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VHF portable ham radio antennas that are practical - what can you expect over an ICOM factory whip?
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- čas přidán 17. 08. 2024
- In this video we look at a few popular aftermarket antennas that are practical and compare them head to head against an ICOM factory whip. How much benefit do they provide and do they actually perform better than adding a simple radial to the radio chassis ?
#survivalcomms
Field strength meter plans for a DIY build :
www.qsl.net/kl...
I love your empirical testing methods. The field strength measurements were especially interesting. The tiger tail definitely gives the most bang for the buck.
It truly does. Thanks for watching !
Wow a video with actual DATA! Love it!!! Was interesting to see how much of an improvement the radial caused. We often hear it helps, but often do not see empirical data to support it!
Its all about repeatable data sets and I encourage others to peer review my work it's how we all learn. Stay tuned there is another antenna video in the works with a new cast of characters. The radial can also be connected to another point on the chassis to good effect if desired rather than under the whip. Being creative with what you have is what ham radio is about IMHO. Thanks for watching !
Your information is invaluable and your testing is unapologetic. I hope to see more antennas tested like this in the future. Smiley makes a good product.
Yes they do . Thank you and thanks for watching !
Fantastic experiments and well thought out. Id bet the manufacturers of some of those haven’t done the depth on their own product you’ve provided here for us.
Thank you. There are a handful of people who still make custom portable antennas soup to nuts commercially and typically its completely resonance based rather than performance based. Stay tuned there will be some follow up . Thanks for watching
Hi Brett.
Thankf for all the hard work in producuing this one. Stay safe ATB. Nigel
TY Nigel ! Good to see you and hope all is well in your world. Thanks for watching !
Great video. It's hard enough to find content on this topic that includes real world testing, but you went the extra mile with your procedures and data collection. This is anecdotal but I find that smiley's "stubby" antennas for VHF perform almost as well as one of their full size antennas, especially on the receive side of things.
Thank you . They do perform well. There is a difference in performance but it is hard to perceive with the ear or an rssi display. Thanks for watching !
that tiger tail really makes a difference... thanks for the video sir
You are welcome ! Its pretty doggone effective. Thanks for watching !
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe the tiger tail would work as well as it does. This is old school ham radio, experiment and see what you get. Thanks for sharing, I bet this was a lot of work. 73 bud!
You are welcome ! It took lots of time ensuring the results observed were repeatable which is something more creators should spend time doing. Science > marketing and I am glad you appreciate my efforts. Thanks for watching !
Excellent video brett!
Thank you and thanks for watching !
Recently came across your channel, love the content.
Thank you very much and welcome aboard. Thanks for watching !
Very detailed. Thanks.
You are welcome ! Thank you for watching !
You've got me sold! Where can I buy a chassy simulator?
I was a DIY deal It is configured for SMA M , BNC M and MX Thread antennas. The housing itself is a Pomona 2901 box. The jumper is a 3" SMA M semi rigid microwave jumper for the VNA /SA to SMA . I also have a 3" semi rigid microwave SMA M to BNC M for the MX and BNC antennas. I also have a gutted MTS2000 frame and housing with a short jumper for doing the same tests with Motorola SMA F antennas. Thanks for watching !
You should run all the same tests on UHF if you can. Many of the aftermarket antennas are optimized for VHF so the UHF performance can vary widely vs stock.
Thanks for watching !
greetings!
you mention the use of a radio chassis simulator. How can one make one?
using my nanoVNA to portable antennas is a real hassle, getting much different results touching or not the device.
Regards...
Get a Pomona 2901 enclosure and put good RF connectors on it (not amazon). Get some good ( not amazon) short 6" or less RF microwave jumpers. For Motorola chassis I use an old HT1000 frame and housing. Velcro the VNA to your chassis simulator. Do not connect it to a PC as that will skew your data. Make every measurement with the radio held in a position of use. Thanks for watching !
I guess I should connect the leads on the frame where the former antenna plug is connected. @@survivalcomms
@@GreekPreparedness You put the RF connectors on the box and have the shortest possible lead tie it to the vna. You can use an old inoperative radio if you want. If the VNA was made well with a metal enclosure of a useful size it would approximate a modern radio chassis.
Interesting tests. Sorry, but I have to add a however ...
As I think you mentioned, as an important function that I rarely hear any credence given to is that the human body is a factor in the design of portable radios, i.e., the body is part of the antenna system, providing the “other half” of the 1/4-wave antenna. At about 12:35, you discuss the data on your chart. I question the real world application of this data as for each measurement - including using your Nano VNA chassis simulator - the in-circuit human body element is missing. I would expect an objective measurements to be made with a human holding the min-spectrum analyzer. To me, using anything else to collect data yields results of limited value. Also, a critical piece missing: I would like to see your test range. I see potential interference/influence from the wire fencing and vegetation behind you. You probably know that in the electronics world where antennas are manufactured, testing is done with signal source and receiver in either RF anechoic chambers or free space. In your situation, an open field with a helper holding the signal source under test would have served the purpose.
The chassis simulator was held. Thanks for watching !