Experimenting with the WILKIT 6 Element Mobile Antenna Groundplane Kit #hamradio #hamradioantenna #cbradio Link to the one I bought: www.walcottradio.com/element-...
Walt, just remember that the hardware is all 3/8 by 24; you can engineer/rig just about antenna at the hardwware store. Also your Jeep is a great mobile test platform.
I was waiting for you to mount it atop the mast just below the Hustler coil and see if it lowered the tuned frequency point 🤪 ! (You know, like the Hustler multi band base station verticals 😉.)
Got one and I use it …Don’t know if it works but looks cool…I have even seen people use two or three of these and build a stackable type antenna with them…
First thought is it can’t help but may minutely hurt. However, it might be interesting to put it out the top of two hustler 54 inch masts as top loading check resonant frequency of the 108 inch masts and then add it to the top and see if the resonant frequency goes down. If it has any effect it would make the antenna longer. As small as it is I would guess you would not see much, but easy to try.
I had a 3 radial one in my 11 meter days. Radials were shorter. Had it at the base of a 102" whip on the trunk of my Grand Am. No idea if it did anything but it looks cool. :) It also made unscrewing the whip much easier, when I had to go into a parking garage.
I agree, first reaction is it looks more like a capacitance hat, not sure how much its really doing - but as always I applaud your getting out there and trying it! Yes 10M has been challenging recently, highly variable - turns on and off very rapidly it seems. I've been experimenting with a 5' long copper pipe with a small 3-loop wire capacitance hat on top, similar general size to that piece - rigged vertical with some ground plane radials - got it to tune 10 meters with no further coil or anything, but haven't had a chance to give it a fair test to see if it actually makes contacts or not yet. As usual, whether it actually works is the real test! 73's.
Walt, OMG 1:52 gave me a good 10db of gain! What you have there is a gimic, BUT you can use it as a capacitance hat if you can drill it out and mount it to the upper part of the whip. This will lower the resonant frequency quite a bit and may be good to 15M or lower. It does not need to be electrically connected as this is a high impedance point (high voltage) and so it will capacitively couple to the coil. Many thanks for the 1970's flashback. 👍 73 OM
I'm glad you tested this thing. I always wondered about those . If there was a way to actually use it as a ground plane would be interesting. As you already know, your car body is the ground plane. So i wonder how it would work on a pole ? A capacity hat will normally "widen out" the antenna and reduce the "corona effect" at the tip. As you stated, capacity hats are normally at the top of the antenna. But I have a Cushcraft R7 vertical that has a capacity hat at the base. It's an end fed halfwave with a match box or balun/unun. One side goes to the antenna and the other to the capacity hat. Maybe a hole can be made in the middle with a insulator that can make it a true ground plane.
Thanks for the video. Looks like it is a cap hat, as you said, but on the wrong end of the antenna. Again, thanks for the video. Always like watching what you are doing. Keep it up. Steve, k7ofg.
I have one of these on my Wilson 2000 trucker with the 10 inch lower shaft, on the tri-mag mount simular to yours. The only real difference is with my mount, it has a SO-239 connector with PL-259 adapter to 3/8th 24 thread. Well as for how it performs? it did lower my SWRs ever so slightly which were very low to start with. and if you are wondering how it performs. it looks cool LOL. I made one of these 15 years ago with 12 inch radials that one seemed to make a bit of a performance difference. but I had it mounted just under the loading coil not at the base of the antenna. In conclusion, again it looked cool. It does make it easier to remove the antenna from off my pick up truck roof when going into the car wash LOL.
I ran a smaller version of that back in my CB days. I’m not sure if it did anything or not. A friend of mine, who did some experimentations with antennas, always told me the more metal in the air, the better.
Back in the day I ran a pair of similar devices paired to 4 ft firestik. I can't say I ever noticed a difference in performance. They did look cool though and that totally counts👍 *edit for autocorrect foolishness
How about a modification to make it a ground plane. Would take a good bit of work, but would be interesting to see how the configuration functions as a ground plain.
