I did something similar to this. I was setting up my WRC when I accidentally knocked it over and broke the whip at the base. I thought my day was done until I remembered I had a 40 meter ham stick in the truck. After I was done working the stations, I was able to tune it for 160 and ran similar tests as you did with about the same results. It was still fun!
Enjoyed your "let's see what happens & give it a try " enthusiasm spending a nice day outside! Plus ya didn't quit until satisfied with a few results. Naysayers beware......also had some good laughs along the way! Way to go bro...... Great video !! N8OHV
I am starting to believe, you actually have a screw loose😂 This was crazy, who would have believed it would even work, in reality! If you think about it electrically, it should work! Glad you tried it! Now I have a renewed interest in trying different setups. Thanks! Keep it up! I like your brand of insanity!😂
Oh no, you've got me all wrong. I've got all kinds of screws loose. I've got a net 30 account with Ace hardware just to try to replace them all every month.
Well, I think a really smart person, to other people appear to be half crazy. But the truth, they just mad cause they did not think of it😂 keep up the experimenting, I like it. Plus you are giving me ideas. Bruce wb5noq
Hi Mike, Kudos 160m actually worked. 🙂 Glad we made that 20m POTA contact today on our birthdays. Had to make a pharmacy run and missed you on 10m. Would have been nice to have two bands during your twofer. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Hi Mike I have tried this using 2 40 meters coils, for 80 meters but I only used one tap which gave me a wider band coverage. May I suggest retrying this but only using one tap to allow the second jumper to swing free love ya work
One more thing bro...... great humor that we all "dream" of having an extended "whip" but unfortunately we mostly settle for a stubby rubber ducky !!! Hahaha N8OHV
Love the T-shirt. And last summer I did some 160m experiments that almost got me there, so this was good to see. Good on ya! I take issue with the remark about not getting someone's 73 on FT8, & whether it counts. Do you have each other's callsigns & sig reports? Did you send them an R and did you get an R from them? Yes? Then that's it. That's the QSO. The final 73 is just politeness to waste another 15 seconds of everyone's time.
I thought about doing this also. I'm not a highly technical person but I believe in just making stuff work and don't blow anything up. It just looked logical to me. Thanks for the video. I can't wait to see what you do next. Cheers and 73🎉
Hi Mike, I totally enjoyed your video! It was great encouragement for me. I've been thinking about using 2 Magloops like a beam for quite some time, but I never had the courage to try it 😀. Now I realize that one should always try... In your experiment, it totally exceeded my expectations. Great work as usual! 73s TNX
Loved this experiment! My XYL and I often run FT8 on 80m using a 5ft piece of copper tubing, a WRC center loaded on the bottom winding, and an old Hustler 102. The NANOVNA shows a 1.044 SWR. Quite the insane experiment, but it worked!!! Time for me to snag some 160m contacts. We'll be looking you, weekend Early Shift 73 de Frank, NM9X
Check the X (reactance). If it’s high while you may have a good swr. It still will be a complex impedance which means your power factor will not be 1. If there’s reactance, than you will need more radials. I saw this on KB9VBR’s channel.
Mike, another great fun video. I dabble in making videos myself and was wondering if you could tell me what wireless lapel microphone you use? Thanks man.
some times crazy ideas work. you do not know until you try it. I knew it would work. the math works with the coils . the more inductance the higher the Q. 160 meters is a funny band. it is ground wave and mostly a night band. like AM radio witch is just below the 160 meter band. I got a 9:1 to tune . but was day at a park. i was long for 40 meters to work . had high noise floor that day on lower frequency bands. like S7 and S6 . into 20 meters then drop to S3 to S4 on FT8 20 meters. I should try 160 at night . but me got snow on NY . 3 feet in 2 days. I want to try a end fed half wave at 160 meters. wire on ground. this worked center fed. about 360 feet wire on the snowy ground and got out. at night. my tune was way off and did a fold back to match. like a foot to long. would like to try what DX commander did. end fed 160 meters of wire . that a full wave at 160 meter band. he used 64:1 and it tune. trying things can be fun. the heat on coils is spread across the 2 . will take some power. 73's
Snow is exactly why I don't live up North any more. Can't stand the stuff. I was out in a t-shirt today. It was wonderful. I'm thinking of trying a wire on one of these coils to lengthen the radiating element and use less loading to see how that works.
