Another Peak, Another Crazy Antenna

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Double what? A double bobtail curtain. Yah, that's right, two bobtail curtains - one driven, and one as a reflector - to #HamHarder on 15 m from a SOTA summit. I was hoping for VK or ZL S2S QSOs, but didn't have any luck. Still, I managed some consolation prizes. Don't miss the good stuff at the end.
Palm View Peak is a nice summit with a moderate hike. Summit elevation is 7,160' on this SOTA summit, W6/CT-068. I had a blast running 15 m on this summit, and I hope you enjoy joining me for the adventure.
My Gear:
Yaesu FT-857D (discontinued)
Homebrew 15 m double bobtail antenna, fed at the bottom of the center element with a high-impedance transformer.
Bioenno 12 Ah LiFePO4 brick - amzn.to/37Bucf5
Helinox Ground Chair is discontinued, but the Chair Zero is awesome as well - amzn.to/2Ko5BBt
Antenna Poles - amzn.to/37C0ExD
NOTE: These are the same style ones I use with my 10m beam. Fiberglass poles are key for any antenna with wire running along the antenna. Carbon fiber messes up the pattern and resonance.
You can find that gear in my Amazon store www.amazon.com/shop/k6arkport...
I am constantly adding gear to the lists. Purchases through those links give me a small kick-back that helps support my adventures.
#HamRadio

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Опубликовано:

23 дек 2020

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Комментарии : 94

@chuckrann6282 2 дня назад

That was fun to watch Adam. I always wanted to try a Bobtail Curtain. The two elements seem to have great reception. Thanks!

@ak5sd 2 года назад

You carry a better antenna to the summit than I have installed in my backyard. LOL.

@sagebrother 3 года назад

I love the new direction around “non standard” antennas. Keep it up. Paul W6PNG

@HamRadioDX 2 года назад

Came back here to re-watch after seeing it pop back up in my feed

@nvrumi 3 года назад

It made me happy that you slowed down for the slow op. I'm also learning and really appreciate it when my contacts slow down for me. Well done sir! Merry Christmas Adam!

@K6ARK 3 года назад

Heck yeah, the only time I don't do that is if it's buried in the menus on the radio and can't get to it quick enough, then I just leave large spacing Others did it for me, I always try to do the same in return.

@yugbe 3 года назад

Thank you for taking us with you, it really is a kind act to those of us that cannot go out. Your videos are informative and inspiring. I'd love to know more about that mini key?

@K6ARK 3 года назад

There's really not much to it. It's a couple of copper strips cut from a sheet. The case is acrylic, with a slot cut on a table saw. Stainless hardware and a couple of pieces of ball point pen springs hold the copper strips in place. Iambic paddles are pretty easy to build, really.

@KD2YDN 10 месяцев назад

As I learn more about HAM radio, this video becomes that much cooler to me. Nice Adam!

@K1STG-Fred 3 года назад

Great video as always. I can’t wait to get out and do some SOTA, your videos inspire me. Also, I have a suspicion that Santa is bringing me an FT-891 tomorrow so I can start building a backpack portable station.

@thuff3207 3 года назад

This is a great antenna idea for playing radios. It always helps to have gain. Thank you for sharing.

@G5XDX 3 года назад

Thoroughly enjoyed this video, good work. 73

@stridermt2k 3 года назад

Thanks for another cool video! Love the stuff you do

@ChrisN8PEM 3 года назад

Absolutely love your channel. Cheers and beers and merry Christmas Adam!

@K6ARK 3 года назад

Awe, many thanks, kind sir! Glad you're enjoying it.

@BillCoury-N8UUP 3 года назад

That was fun to watch, Adam. Well done! Happy Holidays from Michigan de N8UUP

@lorenzopereirapiccolixavie6247 2 года назад

Thanks for this content!

@cuban9splat 3 года назад

Good job with the newer CW ops. That's the way it SHOULD be done. I have used a 2 element 20 meter "Inverted Vee Beam" in the field with excellent results. Use a rope for the boom of the beam and toss a couple of 1/2 wave dipoles over the rope about .2 to .25 wavelength apart. Here is the drawback, you need a couple of trees about 20 to 30 feet apart. Use clip-lead extensions on the director element. clip them onto the ends to turn the director into a reflector. Similar radiation pattern to your double Bob-Tail. Thank you for sharing with us. 73 DE K7RMJ Frank

@willian.direction6740 3 года назад

Thanks Adam for all the effort with your 15m antenna. Did not get a chance to look for you unfortunately. Great video HNY vk5cz ..

