Shark HF Stick Mobile Hamstick Antenna Review - Ham Radio Q&A
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- čas přidán 13. 07. 2024
- Shark Antennas Hamsticks are mono band HF antennas that consist of a fiberglass mast with integrated coil and 48 inch stainless steel whip. In this video I review the 10, 15, 20, 40, and 75 meter Shark Hamsticks and give a solution on how to fix the poor SWR of the 40 meter Shark Hamstick.
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Today we’re going to talk about the Shark Distributing HF stick antennas. If you follow the Parks on the Air activities, you’ll find that the Shark sticks are a popular choice with activators for their performance and convenience. So we’re going to take a look at these antennas so you can decide if you want to add them to your antenna arsenal. In full disclosure, I purchased a set of Shark Sticks with my own funds and the content of this review has not been influenced by the manufacturer. According to the manufacturer, The Shark Single Band Antennas Represent an Economical Solution to Mobile HF Operation. Each American Made Antenna covers a Single HF Band with a Power Rating of 250 Watts P.E.P.
#SharkAntenna #Hamstick #HFmobile - Věda a technologie
Get rid of the allen screws and get 'thumb screws' at Home Depot...
what size are the thumb screws?
For the 40m a buddy in MO put a braided ground from the mag base to screw in the door frame. SWR came right into low levels.
Thank you for showing the SWR and bandwidth for each of the bands! I bought a 20M S-F20 antenna and the product stats I found online said 150kHz for 2:1 bandwidth. I measured with two antenna analyzers and the SWR meter in my radio and they all said more like 500kHz as you said. Almost seemed too good but glad to see that verified.
I can always depend on your channel to be very informative and hit all my questions on a particular topic. Thanks for the great video!
Michael . I have been using similar antennas with good success . If you check 80 and 40 you'll find that the low swr is not at the resonant point . Adding a small coil at the feed point will cancel the capacitance due to short antenna length . 7 turns #12 wire
1" long and 1 dia. will get you almost perfect swr at the resonant point . Also there should be no more than 3" of whip inside the mast . Good luck and enjoy .
Each vehicle and mount installation could vary, but surprisingly my magnet mounted 10, 15, 30, and 75 meter Shark sticks do measure 0 reactance (resonant) at their tuned frequency. My 20 meter stick measures 13 ohms of reactance, and my 40 meter stick measures 9 ohms of reactance.
Very interesting, this was not on my radar, thanks for bringing it to my attention.
I have the MFJ hamsticks and have had similar results. Nice review.
Hi Michael,
I have several of the MFJ Hamtennas, which are very similar to the Shark Hamsticks. Starting having difficulty with the setscrews and changed them out for Phillips head screws. Now I can lock down the whip without fear of rounding out the setscrew. My SWR is similar to your results, but haven't used them mobile yet. I intend to purchase the three magnet mount as I want to get started with POTA. Have enjoyed watching many of your videos. You and the family stay safe. 73 WJ3U
The 6m shark stick (x2) was (and still use) my ticket to get into 6m. I tuned them with my antenna analyzer and got fantastic SWR on the frequencies I would use. And one day out of curiosity, I wanted to know what other bands this antenna would be resonant at. And works fantastic on 2m as well!
I got some of these, the 20 and 40m, they work really well for portable use. A little too tall to drive around with. I recommend getting the quick disconnects that shark makes, they make it much more convenient for swapping out the antennas. I used the MFJ tri mag mount on my 40m and got the SWR down to 1.25
Just now (October 2022) preparing to dive into POTA activation with "stick" antennas. Your video was well worth the time. As the crowd attests, these things are greatly affected by what's UNDER THEM. I started with a camera tripod and clamp-on 3/8" to SO-259 fixture. Attached 4 "1/4 wave" "radials." Devil's own time trimming the things. The sticks seem happier with a single counterpoise wire per band, at least when mounted on a stationary tripod.
73 de W3GX
After using these antennas more extensively, I've come to really enjoy the Shark Sticks for the fast setup. I've also found the easiest way to eliminate the SWR issue is to add 25 feet of feedline to my coax. I believe the coax in turn acts as a counter poise. I have a video where I use the antennas with great success using that method: czcams.com/video/_dW62v0J6Yw/video.html
I picked up a set of Shark Sticks last summer and noticed many of the same things you mentioned in this video. I found them a bit tricky to tune but once I get them set the way I want them they seem to work pretty well. They are a great value for the money if you are willing to deal with the tuning issues.
a dummy load works better!
