Hanging a Random Wire Antenna from a Hotel Balcony
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Hanging a random wire antenna off my hotel balcony on the Outer Banks of North Carolina using the Versa-Balun by K7BHB #hamradio #amateurradio #randomwireantenna
K7BHB eBay store:
ebay.com/usr/k...
I like how you get out and try all sorts of things. Gives me the inspiration to do the same. When you asked your wife which country she liked I said Brazil just before she did. 😂
Great show as always Walk, and a thanks for introducing your wife, I always include my wife of 51 years, no matter what I am doing, or where I go....you are a good man my friend :-)
I've never radioed from a hotel, but this looks like a neat way to do it. Thanks Walt for all your neat videos.
It was fun, I was actually surprised I didn’t have more QRM.
Try it, i do it every time makes a lot of fun!
Looks like a fun vacation, thanks for sharing it with us!
Thanks so much my friend!!!
👀🙋♂
@@DK5ONV 🙋♂
I always enjoy the different antenna options you use.
Thanks Adam!!
Here I am, new to the hobby, overthinking everything and getting in my own way and along comes Walt who just throws a wire off a balcony. You're an inspiration. 73s :D
Thanks! it's all about experimenting and having fun! 73, Walt
You always make me homesick when you are on the beach. I lived in the Norfolk are for many years. I grew up near Maury High School. I left the area (Willoughby Spit) in 2003. Love the Thirsty Camel. Miss Ocracoke and Hatteras. 73s, KZ5MLS
I miss Friday night shrimp night at the Thirsty Camel. That place was an OV landmark.
Useful to see the analyzer and hear that commentary, thanks
Thanks for watching!
After I got my Private pilots license we used to fly from Raleigh to the airport there (called first flight) and land within a stones throw from the first flight site........it was surreal....then we would take the courtesy car (which at that time was complementary) and go get some fantastic seafood. Fill tummys and tanks and fly back to Raleigh. Good memories from many decades ago...........thank for the cool antenna videos. I am currently using the Rybakov design in my backyard next to a lake in south Florida and am amazed at the coverage I get with 50 watts........73
Great story! Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear you’re having success with the RYBAKOV!
Y'all had the right idea at the end of the video. North Carolina sunset and a cold drink, it's a good life. :)
Roger that. Cheers!!!
Love the videos Walt. Love the way you rig your antennas. You know how to make ham radio fun man keep it up
Thanks so much John!
Pretty cool stuff
Thanks for watching!
Nice...super simple setup. 5 floors up definitely helps I'm sure.
Yes it was a perfect location!
Beautiful location - thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Nice video. I am unable to attach anything to the railing on the beach front balcony I will stay. It is about a dozen floors up. Nor can I let a wire hang off of it. Yet, I did get permission from the owner to do ham radio though on the balcony. But I got some small HF portable antennas kits from qrpbuilder like the QX1 and QBV that I am building. So, I will see how well they work - if they work for me on the balcony at all. And I have a ham stick for 20m, but it requires a ground plane so maybe a counterpoise laid on the bottom of the balcony. Not sure how well any antenna will work with all the metal in the tall building. I know I cannot hear nor bring up any VHF/UHF repeater. So, the only thing I can hope for is contacts on HF over the ocean from the balcony. Otherwise, I will try other ideas like drive over mount while parked, walk down to the beach, go to a fishing pier nearby or drive to a nearby park. But I am determined to do this, and you have come up with many great ideas. Thanks for your inspiring videos. This has really sparked my interest in ham radio again.
Thanks! I’ve used a magnetic loop and had a little success by the water. It’s a frustrating antenna but works after you get the hang of tuning it. That might be your answer. 73, Walt
I ran a "random wire" when I was 8, attaching it to a tree with glass insulator. Though I was pretty clueless about frequency and wavelength, I did pick up some stronger shortwave like CAU Time etc. I wouldn't try that today knowing about EMF etc. Nowadays I mostly tinker with TV reception. That's a lot simpler owing to error-correction and better modulation.
