Christmas lights running around the outside of your house at the place where roof meets wall. Along with a copper wire rolled around the lights wire. If it isn't "the season" you can even use the electrical wire of the lights themselves. Plenty of people leave their lights up year round. My grandfather would use a homemade sugar rocket attached to a spool of wire and shoot it up over the trees in the back yard, very thin wire. He would launch a new wire every holiday that fireworks were normal. This allowed him to get signals from all over the world.
I use a simple set up that goes into the ground portion of an outlet. Turns the house house ground wiring into an antenna ,,,just make sure it's the ground portion of the out let...other wise if you don't know, don't do it ...lol . There is also the need to make sure your outlet is not hot to...the dumb breed dumb and the ugly breed ugly ...carry on gentlemen
That’s a good solution! We have it so much easier with small quadcopter UAV’s to fly a wire up which works really well especially when you’re in the mountains and live in a valley.
The CHA LEFS 8010 is water resistant! No need of extra weatherproofing. Until a month ago I had the first prototype ever made of the LEFS installed right here at my ATH in Phoenix. Has yiu know it can get very HOT and since the last 6 months or so got wet due to extraordinary rain fall so far! This prototype is without heat shrink. The unit has been performing without ANY issues since then!
When I was an army signaler not so long ago the equipment was big and clunky. Today it's much smaller, cheaper and easier. Consumer grade is as useful as military grade, more or less, for most practical purposes. I learned to use an SWR meter as a CB kid. The military radios I used were not as good as a basic CB except that they were waterproof.
The biggest difference was the range of frequency and the amount of watts you were allowed to use, and the ability to encrypt it. At least my dad's radio in the marines could be encoded
We’re currently designing a NEW LEFS which will be more than 50% lighter and smaller. We might have to Patent the design because it will include a NEW feature unseen so far that will make S2 UNDERGROUND very happy!
I love shortwave listening. I learned to build random wire antennas for my set-up. A slingshot with a weight attached to strong cordage means I can place my antennas high in trees with relative ease.
Being prepared today while the internet, Amazon are still easy is critical. Having Comms in place, tested and a rapport with others before the disaster (train derailment, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc) is critical. NOTE: New AI lets people fake speech in real time. Parents are getting "Send money, my car died and they stole my wallet" or "I've been kidnapped" messages from their kids. Having a pass phrase or better a 10 letter word where one challenges and then counters with a letter and number is good. Include another letter to mean "Its me, but coms are compromised" For example, many home alarms have a sequence that turns off the alarm, turns on the microphones and dials 9-1-1 if a person is forced to open their home. This stuff is not just for Raven Rock or secret military bases. Sworn officers (police) have their own key words to let dispatch know "Act cool, but send help quietly"
That’s how I was when I started. Take it slow and look into stuff you think is interesting. Stuff like “How do you bounce radio waves off of the sky?” can be great rabbit holes to start with. Inevitably you’ll have to look up what that funky sounding word means, or why something is mentioned so often. Learn some basics, and definitely ask a lot of questions. Most people when explaining an answer will end up explaining a lot more than just the answer itself. Make the learning of this hobby your own personalized route. Look into what interests you the most and you’ll end up putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
suggestion to anyone who wants to SEE people try to run radios, … *kinda* like the “spy stuff” in this video, but in public: look-up “Parks on-the-air” & “Summits on-the-air” … Amateur Radio operators go to public parks, or hike up a mountain, setup off-grid stations & make contacts. Much is tracked on the internet, so you don’t need a radio to find out. 😊 You could go to the park & chat in person, if you are polite about it. 👍 (try not to interrupt anyone mid-transmission, especially receiving, that can be challenging with a portable antenna!)
sorry, 2nd suggestion was meant for the main video. 😂 this video started off fun, but getting into theory wasn’t nearly as good as just watching someone pull all the gear out of a backpack, setup a portable station, and start making contacts.
Would it not be safe to say that our current era of seemingly uncaring leaders is to flesh out the people who aren't dedicated to the country we live in? The fact that s2 is still allowed to churn out awesome and educational content makes me happy to know where we live.
Radio operators are the unsung heroes of history... Good info! There's a guy in Sweden was doing nvis testing on 40 meters with the antenna on our close to the ground if necessary. He had great results although at an efficiency cost. He was also able to make some contacts. Obviously not a preferred scenario, but if necessary it can be done without having an antenna in the air... 👍
College semester of Radio, My favorite read is the Norwegian radio operators of ww2 . Today seems like yesterday with the snoopy people in town and out in the woods. Always have 911 on speed dial if they don't like what they see. Great video, good ideas with antenna options for your operational Freq.
Love your videos. Already knew you were a ham, this definitely confirms it. This video is a masterclass in fast understanding of radio concepts. As someone who already knows this info, I still am enjoying the video. Not to take anything away from it, but I don't agree that a horizontal dipole without height above ground/counterpoise and frequency reference is always NVIS. I hope many more radio knowledgeable people are created from watching this. It's a TON of info, presented to be easy to understand. Also, this video was a TON of work to produce. Thanks for this and all your videos!
