As mentioned before a good ground is like putiing a mirror under a candle. We recommend 4 radials min 4.5m long, After watching this video I feel only using the one Radial is what let you down. The Radials are as important as the antenna its self & help to push the most current radiated from the antenna regardless of your power used.

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

Completely agree that it would have performed better with more radials. No debate about that. Having said that, I have had good results with just one radial. This wasn't the best demonstration due to the contest activity but the fact that I still managed to make the contacts despite the contest activity should say something. For SOTA, you are often operating in adverse conditions (30+ mph winds, freezing cold, horizontal rain, hail etc). I want to be on the air, make my 4 contacts & packed up ASAP. There's also the consideration that many SOTA summits are busy with other hikers. The more wire trailing along the floor, the more chances of someone tripping over it. A single radial on the ground is inefficient. There's no question about that but if you only need 4 contacts and you've got a pile-up of about 20 people trying to get through to you because you are on a SOTA summit (let's say that around 10-15 of them will successfully make the contact), then is it an acceptable compromise?

@Tantalicdavid

2 жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK I'm glad you commented this, Because some viewers may have got the impression the slidewinder antenna does not perform very well.

Thank you for showing the correct way to fold up the Military whip antenna James.

Very good set up, simple and effective. Thanks for sharing.

Nice video again, very interesting subject and qso's, well presented James, always a joy to watch and learn, take care mate, 73 z

Great antenna 73 LLBYZ

A great vid James, shows the simplicity for /p working. Well worth having a few more radials though, as comments below. I take a min of 8 with me!! Cheers, G

@garyh8315

2 жыл бұрын

James, check out Coastal Waves and Wires. He has posted a vid today. 😉😁

Interesting antenna there James and it seemed to work well. Love the bunker operating position too. 73 Chris M0RSF

Thanks for the video, I just purchased a slidewinder DX. I have the whip and ground spike. Looking forward to some good DX. I think condition are improving. Thanks K7WHN

Great antenna combo if you don't have a tuner and also great mobile with a 3mtr CB whip or the mil whip and spring if you tie it down. You can get better NVIS performance on 40-80 by attaching 20 to 50 feet of small 18 gauge wire to the tip of the whip and run it off to a handy support.

Great video as always nice review. Motters M7TRS 73

This antenna has revolutionised qrp HF portable operation I use it with the added mini tripod so easy to use

Just received the LTD version looking forward to trying it out

Very well done James. If you only want 1 radial and and it more efficient you could elevated it and have it "tuned " per band. You would have to roll in or out depending on band but you will make the antenna much more efficient. Saying that you did really well as it is.

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

Fair point about the elevated radial. The problem I have with that is that there are often other members of the public wondering around on the summit. It seems like a bit of a hazard to have an radial strung up. You need supports for it (which is more to carry) & you also have to spend time tuning it. For SOTA you are often operating in adverse conditions & want to be set up, get your 4 contacts, then get packed up and move on as quickly as possible. A single radial on the ground is inefficient. The question is whether or not it is an acceptable compromise?

@MM0OPXFieldRadio

2 жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK totally agree. You made the contacts and that's all that matters.

Compromise or not, that worked pretty well given the contest QRM. Nice neat setup.

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely. I will have to revisit this under more favourable conditions as I don't think I really gave it a fair chance. I've had some good results with this setup when there haven't been any contests on but this wasn't filmed because I like to give any new antenna a couple of test runs before I try to make a video about it (to figure out any quirks & make sure that I know what I'm talking about before I roll the cameras).

Nice test of the setup James.. I’ve never tried one of these type of antennas.. Not sure if I’m ready to spend just yet… I’ve got the pole and linked dipole working fairly good now.

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

Your linked dipole will perform better as it's a full size antenna. This is very much a compromise. Where this comes into its own is that you don't need a separate mast (meaning it's lighter & smaller for long or steep hikes) & it's really quick to set up. On a busy summit with lots of other people around, I don't like having wire antennas up in the air for people to strangle themselves on or trip over. Basically I would take this vertical if I was on a busy summit with other hikers or I anticipated weather conditions were poor & I wanted a quick activation. If I'm going to a summit with lots of space, very few people & good weather conditions I would take a full size antenna (especially if I plan an extended activation combined with WWFF).

@IrishHamRadio

2 жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK yep I know exactly what you mean… I must look into something similar as an alternator to busy summits and ones with little space on the top. My local county highest point (which I haven’t activated yet) is all hard shake on the top, so I’m going to have to find some sort of solution thet doesn’t need sticking into the ground! Or else just go on a calm day and use rocks as stays 🤔.

I yesterday purchased all that! I hope that coil works butter than the Wolf River coil.

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

I've never got my hands on the Wolf River Coil, so I can't really comment on that one.

Hi James, nice video ! I have the Black Slidewinder coil and have used it with a Buddipole Long Telescopic Whip, which is more or less the same extended length as the M1ECC Milwip, but the Milwip is around 4" shorter when collapsed. My question is, do you think there would be any performance difference between the two whips ?

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

If both antennas are about the same length then I wouldn't expect there to be much difference between the two.

@forgetyourlife

Жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK One of you should try either the MFJ or the Chameleon 17ft whips. See if that gets on 80? or uses less loading on 40m making it more efficient.

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

@@forgetyourlife I've not tried it but I suspect that it would probably be possible to make a 17ft whip work on 80m. 60m would also be a interesting proposition as 60m is often used for SOTA here in the UK. Obviously it would be quite inefficient. The problem with that idea is that the manufacturer of the Slidewinder Coil specifically says that the coil should NOT be used with whips over 3m because the wind loading can break the coil. Having said that, it should be ok in extremely light winds.

@forgetyourlife

Жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK So I’ve done 80m with my Wolf River mini coil which is about the same as the SlideWinder. The key is a good radial field. I used 20 radials of 15ft length on ground and it dips pretty good. No tuner etc. Also I did read the warning however there are a few vids of the SlideDX being used at the beach, high winds and rain. It looked pretty stout. I ask, since the coil is 3D printed so you think it’s less apt to take such abuse over and over? I’ve never seen one in person and am curious of its construction strength and weaknesses.

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

@@forgetyourlife The actual coil is fairly stout as you said. I think the most likely point of failure with overloading would be the 3/8 attachments in the ends. It would probably strip the threads in the plastic.

Great ! Where I can buy it ?

@AmateurRadioUK

6 ай бұрын

www.m1ecc-antennas.co.uk

what is your possible frequency range with this setup? 28 to 14mhz?

@AmateurRadioUK

3 ай бұрын

The configuration I used in the video will cover the 12m-40m bands. The whip (without the coil) is resonant at around 24mhz, so it's a little too long for 10m. You could use a shorter whip with a standard 3/8 thread to give you 10m.

I have that military whip ant-129 how do I connect to yeasu ft-891

@AmateurRadioUK

Жыл бұрын

As you can see in the video, I just used RG-58 between the mounting bracket and the radio.

@DARTHDANSAN

Жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK thanks a brand new ! Thanks again

Weight difference between 1 counterpoise and 3, is practically nothing tbh.

What radio did you use?

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

Icom 703 running 10 watts.

@tommycheshire5508

2 жыл бұрын

@@AmateurRadioUK Seems like a heck of a field radio, and hard to find.

you would have thought he would give you a discount..tut tut.

@AmateurRadioUK

2 жыл бұрын

I'm only a small channel to be fair......I don't have the viewer numbers (and therefore the "influence" or "selling power") that the much bigger channels have. The positive side to that is that I can be totally honest & say pretty much what I want about it because I don't have any sponsors to upset!