Great story, thanks for sharing.
Very impressive. You are getting very good results.
Thanks for watching, I think the location had a lot to do with it.
Thats awesome! I could find that handy with my work travels! 73, KO4MEX
Thanks for watching! 73, K4OGO
Amazing DX from that location and only 20 watts! And you're lucky to have a pretty cheerleader along for the radio adventures!
Thanks Steve, I obviously married up LOL
Great to see this is possible ! I attempted this with a efhw and there was s10+ noise, unusable. I sent the xyl a text as she was on the beach that I was going down the road to the state park lol. On another beach trip I clamped my mobile Diamond VH-7a to the balcony rail and it worked okay, but not great.
Yes hotels usually are extremely noisy. I lucked out on this one.
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Awesome job Walt 👍
Thanks Ape!!!
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Another fun video. Any SWR less than 2.0:1 is okay. Too many of us strive for perfection, 1.0:1 at great time and effort and miss the fun of doing radio. 7§!
Absolutely! Thanks for watching!
Nice video Walt, I have two random wires from Chameleon their 73' (came with IMPAS 2.0) and 130' I brought later, and have great results with both. I have them in opposing trees and the 130' is higher in the trees. I either use my 991A tuner or I use a manual tuner MFJ 969 deluxe.
Thanks! that sounds like a great setup
Great stuff as always Walt!
Thank you!!
Great video. I love it. Great camera work. Beautiful area. I'm thinking about doing this on my back balcony which is around 2 stories high off of the backyard. Would a 9:1 LDG Unun work instead of the Versa-Balun being careful not to have a half-wavelength of wire? You give me great ideas on simple fun setups. Thank you very much.
Thanks! Yes a LDG 9:1 would be perfect
Those random wire antennas are pretty handy. I just got a ATU-100 off Banggood and tested it with my FX-4C 10w radio and a random wire (from memory, about 35.5 ' or 41') and 9:1 unun. I was able to tune 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 40 and 80m in the phone portions of those bands. Made a QSO with a guy in Toronto on 15m SSB from my wife's QTH at Monument Valley UT, so I was pretty happy. Resonant antennas are great but sometimes you want to be able to switch through the bands.
Roger that!
40 m EFHW and you have resonant antenna and you can switch through all the bands from 10 to 80, possibly with a little help of "touch up" tuner
like always great video. very cute to introduce us to ur wife. thanks for sharing brother!
Thanks so much, we had a great weekend. 73 brother!!
That gadget you used ot secure the pole would be great to fix to a bench for POTA etc too. Another great vid Walt, good to see the better half too 😀
Thanks Gary! Great idea, I might take it to the park.
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Hey UW Compliment on your Contact to Yudel PZ2YT down in Suriname. I like that Antenna Setup on the Balcony. Say hello to your Wife Allis & have a nice Sunday. 73 de YFUG 💯👍🙋♂
Allison says “Hello Uncle G!” 73 my friend!
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES 💯🤗🙏
I'm planning on doing some of the same type of ops from VA Beach this Dec. Maybe from the top of the parking deck where I can use the fencing for the tennis court ss a counterpoise. Tootles... Wade
Great idea Wade! Good luck, you’ll be close by my home QTH.
Nice to meet you Allison make Walt take you on vacation to Brasil lol...
Hahaha I think that’s what she was getting at!
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES can't wait for that one , Rio de Janeiro Copacabana Ipanema beautiful beaches. Watching in NYC 73's...
You demonstrate that whatever works, works. Well done, old man. w0vet
Thank you! 73 de K4OGO
I wish my balcony antenna worked that well :) 73 Walt
I was actually surprised it worked as well as it did to be honest.
I just got my G90 and the Talent Cell 6ah battery. Love the OBX, would love to see you do a video from Ocracoke. 73.
