Finally, I had some time to try out my homebrew vertical. I set it up in my garden and measured the radial wire. I got around 25m of wire, I wound it on a wire winder to 5m which corresponds roughly to a quarter-wave of 20m. Soon I found a nice SWR on the coil and then fine-tuned the radial. I was quite euphoric!
Continue reading
Well, it was more of a hassle than I thought. The wire has springy tendencies and after I winded up almost 3/4, it sprang off the coil and tangled all together. Fortunately, I had enough wire left to try again. I laid out the wire on my yard to remove any coilings and windings. It helped a lot to remove out the tension from the winded up wire.ย
ย
source: buddipole.com
For a long time now I am drooling when thinking of vertical whips with tappable loading coils. I got the 3 band vertical from QRP guys but the setup is really annoying. Especially when hiking and trying to set up the antenna on spots, where vegetation took over. Lying down the radials, setting up the wire on a pole or tree, it takes a lot of times and costs a lot of nerves. Often I end up cursing because everything got tangled into the bushes.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a whip for HF? Yes it would. But there is no way I am paying 130$ and more for that…
Well, there is this 3d printer in my basement and…
Continue reading
