With the bleachers you should have loaded up one and hooked up the other to the ground post. HUGE ground mounted dipole. And the next time you load up a grocery cart (not with grocery's) try rotating it. Be interesting to see how much effect if any it has on signal strength. The wheels were just screaming at you asking to be used as a rotor.
In the Atlanta area there used to be a strange antenna challenge, where hams would use unconventional items to make QSOs on. Great practice for emergency contacts.
After a miserable and wet army cadet field day out in an English forest trying to make any contact at all on our old WW2 radio using a 30ft mast, on the way home we reached a high piece of ground and slow traffic near Ongar in an Eastern National Lodekka omnibus. We clipped the antenna connection to a handrail, tuned up, and YAY! we got our first contact of the day. So now you know, a double-decker bus works as an antenna as well!
Great video. This reminds me of being a kid in the ‘70s and clipping my crystal radio to various pieces of metal. The chainlink fence and water spigot always worked best.
Fun, Fun!!! Thanks for the effort. I have some new things to try. I did make contacts using the downspout and gutters on the back of my house. I have a G90 also. Will go to the kids park and try to load up a swing set. Years ago read where a Ham successfully used a metal bridge over a small river in the country. What a great Hobby! I make lots of antennas that Walt, K4OGO makes. Good results. Love you guys! Kevin, up in Iowa even make contacts using 2 corn stalks. Take, stay safe. Robb, KC0VRO
When I was first licensed 57 years ago the old timers would brag that their “match box” could load a one-eyed Tom cat hanging on a screen door. I think the turner in your G90 would qualify.
Dude i love how you did this video and love seeing that childlike wonder. This is how ham radio should be instead of how the sad hams act. Keep up the awesome content 😁
May I suggest a 9:1 transformer instead of the straight connector. It would probably give the G90 tuner an easier time. I note that you did a very quick food segment as a nod to Salty Walt.
II think that is an excellent idea! My local field has 4 fields pointing to cardinal points North, South, East, West maybe use as a reflector and have antenna on the pitcher's mound?
One of my first experiments was using magnet leads with a bnc connector to attach to things and see what would happen. Made a contact through my lamp shade but I was definitely about to screw-up my baofeng haha.
So cool! Aluminum oxide is a terrible conductor. If you had scratched through the oxide layer it the bleachers might have worked! Ham channels need more of this stuff!
What fun 😆👍! Many yeas ago there was an annual “competition”, (it was not a contest), called The Strange Antenna Challenge, the object was to use things other than wire and pipe for antennas. For the three years I participated along with a couple of other HAMs we used: Three an aluminum canoes on plastic sawhorses as an OCF dipole. A roll of foil duct tape strung up as an inverted V. And lastly an accordion style bathroom vent hose suspended as a vertical with a scrap of discarded valley tin as counterpoise. Not only did all of them work, we made DX contacts with each of them 🤪👍
I've heard of that. Some of what I heard of hams loading up metal ladders, bedsprings, soldering soda cans together, and all sorts of stuff. I bet it was a blast.
7:14 I'd have loved to have heard a signal report from the Net Control there. He didn't seem to be having any trouble copying you, though! 8:30 height is might and luminieres are tall! 10:30 I'm genuinely surprised the bleachers didn't work out. That's a lot of metal that should all have continuity. I wonder what would have happened if you'd thrown out a counterpoise! 12:07 I'll bet that could have used a counterpoise as well, but you got the guy! I really love the G90 tuner!
All those antennas are the epitome of a McGyver antenna if I ever saw it. 😁😁👍👍 Great job Mike. That really shows what could be used in a desperate situation. Happy hamming everyone. 😁😎
Mike, this is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen you do. When someone told me they could tune a G 90 to a rain gutter, I wouldn’t believe it. But now, I’m kind of convinced! Thanks and 73, KF0QNM.
There is always a wet matress or something dead in the alley behind a Kroger. You just gotta jam a piece of rusty rebar through them and make a good ground... And BAM your in business!
