Depending on soil and whats around. I have had trouble with no counterpoise. getting RFI into mic. etc. putting CMC choke at radio helps depending on coax. But I found potting the counterpoise at the antenna and a 1:1 or CMC at the antenna works better. dropped my noise floor and improved my signal to noise ratio on my RX. This varies a lot from place to place . Even on a different day this can change. I find for me just putting about 17 ft wire on the ground does the trick. and at QRO 1KW still worked great . If I am veritable I use 4 counterpoise on ground. spread them out and works great. some use the magic carpet for counterpoise and have great success with that . Every set up different. use what works best. Keep options in the go bag. Works great for me. 73
That is the Genius behind simple ideas..... A hose clamp on the coax connector. [Chef's Kiss] Perfection. You could easily do that with a short piece of wire and a power pole connector or Wago.... Love it!
Thank you for this video. I just received my Flatlander 40-10m EFHW antenna and was disappointed there was not a counterpoise lug. This helps a lot. I do like the hose clamp on the connector “shield”.
Yo, the jubilee clippy idea to connect the counterpoise is a great idea! I had thought about creating a place to connect counterpoises on a 3/8-24" antenna magnet mount (lacking any access to ground--unlike some variants) by chopping into tho coax shield and soldering in a little ring terminal (of course sealing the whole thing up well against moisture etc) ... or by chopping through the coax and installing a new PL-259, and basically adding a ring terminal wire before crimping down the connector ... but your solution is even more McGuyver elegant! Tksss
That's a great suggestion, and you're absolutely right! Thanks for pointing it out. Solid strain will weaken after a short amount of time and eventually break. Whereas, stranded is better for flexibility. Excellent point!
When I was in the Army, every vehicle radio antenna was grounded to the body (ground plane) via hose clamped strap at the feed point. I don't know if they still do that, probably not.
If the counter poise wire has to be a specific length for the band of operation, do you then have to account for the coax and the counterpoise wire? Or, does the counterpoise wire take the coax out of the equation?
GENERALLY, you run a counterpoise wire because you want/desire to take the coax out of the equation... and thus you insert some choking device that isolates the coax shield (meaning removes it from the equation) in close proximity to the antenna/transformer end of your coax. [[Choke could mean: a choke/isolator with BNC or UHF (SO-239) connectors on it -- OR it could just be a ferrite ring (e.g., 240-31 or 240-43 ferrite toroid) with that unsevered coax wrapped through it a bunch of times (typically 8-12 times--the more the merrier but really fewer can work fine if there's a well-sized counterpoise). It could also be a clamp-on ferrite with a handful of turns through it, or a bunch of ferrite beads shrink wrapped to the coax.]] On an end-fed halfwave, it's unlikely that you'd want to have more than 1 relatively small counterpoise -- typically aiming for 5% of a wavelength at your chosen operating frequency -- but if band-hopping, aiming for 5% of a wavelength at your antenna's lowest operating frequency (e.g., counterpoise wire length is 2m or 6ft for 40m; half that if you never go below 20m). If you do NOT choose to run a counterpoise wire, the ideal place to place your choke on the coax is in-line the same distance away from the transformer/antenna as you would have sized your dedicated counterpoise wire. The RF just sees that length of coax shield as a fat wire. ... But you can get away with just choking it at the radio/transceiver end, with some reasonable/small loss of efficiency, while still benefiting by avoiding getting common mode current (CMC/RFI) back into your transceiver, and also avoiding picking up undesirable interference on the shield of your coax due to its ability to act as an unintentional receiving antenna. ... on some other antenna types, such as a 1/4 wave vertical antenna -- you could hypothetically use part of your coax as its own counterpoise, plus run a 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc dedicated "radial". So, does it technically take it out of the equation? Not really--but a halfwave antenna doesn't really benefit from multiple counterpoises/radials as much as other antennas do, and halfwave antennas are considered less reliant on ground (more independent of ground) than others, b/c 1/2 wave antennas are 'ideal'--having very high radiation resistance (the good kind of resistance).
I get a lot of heat for being wrong all the time and for being too obvious with some solutions, but the truth is (to me), nothing is stupid. Knowledge is a gateway to bigger and greater things. Learning is a key that unlocks them. Keep with that journey and remember, every lesson can have value. Cheers!
Right up there with bed springs or a train trestle! Apparently, everything is fair game to make an antenna. I like the reel! It looks better than the traditional wire winder.
@@fredhillhousejr943 there has been this old, non connected, train track at an old military base/beach. It usually shows in the spring (but didn't this year). If it shows next year, I am going to load it up as an antenna! Who knows how long it is, but it will be fun to see what happens!
Depending on soil and whats around. I have had trouble with no counterpoise. getting RFI into mic. etc. putting CMC choke at radio helps depending on coax. But I found potting the counterpoise at the antenna and a 1:1 or CMC at the antenna works better. dropped my noise floor and improved my signal to noise ratio on my RX. This varies a lot from place to place . Even on a different day this can change. I find for me just putting about 17 ft wire on the ground does the trick. and at QRO 1KW still worked great . If I am veritable I use 4 counterpoise on ground. spread them out and works great. some use the magic carpet for counterpoise and have great success with that . Every set up different. use what works best. Keep options in the go bag. Works great for me. 73
Thanks again for the great tips!