Mike, thanks for the interesting video. I may try that. I have a Silver Bullitt 1000, and Silver Bullitt Mini, two Sporty Forties and a 213-inch whip (with an accent on the “H” just to piss off Brian)
WSPR will literally detect signals buried under noise. So, being "heard" on WSPR doesn't equate to being heard on SSB, CW or even FT8. Nonetheless, a relatively short base-loaded vertical can work on 160M; but use large copper -- not stainless steel -- wire or tubing loading coils to optimize efficiency.
I have the Wolf River Coil with the center coil parts. I also have the MFJ whip to go on top, also have a spring to put in. The spring adds another around 3 inches. I am not sure if that would do 160. I think I will need another of the parts for the center load to give me a little more. I don't have 2 coils, and I am not sure if what I have will work. Some day I will need to take it out and see what it will do. I am about nuts enough to try it and see what it does. 73 W4DES
The amount of loss in each Wrc equates it to being a very lossy for rf at around 6.8 ohm end to end. The resistance of the wire vs copper makes it at best a dummy load. Makes me wonder if most qro rigs are nearer to qrp in terms of output with coils such as these? Your test is entertaining and I enjoyed the video. Mike. 73.
When i tried that this summer, i saw 1.3 swr at like 1.900, then either way 20 so 1920 or 1.880 it’d go up to 2.1 swr. Never did try using it for a contact. I have a longer wire/random for that. Good to see someone else tinker with it and post it here.
Hi Mike, like questions, the only dumb experiment is the one you do not do! The important thing is that it got you on the band, when you did not, in theory have the kit to do it! Great little experiment! 73 Jim M7BXT
Do it man! You never know what will happen. Imagine a pileup on 160 with this antenna?! That would be so cool, though prob not realistic. Not too many people have setups for 160. Who knows, this could change everything.
@@hamradiotube I'll keep you advised. Only thing is 160 is primarily a nighttime band so POTA probably wont be an option for me down here. I do have one park that doesn't close the gates and already got permission to come there after hours from the wonderful ranger that stays there..lol
@@hamradiotube I know, I think I know you pretty well By now hahaha. I agree with you 99.999.999% of the time except APRS hahahaha. But hey, keep the trolling coming, I love it
The higher frequencies are easy. The 17' hwip I was using will tune 20-6 meters without the coil at all. ~17' is a resonant quarter wave on 20 already. All you have to do is shorten it for the higher frequencies. Add a little bit of the coil and you're on 40 meters. It's when we go lower in frequency that we need to either add longer wires, or inductance. You absolutely can tune 20 and 40 with a shorter whip (or wire if you want) and WRC sells them that way. The stock WRC Silver Bullet 1000 comes with a 109" whip I feel.? About half the length of the one I was using in this video. The issues with the lower frequencies has to do with the physical length of radiating element needed to use to be resonant. By loading with inductance (a coil in this case) we are electrically making it longer while maintaining a relatively small footprint. But at the expense of efficiency. So technically I could add even more coil and a shorter whip and it will tune, but efficiency is going to be so low it wouldn't even be worth it. An even longer radiating element but with only 1 coil would be more efficient. I want to try a long wire with just one coil and see what happens. The bottom line is, the less loading you need to do, and the longer radiating element you have, the better. But, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Hope that helps.
@@hamradiotubesorry, I should've been a little clearer. I want to try attaching a 66ft or 131ft long wire and tune to the 160m band. BUT, I appreciate your detailed reply.
@@hamradiotube all good info for anyone new coming into the comments though! My thought is rooted in trying to add bands for the N1CC award. I have a single WRC coil, BUT also EFHW wires for 40m and 80m.
Oh no. 3 coils would not help at all. The more loading you do, the worse. By far. Now if I were to connect a longer radiating element such as a 50' wire, and I'm just throwing out a random figure, I may not have to use the second coil at all, and that would (maybe) widen the band width. That's something I'm thinking about as a follow up to this.
