Julian, I just got one of these and am pleased to say the build quality has improved from years ago. It has really become an improved product with nice additions and ideas in place. A dipole is more efficient but there are many times I dont have the ability to get a dipole up and the Super Antenna works well.
The Super Antenna MP1 has been in my go bag for 4 years. Works very well, not difficult to deploy, and well made (solid). Coupled with my 857D - I have had many wonderful portable ops around the Caribbean and East Coast USA with it. I made my own counter poise. K4ECD on QRZ
+Bonnie Crystal You should have seen it yesterday morning, when I went out to change the WSPRLite battery pack. -23c for 2 days. It's still out there on 40m but now it's a more reasonable -7c. 👍
Bonnie Crystal No "survival" involved. My Lapland trips are just delayed some weeks, while I rethink/finance the winter field gear. I love taking my music along, jazz, swing, dnb, king crimson, ... So they are dual-purpose, heat n happiness.
+SpectreOZ Thanks for the feedback. I'm still not happy with production quality, but it will get there. Yeaj initially I found the FG annoying, but after setting SWR a few times, it was easy as cake.
OH8STN ; I have the basic MP 1, and use it when working portable with my FT 857d at various parks in my area. I have also used it when hiking and working QRP with my 817nd although I find that for longer hikes it's a bit much and I prefer the LNR trail friendly antenna. I would like to say again that I find your videos very instructive. Keep up the good work de W8RLP.
I purchased one and will be trying it out from a wilderness area in south part of Indiana. Still will have a longwire and Buddipole for comparison. Rigs will be a KX3, X108g, and others. Last winter outing as first day of spring is in a week here. Temps on the outing will only be down to -5c or so. Left a comment on your post on QRZCQ. 72 es 73, Lee, WA8QFE
I guess being a ham means experimenting ! I used the MP1DXMAX as received from the manufacturer on 30m, and after no QSO's I changed the whip with the long telescoping whip from my Buddipole and instantly noted a marked increase in receive signal levels ! With the aid of my MFJ antenna analyser, I found the 1.1:1 and 50 ohm spot was at 14 mhz on their ruler. I went from no RBN spots with the stock antenna to a full page after my changing the whip. Now to sweep all bands and mark their ruler or make my own ! Lee, WA8QFE
+Francis Thompson Thanks for the feedback. I found the ruler to be off by two turns of the coil. To be fair, the FG is only calibrated to their whips, but the marking for other whips is a great idea. Im working with another antenna this weekend, but I can't wait to get back to the MP1 next week. Please do leave more feedback as you get more experoence. It's helpful for all of us. 73 de OH8STN
I searched for additional bottom rods to help get a little more height and improve efficiency, but Amazon shows them as un-available and don't know when they will be available. I used a 11 inch extension from my Buddipole for experimenting. Still playing and must carry my antenna analyzer to the wilderness area. Lee, WA8QFE(QRZCQ forum)( BushRadio on Bushcraftusa Forum)
Thanks for another interesting video. I am always pleased when I see you have uploaded a new one. Looks like an interesting antenna setup looking forwards to more.
Thanks for another great video. I'm looking forward to additional information regarding the MP1DXMAX. I'm not looking for a comparison video, but I'm eager to examine the differences between this antenna, and the Chameleon MPAS you've already reviewed. Speed of set up and take down, NVIS capability, and the ability to operate in adverse weather conditions (along with weight) are all qualities I find important for portable antennas.
+peccatumDei Just going through the comments and seeing if I have missed anyone. The next video up will be a comparison between the MP1DXMAX and the CHA MPAS. I do see why people want to compare them but they are not competitors. Still they have unique attributes which should be pointed out. It'll be a good video :)
Nice video. I have an oldrt MP1, pre two meter coil, and added the titanium whip, 80m coil and slide rule for setting the sliding coil and can't say enough good about the system. yes,the counterpoise can resemble a rats nest, but if you take your time you can roll them up and deploy without a wire winder. As I get older I'm considering buying or making a wire winder.