I've been an "Electronics Junkie" since the 1970s. I totally agree. Did anyone mention the advantages to employing a 'ground' to bleed-off static & enhance reception? 🤔 😳
@@lilblackduc7312 That's a whole can of worms in itself. Explaining earthing, counterpoise and ground gets deep quickly. I have 4 rods bonded to the electric service entrance, shunts on the last rod before coax entrance. I have a resistor at the transition from balanced window line to coax to bleed static. Hopefully, anyone that gets motivated from this great video will get to the wonderful world of earthing their radio system. 😅
A clip-on wind-up long wire antenna that you can hang from inside your dwelling is worth it's weight in gold. If a spy the need to use a radio away from buildings quicky and quietly (portable and small) or otherwise from indoors at a secured place are key. Civilian SW radios are a big thing I hear in past giving plausability. Such a fascinating topic. Cold War is a chessmaster level read for historians and those into the best of fiction and non-fiction. Fun stuff!
I am a huge fan of chameleon antennas. In the truck, I keep the MPAS 2.0 system, as well as the tactical delta loop. In my radio kit, I have my Xiegu, and the chameleon pocket antenna. This gives me the ability to use a more robust vertical antenna for far, the delta for near, or, on foot, the pocket antenna for anything, depending on how close to the ground I set it up. I also use their Emcomm III base for my home station, which is a great product. I like that their stuff is made for outdoor use. Never let me down yet, with 2 years of use!
Saw this video when it came out and didn’t understand most of it when he started talking about SWRs. Months later I got my HAM license and came back and I understand so much more, and it’s all good stuff. Solid video
You should look into optical communications next! Fiber optic cable with OOK modulation is simple and cheap to implement. Also, narrow beam laser's can be effective and extremely difficult to intercept in free space.
@@ddegn Not a direct answer to your question, but close enough to be relevant, or at least help you understand the principles at work. You can just take a speaker wire (or headphone wire) from the amp on your transmission side, and attach it to power your light source, I've seen it done with LEDs, but I'm sure it can be adapted to lasers. The fluctuations in your voice, modulate the amount of power going to the light, which can then be read on the receiver side via a small photo-cell, or "solar panel". Even one as small as from a solar powered calculator works. Hook the leads from the photocell up to an amplifier to listen to the transmission. I know it sounds too simple to work, or just plain crazy, but it really does work. Remember you're not hearing the light source, you're hearing the modulations in the light source.
It's line of sight, and can be degraded in daylight. You can also make short-range IR transmitter, receivers, much like TV remotes; however anybody that can see IR will see it like a beacon. If it's line of sight, just go microwave, as most don't really intercept or DF these, and if you do it on the ISR bands, it can be hidden. Then you have PTP digital set up.
Sir, Kudos for taking on SDR. For the folks who find batteries a mystery Short Wave listening is a good addition to the NOAA/AM/FM radio. Software defined radio puts 90% of the static hardware into programable, changeable software. Hence Software Defined Radio. SDR is the under $100 four piece way to start listening to HAM bands, Aircraft, AM, FM, Short Wave and even broadcast TV. Because the hardware is in software, you get *all* the radios in one for the 2 MHz to 900Ghz range. CAUTION SDR software is more complicated than installing Windows OS or other basic software. The four parts are the SDR "dongle" that receives the signal and fits in the USB slot. Antenna (normally comes with SDR) for that frequency range. A computer stronger than a I3 or Celeron CPU, suggest an I5 or I7 running at better than 2 GHz, SDR software and special driver. Raspberry PI 4 is the minimum today. Now the hard part: Which SDR? Which Software? Good question. Depends on budget. Doing the research and finding a friend to help is is good. Hack RF is good. I also use NOOELEC NESMART. Just get a complete set up with antenna and wires. SMA connectors are a whole video. Here is where having the short wave radio is handy to know what stations are out there. Not all radio stations come in equally. For those surrounded by trees and tall bushes expect degraded reception. Foliage is the enemy. An open field or urban back yard without trees is better. Granted this post is not much help. It is just to prevent pitfalls and give a sense of scale.
All right dude, I'm hooked. You've got me totally into HF and I'm going full on, balls deep. Working on my HAM now, would like to do comms in my region.
The ARRL is your golden source! Get their study books! Got my license as a kid with their help. Finding a local elmer or going to ham fests and talking will speed up the learning. Thankfully ham radio people are willing to teach. It is opposite of gun community when looked at as a whole. Humility, sharing knowledge, gifting, following laws, strongly supporting at grass roots, etc are all in place. Best of luck! ❤
I was inspired by this video too! Recently got my HAM License and now I’m learning to solder, build antennas, and test them for peak efficiency. S2 gave me a new hobby
If you are only receiving, then the best antenna strategy I have found is to get as much wire as you can manage, up as high as you can get it, and as far away as you can get it from buildings that contain electrical stuff (air conditioners, wall-warts, led lights, and all other sorts of things that produce dirty RFI) and connect to it with well grounded coax. The biggest obstacles with SWL these days is the amount of RFI you have to deal with around your house. Just taking a battery powered radio out in your backyard and getting away from your house can demonstrate how "noisy" your house is and render a big improvement in the noise floor.
The length of a random wire antenna can matter. Certain lengths allow for multiband operation. Other lengths are too close to being a half wave long and do not work well. Often a transformer is needed for both end fed half wave and random wire antennas. Tube radios, like the ones used in WW2 did not have an external antenna tuner. There is an output matching circuit that is tuned for different frequencies. End fed antennas can be as efficient as resonant dipoles.