Hi Mike, Kudos 160m actually worked. 🙂 Glad we made that 20m POTA contact today on our birthdays. Had to make a pharmacy run and missed you on 10m. Would have been nice to have two bands during your twofer. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
I did something similar to this. I was setting up my WRC when I accidentally knocked it over and broke the whip at the base. I thought my day was done until I remembered I had a 40 meter ham stick in the truck. After I was done working the stations, I was able to tune it for 160 and ran similar tests as you did with about the same results. It was still fun!
Heck yeah, ham stick and a WRC! Love it!
If you keep this up people are going to think ham radio is FUN! 😮
Oh crap, I'll have to stop!
HAM radio is fun.
@@hamradiotube NO MIKE DONT STOP BRO!!!!
LOL! "If it's stupid but it works: it isn't stupid." Frickin' love this.
Next time give it some more power so that we can see the coils glowing in the dark..... 🤣
Next time. The research is still out. But wouldn't that be cool for Christmas?
Great vid Mike this is what the hobby is rooted too. To many sit on the porch and say na that will never work. Keep doing it man.
While I am a big fan of porch sittin', I do like to get out and experiment. That's more fun than making contacts for me.
Enjoyed your "let's see what happens & give it a try " enthusiasm spending a nice day outside! Plus ya didn't quit until satisfied with a few results. Naysayers beware......also had some good laughs along the way! Way to go bro......
Great video !! N8OHV
Hey if you ain't having fun, what's the point?
I am starting to believe, you actually have a screw loose😂 This was crazy, who would have believed it would even work, in reality! If you think about it electrically, it should work!
Glad you tried it! Now I have a renewed interest in trying different setups.
Thanks! Keep it up! I like your brand of insanity!😂
Oh no, you've got me all wrong. I've got all kinds of screws loose. I've got a net 30 account with Ace hardware just to try to replace them all every month.
Well, I think a really smart person, to other people appear to be half crazy. But the truth, they just mad cause they did not think of it😂 keep up the experimenting, I like it. Plus you are giving me ideas.
Bruce
wb5noq
Hi Mike,
Kudos 160m actually worked. 🙂 Glad we made that 20m POTA contact today on our birthdays. Had to make a pharmacy run and missed you on 10m. Would have been nice to have two bands during your twofer. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
What a cool experiment, I appreciate your efforts
Hey it's all in the spirit of try it out. Thanks for watching Bob.
The "whip" pronunciation is very Stewie. It cracks me up. Came for the experiment and stayed for the humor.
... maybe I'm the only one who thought this.
@@TinyTJ04 You're not
Oh no, you're not alone.
@@hamradiotube I'm envisioning coffee or whiskey shooting through my nose if you manage to slip "coin purse" into a video.
I watched this yesterday while driving but had to comeback and rewatch today great stuff mike
THANKYOU for ALL the help you give us HAMs and new HAMs... Well-done!! Your enthusiasm is catchy 😀
As someone who's certainly done my share of stagehanding and events.... I ALSO hate when the cable doesn't throw!
Lol the struggle is real
Great idea for a video Mike. This is the kind of entertainment value I'm looking for.
Thanks so much. It's fun to experiment with things like this. You never know what can happen unless you try.
Great experiment!
Hi Mike I have tried this using 2 40 meters coils, for 80 meters but I only used one tap which gave me a wider band coverage. May I suggest retrying this but only using one tap to allow the second jumper to swing free love ya work
I can see a new t-shirt coming up on the market soon, "Bro do you even Double WRC?". This is great Mike.
You had me in the first 6 seconds… thanks for being my CZcams Elmer. Keep it up and 73
One more thing bro...... great humor that we all "dream" of having an extended "whip" but unfortunately we mostly settle for a stubby rubber ducky !!! Hahaha
N8OHV
That's it ! you've got my accent perfected. Nice job on the double coiler, next is the triple coiler loaf pinch delta array. you can doooo it :)
Damnit Mike! Ya made me spit water all over the desk with that intro!!😂😂 Fantastic video!
