Our Obsession with Ham Radio Antennas
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- Опубліковано 8 кві 2022
- Why do we love antennas? Ham Radio is a Science Based life-long-learning activity. This is an ideal presentation for a Club meeting on a cold winter's night! Enjoy it. I had fun making it. Callum.
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• Live Streams Live Streams
• Commander World My Stuff
• Foundation Training Ham Radio Training - Розваги
As a new guy and obsessed with antennas, your comment “yes it’s been done, but I haven’t done it” resonated. Hey, that’s pretty good! Anyway, well said! Love your videos, not only educational but entertaining.
Welcome aboard!
Remember the first rule of antennas: NEVER install them during good weather. Wait for rain, snow, gale, hurricane, tornado for installation. Wire antennas, in particular, will come down sooner if they are installed when the weather is nice and will stay up forever in bad weather. 😇
Hell, that's what I do :)
@@DXCommanderHQ But that means on H-Town we can only put up antennea once every ten years. Houston y gets an ice storm once a decade.
But when we do......
Obsession is a great way of saying it. Mental illness is more like it in my case. 🤣
HAHAHA!
The expeirementing is what makes the antenna building fun, you will never know if you can make better unless you try new things. 73's VE1FSM
Love what ya do Calum, and for everyone else, there's nothing like learning antenna theory than from an antenna manufacturer. With the video's I've watched, from DXCommander, Cal usually does a fairly good job of "attempting" to stay neutral. I don't think anyone could say the same if other manufacturers were in the same position. If I were selling them, I don't believe I could stay neutral like Cal does most of the time.
Apparently not boring as I have been watching and we are nearly to the end. My respect to the scientists as where would we be without them? Science is fun. Perhaps scientists need a bit more fun. Cheers.
Calum, you are a gem, an absolute gem.........
What your saying is absolutely true there are lot of articles Written that need to be rewritten Or at least challenged . I also see hams complaining about noise from there dipoles and aren't using chokes , I keep telling them the noise is mostly from vertical and there coax shield going up a tower of pole is acting as a vertical antenna with there dipole . always said if you can't hear them you can't work them
Good point.
This is all the context a newcomer needs to hear. Possibly even some seasoned radio nuts too. Brilliant video.
“The thing is… I hadn’t done it.” - this is me to the T! Thank you for your videos. I know there are many antennas better than what I can build, but the fun and experience of it is priceless…
Right on!
Easily the most informative video I have ever seen in regards to our love of building better antennas, thank you so much Callum. Very inspirational
Glad it was helpful! Thank you so much! It's been a while since I watched this myself!
I started watching your videos as I started on the steps into this cheap hobby (as told to the Mrs). Your ease of hosting, describing and relaxed approach is fantastic. Keep'em rolling. 73
Great presentation Callum even I understood it keep up the good work.
That was brilliant!
This has got to be one of my favorite videos you've done. I just got my US Amateur Extra ticket and your explanation of dB is better than any of the study materials I had. It's very obvious you love what you do and have that passion for antennas that I share. You truly do have that flair for educating and entertaining. Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks! Jack K5FIT
Awesome! Thank you!
Callum, Thanks so much for adding your cheerful, supportive comments to the video from our dear, colorful Raisa in Russia.
I could see the sadness in her eyes. I urged her to continue with what she doing all along. It's videos like yours and Raisa's that got me back into Ham Radio after a 16 year absence and for that I am very grateful. Very Best Wishes. Dennis K2DJS
And.....The present political state of the planet should bring Hams even closer together!! It's a travesty that goverments always manage to screw up an otherwise perfect world.
Callum, that was an outstanding presentation! Thank you! 73, AA4EZ
Thank you Callum for the education and entertainment. Your humor is excellent.
Much appreciated
it’s the engineering of the antenna… the research and development and obviously the fabrication. and you are absolutely correct about strolling through bq or home dopie and seeing something you could use.
Beautiful presentation Callum! 👍📻⚡️Your videos definitely help to inspire and fuel my interest in antennas and radio operations. Thank you so much for your efforts and thanks for sharing the way you do! It’s really something great. Cheers! 🍺 -Tom
My pleasure!
