I bought one a couple years ago - didn't get to mess with it much, and packed it away. Last weekend I decided to play around with it in my dining room and made a POTA contact with a guy 500 miles away on 20m with 20 watts on a G90 (the little built-in band sweep helps a lot with fine tuning).
That’s a pretty good effort. Have you used it much on 40m at all? The G90 band sweep is very useful although I’ve been taking the VNA with me for the tuning as it doesn’t take up that much room.
I need to get a charge controller for the battery. I have been using a 1 amp lipo4 battery recharger using grid power. They say slow charging increases battery life. Kind of new to all this, except listening sometimes on the Vite-111 inexpensive receiver I got a few years ago..although its missing the cb band, etc. I also need a real antenna.... so far its about a 7 foot wire connected to the pl259 jack with some rolled up aluminum foil pushed in to make the connection, and the rf gain set high for just receiving and learning what the buttons can do.
Well anything is better than nothing so hopefully over time you can get a better idea on what you want to do and what equipment you might want to invest in. There is certainly plenty of options so we are definitely spoiled for choice. Good luck on your journey!
Hello Nick, nice video. I have the super antenna in my bag of tricks, along with a LNR trail friendly end fed and a linked dipole for field work. I like the super antenna for it's rapid deployment, and small footprint. A couple of weeks ago I set it up in a hotel parking lot with my FT818 and it worked very well. Often when I want to run "front porch portable" I'll set the super antenna up in the yard. I use the stock counterpoise sets which came with the antenna, and the small tripod you were using, and generally run about 25 feet (8 m) of coax. I don't use it all the time, but I'm glad I have a portable vertical for those times it's needed. 73 KB3JC
Thanks for your comments Steve. I was surprised just how small the super antenna is. It isn't mine and for some reason I thought that it looked bigger on the website (lol). I suppose that its main competitor is the JPC-12 which is almost twice the height. It's definitely an easy antenna to setup and I can certainly see the attraction of being able to deploy it almost anywhere like the example of the parking lot that you have tried. Do you use something like an analyser or VNA to tune it when you use it? One thing I'm unsure about is how effective the vertical will be in the field here. We have a very small number of operators in NZ and our country is long and skinny so you have to be able to reach them in a sort of north/south direction. To our left is Australia and to our right is South America and I'm unsure about the ability to reach them using this sort of antenna on SSB. I've got the loan of it for a little longer so I'll try it in the field and see how I get on. 73's ZL2NEB
It is ‘Super’ - though obviously a compromise compared to a raised, resonant dipole. One of my first experiences with the Super Antenna: On the beach in Riga, Latvia. Rig was Lab599 TX-500, about 10 watts output on 20 meter. Mounted the antenna on the spike at the water line, with one radial into the water. One of my first contacts was BDxxx. - had no clue until I looked him up. Chinese station close to Hong Kong - about 8.000 km I believe on SSB with clear connection. Later, I found raising the antenna on a tripod and raising the radials about a meter above ground really improves efficience - (when you don’t have salt water right nearby). Raised radials - which must be resonant - and the SA set is - removes the need for good ground connectivity
In this case - my own 5 meter radials - but not important as radials on the ground does not have to be resonant - just enough of them. Which is ONE if floating in salt water, 4-8 on good ground - and perhaps 64 on bad 😳
i have ended up with three of the super antennas one is used the same as you have it and the other two in a dipole config and ive had great results with them
I can imagine that the dipole configuration would work better for me here. Have you ever run a comparison in terms of trying to establish the radiation pattern differences between the vertical and the dipole configuration? That would be something interesting to try and establish.
Thanks for the comparison. I found that the coil slipped a bit. There is a little thumb screw that can help. For POTA here in the USA, it seems like 20 meters is popular. For that, a 17 ft / 5 meter telescopic whip is quick to set up. You can use a loading coil to get on 40 m. I use the bag with the extra parts from the Super Antenna to weigh down the tripod in the wind. DE AD0L. Mike.
