How Good Can The X-Tenna Be? Let's Find Out.
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- I Take The X-Tenna Switchable 49:1 56:1 64:1 End Fed Half Wave Antenna Out For A Parks On The Air Activation. How Well Did It Do?
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#hamradio #k8mrd #X-Tenna #parksontheair - Наука та технологія
Thanks for being kind to the kid! Not all hams are. You’re good for this hobby in more ways than most!
What he said Mike. I commend you for that. Thanks for being you and what you do for repping the hobby. Looking forward to making my first contact with you soon. KK7CNA.
Sidenote: are you still doing the 10m Tech Tuesdays? I know the band hasn't been good for a minute so thought I'd ask.
73 Brother.
Absolutely. The second he threw out the call I know it was a yute. Gotta be patient with them.
@@jsturman1174 If 10 would ever be open again I'd love to start back up.
@@hamradiotube Guess I better push for my General. Was hoping to have it by now but won't be test ready until after start of July. Time to study the new question pool.
Lol you are blowing some of these operators minds with your humor!!
Lol yeah right!
That face when K8MRD works all the people you worked while doing POTA too but you couldn't work him :(
I have a couple of his antennas they all preform well. Thanks for the videos
great vid, keep pushing the wattage to see how it holds up, just don’t let the smoke out of the antenna!
Hi Mike,
Great video. Good to know it can handle 100W SSB. Have the antenna and will put it to use when my FT891 returns from Yaesu service. Bummer I wasn't home during your activation. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Great video... I'm hoping to start going portable, using my Yaesu 891 and my Slidewinder antenna :)
We've had good results with Xtenna and the G90 and wondered what this antenna would do at 100 watts. Thanks, good to know.
Looks like a fun day out.
Good stuff, appreciate the shout out!
Ah yes, that lol. Had to think about it for a minute.
Mine arrived yesterday. I'll be stringing it up and trying out the range.
sweet
same. I used mine on memorial day weekend. Comparing the packtenna random wire, the xtenna has a slightly more omni directional pattern, for me
people in america, doing contacts after contacts "the bands must not be doing well today" me in Australia, calling CQ for a week, getting 5 contacts out of it hahaha Thanks for the video ;)
It's a great antenna, I like how compact it is, it fits in my POTA gear box but I get better results from my random wire endfed for some reason, maybe because it's just more wire in the air? I need to do a video comparing them in the field.
Real Sweet!!!!
What’s the 10-12” cable you connect to the radio? Some sort of common mode choke?
Hey Mike, that cmc dongle you have. Is that a home brew or commercial?
Hey Mike where did you purchase the yellow wire you upgraded the packtenna with?
Mike great video as usual enjoyed your review and what a beautiful day. I was curious where you got the mat with band info on it etc? Of all the products you’ve got on your video, it’s the desk mat I’m hitting on! 73 KD0MMF
that comes from Quirky QRP. www.etsy.com/shop/QuirkyQRPHamRadios?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1437009639
What is the section that you are using between the radio and the coax cable called? What is the reason for it?
fantastic review great job thanks Micke 73 from kb2uew
Nice...
Love your vids. Got a question... What is the purpose/meaning of saying "QSO" during an on-going contact? I hear you as well as some of your contacts saying it quite often. Keep up the great vids! 73
I think you're hearing "QSL" which is used for "did you copy my last tx/yes I copied your last tx."
@@HamShazam23
Oh! That may be it! Thanx!!!
They're called Q Codes. They originated back in the days of the telegraph to abbreviate commonly asked/said phrases. www.arrl.org/files/file/Get%20on%20the%20Air/Comm%20w%20Other%20Hams-Q%20Signals.pdf
KK7SWB
Hey Mike was that speaker wire you were using as coax? Cool idea. One lead for center and one as shield?
I picked one up at Hamvention!
Sweet! He had a great deal on them for sure.
Mike, do you have a table with your name on it at Huntsville State park? A little "Reserved" tag? ;-)
It doesn't have my name on it. They just know.
