Increasing the Range of your Baofeng UV-5R With a Counterpoise - TheSmokinApe
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- In this video we discuss how you can increase the range of your Baofeng UV-5R Ham Radio (or a; yeasu, icom or wouxun) with a counterpoise, or and HT for that matter. This will increase your TX and RX..
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TheSmokinApe
You gotta stop saying “get yourself a nice cold one” before your videos. I watched 10 videos in a row and I’m fucking wasted.
This might be the best comment I have gotten 👍🍻
Hi i wonder if you can help me out on this. I have 2 units baofeng UV-5R i bought online. 1 set audio is very clear and another set had lots of noise. Please advice what could be the problem? Distant, i am only using is at home between rooms.greatly appreciate your help Thank you
errand yapkengheng I’d test each antenna both. If that doesn’t fix it, I’d just buy a new baofeng or warranty it.
CZcams, I come for the videos but stay for the comments
I come for the knowledge, stay for the enablemetnetalja
This works but you only improved the 2 meter band, not UHF. Use a piece of speaker wire instead. Cut one of the leads to your 19.5 inches for VHF and the other lead to 5.5 inches for a UHF counterpoise. Leave them stuck together, no need to peel the two leads apart from one another. When you change bands, the RF will "ignore" the non-resonant lead and use the one most resonant on that band. My own testing with a ham friend on simplex showed about a full S unit gain which is approximately 6db. This is equal to doubling your RF power. Not bad for a few cents worth of wire.
That’s a pretty good tip, thanks 👍
Do I join both wires into the same clamp and screw them down together with the same screw to the HT body?
@@darezi @Darezi Speaker wire is two parallel stranded wire bundles enclosed in common insulation. Cut a piece to 19.5 inches. On one end you attach a ring connector to both strands. At the opposite end you cut just one wire bundle to 5.5 inches length and peel the excess wire away. It will look like something like this:
O=====--------------
So there is only one end to attach to the radio.
Hope this helps.
73,
John - KK7JBZ
@@johnbauman4005 Thx! I'll try it out.
@@johnbauman4005having trouble with the instruction any chance of doing a video ❓
I've been a signaling officer for more than ten years, we did this on smaller radios all the time in the military. Great to see you use it too! 👍
Thanks man! I appreciate the comment 👍
4 years later and CZcams serves this up to me. Nice work Ape 👍
Lol
I have tested the rat tail within my own city with 4 ham guys, all more experienced than me. One person registered 2 S unit increase about 25km away from me. Another person 28km away from me could not hear me with my ruby ducky baofeng UV-5R antenna unless I added the rat tail and he registered s2 or 2 S unit increase as well. It is real and works great.
That’s awesome, glad to hear it worked for you! 👍
Back in the day, one of the elder operators in my first ham radio club showed us this. He was an extra-class and knew his stuff and was considered to be by everyone in the area as an expert in home-brewed antennas.
Thanks for the comment!
The counterpoise is more commonly known as a Tiger Tail. As you know, it's 234/f - 5% = the length of the counterpoise. I just put mine between my SMA male and the radio on my FT-60. Having an aluminum body is an advantage. You are essentially making a vertical dipole. By holding the counterpoise in the direction you want to talk, it actually has some directivity as an L shape. It would only become a grounding element if it were on the ground. That would make it a vertical antenna with reflective radials. Good video...
Glad you liked it, thanks for the comment and the info!
I've been reading about this very same technique since before I got my first "Ham" license in 1993!
And yes, it does help!
Thanks for the comment 👍
This is the kind of youtubers that need more respect he has reactions to almost all his comments
Thanks Rocketman, I try to get to them all but it’s difficult. Thanks for watching 👍
@@TheSmokinApe yes sir I understand! Lot of work I appreciate it!
I known about this for years but you still impressed me by connecting it the way you did.
Glad you liked it, thanks for watching 👍
They do work good. I always go to the base of the RF connector though. In the BNC days we would use the 25amp alligator clips and 18ga wire. On a portable a quarter wave whip and quarter wave ground plane is about as good as it gets on highband (VHF) while maintaining portability. There is lots of false advertising in portable antennas - just adding this little wire will add performance and save you money. Thanks for sharing !
