Which Antenna is Better?

[@letsgo4629]

somewhere there is an old man sitting in his house cursing at whoever is repeatedly kerchunking the local repeater

[@temporarilyoffline]

If I can do just this one thing today I can die a happy man... 🤣

[@eem3iii]

@@letsgo4629 Yep, I was setting up a new HT for the local repeater and the Elmer in the club during a meeting asked if I was kerchunking it 😂

[@jackkelley890]

@@letsgo4629 I hope so. I can easily Invision that. Hahaha

[@DonzLockz]

Yeah, all the kerchunking probably raised his BP, and now he's a SK. 😂

[@3henry214]

Interesting shoot out. My goto antenna for "fringe" operating is the Smiley Antenna Super Stick II 2 meter. Collapsed, it's 10" and a 1/4 wave, extended, it's 48" and a 5/8 wave. I've hit some Hellacious distances to repeaters with it extended. They also make a 2 meter 5/8 wave rubber duck, called the "Slim Duck", this is just 10.5 inches long. It doesn't work as well as the super Stick II 5/8 wave, but it beats the hell out of a stock rubber duck. Interesting note on the Ed Fong roll up J-Pole. Josh (Ham Radio Crash Course) did a fantastic (almost 2 hr) live-stream with Ed Fong 2 months ago, it is well worth the time (and effort to stick with it) to watch. Ed mentioned the way to deploy his roll-up is not to have it hanging parallel with a mast (conductive or non-conductive). Lean the mast over at a slight angle, so the J-pole hangs away from the mast. He said hanging the roll-up J-Pole parallel to the mast is the most common mistake people do, that affects its performance. You may want to try Ed's roll-up again, the way he recommends. 73 KN6VMK

[@temporarilyoffline]

I can see that about Ed's antenna. The velocity factor gets effected and the SWR would be off. Thanks for the tip.

[@45auto]

Just like when we had to move the rabbit ears antenna just right to get that one TV channel.

[@temporarilyoffline]

It was pretty cool to see!

[@eem3iii]

@@45auto and add a little aluminum foil 😂

[@KeepEvery1Guessing]

Back when I was the treasurer of the IRS (Interstate Repeater Society, 25/85 machine, among other bands, in Derry NH), before anybody used tones, we had a feature in the repeater controller such that if there was no modulation during the kerchunk, there would be no tail. So I'm glad that you eventually got a response from that Minnesota machine. I still have the habit of IDing for every "test".

[@temporarilyoffline]

I did do the 10min rule, but I try to edit out the boring parts for time.

[@gfodale]

Have you considered using a field strength meter? Even if it's not a calibrated meter, the relative readings could be compared easily enough. I think it would be more 'telling' than a 'go / no go' test on a distant repeater. Also, the relative readings could be taken from a ground height level, then up a tower at a given angle from the transmitting location.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Yep, I thought of it. I have built a few as well. Maybe in a different video.

[@victorcharlie7491]

That's not a bad looking radio, at least you got a red signal stick, to hold ya over till you get your "red radio", tnx Man!

[@temporarilyoffline]

I'm waiting... Thanks for watching!

[@kb8m203]

Thanks for the video. Love the shootouts.

[@temporarilyoffline]

Me too. They are a lot of fun!

[@DonzLockz]

Lots of kerchunking going on there, Steven!🐷👮‍♂️🚓😂 Awesome practical tests. I only have a few different size Abree's and some Signal Sticks from Haydens last trip. I now need some more including the roll up foil and the Ed Fong. The N9TAX roll up also does well on 2m apparently.😊

[@temporarilyoffline]

Indeed Donald! Imma kerchunkin fool!

[@eem3iii]

Good info as always. What 10 meter mast are you using? Thanks

[@temporarilyoffline]

This is the DX Commander Expedition mast

[@jaxk4912]

I bought one of the antennas shown at 5:20 from eBay. It fell apart after the second use; it just comes apart. And the centre coil was fake. It's just a plastic tube and can be unscrewed. Also the antenna is connected to the screen of the plug and not the centre pin so it did not pick up any signal when connected to my handheld transceiver.

[@temporarilyoffline]

I've seen some bad goosenecks for sure

[@dougdaniels]

Great comparison test! What type of coax jumpers were you using for the j-poles on the mast?

[@charlesr9110]

Would love to see this with voice transmissions recieved on a mobile or something with a large antenna.

[@temporarilyoffline]

That would be great

[@Timber-Wolf]

Could it be that the Iron Bars ? behind you (when you were sat down getting strange results from the repeater) were acting as a faraday cage ? Just a thought :)

[@temporarilyoffline]

Yeah. Definitely! "Everything effects everything"

[@jerryKB2GCG]

what type of coax are you using ?

[@robertmeyer4744]

I have worked on some local repeaters to me. The logs show a lot of kerchunking . and GMRS same way. And i hear it from other countries as well. That neat how reflecting or refracting works. the polarization shift . 73

[@temporarilyoffline]

I was pretty amazed!

[@ThomasBirkAbildgaard]

Great vid, .. Abbree 42.5 ftw .. :)

[@temporarilyoffline]

can't beat an EFHW on 2M!

[@MrTaylorfenoglio]

im actually very surprised that the Hight didn't really help that much

[@temporarilyoffline]

It's like that sometimes

[@agoraphobicadam1171]

Antenna shoot outs are fun. Thanks Steve. Stay Awesome. KO4HPC 73

[@temporarilyoffline]

Hey Adam!

[@davlanders2]

Would you do a video on making the 300 ohm FM antenna jpole?

[@temporarilyoffline]

I sure can! It will take a while to get to it in the schedule. Stay tuned!

[@jackkelley890]

That was a fun video. Love that faraJ

[@temporarilyoffline]

Hey Thanks Jack!

[@pixeluser175]

0:01 Cap

[@temporarilyoffline]

Thanks Pix!

[@pixeluser175]

@@temporarilyoffline My Waters & Stanton music shortcuts are handy too.

[@temporarilyoffline]

@pixeluser175 I'll mix it up a bit and see if I can get ya!

[@pixeluser175]

@@temporarilyoffline :) on

[@stevethibodeauxn4sfc257]

Great Video TO. Thanks for sharing. Steve N4SFC

[@temporarilyoffline]

Ubet Steve, thanks for watching!

[@tinypenpen]

You are awesome ;)

[@temporarilyoffline]

Thank you thank you!