I'm having a time with my 40m stick, and glad to hear it's not just me! haha
I have a great results on 40m with the MFJ-909 clicked to 62pf. 1.3 SWR at center.
I have a Shark 10m Stick on my mobile. With a 2 inch cap hat, out of the box on a hard mount, it has under 1.8 SWR from 26.915-29.6. Works great! Comet 840 mount doesn't like 85+mph with it though..
Another viewer commented and I'll echo it, once you get down to 40 meters and lower, one needs to add a Feed Point Matching network to bring the low feed point impedance up to something close to 50 ohms. You do that, and 40, 75/80 meters will come right in on SWR. The old company that made the original HAMSTICK actually sold a Feed Point Matching Coil. I used to run the 40 meter Hamstick on one rear bumper corner and 75 meters on the other. I used RG8 to an A/B Switch in the cab. I had home-brew Feed Point Matching Coils on both of them. Worked great.
Love the videos
I agree with you on the 40m stick. It's a pain to to try to tune it even with an analyzer.
I took my WRC SB1000 TIA setup to Colorado to visit my daughter but left the coil and extendable whip home. I brought my Shark Distributing full size 20 and 40 whips to attach to the WRC base and legs. I also brought my radials with me. I got a 1.13 to 1 on the 20 meter and a 1.18 to 1 on the 40 on the frequencies I wanted to work. I have never gotten them to go that low before. I made contacts with my IC-705 on 10 watts to Florida, Texas and California and with my FT-891 to Arizona and Oregon with the antenna setup just in my daughter's tiny back yard surrounded by houses.
That's great. When the weather warms I'll try the Shark sticks in other configurations. Ground conductivity can factor into antenna performance and the difference in soil types may have been the reason why you got such good SWR
Thanks for the great review Michael. I am just starting my journey with Hf and picked up the 5-pack to dip a toe into the HF bands. I appreciate your thoughts on this antenna(s) and the great advice. 73. WI9RHC Milwaukee.
I have used dipoles and a 3 ele tribander for years. Got hamsticks 4 years ago and use them as verticals, horizontal and vertical dipoles, and multiples on a plate for a multiband wspr station. I have always found them to be within 1 db on both xmit and receive to various Websdrs all over US and Australia against EFHW's , full sized verticals and dipoles and even a Magloop which did poorly. For mobile, base or most anything the Hamsticks are awesome as verts or dipoles. As a vertical they get a bit more noise but just lay it more as a horizontal and be surprised.
Nice job with the experiment and video...this is what amateur radio is all about! Regarding the increased bandwidth using a longer coax...I believe that the losses in the rg8x coax will cause a decrease in measured SWR at the transceiver, giving a false impression that the 2:1 bandwidth and SWR of the antenna itself has improved. Therefore, SWR at the transceiver reflects matching of the entire system (coax and antenna) and therefore provides an approximate (or relative) SWR for the antenna itself.
I don't think so. Even with a 2:1 VSWR, the RF loss in the additional 20 ft. of RG-8X at 7.0 MHz. is only .187 db. 2/10ths of a db is not going to falsely change the measured VSWR from 2:1 all th way down to 1.2:1. Beside that, moving the position of the RF choke up and down the coax dramatically changes the measured VSWR without any change in the total line length.
I installed a Diamond K400 mount on the trunk of my Camry. This had a pronounced positive result on my 30 and 40 meter Shark hamsticks. Prior to the Diamond mount I had significant amounts of stray RF returned to my rig. A 1:1 choke helped but did not eliminate all the stray RF. The Diamond mount is screwed into the bottom of my trunk. This provides a decent ground to the unibody of my Camry. Combined with the 1:1 choke the stray RF problem is gone.
Norman Davis WB4BKO A 20 turn coil about an inch in diameter used as a shunt between ground and antenna feed point. Adjust inductance by tapping and expanding or squeezing coil. Works great and covers over 1/2 of the 40 meter band. Works well on 20 and 17 without further adjustment of the coil. 73
muchas gracias amigo muy buen video
I am very grateful for this review!!
