Hi there, this video demonstrates how it's possible to build a transmitting antenna for top band that doesn't involve 100's of metres of wire or significant height - and it actually works pretty well. Thanks for watching. Keep safe. 73s
Tell them that you "work for the good guys", then give him a very subtle 'shush' and a grin...you will probably get a tray of cookies once a month from them.
Nice set-up. I'm seeing some amazing ideas for antenna builds and modifications. Most of these new antennas were designed to operate in our Solar Minimum. I can't wait for conditions to improve. We're going to start having world wide nets, with as little as 50 Watts. As I'm taking all this in, my mindset is always "Why Not"!?!? Thankfor your videos, have a great weekend and 73 Walter
Hey Walter, wow what a notion - a world wide net!! I love that idea and can't wait for the sun spot cycle to make it happen! You too - have a great weekend. 73s, Clint
Great job. Some useful tips in the video too. I'm fairly novice and finding my way in the hobby so am grateful for the information. I find the best listening on top band. 33, & 42 are excellent especially for picking up technical expertise. Thanks
Thank you very much Dominic. Totally agree with you, best listening is on top band and 80m actually...you know people actually having conversations! Stay safe and 73!
Nice - I was looking at the very same thing to wind around the yard. Good to see it in practice! Plus, it should be an awesome SWL antenna for some late night listening!
@@OxfordShortwaveLog i kind of disagree with something you said with a 1:1 swr has alot to do with the proformence of your antenna that means that you are getting 50 w or what ever power out that is a good thing
This inspired me. I actually have the length to put up a half wave dipole for 160 but haven't because most of my available height is around 20ft AGL. Your results make me think it might be worth a punt.
Definitely worth a punt! I'm using a 1/4 wave - minus velocity factor, with a single earth rod and 28 radials...it works really well. I must name it after my callsign lol. 73s, Clint
Great clear well explained and informative video buddy , fantastic , showing everything, instead of sitting in a chair telling the story , so thiickoes like me can understand , cheers shane uk 🇬🇧
Well done for inspiring people to try topband. I use an end fed half wave for 80m to 10m, by patching out the 49:1 transformer (and using a ground/radial system) I use it as a quarter wave on 160m, it also works on 60m. As you have 40m of wire in the air just try inserting a 49:1 transformer sold as an end fed half wave.
Dear OM -- Many thanks for the clear explanation / demonstration of your 160m Inverted-Z :-) Your radial discussion was particularly useful, the details very helpful. I'll see if you have other videos of on-air 160m contacts. I'm interested in what the noise level is like at your QTH. (Band is very quiet here in Central Luzon, Philippines.) Brilliant work, mate!
Great video I use a very similar set up but I use a end fed half wave using a 49 to 1 for 80m to 6m I simply use a dipole connector with a short wire and Croc clip which I clip onto wire at transformer I simply undo pl259 on transformer and plug into dipole connector to bypass transformer the ground side of dipole connector goes to a ground rod and long counterpoise which terminates at a large metal trampoline, this too makes a great top band quarterwave using the same wire as my 80 to 10 efhw. Just subscribed to channel and look forward to watching more cheers 73
Hi there Nigel, thank you very much for your comments. Love the idea of your counterpoise terminating at a trampoline! Whatever works though is always my motto, so very good indeed! 73s, Clint
This is absolutely awesome! Any improvement since you originally posted the video? I plan on putting up a half wavelength dipole. I'm still waiting for parts and knowledge and time to build my receiver and transmitter lol. The 160 m BAND absolutely fascinates me. I plan on going diagonal from one corner of my lot to the other and I should have enough room for roughly 240 ft I prefer the half wavelength dipole because then I don't have to worry about a ground plane or any radios. Do you have any tips for me? Also once again great video!!!
Hi, thanks! I've added more radials - I think I'm up to 30, but it's diminishing returns. It's now a bit higher too, but great match on 160m and 80m - also works very well on 40/20 and 10! Good luck!
great work Clint the 1/4 wave is my preferred 160m antenna the more radials the better you will find but 25 is adequate. also try setting up ta feed point to coax core to radiator and radials etc to shield. also make sure you try tuning on other bands like 40m etc and even some of the higher bands. wspr is also a great tool on 160m lastly some improvements might be found if you raise the initial vertical part to say 25-30 ft. asnd on 160m grey line is friend have fun.