Seems it's useful only if the antenna needed a little "MORE" Magnetic coupling to get a good match. I was once tuning a guy's CB antenna and the SWR would just not go below about 2:1. Well making adjustments I forgot to remove the Allen wrench from the top set Screw.....SWR was a 1.2:1. Removed the Allen wrench and SWR shot up to 2.3:1. Soldered the wrench in the set screw and reinstalled on the antenna. SWR was good. 👍👍🤷
👍Thanks for sharing. I don’t think I would describe this as radials because they form part of the active element. It would be interesting to stick this into MMANA-GAL to see what the modelled radiation looks like. Without this, my guess is that it's like connecting a capacitance across the antenna feedpoint which will just make the antenna less efficient??
Hahahah 1:22 I laughed so hard after reading this description 😆😆😆 "We actually don't know how this works but hey, wouldn't you like to pimp your antenna ?" Next level advertising :D
I'd suggest the best way to see if it has any positive or negative results is with Tx and a field strength meter. Under controlled conditions like in clear flat area with 50M clearance all round on the 10M band, this should give meaningful results. But I'll throw in an opinion and say it is a gimmick that looks kinda neat but assuming the antenna is tuned for frequency, will do nothing except possibly shifting the angle of radiation up by a degree or so depending on the antenna length. (The longer the antenna, the smaller the change). 5c worth of opinion 😊
The length of this radials looks better FOR higher frequency bands like GMRS or even LoRA. They should be at least 1/4th the frequency’s “height.” They’re also supposed to angle downwards 45 degrees
I got a 3 element version here in the uk, my opinion is I agree with you. It’s a gimmick and I’ve been experimenting with it for 3 months now on 11m and ham with no improvement to using the antenna without it.
I run one on 102 whipp. It does take away 3/4 of motor noise and quiets the static noise. Try it with vehicle on and see. As far as helping it get out father cant say. I can hear locals when others say they cant hear them cause of noise. Try and see i know each set up is diff. 73 Trimman (661) in the Carolinas
another interesting vid & thank u; despite the variation in SWR, I wonder if it somehow benefits the actual angle of radiation🤔I just kept thinking of the "radial kits" offered with IMAX & Antron 99 vertical antennas; yes, CB antennas, but who cares? I just know that my IMAX works fantastic on 10 & 12m (& yes, on 11m SSB, too); I once had a radial kit on it, but not since I pulled it up atop a high tree (by looping support rope over a heavy tree limb, to avoid climbing trees &/or ladders); yet, even with no radials, I've still worked all over the world with it, 73 de WA4ELW in TN 🇺🇸 dit dit 😃
Nice video again. Thanks for testing. Wouldn't be WSPR a good way to compare it? Sending 3-4 times without the gimmick and then 3-4 times with it. Just an idea. 73, Stephan, DF6PA
Yes I probably need to start using WSPR in my videos. I’m not sure if that would be as much fun as just firing up the rig and making contacts but definitely more accurate.
They do make one that really is on the ground side of the antenna. You need a pl259 style mount. The radiial kit has a pl259 on one side and an so239 on the other.Not the one with 3/8 thread. Does it work? Dont know. Get one of those and try it.
I dunno, Walt, if it looks like a gimmick and acts like a gimmick, then maybe… Back in the ‘80s, I used a stock K-40 with an HTX-100 and worked all kinds of stupid DX with 25 watts. No gimmick there! Keep’em coming! 73, Mike K3CXG who dat!
hi walt, interesting eh. I would think all it would do, is too add length to your ant, and you would probably find if you had one to one on 28.200 khz, then add the gimmick, and the one to one would be lower in freq that's all. on or off in the same qso, wouldn't make any difference i don't think. But a full resonant 1/4 wave 20m vertical with elevated radials , would really go.
I think it changes the radiation pattern. If it lowers the angle it helps getting more DX. What I do to test this kind of stuff is message some friends that are over 10k km away and do the test. These small differences you can only feel in DX. For example: they say there's no difference between 1.5 adn 1.0 swr, when you test with someone 15k km away, only then you learn what's the difference. I think this thing changes the radiation pattern, I suspect the pattern becomes NVIS and part of it very low angle. Thus people feel the improvement in local comms, with shorter skips and they start to get some great DX. Middle ranges, like 6 to 12k km, dont perform well. That's my guess 73!
