I own the "big stick", as MFJ calls its 18ft/5.45m loaded telescopic whip antenna. A while back I mentioned it in these posts. Slowly, I came to like this antenna; it takes a very limited space with its 4x16ft radials and I usually bent them as available space dictates.

The MFJ-2286 with included coil is a multiband 6m-40m antenna, the loading coil has simple provision to adjust the number of turns involved in the process, the lengh of the whip can be also adjusted as needed. It takes little time to install or take down and I used it succesfully in my portable setup.

Recently I acquired a loading coil (SB Platinum 1000 from Wolf River Coils) to replace the included MFJ coil, and tried the modified antenna on 80m.

I should mention that 80m band always been hard to work with my antennas, none of them actually designed to work on 80m. My solution so far been to use antenna tuner to match the radio output to the antenna on 80m, try and pray. It worked for both voice (SSB) and digital (FT8), but it never worked good. After 3 years of hamming I had 30+ contacts on 80m, mostly stateside and some DX.

I installed the antenna with the coil in our little patio, next to house, threaded radials along the fence, added one 68ft/21m long radial for 80m band (had to snake it into the bushes outside of the fence) and tuned the setup to 80m with the help of my RigExpert AA-54 antenna analyser (the installation is not ideal due to proximity to the house and placement of the radials, hence the SWR):

I tested this setup on the air and compared it to my other not-quite-80m-antennas; my verdict is that this antenna is usable as NVIS-like 80m solution; the DX use is limited to CW or digital (FT8 and other weak signal modes) as bandwith is very narrow and the signal is weak (there were strange instances of long skip into Europe though). FT8 is a good test because most of the stations have simple vertical or dipole antennas (not beams) for this band. Here is the map showing how the other stations hear my signal (the transceiver, Flex 6300, was around 90W at the time):

And here is the map of recent contacts made with the modified MFJ-2286:

I liked the setup and will be using it from now on. It is not the best 80m vertical antenna, not even close, but for my situation it is a winner.

^photo from manufacturer's website^

I live in condo unit and most of my antennas are stealth affairs hidden behing the fences of my 2 patios, in the attic, strung along the roof edge and alike. By no means they work as good as the full size antennas of a similar disign, but they do work. For one, my fixed 17m wire moxon in the attic still surprises me every time I use it.

In the past I used the DIY small transmitting loop for 17-40m I build using old Russian vacuum capacitor and copper grounding strap from Georgia Copper. I made some SSB contacts on that antenna, but disassembled it as it wasn't robust enough of a setup/structure for me to use on a daily basis, just a proof of concept. At the time I had no antenna analyzer and it was pain to tune. But I liked the results, I remember reaching across the pond to Ireland on 20m SSB with ease, so I always wanted to finish the project.

Fast forward to October 2020, I saw >this< STL antenna on Internet. It looked ok, the description sounded even better, and I ordered it.

This weekend I assembled and tested the antenna, at first from inside the house at the 2nd floor as there was a tropical storm here in Miami for 2 days, and then, when the weather cleared, repeated tests outside, at ground level, next to the house.For testing, I decided to use FT8 as this is very sensitive mode and one can see instantly how the signal propagates/heard around the globe.

If you never used a small transmitting loop antenna, you should know that it is not the easiest antenna to tune. SWR plot's minimum could be very sharp and the antenna has to be tuned precisely to the frequency where it needed to be, otherwise the signal will not be best, even if the tuner is able to match the load to radio's output. The advantage of this particular loop antenna in its big butterfly-type capacitor with large dial, which helps fine tune the capacitance (that is how you tune the antenna). I used my antenna analyzer to help tune the antenna:

^17m SWR plot, inside placement^^17m SWR plot, outside placement^

In house, the loop worked, but it was clearly compromized/attenuated/strongly influenced by the metal cage of the house and the objects in the room. This was obvious as I could not bring SWR down to less than 2 units before using the tuner, and by the signal reports I received (see below signal report maps). Nevetheless, I made 23 contacts, 4 DX (Azores, Mexico, Switzerland and Germany) and the rest was stateside. I started from using the antenna on low power setting but then, looking at the signal reports, brought it up to 90W and left it there for the duration of the test.The loop handled this level of power with no issues.

