The Chameleon SA-1 is a compact easy to use antenna analyzer that will help you measure SWR and tune your multi band antenna, like the Chameleon PRV System or Wolf River Coil Silver Bullet 1000. The meter measures SWR from 1:1 – 19.9 in a frequency range of 1.6 MHz to 160 MHz.
The Chameleon SA-1 is a compact lightweight SWR analyzer that would be perfect in your portable antenna kit. Opening the box you will find, a Nine volt battery, a BNC to UHF adapter, and the unit itself enclosed in a protective velvet bag.
The SA-1 has a continuous frequency range of 1.6 to 160 Mhz so it will be able to test the SWR for anyHF and VHF antennas in the amateur radio bands. It can also display the SWR from 1:1 up to 19.9:1 for that antenna. Run time with the battery is approximately 20 hours or 15 hours when you use the back light.
On the top of the meter is a small power switch, a BNC antenna port, and a socket that is labeled serial. We’ll talk about the serial feature in a bit. But first let’s look at the front of the unit
The SA-1 does not come with any instructions. Instead, everything you need to know to operate the meter is screen printed on the front of the unit. When you power on the meter, you will see the frequency and SWR on the dot matrix LCD display. Every time you turn on the unit, the frequency also defaults back to 14,000 Mhz. To adjust the frequency, you first tap the knob to select the digit and then rotate it to change the number. The unit is constantly testing the SWR, so there is nothing else you need to do. If you want to toggle the backlight, press and hold the center knob. That’s it. The SA-1 does one thing, and that’s measuring SWR. so there is nothing else you need to set it up.
A single function meter like this can be really handy in the field as it doesn’t distract with unnecessary features. It’s all in the goal of getting on the air quickly. So let’s see how fast we can do that as I demonstrate setting up and adjusting a multiband vertical antenna.
Timestamp 00:00:00 Chameleon SA-1 Antenna Analyzer 00:01:35 Features and Specs of the Chameleon SA-1 00:03:31 Using the SA-1 SWR Meter 00:13:15 Chameleon SA-1 Secret Feature 00:15:30 My thoughts on the SA-1 Antenna Analyzer
Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.
As a bonus, patrons can view the unedited phone contacts for this POTA activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas
I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.
Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.
The Chameleon URT-1 is a remote outdoor antenna tuner for almost any type of antenna or model of transceiver. This wide range tuner matches resonant and non-resonant wires, verticals, and long wire antennas with its range of 5 to 1500 ohms of impedance. The URT-1 has a 50 ohm coaxial port and a wire beehive connector for added versatility. And the unit is weather proof so it can be mounted outdoors near the feed point of the antenna.
The purpose of an antenna tuner is not to ‘tune’ your antenna, but instead to provide a proper impedance match to your transceiver. Modern transceivers require a 50 ohm impedance and if there is a mismatch, the transceiver will respond, at the very least, by reducing output power, and at the worst, damaging the final amplifier components. So in order to deliver all available power to your antenna, a proper impedance match is required. This is a simplistic explanation, but sufficient for today.
Screenshot
Usually the tuner, either manual or automatic is placed near the transceiver. This is fine in most cases. If your feed line run is short, it won’t make a difference. But coaxial cable does introduce losses into the antenna system and if your antenna has a high impedance at the feed point, the mismatch will create standing waves, and the elevated SWR can be characterized as power lost in the feed line. Again that’s a simplistic explanation.
So how do we increase the overall efficiency of our antenna system? One method is to move the antenna tuner from the transceiver over to the antenna feedpoint. Situating the tuner at the antenna allows it to deliver the proper impedance match, which will be 50 ohms, to the feed line. Since impedance is matched at the coax, we can run longer pieces of cable without fear of losing energy due to high SWR on the cable.
Now remote tuners are typically used with non resonant antennas, either long wires or verticals. A resonant antenna, like a dipole or end fed half wave should have close to a 50 ohm impedance at the feed point. The tuner located at your transceiver will be used to fix slight mismatches or to extend the bandwidth of your antenna. Remote tuners would be overkill in these situations.
But with, say a 43 foot vertical antenna, the impedance may be between 400 – 900 Ohms. A 9:1 transformer could help knock that down, but using a remote tuner instead, will take whatever impedance the antenna is and deliver a consistent 50 ohms to the feed line, reducing overall system losses.