Im shopping around for this type of kit right now♡♡♡
Thank you :)
🤜🏻👍🤛🏻
+10 points.
Appreciate you sharing this video and your thoughts and experiences ! I have several old MFJ Hamsticks sitting in a corner of my basement however unknown which bands. I plan to use my new Rig Expert to determine which bands, then tune as necessary 💫
73 Steve AA4SH
I had trouble tuning my 80 meter Hamstick to phone area until I put it next to my 102" CB/10 meter whip. Whatever reactance, it did the trick. But, when I recently got a 20 meter stick, it is the opposite. Impossible to tune with the other antennas on the car with a center mount, and after moving it around the best I can get is 1.7:1 SWR. Damndest thing.
Michael, thank you for another great video with some great technical detail on these stick antennas. Do you think it would be possible to use the MFJ-347 dipole adapter with one set of these sticks and try to use a somewhat robust antenna tuner like the one on the Xiegu G90 to operate on other bands? If 20 and 40 meters were the primary bands of interest, can you comment on which one set of sticks would be more likely to tune on the other frequency? Thank you for your thoughts.
I've seen some indication that the metal whip part can couple with the coil and cause tuning issues if to much of the wire extends down into the fiberglass part of the antenna. I can't remember if it is capacitance or inductance coupling that occurs. But the solution involved tuning it as best as possible for your chosen frequency then cutting some of the metal whip off the bottom to fine tune the adjustment. I haven't tried this myself as I don't have any hamsticks but I am hoping for some for Christmas. This was just what I read/saw while investigating hamsticks. Hope that helps. 73 W4MKH
if I ever decide to use these mobile, I may tune these for SSB for the 3905 Century Club net frequencies. ideally 3.902 for 75m and around 7.210 for 40m as the early net is around 7.267 and the late net is on 7.198.
Thanks!
Thank you for your support.
Another great video. I'm hoping to try them as a hamstick dipole for a temporary solution, but sounds like at some point I'll want to get something a bit more permanent to get a wider bandwidth.
The bandwidth will be a bit better in a dipole configuration. You may cover the entire 40m band with one, but you will have to pick and choose with 75-80 meters.
I have found the band width of the HF shark sticks very narrow and touchy to tune. Almost impossible to tune them below 2:1:1 if used in a dipole configuration. I can get them down to about 1.3:1 on a standard mag mount with 15ft cable but even stretching out the cable or moving it will change SWR, sometimes more than I would like. MFJ's are easier to tune as dipoles. Also removing excess whip inside the stick after tuning helps the SWR widen out too. To do this I got stainless rod the same diameter of the whips and started cutting about 1" off at a time until I got the best results. at my chosen band portion.
Hi I’m a newbie and would you rather have the WRC mini or the ham sticks for a Tacoma troika? Thank you for your videos!!
I'd like to try the 10M stick for my QRPme QRPp Two Tinned Tunas TX II activities, perhaps even a pair of them as an inverted V or a dipole configuration. I would experiment with elevating it various heights to determine a good compromise for stability and portability for POTA, etc. Some POTA setups are very amenity rich and some are very sparse, so an arsenal of antenna choices and band choices is fun. Back in 1979 as a Novice in extreme NW IL I experimented with a lot of Radio Shack CB antennas as they were cheap to put on 10M with a teenagers farm wages saved up, LOL. I have more fun with Ham Radio when I do hands-on, hence my radios tend to be from old tuna cans, LOL. 72 es 73, Davey - KU9L
I recently purchased the short 40m antenna. I have no problem getting the SWR to almost nothing, even without a tuner. I'm using it as a base station antenna. I have a magmount attached to 2 L-brackets on my backyard fence. By phone I was advised that the counterpoise can be a wire running from the antenna mount down to a rod pounded into the ground. There was a problem with the first copy and the owner of the company was very helpful in trouble shooting and providing a replacement. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if this antenna is 1/4 wave on 40 meters it might be 1/2 wave on 20 meters.
Mike, I bought the set of mini hamsticks and was pleasantly surprised at performance on 20 meters which is all I have tried so far. Long distance contacts to Portugal and Ireland from my QTH in Massachusetts the first time I tried them. Looking forward to using them again and to try on other bands.