Here is the screenshot taken shortly after the QSO with CU6NS in Azores on 17m (antenna is inside the house!):

^^WSJT interface window top left with waterfall on top, JTAlert at bottom left, Flex radio interface (SmartSDR) in the center, interfaces to KAT 500 tuner and Elecraft SWR meter on the right. Click image for the original.

I compared the working of the antenna when it was placed outside with my other antennas, both hidden:

• bent 10m-40m doublet strung under the eves of the house at 20ft/6m high: the Magloop was much more sensitive on receive and at least as good or better on transmit
• attic wire moxon for 17m: moxon was better in its favorable directions, in all other directions the loop was on par or better.

To install the loop ouside, I had to weather protect it:

The placement was not ideal (small patio next to the 2 story house), but it was immediately obvious how much the things improved: the min SWR went from 2 to 1, and the reported SNR improved greatly.

Here is couple of maps from https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html site taken during the test on 20m and 40m.

Here is the map of some of the contacts made using the antenna:

Most if not all of the stations reporting good SNR were using beam antennas, but that's expected. There is no miracle here, just the quality made, robust small transmitting loop. I am happy to play with it and can recommend it to anyone who is interested in portable HF antennas.

73

I never been much into 6m until now; I have been told that one needs at least 3-el beam to make a QSO by means of E-skip propagation. I don't have a place to put a beam; I live in a condo unit and rules regarding antennas are very strict. My HF antennas are hidden in the attic or strung along the roof so they are invisible. But, somehow my MFJ-2286 17-ft wip sways between the trees which surround my patio, 24/7, unnoticed. Until recently, I used it for HF. Couple of weeks ago I tuned to 6 testing my Flex 6300 and noticed a bunch of FT8 signals at 50.313 MHz; since then I'm hooked into sporading E.

Now a few words on the necessity of a beam. Well, of course if one wants to challenge the limits of VHF propagation, be successful in VHF contests, shoot for the Moon and alike then yes, the beam is due. But as my experience in HF shows the beam is often present on the other side! And because beam antenna is so popular and easy to install for VHF, most of my VHF QSOs is between my antenna -- in this case, a vertical, and a multi-element beam on the other side!

As a proof, here is a map of my recent contacts on 6m:

...and here is how I was heard yesterday, during the CQ WW VHF Contest in which I participated and made some 28 QSOs:

So, if all you have is a simple vertical antenna, do not hesitate and try VHF during sporadic E season: it might surprise you!

73!

I signed these petitions to help our brothers across the pond keep 2 meters in their toolbox:
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-2-meter-amateur-radio-band-144-146mhz-from-becoming-a-aeronautical-band
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/2-metre-amateur-band-must-be-kept

If you decide to sign, be aware that the 2nd accepts UK postal codes only, so be creative and use one!

In little over a year since I've my call changed to K4MJA, I am on my 1000+ QSO. These are a mix of digital (FT8) and SSB QSOs. My Morse code studies are not going well, mostly because of me been lazy and my memory not as good as its use to be...oh well.

Anyway, hope to catch you on the air and until then,

73!

This post marks 3rd year of my ham activities. I got first licensed in 2012, but went on the air 5 years later, in 2017, when I got my General ticket. After years of involvement I decided that:

• remote connection to the shack I have configured is inadequate and also
• that I want permanent HF mobile setup with separate transceiver/tuner/antenna/batteries etc

From the beginning, my only transceiver had been Icom IC-7300 and it is still going strong, accompanied by Elecraft KPA500 linear amp and Kessler AT-Auto antenna tuner. I like the transceiver very much and want to use it mobile/portable (and did it on a few occasions, see here and here). So, for a while

I pondered acquiring another Icom 7300, but the idea somehow sounded silly and I ended up with used Flex 6300 box, which went through FRS' "pre-hated" re-sale system.

I installed the radio in parallel with Icom setup (same antennas though). I liked SmartSDR interface, it went naturally with my operating style. Part of it might be the fact that I am an old IT guy and all things computer are my daily bread.