I often thought about using a fishing pole with thin wire as line and then cast a fishing weight into the trees. Starting at 160 working all the way down to 6 meters, tuning the line by just reeling in line on the fishing p[ole :)
THAT'S HAM fun ; I love it ! I was told by an elmer that back in the day, they used to tune bed frames (made of metal) and coat hangers for fun. I also managed to make HF contacts on my dummy load lol.
You never know what will load up. I worked a ham once who said he was doing a demonstration of ham radio at a shopping mall. He was using a Uniden HR2510 10 meter radio with a quarter wave CB antenna that was mounted on a shopping cart inside the mall and he was getting out. He made it from California to me in Louisiana! It may have been a long day, but it looks like you had a great time and gave us a fun video.
Great video Mike....You're off the chain dog...lol. You 100% picked the right radio to to make contacts. The G-90 will tune a wet noodle. It goes to show that in a pinch, finding the right piece of metal will make contacts. Outstanding !!!
I have a metal chimney for a woodstove. I was thinking of making that an antenna using the gutter antenna principle. However I want to use a magnet to attach it to the wire instead of a screw over a ring terminal.
Fun video! Great job Mike! We recently tuned our rain gutters and had great luck tuning all the bands with our g90. One of my first contacts was with a guy using a flagpole as an antenna. That contact was flagpole to rain gutter. 73 Mike N4FFF es Becky N4BKY
I tuned the top row of barbwire fence with the g90 and a 64-1 unun the fence was a a huge square roughly a mile in total, I only had a short run of coax so added a counterpoise and it work great made contacts within 6 -500 miles and made a few people laugh when i explained I'd tuned a fence
Great stuff Mike, the only comment I have is that most of your wild antennas look like they’re grounded, so how much you’re actually radiating would be probably very little. The rusty joints might have a strange effect. I’ve used the top wire on a farmer’s fence myself, it loaded up OK but it didn’t seem to radiate very well at least on 80m.
I always assumed that the radiating element needed to be isolated from ground. That being said, I’ve loaded up a 32’ cattle trailer and a backhoe and made contacts before.
@michaellin4553 you did hear them!?! that's great lol.. base rig is a ft-dx10 and has been a bit of a bear to get going on js8. No base profile.. just glad it got out atleast
Random mother in walmart parking lot: Hello, store manager, there is a weird man connecting wires to the shopping cart rack - laughing loudly. Store manager: well look into it mam. Shouts to store employee - Someone Tell K8MRD to stop scaring the patrons
You should use all the metal objects as GROUND PLANES off of which you can run a quarter lengths wire horizontally for NVIS on 40m or a telescopic whip vertical. Actually works well.
That AC guy wire was the one that surprised me, I would have expected the telco guy wire would have created far too much RF noise. But -- hey! -- it worked! Nice job -- both in getting things to work and in creativity.
So I can see this was posted a bit ago for members or whatever the paid sub is. I say that because I really don’t think you’ll see this, But I would really love to see a set up / build up of this “random object antenna” kit. I love it. I think I honestly wanna do one of my own and keep it in the vehicle. This is amazing.
That was hilarious, and very cool!! Why waste money on an expensive antenna... LOL. If I was there in the Walmart parking lot, I'd be tempted to clip onto the car parked next to me to see what happens 😁
That’s awesome. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven around, looking at street lights, fences, and all kinds of things that I can hook up to and see if it will work. Cool video.
An Elmer once told me some wisdom he was given by his Elmer; if it can radiate you can communicate. I am going to have to build a random object antenna kit for myself now.
I would wondering if the backstop fence would be better than the chain Link fence or would it be the same??? I'm always thinking outside the box too! Good video thanks
@3:07 where did you put the yellow wire too? I see only 1 wire attached to the shopping cart where did the yellow wire go too ? So you said I put the counter poise wire to the thing there … what is the thing you put it too??
Do you think the times you were not getting a signal and added a counterpoise and then got a signal isn’t because it made the cart better but because the signal went over the counterpoise instead and the cart still played no role in radiation?