Great going. I would love to get on the top band, myself. If I send you 5 quid, can you send me an ariel? LOL! Glad to see you are doing so well, my friend.
@@OxfordShortwaveLog Indeed...mine never fails to amaze me...I us Reverse Beacon Network...on 5w I get into Europe at night 500miles with my zero cost doublet.
I always wonted to try top band but lack of space always stopped me. I will try your antenna and see how it performs. Looking forward to it. Cheers Paul VO2PRS
Thanks Nick! Yes a real lash up - but working very well lol. Friday night 20:30 BST starting on 1.845 and then QSY to 3.710 about 20:45 - 21:00 +/- QRM. 73s, Clint
Many thanks for this video Clint. So very rewarding to see something from just about nothing. Very inspiring. I noticed the grass was dead around the earthing pole. Did you pour in salty water to help increase conductivity? 73 CHRIS G7OGX
Very inspiring video. I managed to shoehorn an 80m dipole in my small plot, didn't think it would work very well as its not very high, and it's more a Z shape. Amazingly it works very well according to inter G reports and from the continent. Even made a contact into VK on FT8 which astounded me. Was thinking of trying an inverted L on 160, been told it shouldn't be too hard. Thanks for sharing. 73 de G0CQZ (Witney)
Hi there Nigel, good to hear from you - and you're only in Witney. I'm in Eynsham - but I guess you may already know that! The shape of my top band antenna is also Z shape (approximately) and TBH I'm amazed at how well it works. You did amazingly well to work VK on FT8! An inverted L for top band is a reasonable project in terms of scale - I too thought about building one. Keep safe. 73s, Clint PS after lock-down perhaps we should meet up for a chat sometime.
Hi Clint, thanks for the reply. Yes that's be good to meet you when all this is over. I'm still on furlough and probably will be for the foreseeable future according to my boss. I must rejoin Harwell club, I passed my RAE with them and had wonderful times operating the club call on NFD many many years ago up at Sparsholt. Anyway, keep up the good videos I have enjoyed watching them since I have reignited my love of radio. 73 for now
Hi Clint, you know I've always wanted to bang an earth rod into my small back garden but I'm nervous about going through a gas/utility pipe! Is there any relatively safe way to do this or is it a matter of luck? I have to say I love these American ham radio videos where they take you into their 'back-yard' - it's a wooded area around 3 acres square with no visible boundaries..! Incidentally, does the rear of the house face north-east or have I got my calculations wrong? Cheers, David.
Hi David, there's no absolutely safe way of putting an earth rod in unless you have a copy of the utilities from the Land Registry Office I suppose. I guessed and was lucky! The rear of the house is sort of East facing. 73s, Clint
I know this is a 5 month old post & I'm a bit late to the party, but look into the "water drill method". Obviously there are no guarantees if you do hit a utility pipe and as Clint says, you should really be checking with the utility companies. That aside I would suggest that it is the safest method as by putting it in by hand you would hopefully feel the resistance (& stop before you do any damage) if you were to hit something. Plenty of videos on RU-vid showing this (including one on my channel) if you want to see it in action.
I'd have love to have seen what the analyser made of the actual antenna and radials etc alone... Seems like what you showed was using the analyser to get a better match right?