This video was both entertaining and very informing for a newb to amatuer radio like me. You demystified antennas in a short amount of time while making the subject captivating instead of bedtime reading material.
You can achieve similar with high GHz signals. Very directional and once you get up there, things like clouds, fog, rain and snow can reflect and refract signals.
I wish I'd never sold my little Sony World band radio that I picked up for a song in duty free in Ireland years ago. Tiny little flip top thing with a reel out antenna that was 30ft long!
For those where portability is less of a concern, you can actually bend the ends of a longer dipole to get it into an attic. The middle 1/3 does most of the radiating, so make sure that's high and straight but you can turn the ends a bit if necessary without any big trade-off
Also, for the uninitiated, there are ways to make a dipole multi band. You trade off portability because you're adding components, and because it's resonant in more areas, you receive more interference too, but might be useful for a stationary setup
"Vladimer, ask this stupid American how unknown persons managed to sneak through his house, past everyone and into his attic without being seen." Answer: Invisibility cloaks?
Don't stop at the general, take the extra next it's worth the little bit of time you spend. Especially on the 40 m where the extras and advanced class don't have to put up with the international broadcast band interference. Get the whole puzzle, not just some of the pieces.
Great topic. I know to some people it's not as exciting as some of the other items discussed here. But you have done a fine job of teaching us that it's not all fun and games. There are other important things to consider. So, thank you
I like to think of the antenna tuner working between the antenna and the radio as the scene with the farmer in Hot Fuzz. A farmer with an incoherent accent answers the cop's questions; the older cop (also unintelligible) translates the farmer who then has to be translated by Nick Frost's character to the cop. Actually a very funny scene, you should check it out.
This was one of the best videos explaining antenna techniques I've seen so far. And the angle (spy tactics) that it was told from was both entertaining and educative. Thanks for sharing!
Coming from doing SATCOM and Radio in the military it's very interesting seeing the "right" pathway to learn all this It's hard to find a good way to learn all the gaps I have because it's all random knowledge I was able to learn
I am SUPER happy to watch this episode! I am an extra class and my daughter (14) is already a general. This has motivated both of us to put more efforts into prepping using our licenses in real-world scenarios. Thanks!
DX Commander Expedition and SteppIR Crank IR are great antennas. Both can be setup for a day or weekend. For just an hour or two the homemade or kit built end fed half wave can't be beat, especially for it's portability.
I use nooelec's balun one-nine in two outdoor all weather installations. it's very inconvenient but it's amazing what a stick of hot glue can accomplish.
I've taken a 20m/40m dipole antenna and run it inside my apartment around the walls using bungie cords to keep it stood off from the wall a few inches when pulled taught and done PSK31 QRP via an IC-705 and auto-tuner from the Kansas City Metro into Europe and South America. It's doable, but very frustrating at times when compared to an actual outdoor antenna. I also traveled the USA via RV during pandemic year with that same IC-705 and a Walkingham loop antenna on a cheap yellow Home Depot lighting tripod and very easily hit all over the USA and Europe from national parks across America.
Had lots of fun with the PAC-12 antenna. I often use it on a mag-mount on a car as a ground, a 3/8th to M10 thread adapter and the have replaced telescopic part with a 5.5 meter version. With the coil at the base I can just about make a 5/8th wave antenna at 10m and a 1/4 wave at 20m with no coil. The aluminium poles account for 1.2m.
I’m in an HOA with a small yard. Currently running an 80-10 Taurus Harvest EFHW/Rand with no issues. It’s a 9:1 with 64 feet of brown wire that lays across my roof.
Back in the '90's, a ham radio friend of mine hooked up the drainpipe of the gutter on his apartment building outside his bedroom window as an antenna. His apartment was semi-underground, so the window was about 8 inches off the ground. We put a ground rod in about a foot away, hidden below ground. We used one of the screws that went into the pipe to attach the center lead of the coax. The braid went to the ground rod. The coax went to an adjustable impedance matching transformer and then to his tranceiver. From western washington state we were able to speak to germany, russia, etc. In WWII people used trees and even lakes as antennas the same way.
Another amazing video. I really love & appreciate e very aspect of it! Great information & delivery of it. Thank you for all that you share with all of us! 🇺🇸
@@S2Underground When I don't want my phone to know what I'm doing I turn it off and slide it into a friendly little Faraday pouch. My cell phone seems to enjoy the break... well at least it hasn't started crying yet.
This is the concept of the Swedish Cold War "Ranger battalions". Sw: Jägarbataljon, bastardized Eng: Jaeger Battalion. 600 troops in a battalion, with battalion and company size underground supply dumps spread out over the operational area.
You should consider clandestine antennas of opportunity as a topic. Many of us have loaded up raingutters etc. I've seen videos where people go place to place connecting to barbed wire fences, backstops at ball parks, metal bleachers etc. I believe you may have covered the topic, but not from an actual use case with equipment.