I've had very good luck with the 20 meter stick also. I'm waiting for conditions to improve to give the 10 meter one a good workout. Back in the solar cycle peak I worked the world on 10 meters with a hamstick.
Curious what your usable bandwidth is with the 20m stick and how is it mounted.
What is the ohms for the 40 meter? There exist a device that WILL adjust the impedance and is made for this exact purpose. It is installed as close to the antennas as is possible. The ohms are often too low on the lower bands so you can with the turn of a knob get it to tune. Also does the top or stinger holder have the same 3/8 by 24 threads as the bottom?
So regarding the elephant in the room... Shark vs MFJ. Do you have any experience for a contrasting opinion? Performance/materials/build quality etc.?
Thanks!
Michael. please advise make/model/source of the ferrite core.
Many thanks!!!!
6:20 There is a video floating around youtube I watched like 3 months ago.
And the guy said that when you decrease the whip, that the whip that ends up inside of the stick is forcing the stick to account for that inner whip inside the stick.
Making the frequency improper & making a problem in regards to swr. His solution was to actually cut the whip shorter with wire cutters a 1/4 inch at a time.
Basically, cut the end part of the whip a 1/4 inch at a time and use a VNA & SWR to get your swr low as you can on that particular stick.
When he did it, he got the 40m stick to go down to 1.2-swr. Also marking the side of the whip very lightly with a point drill, so you know the location of the whip each time.
He was using only 1-stick per each frequency and not dual like it was intended. Also no radials were used at all. he got contacts to japan, UK, canada and africa.
There is also another video of another guy doing the same thing in texas, and that second guy made contacts to puerto rico and other far locations, by doing the same exact thing with the whip.
Just to give you a heads up. :)
I think I saw the videos that you are referencing. I believe they were using the MFJ hamsticks and not the Shark sticks. Both are similar but a bit different in how the coils are wound. You do need to be careful that the whip doesn't intrude into the tightly wound portion of the antenna. On the 40m Shark Stick, that would be towards the bottom of the antenna and I believe the MFJ is closer to the top. But trimming the whip isn't the answer to my SWR problem with the 40 meter antenna; I'm using almost the entire whip, so there isn't any that intrudes into the coil portion of the antenna. Instead, I've found that adding another 25 feet of cable to my mag mount 'fixes' the problem. I think the extra coax works as a bit of a counterpoise.
So I finally was able to play around with my Shark hamstick dipole, and I'm guessing that even with the whip, you can only tune them so much as I wasn't able to get it (yet) to the middle of the phone band on 20m. My question is, is it better to tune the antenna to the absolute lowest SWR you can obtain, even if it's slightly farther away from where you want to be, or tune it as low as possible as close to your target as possible? My guess is to get it as low as possible as close as possible so the tuner has to do less "tuning" but just wanted to make sure.
Thanks.
Thank you for this and all your other videos - very helpful. In one of the comments below, you noted you do not leave the mag mount on the vehicle unless activating. Do you find it scratches the paint on the vehicle roof over time?
Mag mounts will scratch paint with long term use. The key is to wipe the roof of your vehicle and the mount base to keep dirt from scratching the paint.
Thanks for the video. I am looking Around for someone who is showing how to tune a shark stick. I have the short 40 meter and can’t get it below 1.8 swr and that is out of band at 7.340 anywhere in the band is 2.0 and up. However it’s 1.1 across the 10 meter band maybe I’ll reliable as a 10 meter stick and try another.
Michael, 3:27 are the labels switched? Isn’t the 75 loading coil the top with all the wire wrapped around the fiberglass base?
It's a little hard to show in video, but wire spirals up the fiberglass sections in all the antennas. As you get lower on the bands, those antennas also have a densely packed section of wire wrap. That's the portion of the antenna that's the loading coil. The 10 meter model doesn't have any coil, and the 70 meter antenna is all coil.
The set screws are different now based on the 5 pack I purchased from Gigaparts.
capacitive coupling 40m betwixt the stick & mag mount ~ 00:07:10 .. try shunting 550 pF ceramic
What about paired up as dipoles?
I notice that you are using the QD (Quick disconnect) mounts. Did you use anything to secure them to the antenna? I tried using split lock washers, but they don't work due to the size of the antenna base. I have thought about using some type of Lok-Tite, but unsure if it will destroy the electrical connection between antenna and the QD.