Great points at the end as well! Some people incorrectly assume that everyone has (or should have) read everything that has been tried or done. Then, they dump a ton of “Holier Than Thou” arrogance on top of you for not being smart enough to have known this already. And, that’s a real fine “Welcome To The Hobby/Service” for new folks. I really appreciate your demeanor Callum. Thanks for keeping it very positive and interesting. -Tom
Very fine. Thanks Tom.
"I hadn't done it". Saving the best point for last. Amateur radio is meant to be about self training and experimentation. So experiment, plug that antenna in and see what happens. Your own experience will sink in better than reading about someone else's.
It's also great how the automatic subtitling mangles your words like Stanley Unwin. I dread to think what it would make of my Wigan accent.
WoW!! Thank you Callum!!!! You're right, the antenna IS the difference in a good station. You and Mike are my GO TO.
Great to hear!
I’m a new ham and just passed tech and general. I find your videos and attitude towards Experimenting fascinating. Thank you for giving great explanations on theory of how different types of antennas radiate at different heights and angles.
Welcome aboard!
Second time I’ve watched this. Now that I’ve started experimenting with actual antennas it’s making sense, what Callum is driving at right at the end. Excellent video.
Excellent presentation! Very educational and entertaining LOL
Hey Calum, I really wish that this comment finds you. Inspired by your videos on MMANA- gal software, I designed and built a short 20 dipole. That software helped me a lot in understanding! I even demonstrated it to my radio club! I have documented it on my small UA-cam channel.
Cheers! Have a great day!
Good man!
Really good to see you back at work Callum. With all that trenching across the road at the old place and the big move here, I actually suspected health issues but a resilient man you are. Tap on 👍🏼💪🖖
Bottle of confidence pills works :)
Awesome video with great explanations!!! Thank you so much for producing it for us!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Superbly explained
Thank you 🙂
Fantastic video Callum. Thank You. I have many antennas which according to wisdom won't work but equally have many contacts in the log book. 73's
Brilliant Callum... so beautifully clear as always... In particular, your explanation(s) of decibels and gain are the best. In the past, I never understood them... now it all makes sense. many thanks... Dave G0KPZ
Congrats on working ZL1BQD Uncle Roly, Lord Callum 💯🎸🤘👍🍻🙋♂
Yeah! 🤙
Long ago I made my radios from kits or scratch, but the REAL fun was making antennas. Literally hundreds of them, many lasting only days/weeks based on my dissatisfaction, thinking how I could improve. I did apologize to Mom for ruining her wood shake roof as I literally lived up there, shake now banned here for being notoriously susceptible to fire, so maybe I was helping? No fancy modeling, no internet, just design/build/test/adjust from whatever I could get cheap or free, which meant miles of telecom cable wire back then. And testing often in the middle of the night as the bottom 25 kHz of 40M was my favorite op/testing arena. It is fun Callum seeing someone else as excited about antennas!
You got it!
`well tbh i really enjoyed the informal way you present your points. great cup of tea Saturday morning viewing. makes me wish i had a huge garden to muck about with ariels
So nice of you to say Mike..!
Nice! I like the fact you encourage experimentation, it is what keeps the hobby going and keeps the 'standards' from stagnation.
Thanks! 👍
I use a homebrew fan dipole antenna for 40, 30, 20, 15 and 10 meters. I use the internal antenna tuner to adjust 15 meters.
It faces NW to SE due to the orientation of my lot. It's in an inverted V arrangement with the center at 35 feet. It works very
well and I am very happy with it. I also have a Hustler 5BTV vertical. fortunately, our housing development has chain link
fencing around all of the back yards. I went and bonded all of the corner connections I could get to on the top rail and then
connected that to the antenna for a counterpoise. that has worked very well for me for about 10 years now. I enjoy your
videos. Thanks for another encouraging and informative video. 73's KF6EWO Gary
Great presentation, many thanks.
Glad you liked it!
Thank you for the explanation of dB's It made so much sense . as a newbie it really helped
Glad it was helpful!
Great presentation, I love experimenting with antennas.😁
Glad you enjoyed it!
Man, you do some damn good videos. These video really does give antennas the total in and out! Keep the videos coming! 73s DE ND4A
Thanks Tim!