Stealth cans. Drag cans behind you at logarithmic lengths and a “Just Married” sprayed on the window. Good for up to 11.7 mph … don’t ask me how I know. For better DX use Italian canned tomato cans. Thank me later. 😂
Hello Walt, I’ve also wondered how they can call it a groundplane when it’s hooked up to the antenna side. I’m just curious if you have any digital noise reduction on? If not you should give it a try, it’ll definitely help pull in some weaker signals. I know how you listen to all of that static. It’s even worse when you use the G90. Look at N4HNH’s videos on the FT-891.
Yes I’ve been tinkering with the DNR. I’m a little hearing impaired with raging tinnitus so I sometimes don’t realize that people watching my videos are kind of hearing things a bit differently than me.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES yes DNR, DNF (Digital Notch Filter), DRF (Digital Roofing Filter) & the RX EQ can assist in making stations come in clearer and make them “pop” out of that static noise. You can set the tonal quality that would actually be less fatiguing to your ears and help your tinnitus from getting worse.
About all I can see it doing is changing a nice pear shaped radiation pattern into a mushroom cloud shape by pushing it further up the antenna and narrowing it's field. Same as the 40cm radials on an 18 foot antenna used to do. Maker's USED to claim it took the antenna from 2.5dBI to 4.5dBI.....but OF COURSE this was totallly unproveable, so no one actually questioned it......antenna theory is great, if you have faith.....for the rest of us, all we have is practical field testing.....
I'd like to see a test of the 102 inch cb whip, maybe shortened a bit for 10 meters. Will a full length 1/4 wave antenna outperform any of the coil or helical shortened ones?
Are you familiar with Tim, G5TM? He uses one over on his UA-cam channel, and also various other mobile antennas. He sometimes uses it with a coil for lower bands. Have a watch, I'm not sure there are direct comparisons, but you may get some good info.
Not an investment I will make but I am fascinated by the use of emf shielding material as a ground plane. Can't think what the wife will make of me asking for some cloth for Christmas :-) 73 M7BLC.
Placed close to the large ground plane of your vehicle, it can't change the pattern much at all. So the "elevation angle" stuff is nonsense. What it can do is form part of an L network.If the 1/4 wave antenna is adjusted a bit long so that it's on the inductive side of resonance, then that inductance and the capacitance to ground of the gadget form an L network which if the values are correct will raise the impedance. The antenna is somewhat below 50 ohms and the L network will bring that value up a bit. People do the same thing by putting a coil from base of antenna to ground and adjusting the antenna to be a bit short. But easier and cheaper, you can make the antenna long and instead of using the gadget, put a real adjustable capacitor between antenna base and ground. You could use a length of coax cable open at the far end to make the capacitor; tune it by trimming the length. To get it right you need the right amount of inductance and the right amount of capacitance. See the L network equations. I wouldn't put the thing at the top of the antenna. Yes, it could be a capacity hat. It would also be a mechanical disaster, with all that mass up at the top of a flimsy whip. David VE7EZM and AF7BZ
Hey Walt, try the same experiment with a true Cap-Hat on a stainless steel whip top. The "with versus without" approach seems good to me. Thanks! DE AG4KN
Hi Walt Would you review my patented (pending) antenna oil for me? One wipe increases signals by 1.7 dB and reduces SWR to less than 1:1. The review sample would of course be free but I'll need $50 to cover postage from the UK. Let me know.
Imagine you have a fiberglass truck antenna mounted with no GP one of these if added up might be something. Your metal vehicle isn't a fair test. Now days they make a whip with a GP built in? Also some make a dipole with another whip under the mirrow mount , so the idea isn't snake oil and also might be better if on 2 meters or 440. Cal with DX Commander, on radials advocates for several even if short, so there you have it.
Ground "Plane", as in the horizontal plane of the earth/ground - not the same as an electrical ground. A ground plane kit such as this mimics the Earth's plane for an antenna that is installed above the actual ground plane of the earth. Again, nothing to do with the electrical ground.
You can fool some people all of the time. You can fool a few people all of the time, but you can’t fool Walt! Experiment on and enlighten all of us.
Thanks I knew this one was probably a gimmick from the start but just had to try it
Walt, just remember that the hardware is all 3/8 by 24; you can engineer/rig just about antenna at the hardwware store. Also your Jeep is a great mobile test platform.