What? You only spit out water at the intro? I don't think anybody caught me humping the antenna lol!
@@hamradiotube to be honest I must’ve missed that! I’ll have to replay it again and again!!
Back in the 1960’s 160M mobile was popular in the uk. AM, very short antennas and limited to 32W but it worked
Great experiment Mike, awesome!
Thanks buddy.
I turned my head for like a second.... look back and its 2:54
Almost shat myself laughing
Love the T-shirt.
And last summer I did some 160m experiments that almost got me there, so this was good to see. Good on ya!
I take issue with the remark about not getting someone's 73 on FT8, & whether it counts. Do you have each other's callsigns & sig reports? Did you send them an R and did you get an R from them? Yes? Then that's it. That's the QSO. The final 73 is just politeness to waste another 15 seconds of everyone's time.
Gosh, that WAS exciting, just becuz it WAS something different, even unexpected, something I never expected to see, so thanks!👍😃🇺🇸
I thought about doing this also. I'm not a highly technical person but I believe in just making stuff work and don't blow anything up. It just looked logical to me. Thanks for the video. I can't wait to see what you do next. Cheers and 73🎉
I'm not highly technical either. I'm just dumb enough to try stuff like this.
Sometimes you just such a Nut, Mike! But that's what I love about you. Good Job 😂😂😂🙋♂
Hi Mike, I totally enjoyed your video! It was great encouragement for me. I've been thinking about using 2 Magloops like a beam for quite some time, but I never had the courage to try it 😀. Now I realize that one should always try... In your experiment, it totally exceeded my expectations. Great work as usual! 73s TNX
Loved this experiment! My XYL and I often run FT8 on 80m using a 5ft piece of copper tubing, a WRC center loaded on the bottom winding, and an old Hustler 102. The NANOVNA shows a 1.044 SWR.
Quite the insane experiment, but it worked!!! Time for me to snag some 160m contacts. We'll be looking you, weekend Early Shift
73 de Frank, NM9X
Very cool. Thanks from Wiscaaaansin!
Bro, yes I do APRS....I love it as much as you do...LOL
Thinking of trying this by adding my 80 mtr hamstick on top of the wolf river coil
Check the X (reactance). If it’s high while you may have a good swr. It still will be a complex impedance which means your power factor will not be 1. If there’s reactance, than you will need more radials. I saw this on KB9VBR’s channel.
There’s a video of a guy doing 160 with an 80 meter Buddy Pole coil, 17 feet whip, and a capacity hat. The cap hat greatly improved performance.
Mike, another great fun video. I dabble in making videos myself and was wondering if you could tell me what wireless lapel microphone you use? Thanks man.
Haha that little intro reminded me of bubba j puppet.
love it mike thank you.
Very welcome
some times crazy ideas work. you do not know until you try it. I knew it would work. the math works with the coils . the more inductance the higher the Q. 160 meters is a funny band. it is ground wave and mostly a night band. like AM radio witch is just below the 160 meter band. I got a 9:1 to tune . but was day at a park. i was long for 40 meters to work . had high noise floor that day on lower frequency bands. like S7 and S6 . into 20 meters then drop to S3 to S4 on FT8 20 meters. I should try 160 at night . but me got snow on NY . 3 feet in 2 days. I want to try a end fed half wave at 160 meters. wire on ground. this worked center fed. about 360 feet wire on the snowy ground and got out. at night. my tune was way off and did a fold back to match. like a foot to long. would like to try what DX commander did. end fed 160 meters of wire . that a full wave at 160 meter band. he used 64:1 and it tune. trying things can be fun. the heat on coils is spread across the 2 . will take some power. 73's
Snow is exactly why I don't live up North any more. Can't stand the stuff. I was out in a t-shirt today. It was wonderful. I'm thinking of trying a wire on one of these coils to lengthen the radiating element and use less loading to see how that works.