Thanks for the heads up and the tip. I am trying to come up with a test in a follow up video...
Yes you're right! I have picked up so many truckies, tradesman etc.
Agreed! Even if it doesn't work, it's such a cheap mod that it doesn't hurt to try!
+OH8STN SurvivalTech Nord Right, it doesn't hurt to try...
Anybody who starts off a video by cracking a cold one ROCKS.
+SgtBooker44 Haha, thanks Sgt!
I had to pause and run over to Maverick to get 12 cold ones (in case the first evaporates) and then play the video!!
SgtBooker44 😂😂😂
Worked great for me, was able to receive but not transmit. Folks told me about this in the "blind" over the radio. I put it on and was able to transmit perfectly! This worked for our group! Great video!
Glad it worked out for you 👍
This is a classic modification and great to see!
I did this to my venerable old Radio Shack HTX-202 back in the day when another ham mentioned it.
Yes a before/after comparison would be cool to see.
Yeah, I should have done the before and after. Maybe some day... thanks for watching Mike 👍
Thanks for the tip. Worked on my radio just fine.
Glad to hear it!
Awesome, going to do this with mine. I've also realized that if you grab the tip of the stock antenna with two fingers a bunch of noise goes away and signal comes in clearer.
Never tried that, thanks for watching!
Makes perfect sense.
A little trivia: Back in the 70's and so Motorola HT's had a metal surface around the frame of the radio that you'd end up grabbing to hold the radio. Thus counter poise. As radio's evolved, so did plastic cases. Never could figure that out
Hey Dave, thanks for the trivia 👍
It worked wonders on RX, I haven't got to testing the TX range so far, work has been crazy.
Glad to hear you had positive results
If you make a "Sping" connector (solder a ring terminal to a spade connector), you can then change tails in the space of a couple of seconds - unplug the 2M tail and plug in the 70cm without having to fumble out with a screwdriver (and risk dropping/losing the screw).
Or you can have a 17cm tail ring terminalled to the radio (for 70cm use) but with a spade on the end of the tail, so you can plug in the "extender" for 2 Metres (an extras 35cm or so)
Both save a lot of time and obviate the need to carry a screwdriver or risk losing the case screw.
Thats a great idea, thanks for sharing 👍
Nice to see somebody making their own stuff.... and not trying to sell the next great thing.
Glad you liked the video, thanks for watching 👍
That's a good video, but... I made a tiger tail and by using a larger end ring, it fits on the antenna port nicely. Simple, durable and effective. It's also called a tiger tail. By using the tiger tail, you can give it slight directivity by pointing it in the direction of TX. This is the first time I've ever seen one mounted to the back of the radio.
Nice tip about the directionality 👍
Was recently introduced to radios and I find your channel really educational. With threats of the "big one" and other calamities, I believe radios will relieve its helpful role in the future. Many thanks and please continue making these videos..
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. Glad you like the videos, I have slowed down a little bit but there are many more to come.
Great ! Now I just need to take the exam and pass it to have my license and a cold one with it.
What ever you do, don’t forget the cold one... good luck with the test. Thanks for watching!
John Renz Caballero I have several of them that I use for FRS and GMRS why bother?
@@Radionut Well in my country. They don't allowed GMRS & FRS. I live in the Philippines.
