BuddiStick Pro antenna, we need to talk about a few things. | Ham Radio
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- čas přidán 24. 09. 2021
- In this video I sit down with you and the BuddiStick Pro amateur radio antenna. Some things I have experianced and more I felt I should pass on to you too.
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Part of intrest: Knurled Nut 10-32
#hamradio #antenna #themoreyouknow
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Joe, your video on the Buddistick was the deciding factor in getting the antenna! Great Job! KM4RTO😀
Thank you Ben! It’s a good antenna. I hope you enjoy it, 73 and thanks for commenting 👍
Great timing Joe, I received my buddistick last week, will pickup a bag of thumb nuts. Also like the reminder of extending the whip. Thanks again for what you guys do to help us. 73
Congrats Gerry on a new antenna. Hope you like it. You’re welcome but thanks most of all for watching and commenting! 73
Great tips, Joe! Very helpful.
Thanks Scout!
Consider upgrading to the MFJ-1979 whip. At ~17 foot fully extended you can be resonant on 20 meters without the use of a coil with wider usable bandwidth. The coil and other accessories will still work and you'll have an easier time using the antenna on 40 meters.
Stephen thanks for the info, I have been hearing a lot of talk and use of the 17’ whip. I’m going to have to get one I guess lol. Thanks again 73
I am glad you made this video, i have been thinking about getting this antenna.
Thanks Mike! I have a couple other videos showing this antenna, the “Area 51 group Pota” video I made my first contact to DX with 10watts. I love the portability, small footprint, and that it works good. That’s for commenting.
Excellent tips…..getting me a dozen 10-32 nuts …. Thank you
Thanks Izzo!
Great video Joe, agree with every recommendation you made. One thing I figured out pretty quick with the BSP is I always leave the counterpoise reel attached to the versahub, even during storage. Even taking that precaution the knurled nut can still come lose every couple setups/teardowns, so I always check it's tight when setting up.
Great Idea, hey maybe put some lock-tite on it 🤷🏼♂️
Thanks for the tips on this antenna!
You’re welcome Robert! It’s a great antenna, and some of these things I myself or others have experienced some aggravation about. Sharing may help others from it lol. Thanks for commenting!
Good points Joe. On the radial wire, keep in mind that you can take a pair of wire cutters and snip a gap in the ring lug. This would allow you to keep the nut on the stud and slide the radial wire on then tighten the nut down.
Thanks Don. I was seriously going to do that, and might stop at some point, but this will do for now. 😁
Great tips Joe!!
Thanks Shane!
Been looking at this antenna. Notes made.
👍Takes more patience to tune than a no tune efhw, but I still enjoy using this antenna. Thanks Wayne
Great video. I’ll be hunting down some of the thumb screws first so I have to buy the antenna at some point
Thanks Brian!
all good tips... the brass nut was a pro tip! Im sure plenty of people will loose that piece.
We live, play, and learn lol 👍
The extra pieces do actually fit mine. Lost the original just a couple days ago.
Interesting, as you could see mine were too big. Guess at some point during the production parts changed. Thanks for the input👍 73
Good stuff!
Thanks Nick!
Pro Life Tip : You can't have enough knurled nuts in your life. I put some in my pocket to snack on during activations.
100%no calorie no fat snack
They only sell the unsalted ones around here. I have to go online to get the good stuff
Joe, great video, great tips (from your personal experience). I have the original Buddistick, please allow me to offer one tip of my own. Once I used my radios noise level to help me tap a spot on the coil, I took one of the FINE-tip Sharpie markers and wrote the band number twice on the outward-face coil clip thumb cap. This way I won’t have to pause & guess which coil is which band (as I have five or six taps). My good wishes to each of you Hams!! N4BDW
Thank you Brent, good tips of your own 👍 appreciate that and that’s for commenting. I’ll have to remember that.
Thx and 73 de KK6IPR, Charles in Fremont, CA
Thank you Charles 👍 73
Have to get my towel
lol Greg!!!!!!!!!
Did you mess yourself?