@@hamradiotube love the coil ! easy to tune. less coil more bandwidth. quick set up for 160 meters. 73's
At 2:24 I saw the FCC men in black truck approaching. 😅
Mike, thanks for the interesting video. I may try that. I have a Silver Bullitt 1000, and Silver Bullitt Mini, two Sporty Forties and a 213-inch whip (with an accent on the “H” just to piss off Brian)
Sounds like you're set up for success.
ARRL 160m Contest this weekend, do what you gotta do to get on the air!
Is that right? I may have to try this...
WSPR will literally detect signals buried under noise. So, being "heard" on WSPR doesn't equate to being heard on SSB, CW or even FT8. Nonetheless, a relatively short base-loaded vertical can work on 160M; but use large copper -- not stainless steel -- wire or tubing loading coils to optimize efficiency.
I have the Wolf River Coil with the center coil parts. I also have the MFJ whip to go on top, also have a spring to put in. The spring adds another around 3 inches. I am not sure if that would do 160. I think I will need another of the parts for the center load to give me a little more. I don't have 2 coils, and I am not sure if what I have will work. Some day I will need to take it out and see what it will do. I am about nuts enough to try it and see what it does. 73 W4DES
Yesterday I was heard very little with CW and the RBN. Only heard once on 80 meters with 10 watts CW. Nada on 40 and 20 meters.
Nice experiment 🎙
The amount of loss in each Wrc equates it to being a very lossy for rf at around 6.8 ohm end to end. The resistance of the wire vs copper makes it at best a dummy load. Makes me wonder if most qro rigs are nearer to qrp in terms of output with coils such as these? Your test is entertaining and I enjoyed the video. Mike. 73.
Saw you spotted but 160 not working for me at the moment.
Doh!
@@hamradiotube meant that I don’t have a 160M antenna I can transmit on, but yeah, that time of day you probably wouldn’t hear
me.
Great Video, Mike!
Thanks!
Thought I'd try that with the MC-750 and there you were... Which one're you running tonight? Gotcha on 160 - NY5V
You built the Voltron of antennas! 73
Haha!
And I actually have two WR Silver Bullets too. Something I'll put together and try from Alaska. Maybe Asia or EU on 160m ?
When i tried that this summer, i saw 1.3 swr at like 1.900, then either way 20 so 1920 or 1.880 it’d go up to 2.1 swr. Never did try using it for a contact. I have a longer wire/random for that. Good to see someone else tinker with it and post it here.
this is gold
Hi Mike, like questions, the only dumb experiment is the one you do not do! The important thing is that it got you on the band, when you did not, in theory have the kit to do it! Great little experiment! 73 Jim M7BXT
Exactly. That is the entire point. The best antenna in the world is the one you have.
Great experiment and one that should get the armchair antenna commandos off their butts to do some experimentation of their own.
Oh no, they're just going to complain. I posted this to QRZ just to see if it would get put on the front page so I can read all the terrible comments.
Keep'n that ham spirit alive Mike! That is what makes it FUN!
73 - KF6IF
I'm trying my best!
This is the foolery I subscribed for 🚀😂
Lol well I'm glad I didn't disappoint! I'll have to work on more of my Tom foolery. This was a lot of fun.
Go for it. Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?
Ya never know til ya try!! great video mike 73 de K5BEZ
love the wHHHHHip
Cool hwip!
With all those trees, couldn’t you string up a hfef for 160?
Did you say the 17’ whhhip?
Now I got to get on 160 with my two coils. Lol. I haven’t worked 160 yet. Now that gonna change. lol
Do it man! You never know what will happen. Imagine a pileup on 160 with this antenna?! That would be so cool, though prob not realistic. Not too many people have setups for 160. Who knows, this could change everything.
@@hamradiotube I'll keep you advised. Only thing is 160 is primarily a nighttime band so POTA probably wont be an option for me down here. I do have one park that doesn't close the gates and already got permission to come there after hours from the wonderful ranger that stays there..lol
Get the coils off dead bottom with an extender or two or three. It may work better or maybe not. 160 is a hard band!
I've got the center loaded rod things they sell. I'm not sure they'd support it all that well though. Something to thing about.
Watch out for the killer inbreds that roam dem woods!
Use three coils for 472
And four coils on 136!