Finally you talk about RF I myself are into EE so radio was no problem I can do amazing things with items I build from unlocking your lambo to turning off your home alarm to hijacking your WiFi or spoof your cellphone or baby monitor to bug your room endless I should of worked for DARPA 😂 And YOU can make a 1:1 by building a blacing balun and or using a auto tunner AND you can build a trap antenna for multiple frequencies
I would just add that the buddipole doesnt appear to work with NVIS which you have discussed the merits of before. Also, theres something called a super antenna which can do 80m and is a lot like your buddipole.
These days LEO satellites and protocols such as LORA are in use. Look back at the AN/FRD10 and AN/FLR9 antenna arrays that were used back in the cold war. USSR had the equivalent systems to do radio direction finding not only for internal use but also external. I worked at one of these sites in Porto Rico back in the 80's.
with high swr the power section will turn the power output down to save itself from the high wattage reflected back. This means even less power will get to the antenna.
Heck, antennas like an MLA-30 or a YouLoop would work great, they're small, has pretty decent reception, can null out interference, and it takes up little space when broken down, and can be used indoors, and they're cheap.but they're only for listening.
Another good small antenna option is the "superantenna" - its similar to the buddipole or Chameleon. It comes with lots of options but of course just like those antennas is a compromise design.
As to the narrator's comment regarding how difficult it is for HF radio signals to be tracked, I believe with technology being what it is today, that the narrowing down of random signals, is much more refined, than from the era he speaks ! Sometime in the early to mid eighty's, the F.C.C. in the U.S., solicited the help from Amateur Radio stations across the U.S., having these stations transmit at known power levels, specific antenna polarizations etc., as the various F.C.C. Field Offices tracked and determined pertinent information about these known radio signals, making the effort to track random radio signals much easier ! GOD only knows what they have now ?
Great video! Im curious if you, or anyone else here, has ever faced major noise issue when doing RF in an apartment bldg? I have an earlier version of the Chameleon Magloop with the solid outer loop and I never could make any contacts or hear signals when in the bldg or even within 10ft of it on the outside, such as on the porch. My best description is there seemed to be a noise bubble around the whole place. I could hear it when I would approach the bldg using my small HH HF/SWL radio. Is that a normal occurence around bldgs like that, with alot of low pwr rf devices? If you could point me to good literature that explains how work thru/nuetralize the noise barrier, if possible, or anything else relating to thia, thatd be awesome! Thanks again for having such brilliant, informative videos on great subjects. Very Brave. Be wary of the plumbing van sitting down the road from ya 😉
I used to build and sell an antenna called the hamgrenade. It looked like a pvc version of a pipe bomb. On the front was the tuning capacitor and inside were the thin coax to trx and a thicker loop of wire. It hung easily and tuned 40m to 10m. Stl antennas can work the world on 5w
Christmas lights running around the outside of your house at the place where roof meets wall. Along with a copper wire rolled around the lights wire. If it isn't "the season" you can even use the electrical wire of the lights themselves.
Plenty of people leave their lights up year round.
My grandfather would use a homemade sugar rocket attached to a spool of wire and shoot it up over the trees in the back yard, very thin wire. He would launch a new wire every holiday that fireworks were normal.
This allowed him to get signals from all over the world.
OG tradecraft
I wish I knew your grandfather
I use a simple set up that goes into the ground portion of an outlet. Turns the house house ground wiring into an antenna ,,,just make sure it's the ground portion of the out let...other wise if you don't know, don't do it ...lol . There is also the need to make sure your outlet is not hot to...the dumb breed dumb and the ugly breed ugly ...carry on gentlemen
That’s a good solution! We have it so much easier with small quadcopter UAV’s to fly a wire up which works really well especially when you’re in the mountains and live in a valley.
Your grandad was based. 👍
This channel is converting me from knuckle dragger to comms nerd. Thanks, bro.
Welcome to the world of tech.
The CHA LEFS 8010 is water resistant! No need of extra weatherproofing. Until a month ago I had the first prototype ever made of the LEFS installed right here at my ATH in Phoenix. Has yiu know it can get very HOT and since the last 6 months or so got wet due to extraordinary rain fall so far! This prototype is without heat shrink. The unit has been performing without ANY issues since then!
When I was an army signaler not so long ago the equipment was big and clunky. Today it's much smaller, cheaper and easier. Consumer grade is as useful as military grade, more or less, for most practical purposes. I learned to use an SWR meter as a CB kid. The military radios I used were not as good as a basic CB except that they were waterproof.
The biggest difference was the range of frequency and the amount of watts you were allowed to use, and the ability to encrypt it. At least my dad's radio in the marines could be encoded
" Spying" is now part of the terms of service in every device or service we use now . SMH..... Thanks Man 👍
Except old school gear.... (wink)
Keep educating We The People. As a former Marine Iraq war vet i salute you sir. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Thank you for serving our great country!
We’re currently designing a NEW LEFS which will be more than 50% lighter and smaller. We might have to Patent the design because it will include a NEW feature unseen so far that will make S2 UNDERGROUND very happy!
Any kind of time frame until this will be available?
My mpas 2.0 is my go to.....so you have my interest in something newer and lighter.
I love shortwave listening. I learned to build random wire antennas for my set-up. A slingshot with a weight attached to strong cordage means I can place my antennas high in trees with relative ease.
Aluminum window screen works very well as a ground radial. It can also be used as a hf antenna
Just saw this here on utoob.
Been doing that since I bought a portable Alpha Antenna at the last Hamvention in the Hara Arena. That and a few other bits of wire get me 80 thru 6.
