The best antenna for HackRF Portapack (and Flipper Zero, Meshtastic, Quansheng, RTLSDR, etc.)

There is an essential gadget that you will want to get, to get the best antenna performance. But first we need to cover a bit of antenna theory, before we can answer the question of what antenna that is the best one for your HackRF Portapack, or Flipper Zero SubGHZ module, or Meshtastic, Quansheng UV-K5, RTLSDR or other radio devices. This video is covering the bare minimum basics of antenna theory for beginners into the radio hobby.
0:00 Intro
0:27 Antennas are not magic
0:57 Antennas ARE magic
1:50 Resonance and reflected power
3:26 Basic types of antenna
4:55 Calculating resonant antenna lengths
6:55 Don't trust antenna specifications
7:59 NanoVNA is an essential antenna tool for measuring SWR
9:31 Understanding antenna gain and other antenna designs
12:15 Which antenna is the best one for HackRF Portapack?
14:47 Outro

[@Androsynth75]

This might be the best ‘antennas for newbs’ video I’ve run across. You explain a lot very concisely. Nice job.

[@mohammadjuanda7882]

I'm not a telecommunications practitioner, but your explanation is very easy to understand, thank you and i appreciate

[@xtwisted007x]

Another excellent video! That lesson was not only concise and informative, it was well produced and interesting to boot! Love and appreciate all your content. Looking forward to more! Thanks!!

[@LarryKapp1]

One of the best antenna tutorials for beginners I have seen. I will be recommending this to aspiring ham radio operators.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks! 🙏

[@s1nister688]

Dude, rename the video title to "Masterclass on RF antennas"! You just taught me so much from this single 15 minute-long video.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks a lot 🙏

[@Slartibartfas042]

Well, in fact this is just a very good but "short" video scratching the surface of antenna and RF theories. If you are interested in that stuff, you can buy a lot of books dealing with details of one or few antenna types or some aspects of antennas, and there is a whole engineering branch of study, just dealing with antennas and RF. I would recommend books (or even sets of books) like the "ARRL Antenna Book for Radio Communications" or alike (depending on your preferred language). It is a very interesting and fascinating subject, that was much more interesting (and understandable) when radios were just analog devices with coils, capacitors and a few transistors, as you easily and directly could *hear* and *see* the direct resulting differences inbetween different solutions. Computerization of radio receivers and it's complexity did make that whole stuff a lot more "black-box"-like and unfortunately makes it much harder to understand what is going on. So for the start I would recommend you to first go for radio stations on AM bands (long wave, up to short wave radio stations) or FM Radio stations, as there you get direct feedback on how good your antenna is working. Absoluteley not like with digital signal types like DVB, DAB, phones (GSM and later), WiFi and so on, where your usual receiver in best case will have some sort of very rough signal quality indicator. A good accesory for a HackRF also might be the Portapack case/display, that will give you the tool of "waterfall diagrams" showing the signal strength (as opposed to the "signal quality" which only shows some informations about the signal-to-noise ratio).

[@Martock1017]

Even if you do have a fair understanding of antenna and transmission line theory, your video still makes interesting viewing. I think you have made a very straightforward description of basic antenna types for anyone new to the subject.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks! 🙏

[@xxMTxxDEWxx]

Perfect explanation of the need for the proper antenna. I eventually found this out the hard way through a lot of trial and error and research online. Makes our radio hobby all the more exciting. Very good video. Thank you!

[@AllFouRoux]

Sn0ren deserves so many more subscribers. The quality of these videos are through the roof and the information is amazing. Also I love my NanoVNA, and I probably only use about 10% of its features.

[@sn0ren]

Thanks a lot 🙏

[@TouchToDream]

You are doing a great RF content! I watch every video with my pleasure. Keep it going :)

[@JoshuaBBull]

This is a truly excellent video! It explains a lot of theory with RF communication that is often overlooked or assumed but is rarely explicitly taught! Thank you for such an informative video! :)

[@TalkingSasquach]

Love everything about this video. Keep it up!!!!!

[@effwitt]

Very nicely produced video! Liked and subscribed.

[@MattRobertsons]

Another great video! Thank you so much for making these and doing them so well. Thank you!