If this video doesn't gain more traction, it's a crime. This was pure golden content. This would make a really fun event for a club to do and see who could make the most contacts in an area. Keep up the great work Mike. 73 de KD9HAY
You could use the other bleachers as a counterpoise. Might work better. I figure that the guys and the parking lot light pole are sort of grounded at the base, so this is kind of a shut fed design. It may be worth trying connecting the black binding post to the base and the red one a few feet up (bungee to hold the clip to the pole maybe, though paint would get in the way). I've occasionally wondered about magnetically coupling to those big round aluminum light poles. Maybe you should start a new program: FOTA, fences on the air.
You never cease to entertain, inform and educate your viewers. LOL. Thank you for another great video. Dang it, now I have to bag up my 857, tuner and wires and go to Wally world. I see light posts in my near future! HA HA
I could imagine a fleet of Walmart carts secretly being used to transmit on HF. Carts On The Air.
🛒🛒🛒🛒🛒🛒🛒🛒🛒😁😁🤣
With the bleachers you should have loaded up one and hooked up the other to the ground post. HUGE ground mounted dipole. And the next time you load up a grocery cart (not with grocery's) try rotating it. Be interesting to see how much effect if any it has on signal strength. The wheels were just screaming at you asking to be used as a rotor.
In the Atlanta area there used to be a strange antenna challenge, where hams would use unconventional items to make QSOs on. Great practice for emergency contacts.
That's awesome. We did that at a trip to WA I took a couple years ago. Going back next week. Should be lots of fun!
@@hamradiotube DC or PNW WA?
@@castle5711pnw
@@hamradiotube cool. not too far from me...
If I recall correctly the strange antenna challenge is each year on memorial day. A lot of fun😅
When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When you're a ham, everything looks like an antenna!
What a friggin blast....I had fun watching this. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it!
After a miserable and wet army cadet field day out in an English forest trying to make any contact at all on our old WW2 radio using a 30ft mast, on the way home we reached a high piece of ground and slow traffic near Ongar in an Eastern National Lodekka omnibus. We clipped the antenna connection to a handrail, tuned up, and YAY! we got our first contact of the day. So now you know, a double-decker bus works as an antenna as well!
I've used a bedspring and aluminum window frame with good success to make contacts.
Great video. This reminds me of being a kid in the ‘70s and clipping my crystal radio to various pieces of metal. The chainlink fence and water spigot always worked best.
Fun, Fun!!! Thanks for the effort. I have some new things to try. I did make contacts using the downspout and gutters on the back of my house. I have a G90 also. Will go to the kids park and try to load up a swing set. Years ago read where a Ham successfully used a metal bridge over a small river in the country. What a great Hobby! I make lots of antennas that Walt, K4OGO makes. Good results. Love you guys! Kevin, up in Iowa even make contacts using 2 corn stalks. Take, stay safe. Robb, KC0VRO
Mike, you just put the entire antenna industry out of business!
With my antenna addiction I don’t think that’s possible. I clearly needed more so I went out on the streets to find some.
When I was first licensed 57 years ago the old timers would brag that their “match box” could load a one-eyed Tom cat hanging on a screen door. I think the turner in your G90 would qualify.
Dude i love how you did this video and love seeing that childlike wonder. This is how ham radio should be instead of how the sad hams act. Keep up the awesome content 😁
Only got to the opening of the go box and now I want to see a two shopping cart dipole 😂
May I suggest a 9:1 transformer instead of the straight connector. It would probably give the G90 tuner an easier time. I note that you did a very quick food segment as a nod to Salty Walt.
Way cool! Great field expedient antenna action! Maybe start a PLOTA (Parking Lots On The Air) group...
Next time, try 10m. It is hot in the past few days. You might can work DX. Great idea BTW!
That’s so last year😂😂. Just kidding…. Or I’m I?😮. Great job having a great time with ham radio. A true Ham! 🤙🏻
You just showed how great the G90 tuner is. Why can't other manufactures do the same??
Great video.
Steve, k7ofg
I think you should try for the lower bands on the larger items. The chain link fence and the seats look like they may be good for 80m and 160m.
LOL! Love it! I'm out in farm country... lots of fences to tune. I'm going to be busy with my Xiegu X6100 tomorrow!
I'm going to be busy with my X6100 as well!