Yes indeed and that’s exactly why I got the Jeep!
Love it when you experiment!
Thanks so much! I enjoy doing it
Thanks for testing that out for us, Walt.
Like I said in the video it was an excuse to get out portable on 10 meters lol
Hi Walt, looks like some form of capacitance hat, but they’re usually positioned towards the middle or top of an antenna. Thanks for the content.
My thoughts too. Thanks for watching!
I put one under the base on top of the shaft of a Wilson 200 and it does a great job
I was waiting for you to mount it atop the mast just below the Hustler coil and see if it lowered the tuned frequency point 🤪 ! (You know, like the Hustler multi band base station verticals 😉.)
Yes I’ve had that thought, might pair it with one of my coils as well.
Got one and I use it …Don’t know if it works but looks cool…I have even seen people use two or three of these and build a stackable type antenna with them…
First thought is it can’t help but may minutely hurt. However, it might be interesting to put it out the top of two hustler 54 inch masts as top loading check resonant frequency of the 108 inch masts and then add it to the top and see if the resonant frequency goes down. If it has any effect it would make the antenna longer. As small as it is I would guess you would not see much, but easy to try.
Good idea! Worth a try
I had a 3 radial one in my 11 meter days. Radials were shorter. Had it at the base of a 102" whip on the trunk of my Grand Am. No idea if it did anything but it looks cool. :) It also made unscrewing the whip much easier, when I had to go into a parking garage.
Yes it looks cool! I noticed it was easy to spin off too
I agree, first reaction is it looks more like a capacitance hat, not sure how much its really doing - but as always I applaud your getting out there and trying it! Yes 10M has been challenging recently, highly variable - turns on and off very rapidly it seems. I've been experimenting with a 5' long copper pipe with a small 3-loop wire capacitance hat on top, similar general size to that piece - rigged vertical with some ground plane radials - got it to tune 10 meters with no further coil or anything, but haven't had a chance to give it a fair test to see if it actually makes contacts or not yet. As usual, whether it actually works is the real test! 73's.
Yes 10 is really up and down but when it’s up it is amazing. 73, Walt
Walt, OMG 1:52 gave me a good 10db of gain! What you have there is a gimic, BUT you can use it as a capacitance hat if you can drill it out and mount it to the upper part of the whip. This will lower the resonant frequency quite a bit and may be good to 15M or lower. It does not need to be electrically connected as this is a high impedance point (high voltage) and so it will capacitively couple to the coil. Many thanks for the 1970's flashback. 👍 73 OM
Hahahahaha I miss those old magazines.
I'm glad you tested this thing. I always wondered about those . If there was a way to actually use it as a ground plane would be interesting. As you already know, your car body is the ground plane. So i wonder how it would work on a pole ? A capacity hat will normally "widen out" the antenna and reduce the "corona effect" at the tip. As you stated, capacity hats are normally at the top of the antenna. But I have a Cushcraft R7 vertical that has a capacity hat at the base. It's an end fed halfwave with a match box or balun/unun. One side goes to the antenna and the other to the capacity hat. Maybe a hole can be made in the middle with a insulator that can make it a true ground plane.
Thanks for the video. Looks like it is a cap hat, as you said, but on the wrong end of the antenna.
Again, thanks for the video. Always like watching what you are doing. Keep it up.
Steve, k7ofg.
Thanks Steve! Yes I saw it for $17 and thought it would be fun to at least try
I have one of these on my Wilson 2000 trucker with the 10 inch lower shaft, on the tri-mag mount simular to yours. The only real difference is with my mount, it has a SO-239 connector with PL-259 adapter to 3/8th 24 thread. Well as for how it performs? it did lower my SWRs ever so slightly which were very low to start with. and if you are wondering how it performs. it looks cool LOL. I made one of these 15 years ago with 12 inch radials that one seemed to make a bit of a performance difference. but I had it mounted just under the loading coil not at the base of the antenna. In conclusion, again it looked cool. It does make it easier to remove the antenna from off my pick up truck roof when going into the car wash LOL.
I ran a smaller version of that back in my CB days. I’m not sure if it did anything or not.
A friend of mine, who did some experimentations with antennas, always told me the more metal in the air, the better.
