Portable Hamstick Dipole Experiment (20m)

[@robjohnston5292]

I think you "ham lingo" is just fine. I listened to my dad for decades (I'm 55) and I guarantee he never would have guessed that you're a n00b. To honor my dad, I got my tech license in 2003 or 2004, mounted my his old Kenwood 2 meter rig in my car and only listened a bit. I've never said a word over the air, but your vid's may just inspire me to do so. Next weekend's project is to journey down to Naperville to disassemble dad's ham shack, pack up the radios, antennas and peripherals and haul it all back to Michigan. 73, Rob KC8ZPP

[@williamgalvin2808]

I am a snowbird, an go south for the winter. I have been using this ham stick set up for years. I've had very good luck. It's mounted on the ladder of my RV. Good luck an enjoy.

[@jimgreen6704]

Good one,Tom Keep em coming U make me wanna drag out my ole haystack dipole again 73, Jim wa4ua

[@TomtheDilettante]

Ha! Thanks for watching! I need to get my butt in gear and tinker more with ham stuff. Too many hobbies....not enough time or money :)

[@barrykery1175]

Nice video. For a fairly new ham you are off to a great start. I wish they had antenna analyzers when I became a ham 44 years ago. I loved playing with antennas and all I had was a grid dip meter and an SWR meter. You put a nice package together. Good luck, Barry, KU3X

[@barrykery1175]

PS..... Now put that package together, put it on the Harley and take it portable. Hi Hi I do that with my QRP station. Barry

[@GreyGhost-r4z]

I have used those hamsticks for 25 years. They work great

[@TomtheDilettante]

Sounds like a made a good choice then. Thanks for watching and confirming these things do in fact work well for the long run :) That's good to know.

[@chriswesney]

I’ve thought about making one of these for years. I didn’t know there was a kit for the bracket. Very cool

[@aglandorf75]

Just made my first contact ever on 15 Meter, with a Xiegu G90 and a 15Meter Hamstick from the roof of my car. Went from north Germany to Israel. I was really happy. Roughly 3000km, 1828 miles

[@MrToymod]

Way to go with the g90 .

[@vetham100]

Tom, i enjoyed your video, thanks for sharing your first contact. Excellent audio as well. Keep up the experimenting and also, keep us updated! Well done.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching! It's a fun hobby for sure! SOOOO much to learn I can see how folks spend a lifetime tinkering :) Have a good one!

[@vetham100]

@@TomtheDilettante You too, stay safe.

[@Undermin3d.]

Man you really deserve to have a large following here. Great videos that are not full of fluff and you seem like a real natural on camera. Wish you the best of luck on here. I used to do POTA(Parks on the Air) quite a bit before I started a night shift job. Moved to days recently and intend to get back on the bands very soon. 73 de K9LWR

[@dennisjoiner3717]

Good job Tom. Hope you make lots of contacts. I had a 40 & 80 meter Hamstick Dipole from one feed point in the attic of an Apartment in St Louis several years ago. It got me on the air, of course they are compromise antennas but far better than nothing.

[@bthemedia]

Congrats on the ham licenses - impressive!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you! 73 de KD9PXF

[@photoguy73]

Just came across your video. Welcome to the hobby. I'm going to try a hamstick shortly. 73, Steve, N7SR

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks very much! Hell of a fun hobby. Definitely an endless rabbit hole of learning opportunities. I've had good success with this hamstick diploe setup. I'm beginning to tinker with EFHW antennas so may do a video on that as well (assuming I get it right) :)

[@RobPetty622]

Just came across your video and saw you were north of Chicago. I’m in Arl. Hts. and often go outside in a tent in Palatine or the Northbrook area. All the best and 73, Rob WA9RAD

[@9bar7and9bar8]

Hey Tom, your video popped up on my youtube list, probably because i was researching hamsticks. Great video well done ! I have the 17m hamstick so i am gonna get another and do the same to give it a go. Keep experimenting ! Thats what the hobby is all about. 73, Sid MI5UTC

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching and for taking the time to chime in! For portable HF ops, I really dig the portability of a dual hamstick dipole. I've only had limited success with a single vertical hamstick on HF...probably because I'm still a newbie and haven't figured out how to ground optimally, or set up a good radial system. Anyway, it's been fun experimenting. Just need more time to keep tinkering :) Good luck with your setup and thanks again! 73 de KD9PXF

[@nigelbrooks7744]

Great video I’m thinking of making a mini beam using 4 no 17m hamsticks on a 4m boom, how do u think this would work ?

