Excellent review. I've been using a MFJ-2010 40-10 OCFD for the last 6 years. It's permanently mounted at my QTH and problem-free in spite of summer temps well into the 100's and winter temps down to zero. Less than a hundred bucks when I bought it. Couldn't ask for more.
I've got the 5 watt K6ARK that I got at a ham fest. Would love the 100 watt version, but the components are so small and between my vision, and that my hands shale like a paint shake, I can't make that. Tried to replace a resistor in an older radio, and cut 6 traces in under a second with my soldering iron. Have my whole soldering station, the air flow rework station and my solder remover to a friend. I can't do it anymore..
Just saw this video come up. Watching the Amazon screen noticed you are in Grapevine! I lived there up till 2013 for about 9 years. My house was in the neighborhood by the Football field/little Mexico.
Have been using the emcomm iii portable as a base antenna for many months and although it would be nice to have at a higher elevation, it has performed better than I expected.
I have a ton of DIY impedance transformers that I have built over the time. Really gotta say if you have a tuner in your radio or an external tuner a 9:1 with a 66ft section of wire will get you all the bands from 10-80 and I think I see around 1.12 to 1.2 SWR. Probably the most compact setup you can get into that covers the majority of the bands. If you are using a 49:1 or 64:1 UnUn I would try around a 135ft section of wire for your antenna, that will get you 10-160m if I remember correctly. Amidon T200-2 toroid will cover all the bands and are apparently good to 1.5kW SSB thats what I use in my 9:1 and its done 8 hours straight of FT8 at 50W without flinching, could run it at 100W but my radio doesn't like doing FT8 at full power for long, she gets SPICY hot!
One of the best multi band antennas with value for money is the Pac 12 & the JPC7 100 WATTS all bands for around $160 US I have been using for a couple years now. If you purchase the 5.6m tele whip you can remove the coil and use the for 6 to 20 meters
I have a clone of the Super Antenna I picked up at Dayton years ago. Long before POTA. Metric machining and sloppy but it is one of my go to POTA antennas. Tyler State Park. PA to Antartica on 100W. If it ever breaks, I'm getting a Super Antenna. The center loaded vertical is that good!
I can vouch for the super antenna. Got one for doing qrp. Easily ported around and can get out on 40m-10m just fine. Didnt bother much with 80 or 160. Although my guy that helped me get into radio and my tag has used his at his apartment on 80 (don't think he bought the 160m addon, I did). I am a bit surprised you didnt mention the comet HFJ-350M. Its in stock. I ordered one the other day, got it, but havent had time to play with it yet. Could have sworn it was one of your vids that got me turned onto the MFJ variant.
I have Super Antenna the exact one but with an adjustable collapsible antenna not a whip. Honest review: it is great, the coil has very very low resistance next to 0Ω like 0.1 - 0.2 Ω it's very easy to put together 2-3min, fine tuned using NanoVNA. It's small and inconspicuous in the park and it's barely visible. The only issue I have is the SWR curve is very sharp I can't offer get it flat across the band, very steep low 1.5 and it goes sharply up. I may be doing something wrong with the radials
Well. My newbie brain is hash. The adventure of this life is being overwhelmed and researching then wising up and asking help from the knowledgeable Elmers available. I'm still in the OOOh, AAAH phase. I'm a firm believer in spending time learning how to get out of trouble faster than we got in. I used to teach four color scanning on large drum scanners. I would spend a day telling the trainee to push THAT button. There was no panic later, when a real error was made. This has nothing to do with radio? Explore, push the wrong button. There is an Elmer just waiting to bail us newbies out of the mire. Well, anyway, 73 to all.
When I get an HF radio I was thinking about getting a buddy pole system. That way I can take it with me and I can also set it up in my restrictive neighborhood and then take it down when I’m done.
Hi, with your beard you look like the Yeti from Yellowstone National Park, hi. Don't be mad, that's just my opinion. You look better without it. I really enjoy watching your videos because they are always very informative. 73
Hi, I just want a vertical antenna for my roof that handles 2 mtrs and 70 cm? Can’t I just mount it on a telescoping pole so that it clears the top of the roof?
Thanks very much for your reply. Love your videos. right to the point!. Once I get settled, I may do something different as I have an acre with many pine trees. If there is a better way to go with an antenna, I may ask you some questions later. thanks @@HamRadio2
@@HamRadio2 Thanks! I'm looking for something to increase the range of my handhelds, as a sort of base station, ideally indoors. Once I'm further into the hobby and our home situation changes, I'll shift outdoors.
