Review and test of Buddipole Deluxe Antenna (HRA
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- Опубліковано 19 гру 2018
- This is the testing and review of the Buddipole Deluxe antenna available at Buddipole.com. I paid for this myself (not a freebie). The unboxing can be found at • Unboxing of Buddipole ... . Bottom line: it seems to be a great portable antenna. I had an SSB QSO, several FT8 QSOs, and two CW QSOs, all with 100 watts on 20 meters. The antenna is solidly constructed (very much so) and is recommended for portable use.
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Thanks Dave for this video on the Buddipole. I've had one for a couple of years and still learned something from this.
Only today did I find your review of the BP Deluxe on FaceBook so I’m late to watching your video.
I owned and used the BP Deluxe as my field antenna for several years. I added a single low band coil to be able to operate 75/80M, albeit as a vertical only.
IMHO, if you’re going to use a BP, an SWR meter is a must. As you suggested in your video, I had a small tape measure in my kit plus notes re the length to extend the telescoping elements to. I also attempted to use the different colored taps as go-to tuning points on the coil. This worked only part of the time, probably affected by the ground conditions beneath the antenna.
I also dislike the mini-banana plug coax connection to the Versa-Tee as those plugs will eventually lose their tension.
It MUST be noted that setup in the dipole config for 80M, 60M (both requiring a pair of low band coils), 40M, or 30M, the antenna is operating NVIS and all bands compromised by height over ground. (Despite a lot of bad info in ham media, bear in mind that an NVIS antennas needs to operate with height over ground at 0.15 to 0.25 wavelength. Using the tripod of the BP Deluxe, the max height of the feed point is only 9’6” (height of the mast when extended), compromising any NVIS operation. (How’d you get “about 11 feet” with yours?)
Overall, though totally functional and reasonably good construction (I don’t like collapsible antennas as they are too easily damaged), I found the BP system to ultimately be a real PITA to set up and get on the air, despite how easy the BP folks might claim “tuning one by ear” to be. I will not disparage the antenna’s performance, though, as I have contacted stations at some distance include DX to Japan and Korea. The far east contacts were completed when on a bluff 40’ over a central Calif coast beach.
I have since moved on to a Chameleon portable system including the small “micro” coil/transformer, “Mil extension”, Mil whip (essentially a clone of the Mil AT-271 used with VHF 30-75MHz manpack radios), 60’ copper-clad steel wire that serves as double duty as either an end-fed doublet or counterpoise, clamp base, and ground spike. If I had to cite a couple of strong pluses for the Chameleon system over the BP, they would include ease and speed of setup in the field, using a tuner, ease of tune up, and terrific flexibility for setup configuration.
Sorry to be such a downer on the BP, but I gave it a chance with over five years of use. Perhaps a side-by-side comparison would have merit for the undecided.
Best regards
N6MED
Where the Buddipole really is shines, is when you set it up as a Vertical, it really becomes a DX Machine. I use the five element Military Whip as well as the optional Capacity Hat. Setting up Vertical often only takes about five minutes and the Antenna is super easy to fine tune the SWR by either lengthening or shortening the kite winder counterpoise wire. The Capacity Hat is certainly not needed to set up a successful vertical antenna, although the benefit is a lower Take Off Angle increasing DX capability, and it also makes the antenna more Broad Banded. You can expect to use the entire Phone portion of all Bands from 40 meters and higher without having to retune, SWR will be very stable and even on 80, you can expect a fairly good chunk of the Phone end of the band. I too recommend purchasing the Triple Ration Switched Balun for ease of use and well as the ability to use the optional Low Band Coil. In addition, I went ahead and rewound the shorter coil to match the Long Coil, so I Center Feed my dipole setups and just click the TRSB to easily locate the best SWR. If you were going to buy only one Buddipole Accessory assuming you already have an Antenna Analyzer, I would recommend the TRSB and then the Low Band Coil, then lastly the Capacity Hat. One caveat, you must purchase the military whip to use the Capacity hat, the supplies telescoping whips cannot support the Cap Hat. One final note regarding Dipole Antennas. You must raise your antenna to half a wavelength in height, something the Buddipole cannot actually do with the standard mast. Even with the optional Long Mast, you are at half a wavelength on the 20 Meter Band, but are close enough. What this means, however, if you operate on the 40 meter Band even with the long mast, the antenna will somewhat act as an NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave) antenna. This means that the radiated signal will travel more or less straight up and down, allowing for close-in communications of a few hundred miles. Now some people, actually purposely set their antennas up for NVIS if they are seeking tactical communications. I hope this info is helpful.
Thanks for the info!
Uncle Dave Oggy thank you so much for being sincere I was thinking about the buddipole myself I'm glad that we have your approval that's just awesome I knew it just by looking at it I knew it was very quality material thanks again happy Fourth of July from Atlanta Georgia
Great video. I love my Buddipole, so versatile, I can't wait to use it a bunch this summer. You should do some comparisons using it as a vertical.
Merry Christmas, from our family to yours! Enjoy!!!
Thank you! And I wish all Oggies everywhere Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Hello Dave and thank you for the review. I'm always appreciative of folks like yourself who review products that they purchased, as opposed to something given to them by the manufacturer.