[@philswede]

Greetings from Sweden! You,Sir, just got yourself a new subscriber 🎉 Awesome video!

[@MrXRes]

Спасибо! Лучшее видео про антенны для новичков, что я встречал Успехов вам в развитии канала

[@no32no74]

Great video and very important topic! Thanks!

[@borisvokladski5844]

A little life hack for antennas that need a metal surface: I use cheap fan grills for PC cabinets. They also give some stability to the antenna, if you place them near a open window or outside. To begin with in my early SDR journey, I did not knew, that these antennas need a metal surface for ground plane. I was very happy when I found out, that a metal surface helped improving the signal just by using a left over fan grill.

[@sergebash2305]

Спасибо! Хорошая подача материала. Очень познавательно.

[@KJ7VUB]

Hey Sn0ren, great job. Love this!

[@L0rdK0nda]

I recognize a nanovna even blurred XD Great video as always

[@MyTube4Utoo]

Very good, accurate information. Thank you.

[@davidwilliams-lq9om]

Excellent job! A long-time Elmer.

[@rocheuro]

i knew nothing about rf and antennas now I know quite a bit! great explanation very well constructed video. thank you! now I will know which antenna to use with my UV K5(8)'s !

[@rocheuro]

btw another great quality informative video! its a pleasure to watch.

[@burning4902]

Great video thank you!

[@javierpallalorden]

Thank you for the excellent video!

[@mikelitoris7288]

You pick up the people where most of them are :-) Very good explained! (Just 2ct from a Dipl.-Ing.)

[@khaledgamal9575]

Thank you for these informative Videos , please keep up and do more videos on anteana and hackrf

[@lillebrornmb]

Helt perfekt video for mig som er ny i denne RF leg. Mange tak for denne og alle dine andre videoer.

[@liaammalka8551]

Thank You.

[@cherrymountains72]

Just what I needed as I recently started dabbling with amateur radio!

[@joseetcheverry1344]

Thank you so much !!!

[@sn0ren]

You're welcome!

[@ccc3]

Superbly summerised! How come radio devices don't come with some kind of protection circuit to prevent frying the amp?

[@sn0ren]

Some do and will throttle down the output if they detect a bad SWR. Some are just built more robustly and can take even a high amount of reflected power. But a lot aren't. It's all down to cost and most hobby radios expect you to know to check your SWR before transmitting 50-100 watts into an antenna. You get to buy the radio for a little less money or get other features instead.

[@ccc3]

​@@sn0renThanks for the fast reply! Today I became a little more intrigued by radio thanks to you

[@maverick3644]

Sn0ren you always make the best videoes 🙂 Quick question, i use the Harris AN/PRC 152 in the Danish army, the same antenna is used from 30-512MHz, how is that possible?

[@sn0ren]

There are many ways to make an antenna multi band. One way is to have more than one antenna in one, compacting several dipoles together. Another way is to have "traps" along the antenna, small passive filter circuits that cut off the antenna for signals of certain frequencies. Another way is to use bands that are multiples of each other, the ham radio bands are like this 2m, 4m, 6m, 10m, 20m, 40m - this way one antenna can be resonant on multiple bands. Another way, which is mostly common on the HF bands below 30 MHz, is to use an antenna matching circuit or antenna tuner. On HF there is more leeway to use non resonant antennas, as long as they are long antennas, but their impedance still needs to be matched to the radio. An antenna is like a load (think resistor) to the radio, and that load needs to be 50 ohms. If you have an end fed long wire or whip antenna, the impedance will be very high. A matching circuit such as a balun/unun, can bring down the impedance closer to the required 50 ohms. However even if you match the impedance with a tuner, it doesn't necessarily make the antenna good radiator - but it might be good enough. An antenna tuner can also do this, or work together with a matching circuit. Many radios for HF have built in antenna tuners. Also military radios are typically built to withstand high impedance mismatches, and can survive high SWR - unlike hobby radios. For every point I make in this video, there is a longer "well, actually.." answer ;)

[@bowlsallbroken]

If you want to transmit with any kind of equipment with a wide range of bands, do yourself a favor and invest in a nanoVNA for antenna matching.