Being prepared today while the internet, Amazon are still easy is critical.
Having Comms in place, tested and a rapport with others before the disaster (train derailment, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc) is critical.
NOTE: New AI lets people fake speech in real time. Parents are getting "Send money, my car died and they stole my wallet" or "I've been kidnapped" messages from their kids. Having a pass phrase or better a 10 letter word where one challenges and then counters with a letter and number is good. Include another letter to mean "Its me, but coms are compromised"
For example, many home alarms have a sequence that turns off the alarm, turns on the microphones and dials 9-1-1 if a person is forced to open their home. This stuff is not just for Raven Rock or secret military bases. Sworn officers (police) have their own key words to let dispatch know "Act cool, but send help quietly"
Every time I try to learn radio stuff, I just start hearing the teachers voice from the Charlie Brown cartoons.
That’s how I was when I started. Take it slow and look into stuff you think is interesting. Stuff like “How do you bounce radio waves off of the sky?” can be great rabbit holes to start with. Inevitably you’ll have to look up what that funky sounding word means, or why something is mentioned so often. Learn some basics, and definitely ask a lot of questions. Most people when explaining an answer will end up explaining a lot more than just the answer itself.
Make the learning of this hobby your own personalized route. Look into what interests you the most and you’ll end up putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Follow that voice let it guide you
It’s funny as I’m the opposite. My ears perk when I hear certain words or acronyms.
suggestion to anyone who wants to SEE people try to run radios, … *kinda* like the “spy stuff” in this video, but in public: look-up “Parks on-the-air” & “Summits on-the-air” … Amateur Radio operators go to public parks, or hike up a mountain, setup off-grid stations & make contacts. Much is tracked on the internet, so you don’t need a radio to find out. 😊 You could go to the park & chat in person, if you are polite about it. 👍 (try not to interrupt anyone mid-transmission, especially receiving, that can be challenging with a portable antenna!)
sorry, 2nd suggestion was meant for the main video. 😂 this video started off fun, but getting into theory wasn’t nearly as good as just watching someone pull all the gear out of a backpack, setup a portable station, and start making contacts.
Would it not be safe to say that our current era of seemingly uncaring leaders is to flesh out the people who aren't dedicated to the country we live in? The fact that s2 is still allowed to churn out awesome and educational content makes me happy to know where we live.
Radio operators are the unsung heroes of history... Good info! There's a guy in Sweden was doing nvis testing on 40 meters with the antenna on our close to the ground if necessary. He had great results although at an efficiency cost. He was also able to make some contacts. Obviously not a preferred scenario, but if necessary it can be done without having an antenna in the air... 👍
It's the most reliable comms you can have in an shtf-case scenario....
College semester of Radio, My favorite read is the Norwegian radio operators of ww2 . Today seems like yesterday with the snoopy people in town and out in the woods. Always have 911 on speed dial if they don't like what they see. Great video, good ideas with antenna options for your operational Freq.
Is the name of the book "Norwegian radio operators of WW2" ?
Love your videos. Already knew you were a ham, this definitely confirms it. This video is a masterclass in fast understanding of radio concepts. As someone who already knows this info, I still am enjoying the video. Not to take anything away from it, but I don't agree that a horizontal dipole without height above ground/counterpoise and frequency reference is always NVIS. I hope many more radio knowledgeable people are created from watching this. It's a TON of info, presented to be easy to understand. Also, this video was a TON of work to produce. Thanks for this and all your videos!
I've been an "Electronics Junkie" since the 1970s. I totally agree. Did anyone mention the advantages to employing a 'ground' to bleed-off static & enhance reception? 🤔 😳
@@lilblackduc7312 That's a whole can of worms in itself. Explaining earthing, counterpoise and ground gets deep quickly. I have 4 rods bonded to the electric service entrance, shunts on the last rod before coax entrance. I have a resistor at the transition from balanced window line to coax to bleed static. Hopefully, anyone that gets motivated from this great video will get to the wonderful world of earthing their radio system. 😅
@@nate43data Outstanding! What you describe may sound 'extreme' to some. I'd say, That's just about right! 😎👍☕
You are the man.
Thanks for keeping us sharp- seriously great content - and fostering the brotherhood.
00:00 - Introduction and History
04:33 - Stay Behind Forces
09:28 - Concerns for the Prepared Citizen
16:06 - Standing Wave Ratio (SWR)
21:29 - End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) Antennas
26:21 - Loaded Coil Antenna Systems
32:38 - Magnetic Loop (Magloop) Antennas
35:15 - Antenna Tuners
48:38 - My Personal Setup
01:02:52 - Closing Thoughts
A clip-on wind-up long wire antenna that you can hang from inside your dwelling is worth it's weight in gold. If a spy the need to use a radio away from buildings quicky and quietly (portable and small) or otherwise from indoors at a secured place are key. Civilian SW radios are a big thing I hear in past giving plausability. Such a fascinating topic. Cold War is a chessmaster level read for historians and those into the best of fiction and non-fiction. Fun stuff!
Glad to see you back here and posting
Notification Squad roll in.
Thanks for another informative video S2. You help more than you realize.
Stay safe.
We are here.