I've been looking at purchasing a BuddiPole for 40 meter NVIS use, but after seeing the issues you had in tuning it, I'm not so enthused any longer. If the manufacturer recognizes that "40 meter is difficult to tune".. do they reveal that in their advertising literature?.. Not that I can find. Seems to this consumer, that when one lays out 4 or 5 Franklins, the device out to work right out of the box, as good as my little PAR 20 meter endfed. If I buy a new Jeep, I don't expect the dealer to say... "The transmission is a bit hard to use, so don't put it into reverse for the first ten thousand miles."
Anyway Dave, thank you very much for a great video.. as always!
I have had the Buddipole deluxe for a good number of years now and have never used it in the horizontal configuration. It would be nice to see you try the vertical configuration. Since purchasing the basic unit I have added on several extended arms and purchased the longer whips and I am now able to use the antenna as a full-size quarter wave on 20 m. It works quite well that way. I also bought extra parts and I am able to configure it into a full size 3 element 6 m beam and it works like a charm. You do have to use radials with the vertical configuration and it takes up more space but I think the advantage is you have a lower angle of radiation compared to the dipole configuration which on the lower bands is more of an NVIS. None the less the Buddipole is a great module system that can be built upon. 73 de KW7WP
BTW check my QRZ page to see how I use BP parts for operations out of my apartment.
Keep up the great job on the videos!
Thank you.Good review
Nice Review I'm thinking about one. 73s w6usc
Thank you. A good review
I have found the upright V configuration works great. SWR 1.40 TO 1.7 WAS PRETTY NORMAL! My first QSO was 1,153 miles and that was in a less than ideal operating location. Nice video Dave.
Thanks Dave.
Dave thanks for a good evaluation. Could you do a video on how you sync your sdr with your transmitting radio.
used this in the military. Pretty great pre-fab
Thank you. A good review. N0QFT, Glen
The Buddipole antenna is a little easier to tune (especially on the lower frequencies) if the Triple Ratio Switch Balun is used, which handles the impedance transformation within the balun, so the antenna can remain balanced. This also decouples the length of the feedline from the tuning. The horizontal Buddipole also couples to gutters if they are close enough, and again this is more significant on lower bands. (In the interest of disclosure note that I designed this Balun for this antenna). I plan to be at Quartzfest also, hope to talk with you there. de W6AKB.
See you at Quartzfest!
I have considered getting one of these antennas, but the price combined with using (or attempting to use) it either in, or just outside, my apartment has kept me from purchasing it. My upstairs apartment has no balcony or patio for setting one up; only a breezeway. Thanks for the review. 73 de N5NUK.
Try in vertical with wire counterpoise/ Dod not expect much but in this the antenna shone.
Thank You for this video review. Have you had a chance to check out the Super Antenna and the Yeasu ATAS-25 yet?
Not yet. I have a friend who has the Yaesu antenna.
Have you had a chance to compare this with the Chameleon MPAS antenna???
David, have you had a chance to try out the Wolf River Coils Silver Bullet 1000 vertical antenna? I have a Buddipole deluxe that I like very much. For convenience I usually set it up as a vertical. The WRC antenna rivals my Buddipole in performance and is much smaller, lighter and easier to carry. I highly recommend it and would love to hear your review. MikeinMinnesota N0WDM
Dave, if you need to weight down your tri pod, while camping, you can hang a 5 gallon collapsible container. When you are done with it you can empty the bag and collapse it, for more compact transport.
Thanks for the tip!
Nice, I will look for future updates on the Buddipole. I have had better luck on 20m but like you, I use 40m more and haven’t been as successful with the Buddipole there. Tim K5TGS
I agree with the others who mentioned setting up the Buddipole as a vertical for DX - that's generally what I do for 20m and below. I also bought longer whips and extra antenna arms so I can run up to 20m as a full 1/4 wave no-compromise vertical w/ radials. With this configuration, I made a 20m 100w SSB ZL4 contact from Death Valley during NPOTA (2016). I love the Buddipole for certain things - I've regularly used it to make 3 element yagis for 6m & 2m for example. It's a great tool to have, but I don't expect it to do everything. I generally carry wires with me for 40 - 160m in case I decide going that route would be better for a given situation. de KC3PO
I'll give it a try.
Hi David, great review. Do you think this would work on a condo balcony? I've tried various antenna including an mfj loop but not getting acceptable results..
Perhaps it would if you could lean it out away from the building. Maybe borrow one and try it first?
i got a mini one i think it is good swr 1.1 on 20m got about 80 qso so far m6ltv nige 73s
I have one of these and someone was telling me about ham sticks. I have never used the Buddy (yet) but was thinking maybe I could use it like a ham stick ... I have an old 1990 G20 chevy van that I want to use an 867D in and at time camp etc. Can the Buddy be used as a vertical mast like a ham stick? (20 meters is what I was told to consider first)/?
Did you do the follow through video from Quartz fest?