I tried a 16cm one for PMR and what a difference. I only bought a pair of UV-5R's recently mistakenly believing they were just better quality walkie talkies...doh! However they have sparked my interest in ham radio. I still have the OEM rubber ducks fitted but a pair of Nagoya 771's are on the way. I have read the OEM antenna are pretty bad so I was rooting about on the net and read about counterpoints. Before fitting them the radios were simply short range walkie talkies but after fitting they came alive. I have been receiving extremely clear transmissions from all around me for a distance of over 20 miles!!!! No I'm not kidding. Admittedly the best one was in a pretty elevated position on moorland in West Yorkshire (I'm situated West of Manchester UK on flat peat farmland). He was transmitting from Holme Moss near Holmfirth where the BBC TV mast is located. He was talking to others in Runcorn, Cheshire, Bolton in Lancashire and Eccles some five miles East of me. I ask for a radio test, admittedly at high power in frequency mode and he reported 3/9. I am very impressed a piece if wire can do that. I went into channel mode and reception was still as clear but my transmission was barely readable. Given the distance (20+ miles) that did not surprise me. However it did transmit the five miles to Eccles though not very clearly. These are great little radios but illegal as PMR's in the UK without a licence. However I am going to take the Foundation course and test as it has sparked an interest in this old codger. Who knows? I may well get deeply into it and invest in a decent base station. Something else for my wife to moan at me about other than my collection of rifles, csmeras and all my time messing with computers and electronics. A man has to have a hobby or two, or three or four or......😄
That's awesome, good luck on the test!
Just curious is all.. but what frequencies were you dialed in on while using them as "walkie talkies" ? :)
@@bradskis81 Europe's PMR446...
Great video... many people do not consider tying their systems to 'earth' ground.
Base stations are often grounded to the chassis of the radios thru the power connector so it would make sense to help your portable to tie it's ground to earth as well.
I would see no problem with a longer, thinner wire cable ( not solid wire ) and possibly a long spike nail on the end to stomp in the ground if your out of the buildings. Many ways to pick up the safety ground in buildings instead of the 'common'.
Since it is not supposed to actually be using the connection for heavy current travel, you could probably put a 10k to 1 meg resistor in the middle to give you a little more protection ' in case'. I'd have to try it out and see what I was getting both ways and pick the best performance.. but keep safety in mind.
Base stations are usually grounded through a bus to a grounding braid or heavy wire connected to either metal plumbing or a ground rod. Yes, I fasten grounding braid to a screw on the back of the radio.
Wow, I didn't know! Thanks for the info--short and easy to follow, easier to do!
👍
I made a wrist strap (paracord with a wire inside), attached to the radio's strap buckle (see manual) with one end of the wire then connected to the belt clip screw. To reduce the length of the wire/paracord (wrist strap size), I wrapped the paracord to make a coil with the free end of the wire cut before it enters the coil. All effectively the same as this video, just cleaner looking and less cumbersome. Can even adjust the wrist strap (beads, etc - just like a regular strap) to fit better around my wrist. Since it's functional (and "pretty"), not all that important whether it improves performance or not (darn hard to tell).
Sounds like an interesting idea 👍
Great video! The wire does actually work cuz it works off theory of a ground plane antenna. Will definitely help you on your receive side! Please don't pick a part this man's videos so much! I think you did an excellent job! You never said you was a technician
Thanks, glad you liked it 👍
I like your video, and adding a ground plane is a decent way to improve the range of these Baofeng sets.
The wave thing on your tester is the diode check, and that wave represents that it will make a tone when the probes are shorted. It will actually make a short time on a diode.
The wire trick should work on UHF too, but would work better if shortened for UHF.
Aside from that, all good.
Great comment, thanks. Glad you liked the video!
This does work, if it did not, the whole quarter-wave antenna theory would collapse...I liked how you lovingly name your talkies 🙂
It does work, and it still is in line with the 1/4 wave theory as you are improving it's grounding.
@@TheSmokinApe Yep, science and HAM radio...still standing tall, thanks a ton! 🙂
Never thought about putting a counterpoise on a handheld, but it makes sense that it would help a little. Good video!
Thanks man, glad you liked it...
Hi I accidentally made mine 16 inches. Thin wire not coax, but my fm radio reception was clear while my son's was scratchy! I'm gonna change my rats tail.i have subbed and everytime I see a recommendation and I see smoking ape! I think of myself lol. Hairy and a chain smoker. Love your vids! Very informative! Cheers from Australia
Thanks man, glad you like the videos!