Thanks for the suggestions Mike. The bag as a weight is a good idea. 20m is less popular here in NZ. Most activations are on 40m which means that we can be chased by NZ operators. If we move to 20m then really that makes us dependant on being chased by Australian operators who are the closest that are likely to hear us and with the time zone differences that can bring a different set of challenges (lol). 10m is an option with Australia though. I’ll work with it a bit more before making a decision on how viable an option it is. 73’s. Nick
I’ve had the Super Antenna for a couple of years now and was not impressed by its performance. Tuning is a bit of a pain, as you found out. Tune walk away check, retune walk away and recheck. I found that plastic tuning guide they give you is not very accurate at all. Used it once or twice, carried it as a backup for a while. Now it just sits in the corner of the shack… A simple homemade inverted V hung from a tree outperforms the Super Antenna by far… I’ll use the inverted V or a resonant end fed as my go to for portable ops. Like the Super Antenna idea, but it’s just way too much a compromise.
Thanks for the comments Robert. Yes at this stage I completely agree with you. The only thing that it really has in its favour is the easy of carrying it. Of course I am trying to use it on 40m which is at the complete limit of what it’s capable of. Probably if I tried to use it on 20 or 15 I would get a better result but if I do that then I effectively skip all NZ chasers which really gives me a completely different set of problems. Personally I’ve found an inverted V of some sort of end-fed antenna to be the best option but I probably shouldn’t completely discount it yet. 73’s Nick
Fiddly antenna but it works. I have an original Super Antenna, there are times that I have to fuss around with it to get it to work and there have been times that I "tossed it up" and it got me a 3-4,000 mile contact. So it's fun to tinker around with, but if you don't have the time, a wire in the tree or fiberglass mast is the route to take. If you can stay on a frequency and leave it that way ( assembled and tuned) for a long time , then it's not bad, especially for low angle DX. With the soil where I live , 40m band is difficult, elevated and tuned radials work best for me. 73, de N3TGY
Thanks for the insight - I’ll spend a bit more time trying this one out before I have to return it to its owner. Certainly the assembly is easy but the tuning as you identify can be a bit more involved. A mast and a wire with an appropriate transformer and tuner is certainly a bit more versatile and much quicker if you are changing frequencies regularly.
I have used the JPC12 antenna and worked into Thailand using 20watts SSB on 10mtrs very happy with that result as it was my first DX contact with antenna. I am wondering what mode you use when doing POTA and SOTA contacts. I still need to get out and do both. I run a Xiegu G90 and also a FT817 with a Li-Po battery pack. I will also be using a JPC12 antenna. I am wondering your end fed antenna would that happily operate at 20watts CW if it had too. 73's from David Grey ZL1BMA.
Hi David, thanks for the question. For POTA and SOTA I’m using SSB - mainly on 40m. There are a few reasons for that. Primarily in NZ the POTA and SOTA operators are using SSB (CW as you can imagine is a small subset of operators out of an already small group of total licensed amateurs). And as I’m mainly using 40m due to my primary times of operation then that has so far been the best option for me. You are right in that the random wire end fed would work fine with CW which would absolutely be an option if I was a more capable CW operator (lol). I certainly encourage you to go out and try an activation. NZ is pretty packed with parks that can be activated and you have a very capable rig to use with the G90 which is almost built exactly for this sort of thing. Sign up for the ontheair.nz website to get the activation alerts and have a listen one day. A lot of activations are in the mornings in the weekend usually around 7.085 and 7.090. I’m away working for most of November so you probably won’t hear me again on the air until December but if you do then give me a call! 73’s Nick
I have used the PAC/JPC 12 quite a bit for portable communications. It is really nice when it comes to quick setup and ease of tuning. The other thing that I pair it with is a 17 foot telescopic whip which also lets me use it on 10 and 6 meters easily. I have done some mods with mine including adding a 2nd set of radials, adding 2 extra mas pieces, and stacking a 2nd 40M coil to allow use on 80 meters. There are a few videos I have on my channel on this antenna. I can definitely recommend it!