I have mixed feelings about the Buddipole series. I own probably own $700 worth of their kit I picked up over the years; there's a video on my channel using their 10m yagi config to make a contact from Ohio to the Christmas Island DXpedition over 10 years ago. So, it works. But... as I've matured into the hobby, I find their products to be mostly unneeded in most (but not all) situations. If you have any descent-sized tree, an end-fed half wave is a better radiating, no-tune antenna you can pick up for around $80 for a premium QRP version (I use a $45 MFJ version) or build yourself. You can put it in your pocket too, they're truly portable. An even cheaper 31' "random wire" with a $40 4:1 balun from LDG and a tuner is probably a better radiating antenna if you keep the feedline short (less than 10'). So, cheaper, better radiating, smaller/more portable antennas are readily available, and if you watch a lot of QRP/POTA/SOTA videos these guys aren't using buddipoles.
The other "knock" I have on the Buddipole is their ease of use. Don't get me wrong, its not that hard to use their coils.... unless you want to change frequency or your operating bands. Then you have to take the thing down, move the little tap(s), adjust the length of the counterpoise, re-tune, and put it back up. Its a a real pain for the diople configuration, becasue you need to bring the whole thing down and adjust two coils. When I used it regularly, it was just a hassle when I was hopping around on bands and frequencies. Contrast this with an EFHW or the random wire. The EFHW won't need any adustment once you throw it up in a tree and dial it in, and the random wire is non-resonant (but that doesn't mean inefficient) to begin with so you just use your antenna tuner.
Where I think Buddipoles/buddisticks have some merit are when the operator is in an environment without decent trees (the beach, mountains/hillsides) to hang an antenna, and intend to use one frequency. So maybe the SOTA/POTA/IOTA operator in these conditions would use the product best. West of the Rockies to the west coast, there are a lot of situations like that if you are a POTA/SOTA activator. I encountered this when I activated Mt. Orizaba (for the first time ever) on Catalina Island, see the viseo of it on my channel - but it's summit was a desert of wind-shorn rocks. Glad I had my 2m yagi and hit the Inland Empire some 40-50 miles away to make contacts. A buddipole would have been useful that day!
That’s some good thoughts. I have no experience with the BuddiPole but would agree that you would want to hang out in the tuned band for as long as you could to keep from bringing it down for adjustments. I don’t mind getting up and adjusting the BuddiStick to much cause I need to be getting up and walking back and forth for the cardio lol. But yes my EFHW’s are much easier to use, if you have a place to get them in the air. In the end antenna options are nice to have. 👍
If you want to do 80ntr would you add that coil to the top of the other coil?
I haven’t tried it but, I believe a second coil and longer telescoping whip would be your best bet.
for your stakes, (camping or any other reason for a ground stake) go to the big box hardware store, find the 10 in metal "nails" they look like a nail on steroids. add on a washer and you have a very good ground anchor. that will not brake like plastic does, and holds in the ground better than the cheep garbage stakes sold with the cheap communist chinese things.
those finger nuts those look like the finger nuts on lights.
the cheep shock cords break all the time. go to a better camping store for replacement tent shock cord.
my buddy stick counter pose wire came pre marked.
mark the coils with paint o you know were to put the connections. (have a paper stating the color-freq).
I like this video as it is not pimping any product, but giving real information that everyone can use.
Excellent tips Larry! I haven’t found myself needing to use the tent stake yet, but I did almost purchased what you suggested first. I should buy some good shock cord to keep in hand in case it ever does break, I could quickly fix.
Love the idea of matching the color on the elevated radial markers and painting the coil where the tap should go. I’m excited about that lol, guess I’ll be going through my wife’s finger nail Polish bucket😎
Thank you very much for the positive words about the video. I’m not out to rave about flashy products, I’m just having fun sharing my experience and thoughts with others 👍 73
Got Israel on 40m with the buddistick pro two nights ago
James that’s Awesome!!! I bet that made you happy!
'Splaining with BroJett!
If we ever meet at the flag pole we gonna duet some Splaining to some folks.
@@K5YVY haha, this is legit info I haven’t seen in the other reviews
Sometimes me messing up turns out helpful. lol