[@hamradiocq]

Loved, it I might build this antenna also.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching! Worked admirably in the Colorado rockies on my portable Yaesu 857d setup. I found a portable flag pole mount and mast on Amazon that I might try next instead of this PVC setup. If it works, I'll try to do a video on that as well. 73!

[@jeffnelson8285]

Very cool, that is the kind of stuff I want to learn and do. I'm studying now for my tech ticket. Hope to hear you out there someday!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Awesome! Good luck with your studies and getting your ticket! I certainly enjoy it. I ended up getting my General license 2 months after my tech and haven't regretted it one bit. Studying for my Extra here and there but it really starts to get technical. Gunna need to just dedicate some time to push thru this year I think. Be cool to catch you on the bands someday! 73 de KD9PXF

[@SteveH-TN]

Thanks for sharing this video currently considering exploring Ham Stick dipoles. Appreciate your thoughts, and the QSO feedback too. 73 Steve AA4SH ( lived in Chicago from, birth 1948 until joining USAF 1970, the Sugar Bowl Restaurant favorite 👍😎 )

[@paulshaffer9674]

I have the 80 meter Ham Sticks and the adapter. It works on most of the bands. KG7IRJ Ohio

[@TomtheDilettante]

very cool! May I ask, how narrow is your usable bandwidth on 80m? I'm finding while tuning these things that the usable bandwidth gets narrower the further down the spectrum I go. For example, I can get a good SWR on the 20m hamsticks for pretty much the whole phone portion of the band, but on 40m, it's narrower. Thanks!

[@romeo-sierra]

Great video, thank you!

[@dingusnutts]

What a couple of "hams", especially that standard.

[@jbmann52]

Thank you. I’ll be making this antenna.

[@johnc3403]

A few years back now Tom but do you remember how well the 40M version worked? I'd be interested in making a 30 meter version but as you know, the shorter you get wrt wavelength,. the less effective hamsticks are. I'd appreciate your thoughts on a possible 30M version? Thanks, John EI5JS

[@JonathanKayne]

Just bought a Crosstrek 2021 and saw you are also a ham. For being a newbie you sounded perfectly fine to me. 73 DE KM4CFT

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you! And thanks for watching :)

[@thormusique]

Great video and a great setup, thanks!

[@Mandarin110631]

cool video thank you!

[@GreyGhost-r4z]

Those 90 degree coax connectors are great.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Yessir...I have many of them in my box-o-parts. Got one on the back of my Kenwood V71 mobile in my office since it mounts close to the wall. They're just so darn convenient :)

[@sailingfreedomandfireflies2184]

I would like to know (see) how it worked with the 40 meter sticks!!

[@davidmohr4606]

Nicely done, Tom. I'm originally from Rockford, IL., now Central South Dakota. Also, nice looking bike. 73 de KA9NYN.

[@arsbadmojo]

Hello; I know this video is a few years old, but one thing I wondered about (and I didn't see in the comments, if I missed it please forgive) but I understand the impedance of a dipole at the feedpoint is about 75 ohms, and there's no balun or gamma match on this mount. What impact does that have wit 50 Ohm feedline? wonder why they don't make a groundplane mount, using the hamstick as a radiator?

[@digitalanaloguehamradio]

Ham sticks are awesome great video

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you! And yes, this was my first experience with them. I was pleasantly surprised by their versatility, ease of use, and relatively low cost. I would like to get some for 10m next :) 73!

[@digitalanaloguehamradio]

@@TomtheDilettante I have worked America from the UK lots of times on hamsticks. I spoke to someone who was on a hamstick in Mobile to mobile!

[@dangermandave67]

How much did you cut off the whip? I've got a couple of hamsticks that I want to use to form a dipole that I can use on both phone and data segments of the 20m band. Don't want to trim too much off and lose the data segment.

[@Rubie_the_Black_Widow_Subie]

Just got my GMRS license (WRMD956) in eastern KY. My radios are arriving Sunday and Monday with my SWR reader estimated to arrive April 4th. Do you have any recommendations for mounting my antenna and perhaps a video where you covered it or even one you followed? I know my cable needs to retain 3’ segments, I’m just contemplating placement on my wife’s and my vehicles. 2017 Subaru Impreza hatch (2018+ Crosstrek) and a 2012 Toyota RAV4 Limited.