At first, I used small LDG IT-100 antenna tuner with the Flex, but this tuner is Icom-specific and while it can be used in the shack with non-icom transceiver -- all you need is a power cable -- remotely, it is not accessible without Icom host radio. So, I decided to add yet another tuner which would

• handle at least 500W output of my Elecraft KPA500 and
• will be accessible remotely from the PC;

Elecraft KAT500 was the answer. I also added Elecraft W2 wattmeter for the same reason: it can be accessed remotely with an app. I acquired both as kits and last weekend I assembled the KAT500 and the W2 -- both went together with no problems, thanks to the great documentation/packaging by Elecraft. Another addition is Bulgarian-made antenna switch with web interface (MS-S7-WEB), tested and in use, replacing Ameritron RCS-8V switch (which by the way is in the process to be rebuild for remote access, too).

My remote shack is now complete. It is joy to use locally, and it works remotely in team viewer session like a charm. Icom 7300 is now serves as a voice operating position only and I will be using it often for all out-of-shack activities.

So here are my recent projects,
73 and have fun with yours!

I went on the air one year ago as KK4MJA; last weekend I celebrated my ham anniversary by participating in IARU Word Championship, now as K4MJA. As always, with my antennas and time available (not much of either), I had no intention to compete but rather to support the real competitors by my effort. I made some contacts and enjoyed it very much. I think it will be even more exiting as I will be able to do the CW...still in the process of leaning it. Here is the map of my contacts during the contest: K4MJA->>IARU HF Championship contact map 73!

I started using my shack remotely over Internet from time to time, listening only for now though technically I can transmit. I am using TeamViewer v13; good piece of software, free for personal use. On the shack's side I have Icom 7300 for a radio, Palstar AT-Auto tuner, and antenna I choose while at home (still working on the PC-controlled remote antenna switch). The radio is connected to PC with (one and only) USB cable. The sound from the radio is enabled on the PC so I can hear everything in remote session. The PC is Windows 7 x64 and I had no big issues configuring it with available Icom driver. To be able to drive the rig remotely, I use Win4Icom program by Tom VA2FSQ; I like the result better than Icom's own RS-BA1 which I also tested. Win4Icom can by interfaced with number of logging programs, it can reproduce Icom's waterfall on bigger screen or replace it with SDRPlay's much nicer waterfall -- I have SDRPlay and RX/TX switch and will test it in the nearest future. It also features clublog spots window. As you see in the screenshot below, taken at the remote side, some old webcam is also there, used to look at my rig's and tuner's screens; there is also CW decode program as I am still learning morse code. All in all, it is very nice, robust setup; if anybody interested in details, I can explain here, just let me know in comments.

73!

CQ-M is Russian HAM contest (by Russian Radio-Amateur Union AKA SRR AKA Союз Радиолюбителей России); its going to be the 53rd's CQ-M this weekend. The contest is both CW and SSB. Here are the rules: http://cqm.srr.ru/en-rules/
We will be participating with my friend Sergey K4/RU4W who is CW guru and yet to build his shack here in Miami, so he will be working from mine under my callsign. I'll be doing the SSB part. With the antennas available, we will be doing search and pounce mostly. Wish us luck.

73!

PS I will be handling the station's QSL traffic for the event. All QSLs go to my callsign. I will not be uploading CW portion of the contest to any of my online logs (QRZ, LOTW, EQSL), unless asked. SSB will be online promptly, as usual.

I have been issued a new call sign; I decided to drop one of two "K "letters I had in my call, sent a request and became K4MJA instead of KK4MJA -- today by FCC's decree. The former callsign KK4MJA will gradually disappear.

Out of all antennas I installed and used at my (antenna-restricted) OTH the one I liked instantly was MFJ "hamstick" dipole(s): the size, the ease of installation, the way it could be rotated manually -- fiberglass mast I use allows it -- and how the signal/noise changes with the rotation. There were problems with the hamstick dipoles though: they turned out not very good radiators, the one for 20m is better than for 40m, but generally all poor and lossy. The little modeling I've done confirmed it. Also, hamstick dipoles I have are low power (125W max).