URT-1 Specifications
The URT-1 covers 1.8 to 54 Mhz and has 16,000 memories for quick recall when tuning. It can match any antenna with an impedance of 5 to 1,500 Ohms. That’s like a 30:1 match. And it can handle up to 125 watts sideband or CW and 60 watts on the digital modes.
Screenshot
Opening up the box, things may look a little familiar. This tuner is custom manufactured by Mat Tuner for Chameleon. It does look very similar to their MAT 40 remote tuner, but there are some key differences.
The tuner comes in two parts, the first is the coupler box. This connects to the transceiver and to a 12 volt power source. Then your coax cable runs all the way out to the tuner box which sits at the antenna feed point. You will notice that there are not separate control cables for the tuner. Power and tuner control are fed through the coax cable by way of a Bias-T circuit. The benefit to that is that you don’t have to run a second cable to the tuner unit, but the downside is that you need to initiate tunes by pressing the tuning button on the coupler.
The tuner unit is constructed out a aluminum alloy and it weather proof. On the top of the unit is a beehive connector for feeding wire or vertical antennas. On the bottom is a counter poise and ground connector along with two UHF female connectors. One UHF connector connects to your coax run coming from the coupler and the second is for feeding antennas that have a similar SO-239 connection point.
The tuner comes with a set of rails so that you can mount it to a post or board using a pair of U-Bolts. An option 12 volt AC adapter is also available. So what’s different between the URT-1 and the MAT 40 tuner? Namely the addition of a 50 ohm coaxial output port and the removal of the brand specific control cables. The URT-1 is a bit more universal in that the coupler unit will work with just about any brand or model of transceiver.
How to use Use the URT-1
Using the URT-1 is pretty simple. We’ll first connect the coupler to our transceiver. My main antenna, a G5RV, is connected to my LDG auto tuner, so going to put this one onto the 2nd antenna port on my transceiver. A coax jumper goes from the radio to the coupler. The antenna coax is then connected to the other port on the coupler. Finally connect the power. The green power light should glow. If you see the red error light, that means the there is a short circuit somewhere in the coax connection between the coupler and the tuner.
When connecting the tuner, you can not have any devices like switches, diplexers, or meters in the path between the coupler and the tuner. These could cause a short circuit, potentially damaging the tuner or your device.
To initiate a tune, put your transceiver into a constant carrier mode like RTTY. Set the power level to 15 watts or less, briefly hit the tune button, and immediately key the transmitter. Watch the transceiver SWR meter and it will show the resulting SWR when the tuning cycle is complete. Unkey the transmitter. A complete tuning cycle will take five seconds or less.
At this point you can transmit normally. When changing bands, you will reinitiate the tune process. The tuner has 16,000 memories, so once the unit finds a good match, it will remember it for faster subsequent tunes.
Now let’s head outdoors and I’ll show you a couple of ways you can use the remote tuner in your portable amateur radio operations.
My experiences
What are my thoughts on the Chameleon URT-1 remote antenna tuner? First off, I must say that this unit is well constructed. The tuning unit consists of an aluminum alloy body that has a certain amount of heft to it. It wins points on that item alone. Taking this out into the field was a breeze as I didn’t have to run a separate control cable to the tuner for power. Operationally, it tunes fast and had no problem finding a match that was 1.5:1 or less. I think the only time I had issues with it getting a good match was with my 25 foot Franken-tenna on the 15 meter band. In that instance it gave up at about 1.8:1. But with the Frankentenna it did perform quite well on 10, 15, 20, and 40 meters despite the bands not being in the best condition. I made 210 contacts on those bands activating the Mountain Bay state trail, with the bulk of them on the 20 meter band.
Screenshot
With the end fed random wire antenna, I connected the tuner up to UHF connection on the antenna. The addition of the 9:1 transformer with the tuner made for super fast tune times. Every time it found a match at rocket speed. For that activation of Ackley Wildlife Area I ended up with 176 contacts on 10, 12, 15, 17, and 20 meters. The great thing about non resonant antennas is their agility. To switch bands, all I had to do was hit the tune button and I was good to go.