Great lesson on understanding dB's. Not to mention the class on antenna design. As a newbie there was a lot that was explained and will take another view to soak it all in. Thanks 73 KL5NU
I love this video!
Well thank you!
I loved this presentation. I’m trying to reduce the noise floor on my receiver
Fantastic stuff, Callum! Thank you, seven three AI7CQ
Look forward to these videos! That little tidbit at the end! My fav antenna is an 80 meter horizontal delta loop up 80 + feet, HUGE gain opposite the feed point ! Fun piece of wire. I use a 2.5 to 1 balun which works like magic ! (Ha Ha). Carry on DXCommander ! W1KRI~Keith
Very cool!
good stuff as usual Callum I can see you wanted to go farther in some topics but you pulled the rains back . hope all is going well and I'm sitting here waiting on the destruction video and online manual for the 12.4 that I'm stoked about 😎😎😎
12.4.. I should finish the manual SUnday. SHipping from Monday! Woo-Hoo!!
Using your piano analogy the higher notes will develop resonance with lower ones and the lower note strings do affect the resonance of the higher notes, much like fan dipole or multiband verticals like your DX Commander. Proximity of elements is like a capacitor, the closer the coupling the greater the capacitance which explains why changes in one element's length affects tuning. Love your explanation on dB, something this RF engineer was constantly reminded of when building two element "blobby" beams 40 years ago. Wish we had experimented with the thought of your mechanical construction on DX vertical dipoles when we needed 10 people to assemble and erect a beam on a tower for field day. The 40m beam we had looked like droopy rabbit ears which had limited directionality and took an hour to assemble, reducing our up time on 40m phone during contests. That DX expedition can be set up in probably less than 10 minutes.😊
Dropping rabbit ears.. Yes I made a 2-ele yagi once from 4 x poles too!
Thank you so much, I love building antennas but get frustrated sometimes, this gives me some good ideas
You can do it!
Well done and simple enough explanation that everyone can follow and learn. “If you build it, DX will come!” LOL
Haha. Yes, "I am your Father"..
Awesome vid
You are way above my learning curve but I still like watching your show! I don't understand much because I just started looking into this to see if I want to study and make it a hobby or not. I all ready see someone like me could get a ton of money into it. LOL Anyway i do always learn one or two things and they build on top of what little i have learned to date and your shows are entertaining.
Ah.. OK, I have a series of back-to-basics coming up.. Hang on.
Good stuff, DXComannder!
Yes, that was a good one... Took me some effort!
verry good, thanks.
Thank you too!
Phenominal Cal. My journey back to radio.. you reminded me of all the experimets I did building my own antennas in my skint teens. Log periodicals... the whole height above ground Vs impediance vs swr... I remember that just shoving a 5/8 11m antena up higher did not necessarily mean better. I'm still rx only but I'm now going to try to use your video to somehow fit my long wire dipole better than round my office.. I do get most of europe on hf cw. I do remember having to trim the 5/8 wave dependant on height, very likely due to capacitance between earth and feed point. LOVING IT!
Fabulous!!
I love what your doing on youtube and facebook after all Amateur Radio is about self learning well Callum I've learned something from this video in particular let alone all the others you do your a first class Star, mate
Best REgards and keep up the amazing work 👍
M7EOM
Diamond!
Your videos are inspiring. I read about the fan dipole many years ago before the advent of the telescopic fibreglass masts and considered how you could conceptualise them into a single vertical. I never quite got there. I constructed several verticals from aluminium scaffolding poles insulated off the ground with various materials, which were essentially end fed antennas. I made pretty good contacts with these. My point is, your the only person I’ve seen who brings antenna design to life in a way that can be described as an art and a science. Keep doing it, it’s immensely interesting! And thank you for giving your time and expertise freely in the spirit of amateur radio. I got my amateur radio licence in the 1980s. I’ve had some breaks away from radio as I have multiple hobbies which take over my brain but always come back to it. I would like to try long wire antennas from balloons and drones. Amateur radio is about lifelong learning and experimentation. It’s brilliant! Thank you and 73s, Alan.
Yes, I fancy balloons and maybe kites too!