I’m new and don’t know anybody in the hobby so I really appreciate the info you put out. Is this antenna weather proof enough that I could set it up and leave it outside? My back yard is all swimming pool and concrete so I can’t bury radials. Are there any good vertical HF antenna options out there for me?
Might look into DX Commander for temporary use. Also, expensive but check out the the TW2010 line and add-ons from DX Engineering. I've made 3000 mile contacts on 100 watts.
Anyone tried 80m? Configuration? I was curious whether you can piggyback the two coils in a vertical instead of buying the low-band coil they sell separately
I was wondering the same thing. I might try it later this week as a vertical with both coils and a counterpoise wire on the black side.
Thinking about this antenna. What about using it with a (cough) 'tuner' (or should I say an impedance matching device)? Would one be able to tune the whole band without making adjustments and would the performance be acceptable?
Nice review!
Yes it is acceptable. For 40m it would be worthwhile to adjust the antenna so it is more resonant at the portion of the band you want, and then tune as well. I usually just tune for resonance at a frequency in the the middle of the range I want to operate and then hit the autotuner when I change frequencies within the band. Works great.
@@douglasdreger3852 Thanks! That's very helpful info!
do i have a chance with a 20 m wire flat top dipole indoors 6 feet high of working dx qrp?
It'll be difficult. It's been done, but it doesn't sound like an ideal situation. Be persistent!
Which Buddipole to buy?
had one and couldn't get it to work well for me...
Put it up per instructions and just use a tuner to clean it up. A lot less up and down whip adjustments
Unfortunately an antenna that requires an analyzer to set up or that much back and forth seems a bit much for SOTA activations. I guess if your in a truck and can carry the extra gear it would be ok. I’ll hold off for now Thanks looking forward to more on this antenna. And even more on the vertical configuration. I think that might be more practical for my application
I've noticed that once the antenna is set up, you can note the settings and then recreate them the next time you use the antenna with some assurance they still work.
I’m curious if that will be the case once the locations changed. If you can mark the coils and make a cheat sheet that would definitely make a difference. Thanks for the review. I’ll keep watching for more
Dave, if you laid some chiller pipes under the back deck, you wouldn't have that messy melting snow problem there.(G)
I noticed that you are using SDRUNO as a spectrum analyzer. I have that software as part of a SDRplay RSP1A setup. Can you tell me briefly how to attach the software to a transceiver so I might duplicate your usage? Thanks for another great video. MikeinMinnesota N0WDM
My Yaesu FTDX3000 has an output that simply provides the output of the first RF amp. It covers the entire band. That's what I feed to the SDRplay. Several other HF radios will provide the entire IF prior to filtering; this can also be used to cover the entire band.
Thanks David. I appreciate your taking the time to answer my question. I’m using an Elecraft KX3. I think it has a similar port. MikeinMinnesota N0WDM
Is there a portable antenna that will work on both 40 and 80 meters?
Not that I know of, though there are those who operate mobile on 80m.
Wolf river coils silver bullet 1000
Hi dave, whats the maximum power allowed for this antenna?
250 watts max, and that's when perfectly tuned. I'd say stick with a 100 watt radio or less.
@@davecasler how about putting it as permanent antenna outside can it withstand heat and rain, or its just a temporary antenna outside..
It's really designed for portable work.
I have one. Used it a lot on 6m last summer. 73
Great review, David! It seems you mentioned you have an RV. What do you use for an HF antenna... especially on 40m... when parked in the RV? I have a 4 season Arctic Fox truck camper, and given my home apartment situation, I can only get on the air when RVing. I really don’t want to start throwing wires into trees, but a Tarheel screwdriver, single hamsticks as verticals, twin hamsticks juxtaposed a la buddipole style, etc, all give lousy results. The antennas are only up about 12’, but that’s the best I can get away with in a campground.Bottom line, with these “compromise” antennas, I can hear them, but only rarely can they hear me. Any advice??? Price is not the issue..., size and efficacy are. Tnx!
What I noticed at Quartzfest is that lots of RV/hams use collapsible aluminum flagpoles as vertical antennas. Really common.
Look at the episode just before this, he mentions his RV and shows a photo. The Buddipole is his planned RV antenna.
At 11 feet above ground you would have done much better vertical rather than horizontal which would have given a lower angle of radiation.
great review, hope to hear back on how it works at the hamfest from a in the field perspective.
far as getting this, no i wont only for the soul reason theres no coverage on the 3mhz band
10 to 80mtrs or forget the whole enterprise for me.
73' k7sce from arizona
Even a full-size dipole can't cover the entire 80 meter band. Even those antennas that promise 80 meters often don't cover more than 25 or 50 kHz on the band.
maybe see you at quartzfest, 73 K1HLO
What about 40 meters ? You never finished.
Yes, it's a very compromised antenna. There's a reason you couldn't go far away with it. Your dipole was 11ft from the ground. I put my homebrew 22ft from the ground and makes a difference. It has to be very far away from objects, especially on the lower bands like many people said here. It's a very compromised antenna with the inductor reducing the usable bandwidth but like you usually say: a compromised antenna is better than no antenna...
Great videos, but you can do with out the music at the head......
to much mucking about for me, thats a big no
Dam you better take some weight OFF