Which setting did you put the X on? Hope I didn't miss you saying it in the vid sorry if I did.
It was a quick shot in the beginning and I said at the end 49:1
please tell us what frequency you r using
I did.
Mike,I just got one but I'm missing the little pins for the wire?
I'm not sure what to tell you other than contact Jon and have him send you one...
A couple of sets of pins went out to Krisy this AM. Jon KC8YBC
@@jonandrews6839 Noice!
What band was your wire cut for?
40
When running an antenna with more watts than rated where is the potential concern? Damaging the antenna?
For this kind of antenna, the toroid can over heat and you will see your SWR go up and the power output go down as the radio protects itself if the SWR gets too high. Just let it cool down and you're back in business. But, I was pretty confident this antenna would handle the power no problem. I've used many an EFHW with a 140-43 toroid at 100 watts. SSB of course. Digital and CW you would want to run way less power.
Can you compare the Nelson 80-10 EFHW to the XTenna?
The Nelson antenna is more for a base station / permanent installation. The X-tenna is more for portable / temporary use.
Have a nelson for my base at home and an xtenna for portable!
Keep on POTA-ing
I just ordered one, you darn arm twister.
how if they are sold out?
@@ae4xo Pre-order.
@@Scott_AI5EF I think you will be happy with it. Mine showed that it was more omni directional than the packtenna random wire and this antenna is double the length.
@ae4xo Thanks for the info. Looking forward to trying it out.
Oh yeah I'm sure it was really hard lol
No doubt the X-Tenna is a decent piece of kit, but what I really want to know is what does the SWR curve across the bands look like ? How close is it to 50 ohms across the bands ? Just throwing it up in the air really does not prove much at all. 10 bucks worth of speaker wire and a $10. toroid, some fittings and a piece of magnet wire will also make many good contacts. Don't mean to bag on you, but I expect more from you than "It works great". I realize that wire length, coax length, height and other factors come into play. What I want to know is that with a little bit of work tuning the variables, can I get this antenna to have a very low SWR across the bands ? How close to 50 ohms will in be at different frequencies ? Sometimes these things don't make a huge difference, sometimes they do. More work is needed. A shiny bobble is just that if it does not perform to what may be expected. Making contacts is not proof that this antenna is as good or better than another. Otherwise it's just Clickbait and Jason has that covered. Don't be a Jason.
"Making contacts is not proof" Seriously?😂😂😂
@Andrew Williss Only proof that it radiates, not how well it radiates. Not proof on what SWR is on all covered bands and how close is it to 50 ohms it is presenting to the radio at all the designed frequencies. It really tells you very little. Study up on antenna design. There is much to learn, and it will greatly help you down the line as you grow as a ham.
@John Kaelberer your waaaaaay overthinking this. Mike is out there, on the air, making contacts, yet you’re at your keyboard telling everyone how crap it is, asking if it’s 50 ohms? Another SAD ham! Lift up John, don’t put down.
@@andrewwilliss6500 OK, so just because a UA-camr puts up an antenna and makes contacts, I'm supposed to run out and buy it ? I'm supposed to think it's better than another brand or design ? How about some real proof. I never said the antenna is crap. It may be fantastic, but without some further testing all we know is that it radiates. I build and test a lot of wire antennas. It's something that I enjoy doing. I don't just take a design I've seen on UA-cam or in a book, copy what the author did and call it good. I test and adjust it to make it the best it can be. The buy this because I made contacts with it way of promoting products is bunk. Show me why I should buy this. How does the product perform as to the specs that matter for an efficient antenna. Don't tell people to use a antenna designed to work with a max. of 50 watts at 100 watts. He may have got away with it, the next person may not. Excess power in a toroid can heat them up beyond their designed specs and cause the SWR to greatly increase. If not caught, this could hurt your radio. Is it worth it ? Not to me. Use a design that is made for 100 watts if that is what you want to run. Andrew, educate yourself. Sad ham ???? No. Just one who thinks selling things without really going into the important specs of any item is just going for clicks. Too many inexperienced hams are buying things just because someone on UA-cam made contacts with that item. Sometimes the item is great, other times it's hot garbage. Too late after you have spent your hard earned money. Most hams have a pile of "Great" crap in the corner than ended up being not so great. Something they found out after the fact because they did not do their homework and just believed that because contacts were made, it must be fantastic. This antenna may be a real winner, but you will never know if you are leaving contacts on the table because it is not as good as it could be or because of it's design, it does not perform as well as another antenna unless you test.