Awesome Julian! I just love the Background on the INTRO, both the Winter AND the music! Amazing :) I like the POV perspective a lot. The WireWinders from SOTA-Beams came to my mind, imidiatley when you touched the topic. The seem to be perfect for even bigger gloves. What desktop do you use on your mobile Linux? For me Lubuntu made a huge improovement on battery life. looking forward to see more.
+Konrad Ritter 👍 Thanks. Yeah that music is a part of my video editing package, not mine like in my older vids. The winter sounds can be surreal up here. Just the crackling of the snow when walking. I hope SA gets the wire winder thing. It's a nobrainer really. SotaBeams and Chameleon are excellent examples of "Getting it". I'm using ubuntu 16.xx. excellent power management on that old netbook. I just can't bring myself to use windows any more. Thanks for stopping by. It's always good to hear from you.
Julian, Excellent video. After watching, ordered one and it arrives tomorrow. Will use with my KX2. I am a newbie general in US and I figure this will give me max flexibility here in the Rocky Mountains at 8000' above sea level, while out in our camper, as well down on the flat lands where we plan to be moving in the next year. 73 Chuck W0CWS
Great video. I've had the MP1 since I bought my FT 817nd. It's a very good antenna and I've worked Spain QRP SSB with it. The new 2M section has me saving some funds since I do a lot of 2M in my area. That ZLP mini pro SC looks like something else I need to pick up for the go bag too. 73s KC3BLI
right, yes thank you, have seen the video. not much in it about apartment installations though. I'm leaning toward the MJF-1786: less noice, slightly easier to set up and tune. If noise weren't an issue and I also wanted 40m, I'd consider the MP1DXMAX, thanks.
@@OH8STN Well I finally picked up one of these kits (Super Antenna MP1DXR)! You are correct in both this being an excellent go bag antenna and how small it is when broken down! Videos to come soon!
Check out this video. I talked about the counterpoise system in this video. If I were you I would make 3/4 wave, multiband radials ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j_JQhrGuGnE.html
+8digitPDX yeah the counterpoise is the other half of the antenna. If it were a dipole it would be the other half of leg. Yeah the frequency guide is cool. Not needing a tuner means less to carry or go wrong. Each antenna had its ups and downs. I like this, but i'm still used to the magloops.
OH8STN Yeah, am still fiddling with the antenna kits and working to get that workable before putting a high end radio at risk of being roasted or lost on an operation, but I keep ending up with an antenna kit not just antenna sticking up off the radio container like in the military. I thought tech had progressed more than it did when I took classes on it in the mid 1980, but it seems to me the old bundle of wires and sticks and the antenna line up in the tree, that's all still valid if even the best modern stuff suffers over some of the basics like antenna height.
8digitPDX well things have progressed, but it always depends on what one is trying to do. There is that silly thing I've mentioned before caked "the laws of physics" which knocks us down on our butt from time to time. Keep experimenting, you'll eventually figure it out. Might we den take that general clad amateur radio course as a sorry chur to your learning 😉
This antenna looks really cool. A little confusing, but really awesome to offer so much in such a little package. You may have said it, but how narrow is the bandwidth of this thing?
+8digitPDX I'm not sure if that's an accurate statement yet. Everything takes testing. I just published these results with the same antenna. instagram.com/p/BRBtXk0jPix/
8digitPDX in my honest opinion. they are compromise antennas. they aren't dipoles. and that means this antenna or a mag loop won't have the gain in comparison. but do dipoles have as much band spread? NO. can a dipole be portable? not so much in the hf bands. now as for this coil based antenna and a mag loop antenna. this coil based antenna would take serious mods to up it's power handling capability. a mag loop only needs a high voltage cap added in series with a broad range variable cap to raise it's voltage potential and raise the power handling capability. if you can get a total cap voltage around 50,000v then your looking at more or less 1500watts pep. that would be more than less from the calculation I've seen from a calculator immulator program on the web.
