I purchased the MEGA TIA for POTA and the first time I used it made a couple of QSOs with Spain and several to the Rockies from Ohio. I love it, works great, easy to set up, and seems rugged. The 17’ whip is unstable in winds so finding a way to stabilize it would be advised. I put my pelican case on the coax or use tent stakes on the legs.
I love my WRC, never had any issues with tuning or anything else. I've used a 102" CB whip mostly Setting in my backyard, I broke through a pile up for my first Australia contact recently from Oklahoma City. No amp needed. And, I'm a fairly inexperienced newbie to boot. Would highly recommend it.
I just bought one of these in Xenia, so I was glad to see you cover it. I've played with it a couple of times, and I think once you get used to tuning it, you probably can get it tuned in a couple of minutes. I have the Xeigu G90 and can watch the SWR sweep right on the radio. There is no need to disconnect and connect up coax. I also bought some clips for radials to connect to the metal legs and plan to use 3x the wires and 3x shorter to reduce the chance of someone getting caught up in them. I also bought the radial wire in bright orange. Always buying stuff. 😂
I use photographers' sandbags to hold the legs down. I like them because they are very durable, hold a fair amount of sand or whatever you want to use. I use clean, unused kitty litter. I used litter my cat didn't like, so u didn't let it go to waste. Put the ground radials on the studs that attach the legs to the hub. That's why they have lugs on the radials. You can put one on each leg or all of them on one leg. That's when I'm operating at a place where I can't put a stakes in the ground. I always have a few high end aluminum stakes, and can drive them in so they hold a leg down. I have 3 different length whips, a short whip, the standard whip, and a long whip, about 200 inches. That gives the most efficiency, I've found. The 200-inch whip pretty much requires staking or sandbagging, because it's very top heavy. I used the TIA with the extra long whip, sandbagged down on the tarmac outside my partner's airplane hangar. I ran the radials the length of the hangar from her plane's door, past an unoccupied storage room, and around the corner. I weighed it down at the end with a couple of large stones. I couldn't fan the radials out because planes were regularly driving down that tarmac, and I didn't want them running over the radials. I used the antenna from just inside the hangar, using my Elecraft KX3. I managed to operate on CW from the Philly suburbs, working a bunch of hams on both the Kansas and Texas QSO parties. It did very well, getting good signal reports at 5-10 watts. It's a good antenna, and you can get a decent SWR by listening to the radio's noise level of your forgot your SWR meter or analyzer. That's what i had to do that day and asking with the KX3's internal tuner it worked great.
I run one off the bumper of the truck with their 102” flexible whip antenna. I have the dual tap setup they sell to be able to move between two bands just by moving between either collar with just a banana plug.
I just used my WRC mag-mounted to the roof of my truck and got 379 contacts at Black Canyon of the Gunnison in 3.5 hours of operating. You live in a beautiful area, Dave. 😎 The trick for 20m is to align the top edge of the collar with the very top coil. 73, my friend!
Dave you did an excellent job demonstrating this antenna. You took us in the real world. You showed that this antenna will work in a poor operating environment and you stated that point more than once. So now if I buy this antenna I will know exactly what it's all about. Thanks
Tuning is easier with this antenna if you have it sitting directly on the ground. Even that bit of height on Dave’s small deck is enough to make the tuning more finicky on some bands.
I have the same coil, I added radials following K8MRD’s videos and I also added a 17’ whip. If you’re working one band like you say it’s a great antenna. I added banana plugs to the shorting wire so I can work several bands with just moving where the wire is plugged like a Buddistick.
Thank you Dave. I don’t have the WRC TIA yet, but I did get a 17’ whip from Chameleon Antenna and this helps me understand better how to tune it. I have a plan to get one of these at HamVention.
Nice antenna makings, you can even tune a long wire. Makes a good 80-40 mobile antenna with a steel whip. If your a band hopper, a remote autotuner at the base might be a better investment.
I have the coil and experienced the same tuning issues as seen in your video. It is well constructed but the one flaw is the stainless steel pressure contactor in the collar. In my opinion, contact is not solid enough and gets warm to the touch with only 100 watts. At 400 watts, the contactor got so hot the PVC pipe melted and the coil listed at a 45 degree angle and was ruined. I believe the instrucitons said it was good for up to 1 KW. They stood behind their product and replaced it. However, I see on their web site they have derated it. "What power will your coils support? - 100 Watts SSB, 50 Watts CW and 20 Watts digital." That's reasonable and I will only use it for single band portable operation due to the finicky tuning issue.