Now god forbid you do any bit of research on my channel for the other review I mention in this video about this antenna. We wouldn't want you to have to lift a finger now would we? I don't mean to bag on you, but a simple UA-cam search for X-tenna would lead you to the first video I made on this that shows you all of that. It's literally the first video that shows up. Hang on, let me hold your hand and spoon feed it to you. ua-cam.com/video/JFctZc4J4fg/v-deo.html. Plus, I've done videos on sub $10 antennas too, so I'm keenly aware of what can be done. I would have thought I could have expected more from my viewers, but I guess not.
Walt wasn't a 5-1 he was 5 -9 all day long.........lol
I wasn't using a TennTenna otherwise he would have been.
BREAKING NEWS! Spurious Emissions cause Alligators to attack swimmers in Huntsville State park!!!!
Upon further investigation it seems several people entered the water after having accepted the Darwin Challenge in hopes of winning an Award. Local Ham vindicated and given ice cream after being falsely accused.
LOL
Stephen Walters is a sad ham..😢
You may think he is, but a saturated toroid from power exceeding it's design parameters will cause the toroid to heat up beyond it's designed specs and can cause the SWR to greatly increase. Much depends on the power, mode you are running and transmit time vs. listening and even how much compression you are using on SSB. When a manufacturer gives you the operating specs on an item, not a bad idea to follow them. You may be able to get away with running more power. You may not. If the SWR goes up too high and you don't catch it, you could damage your radio. If I wanted to run a 100 watt radio, I would not be using this antenna. It's not designed for 100 watts. You may not have liked all of his message, but the last part is spot on. He sure could have explained the last part better.
@@johnkaelberer237 Meh. I know what makes up this antenna and I knew it could handle it. It's a 140-43 toroid. Perfectly capable of handling 100 watts no problem. I'm not worried about my radio either. Any modern transceiver is going to fold back its power if presented with a high SWR as a failsafe. Plus, I'm always monitoring my SWR meter, as anyone should. Literally nothing is going to get hurt. IF the toroid gets too hot, simply stop operating until it cools down and your SWR will go right back to normal. Everything will be just fine. Ask me how I know. Fortunately your opinion doesn't matter. My proof does. I run 100 watts through antennas like this all day long. With 26AWG wire as the radiating element.
@@johnkaelberer237 no part of my comment was in reference to his concerns for the toroid. I appreciate the lengthy and unnecessary explanation though. Have a great day. 73.
@@hamradiotube Yes, and all of that works great for you. Not all radios fold back. Not all people monitor their SWR like they should or get distracted. A 140-43 can overheat depending on the mode, how much transmit time vs. listening, and even the amount of compression you run on SSB is a factor. The fact that you said you have run into problems heating up a toroid and getting excessive SWR and having to let it cool shows that you like to push the limits. Because you monitor your SWR, you can stay on top of it. Not everyone can or does monitor the SWR on their radio. Just bad practice to tell people to double the amount of rated power into an antenna. The builder did not specify 50 watts just because he wanted to. He could have said 100 watts. There was a reason he didn't. Not everyone has the experience that you do Mike.
Two things I can't stand, annoying loud 'rock' musak and lots unnecessary hand gestures. Overloading toroids is not a good idea.
Then you and I would most likely not get along. Overloading a toroid isn't the end of the world either. It just needs to cool down and will be good as new again.