+kf4dcy I'm just curious why you're such a fanatic about high power? As I've mentioned before, the more powrr handling something has, the heavier it becomes. That extra weight is a no-go, for portable field comms. That's why we research alternatives for radio and antenna deployment. Using cw or an efficient digital mode, there is no reason to use more than 20w.
I still think the diplexer is superfluous as an extended two meter antenna is lighter and smaller than the diplexer, and most I have used are foldable and weigh little or not much. What about the loss in the diplexer? All the commercial diplexers I have used mobile do have loss. Not knocking the diplexer (I have all the other MP1 parts and have had them for years) but don't see the purpose or need for same. Maybe a separate video on that. Also, in Northern Michigan 440 is just as common as two meters any more. Thanks to Bonnie for the great product and to you for great videos. Another honest question. How do you find the time and money to test all this equipment and produce such great videos? What is your occupation, family life, etc? Envious, Dave K8WPE
+David J. Wilcox Hi Dave. Yeah, you know, the point here is having capability on a single antenna. I'm certainly not saying its the only way, but it is one way and people seem to like it. For me the MP1DXMAX is identical to the Yaesu ATAS100/120, minus the internal motor. They even have very similar capabilities. I am actually surprised nobody has made the comparison yet. My point is the ATAS-120 is also a very popular antenna (I have one here). SO even when we don't see the value in a systems capabilities, someone else will certainly find it useful. Anyway, the point is this system from a qrp camping or field comms is the ability to carry less, but still get on the air. I have been on trips with wire antenna systems and can't get them into a tree high enough, break and element and cant repair it in the field, ... These systems have their place. Personally I have absolutely zero use for 70cm other than satellite work, the odd range test, or during a UHF activity contest. For that reason I didnt mention UHF in the video. To be completely honest with you, I would never use the MP1DXMAX for anything but HF and 2m. Maybe someone reading the comments will call me out on that and give us a better reason to do so, but I can't see myself doing it. Time and money? Well most of the content you find on my channel is tutorials, how to videos, deployment videos with little commercial value. Then there are the product reviews. Sometimes I am simply showing my own gear, other times subscribers have sent gear, and of course, manufacturers offer to send products for review or comparison. However the gear makes its way into my shack, nobody knows the outcome of videos until they are published. I do fair reviews which companies and viewers see the value in. There are no favorites, no free passes. That kind of dedication brings enough appreciation from viewers to pay for the cameras, memory cards, trips to the arctic circle for the rapid deployment series. I also augment the video content with the websites. All that allows me to build a community around the channel at +/-0$. As far as time goes, I'm a retired broadcast engineer with little else to do than practising my survival skills and improving comms capabilities. Video production is not that different from broadcast audio production. The motivation is not wanting to see yet another BORING ham radio video of some guy sitting in front of a camera talking bla bla bla. I want to demonstrate, educate and get companies to understand how we use their gear in the real world. Then hopefully inspire other operators to pick up a camera and show us what they are doing. Family, life etc is beyond the scope.
Thank you for the informative video. I am an outdoor adventurer and studying now to get my Ham license. My question is could this antenna be set up with an IC705 + solar battery backup for a backpack-friendly mobile system and use all of the functions of the IC705? If so, would there be any limitations? if so what are your thoughts? Thank you for your time, and keep up the great work.
Hey Man, love your videos. I live in an area that's has pretty rugged climate, which is another reason I find your reviews to be useful for what I'm doing. But the missing part for me in this videos and many of your other videos is wind loading. 100 Km/h winds are non uncommon here in Newfoundland, so I wonder how it will stand up to that? The tripod looks like a bit slight as well for a mounting structure, does the other bracket add any strength to the overall system? Also what's the power rating on this radio,I'm guessing it'll handle 100 watts?