@vironpayne3405 11 месяцев назад

Impressive activation. Nice setup. Nice location.

@K6ARK 11 месяцев назад

Thanks! We had a blast out there.

@baslev 3 года назад

Thanks for the video Adam. Great activation, great antenna. I did enjoy it a lot. 73, Bas PE4BAS

@TheTechPrepper 3 года назад

Thanks for sharing the antenna build--I love the name! Your video inspires me to switch out my QRP (FT-818ND) rig with a QRO (FT-891) radio for this weekend's SOTA activation. It will be fun to test out the additional weight. I guess a 12Ah battery will need to tag along as well.

@K6ARK 3 года назад

QRO SOTA even with just a simple dipole is stupid good fun. Do it!

@gustav316 3 года назад

Great hat - I have the same one! Elecraft FTW (AX1 has been rockin for me lately).

@HamRadio200 3 года назад

Can’t wait to see this one

@ibrarojas7979 2 месяца назад

Good job!!!

@Ei2iP 3 года назад

Well done Adam, i too use the light antenna wire, I have 80M full wave delta loop(270ft)using 26awg stealth wire, at 30ft for antenna at home, works a treat using 100w and IC-7300..

@Mobogli 3 года назад

You are awesome !!!

@i335a 3 года назад

Very cool!!!

@jlowknight 3 года назад

that's awesome!

@jeffryblackmon4846 3 года назад

You're enjoying a nice personal Field Day, Adam. Very cool and fun. The guy with the echo sounds as if he's just graduated from CB to amateur radio! 73 W8YI

@ntc490 3 года назад

Great video. Missing the amount of CW you included in some of your previous ones. Keep up the good work.

@K6ARK 3 года назад

I'll have to come up with a solution to this. Maybe a "director's cut?". 45 min of QSOs gets boring for the average viewer, but serves a purpose for learning, or just listening and enjoying the radio chatter. I'm open to suggestions.

@BrantleySmithNC 3 года назад

W5GDW is often heard on my local 70cm repeater! Keep up the great videos. KO4GMO.

@alvarogaitan2529 3 года назад

fantastic video 73

@BadassWeldingVideos 3 года назад

killer video.

@Delivers92130 3 года назад

Love the Smokin Ape shirt!

@Dario75. 3 года назад

So cool

@johncheney3670 3 года назад

Excellent video Adam. de John, NB7M

@kevinkc3onohelijeepworld953 3 года назад

Very cool 😎 finally herd more then static on 15m the other weekend 😉 can’t wait for better propagation KC3ONO

@azav8raa 3 года назад

I recognized those poles right from your opening shot. Similar, if not the identical, ones I used for the spreaders on my 17m Moxon build (www.qrz.com/db/KB7ZUT first photo in the bio). Light weight, easy to deploy and not too expensive. Keep doing the "Crazy Antennas." Too cool to see someone using something other than dipoles and verticals for portable work. When you get to the point of taking 3el StepIRs up the mountain, we will arrange for a intervention, but until then keep the videos coming. Just Awesome content, Adam. 73, de KB7ZUT.

@ianmcdonald7884 3 года назад

I recognised VK2IO. I often get him on 40 when he's activating parks. Nice work there on 15. My FT 817nd isn't all that good on 15 at night when you would've got VK & ZL.

@AI6XG 3 года назад

AAAV ---> Another Awesome Adam Video de AI6XG

@petermajor4599 Год назад

💎💎💎💎💎 thank you

@StuartM0TTQAmateurRadio 3 года назад

Great video again. Are you using anything for a counterpoise at the feedpoint?

@RadioRunner 3 года назад

Sorry I missed ya mate! I had a tricky wee day on my hands!

@K6ARK 3 года назад

Looked like it was a little breezy out there. 😂

@alvarogaitan2529 3 года назад

thank for you terrific video 73 from kb2uew

@izzzzzz6 Год назад

Nice. Have you done comparisons with and without the reflector? Have you tried different spacing between the two of them?

@dwallich56 3 года назад

Love your innovation. What spacing did you use, please, between the two Bobtail Curtains? Were the two Curtains the same dimensions, or did you have to physically swap them to change direction?

@edmoreno9308 3 года назад

Another great job Adam! What the info on the battery you're using ?