[@CigarsOnTheAir]

Thanks for sharing! Cheers and 73! De W3LAM

[@usernamemykel]

What is the length (setup) overall, please ?

[@mistermurtad2831]

I am trying to set up a 10M dipole. I got the antenna tuned to the frequency, but I can't get the SWR below 2. Should I just use a tuner? I would like to get the SWR low and use it without a tuner. Any suggestions? It is not near anything metallic. I think I have good separation from other antennas.

[@williampeacock9473]

Use wire counterpose that should bring your swr down.73 AE4OY William Peacock EM-81UF SOUTH EAST GEORGIA

[@raykiii]

I just got my General in Jan. I think it's great. 40m is my favorite band. I do a lot of FT8. KE0OAP 73

[@TomtheDilettante]

Congrats on the General! 40m is also my favorite band. Haven't tried FT8 yet, but it's on my list. I'm interested in PSK31 first but haven't yet dedicated time to connecting my rig to the computer. Too many ways to have fun yet too little time :) Thanks for watching!

[@johnscrip5322]

Nice bike.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Sure is!

[@RaiderDonnie]

Congratulations on getting your general. I just got my general this past fall as well. Hope to catch you on the air some day! 73 KC3EZP

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks much! It's a small world and I hope to start getting into POTA someday so you may just catch me on a park activation :) 73 de KD9PXF

[@rftech1608]

Hi great video I live in Chicago to

[@MrJcknight007]

So I have a question. Given the horizontal polarization and height from the ground, isn’t what you’ve constructed a NVIS antenna?

[@TomtheDilettante]

Good question and I'll give you my best newbie answer. From what I understand, an antenna is considered NVIS if it's 1/4 wavelength or less in height from the ground (e.g., 1/8 or 1/10th wavelength). So, for 20m, at 15' off the ground, I was not considering this an NVIS antenna. However, my 40m hamstick dipole at 15' off the ground would probably be considered an NVIS antenna. I'm not sure if this all applies to compromised antennas with coils though. I'd love to hear what others have to say about this to educate myself as well. Thanks for watching!

[@alvarogaitan2529]

fantastic job my friend 73 from kb2uew

[@donalfinn4205]

Nice vid!👍☘️

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks!

[@KB1UIF]

Hi Tom, we should have a QSO some day. I work nights right now but hope to retire in march of 2022. Look forward to a chat and maybe exchange ideas about videos and KZbin. 73.

[@Mainuh]

Nice video Tom! Congrats on getting your general so quickly! I’m looking to build something similar for our winter QTH in Tucson (HOA). Hope to catch you OTA sometime. N1AO

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks much! Would like to get my Extra because I feel like I'm missing out on some good parts of the bands but haven't made the time to study for it yet. Some day :). Thanks for watching and good luck with your build as well. 73!

[@TheMultisportGeek]

How would you set those ham sticks up if you want something more permanent on my roof?

[@markh1938]

I’m curious about the mast build, did you do video on mast build or did you find it online?

[@richkimmerling3458]

Nice Ultra Classic. .... anniversary edition? Thanks for the Video. I’m going to try to take one Camping!! ‘73

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching! Yup, 2008 anniversary edition. Had it for a while. Actually been thinking of trading / downsizing. I've always wanted an old school chopper or bobber with a king and queen seat. Someday :-)

[@rickvia8435]

Good deal, Man. I'm yet to try Hamsticks, but the 20M versions look like to gigs to try 1st.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I've had good success with the 20m setup. The 40m version works well too but it has a pretty narrow usable bandwidth. So I would say an antenna analyzer and forethought into where you want to operate (voice, digital, cw) before you deploy it is a good idea. You might be able to get away with tuning it in the middle of the band and using a good tuner, but I haven't tried that yet.

[@solo63137]

Thanks for making this video and giving me ideas(and costing me money, lol)... I get you used like 1" pvc, what did you use as a base to keep the pvc standing up?

[@seeharvester]

You could probably just drive a 4 foot concrete form stake in the ground and slip the pvc pipe over that. Or even a piece of 5/8" rebar.