We are listening
I am a huge fan of chameleon antennas. In the truck, I keep the MPAS 2.0 system, as well as the tactical delta loop. In my radio kit, I have my Xiegu, and the chameleon pocket antenna. This gives me the ability to use a more robust vertical antenna for far, the delta for near, or, on foot, the pocket antenna for anything, depending on how close to the ground I set it up. I also use their Emcomm III base for my home station, which is a great product. I like that their stuff is made for outdoor use. Never let me down yet, with 2 years of use!
Saw this video when it came out and didn’t understand most of it when he started talking about SWRs. Months later I got my HAM license and came back and I understand so much more, and it’s all good stuff. Solid video
You should look into optical communications next! Fiber optic cable with OOK modulation is simple and cheap to implement. Also, narrow beam laser's can be effective and extremely difficult to intercept in free space.
Do you know of good sources for DIY laser communication?
I'd love a commercial laser antenna option
One problem with free space laser is that it likely can be seen with night vision equipment at night.
@@ddegn Not a direct answer to your question, but close enough to be relevant, or at least help you understand the principles at work.
You can just take a speaker wire (or headphone wire) from the amp on your transmission side, and attach it to power your light source, I've seen it done with LEDs, but I'm sure it can be adapted to lasers. The fluctuations in your voice, modulate the amount of power going to the light, which can then be read on the receiver side via a small photo-cell, or "solar panel". Even one as small as from a solar powered calculator works. Hook the leads from the photocell up to an amplifier to listen to the transmission.
I know it sounds too simple to work, or just plain crazy, but it really does work. Remember you're not hearing the light source, you're hearing the modulations in the light source.
It's line of sight, and can be degraded in daylight. You can also make short-range IR transmitter, receivers, much like TV remotes; however anybody that can see IR will see it like a beacon. If it's line of sight, just go microwave, as most don't really intercept or DF these, and if you do it on the ISR bands, it can be hidden. Then you have PTP digital set up.
Sir, Kudos for taking on SDR. For the folks who find batteries a mystery Short Wave listening is a good addition to the NOAA/AM/FM radio. Software defined radio puts 90% of the static hardware into programable, changeable software. Hence Software Defined Radio. SDR is the under $100 four piece way to start listening to HAM bands, Aircraft, AM, FM, Short Wave and even broadcast TV. Because the hardware is in software, you get *all* the radios in one for the 2 MHz to 900Ghz range. CAUTION SDR software is more complicated than installing Windows OS or other basic software.
The four parts are the SDR "dongle" that receives the signal and fits in the USB slot. Antenna (normally comes with SDR) for that frequency range. A computer stronger than a I3 or Celeron CPU, suggest an I5 or I7 running at better than 2 GHz, SDR software and special driver. Raspberry PI 4 is the minimum today.
Now the hard part: Which SDR? Which Software? Good question. Depends on budget. Doing the research and finding a friend to help is is good. Hack RF is good. I also use NOOELEC NESMART. Just get a complete set up with antenna and wires. SMA connectors are a whole video.
Here is where having the short wave radio is handy to know what stations are out there. Not all radio stations come in equally. For those surrounded by trees and tall bushes expect degraded reception. Foliage is the enemy. An open field or urban back yard without trees is better. Granted this post is not much help. It is just to prevent pitfalls and give a sense of scale.
All right dude, I'm hooked. You've got me totally into HF and I'm going full on, balls deep. Working on my HAM now, would like to do comms in my region.
The ARRL is your golden source! Get their study books! Got my license as a kid with their help. Finding a local elmer or going to ham fests and talking will speed up the learning. Thankfully ham radio people are willing to teach. It is opposite of gun community when looked at as a whole. Humility, sharing knowledge, gifting, following laws, strongly supporting at grass roots, etc are all in place. Best of luck! ❤
I was inspired by this video too! Recently got my HAM License and now I’m learning to solder, build antennas, and test them for peak efficiency. S2 gave me a new hobby
@@AldoSchmedack thanks so much man, I've got the radio app to practice on.
If you are only receiving, then the best antenna strategy I have found is to get as much wire as you can manage, up as high as you can get it, and as far away as you can get it from buildings that contain electrical stuff (air conditioners, wall-warts, led lights, and all other sorts of things that produce dirty RFI) and connect to it with well grounded coax. The biggest obstacles with SWL these days is the amount of RFI you have to deal with around your house. Just taking a battery powered radio out in your backyard and getting away from your house can demonstrate how "noisy" your house is and render a big improvement in the noise floor.
Impeccable and intuitive timing. Thanks
I would say perfect timing with all that is going on these days it's time to find friends that share the same interest.
Always look forward to these videos
Another great video. Keep up the good work, brother!
The length of a random wire antenna can matter. Certain lengths allow for multiband operation. Other lengths are too close to being a half wave long and do not work well. Often a transformer is needed for both end fed half wave and random wire antennas. Tube radios, like the ones used in WW2 did not have an external antenna tuner. There is an output matching circuit that is tuned for different frequencies. End fed antennas can be as efficient as resonant dipoles.
I'm glad you're still citing texts in your videos. Your style of presentation is much appreciated. Still waiting on more radio content!
Thank you for taking the time to bestow this knowledge on the community. You are the man.
This video was both entertaining and very informing for a newb to amatuer radio like me. You demystified antennas in a short amount of time while making the subject captivating instead of bedtime reading material.