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I’ll check out your videos. I’ve just recently received a JPC 12 (last week). It’s quite a bit taller than the Super Antenna so I’m keen to see if there is really any difference between them. The JPC 12 certainly seems to be very good value for money and is a handy portable size. For me it will come down to how useful it is on 40m. I’ve already added some longer radials but will check out your other suggestions. Thanks, Nick
Thanks for the video Nick. I have the JPC PAC-12 antenna, and while it is a reasonable performer as you will know my go-to and favourite setup at present is the Aliexpress EFHW over my Carbon 6, plus with that pole I am easily able to swap it out for a random wire. The only real advantage that I have found with the verticals at this time - and I have 3 of them - is the small area that they need for setup apposed to a wire over a mast. Go with the Carbon 6 or one of the other 6 meter equivalents that are out there....they are easy to setup, versatile and just as fast if not faster to set up than the loaded coil verticals. Anyway, if you would like the opportunity to play with a JPC PAC-12 just drop me a line and I will send it up to you. Cheers Phil ZL3CC
Thanks for the offer Phil. I think that you are correct about something like the 6m mast being the better option. I think that would be a more versatile way to go. Especially if I continue using something like a random wire or EFHW. Plus the tuner in the G90 or the one that I have with the 705 makes things a lot easier. I think that the band agility of a wire antenna is preferable to these loaded verticals plus once you deploy sensible radials for the band that you are working on you actually end up needing quite a bit of space.
Nice video! I have been using my SuperAntenna for about two years for POTA hunting and activating. I use faraday cloth for counterpoise. It does a great job for a small footprint, quick deploy antenna. I do use a 17 ft. telescoping whip or and EFHW at times as well depending on the location. N7BBQ
Thanks for the detail on how you are using it. I’ve heard about faraday cloth but haven’t used it. Do you find it significantly better than a normal radial wire option? While the Super Antenna is relatively quick to setup the length of useful radials for 40m does expand its physical footprint quite significantly. I was wondering what size faraday cloth you would need to use for a 40m deployment?
The faraday cloth that I have is approx 1.1m x 2m. I’m not going to say that it is better than wire radials, but it takes up a lot less space and I haven’t noticed any degradation in performance, especially on 20m and higher frequencies. I did notice that the usable SWR bandwidth on 30m and 40m is narrower but not enough narrower to be a concern. We are full time RVers and I operate portable 100% and when we are in some campgrounds there isn’t a lot of room for wire radials so having the faraday cloth allows me to get on the air in places that I may not be able to otherwise.
Great video Nick, I have the Wolf River coil from the states and although I haven't used it in some time one thing that sticks out is it's fast to deploy, must get it out and have a play with it as I almost forgot I had it. I got it for the same reason, out for parks etc. I enjoy using the linked dipole although of course you need to bring it down each time you want to change bands but that in itself is easy. Thanks again.
Thanks for the comment. I'm not familiar with the Wolf River coil although I have heard the name before. I'm guessing that you mainly use the linked dipole for parks with a telescopic mast? Generally I've gone for some sort of end-fed as for me they have been easier to setup at a site than a dipole. As you know - the NZ "parks" come in all shapes and sizes and the environment can bring some additional challenges. Summits are even more of a lottery!
Outstanding video Nick. Excellent clarity in the telling. I am now motivated to check my new HF car whip antenna with my WSPR transmitter. I am guessing a similar result to yourself. Keep ‘‘em coming !
Thanks Ian. It seems like a reasonable way to do a comparison but really I should probably have run it for a couple of weeks to get a better idea on how they actually compare. Still it's quite a good way to get a consistent output and those zachtek transmitters are nicely self contained once you set them up.
Thanks Mark, It’s not my antenna so possibly I didn’t get all of the components when I borrowed it. I did use a telescopic whip which was included in the test. I don’t seem to have the titanium whip part with this kit. I’ll check with the owner though. 73’s
@@zl2neb I think like most Hams, I have a room full of antennas that make claims that could not possibly be true, but like Tinkerbell and Fox Mulder, I want to believe!
Nick, you mentioned the mast from SOTA Beams. I think you maybe referring to the tactical mini. I have one, it is fabulous. It’s about 19’ tall and collapses down to about 3’. Very sturdy!!
I bought one a couple years ago - didn't get to mess with it much, and packed it away. Last weekend I decided to play around with it in my dining room and made a POTA contact with a guy 500 miles away on 20m with 20 watts on a G90 (the little built-in band sweep helps a lot with fine tuning).
That’s a pretty good effort. Have you used it much on 40m at all?
The G90 band sweep is very useful although I’ve been taking the VNA with me for the tuning as it doesn’t take up that much room.