A nice report. I was there at the beginning when the first Super Antenna was shown in prototype at a NORCALQRP meeting, many years ago. it has certainly come a long way since then. I still prefer magloop antennas though. de. K7TP
+Grover Cleveland Nice, in also a magloop operator, and find it difficult to make the transition. If nothing else, is an excellent addition to the toolbox.
Thank you for this excellent video. I'm in need of a little advice regarding my challenging installation. I have a Yaesu 450-D HF-6 meter transceiver. But my location is less than ideal: I live in an apartment 18 floors above an open view to the southwest in downtown Minneapolis, MN US, though, being on the southwest edge of downtown, there are essentially no buildings between me and the horizon. I can't open the window beyond having a screen in the way. Needless to say I'd like to operate from within the apartment, which has 10' ceilings, and I have a feeling my biggest challenge will be QRN, especially with a vertical. 1) do I have enough height from floor to ceiling to use this antenna effectively on the HF bands? oh, and do I definitely need an antenna analyzer? the radio has an auto-tuner. 2) will the noise from this urban location be as much of a challenge as I think it will be? 3) it's winter here now :) and temps are below 0C. will I get a real boost from opening the window to the screen, or may I not impinge the reception (and transmission) (and comfort) by keeping the window closed? (I know these are difficult to answer without being on site to check oneself). The counterpoise wires, I believe I have enough apartment to spread the wires effectively, but what good do they do at effectively, 180 ft above ground? The compact nature of this antenna is attractive, as also is its 2m capability. Would there be a better choice for me, given my limitations, and desire to work HF (one direction of about 120 degrees to the window from where the antenna would be mounted on the floor, hopefully not to interfere with neighbors' cable reception (the whole building is on cable for TV). I very much appreciate any feedback including other recommendations or, in worst case, that it's not worth it for the noise reports from neighbors upon transmission, and the lack of picking received signals out of the noise. Thank you and 73, KB6cun
Hi, Julian! I know this is an older video but I have a question: Why did you choose the MP1DXMAX over something like a Buddistick? Thanks in advance! 73!
Thanks as usual for the video, it is much appreciated. I was wondering, what do you suggest for commercial antennas for a base station? I really like the MP1, but I will buy that for portable solutions. I want something at my house which is out in the woods in Northern Idaho. I have a wire Classic Windom that covers 80-10 meters, but string it up and keeping it up in trees is a huge chore and hassle I don't want anymore. I would rather do what I did with my 2 meter vertical and put something on a 30 ft telescoping TV mast I buy from Home Depot, mount it against the house, and be done with it. I also want it to be multi bander for HF. I was thinking of the TAK-tenna, but I'm not sure if there is something better and more rugged out there in the same price range. I know I can make my own, but I want something solid I can use now first, then I will experiment with making more antennas, I've made a UHF Moxon and VHF Jungle Antenna for my HT. What say you OH8STN?
First of all thanks for the kindness. For the home station there's a lot of different solutions, but you really need to know what your goals are. Are you trying to do some dxing? Is it for local emergency communications and preparedness? That'll tell you the best way to configure your antenna. It will also give you an id3a of the type and configuratiin of antenna you're going to put up. I'm using a ended random wire in sloping vee. It gives me directivity to desired directions. I also use spiderbeam 12m mast with quarter wave elements and counterpoise for 20, 30, & 40 meters. That's an excellent DX antenna, but hears nothing before the first hop. For regional Communications within Finland Sweden Norway Northern regions, I use a horizontal end fed random wire about 15 to 20 feet off the ground. I do also use some other antinous for specialized modes like ALE. For those modes I use terminated dipoles in various configurations. Unfortunately there's no one right answer to your question. The best thing we can do is understand what you are trying to achieve, then find the best antenna which does that. Does that make sense? - a fan dipole with the bands you need the most. -
Honestly, I want more general purpose. I'm a member of AmRRON so my needs are not overly specific. I want something that can cover all the HF bands decently well like my Window, but without the wire antenna hassle. I live on 7 acres of forested property, so I have plenty of room, but prefer something compact and easy to take down/put up for maintenance. If I wanted something for DXing I would buy a big tower system with Yagis, but competition is of no interest to me. Since I live somewhere with harsh winters I don't think something like a magnetic loop will work for me. Anyway, I know wire antennas tend to be the best solution most of the time. I just need Multiband, general, and rugged for emergency comms and general rag chews. By the way, for my home emergency power I'm going with virtually everlasting Edison batteries from Iron Edison. You can buy extra electrolytes in powder form and restore the batteries endlessly, also no memory or depth issues
Nice video mate. I have a question for you. Can I operate this antenna on my FT 857D indoors? Hope to hear from you. Thanks for sharing very informative have a good one mate 👍
Honestly they are apples and oranges. I like them both as rapid deployment antennas. They choose the mp1 when I need to sit on a single band for long periods of time. It's an efficient quarter wave vertical yeah, but can only manage one band at a time without retuning. The chameleon is broadband system less efficient but easily covers many more bands without fiddling with the antenna. It also has many different configurations which can be easily switched out in a couple of minutes. I really love both of these and don't compare them to one another.