Thank you for an intersting and useful set of information. Stay safe. ATB. Nigel
Thanks for watching BP 👍
No FN way! There’s a few 5/8 wave antennas on the market. But the problem is you need a death grip on the radio to make them out perform a 1/2 wave. You just gave me an idea to make a single tape measure radial that centers on the 2 belt clip screws for a range lord radio.
As soon as you cracked that beer I had to hit the like
Haha, thanks Garrett 👍
Tram 1185. We take the antenna off the mag mount. Cut a stainless steel welding rod down to the frequency your using. I get 10-12 miles with this setup. Which is all I need.
Tried it.. now I receive daleks on A and cybermen on B. Kidding.. great idea man.
Good stuff!
@@TheSmokinApe we have an issue in the uk.. the issue is that our repeaters are all dmr which I believe is digital and these radios(uv5 f8 etc) are analogue... we do have some lone wolf's who have setup independent repeaters which they charge around £10.00 a year from supporters for costs but because they are independent there's not many of them.. closest to me is Shipley, around 2 miles from Bronte Country which is over the hill from me so there a dip and a brow.. so overall I'm around 7 miles away from the Shipley repeater..but being extremely hilly I can't connect.. baofeng do have a dmr5 which I might try.
I believe the word you were trying to retrieve was Imperial! :) Metric or Imperial measurements. Very, very cool vid! It is certainly worth trying; for ninety cents and about 30 seconds, sign me up.
That was it 👍
I remember this trick back somewhere back in 80's from a neighbor played with CB RADIOS I didn't really understand but know I do. Thanks for the information...
Glad you liked it, thanks for watching 👍
Yeah I have done this to 2 radios
Still up in the air on them. Been on for about a month, now.
BTW, good video. Some people I cant watch, because they ramble and jump too many places off topic. You do not do that.👍👍👍
Dan Horvath thanks man, glad you liked the video 👍
I have been looking for an easy method to increase receive ability, I will certainly give this a try.
Thank. YOU
Good luck with it Lincoln 👍
I have the same multimeter! It was the best digital multimeter Wal-Mart had...
Haha, I’m actually on my second 👍
@@TheSmokinApe nice.
If you want the math on how to find a quarter wavelength it is: 234/f or in this case it is 234/146= 1.6' x 12"=19.2"
would be cool to do real world field test using a good quality mobile with a good S meter like a Kenwood TM 281 for the receiving end. I may just try it and put the argument to bed.
That would be a good way to do it...
This is KO4DNA. Just got my license last week and am likely the first Kansan to pass online through new england sci-tech, though i live in florida. Good video. I say leave no stone upturned. I was trying to find out what would happen if i got an adapter for sma female to coaxial and wonder what the result would be with so many tv antenna's laying around. ....then i stumbled on your video. mine is a prepper channel. take care, boss.
Conundrum Contingencies Hey, congratulations on passing the test 👍 a TV antenna likely wouldn’t be resonate on the ham bands and would be RX only
How about a legitimate Power/range Test with, then without the rat tail ? Now that would be a video worth watching :)
I agree. We want the smokin facts, quit monkeying around with us!
czcams.com/video/34Ig3X59_qA/video.html he made one recently
@@dragonfireproductions790 Woah I am really surprised by these results thanks.
@@dragonfireproductions790 obviously biased results, he didn't do proper testing
I just got rolled in May 2021 lol
Very cool! Thanks.
Glad you liked it.
I just use stranded copper wire and wrap it around the antenna post, then screw the antenna down. Very easy, works great.
Thanks for the info!
you missed a huge opportunity to say "one feng, two feng, red feng, blue feng."
Haha!
Bao Thing ✌😷 i got one
@@jfrtbikgkdhjbeep9974 lol
0:48 "it is more about the antenna then it is the radio"
Correct, but the radio has to create a good signal (right frequency, good modulation, low spurious emissions) that is transmitted. And it should have a good selectivity, so that nearby strong signals don't drown out the weak signals you may be interested in. And it should have a good sensitivity that enables you to receive the weak signals in the first place.
1:08 "when you have a radio like this, it doesn't ground with the earth, right?"