I haven't used anything to secure the disconnects to the antenna, but I'm also not running them mobile, so I just hand tighten them before putting the antenna on the base. They do seem to loosen up often and I'm not sure if Lock Tite would be the answer. If I was going to use the whips mobile I'd probably coat the threads with antioxident like NoAlox. The viscosity of that may keep them together better.
How to keep the hollow fiberglass rod from filling with water?
You mentioned you had issues with 40m . I have issues with the 20m stick.
I may try braided grounding strap from the K400 mount to improve grounding
I've found that if I add 25 feet of coax to the mag mount antenna base (which has about 16 feet), that my SWR issues go away on 40 meters.
Seems like the mini would have to have a shorter wound section, not a shorter whip.
Awesome intro music.
I feel like buying all this stuff.
Strange on 40meter, pretty much an unbalanced system , coax length, and ferrite beads shouldn't be an issue. Need more experimenting ,no doubt, still pointing to a counterpoise issue. Have to try more bonding on the vehicle in question. For experimental purposes, try laying out a portable ground radial system. If it solves issues, you'll know you need more bonding to keep operational under mobile conditions. Be curious to know the outcome . Cool informative video !
"Capacitive coupling is iffy" on the 40m stick? That's a function of the mount, not the whip product itself. A mag-mount on 75-30m is a pretty severe compromise. For POTA, consider a telescopic "painter's pole" as a support, use a U-bolt-mounted piece of aluminum angle with an SO-239 adapter as a base, and run four 33' wires as guys. Should wake that thing right up, and will fit on your Outback's roof rack for transport!
Did the tuning change after running the coax inside the vehicle? Looks like you tuned it and placed the choke while the coax was outside. Thanks
In my experience, what you do with the coax cable routing AFTER the ferrite choke (inside or outside of the vehicle) doesn't have any significant impact on the VSWR. The routing of the cable from the antenna base to the ferrite choke does have some impact. I strongly recomend routing the coax such that the RF choke remains outside of the vehicle.
I have the very same issue with the VSWR you're describing with the 40 meter band Shark stick. Right down to the 1.9:1 ratio. I also find with the coax perpendicular to the truck the VSWR was much better. I am mechanically bonded to the truck, mounted off the class three hitch, above the tailgate. Do you have any info on the ferrite you showed in the video? I would like to try that before I give up on this antenna. Thanks, kg6brg.
The ferrite is a Type 31 mix snap on ferrite. They are commonly available online. Although recently I've just been adding 25 feet of RG-8X to my mag mount and that reduces the SWR also. I'm not sure if the extra coax is working as a counter poise or if it just feed line losses. (25 feet is pretty short to create that amount of loss). But that may not be an option if you are hard mounting the antenna to the truck.
Anybody happen to know how many feet or how many turns of wire on a 80 meter hamstick? Thanks
Also question have you ever operator a tuner with the sticks??
I've used a tuner with the 40m and 75m sticks in order to increase their bandwidth. A tuner isn't necessary for 20m and above as they cover the entire band.
I purchased the five shark hamsticks package to use on my truck, along with my Yaesu FT-891 transceiver. The question I have is, I'm using a trimag roof mount on the surface of my truck roof, and I run the coax into the cab of the truck. The magnets have rubber boots on them, I suppose to keep from scratching your truck roof.. however, they can be removed. My question is, how do I ground the rooftop mag mount to the chassis of the truck? I would greatly appreciate your suggestions on this matter ASAP! TNX & 73
Mag mounts are supposed to capacitively couple with the body of the vehicle, so theoretically no grounding would be needed. But this is an issue for HF mobile antennas as the ground connection isn't strong enough. If you wish to bond the mag mount to the vehicle, you will have to connect a wire from the metal portion of the mag mount to the truck frame.
What I've done to increase the performance is that instead of trying to bond the antenna to the vehicle, I just add 25 feet of coax to the mag mount. I don't drive with the mount on the car, so laying out this additional coax acts like a counterpoise for the hamsticks.