I had the same experience back here at home with the 71 foot non resonant wire. Once it learned the antenna, it would re-tune almost instantly. I was able to get matches with this wire from 10 meters all the way down to 80 meters. Operationally, the antenna performed just as well, maybe a bit better than with my other tuner located at the feed point. This antenna is being fed with 75 feet of RG-8X, so the better match at the feed point does make a difference.
As for things I don’t quite like about the tuner, First off these UHF ports are not labeled, so you need to look at the instructions to determine which goes to the coupler and which goes to the antenna. Also the ports didn’t come with covers. If you are using the bee hive connector, having a cover on the unused UHF port would be nice. I’ve got a friend that 3D printed some, so i did have something that worked. Finally, and probably the biggest, is that you have to press the tune button on the coupler to initiate a tune. If your SWR changes or you change bands, the tuner won’t automatically retune, it needs to be activated. That involves switching to a carrier mode like RTTTY, pressing the tune button, and then transmitting a carrier. Not the worst thing in the world, but also not fully automatic like some brands of remote tuners. But those require a separate control and power cable and up side of this tuner is that you don’t have to run a separate power and control cable to the tuner. Your power runs through the coax, which makes installation a breeze.
But, final words, I’ve been looking for a remote tuner at the hamfests. Everything I’ve seen is overpriced or in bad shape. It’s a bit serendipitous for Chameleon to be sending me this as it opens up the door to a bunch of different antenna configurations that I’ll be able to demonstrate. I’ve got some great ideas to use this tuner with, so you’ll want to stick around for that.
As a bonus, patrons can view the full, unedited phone contacts for this Parks on the Air activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas
I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.
Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.
3 years ago I did a review of the Chameleon Tactical Delta Loop antenna. At that time I had a mediocre feeling towards it. But taking a 2nd look, I am totally impressed on how this amazing antenna performs on the upper bands.
As a bonus, patrons can view the full, unedited phone contacts for this Parks on the Air activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas
I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.
Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.
The Chameleon CHA Stinger Kit is a versatile solution for a vertical antenna counterpoise or ground plane. The Stinger kit consists of six 48 inch stainless steel elements with all weather banana plugs on one end and a teardrop on the other. The Stingers are a quick deployment option for times in which you may not have the space to put out a conventional radial network, like if you are operating on a patio or deck, or other high traffic areas.
Chameleon antennas recently introduced the Stinger kit. This is billed as a versatile solution for a vertical antenna counterpoise or ground plane The Stinger kit consists of six 48 inch stainless steel elements with all weather banana plugs on one end and a teardrop on the other.
For antennas, like the Chameleon PRV system, you insert the 2 mm banana plugs into the holes of the radial puck that comes with the antenna. For other antennas, like the MPAS 2, an optional 6 port puck is available to convert the antenna counterpoise to the Stinger kit. Stinger kits can be ordered either with or without the puck, depending on if you need that part or not.
The Stingers are a quick deployment option for times in which you may not have the space to put out a conventional radial network, like if you are operating on a patio or deck, or other limited areas.
Performance of the stinger kit is good. Using the 58 inch whip on the Chameleon PRV antenna, I was about to get the SWR down to around 1.5:1 on the 20, 15, and 10 meter bands. Chameleon states that a tuner may be necessary for 40 meter operation in this radial configuration. On air reports were good on those bands.
Similar results were achieved with the MPAS 2 non resonant vertical antenna.
Not stretching out radials, like in limited spaces and high traffic areas may be a benefit to some portable operators, and the Chameleon Stinger Kit offers that convenience and versatility in those situations.
The Chameleon Stinger kit can be found online at chameleonantenna.com. Thank you to Chameleon for sending me a stinger kit for this review. Links to their online store are in the video description.
Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.
It’s a POTA road trip! I head out to activate three new to me parks while using a different antenna at each one. Ride along with me for an epic Parks on the Air activation as we find out which one will be the best
As a bonus, patrons can view the full, unedited phone contacts for this Parks on the Air activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas
I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.