That is the Genius behind simple ideas..... A hose clamp on the coax connector. [Chef's Kiss] Perfection. You could easily do that with a short piece of wire and a power pole connector or Wago.... Love it!
Thank you for this video. I just received my Flatlander 40-10m EFHW antenna and was disappointed there was not a counterpoise lug. This helps a lot. I do like the hose clamp on the connector “shield”.
My pleasure. Have a great one
Yo, the jubilee clippy idea to connect the counterpoise is a great idea! I had thought about creating a place to connect counterpoises on a 3/8-24" antenna magnet mount (lacking any access to ground--unlike some variants) by chopping into tho coax shield and soldering in a little ring terminal (of course sealing the whole thing up well against moisture etc) ... or by chopping through the coax and installing a new PL-259, and basically adding a ring terminal wire before crimping down the connector ... but your solution is even more McGuyver elegant! Tksss
My dude… 👍🏽 Most excellent work
I use a battery charger type clamp easy on and off.
Brilliant!
May I suggest a piece of flexible stranded wire instead of the magnet wire?
That's a great suggestion, and you're absolutely right! Thanks for pointing it out. Solid strain will weaken after a short amount of time and eventually break. Whereas, stranded is better for flexibility. Excellent point!
When I was in the Army, every vehicle radio antenna was grounded to the body (ground plane) via hose clamped strap at the feed point. I don't know if they still do that, probably not.
god job
Hose clamps, almost as versatile as duct tape and sheetrock screws!
Duck tape, duct tape or aluminum foil tape? 🤔
I prefer to use jubilee clamps. ;-)
If the counter poise wire has to be a specific length for the band of operation, do you then have to account for the coax and the counterpoise wire? Or, does the counterpoise wire take the coax out of the equation?
GENERALLY, you run a counterpoise wire because you want/desire to take the coax out of the equation... and thus you insert some choking device that isolates the coax shield (meaning removes it from the equation) in close proximity to the antenna/transformer end of your coax. [[Choke could mean: a choke/isolator with BNC or UHF (SO-239) connectors on it -- OR it could just be a ferrite ring (e.g., 240-31 or 240-43 ferrite toroid) with that unsevered coax wrapped through it a bunch of times (typically 8-12 times--the more the merrier but really fewer can work fine if there's a well-sized counterpoise). It could also be a clamp-on ferrite with a handful of turns through it, or a bunch of ferrite beads shrink wrapped to the coax.]]
On an end-fed halfwave, it's unlikely that you'd want to have more than 1 relatively small counterpoise -- typically aiming for 5% of a wavelength at your chosen operating frequency -- but if band-hopping, aiming for 5% of a wavelength at your antenna's lowest operating frequency (e.g., counterpoise wire length is 2m or 6ft for 40m; half that if you never go below 20m).
If you do NOT choose to run a counterpoise wire, the ideal place to place your choke on the coax is in-line the same distance away from the transformer/antenna as you would have sized your dedicated counterpoise wire. The RF just sees that length of coax shield as a fat wire. ... But you can get away with just choking it at the radio/transceiver end, with some reasonable/small loss of efficiency, while still benefiting by avoiding getting common mode current (CMC/RFI) back into your transceiver, and also avoiding picking up undesirable interference on the shield of your coax due to its ability to act as an unintentional receiving antenna.
... on some other antenna types, such as a 1/4 wave vertical antenna -- you could hypothetically use part of your coax as its own counterpoise, plus run a 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc dedicated "radial". So, does it technically take it out of the equation? Not really--but a halfwave antenna doesn't really benefit from multiple counterpoises/radials as much as other antennas do, and halfwave antennas are considered less reliant on ground (more independent of ground) than others, b/c 1/2 wave antennas are 'ideal'--having very high radiation resistance (the good kind of resistance).
Great job, but why should we have to perform something that should be standard.
Perhaps a second winder to hold the counterpoise wire?
Undoing the antenna wire,might to put this on a cardboard tube so no rats nest
Pro tip. Thanks.
Only if you like it! :)
@@johnhelt5475 haha
Stupidly obvious solution *facepalm*, thanks for sharing!
I get a lot of heat for being wrong all the time and for being too obvious with some solutions, but the truth is (to me), nothing is stupid. Knowledge is a gateway to bigger and greater things. Learning is a key that unlocks them. Keep with that journey and remember, every lesson can have value. Cheers!
@@HAMRADIODUDE dude I feel like a dumbass for not realizing this myself.
Interesting what is called "antenna" nowadays....
Would you have preferred autotransformer hooked to wire?
Right up there with bed springs or a train trestle!
Apparently, everything is fair game to make an antenna.
I like the reel! It looks better than the traditional wire winder.
@@fredhillhousejr943 there has been this old, non connected, train track at an old military base/beach. It usually shows in the spring (but didn't this year). If it shows next year, I am going to load it up as an antenna! Who knows how long it is, but it will be fun to see what happens!
1st 😂
2nd