I have always wanted to use a softball backstop as a corner reflector for a vertical antenna.
II think that is an excellent idea! My local field has 4 fields pointing to cardinal points North, South, East, West maybe use as a reflector and have antenna on the pitcher's mound?
@@oceanaxim you will want to be in the focal point of the reflector and run some of the radials to the backstp and wire em up
One of my first experiments was using magnet leads with a bnc connector to attach to things and see what would happen. Made a contact through my lamp shade but I was definitely about to screw-up my baofeng haha.
At what point does the counterpoise become the element and the element become the counterpoise?
Bonkers! Just love your sense of humour, brilliant 🤣 I have just bought a G90.
Thanks for the fun. Regards, 73, Phil, Suffolk U.K.🇬🇧
Just wear a reflective vest and no cop, no person will ever bother you lol. Thanks for the video your experiment was awesome!
KQ4DVS 73
All hail the G90. It's why it's my portable rig. If in an emergemcy, I can use a lot of weird things to make that contact.
So cool!
Aluminum oxide is a terrible conductor. If you had scratched through the oxide layer it the bleachers might have worked!
Ham channels need more of this stuff!
You may need a Harbor Freight welding clamp to use for hooking up to really big metal items!
Don't tempt me with a good time at Harbor Freight. Now I just might have an excuse to get a welding clamp that I don't need 🤣
@@hamradiotubeHFT has some stuff you can make antennae with.
What fun 😆👍! Many yeas ago there was an annual “competition”, (it was not a contest), called The Strange Antenna Challenge, the object was to use things other than wire and pipe for antennas. For the three years I participated along with a couple of other HAMs we used:
Three an aluminum canoes on plastic sawhorses as an OCF dipole. A roll of foil duct tape strung up as an inverted V. And lastly an accordion style bathroom vent hose suspended as a vertical with a scrap of discarded valley tin as counterpoise.
Not only did all of them work, we made DX contacts with each of them 🤪👍
I've heard of that. Some of what I heard of hams loading up metal ladders, bedsprings, soldering soda cans together, and all sorts of stuff. I bet it was a blast.
7:14 I'd have loved to have heard a signal report from the Net Control there. He didn't seem to be having any trouble copying you, though!
8:30 height is might and luminieres are tall!
10:30 I'm genuinely surprised the bleachers didn't work out. That's a lot of metal that should all have continuity. I wonder what would have happened if you'd thrown out a counterpoise!
12:07 I'll bet that could have used a counterpoise as well, but you got the guy!
I really love the G90 tuner!
Shopping cart corral has horrible take off angle 🤣
Ha! That was cool you working me Mike on that light pole!!
All those antennas are the epitome of a McGyver antenna if I ever saw it. 😁😁👍👍 Great job Mike. That really shows what could be used in a desperate situation.
Happy hamming everyone. 😁😎
All I need now is a mullet!
@@hamradiotube I'll get you a gift card for a wig shop. 😁😂🤣
Mike, this is the most hilarious thing I have ever seen you do. When someone told me they could tune a G 90 to a rain gutter, I wouldn’t believe it. But now, I’m kind of convinced! Thanks and 73, KF0QNM.
Rain gutters are pretty commonly used as antennas
There is always a wet matress or something dead in the alley behind a Kroger. You just gotta jam a piece of rusty rebar through them and make a good ground... And BAM your in business!
I often thought about using a fishing pole with thin wire as line and then cast a fishing weight into the trees. Starting at 160 working all the way down to 6 meters, tuning the line by just reeling in line on the fishing p[ole :)
THAT'S HAM fun ; I love it !
I was told by an elmer that back in the day, they used to tune bed frames (made of metal) and coat hangers for fun.
I also managed to make HF contacts on my dummy load lol.
Make a tight COIL around the base of one of those tall parking lot lights, and try to couple to it and see if it will resonate. Use a 4:1 balun
You never know what will load up. I worked a ham once who said he was doing a demonstration of ham radio at a shopping mall. He was using a Uniden HR2510 10 meter radio with a quarter wave CB antenna that was mounted on a shopping cart inside the mall and he was getting out. He made it from California to me in Louisiana!