The navy still uses optical signaling for extra secure communication
You can achieve similar with high GHz signals. Very directional and once you get up there, things like clouds, fog, rain and snow can reflect and refract signals.
As a radio nut, i loved this video. Keep up the great work!
I wish I'd never sold my little Sony World band radio that I picked up for a song in duty free in Ireland years ago. Tiny little flip top thing with a reel out antenna that was 30ft long!
For those where portability is less of a concern, you can actually bend the ends of a longer dipole to get it into an attic. The middle 1/3 does most of the radiating, so make sure that's high and straight but you can turn the ends a bit if necessary without any big trade-off
Also, for the uninitiated, there are ways to make a dipole multi band. You trade off portability because you're adding components, and because it's resonant in more areas, you receive more interference too, but might be useful for a stationary setup
"Vladimer, ask this stupid American how unknown persons managed to sneak through his house, past everyone and into his attic without being seen."
Answer: Invisibility cloaks?
This is great content - thanks for taking the time/effort to make this. Taking my General exam in two days.
Don't stop at the general, take the extra next it's worth the little bit of time you spend. Especially on the 40 m where the extras and advanced class don't have to put up with the international broadcast band interference.
Get the whole puzzle, not just some of the pieces.
@@radiobill4082 Agreed, I've got the extra exam schedule for the 7th of next month and getting 100%s on the practice tests.
Great topic. I know to some people it's not as exciting as some of the other items discussed here. But you have done a fine job of teaching us that it's not all fun and games. There are other important things to consider.
So, thank you
New Tech here, and can someone tell me how in the hell I learned more here then I have any where else? Great video brother!
I like to think of the antenna tuner working between the antenna and the radio as the scene with the farmer in Hot Fuzz. A farmer with an incoherent accent answers the cop's questions; the older cop (also unintelligible) translates the farmer who then has to be translated by Nick Frost's character to the cop. Actually a very funny scene, you should check it out.
This was one of the best videos explaining antenna techniques I've seen so far. And the angle (spy tactics) that it was told from was both entertaining and educative. Thanks for sharing!
Good to see you're back. Keep at it
Coming from doing SATCOM and Radio in the military it's very interesting seeing the "right" pathway to learn all this
It's hard to find a good way to learn all the gaps I have because it's all random knowledge I was able to learn
I am SUPER happy to watch this episode! I am an extra class and my daughter (14) is already a general. This has motivated both of us to put more efforts into prepping using our licenses in real-world scenarios.
Thanks!
My first father-inlaw was one of those SF stay-behinds in late 50's Germany. He served in Vietnam 64-66. Working with tribal forces. One tough mother.
This is the video I needed 2 years ago when I got my license.
I remember as a kid everyone had some type of shortwave radio in their house. This video is great the theories on covert communication.
Congratulations! You've composed an Educational/Informational video that's generally the ""Whole ball of Wax"... Thank you...📻🎤🎵🎶
DX Commander Expedition and SteppIR Crank IR are great antennas. Both can be setup for a day or weekend. For just an hour or two the homemade or kit built end fed half wave can't be beat, especially for it's portability.
I use nooelec's balun one-nine in two outdoor all weather installations. it's very inconvenient but it's amazing what a stick of hot glue can accomplish.
Being the comms bod in our small group I found that very interesting and entertaining. Many thanks and 73s from the Uk
9:41 - Bravo for calling it out. 👏
PLEASE Reach out to the Tech Prepper, you guys need to at least compare notes! I think a collab would be insane!
What is the URL for the UA-cam site?
I've taken a 20m/40m dipole antenna and run it inside my apartment around the walls using bungie cords to keep it stood off from the wall a few inches when pulled taught and done PSK31 QRP via an IC-705 and auto-tuner from the Kansas City Metro into Europe and South America.
It's doable, but very frustrating at times when compared to an actual outdoor antenna.
I also traveled the USA via RV during pandemic year with that same IC-705 and a Walkingham loop antenna on a cheap yellow Home Depot lighting tripod and very easily hit all over the USA and Europe from national parks across America.
Had lots of fun with the PAC-12 antenna. I often use it on a mag-mount on a car as a ground, a 3/8th to M10 thread adapter and the have replaced telescopic part with a 5.5 meter version. With the coil at the base I can just about make a 5/8th wave antenna at 10m and a 1/4 wave at 20m with no coil. The aluminium poles account for 1.2m.
Love the comms content!
I’m in an HOA with a small yard. Currently running an 80-10 Taurus Harvest EFHW/Rand with no issues. It’s a 9:1 with 64 feet of brown wire that lays across my roof.
This , Sir , was one of the most educational HAM Radio - related videos I have watched. Hats-off , 73 de SV4RIN
Back in the '90's, a ham radio friend of mine hooked up the drainpipe of the gutter on his apartment building outside his bedroom window as an antenna. His apartment was semi-underground, so the window was about 8 inches off the ground. We put a ground rod in about a foot away, hidden below ground. We used one of the screws that went into the pipe to attach the center lead of the coax. The braid went to the ground rod. The coax went to an adjustable impedance matching transformer and then to his tranceiver. From western washington state we were able to speak to germany, russia, etc.
In WWII people used trees and even lakes as antennas the same way.