I need to get a charge controller for the battery. I have been using a 1 amp lipo4 battery recharger using grid power. They say slow charging increases battery life. Kind of new to all this, except listening sometimes on the Vite-111 inexpensive receiver I got a few years ago..although its missing the cb band, etc. I also need a real antenna.... so far its about a 7 foot wire connected to the pl259 jack with some rolled up aluminum foil pushed in to make the connection, and the rf gain set high for just receiving and learning what the buttons can do.
Well anything is better than nothing so hopefully over time you can get a better idea on what you want to do and what equipment you might want to invest in. There is certainly plenty of options so we are definitely spoiled for choice. Good luck on your journey!
Hello Nick, nice video. I have the super antenna in my bag of tricks, along with a LNR trail friendly end fed and a linked dipole for field work. I like the super antenna for it's rapid deployment, and small footprint. A couple of weeks ago I set it up in a hotel parking lot with my FT818 and it worked very well. Often when I want to run "front porch portable" I'll set the super antenna up in the yard. I use the stock counterpoise sets which came with the antenna, and the small tripod you were using, and generally run about 25 feet (8 m) of coax. I don't use it all the time, but I'm glad I have a portable vertical for those times it's needed. 73 KB3JC
Thanks for your comments Steve.
I was surprised just how small the super antenna is. It isn't mine and for some reason I thought that it looked bigger on the website (lol). I suppose that its main competitor is the JPC-12 which is almost twice the height.
It's definitely an easy antenna to setup and I can certainly see the attraction of being able to deploy it almost anywhere like the example of the parking lot that you have tried. Do you use something like an analyser or VNA to tune it when you use it?
One thing I'm unsure about is how effective the vertical will be in the field here. We have a very small number of operators in NZ and our country is long and skinny so you have to be able to reach them in a sort of north/south direction. To our left is Australia and to our right is South America and I'm unsure about the ability to reach them using this sort of antenna on SSB.
I've got the loan of it for a little longer so I'll try it in the field and see how I get on.
73's
ZL2NEB
@@zl2neb Hi Nick, I usually just use the plastic guide, and then the swr meter on the 818. Have fun playing with these things! 73 KB3JC
I use a G90 and JPC12 on nearly all of my POTA activations. Instead of radials I use Faraday cloth, works great on 10-40 KB2GCG
I’ve heard about faraday cloth - I must try and see if I can get some from somewhere. Is it significantly better than the normal radials?
@ About the same as radials but faster/easier to deploy
It is ‘Super’ - though obviously a compromise compared to a raised, resonant dipole.
One of my first experiences with the Super Antenna:
On the beach in Riga, Latvia. Rig was Lab599 TX-500, about 10 watts output on 20 meter.
Mounted the antenna on the spike at the water line, with one radial into the water.
One of my first contacts was BDxxx. - had no clue until I looked him up. Chinese station close to Hong Kong - about 8.000 km I believe on SSB with clear connection.
Later, I found raising the antenna on a tripod and raising the radials about a meter above ground really improves efficience - (when you don’t have salt water right nearby). Raised radials - which must be resonant - and the SA set is - removes the need for good ground connectivity
Did you use the radials that came with the antenna or did you make a different set?
In this case - my own 5 meter radials - but not important as radials on the ground does not have to be resonant - just enough of them. Which is ONE if floating in salt water, 4-8 on good ground - and perhaps 64 on bad 😳
i have ended up with three of the super antennas one is used the same as you have it and the other two in a dipole config and ive had great results with them
I can imagine that the dipole configuration would work better for me here. Have you ever run a comparison in terms of trying to establish the radiation pattern differences between the vertical and the dipole configuration? That would be something interesting to try and establish.
Thanks for the comparison. I found that the coil slipped a bit. There is a little thumb screw that can help. For POTA here in the USA, it seems like 20 meters is popular. For that, a 17 ft / 5 meter telescopic whip is quick to set up. You can use a loading coil to get on 40 m. I use the bag with the extra parts from the Super Antenna to weigh down the tripod in the wind. DE AD0L. Mike.
Thanks for the suggestions Mike.
The bag as a weight is a good idea. 20m is less popular here in NZ. Most activations are on 40m which means that we can be chased by NZ operators. If we move to 20m then really that makes us dependant on being chased by Australian operators who are the closest that are likely to hear us and with the time zone differences that can bring a different set of challenges (lol).