Thanks for this review and all of the others! Great stuff. But my question is... where do you get all of this equipment? Do you get it shipped from the states? 73 de dk8mt
+Tim S. Hi Tim. Thanks for watching. Most of the American-made gear of course comes from the United States. I have ordered from WIMo, but even with customs, there has been little benefit ordering from Germany vs North America. I wish we had better distributors in Europe. 73 de oh8stn
I am a brand new Ham, well I've had my license for a bit over a year not. Still a Tech. But I will be going for my General this year. Very interesting antenna idea. I love antenna's, after all a good antenna can make a low end radio sound good. Okay, so here is my question, is the BaoFeng BF-F8HP radio any good. I am looking at buying one to mount on my bicycle. I have the UV5r V2+ So all the batteries I have for that will fit the BF-F8HP. Hope to get some feed back. Yep, I subscribed.
Thanks for the comment. People buy baofengs because of the price. Not because they are any good. The price is the only benefit over any other radio. de oh8stn
+Nomad Survival Forum I didn't test it, but it comes with a lock nut to keep it in position at highway speeds. Please check the documentation on their website for more details.
This is one of those extremely loaded questions but it's definitely a fair one. I think the benefits of both systems are rapid deployment, no need for antenna supporting guy wires, no tree launching, ... The MPAS uses a unun with your tuner to achieve groadband operation. The Super Antenna is a loaded coils and slide for one band at a time operatiin, but requires no tuner. In my opinion they both achieve the same thing but go about it in different ways. If going to be a lot of band hopping, perhaps I would prefer to use the MPAS, since it's just a matter of pushing the button on the tuner for retuning. If I need a compact configuration, something which fits in a suitcase or a pack and I'm sitting on one band most of the time, the Super Antenna would be my choice. I know it sounds like a cop-out but honestly I don't think anyone can go wrong by choosing either of these antennas. In fact I'm thinking about doing a video on a hybrid antenna using components from both.
Great video - thanks. Why do RU-vid channels think that there has to be music playing in the background though? Congratulations for having it relatively quiet, but honestly? If I want music I will put my own mp3 player on, or a radio or something. I don't need some inane music track playing on the videos! Actually stops me watching many videos. I suspect many others are of the same opinion but don't bother commenting, thus leaving me as a sad git who will be ignored!
Because at the end of the day Steve, it's our art! At least that's true for me. I also have a couple of technical reasons for having background music but you're right, it can be annoying. Why did you think I would ignore you? 73 Julian oh8stn
are u kidding? all those parts id go crossed eye. cut a few simple dipoles (or a bunch) roll them up and hit the road. or s g5rv and built in tuner rig.
+Home Phone and in the desert or Arctic where there is no trees? Then you'll have to carry a pile to lift it. There are times and places for a wire, and sometimes not.