Excellent info and presentation of a complex subject. I am SWL only at this time, but was able to gather some useful information!
Infrasonics are amazing, too. Anything MASINT, really.
Great video, watched till the end, because I need to setup and choose another HF antenna.
I like all the background videos of the UK.
Awesome video! Thanks for helping me understand radios and comms better.
Another amazing video. I really love & appreciate e very aspect of it! Great information & delivery of it. Thank you for all that you share with all of us! 🇺🇸
Brilliant video. Well done!
Thanks for this comprehensive guide to the world of antennas. Great presentation that helped me a lot.
Now we're just spied on using our own cellphones, yay!
Yep, exactly
@@S2Underground When I don't want my phone to know what I'm doing I turn it off and slide it into a friendly little Faraday pouch. My cell phone seems to enjoy the break... well at least it hasn't started crying yet.
@@BigPaws8185 as soon as you take it out that pouch it retroactively plots all your locations visited
You have a cell phone? There is one of your mistakes.
@Ebore Milly how? If it was off, and had no GPS connection?
Good presentation.
Thank you for the tactical slant
HAM Extra here.
You had me at "small radio". Subscribed.
Thank you for another informative video.
Awesome overview, thanks.
Happy to see you back S2A
Excellent tutorial
This video was a freaking treat my dude!
Water can get into the extendable whip. This will pretty much ruin the whip as it’s next to impossible to get it all out. It changes the SWR also.
Put it in a container of rice or descant
This is the concept of the Swedish Cold War "Ranger battalions". Sw: Jägarbataljon, bastardized Eng: Jaeger Battalion.
600 troops in a battalion, with battalion and company size underground supply dumps spread out over the operational area.
Great video
Couple of nice shots of Liverpool City centre and the three graces on the Liverpool waterfront.
This was excellent, thanks!
You should consider clandestine antennas of opportunity as a topic. Many of us have loaded up raingutters etc. I've seen videos where people go place to place connecting to barbed wire fences, backstops at ball parks, metal bleachers etc.
I believe you may have covered the topic, but not from an actual use case with equipment.
Great video, thanks! I own and operate several Chameleon antennas, awesome products.
Great video, thanks for the work that you put into these.
Excellent video and explanation of tuners!
Finally you talk about RF I myself are into EE so radio was no problem I can do amazing things with items I build from unlocking your lambo to turning off your home alarm to hijacking your WiFi or spoof your cellphone or baby monitor to bug your room endless I should of worked for DARPA 😂
And YOU can make a 1:1 by building a blacing balun and or using a auto tunner AND you can build a trap antenna for multiple frequencies
Love my Buddipole and Buddistick. Use these for portable HF regularly.
A great video, covered an amazing amount of information.
I would just add that the buddipole doesnt appear to work with NVIS which you have discussed the merits of before. Also, theres something called a super antenna which can do 80m and is a lot like your buddipole.
These days LEO satellites and protocols such as LORA are in use. Look back at the AN/FRD10 and AN/FLR9 antenna arrays that were used back in the cold war. USSR had the equivalent systems to do radio direction finding not only for internal use but also external. I worked at one of these sites in Porto Rico back in the 80's.
Appreciate the Red October quote 🙌
with high swr the power section will turn the power output down to save itself from the high wattage reflected back. This means even less power will get to the antenna.
Heck, antennas like an MLA-30 or a YouLoop would work great, they're small, has pretty decent reception, can null out interference, and it takes up little space when broken down, and can be used indoors, and they're cheap.but they're only for listening.
Another good small antenna option is the "superantenna" - its similar to the buddipole or Chameleon. It comes with lots of options but of course just like those antennas is a compromise design.
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As to the narrator's comment regarding how difficult it is for HF radio signals to be tracked, I believe with technology being what it is today, that the narrowing down of random signals, is much more refined, than from the era he speaks !
Sometime in the early to mid eighty's, the F.C.C. in the U.S., solicited the help from Amateur Radio stations across the U.S., having these stations transmit at known power levels, specific antenna polarizations etc., as the various F.C.C. Field Offices tracked and determined pertinent information about these known radio signals, making the effort to track random radio signals much easier !
GOD only knows what they have now ?
Thank you for the video.
Fantasic introduction, and fantastic video as always
Great video!
Im curious if you, or anyone else here, has ever faced major noise issue when doing RF in an apartment bldg?
I have an earlier version of the Chameleon Magloop with the solid outer loop and I never could make any contacts or hear signals when in the bldg or even within 10ft of it on the outside, such as on the porch.
My best description is there seemed to be a noise bubble around the whole place. I could hear it when I would approach the bldg using my small HH HF/SWL radio.
Is that a normal occurence around bldgs like that, with alot of low pwr rf devices?
If you could point me to good literature that explains how work thru/nuetralize the noise barrier, if possible, or anything else relating to thia, thatd be awesome!
Thanks again for having such brilliant, informative videos on great subjects. Very Brave. Be wary of the plumbing van sitting down the road from ya 😉
I used to build and sell an antenna called the hamgrenade. It looked like a pvc version of a pipe bomb. On the front was the tuning capacitor and inside were the thin coax to trx and a thicker loop of wire. It hung easily and tuned 40m to 10m. Stl antennas can work the world on 5w