THANK YOU
With the UK/EU Foundation license, a ham can get HF experiance from.the get go. But because of QRP or low ERP, good antennae and coax are a must.
good stuff callum, Hope all is well.
All good!!
If I ever hit the lottery jackpot, I'm 100% building a gold antenna 😂
I like the idea of HAMs still being driven by massive, mostly unobtainable antenna capabilities in an era of pre-made radios, no-code license, and repeater dependence. Transferring all the time, money, and devotion to antenna capabilities, I suggest insisting to one's spouse and the authorities that you need room for at least a thousand-foot guyed tower capability (with easements from neighbors). It will undoubtedly be magic and a good lesson in resistance.
Absolutely love this channel
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I have a set of stainless steel tent poles in my attic that could be arranged into different configurations - a square loop, a cube, two loops or cubes, a beam, etc etc, and so I'm trying to learn enough theory to hopefully wire them up as an antenna, just for fun and to see if any shapes/configurations will work on 11m. (There is 47ft of tent poles in total.)
I do plan to purchase an antenna soon, but the idea of fashioning old or scrap objects into a working antenna excites me, lol 😅
Sounds a plan! See if you can get about 11m of them and connect to a 4:1 balun. You'd have a loop then! Or if you have enough, go 3/4 wave each element.. So about 7.5m each side of the dipole.. That would tune too.
@DXCommander Awsome!, thank you SO much!!! ☺️🙏 I've been searching for two days for which balun or unun I would need, and how to work it out,. this is a HUGE help thank you!
I'm planning on grabbing a cheap 30w 5-55mz mini qrp antenna also, just for the tuner, to try and help me tune better with different configurations and lengths. As well as a loop, then a cube-shape loop, I was then also thinking about trying two free-standing loops, with L-shaped cross sections firstly as a dipole, but then also with one driven loop and the other not (??? I need to look into this more, I have no idea if this is a thing or how it might work, lol, its just one of the many ways I've thought I could arrange the poles).
I am off to watch your video on melting antennas next, to try and learn how I can avoid doing it on my own, lol 😅😂 Once again, thank you so much for your help on this. 🙏
@@redeyegooner You might like the videos I do about MMANA which is a software modelling tool for antennas. You can then create any antenna you like in software and see how well it behaves. Here's a short intro: ua-cam.com/video/Dxedmw0dfjg/v-deo.html and here's another one: ua-cam.com/video/iMBQiFAvcRo/v-deo.html.. There's more :)
I have always said the antennas are 'Black Magic' The more I learn about antennas the more I believe the 'Black Magic' statement
Same!
Love the content and the valuable information I want to use a 16 m fishing rod to try when I get my tech ticket same as your foundation ticket I thank
Good luck!
Not an amateur radio operator, you would think I am. I have a VHF/UHF antenna, and a short HF antenna. I use them for monitoring. I also have a very long wire antenna for receive, also.
Nice!
Now you have to have a video about making receive loops! :)
I THINK I have already uploaded a couple.. I will check.
thanks, wow now g90 gets out so good
Yes it does!
fingers or Lobes. But knowing you they could be Bananas lol :) Luv it cal great presentation.
Hay Calum great video, only I could not find an antenna to purchase that had purple wave output lines🤣😂🤣 JK. Please keep doing what you're doing.
My first shortwave antenna was from silver-plated copper wire, which I understand is as good as solid silver for rf.
Very nice!
@@DXCommanderHQ It had insulation on it, but I understand that silver plate gives some protection from corrosion too, since silver oxide is a good conductor (unlike copper oxide) as I recall, I think from a Radio Nederland pamphlet that I read at the time.
Love this video. Thank you so much Callum. Have you by chance written any of this down in perhaps a PDF somewhere? I have antenna books, but they are like 600 pages and so hard to read.
OK.. You can get the transcript.. Watch the video on a PC.. Bottom right of the video, next to the Like / Dislike / Share button there are three dots. Click these three dots and "Show Transcript". It is possible to Copy this transcript and Paste it into a document..
So much easier to understand when you explain it, thank you.
Paul Sanders
KK6RXU
You are welcome!