[@roguesecurity]

Amazing video as always. Thanks for sharing. Couple of questions: 1. How useful is to get a nanovna if I just want to receive. I was thinking to get one and design my own antenna for different frequencies reception 2. For receiving, can I just use a dipole (with lengths adjusted) for any frequency?

[@sn0ren]

For receiving you can get away with eyeballing a dipole or ground plane in some approximate area of a frequency. If you want to build more complicated antennas like a yagi, it’s beneficial to have the NanoVNA even just for receiving to check that your design is working out correctly.

[@Xdigitalboss]

I’m not sure how I got here, but I’m interested in learning about this

[@smegheadGOAT]

I am waiting for a delivery of a hackrf one would it be a good idea to turn the amplifier off before starting my beginners journey.

[@sn0ren]

Always a good idea to have the amp turned until you actually are in a situation where you need it. I haven't had a situation where I would need the transmit amp yet.

[@smegheadGOAT]

@@sn0ren WOW! sn0ren thanks for the reply.

[@adriancamposteixeira5483]

Wow!!

[@joecizin9357]

👍👍

[@LeonardSamuels75]

Sooo... anything to do about blowing the amp on my hackrf? Or is it useless now?

[@sn0ren]

If you’ve blown the amp on your HackRF you can just turn it off. Everything else still works. You can also use an external LNA.

[@Atmatan_Kabbaher]

You can also desolder the amp and fix the circuit yourself if you know how to solder. The internet says it's easy and self explanatory.

[@laory1808]

Ty snoren

[@WEEDFROGS]

Being this early feels like a crime! Thanks @sn0ren for another great vid!

[@sn0ren]

Thanks and congrats 🎉

[@notafbihoneypot8487]

Based

[@phant0m739]

0:33 I hate to be pedantic, but Iron actually makes for a poor antenna, especially at high frequencies, due to the conductor skin effect. Great video though!

[@sn0ren]

Thanks!🙏 There are plenty of options for being pedantic as I’ve had to cut out a lot of details to not make the video too long for the beginners. I’m happy to have lots of great input as yours in the comments though 🙌

[@VeniceInventors]

Great all around explanation of the subject of antennas. Such a fascinating subject. 1/4 length antennas seem to be the most common, but wouldn't a full length antenna be the best option (at least for reception)? I'll have to look into the 5/8th approach to understand why it actually "flattens/strengthens the donut" rather than just degrade the transmission power from reflections. Now I want to make a measuring tape for my portapak telescopic antenna which shows the frequencies (instead of cm/inches) as that would be handy :-)

[@sn0ren]

For some reason a full wave antenna is a really poor radiator when used for transmitting. I'm not sure of it's receiving capabilities. The mysterious theory of antennas crosses into physics which is a weird place.

[@VeniceInventors]

@@sn0ren That's why I find it so fascinating, we think we have it all figured out and then the universe says "not so fast, I've got some more puzzles for you!"

[@djdoubleu2020]

Why is your PortaPack so thick? It appears to be thicker than others ive seen online.

[@sn0ren]

It’s a thicker alu Portapack body that is sold by OpenSourceSDRLab

[@kursadzeybek356]

very very INFORMATIVE video bro BUT i wanna learn KeyFob PLEASE teach us... (i wanna open my neubours car:p hihhi)

[@ClickClack_Bam]

I've built a Pwnagotchi. I've put an antenna on it that was 5dBi. I took off the 5dBi antenna & put on a 10dBi antenna. Both antenna are the same size but the 10dBi antenna appear to get a better signal. You explained that the same size antenna are the same. I don't understand then why I get a more powerful signal then. I'm new to this so I'm clueless.

[@sn0ren]

If these antennas have a plastic shroud over them you don't really know what's inside without disassembling them. A lot of antennas use the same default plastic shroud, but have very different lengths of metal inside them. Some can be coiled, some can be stacked dipoles for increased gain... and some can just be marketing adding a few extra dBi's in the text and hoping that no one is the wiser.

[@ClickClack_Bam]

@@sn0ren Is there an official way to measure their strength?

[@sn0ren]

It’s a bit tricky but you can use a field strength meter. But with WiFi it can be difficult to measure.