Our Ham Radio holiday adventure takes us to Wisconsin’s scenic Door County peninsula on the shores of Lake Michigan. We activate to Parks on the Air parks: Potawatomie State Park (POTA K-1472) and Newport State Park (POTA K-1468). Plus, we explore a Door County Christkindlmarkt, have dinner in a historic Wisconsin Supper Club, and top off the evening playing classic arcade games. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.
As a bonus, patrons can view the full, unedited phone contacts for this Parks on the Air activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas
I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.
Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.
Timestamp 00:00:00 Goats on the Roof 00:00:29 Potawatomie State Park 00:01:05 Activation of K-1472 Potawatomie State Park 00:05:40 Christkindltmarkt 00:06:33 Newport State Park 00:07:33 Activation of K-1468 Newport State Park 00:12:40 Chameleon PRV Portable Resonant Vertical 00:14:12 Holiday Lights Supper Club and Pinball 00:15:45 Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas
(February 14, 2024) In the social forums, I often see the question posed by a newer POTA enthusiast asking if anyone does any Parks on the Air activations on the 80 meter band. This is a great question, as 80 meters is excellent for getting those local and regional contacts and it often is a band that is needed if you are interested in your N1CC award. But there are certain challenges with that band and they are multiplied when you go portable.
Being at the top of the solar cycle, 80 meters is relegated to being a night time band. During the day the noise floor is just too high for the weaker signal of an activator to compete. This is often compounded by the highly compromised antennas we end up using on the lower bands. There’s a reason why 80 meter aficionados use amplifiers: it’s to overcome the limitations of band noise and antenna losses. To top all that off, many parks close in the evening hours, making it even more challenging to activate a park on that band.
With all the challenges of 80 meters, I found myself in a spot where I had the time and ability to do a late shift at a local park, Rib Mountain State Park (POTA K-1473).
Late shift for Parks on the Air purposes is defined when Zulu day (00:00) rolls over. Here in the midwest in the central time zone, we are 6 hours behind GMT, Zulu, or Universal Coordinated Time, so at 6:00 pm local time (7pm when daylight saving time begins) is the start of the new POTA day. This late evening activation period is affectionately called the Late Shift, as it happens during the evening hours and the contacts count towards the next local time day.
On February 14, Christine was flying back from a business conference and her plane was expected to arrive at 9:00pm. I could have stayed at home and snoozed on the couch before picking her up at the airport, or I could make myself useful and activate a park. Fortunately my favorite local park, Rib Mountain State Park, is only 15 minutes from the airport, so I could be out until 8:30 or so, get on the air, and make some late shift contact. I grabbed a quick dinner and traveled up the hill for a couple hours of late shift.
Setup
Being it was the evening, my plan was 40 and 80 meters, two bands I don’t operate much from the mountain and two that will have good performance after sunset. Being this is winter and the ski hill is operating, I knew that I would have some noise on the 40 meter band from the chair lifts. Checking the schedule, the hill was operating until 9:00pm. My only hope was that they wouldn’t be operating the lift on the far west side of the hill. If it was, my only recourse would be to operate digital on the 40 meter band as the chair lift noise all but blanks everything out.
Sure enough, when I got to the top of the hill, there was plenty of activity near the park entrance and the two large high speed lifts were running, but driving to the other end of the park, everything was dark. The parking area was unlit and the 3rd high speed lift was not in operation. Excellent! That meant 40 meter phone operation was on.
For My setup, I used the 213 inch whip paired with the Wolf River Coils Silver Bullet 1000 coil. I needed the extra length of the SB1000 for 80 meters, so that was the perfect choice. The longer whip meant that the coil would be somewhat efficient as I wouldn’t have to drop the collar all the way to the bottom to get a match. Sure enough, on 40 meters, I only needed about an inch or so of coil and on 80m, the collar was at about the 3/8 point, of just under half way down. I had both my window screen ground network and length of Faraday cloth (magic carpet), so I laid both down under the antenna to increase the surface area of my ground network. This was an excellent choice as the SWR on both 40 and 80 meters was under 1.5:1.
For transceiver, I put the FT-891 on the dash of the car, set the power of 50 watts, and started calling CQ on the 40 meter band.