Back in the day I ran a pair of similar devices paired to 4 ft firestik. I can't say I ever noticed a difference in performance. They did look cool though and that totally counts👍
*edit for autocorrect foolishness
Yes that totally counts!!! Look good feel good 😂
How about a modification to make it a ground plane. Would take a good bit of work, but would be interesting to see how the configuration functions as a ground plain.
Seems it's useful only if the antenna needed a little "MORE" Magnetic coupling to get a good match. I was once tuning a guy's CB antenna and the SWR would just not go below about 2:1. Well making adjustments I forgot to remove the Allen wrench from the top set Screw.....SWR was a 1.2:1. Removed the Allen wrench and SWR shot up to 2.3:1. Soldered the wrench in the set screw and reinstalled on the antenna. SWR was good. 👍👍🤷
That’s interesting. Sometimes the smallest things make a big difference.
👍Thanks for sharing. I don’t think I would describe this as radials because they form part of the active element. It would be interesting to stick this into MMANA-GAL to see what the modelled radiation looks like. Without this, my guess is that it's like connecting a capacitance across the antenna feedpoint which will just make the antenna less efficient??
That’s what I’m thinking. Yes it would interesting to model this.
Hahahah 1:22 I laughed so hard after reading this description 😆😆😆 "We actually don't know how this works but hey, wouldn't you like to pimp your antenna ?" Next level advertising :D
I know, that made me laugh 😂
Walt, I sure do miss those old CB magazines! CB never got me any chicks though 😊😊😊
😂😂😂
Haha I miss them too!
I'd suggest the best way to see if it has any positive or negative results is with Tx and a field strength meter. Under controlled conditions like in clear flat area with 50M clearance all round on the 10M band, this should give meaningful results.
But I'll throw in an opinion and say it is a gimmick that looks kinda neat but assuming the antenna is tuned for frequency, will do nothing except possibly shifting the angle of radiation up by a degree or so depending on the antenna length. (The longer the antenna, the smaller the change).
5c worth of opinion 😊
The length of this radials looks better FOR higher frequency bands like GMRS or even LoRA. They should be at least 1/4th the frequency’s “height.” They’re also supposed to angle downwards 45 degrees
I got a 3 element version here in the uk, my opinion is I agree with you. It’s a gimmick and I’ve been experimenting with it for 3 months now on 11m and ham with no improvement to using the antenna without it.
Roger that!
I run one on 102 whipp. It does take away 3/4 of motor noise and quiets the static noise. Try it with vehicle on and see. As far as helping it get out father cant say. I can hear locals when others say they cant hear them cause of noise.
Try and see i know each set up is diff. 73
Trimman (661) in the Carolinas
another interesting vid & thank u; despite the variation in SWR, I wonder if it somehow benefits the actual angle of radiation🤔I just kept thinking of the "radial kits" offered with IMAX & Antron 99 vertical antennas; yes, CB antennas, but who cares? I just know that my IMAX works fantastic on 10 & 12m (& yes, on 11m SSB, too); I once had a radial kit on it, but not since I pulled it up atop a high tree (by looping support rope over a heavy tree limb, to avoid climbing trees &/or ladders); yet, even with no radials, I've still worked all over the world with it, 73 de WA4ELW in TN 🇺🇸 dit dit 😃
I’m with you on the CB antennas, who cares! 11 meters is just part of the radio spectrum between 12 and 10. Thanks for the great comment! 73, Walt
Also looks like it could work as the disc at the top of a discone antenna.
Yes it does!
I bought one of those for my micky mouse Ant for CB Base not so sure its doing anything for me but Thanks for the Video 73's
Thanks for watching! 73
Nice video again. Thanks for testing. Wouldn't be WSPR a good way to compare it? Sending 3-4 times without the gimmick and then 3-4 times with it. Just an idea. 73, Stephan, DF6PA
Yes I probably need to start using WSPR in my videos. I’m not sure if that would be as much fun as just firing up the rig and making contacts but definitely more accurate.
They do make one that really is on the ground side of the antenna. You need a pl259 style mount. The radiial kit has a pl259 on one side and an so239 on the other.Not the one with 3/8 thread. Does it work? Dont know. Get one of those and try it.