So...I went on the quest for finding a rotatable dipole which
(1) would fit in my small patio,
(2) could be installed on the fiberglass mast I have and
(3) could handle at least five hundred watts of (recently installed in the shack) Elecraft KPA500.

I came back last week with MFJ-1775 multiband (10-15-20-40m) rotatable dipole, assembled it, tuned and tested during the 2018 ARRL DX SSB Contest this weekend. Here are my impressions:

Elecraft KPA500 in operating position (center left)

I live in a condo unit; permanent ham antennas prohibited by the HOA's rules. All of my HF antennas (and I have many) are hidden or temporary. That's what I've done so far:

After 6 Month of leisure hammimg I received my first badge at QRZ.com:

The Grid Squared Award:

"This award is available to any QRZ member whose Logbook on QRZ.com contains at least one confirmed contact from each of 100 unique Maidenhead grid squares."

USA, Canada, Caribbean, South America and some contacts across the pond...not much actually. I will be trying my new amp, hopefully it will help to get out of the noise on the other side. At least, that's the hope.

73!

At my present QTH, the antennas are prohibited by the rules of my HOA. That is, "no permanent visible antennas allowed"On top of this grim issue, I also have very limited space for any HF antenna. I have 2 small patios and the attic, which is also very small, about 21ft/7 m wide and 18ft/6m deep, and the height is on low side, crawl space for the most part. Nevertheless, I managed to install several wire antennas in the attic (40-10m multiband doublet, 17m monoband moxon), and strung the similar doublet along the outer roof edge. I also installed a 35ft/10m Max-Gain fiberglass push-up pole in one of the patios and used it to bring up different light antennas, like "hamstick" dipoles or MFJ-17754 2 band (20/40m) dipole. It all worked somewhat, some better then the others, all depending on the propagation and the location of the distant station. DX-wise, I had most success with MFJ-2220 "hamstick" dipole at 35ft on the fiberglass pole.

Until recently, I had no vertical antennas and was determined to try them one day. Vertical antenna is a good idea if the space for the installation is very limited and it has to go up and down promptly and with little effort. At the same time, not all vertical antennas are very good radiators: first, they usually radiate equally in all directions, having no directivity without additional measures, like setting up a system of vertical antennas with special feeding arrangements, meaning the signal in the far field will be lower when compared to a beam antenna or even to a dipole; second, a good ground system or, for elevated installation, a system of radials required for better radiation efficiency (and I have little space for that). Nevertheless, in Dec 2017 I acquired and installed 2 vertical antennas:

• (1) MFJ-2286 "The Big Stick" portable 17ft/5m telecscopic, base-loaded whip for 10-20m;
• (2) Hy-Gain AV-12AVQ 3-band 10-15-20m vertical.

Here are my impressions after a short test, starting Dec 24th and until the last weekend:

Been a new ham, I build all kind of antennas; in a process of doing this I accumulated long list of internet references I am sharing below. I will be updating it, deleting old/outdated/not important references and adding new. Due to my present QTH the main focus is compact/limited space antennas, but the list is not strictly limited to this subject. It is a bit chaotic as it originates from the text file I have been dumping my findings to for many month, but proven to be useful, so here it is:

---

TOPICS

• DIPOLES AND DOUBLETS
• LOOPS
  • Magnetic loops
• YAGIS
  • Moxons
  • Portable hexbeams
• ZEPPS AND J-POLES
  • J-pole and horizontal Zepp
  • OCF Colinear for 80m (Rus)
• VERTICALS
  • Half-square and bobtails
• ON WIRE ANTENNAS
• ON ANTENNA TRAPS
• TOOLS, TIPS AND STUFF
  • DIY VHF/UHF antennas
  • DIY Band Pass Filters

last updated Mar 01, 2018

---

ON ANTENNA TRAPS

• http://www.vwlowen.co.uk/java/trap.htm
• http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/?how-antenna-traps-work
• http://www.w8ji.com/traps.htm

YAGIS

• 2 element beams
• 2 and 3 element mini yagis
• 2 el trapped beam
• Loaded Yagi for 20m
• 20m half-size 2 element Yagi
• Mini Horse Yagi (portable 3 element wire beam)
• Short boom Yagis from Raibeam

  Moxons

  • Moxon Antenna Project Website
  • Lightweight wire moxon
  • Notes on construction
  • Trapped 40m moxon
  • Loaded 40m moxon
  • Trapped multibander moxon
  • 17+20m Moxon
  • Vertical wire moxon
  • Moxon beam notes
  • Moxon calc
  • Wire moxons

  Portable hexbeams

  • Portable HexBeams, readymaid
  • Hexbeams antenna parts
  • Portable HexBeams, how-to I
  • Portable HexBeams, how-to II
  • Portable HexBeams, how-to III (** Note: this one!!)

