, Gary. Your channel looks good to me, hope people reading this will go check it out. 73 from VE3TWM!

[@Philip-KA4KOE]

Gloves

[@OutdoorsOnTheAir]

Thanks for the tip, Philip! Do they even sell them down your way?