I just picked up a Serio 2016 and it’s going up this weekend 35 feet at the bottom. I could only imagine how much noise is going to pick up anyway I left a comment about my short term memory about a week ago and you told me good luck with the gray matter. Yeah my wife got a laugh out of that anyway 73 buddy.
35 feet.. Nice height!
@@DXCommanderHQ 35 feet at the bottom, what would you recommend your word is bond
As for dB, beware! dB(P) = 10*log(P2/P1), but dB(V) = 20*log(V2/V1). So, if your nice HP-410B tells you an output is 6dB greater that the input, that's dB(V), and it's 3dB(P) (assuming Z1 = Z2). This isn't relevant regarding antennas, but is very important with amplifiers..
I should have given an exception to my statement that you don't have to be concerned with dB(V) regarding antennas. Hams don't, unless they're real obsessive/compulsive types. But broadcast engineers sometimes have to accurately measure field strength. The FCC requires it, for new stations, and General Managers often demand it, if they suspect their station isn't reaching as many listeners as their daydreams say it should. This is done with a field-strength meter, that measures the electric field in uV/meter. That's voltage. The power is actually the vector cross product of the electric & magnetic field strengths.(See an analogy here? In an electric circuit, P= V*I. V produces an electric field, I, a magnetic one).
Hello Callum and all
KQ4CD Paul
Thanks Callum.
Rule 1: TRY IT!
If you ask 10 people for their opinion on the wire angle for an inverted-V, you’ll get 11 different answers and 10 guys spitting mad at each other.
Yep, I love designing, making and using antennas! Sadly, there is a lot of erroneous folklore about regarding antennas.... at least in amateur radio-world, even from many of the manufacturers.... For example, from a manufacturer, when instructing about the balanced feed-point of an antenna fed with co-ax: "The input impedance is 50 Ohm, so you don't need a balun" !! 😲
Oh!!
Mr. DX Commander, you make very interesting videos! I built a dipole antenna myself, for 11 meters. I hear people say the higher the antenna the better the reception. I tried the dipole about 5-6 meters from the ground. I had problems with the SWR. I got the SWR at this altitude no lower than 1.5-1 on channel 1 and on channel 40 1.7 1.9-1 . Is or could the iron railing of the balcony affect the SWR?
I have moved the dipole to the garden, hanging on an old fishing rod, 2.25meters top. The SWR is now on channel 1 1.1-1 and on 40 about 1.3-1 I find it strange that the antenna lower to the ground has a better SWR than placed higher.
I have been frolicking and learning with this interesting hobby for about 4 months now. My first CB radio, after getting acquainted with these transceivers in the 80's.
Still have some things to learn... but this youtube channel and others have very useful info that many novice radio operators can benefit from! Whether you're a CBer or you're a licensed HAM...
Thanks for the nice videos!!!
👍
Ah... OK, so height affects SWR a wee bit. As you keep going up, it will eventually settle down to about 1.4:1 SWR. Bottom line is that on 1:1.5 SWR, you are only losing 4% of your power. Don't tell the CB guys that though, they won't believe you. Seriusly, .15 is just fine.
Thanks for th GREAT Video. Question, a circular ground plate with holes at 12/2/4/6/8/10 o'clock. Then with a half wave at the lowest frequency, one end hooked to 12 and the other end hooked to 2. It will be spread out but not cross the other 2 loops. the next one would hook from4-6, 8-10. How would that work.
OK, so sorry - I didn't understand.. Try it :)
35:17 my 20x21 1/2 garage has a 12gauge horizontal wire going all the way around it at around 9 feet up ..from corner to corner and it terminates inside no baluns or splitters ,at the corner by my house ,with a 30 foot piece of rg59 in the house to an eton 750 elite ,easily i was hearing stuff on 18 19 31, even some 10 and 11 meter with mixed results .local cbers one way conversations lol ,, very very strange results on local am broadcast though very high ground noise and lots of power lines etc.
Interesting.. Every location is different. For MW reception, you might be better right on the ground for that.