Michael. What do you think of the old Hustler resonators. It used to be you would see them on most all hf mobile rigs,I have never used them and was like to know how they stack up to the reputation
I purchased a Hustler and a set of resonators from an SK's estate. I haven't used them too many times yet as I don't have a good mount for it on my vehicle. But some say the Hustler outperforms the ham stick style antennas due the top loading of the antenna. I did use the 80 meter configuration last winter for the Minnesota QSO party, performance was good considering the band conditions: czcams.com/video/r_WgCSph0Ig/video.html
@@KB9VBRAntennas Thanks so much !!
reading the length info and then seeing both your video and another, I have a question. 44in tube and a 48in whip comes to 92in or about 7.6 ft. IN the videos they don't look that long. Are they?
Yes. My 75 meter stick is the longest at 7 ft. 3 in., and the whip lengths will vary a bit with your particular tuning, but they are all approximately 7 ft. long.
KZ9V
@@davewhite7679 Great Thank.
Yes they are. If you watch my March livestream video, I attempt to show the size of the antenna and manage to knock things off my bench. That's just after the 30 minute mark.
A good antenna dont ya know
Have you tried to use them on the MFJ octopus?
No I haven't, that's on my list of things to try out with the sticks.
I have the same problem with the 40m stick regarding swr.I originally only achieved 3.5:1 using a Hustler trunk lip mount .😒
Now using the Comet trunk lip I get 2.4:1 or so. I'm going to try a spool of wire as counterpoise .
I pulled my Shark Sticks out last weekend for an activation. Adding 25 feet of coax to the mag mount was all it took to make the SWR manageable on 40. Made about 75 40m and 190 20m contacts at three parks that day.
I ended up using both 25 ft length of rg8x and an additional 6ft long counterpoise just tossed in the back cargo area...seems to work
I will check resonance with the a35 zoom later tonight
How did both or either attach the counterpoise to the mag mount that Michael uses? It doesn't have a place to connect to the coax shield. Tx
I kind of want to use two 80m hamsticks and find a way to make them a horizontal dipole.
MFJ makes a mount so you can turn two hamstick style antennas into a horizontal dipole. amzn.to/2QfALhp
Received the pack today from GigaParts. Missing the whip length guide, so copied it from your video; thanks. Though the fiberglass is marked in meters, before I rip the package open, how do I know which whip goes with which fiberglass section? Once the whip is matched with the lower section, transporting in one piece seems awkward. Hope to work emergency management frequencies on 80 meters, so also ordered an 80 meter stick. Yes, I am new to all but 2 meters. KG7NCS
The whips are supposed to be pre-tuned to the midpoints of their respective bands. You can measure the whips where they are secured by the ferrule and use the tuning guide to determine which goes with what. The 75 meter whip is the longer than the others. As for traveling with them, I put a label on each whip so I can take them apart and match things back up again, but I'm thinking about getting a large PVC pipe and putting it on my roof rack to transport them when I want to go somewhere with them.
@@KB9VBRAntennas That is a major help. In the blister pack all the whips look the same, except I now see the one extra long one. I will do as you suggest and mark each whip as I tune it to the chart. I have a van and will consider PVC pipe on the rack; maybe a small diameter PVC for each band? Thanks very much.
After your response, I unpacked all of the components and found the length guide chart. Missing allen wrenches, but I can deal with that; looked like the bottom of the blister pack had been opened some.
why no mention of there radiation resistance or efficeincy?.
Hi Michael, have you done a review on using the Shark hamsticks in a dipole configuration yet? We've noticed the ;ower performance on 40M using the hamsticks in the dipole configuration two of the also.
FYI show they have some of the 5pack of the Shark Sticks
HRO that is
HRO lists the mini-whip version available in a 5 pack. The full size whip version is no longer listed as a 5-pack on the HRO site.
Regarding noise, ever consider using a hi q mag loop as a receive only antenna?
good, useful info. KQ7R
Maybe I missed it but whats the cost and can I get them at hro etc
It's in the video. Depending on the band, the standard size Shark sticks range in price between $21 and $25. I'm pretty sure that both HRO and GigaParts sell the Shark antenna products.
Shark vendors have been out of stock of everything for about 6 months, and Gig isn't even taking back orders, to include the quick disconnects. I'm thinking about getting the MFJ's as I don't trust Shark being around much longer :(
Gigaparts just announced a 20% coupon on Shark Sticks. They must have just received a new inventory of products. If you are looking for just the couplers, you can use a different brand. The connections are the same between MFJ and Shark, so the MFJ quick release will work fine.
