I built my own copper J - pole and tuned it for broad band use from 140 to 150 MHz. My center tuned at the middle is as low as 1.01:1 and got a 1.4 to 1.5:1 at my band edges and my lowest Reflected power was .5 milliwatts and never got past 150 milliwatts. Believe me, patients is the key to whatever you want to attain.
I just put up a Tram 1480, and I already have an Ed Fong foldable J-Pole. The J-Pole is hanging from the ceiling in my office indoors. The base of the Tram 1480 is about at the level of the top of the J-Pole, except the 1480 is outside, attached to the side of my house. I was surprised at the difference between the 2 antennas. They seem to work about the same going to a repeater on the top of a local mountain. However, the Tram 1480 works better when talking with people closer to sea level. It seems like the 1480 has a lower angle of radiation. I'm very pleased with both of them.
My Tram 1480 at 50 feet fed with 100 feet of JEFA Tech LL-400 Flex coax (same as LMR-400 Flex) running 50 watts into it with a Yaesu FT-8900R has a 1:1.01 VSWR on VHF and 1:1.09 VSWR on UHF and I can talk simplex to other stations up to 60 miles away (I live in a very low spot in the middle of a city in Southeastern Massachusetts) and I regularly talk with hams in the Boston area! It has been up for 8 years now with no problems. I can hit repeaters in New Hampshire and have talked as far south as Virginia on 2 meters during an opening!
Just because an antenna has a low swr doesn't make it a good antenna. a dummy load has a 1:1 swr but it doesn't make it a good antenna. the match on your Jpole is miss adjusted. A J pole that is correctly matched will have a low swr. 73 Mike WA8ZPD
I am about to make and tune a jpole out of either 1/2 copper pipe or solid 12ga copper wire slipped inside pvc pipe. Do you have a recommendation on which method might perform better? I've looked everywhere for comparison of either method and found nothing. I have a nanovsr and will tune for best impedance match (feedline position) then adjust the cut to center my frequency on 462.65Mhz for gmrs.
@@Gruuvin1 I plan to build one for GMRS also, and since it's so much smaller than the 1/2"copper J-poles common for 2 meters, I'm going with 3/8" copper. That way the spacing between upright elements will be proper. One article I found said wire would work, but smaller surface area makes it very frequency specific. Sorry...I've read so many articles I don't remember where I found it.
I agree with the comment that the j-pole can be turned. An easier way is to simply take a loop of 12, 14 or 16 guage wire, insert it into the very top portion of the j-pole, check for best SWR by sliding the loop up or down inside of the copper pipe, and when the best match is found solder it into position. The antenna inside the fiberglass pipe of the Tram is a collinear antenna which will render greater gain than the other two antennas reviewed. A better comparison would be to acknowledge the comparative power gain among the three antennas and demonstrate this by connecting each of the antennas in succession to an HT and then have someone at a distance measure the transmissions using another radio on a simplex frequency. My expectation is that the Tram will outperform the other two if each are mounted at the same point. BTW, this Tram is almost identical to a similar model made by Jetstream that is almost identical to a model made by Comet. The roll up antenna you have there is probably a wire version of the copper cactus j-pole.
Everything in relative. The way the antenna is mounted. The height above the ground. What kind of coax are you using ? Are there objects near the antenna ? Is the antenna grounded ? The moral is that you need to do more research. As others have stated... a dummy load can have a 1:1 match and is not a resonating antenna.
Just ordered some ladder line wire. should not be complicated to build. Probably gonna end up with a slim jim, short both ends and make a gap.... yup....You gave me an idea m8 tks
Hand I known there were other options, I may have chosen this one: www.homedepot.com/p/GT-LITE-54-in-Telescoping-Tripod-with-Universal-Fast-Latch-GT-TP-54/308664779
@@MarkWarrick I was just about to go to your video with the rollup antenna mounted to the PVC pipe, but you beat me to it. I'm glad you saw this video. By the way, you did a great job there.
What value do you think this video has by comparing antennas based upon SWR? Why not include a dummy load in the comparison? That's got a one-to-one SWR.
I’ve never had an SWR issue with Ed Fong antennas. But then again I elevate them and keep them away from metal objects. Would ferrite help? Maybe. Only way to know is to try it!
@@MarkWarrick I'm going to test it with the beads on and without and see what happens. Thank you for the response. I just started the new channel for Central Florida
Ed fong makes good stuff, I have 5 or 6 of his antennas. But I also have a very well built copper j pole that has matching swr. K9vbr i belive built my j pole
@@televisionarchivestudios1130 It was about equal so far with our test. Both are very good but I get the repeaters with the Ed Fong here. Three in fact. With the K9VBR I can't get any of them. But we still like it