The Activation
I was on the air 00:49 (6:49pm) and made my first contact 2 minutes later. To say that hunters weren’t looking for late shift activators is an understatement. For the next hour I averaged about 2 contacts a minute and racked up 95 contacts for the almost one hour period that I was on the air. Propagation was quite good and I easily worked stations on 40 meters that I often hear on 20 meters during the day, including a few west coast stations: California, Oregon, and Arizona.
Since the purpose of me being on the hill at night was 80 meters, and since I also had a hard deadline to keep, at 7:45pm I changed bands. At this time it has started snowing on the hill. We were expecting some rain/snow mix but the forecast said it would start after 9:00pm. Evidently it got here a little early as my ground screen and cloth was covered by a light dusting of snow. Moving the collar down to 80 meters, I got a good match, and the snow didn’t seem to affect anything. I was ready to rock and roll.
Band conditions on 80 meters was excellent that evening. My noise floor was about S2, which is amazing, and many of the hunters I got on 40 meters followed me down to 80 for another contact on that band. I operated for 40 minutes and got 26 in the log. A little slower pace than 40 meters, but expected with the shorter coverage the 80 meter band offered. By this time is was 8:30pm and my wife was expected to land in 30 minutes.
But as I mentioned, it was snowing, and that same snow delayed her flight out of Minneapolis. I now had about an extra half hour before I needed to be at the airport. There was only one reasonable thing to do, work another band. I needed 30 meters at the park for my N1CC, so I retuned the coil, hooked up the Digirig, and got 8 30 meter FT8 contacts in the log. Signals were really good on 30 m that evening and the passband was full of activity. I secured at 8:54pm. According to Flight Aware, she would arrive at 9:20, so I had just enough time to pack up, head down the hill, and get to the airport.
Conclusion
Late shift on Rib Mountain was a lot of fun. Getting down off the hill in the snow was not. By this time it was snowing pretty good, but taking things easy and the confidence of the Outback’s all wheel drive made the day. I arrived at the airport at 9:24pm and only had to wait a minimal amount of time while Chris got her luggage.
There is no camping on Rib Mountain, but the park is open until 11:00pm. Until this point I never really thought much about going up there for a late shift activation, but with the results of this one, I certainly am going to do it again. The vertical with the SB1000 coil was an excellent choice and I feel adding the second screen to the ground network made a big difference for the low bands. I will certainly do that trick again when I use the vertical on 80 and even 40 meters.
I got 129 contacts that day: 95 on 40 meters, 26 on 80 meters, and 8 on 30 meters FT8.
K-1473 Rib Mountain State Park 40 meter Late Shift Phone contacts
K-1473 Rib Mountain State Park 80 meter Late Shift Phone contacts
Parks on the Air and camping is a great combination and if you love both of those activities, I invite you to attend the 2nd annual Wisconsin POTA campout on October 4-6, 2024 at the Brunet Island State Park (POTA K-1442) in Cornell, WI.
What to Expect
Your hosts, Michael KB9VBR, Travis W9HDG, and Joe KD9CJX have been getting together for an autumn campout for a few years. Parks on the Air has been always been a highlight of these adventures. This year we are opening up our campout to the greater POTA community. This event will be part social activity and part Parks on the Air activation. You can activate as little or as much as you want, in whatever mode you choose. The sky is the limit. Learn new skills, see now other hams operate, and learn how to deal with interference when a bunch of hams get on the air at the same time. That’s always part of the fun. The weekend is guaranteed to be a blast.
A formalized list of events will be put together as we get closer to the date, but you can expect the following:
Friday evening social campfire
POTA 101 class for new activators
Saturday POTA activations, group and individual
Saturday evening pot luck dinner (bring a dish to pass)
and much much more
Camp the entire weekend or just come out for the day/evening. We’d love to have you either way.
The campground is located right on the edge of Cornell and is within close proximity of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail and the Old Abe State Trail, both POTA entities. Cornell, WI is approximately 20 miles northeast of Chippewa Falls, WI and is not far from I-94 and State Hwy 29 in western Wisconsin.
Campground
Brunet Island State Park, on the Chippewa and Fisher rivers, offers more than 1,300 acres of scenic beauty and recreational opportunities. Quiet lagoons and channels are excellent for canoeing and wildlife watching. The rolling landscape in Chippewa County is a product of the most recent Ice Age. The park links to the Old Abe State Trail which runs from Cornell to Chippewa Falls.