It doesn't need to ground with the earth. Think about the radios in airplanes, the international space station, television satellites or even space probes (Voyager 1 + 2). They all have working radios without a connection to the earth.
1:28 "The purpose of a counterpoise is to simulate a groundplane or to create a groundplane in the event you actually can't ground your negative charge or your radio to the earth" ...
The simplest antenna you can use is the dipole, two pieces of wire where you move some electric charges around. To do this, you have the transmitter that applies a alternating current to it.
You can attach a dipole antenna to a handheld radio, but the physical construction would look weird and it would not be that practical. So one half of the dipole was removed, some people call this a monopole antenna... but that name is misleading, there are no antennas with only one pole. The other half of the antenna wasn't removed, it is now just something else. It is a combination of the case of the handheld radio and the person holding it (capacitively coupled to the hand holding it). This works completely without any connection to the earth.
Also because of this alternating current you can't talk about a negative charge. Half of the time it is a positive charge!
1:53 "or it could be that you have your station set up in an area with rocky soil"
With the VHF/UHF on a handheld radio, the soil is irrelevant. You may have some reflections from it, but you have reflections from buildings, airplanes and other things too. And with a handheld radio you don't use the earth as a part of the antenna.
2:40 "you want to attach it to the negative portion of your antenna"
Alternating current, there is no negative portion of a antenna. It changes between positive and negative.
3:10 continuity test with a multimeter
The continuity test checks only if there is a low resistance path for direct current, but not for a 145 MHz alternating current. You just have luck that the baofeng has a metal case under its plastic and that screw has probably a fairly low impedance to it. If there were such a nice screw on the battery, you would probably find a DC path to it with the continuity tester. But think of the inductance that may be present on the way to a screw on a battery. It is common practice to add a filter to the power-lines to make sure that no RF can enter or exit the radio this way.
5:52 "there are some people on youtube that claim these things don't work at all and there are other people that claim that they work great adding 12 dB of gain to your antenna. Well I don't necessarily believe that to be true."
This would be too good to be true... And if something is too good to be true, then it isn't true.
6:15 "I played around with this and I think I notice a difference, but at the same time when I move 2 or 3 feet to the left or to the right my radio performs better"
With VHF/UHF you have a lot of reflections causing constructive and destructive interference. This results in hot-spots with high signal strength and cold-spots with no signal strength. If the other station is transmitting, search the position where the radio reception is good and stay at this position for transmit. This is the most effective way to use a compact handheld radio.
There is no best antenna, there is one for every use-case. Normal antennas for handheld radios have as primary feature the small size, many are fairly bad antennas, but that is OK.
If you want something better, get a HB9CV or a Yagi-Uda antenna or something like this: www.qsl.net/wb3gck/jpole.htm
Thanks for the breakdown and feedback.
Zvpunry sounds like you have alot of knowledge in this area
ZVPUNRY:: good break down but i hope you spent all that time typing all that up with good intentions and not to be a smart ass haha
Is there a book on HF transceivers and antennas that you would recommend? I like to buy books that are good for SHTF, because if it really was SHTF the internet would likely be less than useful.
worth a try. I use my UV-5R backpacking in the side of backpack with speaker mic. I work both bands so will try 2 meter one, I do have 42in abbree antenna but only use it when at fixed location like a picnet table. 73/s
Yeah, no kidding...
Antennas help for sure, but if you have a crazy 6 foot antenna it’s only gonna work as well as the radio allows it to. If you have a 1 to 5 W radio, you can only put smaller antennas on it, a longer one is just a waste of space. 10-20W will allow longer antennas to work to full capacity
most of those radios are junk.. But even with junk sometimes everyone shows up sober and does a good job on that day and you get a couple of good products.. Me.. I will never own another one even if someone tried to give it to me.. But thanks for the information.. this was a good video.. and good ideas..