Hi there, I'll show that on a video some time. It's a testament to my MFJ949E matching unit that this antenna works on top band, 80,40, 20 lol. 73s, Clint
I found from experience with my work in broadcast involving LF and MF systems, the earth system is key, together with a good antenna vertical section. The horizontal top section acts as a capacity hat making the antenna appear electrically taller than it is. The impedance match you have achieved bears that out and the reports you have in relation to your transmission are impressive. You must have achieved good 'low angle radiation', giving good sky wave performance. You will also have some directionality and gain associated with the top horizontal section, which runs in the direction of the horizontal portion of the antenna. I guess the differences between your system and the broadcast systems with which I was involved, used an electically short lattice mast or a wire 'T' antenna with either a base loading coil or 'capacity hat'.This made the antenna appear electrically taller, than the ideal quarter wave. We were principally only interested in ground wave coverage with local and regional mf radio. You however would be purely interested in the antennas sky wave 'low angle' performance which is obviously very good. 73's
Hi thanks for your comments - indeed the radiation angle of this antennais low. I can work DX from 10m up on modest power and it matches about 1.5:1 on top band, 80 and 40. The match on 20m is about 1.2:1. The entire route of the wire is slightly convoluted, but overall performance is certainly directional beacuse 95% of the horizontal section runs across the garden and over the roof of the house without changing direction. Thanks again and 73
Does you house have TN-C-S earthing (it looks like a recently built house, so I assume it has), and what precautions have you taken following your installation of an RF earth.
Good to see what actually works.Back in my "naughty" pirate radio days on medium wave we used to always use a quarter wave inverted L and lots of radial/earth wire to tune against and the results were amazing considering we were using about 10 watts.I have been experimenting with Topband mobile recently and with the Ampro 160 whip have had excellent results.Hope to catch you on air one day.73 Ian G7HFS/PA3IKH
Hi there, I will do a review video and look back over my log...I worked a guy in Moscow on 5 Watts TX power using it - and I've worked a lot of North Americans on higher power. 73s, Clint
@@OxfordShortwaveLog you've worked nr America on top band? That's good going nice one, I've worked states on 80m a fair few times but never on top band, cheers 2e0nbk
I'm copying this tomorrow. I just found 200m of hard-drawn copper wire in my shed from years ago....... Bought the earth rod. May chop in up and make several points. Lets see.......
your setup is similar to mine, except I used automatic antenna tuner MFJ-993B outside at feed point in water proof plastic box. it works well 7MHz, ok at 3.5Mhz, not so good at 1.8MHz AG6JU
Hi brilliant channel, can I ask how it effects with the window connection at 75 Ohms to 50 Ohms, can you do a video on linking up to the radios with the window mount connection, I have a DX80 Sigma and the Plus Pack, I used RG58 it was terrible on SWR, so I asked a friend to lend me some RG8 it works brilliant, I've got some now but where my window is I need to use a window connection or RG58 then back to RG8 any help be brilliant de 2E1FUE.
Hi there, thank you very much indeed! I dont find any problems at all with the window jumpers. I transmit though them and RX of course. I can do a video showing the set up with my G5RV sometime soon. Thanks again - it's always great to hear the videos are useful/enjoyable! Keep safe and 73s, Clint
@@OxfordShortwaveLog Brilliant stuff that would be brilliant, the comet SO239 Adapter is a little on the expensive side, I have two of the TV Adapter here at home, it would be brilliant to do a video on how you did it 😀 thank again Clint DE 2E1FUE 👍🇬🇧👍
Hello !! I'm just getting into ham CB in the old days to now Zello Am studying for. Foundation, it seems a whole lot of space for 50 watts across the planet I do like that it very stealth quality's I have a few bits of toys A anytone 878 on a vertical home brew dypole it's come at a price with an understanding wifey Happy wife happy life ...73's ..
@@OxfordShortwaveLog I had the fright of my life when I heard thunder and went to the shack to unscrew the PL-259. Seconds later a huge lightning strike landed pretty much at ground zero. Now I disconnect when I leave the shack.
Very good insight into getting on top band, i was wondering how to get 132ft each side in my garden no idea on how to fit it in our garden mates say i need to put wire on a former lol, your idea as given me thought. Mike M0FCG M1KEY
Hi there Mike, I had no idea this would work very well at all. It seems that even quite a convoluted route for the antenna on 1/4 wave (minus velocity factor so about 36m) works ok, but really improves with a ground rod and as many radials as you can manage. Glad to have been of some help. Keep safe and 73s, Clint
Looking on the RSARS site I saw this top band file. Similar to your layout. Might be worth reading and seeing if you can improve the antenna a bit more. rsars.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/160m-top-band-inverted-_l_-antenna-g8ode-iss-1-31.pdf Copy the full link into browswer and read the PDF there.