Second reply - Thanks Dave! - I have integrated one of these coils onto a Buddipole tripod in an inverted "T" arrangement, replacing the Buddipole telescoping elements with MFJ-1979 17' elements, and also adding a capacity hat to the main vertical radiating element. I've had some great portable results. But, as you mention, changing bands is a manual process (and a pain) - A graphical antenna analyzer does show clearer response curves, and simplify tuning somewhat.
This review doesn’t do the WRC justice and was painful to watch. Never saw anyone have such a tough time getting one set up and running out of the box or any other time. I guess when you know so much it’s difficult to follow the recommended directions and check out the links for easy tuning for each band. Was really shaking my head when you couldn’t tune 20 meters, especially when you started to collapse the whip.
I know this is a review of the WRC TIA itself, but most POTA activators simply bypass or remove the coil on everything up to 40 meters. A substitution of the 102" whip for the 213" whip, which is included in the Mega Mini TIA package, will allow you to tune it by simply adjusting the whip length. You do need the coil for 40 and 80 meters. I would just order the coil and 213" whip and buy a better tripod to be honest.
I've had my WRC Mini with the stock 102" antenna for some time now and find that it can be tuned in a few minutes. As for radials, I took two 33' sets and cut them to give me 12 x 16' connected to 45 amp alligator clips which I can clip to the tripod legs instead of using the ring terminals.
It's popular for a good reason. Very good antenna. The only problem I have is tuning the antenna for different bands. I am handicapped from bone cancer, so I don't get around very well. I require assistance to tune it. My wife is learning more about antennas now, lol. The wolf river coil can be quite persnickety during tuning. It is very portable. Quick note. Consider using aluminum 4'x8' window screen for radials.
This can be a great antenna but it takes some effort. (1) you need a good antenna analyzer to make tuning practical (like a RigExpert). Use a sharpie to mark your tuned configurations for next time; (2) If you upgrade to a 17' whip (like the Chameleon from DXE), you don't need a coil to work 14 MHz and above. Just shorten the whip as needed. Poke the tripod legs into the dirt, or use something else to stabilize them; (3) Radials matter and three is not enough for great results; (4) the supplied wires are a pain to deal with. #22 silicone insulated wire is easy to untangle. I've used 3 bundles of six 14' radials. Clip the loose end to hold the wires together and bunch them without winding. To deploy you toss out the bunch, unclip, run your fingers through to straighten and then spread them out. You can setup a great radial field in just a few minutes. The radials don't need to be perfectly even or straight. 240' of wire on the ground will give great results. The radiation resistance of a dipole is around 70 ohms. A quarter wave ("half dipole") around 35 ohms. Half that can drop the radiation resistance (RR) to around 17 ohms. Since efficiency is the ratio of RR to all resistance, a good radial field is essential. You don't want to lose more than half your power to heating the ground and loading coil. Verticals are generally less efficient than a dipole, but can have superior low angle radiation needed for DX. Dipoles are efficient, but at low elevation radiate mostly upward (NVIS). If you just want to make a few POTA contacts, a minimal configuration may be good enough. If you want to operate portable from say Aruba (as I did), you'll need a good antenna to see much action.
Thanks for the video. One very polite suggestion, try a lanyard to retain and lower your mic then clip to your shirt. Airs thin in the mountains. Thanks again.
I have the 80-10 WRC antenna system that came with the 17ft mfj along with the smaller whip, double lock for 2 bands barely used for $120. I absolutely love mine when doing portable. I did find an older Comet caa 500 analyzer on eBay for 70$ which works great for SWR. If I'm doing 20 meters and below then I don't bother using the coil. I really never use the 80 meter band especially when portable and have thought about getting the Sporty 40. I did get the universal puck from Rez Antenna and soldered banana plugs just to make it a lil faster on setup. I do like the looks of the Rez Antenna system but I think it's too expensive. The Wolf River Coil antenna is awesome. Lastly in case of wind then I bring along my Tentenna EFHW and at times I setup both of them.