[@juniorharris9545]

Good job!!! I got my tech license in July of last year and then passed my general in December. Currently doing research into HF before I make any purchases. I live in an apartment do I can’t post up any permanent antennas

[@TomtheDilettante]

Congrats and welcome to the hobby! I actually got my tech license back in July as well. Then General in September. HF is an interesting space for sure. I have an ICOM 7300 which I really like. It's feature rich and there's a ton of content out on YT to help you get started. It's pretty user friendly too for newbies like me. I've made lots of contacts all over North America and some across the Atlantic and I know I've only begun to scratch the surface of both HF fun and that radio's capabilities. I also have a Yaesu 857d that I picked up used from a local club member to use as a portable rig. Little bit more of a learning curve on that one, but it's a great radio. As for antennas, yeah, that's a tricky one being in an apartment. Dipoles like this you can usually toss up pretty easy in a state park or something and play outdoors. For a base rig, you might want to check out "stealth antenna" options in KZbin and online. I don't have much experience with these, but some hams get really inventive when it comes to low profile or hidden antennas. Just be cautious of RF radiation. Anyway, best of luck to you and hope to catch you on HF someday! 73! de KD9PXF

[@pd9rd]

You might want to look at a vertical end fed half wave. I have two of them put up vertically on my balcony along a 12 meter fiber glass pole that a lower when not in use, the other one is for the 20 meter band and I shortened it to 7 meters in length using a 8 uH coil that I made. Like I said both of them can lowered when not in use. So far I was able to QSO with a station in Australia which is 10.000 miles from my QTH. This doesn't happen every day, and conditions have to be good. But it's possible. If you need anymore info let me know. @Tom the Dilettante very interesting, thanks! 73

[@k2cjbradio]

Great idea! Might do the same thing for POTA activations! 73 de K2CJB

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching! Yeah, I really like this little setup. POTA is something I'd like to get into myself. I've helped activate a few parks on the receiving end, but never participated at a park myself. Need to give that a shot sometime soon. 73! de KD9PXF

[@k2cjbradio]

@@TomtheDilettante It's alot of fun to do and this antenna rig that you've put together will work great!

[@williamjamel5502]

Are they just as good as a regular dipole if so I'll go this route then buying a g5rv Jr no trees just poles for mounting

[@shaneramos1428]

Details on PVC mast?

[@IAJeeper]

Enjoyed the video, I think I need to build one of these as well. I'm currently using a mag loop while portable and it works well, but it is best for park-and-bark rather than tuning around for QSO's. Did you get any video of the camping in Colorado? 73! Matt - KE0TXC

[@TomtheDilettante]

Very cool! I've been wanting to experiment with mag loops myself for a bit. I'm new to the hobby and much of the physics behind antennas is still dark magic to me. I'm afraid I didn't get much footage from Colorado with the Yaesu setup. Some B-roll, but that's about it. Next trip I'll dedicate more time to some field QSOs. Anyway, thanks for watching and 73! -KD9PDF

[@Coyotethumper5]

When tuning do you move both equally or just tune one side I’m assuming you do both equally. Thanks thinking of doing a 75 meter dipole.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Hey there! Thanks for watching! I tuned both sides equally. To create a good balanced dipole, each element should be the same length. For a 75/80 meter dipole, if you're going with a shortened or coil wound dipole, keep in mind your operating bandwidth will likely be very narrow. Even on my 20m and 40m hamstick dipoles, I had to tune for a desired portion of the phone band. Anything above or below was a high SWR. In my case, if I decided to use the same antenna for data / CW, I'd have to re-tune it. Just something to keep in mind. Good luck with your project and have a good one!

[@TomtheDilettante]

Hey there! Thanks for watching! I tuned both sides equally. To create a good balanced dipole, each element should be the same length. For a 75/80 meter dipole, if you're going with a shortened or coil wound dipole, keep in mind your operating bandwidth will likely be very narrow. Even on my 20m and 40m hamstick dipoles, I had to tune for a desired portion of the phone band. Anything above or below was a high SWR. In my case, if I decided to use the same antenna for data / CW, I'd have to re-tune it. Just something to keep in mind. Good luck with your project and have a good one!