10m is an option with Australia though.
I’ll work with it a bit more before making a decision on how viable an option it is.
73’s. Nick
I’ve had the Super Antenna for a couple of years now and was not impressed by its performance. Tuning is a bit of a pain, as you found out. Tune walk away check, retune walk away and recheck. I found that plastic tuning guide they give you is not very accurate at all. Used it once or twice, carried it as a backup for a while. Now it just sits in the corner of the shack…
A simple homemade inverted V hung from a tree outperforms the Super Antenna by far… I’ll use the inverted V or a resonant end fed as my go to for portable ops. Like the Super Antenna idea, but it’s just way too much a compromise.
Thanks for the comments Robert. Yes at this stage I completely agree with you. The only thing that it really has in its favour is the easy of carrying it.
Of course I am trying to use it on 40m which is at the complete limit of what it’s capable of. Probably if I tried to use it on 20 or 15 I would get a better result but if I do that then I effectively skip all NZ chasers which really gives me a completely different set of problems.
Personally I’ve found an inverted V of some sort of end-fed antenna to be the best option but I probably shouldn’t completely discount it yet.
73’s Nick
Fiddly antenna but it works. I have an original Super Antenna, there are times that I have to fuss around with it to get it to work and there have been times that I "tossed it up" and it got me a 3-4,000 mile contact. So it's fun to tinker around with, but if you don't have the time, a wire in the tree or fiberglass mast is the route to take. If you can stay on a frequency and leave it that way ( assembled and tuned) for a long time , then it's not bad, especially for low angle DX. With the soil where I live , 40m band is difficult, elevated and tuned radials work best for me. 73, de N3TGY
Thanks for the insight - I’ll spend a bit more time trying this one out before I have to return it to its owner.
Certainly the assembly is easy but the tuning as you identify can be a bit more involved. A mast and a wire with an appropriate transformer and tuner is certainly a bit more versatile and much quicker if you are changing frequencies regularly.
I have used the JPC12 antenna and worked into Thailand using 20watts SSB on 10mtrs very happy with that result as it was my first DX contact with antenna. I am wondering what mode you use when doing POTA and SOTA contacts. I still need to get out and do both. I run a Xiegu G90 and also a FT817 with a Li-Po battery pack. I will also be using a JPC12 antenna. I am wondering your end fed antenna would that happily operate at 20watts CW if it had too. 73's from David Grey ZL1BMA.
Hi David, thanks for the question.
For POTA and SOTA I’m using SSB - mainly on 40m. There are a few reasons for that. Primarily in NZ the POTA and SOTA operators are using SSB (CW as you can imagine is a small subset of operators out of an already small group of total licensed amateurs). And as I’m mainly using 40m due to my primary times of operation then that has so far been the best option for me.
You are right in that the random wire end fed would work fine with CW which would absolutely be an option if I was a more capable CW operator (lol).
I certainly encourage you to go out and try an activation. NZ is pretty packed with parks that can be activated and you have a very capable rig to use with the G90 which is almost built exactly for this sort of thing.
Sign up for the ontheair.nz website to get the activation alerts and have a listen one day. A lot of activations are in the mornings in the weekend usually around 7.085 and 7.090. I’m away working for most of November so you probably won’t hear me again on the air until December but if you do then give me a call!
73’s
Nick
I have used the PAC/JPC 12 quite a bit for portable communications. It is really nice when it comes to quick setup and ease of tuning. The other thing that I pair it with is a 17 foot telescopic whip which also lets me use it on 10 and 6 meters easily. I have done some mods with mine including adding a 2nd set of radials, adding 2 extra mas pieces, and stacking a 2nd 40M coil to allow use on 80 meters. There are a few videos I have on my channel on this antenna. I can definitely recommend it!
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. I’ll check out your videos. I’ve just recently received a JPC 12 (last week). It’s quite a bit taller than the Super Antenna so I’m keen to see if there is really any difference between them. The JPC 12 certainly seems to be very good value for money and is a handy portable size. For me it will come down to how useful it is on 40m.
I’ve already added some longer radials but will check out your other suggestions.