DIPOLES AND DOUBLETS

• Multiband Dipoles Compared (ARRL Publication)
• C-pole portable verticals
• C-Pole
• Compact rotatable dipole (Cushcraft D3)
• "Cobra" (folded dipole)
• Fan dipole I
• Fan dipole II
• Doublet antenna fed with ladder line
• Space saving dipoles from AlfaDelta (readymaide) (** Note: narrow BW on 40m->needs tuner)
• 10-40m in an attic
• Hamstick dipole in vertical configuration (*Note: My 40m at 30 ft hasn't confirmed this so far...no contacts)
• Nice OCFD
• Folded skeleton sleeve antenna
• The K4VX Linear-Loaded Dipole for 7 MHz ("ladder line dipole")
• short 80/40/20/15m inverted-V doublet ("NJQRP Squirt")
• G7FEK antenna: short 46ft/14m multiband 80-12m EF dipole
• Linear loaded dipoles

LOOPS

• Horizontal loop multiband antenna
• Horizontal loop antenna, modeling
• Portable Delta-loop 30-6M 300W or 1KW, readymade
• DIY 80 m spiral loop antenna

  Magnetic loops

  • Good read!
  • Magloop from Slinky coil
  • Another good read on magloops
  • DIY high power magloops
  • Good work, with construction details (**Note: mine like his 80m, from copper straps)
  • Magloop project report from M0UKD
  • Thick 4" loop for 40m by Alex PY1AHD
  • Nice read on Magloops, with references
  • Receiving loop
  • Another Receive-only loop
  • The Rockloop (QRP)
  • Foil loop from Japan
  • Some detail on building
  • Yet another square loop
  • Square magloop details, in Russian
  • Big loop, ferrite coupling, in details
  • another qrp loop made from RG213
  • Material - Heliax AVA Coaxial Cable
  • Multiply loops antenna
  • Copper strap for building magnetic loop - 1.5"/25'
  • Copper strap for building magnetic loop - 3.0"/25'
  • Copper strap for building magnetic loop - 2.0"/25'
  • Copper adhesive tape
  • Remotely controlled capacitor for Magloop tuning control
  • High voltage air gap calculator
  • Capacitors for Magloop tuning control

ZEPPS AND J-POLES

• J-pole and horizontal Zepp
• OCF colinear for 80m (RUS)

VERTICALS

• MFJ Wip 17ft
• MFJ-5904 RF Design box
• MFJ air wound coil for the telescopic 17ft wip
• On portable vertical
• On radials
• Modifying hamstick for 500W (**Note: the coil is here)
• 40-10m Twinlead fishing rod vertical
• Aerial 1/2 wave vertical end-fed vs proper dipole
• Instructions for EFHWA
• EFHW, detailed discussion
• Multiband vertical no radials (coax as a counterpose) (*Note: "3132 9:1 balun" is probably 9132 9:1 Unun)
• Linear loading for vertical antenna ("Flagpole antenna")
• Shortened vertical for 40m (2/4 height)
• Short helically wound vertical for 20m
• Short helically wound vertical for 160m
• Short (2m) indoor multiband vertical antenna

  Half-square (phased verticals)

  • One from Hy Power Antenna Company, premaid
  • "Using the Half-Square Antenna For Low-Band DXing" ARRL pub. 1996
  • Post on HS in QRZ forums
  • Half-square, half-square double and bobtail
  • Bobtail
  • Bibliography