[@MichaelLaferriere]

I recently purchased a pair of Shark 75m hamsticks. One thing I noticed of the 75m ones is the bandwidth is very narrow. I'm currently a general so my 75M is at the top of the band. As the poster mentioned the stick is mostly coil so you wont be able to adjust very much without cutting otherwise you will be putting the stinger in the middle of the coil which would probably make it radiate more infrared than RF. :-) I wanted to put the swr sweet spot around 3.9MHz for mine as I figured that is where I would be spending most of my 75m time. The further you move away from their design the smaller the swr sweet spot gets even with the built in tuner I have a small chunk of 75m that I can operate with these. The SWR was pegged with the stinger in its original form. As a test, I borrowed the stingers from my 40m hamsticks (also Sharks). It brought the sweet spot on my analyzer pretty much right where I want it. The 40M stingers are 36" while the 75M came as 48". 12.5" inches seemed to work out for me. Please note though that my installation is in an attic which is far from ideal and I might have gone past a better size cut by utilizing the same size for 75m as the 40m. American Radio Supply sells replacement stingers if anyone ever over cuts. I kept both sticks equal as each stick handles half wave so they should be equal. My results are similar to the OP. Are they the perfect antenna? Probably not, but they are very portable, durable, easy to set up & flexible. I had a quick QSO with W4DFR who is around 750 miles away. At the same time & frequency as this QSO, F11BAO in France put me down as a QSO on EQSL. So, its very possible he heard me on the other side of the Atlantic. Its also very possible he heard someone with a similar call sign and/or miskeyed. 73 - KC1OCA

[@TomtheDilettante]

@@MichaelLaferriere Awesome! I haven't tried this on 75 yet. I currently run them for 20 and 40. You're right though, the operating bandwidth on these is pretty narrow so you definitely have to tune accordingly. I've found that the lower you go, the narrower the bandwidth. I get a pretty good / usable SWR throughout the entire General voice portion of the 20m band, but not in the 40. I can only imagine how narrow it must be on 75/80 LOL. That's awesome on the DX QSO for this setup in an attic! Haven't made it across the pond yet on this setup, but I've also not been on the air as much as I'd like to lately. Anyway, thanks for watching and sharing your experience. Very cool! 73 de KD9PXF

[@2travellersandadog95]

2E0HXZ Great video. Might try 20 and 4O in the near future. What radio are you using?

[@gregmihran8616]

Hey Tom, great project! Like you, I'm outdoors a lot and want to travel with a rig, solar battery (love the Jackery 240 and solar panels) and a portable antenna. Questions: 1) how have these worked for you during your travels? Would appreciate hearing about performance, 2) wonder if we could build a 20 meter 'beam' using 4 or even 6 hamsticks? Have you heard of anyone doing this? 73 KJ6ER, Silicon Valley

[@TomtheDilettante]

Hi Greg! These have worked out well for me in the couple trips I've used them. In this video, I believe I showed an SWR reading across the part of the phone band that I was looking for. They tune, but the bandwidth is a bit narrow (narrower on 40 than 20). So I would suggest pre-tuning them at a height you think you'll be using them at and then checking them again when in the field. The 20m rig didn't need to be tuned on use, but my 40m sticks needed a little tweaking in the field. I roll with a RigExpert antenna tuner which makes the job easy enough. As for a beam, that's a really interesting idea! I googled it, and it looks like someone has done it. Check this out: hamuniverse.com/ve6vk20meter3elementhamstickyagi.html Tuning 2 sticks wasn't that bad, but tuning 6!? Wow...wouldn't know where to begin. I'm not experienced or knowledgeable enough yet to know how to tune the driven element vs reflector vs director. A lot of that stuff is still dark magic to me :) Anyway, I'm still new to the hobby and hope to tinker with building a high gain HF antenna, but I'm still learning and exploring what might fit my small space. If and when I put something together, I'll be sure to document it to share. Thanks for watching and 73! -KD9PXF

[@gregmihran8616]

@@TomtheDilettante Hey Tom, thanks so much for the reply. Ya, that's a interesting hamstick mini-beam project but I agree with you, tuning a half dozen sticks would be a real project :) Another thing you may want to try - MFJ has 17' telescoping whips that u could try instead of the hamsticks. More efficient than sticks and perfect for 1/4-wave elements on 20M. They scope up very small, too! This is the part of HAM radio I really enjoy - experimenting, especially with DYI antennas! BTW, congratulations on the new license, good for you! And your 'lingo' sounds great. 73 buddy, KJ6ER, Silicon Valley

[@basimpsn]

Got my Grol license for sometime now and never uses it smh. I'm going to look for a radio in Amazon.

[@donriffle1634]

Congrats on your General! Great video. God bless. 73s. KE8HSL

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thank you very much!