Did he say “hhwhip!”?
would the second tap even be required ?
Ohh yes. For this it would. 80 meters no.
Fun stuff, who cares if you didn't work all of Europe 😁the point is to try things and see what happens.
How many hams does it take to screw in a coil?
You gonna tell us or you gonna keep everyone guessing?
Missed opportunity - you should have started this video out like Mythbusters.
Excellent video, horrible Tshirt MrAPRS Hater!!! 😂😂😂
It’s strictly for trolling purposes of course.
@@hamradiotube I know, I think I know you pretty well
By now hahaha. I agree with you 99.999.999% of the time except APRS hahahaha. But hey, keep the trolling coming, I love it
Dillon, you son of a 🤬 Awesome job!
Now GET TO THE CHOPPA!!
It's cool enough :DDD
Did you try any SSB on 160m with the Double WRC???
No I didn't. Maybe next time.
ARRL 160 contest Dec 1.
A kid did this experiment in a video already. You've seen it right? 😂
you can stack ham sticks up.. so 1 day i put 4 40m antennas stacked up and it tuned...
lol that's awesome!
Alright... Now I'm curious. Could you tune up a 20m wire with a single WRC. Or a 40m wire... Going to have to do some testing!
The higher frequencies are easy. The 17' hwip I was using will tune 20-6 meters without the coil at all. ~17' is a resonant quarter wave on 20 already. All you have to do is shorten it for the higher frequencies. Add a little bit of the coil and you're on 40 meters. It's when we go lower in frequency that we need to either add longer wires, or inductance. You absolutely can tune 20 and 40 with a shorter whip (or wire if you want) and WRC sells them that way. The stock WRC Silver Bullet 1000 comes with a 109" whip I feel.? About half the length of the one I was using in this video. The issues with the lower frequencies has to do with the physical length of radiating element needed to use to be resonant. By loading with inductance (a coil in this case) we are electrically making it longer while maintaining a relatively small footprint. But at the expense of efficiency. So technically I could add even more coil and a shorter whip and it will tune, but efficiency is going to be so low it wouldn't even be worth it. An even longer radiating element but with only 1 coil would be more efficient. I want to try a long wire with just one coil and see what happens. The bottom line is, the less loading you need to do, and the longer radiating element you have, the better. But, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Hope that helps.
@@hamradiotubesorry, I should've been a little clearer. I want to try attaching a 66ft or 131ft long wire and tune to the 160m band.
BUT, I appreciate your detailed reply.
@@sockeatinggolden8316 Doh!! All that typing for nothing lol!! Yes, I want to try that too. And I'm sure it'll work even better.
@@hamradiotube all good info for anyone new coming into the comments though!
My thought is rooted in trying to add bands for the N1CC award. I have a single WRC coil, BUT also EFHW wires for 40m and 80m.
Hey next time, forget the radials and just use the hardware on your wrist. 😅 Good amateur radio test.
AutoBots Transform!
And roll out!!
Next step 160m EFHW?
Good lord that's a big antenna. I like the challenge.
Excuse me while I Hwhip this out.
It ain't stupid if it works lol.
Yeah but I'm still stoopid
@@hamradiotube hahaha
* African-American Friday
Ok, how about some more crazy talk. If two coils got you on the 160m band at high Q, would three coils widen that out some or across the whole band?
Oh no. 3 coils would not help at all. The more loading you do, the worse. By far. Now if I were to connect a longer radiating element such as a 50' wire, and I'm just throwing out a random figure, I may not have to use the second coil at all, and that would (maybe) widen the band width. That's something I'm thinking about as a follow up to this.
When 2200m?
😂
I think I need a few more coils lol!!
If you're having fun, is it stupid?--------N O P E ! 73 de K6ZTM.
Hi Mike,
Kudos 160m actually worked. 🙂 Glad we made that 20m POTA contact today on our birthdays. Had to make a pharmacy run and missed you on 10m. Would have been nice to have two bands during your twofer. Stay safe. 73 WJ3U
Heck yeah Don. Happy Birthday to us!! I never got on 10 so you didn't miss anything.