Great video, it was very interesting to see the Wolf River Coil in action and what it takes to tune it. I just ordered the REZ Antenna Ranger 80, which is of the same design. The REZ antenna costs more, but it's a vastly better in materials and build. The radial wires on the REZ attach via 4mm banana plugs, it has an aluminum base like the Wolf River Coil, but it has eight 4mm holes to plug them into. RU-vid channel "KB9VBR Antennas" recently put out a video where instead of using radial wires, he tried a section of aluminum window screen for a ground plane mesh, it worked out very well, and is much easier to deploy than a bunch of radial wires. He included a link to a May 1977 issue of Ham Radio Magazine with an article written by Robert Sherwood (yes... that Sherwood of Sherwood Labs) about using a screen instead of wires... an interesting read!
Thanks for your videos David. I'm getting back into ham after a long break and exploring base station antennas. I have gutters but also have a metal roof, looks like singles but made of metal. I'm wondering if it's worth a try.
I believe these were first created for mobile use so bandwidth of a full dipole is not considered. A better comparison is to ham sticks which can’t cover the full band. I would’ve like to see measuring the loss and possibly the Q (which is not bad). I have one of these on my car, outside, for a couple years now. It’s basically a manual screwdriver antenna. I have a wip I made that is the perfect length for 10-80. I also have a 17’ extendable wip I can use when parked.
Just out of curosity... Is it not better to have the loading coil highger up on the driven element? I've heard that half way up is better. Great review! - Cheers VE3GHP
Yes, you are right. Centre loading is better and top loading is the best one should go for. But then the question of mechanical ruggedness (stability) becomes a big concern. So, people go for base loading where the centre of mass (gravity) is low. De VU2RZA
I have the early version. I experimented for a week - playing with different radial configurations and bands. The 3 radials you get work just fine. A 4th radial works a tad better but more than 4 is unnecessary. You can switch to a shorter radial (16 feet) but jut double the amount of radials. So 6 sixteen foot radials are equivalent to the 3 thirty three foot radials. (see Michael KB9VBR videos) You can use a Black/ Red/ Green Sharpie to mark the locations of the band positions. I left my TIA outside for an entire year (yah...a year) to test the "weather proof" capability of the TIA. Wind / Rain / Blizzard conditions and minus 40F temperature - it performed almost flawlessly. I would challenge ANY other portable system to perform that well. Had some minor oxidation on the top connector. About only complaint is the Maximum 25w tx on digital/ cw. Almost useless from Alaska but despite those restrictions - I've made hundreds of QSO's from Alaska - even into Europe. The power TX issue has been addressed with the new version. You should be familiar with how to tune an antenna to use this. I would absolutely purchase another. GREAT video and Thank You.
IMO the WRC antennas are okay for FT8 or other known-frequency operations (CW, PSK31, ...). You tune it once and leave it for the next hour's operation. But for phone operation, where you may be changing frequency for each contact, it is kind of a pain in the butt. I have had better luck with the EFHW in portable scenarios - the EFHW covers many bands w/o any tuning. I use "kite" winders for the radials (and for my EFHW wire). Also tuning with a nanovna or Rigexpert, where you can see the SWR graph, is easier than with a classic MFJ AA.
I have this same wolf river cail. It is very hard to get a good swr. I have had it for 2 ears. I still do not use it. Not worth the truble. Hope you have better luck! 73
I would always have the whip fully extended. For me it is too much to do for tuning. It is a good antenna if you have an HOA problem. I wonder how many watts it is rated for? I am sure that it would blow over easily in any wind.
Dave, I'm kind of disappointed in your attempt to tune the Wolf River Coil, you ignored the instructions to start at 20m with the coil at the top then slowly move it down. You said you were going to use 50 ft of coax but actually barely used 10 ft of coax so you were way too close to the antenna plus several other issues with placement. Even if you had watched someone's video you would had made a much better video.
Those MFJ analyzers are real work horses. The only reason I have a Rig Expert stick is because the MFJ is too bulky and requires too much power (ten AA batteries!) for portable use.
Worst review I have ever seen. Failing to tune this antenna on 20m is a disaster. Try to read the manual, and follow it. The antenna itself looks all right mechanically, but making load coils from stainless steel is bad, even if it lowers the SWR and and increases bandwidth. A resonant 1/4 wave vertical has a radiating resistance of about 35 Ohm. This gives an SWR of 1:1.43. Adding losses can lower the SWR, but this is ruining the antenna performance.
I'ld set the analyzer for the frequency you want 20 meters and take note of swr ,then adjust the slider one way or the other taking note of swr changes then make a determination which way to go with the slider.jim KB1PFL