WIRE ANTENNAS

• Wire Antennas For HAM Radio
• 40m wire antennas comparison

TOOLS, TIPS AND STUFF

• Unit Circle Coordinate Calculator
• Helical Coil Calculator
• Testing coax
• On photon model in electromagnetic theory
• Soldering PL-259
• On coax chokes
• Good and Bad Parallel Feedline Lengths
• Soil parameters
• Battery power
• Tree hanging tools and tips
• Antennas in trees
• 22mm Mirco Swivel Block
• Collection of PDFs, many on antennas
• Telescopic fiberglass masts (**Note: mine is MK-6 HD 43.3 FT Mast)
• On SWR/resonance I
• On SWR/resonance II
• On limited space antennas
• "In Practice" pages by GM3SEK
• On RFI in shared living
• MFJ-1622: Portable wip 2-40m
• Another portable multiband vertical
• Compact (8.5') multiband sticks
• 500 W Hamsticks
• Hamsticks: HS vs Procomm vs Workman (** Note: also read this)
• $150 Portable wip 10-40m
• $140 Portable wip
• $269 500W 10-40m portable vertical (Alfa Antenna Promaster Jr.)
• Short wire antennas (also read this post on ULTIMAX)
• Portable Tri-Bander
• Notebook antenna
• On SWL
• $2 4ft fiberglass post with wire clips

  DIY VHF/UHF antennas

  • 2m vertical
  • Quick and simple 2m grounplane
  • DIY 2m dipole antenna
  • Dual-band J-pole
  • 70cm-10m beams
  • simple 2m ladder line
  • Multiband antennas HF VHF
  • Spiral Tak-Tenna

    DIY Bandpass Filters

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYiM2cqUNk8
  • http://www.n1nc.org/Filters/
  • http://www.kg4jjh.com/pdf/Contest Bandpass Filters.pdf
  • http://www.kg4jjh.com/bpf.html>www.kg4jjh.com/bpf.html
  • http://www.iceradioproducts.com/filtersrf.html
  • http://www.morganmfg.us/>http://www.morganmfg.us/
  • https://www.dunestar.com/store/product-info.php?HF-Triplexer-Filter-pid6.html

Unsorted...

        HF Beacons, transmission schedule
        https://www.ncdxf.org/beacon/index.html#transmission

	Isotron compact 40m antenna
	 http://isotronantennas.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_4&products_id=4

	Hentenna
	 http://www.hamuniverse.com/hentenna.html
	 http://www.hamuniverse.com/6mhenk5uss.html
	 http://www.hamuniverse.com/iw6dfw%202m%20and%2070cm%20hentenna%20project_DRAFT.pdf

	Wire
	 https://www.amateurradiosupplies.com/category-s/260.htm
	 http://thewireman.com/index.html

	Antenna tuners
	 http://www.sgcworld.com/store/index.html

	LDG antenna tuner
	 http://www.ldgelectronics.com/c/252/products/17/49/4
	 the one with batteries: http://www.ldgelectronics.com/c/252/products/17/9/1

	Ugly balun
	 http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html
	 https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-8x
	 https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-pl259

We went for the Thanksgiving week to New Smyrna Beach, the coastal town just North of Cape Canaveral.

I used the opportunity to test my portable setup with AGM battery (this one in this box):

Passed the test today at Everglades Radio Club in Homestead. Hallelujah!

I am using MFJ hamsticks for 20m and 40m bands in dipole configuration(s), i.e. installed in MFJ-347 mount. Here is the first post in this blog on MFJ-2220 and MFJ-2240 dipoes on 38ft/10+m Max-Gain fiberglass pole I use. In a word, 20m dipole works well for me. I use it to make DX as well as stateside contacts. It is not beam antenna, it has inherent loss and not all power makes it to the far field, but it definitely works. It also has some directivity at the height I use it (again 33-38ft, i.e. a little more than 10m). As for 40m dipole at this height, it doesn't work very well, and finally I became curious enough to overcome my laziness and did some modeling in 4nec2 (4nec2 is popular free antenna modeling software -- get your copy).

All antennas safely inside the house and shutters up on all windows, here is the video from security cam above my door:

"Hamstick dipole" MFJ-2220 deployed on MFJ-1818EX tripod