Once the aerial works that is all you want. The mag mounts is best ground plane.
Yes absolutely
I dunno, Walt, if it looks like a gimmick and acts like a gimmick, then maybe…
Back in the ‘80s, I used a stock K-40 with an HTX-100 and worked all kinds of stupid DX with 25 watts. No gimmick there! Keep’em coming! 73, Mike K3CXG who dat!
Thanks Mike! 73 and Who Dat!
hi walt, interesting eh. I would think all it would do, is too add length to your ant, and you would probably find if you had one to one on 28.200 khz, then add the gimmick, and the one to one would be lower in freq that's all. on or off in the same qso, wouldn't make any difference i don't think. But a full resonant 1/4 wave 20m vertical with elevated radials , would really go.
Hi Brian, I think you are absolutely correct
Yeah ok 😁, might work on top of a 10 meters ham stick the inner core looks as if you could thread the whip though it.
Hmmmm that’s an idea
I think it changes the radiation pattern. If it lowers the angle it helps getting more DX.
What I do to test this kind of stuff is message some friends that are over 10k km away and do the test. These small differences you can only feel in DX. For example: they say there's no difference between 1.5 adn 1.0 swr, when you test with someone 15k km away, only then you learn what's the difference.
I think this thing changes the radiation pattern, I suspect the pattern becomes NVIS and part of it very low angle. Thus people feel the improvement in local comms, with shorter skips and they start to get some great DX. Middle ranges, like 6 to 12k km, dont perform well. That's my guess
73!
Excellent guess, sounds like you might be right
I used it to fix an electrically short antenna, thats about all its good for. Otherwise it just looks cool.
stick it on top of half a hamstick and it might work as a capacitance hat. Or screw together two hamstick bottom halfs and put that on top.
I thought about that, my experiment and do that.
Stealth cans. Drag cans behind you at logarithmic lengths and a “Just Married” sprayed on the window. Good for up to 11.7 mph … don’t ask me how I know. For better DX use Italian canned tomato cans. Thank me later. 😂
Hahahaha
Hello Walt, I’ve also wondered how they can call it a groundplane when it’s hooked up to the antenna side. I’m just curious if you have any digital noise reduction on? If not you should give it a try, it’ll definitely help pull in some weaker signals. I know how you listen to all of that static. It’s even worse when you use the G90. Look at N4HNH’s videos on the FT-891.
Yes I’ve been tinkering with the DNR. I’m a little hearing impaired with raging tinnitus so I sometimes don’t realize that people watching my videos are kind of hearing things a bit differently than me.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES yes DNR, DNF (Digital Notch Filter), DRF (Digital Roofing Filter) & the RX EQ can assist in making stations come in clearer and make them “pop” out of that static noise. You can set the tonal quality that would actually be less fatiguing to your ears and help your tinnitus from getting worse.
I think it’s for rigging up a mobile style antenna as a base station antenna
About all I can see it doing is changing a nice pear shaped radiation pattern into a mushroom cloud shape by pushing it further up the antenna and narrowing it's field. Same as the 40cm radials on an 18 foot antenna used to do. Maker's USED to claim it took the antenna from 2.5dBI to 4.5dBI.....but OF COURSE this was totallly unproveable, so no one actually questioned it......antenna theory is great, if you have faith.....for the rest of us, all we have is practical field testing.....
I enjoy the practical field testing!
Today on project ham we are testing some snake oil
Made in China
It says it will increase your signal.
We’re gonna test that👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
😂😂😂
Hahahahaha it was a great excuse to get out and play with something new and hey it looks cool LOL
If nothing else it looks cool.
Yeah it looks pretty cool hahaha
I'd like to see a test of the 102 inch cb whip, maybe shortened a bit for 10 meters. Will a full length 1/4 wave antenna outperform any of the coil or helical shortened ones?
Are you familiar with Tim, G5TM? He uses one over on his UA-cam channel, and also various other mobile antennas. He sometimes uses it with a coil for lower bands. Have a watch, I'm not sure there are direct comparisons, but you may get some good info.
Oh a straight quarterwave vertical will absolutely out perform a coil.
Tim is a great friend of mine and one of the most knowledgeable guys I know.
it looks like it allows the transmissions to travel vertically and horozontally .