[@griffindeluce]

Awesome!

[@michaelpohl348]

How well did the PVC mast work for you? -K6MRP

[@timbookedtwo2375]

I was under the impression a dipole antenna was half a lambda. In the case of the 20m band, total length roundabout 10m, each leg roundabout 5m. It looks like you built yourself a full wave dipole antenna. What was your reasoning here?

[@TomtheDilettante]

The hamsticks I used are electrically a quarter wave each. End to end and center fed like this is equivalent to half wave center fed dipole. Hope that help :)

[@timbookedtwo2375]

@@TomtheDilettante then i understand. i will try it out

[@isanac81]

Hi there!! How far have you come with that antenna?

[@bobstika9440]

what frequency is SARS my local COUNTY is on it and I was wondering if I can put it on my HOME PATROL scanner .radio.

[@usernamemykel]

Wrong forum.

[@slik560]

I built basically the same setup. I experimented for a day with the whip length and the best I can get with my Comet analyzer is SWR of 2.2-2.5 at about 70 ohms at 29" whip length. [this was at 14.230-240] So a tuner is necessary. It works great for JS8 so far [today is the test run] but I'm wondering about the whip length. I have not cut them off, but at 29" they don't seem to extend too far into the main shaft. The irony is that my hamstick dipole fell right into line with about a 1.2 SWR @ 50 ohms....at 14.585....outside the damn band. :) Any thoughts are appreciated.

[@charlesstewart7829]

how did u get on with this trying to make 1

[@jarneskegge]

Great video. Was tuning up one of these myself today. Cut the whip a bit short. Can't tune down to 14.300 range. I am General Class as well. About how long did you extend your whip for General? KN4VDG 73

[@MidlifeRenaissanceMan]

Request: Try them vertical as well as horizontal. Let us know how you go. Also, I’d be curious to see how they go compared to a wire antenna for 20m on the same pole in say an inverted V

[@TomtheDilettante]

interesting idea. next time I bring these in the field I'll have go give it a shot. Jeez...warm weather can't come soon enough :) Thanks for watching!

[@MidlifeRenaissanceMan]

@@TomtheDilettante I’m sunburnt after a day of repointing and repairing brickwork.

[@MidlifeRenaissanceMan]

@@TomtheDilettante The idea of running them vertical is you get the lowest take off at half a wavelength above ground for a horizontal. That’s 66’ at 40m. Vertical, the radiation pattern is a little different. Then there is the mag loop rabbit hole... :-) Craziest antenna project I have seen was Callum of DX Commander running a 160m horizontal full wave loop around 33’. On 20m, It gave him some very narrow radiation lobes that had around 15dB of gain over a dipole. Remembering you double your power every 3dB so that is 32x power in the direction of the lobes. Scaled for 11m, that almost makes you competitive on the Super Bowl:-)

[@seeharvester]

@@MidlifeRenaissanceMan 591 feet of wire should be resonant on 11 meters. I'll have to string it over my neighbors yards. They're old, they'll never know. 🤫

[@MidlifeRenaissanceMan]

@@seeharvester once you get into multiple wavelengths, you get all sorts of odd patterns and lobes. Some are massive. But it also has steep nulls, so some stuff you won’t be able to hear. If you run a couple in slightly different directions you’ll often pick up some of the the gaps

[@Ktmoney123]

You have some great videos and they are well produced! How did this antenna work on your trip? Hope to see more radio content from you! 73

[@KrypticPatriot]

Million Dollar Voice, you could do commercials, voice-overs or whatever. Cheers!

[@mauriceaustin3442]

Nice. Just bought a 2021 crosstrek and hoping to build it into an overland rig to replace my 4runner. I will use it to pull my off road teardrop trailer this coming summer. I usually run a homemade g5rv here in the mountains when out using my yaesu 891. Any how, going to surf your videos. 73 N7NHS

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching Maurice! Would love to hear more about how you end up modifying your Crosstrek! Funny you say you're looking to replace your 4runner. I hope to grab a 3rd gen 4runner myself someday to beef up for those trips that the Subaru just can't do :) Good luck!

[@jonnybkuehl878]

Now that was cool!! Alot to learn when it comes to HAM lingo!! Question, What did you use for as base on your trip?