It may have been a long day, but it looks like you had a great time and gave us a fun video.
We have a group here in phoenix that likes to use box springs, awnings, dumpsters and other clutter.
Now you've got me wondering what the Chinese ATU-100 could tune in the wild.
Great video Mike....You're off the chain dog...lol. You 100% picked the right radio to to make contacts. The G-90 will tune a wet noodle. It goes to show that in a pinch, finding the right piece of metal will make contacts. Outstanding !!!
This was a trip. And I think this has sold me on the G90 as my first HF rig.
I just bought the connector and adapter to try this myself with my IC-746Pro. Thinking I’ll have to make my own video trying it out next week!!
I have a metal chimney for a woodstove. I was thinking of making that an antenna using the gutter antenna principle. However I want to use a magnet to attach it to the wire instead of a screw over a ring terminal.
Fun video! Great job Mike!
We recently tuned our rain gutters and had great luck tuning all the bands with our g90. One of my first contacts was with a guy using a flagpole as an antenna. That contact was flagpole to rain gutter.
73 Mike N4FFF es Becky N4BKY
I tuned the top row of barbwire fence with the g90 and a 64-1 unun the fence was a a huge square roughly a mile in total, I only had a short run of coax so added a counterpoise and it work great made contacts within 6 -500 miles and made a few people laugh when i explained I'd tuned a fence
Great stuff Mike, the only comment I have is that most of your wild antennas look like they’re grounded, so how much you’re actually radiating would be probably very little. The rusty joints might have a strange effect. I’ve used the top wire on a farmer’s fence myself, it loaded up OK but it didn’t seem to radiate very well at least on 80m.
What a fun day and shaking my head at the tuner in the 90, amazing!!
People driving by looking at me like I'm nuts... The people are correct! Haha but we love it
This is pretty wild.
I have been thinking about making a "beverage" antenna - made out of Sapporo cans soldered together.
You better empty 30 of them first! 😋 Cheers! 🍻
That was so cool! Goes to show *almost* anything can be used as an antenna if need be.
I always assumed that the radiating element needed to be isolated from ground. That being said, I’ve loaded up a 32’ cattle trailer and a backhoe and made contacts before.
Has a retired USAF veteran you have my permission to load up that F16. Flexibility is the key to are power🎉
Oh man, shoulda used the bleachers as a dipole. Maybe a dumpster?
Interesting. And the light pole and fence are definitely grounded yet they still worked.
HIs laugh when you mentioned you were using a shopping cart is priceless.
I bet I could hook up my Hf radio to my fence that runs our whole yard
Thanks. That was great fun!
This video cracked me up! i love to see people actually having fun with ham radio - and you were having fun.
I'm guessing the counterpoise became the emitter and the object became the ground plan. Great stuff !
That might be a good way to use the bleachers. Set up a vertical and use the big chunk of metal under you as the counterpoise.
KC3YZI here so bummed couldn't make the contact 🤣🤣🤣 as always another great video!!!
Ha, speak of the devil, I just heard your signals on JS8 40 meters.
@michaellin4553 you did hear them!?! that's great lol.. base rig is a ft-dx10 and has been a bit of a bear to get going on js8. No base profile.. just glad it got out atleast
Random mother in walmart parking lot: Hello, store manager, there is a weird man connecting wires to the shopping cart rack - laughing loudly.
Store manager: well look into it mam. Shouts to store employee - Someone Tell K8MRD to stop scaring the patrons
lol I’m surprised they didn’t send someone out to see what I was doing with their shopping cart.
@@hamradiotube What you were doing was just not weird enough for Walmart. Try harder...lol
Let's be honest here... this isn't the weirdest thing to ever happen in a Wal-Mart parking lot... lol
Anything can be an antenna if you use it wrong enough 😂
Hahahahahahaa!!!!
You should use all the metal objects as GROUND PLANES off of which you can run a quarter lengths wire horizontally for NVIS on 40m or a telescopic whip vertical. Actually works well.
That AC guy wire was the one that surprised me, I would have expected the telco guy wire would have created far too much RF noise. But -- hey! -- it worked! Nice job -- both in getting things to work and in creativity.