Thanks,
Nick
Thanks for the video Nick. I have the JPC PAC-12 antenna, and while it is a reasonable performer as you will know my go-to and favourite setup at present is the Aliexpress EFHW over my Carbon 6, plus with that pole I am easily able to swap it out for a random wire. The only real advantage that I have found with the verticals at this time - and I have 3 of them - is the small area that they need for setup apposed to a wire over a mast. Go with the Carbon 6 or one of the other 6 meter equivalents that are out there....they are easy to setup, versatile and just as fast if not faster to set up than the loaded coil verticals. Anyway, if you would like the opportunity to play with a JPC PAC-12 just drop me a line and I will send it up to you. Cheers Phil ZL3CC
Thanks for the offer Phil.
I think that you are correct about something like the 6m mast being the better option. I think that would be a more versatile way to go. Especially if I continue using something like a random wire or EFHW. Plus the tuner in the G90 or the one that I have with the 705 makes things a lot easier.
I think that the band agility of a wire antenna is preferable to these loaded verticals plus once you deploy sensible radials for the band that you are working on you actually end up needing quite a bit of space.
Nice video! I have been using my SuperAntenna for about two years for POTA hunting and activating. I use faraday cloth for counterpoise. It does a great job for a small footprint, quick deploy antenna. I do use a 17 ft. telescoping whip or and EFHW at times as well depending on the location. N7BBQ
Thanks for the detail on how you are using it. I’ve heard about faraday cloth but haven’t used it. Do you find it significantly better than a normal radial wire option?
While the Super Antenna is relatively quick to setup the length of useful radials for 40m does expand its physical footprint quite significantly. I was wondering what size faraday cloth you would need to use for a 40m deployment?
The faraday cloth that I have is approx 1.1m x 2m. I’m not going to say that it is better than wire radials, but it takes up a lot less space and I haven’t noticed any degradation in performance, especially on 20m and higher frequencies. I did notice that the usable SWR bandwidth on 30m and 40m is narrower but not enough narrower to be a concern. We are full time RVers and I operate portable 100% and when we are in some campgrounds there isn’t a lot of room for wire radials so having the faraday cloth allows me to get on the air in places that I may not be able to otherwise.
Great video Nick, I have the Wolf River coil from the states and although I haven't used it in some time one thing that sticks out is it's fast to deploy, must get it out and have a play with it as I almost forgot I had it. I got it for the same reason, out for parks etc. I enjoy using the linked dipole although of course you need to bring it down each time you want to change bands but that in itself is easy. Thanks again.
Thanks for the comment. I'm not familiar with the Wolf River coil although I have heard the name before. I'm guessing that you mainly use the linked dipole for parks with a telescopic mast?
Generally I've gone for some sort of end-fed as for me they have been easier to setup at a site than a dipole. As you know - the NZ "parks" come in all shapes and sizes and the environment can bring some additional challenges. Summits are even more of a lottery!
Outstanding video Nick. Excellent clarity in the telling. I am now motivated to check my new HF car whip antenna with my WSPR transmitter. I am guessing a similar result to yourself. Keep ‘‘em coming !
Thanks Ian. It seems like a reasonable way to do a comparison but really I should probably have run it for a couple of weeks to get a better idea on how they actually compare. Still it's quite a good way to get a consistent output and those zachtek transmitters are nicely self contained once you set them up.
If you use the telescopic antenna with it takes less turns of the coil compared to using
The flexible titanium whip antenna . From KB9UDK Mark
Thanks Mark,
It’s not my antenna so possibly I didn’t get all of the components when I borrowed it. I did use a telescopic whip which was included in the test. I don’t seem to have the titanium whip part with this kit.
I’ll check with the owner though.
73’s
You can't break the laws of physics, but you can learn to live with their limitations.
I really like that comment - it’s completely true but so much marketing wants to convince us otherwise!
@@zl2neb I think like most Hams, I have a room full of antennas that make claims that could not possibly be true, but like Tinkerbell and Fox Mulder, I want to believe!
Definitely super….C$&P
Well I guess it’s better than nothing.
God what a boring video mate , stop waffling on and get on with the test
Well you can of course skip ahead to that part.
Nick, you mentioned the mast from SOTA Beams. I think you maybe referring to the tactical mini. I have one, it is fabulous. It’s about 19’ tall and collapses down to about 3’. Very sturdy!!