Thanks man, I appreciate and understand the perspective. Thanks for watching 👍
@@TheSmokinApe No prob.. I did enjoy it.. I will have to check out a few more of your videos later in the week,
Let me know what you think 👍
@@TheSmokinApe 10/4
A counterpoise has nothing to do with earth ground. To preform well an antenna needs to be 1/2 wavelength long dipole. HT antennas are 1/4 wave long monopole (so are automobile antennas). A counter poise adds the other 1/4 wave length to create a half wave dipole.
I’d agree
@@TheSmokinApe You'd agree.. But???
Graham a counterpoise isn’t an Earth ground and a dipole is better than a “monopole”
What you do with a counterpoise is adding a significant amount of conductive mass to the circuit that given the small currents used, simulates ground. Of course, grounding it for real would be better but this is good enough for a handheld radio.
VERY LOGICAL THE EXPLANATION THAT CABLE COMPLETES THE EARTH PLANE AND MAKES THE ANTENNA 1/2 WAVE AND MUCH IMPROVES ITS RX
Took a DAK shortwave 30 years ago. Grounded the chassis to the house electrical circuit ground. Picked up every station in the realm..
👍
I'm going to try your suggestion. But what I also did was that on amazon I purchased a auto rear antenna from a taxi and Jimmy rigged it to my UV-82 and I live in Boston. Now I can reach all the way to Connecticut with my radio. But still going to try to ground it like u said too see! No beers for me, Thank you, cause I quit drinking yrs ago. I'm a Angry Drunk when I drink plus I like to go smashing things when I'm drunk. What I smach I crunch. I'm a big Dude! Nevermind the baofeng! Love, Peace, and Hairgrease I'm out!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out the video Gino!
“Non metric” is called “IMPERIAL” 🍻
Correct! Thanks for watching 101
Nice one bud in the military (UK) we called would have called this a trailing wire :)
Thanks man!
Thanks for the video ! fNitpicking but lower the intro volume and raise your speaking levels
Thanks for the feedback 👍
The counterpoise to a monopole antenna should look like a flat sheet - the missing half of the dipole appears if you imagine this sheet to be a mirror. Your counterpoise looks more like the other half of the dipole itself. You're even measuring it to match. Since it's driven by an unbalanced co-ax feed it should have a balun. Of course there are many other variables so these things are rarely predictable. Have you tried using a balun?
No, I haven’t tried a balun with that particular setup.
[Blast from the past]
At some point, adding a 1/4 wave dangly wire turns your 1/4 wave vertical into a 1/2 wave vertical.
Yep. Thanks for checking it out Lee 👍
Brute force dosen't do squat. most of your power is used to form the signal. On 10 watts (6meters) I talked to fort Hood Texas. From plumbrook a( NASA site in North ohio. On only 10 watts ) the antenna was pulled from it pack and assembled. (Taller than me) it too had a counter poise. Yes your tail is good work. I went to south eastern signal school and learned a lot. 73 de kv4li
Oh ! For got to tell the rig was a lowly wait for it.... PRC-25 BACKPACK RADIO POPULAR IN NAM ...WHAT A PERFORMER. TA DA .
Thanks for the story, glad you liked the video 👍
also, how you hold the HT makes a difference, have you ever noticed the feeling like the negative battery terminal is getting warm when your keying up? that's the RF energy lol, now it's trying to use us as a ground plane and I don't know how good a ground plane a person makes but I haven't noticed any noticeable positive or negative effects from holding the radio with the contacts against my palm or not holding it that way, I guess if it as a adverse affect the contacts would be placed differently.
your right about the wire giving a ground plane, the gains are very small but do exist, one thing I did note from your video was you actually pointed out the length of the wire is cut to suit, I've seen so many other videos that just advocate chucking on any old length of wire which is not the way to tune!, I wonder if we could get a pl259 to SMA so the HT whip can be used in the test, maybe we could rig the whole thing up to a swr meter and play with lengths and see what happens, maybe that's another video for you!!
I use the uv-82's I love the dual PTT buttons and one big winner for me is that the 0 button is in the right place on the 82!
Steve Fox Great post, even the angle of the antenna matters. I habe felt it get hot but thought it was the battery, good observation!