I'm curious why did you and a lot of hams say 7.204 kHz?? Maybe I'm wrong but 7.204.000 is 7.2 Mhz or as we use to say megacycle...
40 meters and below I usually say and spell 7204 KHz and 20 meters above I'll spell and say it as 14.300 MHz. If I said 7.204 KHz, it would have been unintentional.
Had a lot of trouble tuning MFJ 40 AND Sharks 40M. 40M just doesn't want to play the game!
I've always had issues with the 40 meter Shark Stick. I've found the best way to handle it is to add 25 feet of RG-8x coax to the mag mount base I use. I have a video that demonstrates: czcams.com/video/_dW62v0J6Yw/video.html
On 40M with mobile antennas, you just don't get enough coupling to ground with a magnet.
I run Hustler mobile antennas on both 40M and 20M. They by far out perform the Hamsticks style antennas hand down. I run a home brew mag mount on my truck roof and also bond it to the vehicle body close to the mount.
I can run from 7.150 to 7.250 as a 2/1 bandwidth. Bottoms out at 1/1 in the middle. The Hamsticks just aren't even close..
I use a home brew bottom section from 1/2" stainless steel with a spring under the coil. About 24" overall from base to bottom of the coil. Overall length is slightly shorter than a Hamsticks.
Rob - I think the Q value of the 40 meter Shark stick may be lower than your Hustler because with the coax choke described in Michael's video, my 2:1 VSWR bandwidth extends from 7.044 to 7.252 MHz. with 1.18:1 minimum at 7.150 MHz. That's 200+ KHz. bandwidth.
That may be but they still do not match the performance of the Hustler in real world driving down the road usage. I've run them both back to back. I also don't need to have a big length of coax in my vehicle to use it either. But, to each their own and your mileage may vary.
I have many, many contacts all over NA and into Europe while driving back and forth to work, not when just sitting still..
@@ve3pcp I agree. I would be nervous with the length and the wind loading of these 7+ ft. Shark sticks traveling at highway speed. I'm not trying that.
Ladies and Gentlemen: in and with my own use of my equipment, while I surely have connoted the frequency warbling peccadilloes when operating on 40M.
There is and can be no doubt that properly grounding along with a near 1:1.2 VSWR certainly increases your contact probability, for sure!
73, Ladies and Gentlemen
POST: 19:05 hrs. EDT, Monday, 23 AUG 2021.
. . .
Looking for 7' ham sticks for 40 meters, to make rabbit ear antenna on small balcony. Any ideas?
MFJ and others make a dipole mount so you can 2 HF sticks horizontally for the shortened dipole antenna. This may be a good balcony solution.
That could be an interesting balcony antenna solution. You would need 2 identical sticks fo each band, but at less than $25 for each stick, you could have 5 dipole bands for less than the cost of a decent antenna tuner. That might be an option in a difficult HOA restricted situation too.
Thanks, but I found one in the closet:
drive.google.com/file/d/1BgKSTelqXXHHbSSnN_JOfXbB44_9C_X3/view?usp=drivesdk
*some assembly required.
73, w3rrm
I wouldn't bother with these below 20 meters personally.
With the blowing snow and sub-zero wind chill of winter in Wisconsin, it's a compromise for convenience. I've been doing a lot of successful winter POTA activations with just 20 watts and a 40 meter Shark stick.
@@davewhite7679 yep, less compromised on 20m so that’s were I spend my time using these.
The "problem" is a direct result in the complete lack of pencil and paper learning nowadays.
Too much dependence on everything available *except* pencil and paper.
This "problem" is a direct result of loosing the Novice Class and all that it represented.
Your average 9 year-old can become a Extra in this day and age.
...pffft.
I curious to what the 'problem' is you are referring to.
@@KB9VBRAntennas
...where in your video do you mention the word "problem"?..
made in china but sold and maketed as made in amerika more like!
Do you have any indicators or proof that Shark Sticks are Chinese made?
Are there longer whip lengths available commercially? Might be worth a try. Also, do you think this antenna style can be successfully home brewed? De KC6NNV. BRAD