@K6ARK 3 года назад

Thanks Ed. It's the 12 Ah Bioenno brick. amzn.to/3aDaOjD Awesome battery for portable "QRO" ops. It can put out enough current to run 100w CW and lasts 3-5 hrs depending on duty cycle.

@Rumbur7388 3 года назад

У вас крутые видео.

@natarajvenkatadri921 3 года назад

New Hams in India don't want to work with Bobtails on portable conditions.one of the best antennae for all bands,inexpensive and easy to setup. NAT vu2nta

@wild-radio7373 3 года назад

🤜🏻👍🤛🏻♡♡♡

@kacymcginnis 3 года назад

Merry Christmas Adam, if I’m correct that’s a 15ah bioenno batt powering your 857. How much runtime do you get at 100w? I have the same setup but never ran it long or more than 50w so I’m curious. Thanks Edit: I saw below that you said 3-5hrs CW with a 12ah batt. Thanks

@K6ARK 3 года назад

No problem! It depends heavily on duty cycle, obviously, but those numbers are good starting points.

@JaegermannPK 3 года назад

Awesome video with the antenna, great idea taking different styles of antennas hiking, I dream of doing this at some point. Your giving me some faith that my ideas for doing the same things will work better than expected. I love the Bobtail antenna idea and have thought about the same, I am glad it works great! Thanks for the video Neighbor de kj6vcm. Sub'd and Thubs UP !!! So many ideas not enough time ! KEEP UP THE GREAT Videos.

@ThumperKJFK 2 года назад

Great video. how are you feeding the system? what a great set up. We used that type of antenna at the old HCJB for sending our signals over into Euro. Of course it was feed with 250KW LOL Thank you for the trip.

@K6ARK 2 года назад

I feed this one at the bottom end of one of the center vertical elements. This is a high-impedance feed point which requires an unun similar to those used for end fed half wave antennas. I built one out of a couple of FT140-43 toroids and tuned it by adjusting the turns ratios to optimize the match.

@ThumperKJFK 2 года назад

@@K6ARK Thank you I found the video's on making it. It's also a high voltage node and takes some care when running more than 100 W. One other Question. on the other antenna element. Do you ground it? Leave it floating? Or shunt it to ground with a shunt load? I was so blown away at the signals you worked on the back side of the antenna. Than you changed it and Wow. Again Great job. Also loved the VHF SAT antenna you made. We built one way back in high school with the club. And the other kids wrote a program to slave the tracking system to the schools only computer, a very old system. Thank you again.👍

@K6ARK 2 года назад

I left the ground side "floating" with just a bit of coax and the rig sitting on the ground as the counterpoise. Definitely not ideal, and I suspect more efficiency could be gained by having a set of ground radials or a grounding rod. Perhaps next time? 15m is heating up...

@PatAutrey 3 года назад

I’m hoping to create a 2 m Multi element vertical dipole To use as a base station antenna at home I would like for all of the elements to be in phase so that they all radiate at the same time I just don’t know how to create the wiring harness to attach it all to get it to work correctly Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated

@danielroossa6ros844 3 года назад

You have to try direct the antenna to Sweden some time 🙏👍 /Dalle SA6ROS

@PatAutrey 2 года назад

You mentioned that you were feeding from the bottom center are you using any type of transformer or matching unit or just connecting directly with 50 ohm coax? Also how do you connect at the bottom center is that the center wire only? Did you have any type of ground for the braid

@K6ARK 2 года назад

Pat, the bottom center of the Bobtail Curtain is a high impedance feed point, like an end fed half-wave. As a result, a similar matching unit works well to feed it. I built a matching unit and measured the impedance and SWR, adjusting the transformance ratio but adding or removing secondary winding turns to optimize the match.

@PatAutrey 2 года назад

@@K6ARK Awesome thank you for clarifying so I’ll try the 49:1 and see how it works and we’ll compare it to a 64:1

@fpaolo63 2 года назад

hi Adam could you pls share some info (pictures ) about bobtail antenna you used ? thx

@TheCrunchbird 3 года назад

Great video. What do you use as a power supply to be able to run 100 Watts ??? Dave, N2SN

@K6ARK 3 года назад

A 12 Ah Bioenno can put out the necessary current and gives me 2-3 hours of run time at the duty cycles I'm operating. Great batteries!