I reciently got an 82 but haven't taken it out of the box yet, I am planning to do a review at some point.
Thanks for watching and the comment!
I like a nice cold one. I also like my beofeng uv5r. Nice!
floppinfish Thanks man!
TheSmokinApe oh I forgot to say this was a great video. Keep up the good work.
floppinfish thanks man, glad you liked it! I appreciate the feedback.
Though that mod will help a bit (just as it does for any hand held using the included antenna) you're actually better off purchasing a better antenna. Make sure it's a duo band to match the radio. You can even get a small mag mount & a cheap pie tin and you'll have even far better reception & transmission capabilities. Just some info from a long time ham.
ol greybeard dino
; - ) >
Totally agree about the antenna, thanks for the comment...
Dont have an issue with drinking but IMHO it doesn't increase the credibility of the vid. Also
I heard that 468 is the divisible figure but I could be wrong about that.
Good video, the mounting to the belt clip is interesting. Practical. Have wondered about the db increase also. Will have to research but I have plenty of scrap parts to make one. So...I'm gonna.
Good luck with the project 👍
I'm back as I tested more antennas and the counterpoise is the best.on uniden auto antenna? Yeah baby.
Haha
*me, holding the beer i just grabbed to watch this video
"Grab yourself a nice cold one and come on back"
were on the same wave length
Haha, thanks for watching 👍
What you are actually doing is changing the loaded quarter wave antenna into a half wave dipole. If you really want improve it even more get rid of the little rubber pos and get a 19 inch antenna with the matching connector for the radio.
Seems like more of a counterpoise than a one sided loaded dipole, but I see your point. What would be the problem with adding a counterpoise to the 19” antenna?
There is no problem adding the 19 in wire if you use a 19 in antenna. Think of the "counterpoise" as one radial of a groundplane antenna. A half wavelength at 145 MHz is about 38 inches. A half wave center fed dipole would, therefore be about that long. By adding the "counterpoise" you are essentially creating a half wave vertical dipole. The antenna that comes with almost all handhelds is a pretty awful antenna. First, it is shortened by using inductance and/or capacitance to "fool" the output stage of the radio into thinking it is working into a 50 ohm load. Second, because of that "trick" the bandwidth where the swr is acceptable is quite narrow. Third, the antenna needs an "image" (a "counterpoise") of itself to work efficiently. That image is totally random--a crap shoot--depending on the environment you're in at the time. If you change the antenna to a real quarter wavelength (19 in) and add the "other side" of the dipole (the counterpoise) you provide a much better image. It's still not perfect because of the nature of the beast--i.e. a handheld device with proximity to whatever environment it is in at the time--but it's one helluva lot better than that pos antenna that comes with the radio.
YES... I use a Diamond 77 series on my FT-60. It does great.
The Miller Lite of radios
MGD bro...
this will absolutely help
Thanks for checking it out Fred!
Whisper continuity in my ear one more time
It’s gonna cost ya!
Your feng looks good and solid!
Thanks man 👍
I want to say THANK YOU!
I get so tired of people saying how sorry the Baofeng products are. Don’t y’all?
Can you imagine doin this (experiment) on a $400-$500 Yeasu or KENWOOD handheld??
My point is the Baofeng costs less than $20 for these models nowadays.
Take a look inside! That radio wasn’t made down the street at some welding shop with Billy Bob at the welding machine!
No offense Billy Bob. You have to learn too!
Soooo. Use the Baofeng radios for practice runs and expand on using your high dollar rigs later. I just don’t have that much money to waste. Makes sense to me.
Oh yes. I know the complaints on the Baofeng radios are concerning frequency tolerances, etc. I am an old old ham operator and electronics guy. I can tell you that I am not EVER looking to lose my license by deliberately doing so stupid.
Well, after all. This is called “ham radio” for a reason. Remember how you learned to work on rigs, build radios and other useful circuits and projects? As much as I hate to say it, my eyes aren’t very good at 70 y.o. So I don’t want to ruin my expensive rigs. Oh well. Enough of me complaining. I love the Baofeng products and their accessories. And their price range. Thanks for reading folks. God Bless you and your families. 73’s.