I’ll get down to Ocracoke soon!! 73, Walt K4OGO
Good work, Walt! I was in KDH once. My old band played at bar down there. Can't remember the name nor find the cool t-shirt from there. We did climb up the dune at Kitty Hawk, though. 73!
That’s awesome, did you guys play the Virginia Beach, Norfolk circuit? My son is a local musician here and I’ve followed the local music scene here for a long time.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES This was back in the early 90s. We did a bunch of shows in VA, NC & GA a few times. In VA we played in Richmond a few times and only once in Norfolk. Somewhere on Hampton Blvd south (?) of the naval base. I do remember running into some German sailors at the show.
Another great video Walt. Looks like a great setup but he just raised the price to $70 for this, which seems a little high when you compare it to the Par-EndFedz counterpart. The Par comes with everything you need. Wire, wire winder, & unun.
Good point, I bought mine a while back. Was actually thinking about using a basic 9:1 but went with this instead.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES the funny thing is they call these end fed “half wave(s)”. That implies they use a half wave or multiple there of, of wire as the radiator. Neither this or the Par antennas use a half wave for any of the intended bands. Random wire is more like it.
@@truckinguy92 yes, absolutely a random wire antenna
Nice going
Thank you sir!
I like the light-weight, waterproof packaging. The ebay description doesn't mention the ratio. It is 9:1? That typically works well with random-length wires and a built-in ATU.
Not sure of the ratio, he doesn’t mention it anywhere. I’ve used it with a 29 foot wire vertically with success but had higher SWR than with the 37 foot wire.
As a guy that has, until recently, worked at hotels for 25 straight years I really wonder how the other guests and the staff reacted to the antenna :)
Haha that’s why I asked for an end room to put the antenna out and off to the side!
Know the area well.
Love the OBX! We get down here a lot. Easy run from Hampton Roads
Good solution. Any ideas for maritime mobile on a small GRP boat?
HamStick or Whip with a coil. Run ground from antenna mount to any metal through hull (plug) or metal fitting near the waterline.
I'm curious how long your x90 runs on that battery. I just ordered a x90 as my first HF radio. What model battery is that?
Thanks for the helpful videos, I've learned a lot.
Hi Drew, it last about 4 or 5 hours if I’m going hard. It is a 6 aH that I got on Amazon. I’ll have to check the brand.
Ok I’ve got a dumb but genius question. Can you spoil and open face reel with polystealth and cast your wire out without the wire snapping?
Damn, that’s actually a good question. Maybe spool 66 feet of line and connect a 49:1 to it and have an EFHW. Hmmm
How long can you operate on the 6AH battery? Planning on buying a new battery soon for the G90 and can't decide on what size I want. Also, any problems with RF back down the coax into the shack?
I’ve used the 6aH battery for 5 plus hours and it was still just under 12 volts. I haven’t had any common mode current issues.
Very nice video! What kind of coax do you use
Thanks Rohan! I use RG8X coax
I do not dispute in any way if the Versa-xxxx works or not but just wish it was named properly... if it is co-ax out that side is unbalanced....& on the input side if it was balanced in it needs to have 2 terminals for equal (balanced) bits of wire exiting skywards.... if it is only one terminal in with one piece of wire then that must be unbalanced too.... this is a versa-unun not a versa-balun...... as I said I do not dispute its efficacy in any way but when they won't tell you what is inside it or how it works & give it a misleading name it does ring a few bells. Has anyone actually opened one of these things up to see what is inside? (or stuck a 450 ohm resistor on the i/p to ground and stuck a nano-VNA on it). My guess is that it might be a 9:1 unun & $69 for a qrp unun seems a little steep.
I completely understand where you are coming from, I’ve always suspected that it’s just a 9:1 unun
how do you find frequencies to talk to anyone ? ive been scanning 3 through 30 for days and cant get anyone
Very cool, looks like a good time! Mat -K4OCY
It was a blast! 73 Walt
Your videos are very cool. I also enjoy portable with different antennas. Your enthusiasm is contagious. 73 WA6MOW
Thank you so Alan!