@TheCrunchbird 3 года назад

@@K6ARK That's a great little battery. I have been thinking about taking my QCX+ down to the beach and working some CW DX on 40 meters. The receiver in the QCX+ is fantastic and it's five Watts output should work fine from a nice salty wet beach. SOTA is a bit out of the question for me as I live in Florida. Thanks again for the great video, Dave, N2SN

@piecetrain9767 3 года назад

What kind of gain is expected with one bobtail and then with the reflector? Looks like it is onerous to set up and needs a lot of terrain but comes with quite a bit of gain. Nice to see on 15 meters too. I almost never activate on 15 but I like the band for contests. Kg5auu

@K6ARK 3 года назад

This is what I came up with in my modeling. photos.app.goo.gl/s1yL91xFKSB2vn4e6 It's not sheer gain that matters, but at what angle of radiation. The double bobtail theoretically gives a bit of gain at a low angle. Is the double worth it over the single? Most of the time, probably not. But it was fun to play with.

@piecetrain9767 3 года назад

Over 8 db at 20 degrees and almost 7 dB at 10 degrees is quite impressive. The front-to-back ration of around 20 is very respectable for those interested in that. I just tested a reflector for my portable ground plane vertical this last weekend after letting that project sit way too long. I plan to implement that for next month’s field day. Nice work.

@K6ARK 3 года назад

@@piecetrain9767 thanks! Real world results in field use are likely to be less "perfect" but it still does work well.

@radionb3i 3 года назад

Tell us about your battery... You ran a long time running 100 watts on that battery.

@K6ARK 3 года назад

I was using the Bioenno 12 Ah LiFePO4. It's a fantastic battery that can run a 100w rig for 3-5 hours depending on duty cycle.

@SezginMesut 6 месяцев назад

Hi is it possible to contact with hand radio TA1MZG 73

@stewartrv 3 года назад

What's the app you use on the mobile?

@K6ARK 3 года назад

OutD log and VK Port-A-Log for the most part. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but both are great for SOTA.

@stewartrv 3 года назад

@@K6ARK Thanks will check it out!

@DO6DOC 3 года назад

Hi Adam, another great video! I know the Bobtail, could you possibly add a few details to your structure? Find the antenna very interesting for 15 / 10m especially for the coming solar activity. Vy 73 de Andy / DO6DOC

@K6ARK 3 года назад

Andy, I recommend modeling it up in some antenna modeling software. I use MMANA GAL. I built two identical bobtails - essentially 1/4 wave vertical elements and half-wave horizontal phasing elements. I could have gotten slightly more gain by making the reflector slightly longer, but I opted to make them identical so I could change the feed point and change direction. They are spaced 2.85m apart which MMANA indicated would be about the best I could achieve. I feed it at the bottom of a center vertical element with a high impedance transformer (~49:1) that I tuned specifically for the application.

@PatAutrey 2 года назад

So the horizontal and all of the verticals are all connected electrically? And you are feeding the antenna from the middle vertical at the bottom? So this is kind of like an endfed half wave antenna - except Instead of being in a straight line the intent of elements are formed in the shape of the letter E laid over on its side do I have that right? What did you have to do to your 49 the one transformer to get it to work?

@K6ARK 2 года назад

Yes, you're on track with most of that. It is like an EFHW in how it is fed - at a high impedance point. I don't know the exact transformance ratio, but it's close to 49:1. I set the antenna up and tuned the transformer for the best match by adding or removing secondary turns.

@PatAutrey 2 года назад

Thank you for your quick reply have you tried any other bands other than 15? I’ve seen the formula 502/frequency for the horizontal and 249/frequency for the vertical- Is that what you used for your measurement? Have you ever attempted to turn the vertical wires inward just above the ground they did not have to be so high?

@K6ARK 2 года назад

Not for the double bobtail, but I have built a single half-square on 20m and made an extension for the center, and loading could for the vertical legs to run it on 40m. It was narrow-banded when set up for 40m due to the coils, but worked on both. It worked very well on 20m. For lengths, I simply used a 1/2 wavelength for the horizontal element and 1/4 wavelength for the verticals. Account for velocity factor of your wire if known. Cut the verticals a little long and trim to resonance.

@jlowknight 3 года назад

what is your coax of preference for SOTA? Thanks in advanced. KN4HZV 73

@K6ARK 3 года назад

Good question! For HF, RG-174. For VHF/UHF, LMR-240 Ultraflex.

@jlowknight 3 года назад

@@K6ARK thank you, I am learning a ton and loving the channel. Stay safeish, cheers!