Wesley Kicker Glad you liked the video and thanks for watching 👍
I’ve noticed better reception if I touch the screws on the back of the radio. I am counterpoise!
Lol
Yes, it is called capacitve coupling and you are in fact acting as the counterpoise.
Nice job but two things to consider, the symbol on the meter is for a sound wave, (audio out on a short) and the counterpoise wire is best if you reduce the length by the distance from the base of the antenna to the screw to keep at the frequency you want it tuned at.
Thanks for the comment!
HOLY SHIT THIS HELPED ME SO MUCH WOW!!!!!
We did that to the Radio Shack 202s and 404s years a go.
wasnt thinking. the tail needs to be as close to the antenna as possible and sandwich underneath works well.. the scews as the video shows are too far away for my 477mhz setup ive used a bit of high tensile tie wire as it is very durable and will bend to where you want it
I don't think that it matters on 477mhz so long as you trim the length of the counterpoise a little
How about telling us the size used Ring Connector used and any other pertinent info. TIA
The radios chassis and your body is normally the counterpoise on a handheld.
If you do this it may or may not help much. I suspect that it's effectiveness is going to depend on the frequency youre using it on
I think I agree with that. Thanks for commenting.
Made one for 70cm...did 0.7/4)
Thanks!
Nice 👍
I use a J-pole as my antenna for my Baofeng.
Wise choice 👍
Damn, wish I could. I just use an antenna for my antenna, 😱
I made mine about 5yrs ago there used to be commercial version called the tiger tail, they really work good. if you add a longer flexable whip and get even more range. 73 ki0ad/jim
I have heard of those James but have never seen one in person, thanks for watching 👍
Yep.. 1 db gain is likely. To get 12 db gain over the H-T antenna you would have to put a 15' triple stacked 5/8 wave vertical w/ a 4-radial ground plane... or a 10 element Yagi... That would come close to 12 db gain, though either might prove a little unwieldy when getting into and out of your vehicle. Anyone that claims 12 db gain by adding the counterpoise learned to calculate decibels-of-gain estimates from the current President.
If I got a cold one during the beginning does that count as opening a cold one with the boys?
+Sam DeRenzi Of course!
or if you drink it in a chevy, you ARE a girl!
you had me at cold one! lol
Haha, thanks for watching
feeling good
Cúc Nguyễn nice 👍
i wondered if any one else was doing this. this is equivelent to a radial on a ground plane. the length and angle are crutial to the improvement especially the length my antenna had an swr of 3 to 1. with the radial it came down to 1.3 to 1 and an improvement of more than 2 s points this was at 477mhz.. different length antennas will need a radial [tail] with a different length/angel combination and the results will vary.. the radio now runs cooler and battery life has improved.
steve frost as long as there is continuity I thought the screw mount work. When connecting to the antenna base I didn't feel the connection was secure.
50CM is 19-11/16INCHES , thats Nineteen and eleven sixteenths Inches. But what we want to know is ??? from the end of the wire to the terminal connector ..... where did you measure ? to the far end of the T C or to the middle of the T C , Where ??
Excellent info! Thanks!
Thanks man!
VERY informative. Thanks.
Antonis Xenos glad you liked it 👍
give it a "tray" :)
Right!
Thank you
No prob 👍
Great video! Thank you Sir! I''ll give it ah try
Glad you liked it!
Do Nagoya 771R’s overload Baofeng uv-5r’s? Mine works worse then my stock rubber antenna(and it’s a legit one)
Why is every third ham operator from Pennsylvania? Is it my imagination? I don't THINK so.
Big state?
Big preppers I'm thinking. You just know that Ben Franklin would have been a ham.
incaroads 👍
Just received my UV-5 as a gift from my neighbor for watching his pup for a week. So that 2 more PA Hams in the making. Can't wait to fab some rat tails and turn him on to smoking ape coolness.
cool going to give this a shot
+unclecow Good luck with it, let me know how it turns out...