👍
Another thing I would like to ask if you can clear it up, you mention about loops and how you love them I am the same I have a delta quad beam which is effectively a loop. It is terminated at the bottom with a so239 pointing to ground, I do not have any Balun but it is tuned one-to-one perfectly. How is it it doesn’t need a balun. J
OK, so if this is effectively a 2-element quad affair, depending on spacing, you can get a match to 50 ohms (I seem to remember!)
Antenna obsession. I think I've caught it.
Hi callum, iam in two minds either to set up a 80m long end feed, or a loop. My flat is and balcony is 25m off ground and at one of the highest points in Glasgow, I have line of sight around the full city.
There is some trees at the park opposite from me and being an arborist I could have a anchor point in them easy.
I thought about a full sky loop that will be around 40m on each side, or a triangle loop feedpoint facing south. What would be best?
Loop sounds amazing! But frankly anything :)
I LIKE LONG WIRES OK
Please model a long wire horizontal Vee. The predecessor to the Rombic. What is its take off angle?
Gosh, so man y variables, height, freq, length etc.. I will add it to the list.
Chart Cal gives us @ 00:12:09 ~ would there be any significant benefit to silver plate a copper antenna? sounds silly perhaps .. but I've got silver ~ won't be using my gold to experiment with tho ..🤣
Well... That's all about conductivity (measured in Siemens) and silver is exceptional but any REAL benefit? Probably not...! Try it! LOL
@@DXCommanderHQ ..ta Cal ..just thought to improve conductivity of the surface beyond copper's count ~ winter is soon setting in here, so will get my plating done when not playing MMANA or with HF ..and give it a whack come spring.
💪❤️✌️ from 🇨🇦
Hello, I'm new just getting into hobby what would you recommend for a 80-6 antenna with no radials since I don't have any room to run radials! Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated and something that I wouldn't have to wait several months to buy
Well.. There's room and there's room.. So I used 3.5m radials (10 feet?) on 80m and it worked fine. Thats same as 5 feet on 40m or 2 feet 6 inches on 20m.. You will have room :) Have a look at the DX Commander Signature 12.4. That's the only 80-10 I know of with DX potential.. Else you are into some random wire and an SG230 maybe.
hello , your fingers are lobes. They are described by a vector rotating in a plane.
Did you use any type of tuner or balun on your tri Bander
Nothing. Just a perfect tune and huge bandwidth.. Actually, you could build this with three elements to cover 27, 28 and 29 I think..!
I have a 991 a rig and it does not have a dedicated receive antenna I was wondering if there are any recommendations on how to use a loop on the ground as a receiver antenna and a vertical or a dipole is your transmit Would appreciate any recommendations that you may have
1. Get an A/B antennas switch 2. Build or buy an Antenna Relay Switch. Numerous articles over the decades in QST, 73, and on the interweb. MJF, DXE, Array Solutions have them.
@@KB4QAA thanks Appreciate the help
OK Pat, you can get a relay switch to do this for you "automagically".
@@DXCommanderHQ thanks!
4:1 Balun:
1. 4X turns on the ferrite ring towards the loop and 1x towards the radio?
2. What is the best number of turns:
4 / 1
8 / 2
..
16/4 ?
Regards
Mike
DUnno. Ask Mike-M0MSN. FInd him on UA-cam?
ua-cam.com/video/CZf-dwWIUDo/v-deo.html
Callum and Mike make a 4:1 balun right here.
quick antenna 18ft vertical throw on a 9:1 balun with an 18ft radial wire (more or less) and it works 80m through 6m on internal tuner. efficient? hell no, does it work? yes it does, better on upper bands.
Does it "work" - the word "Work" is huge and needs a video!
@@DXCommanderHQ Not worth a dam, I only have 6 to 8 thousand logs on it
Here's food for thought...
If db is Log, then how come a Radio S meter is Lin ?
Just a thought..
Cheers Calum.
S meters are supposed to be 6dB per number, so it's not linear.
Where is Gal-ana version for Ubuntu LTS 20.04 ?
No idea. Write to the authors?
I am surprised you are oversimplifying your info, but hams that hold licenses should know all of this already.
Don't be.. Folks LOVE simple stuff.. I have noticed only 5% or less want advanced..
Does a Super quad Super Zepp really work?
OK.. The definition of "work" is so wide that I never know how to answer...!