[@TomtheDilettante]

For my antenna mast, I'm currently using a flagpole to go kit typically used for tailgating LOL. Link below. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OWNMRM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@TEGEscalator]

Greetings from Belgium 73 👍

[@TomtheDilettante]

Greetings! Haven't worked anyone from Belgium on HF yet. Maybe I'll catch you on the air sometime and we can log a QSO :) 73 and thanks for watching!

[@TEGEscalator]

@@TomtheDilettante Greetings, yes of course why not. I use voice, CW, FT8 and FT4. We will surely have the chance one day to do a Qso. It would be really nice. For the moment I am not building any more antenna it is too cold. I wait for sunny days. 73 see you soon. HNY 2021

[@tfiii6404]

Great video. Right to the point and good explanation of what you did. I'm going to do the same. Thanks Tom. KF0HQG

[@GreyGhost-r4z]

Congrats on the upgrade ! De KB2QQM

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks much! Studying for Extra now. Keep hearing lots of stations on frequencies outside of my privileges and I feel like I'm missing out :-)

[@GreyGhost-r4z]

@@TomtheDilettante you’ll do it. I did it like 20 years ago when my brain wasn’t mush like now lol. Good Luck 👍🍀 you will do great !

[@allanmacuser]

thank you for the video Tom l am about to make something myself may l send you a link when its completed regards Allan G6TMO

[@TomtheDilettante]

Thanks for watching Allan! Good luck with your build. Worked nicely and I got some QSO's while camping in the Colorado Rockies with both a 20m and 40m version of it. I found a different mast idea in the form of a portable flagpole for tailgating that I'm going to try next. It's less rigid so my wrapped coax (ugly balun) throws it off a bit with the weight. So I might need to make a nicer and lighter balun. We'll see. Anyway, good luck and 73!

[@brianshanahan3878]

Video says 20m but you have 2 20m hamsticks for your dipole. Shouldn't it be 2 10m hamsticks?

[@TomtheDilettante]

As I understand it, each hamstick is an electrical quarter wave, so two end to end in this configuration creates a half wave dipole. At least electrically. It tunes quite well in the desired band but because they’re compromised antennas, bandwidth at lower frequencies (ie, 40m and 80m) is quite narrow. Hope that helps!

[@ralphnunn3]

Very cool. I put one of those up in a vertical polarization just on the top rail of my chain-link fence. I tried to attach some radials to it, and that sent the SWR sky high. Disconnected the radials, and near 1:1. It worked well; I made contacts all over the country with it. DE K7RLN

[@gblan]

If you have a trailer hitch bike rack on your car/truck you can just lash your mast to that. Works great. Also that PVC setup looks pretty stout. Could probably easily support an MFJ-2104. Then you could have 4 hamstick frequencies up at the same time! mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-2104

[@TomtheDilettante]

OMG! Hamstick Octopus! That's amazing! LOL! I'd probably end up spending half a morning tuning the damn thing, but what a cool setup! Might just have to see into getting one of those hubs. Thanks for sharing. And, I actually just ordered and received a swingout tire carrier that mounts to my hitch. I like your idea and once I unbox and install it I'm sure I'll have to check to see how I might mount a mast to it :) 73!

[@vacuumfireradio253]

An antenna is resonant when reactance X is zero ...not when the SWR is lowest...aim to tune for X equal to zero and then review the impedance R.

[@TomtheDilettante]

Good tip! Thank you! I'll begin paying more attention to that value here on out as well.

[@forgetyourlife]

Good vid, however that watt meter is useless on SSB without a peak or average switch.

[@TomtheDilettante]

LOL! Yeah, I noticed that after I started getting into HF. I had bought that to test home brew antennas on VHF / UHF. Ah well. Another toy / tool to add to growing wish list of goodies in this extraordinary hobby :)

[@jayceew2j202]

Dude screw yt. Go into voice overs

[@krisb8781]

Very nice! KD9VUD

[@py2rpjrubens450]

Very good! Like #888. 73 PY2RPJ

[@TheVe3tww]

Hello Tom Why using pvc as a mast? 73 de ve3tww

[@TomtheDilettante]

no particular reason other than I was being cheap :)

[@vandreu83]

hello! nice video, how do you fabricate the mast? I thing is a grate idea! can you tell me how is done? THX 73s YY5AVA Venezuela!@@TomtheDilettante

[@storskegg]

Got APRS on your bike, yet? 🙂 73 de W4PHO Wisco