So I can see this was posted a bit ago for members or whatever the paid sub is.
I say that because I really don’t think you’ll see this,
But I would really love to see a set up / build up of this “random object antenna” kit.
I love it. I think I honestly wanna do one of my own and keep it in the vehicle. This is amazing.
That was hilarious, and very cool!! Why waste money on an expensive antenna... LOL. If I was there in the Walmart parking lot, I'd be tempted to clip onto the car parked next to me to see what happens 😁
Or two Cars making a dipole
Or two shopping carts ;-)
That’s awesome. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven around, looking at street lights, fences, and all kinds of things that I can hook up to and see if it will work. Cool video.
Just goes to show in a pinch you can get something together to get a signal out!! Very nice video!
The next experiment: go back to the guy wire. Try attaching your clip lead at various points along the line. Your mileage may vary.
Wow! Amazing, Texas to Kentucky. Fabulous!
I might have to pick up a G-90 now. Love it Mike.
An Elmer once told me some wisdom he was given by his Elmer; if it can radiate you can communicate.
I am going to have to build a random object antenna kit for myself now.
I would wondering if the backstop fence would be better than the chain Link fence or would it be the same??? I'm always thinking outside the box too! Good video thanks
Woah! I grew up in Huntsville Tx! Crazy how much it’s grown. Graduated highschool there in 2006, may have gone to school with you.
Kevin Behn loads up everything metal on his farm.
The cable on the left of headphone jack... Is that plugged into a speaker? If so which one?
@3:07 where did you put the yellow wire too? I see only 1 wire attached to the shopping cart where did the yellow wire go too ? So you said I put the counter poise wire to the thing there … what is the thing you put it too??
So nice to hear your call it aluminium 😊
1:11
Mike: “and I see another antenna over there”
Me: He’s not pointing at the power lines is he?!?
Really, not bad at all considering your contacts were mostly POTAs with their own challenges with portable radios and compromised wire antennas.
Somebody making ham radio fun. I love it!
Fantastic Mike! That's a fun day that I can't wait to try. Thanks, man! 🤣
I remember you did a back yard competition like this a few years back. Good stuff 👍
I absolutely love my G90. It will for sure tune anything for an antenna.
Do you think the times you were not getting a signal and added a counterpoise and then got a signal isn’t because it made the cart better but because the signal went over the counterpoise instead and the cart still played no role in radiation?
great video more to come?
have you tried a shipping container? or how about your vehicle, while it's shut off of course? railroad tracks?
There needs to be more of these… this was great! Would be great options for the new hams out there
I joke about this all the time with my dad. Just tune up the gutters or the fence in the backyard. Yehaw!
Great video and great idea antenna considerations.
If this video doesn't gain more traction, it's a crime. This was pure golden content.
This would make a really fun event for a club to do and see who could make the most contacts in an area.
Keep up the great work Mike.
73 de KD9HAY
I used to go to elementary school across the street from that Gibbs Park. What a small world.
Well how do you like them apples?
You could use the other bleachers as a counterpoise. Might work better.
I figure that the guys and the parking lot light pole are sort of grounded at the base, so this is kind of a shut fed design. It may be worth trying connecting the black binding post to the base and the red one a few feet up (bungee to hold the clip to the pole maybe, though paint would get in the way). I've occasionally wondered about magnetically coupling to those big round aluminum light poles.
Maybe you should start a new program: FOTA, fences on the air.
LOL!! Love this. I started COTA (Cigars on the Air) but now its Carts on the Air. And PLOTA (Parking Lots on the Air) Haha! Cheers and 73 Mike :)
I need this video. Contemplating buying an ATU-100.
Does that radio have built in ant tuner ?
Would have liked to see if you can get it to tune on other bands, 10m, 15m, 40m, maybe even 80 or 160m with that fence!
Awesome video! Thanks
You never cease to entertain, inform and educate your viewers. LOL. Thank you for another great video. Dang it, now I have to bag up my 857, tuner and wires and go to Wally world. I see light posts in my near future! HA HA