I definitely got out with it. That QSO to Chile showed that.
Not an investment I will make but I am fascinated by the use of emf shielding material as a ground plane. Can't think what the wife will make of me asking for some cloth for Christmas :-) 73 M7BLC.
Tell her the cloth is for the advancement of science hi hi 73, Walt
It looks cool, that has got to be worth at least 1 S point 😜
LOL exactly!
Placed close to the large ground plane of your vehicle, it can't change the pattern much at all. So the "elevation angle" stuff is nonsense. What it can do is form part of an L network.If the 1/4 wave antenna is adjusted a bit long so that it's on the inductive side of resonance, then that inductance and the capacitance to ground of the gadget form an L network which if the values are correct will raise the impedance. The antenna is somewhat below 50 ohms and the L network will bring that value up a bit. People do the same thing by putting a coil from base of antenna to ground and adjusting the antenna to be a bit short. But easier and cheaper, you can make the antenna long and instead of using the gadget, put a real adjustable capacitor between antenna base and ground. You could use a length of coax cable open at the far end to make the capacitor; tune it by trimming the length. To get it right you need the right amount of inductance and the right amount of capacitance. See the L network equations.
I wouldn't put the thing at the top of the antenna. Yes, it could be a capacity hat. It would also be a mechanical disaster, with all that mass up at the top of a flimsy whip.
David VE7EZM and AF7BZ
Great information, thanks for sharing!
Hey Walt, try the same experiment with a true Cap-Hat on a stainless steel whip top. The "with versus without" approach seems good to me.
Thanks!
DE AG4KN
Thanks I will do that! 73
Hi Walt
Would you review my patented (pending) antenna oil for me? One wipe increases signals by 1.7 dB and reduces SWR to less than 1:1. The review sample would of course be free but I'll need $50 to cover postage from the UK. Let me know.
Hahahahaha I’ll get right on that
Why don’t you try putting under the Chameleon Hybrid Micro in the vertical configuration. That would put it on the ground side of the antenna
I may give that a try!
Looks like it will work like a Capacity hat.
Yes indeed
Glad you fell on your sword with that one, mate. Looks cool, though.
Hahaha it was still fun to play with that hood ornament
Imagine you have a fiberglass truck antenna mounted with no GP one of these if added up might be something. Your metal vehicle isn't a fair test. Now days they make a whip with a GP built in? Also some make a dipole with another whip under the mirrow mount , so the idea isn't snake oil and also might be better if on 2 meters or 440. Cal with DX Commander, on radials advocates for several even if short, so there you have it.
Have you thought about using WSPR to test antennas?
Yes I have and may do that some in the future. I think putting up an antenna and making contacts is a little more enjoyable for a UA-cam video though.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES I agree but was just wondering as I’m looking into that also
Didn't the Jetsons have something on their space car or something like it? Haha
Hahahaha
TRY TESTING WITH THE ANALYZER
Love the videos Walt always watch Rob M0KOK 👍
Thank you so much Rob! 73, Walt
Isn't the car your groundplane?
Yes it is, I mentioned that in the video
Looks too short. Also Buddipole sells good sized ones and brother, they ain't cheap.
Yeah it’s definitely an ornamental fixture for a CB antenna
looks good for 70cm :-)
hahaha right!
100 Watts and 4 feet from your body Walt?
Try it again “not” on a metal hood….
Hmm, maybe it would help with satellite work? 🤪
Hmmm maybe so
It's a capacitance hat, not a ground plane, it will give you more bandwidth not gain
Yes I kind of mentioned that in the video
Ground "Plane", as in the horizontal plane of the earth/ground - not the same as an electrical ground. A ground plane kit such as this mimics the Earth's plane for an antenna that is installed above the actual ground plane of the earth. Again, nothing to do with the electrical ground.
Yes I’ve done videos on the difference between RF ground and electrical ground
😂 it was a joke...
Take your money and put it in a shredder, you would be better off- LOL
But it wouldn’t be as much fun as actually experimenting and being able to say I actually used one
@@COASTALWAVESWIRESI was just joking, LOL Happy Thanksgiving.
@@UDX-21 Happy Thanksgiving!
We got all this computer tech now but nobody in 40 years has done anything to advance the antenna industry..