Brunet Island State Park has two campground loops. The South Campground has 24 sites with electricity. It has a campsite accessible for people with disabilities and a shower building with flush toilets.
The North Campground has no electric service, but many of the 45 campsites are on the shoreline of the Chippewa River or its bays. Generators are NOT allowed in Brunet Island State Park.
Water will still be on this weekend and the shower house open. The park office is closed after Labor Day, so no other services will be available. Food, supplies, and firewood are available in nearby Cornell.
If you want to know what the campground and the campsite look like, Sconny Wandering has a great walkaround of this amazing campground
North Campground Loop
South Campground Loop
Important Details
Your hosts Michael, Travis, and Joe are in sites 61-63. If you are planning to camp, please reserve a site on that end of the campground loop (or anywhere else in the campground if you desire).
There is no additional charge for the event. You will need a Wisconsin State Park sticker or other admission to enter the campground.
Please note that due to the overwhelming demand for the POTA campout, there are a limited number of campsites still available for this event. All of the site east of the bay on the north loop are all POTA campers. The remaining sites in the campground are on the west side of the bay and are a mix of POTA and non POTA campers. As we get closer to the date, I imagine people will drop out and sites will become available. If you are interested on being on a waitlist, please email me via the contact form and I can notify you if I hear of a participant dropping out or a site opening up.
If you are planning to attend, Please email Michael, KB9VBR, via the contact form or kb9vbr@jpole-antenna.com. Let me know your site number if you are camping, or give me a heads up if you are coming out for the day.
There is a modern shower house with flush toilets in the campground. It should be open yet on the first weekend of October. Vault toilets are available.
This is a family friendly event. Alcohol is permitted in accordance to state park rules. We only request that you conduct yourself in an appropriate manner.
This is not a Parks on the Air sanctioned event, you are responsible for your own actions. Event hosts assume no liability.
A quest for the best hamburgers turns into a DX rich afternoon at a seldom activated park: New Wood State Wildlife Area (POTA K-4318) near Merrill, Wisconsin
Thank you to Patreon member Mike Radzicki for supplying the book: Thousand-Miler: Adventures Hiking the Ice Age Trail https://amzn.to/3s5s1xr
As a bonus, patrons can view the full, unedited phone contacts for this Parks on the Air activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas
I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.
Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.
January 20, 2024 – This was a busy Saturday. I started the day out proctoring an FCC amateur license exam session. As the testing liaison for our club, an exam won’t happen unless I’m there, because I have all the materials. But I’m not complaining as our group tested six individuals and we ended up with a new Technician, three upgrades to General and two new Extra class license holders. A good day, indeed.
After the test, I decided to hit a park on my way home. The closest for me is Rib Mountain State Park, POTA K-1473. I’ve written about Rib Mountain quite a few times. Located just outside of Wausau, WI, I consider it to be my ‘local park’ and I’ve done 22 activations with 2300 contacts. Six of those were in the last two months. What I like about this park is how the activation strategy changes in the winter months.
In the summer, I have a couple of favorite spots where I set up on a picnic table, but when the snow flies, the ski resort operation on the north side of the hill goes into action and all of those spots are unavailable. I end up sitting in my car and operating from the front seat.
Setup
Vertical antennas work really well in this park. Rib Mountain, while it isn’t a mountain in the true sense, its height is 1927 feet above sea level, and the peak sits about 700 feet above average terrain. I’ve had very good luck with the ¼ wave vertical antenna set up with either radials or the window screen ‘magic carpet’ ground network. But today, being January, I wanted a faster setup, so I chose the go with the Shark HF sticks.
I had three sticks in the vehicle with me: the 10, 15, and 20 meter HF antennas. I knew that 40 meters would be a no-go as the noise from the ski operation chair lifts obliterate the 40 meter band. My setup with the stick is pretty simple: I use a Tram 5 inch magnet base that I put on the roof of the car and each of the sticks are fitted with quick release mounts. I slapped the base on the roof and put the 10 meter stick on the air.
One issue I have with the HF sticks, especially the 20 meter stick, it getting a good match. I think it’s partly due to the small size of my mag mount. I’ve heard reports that the large 3-magnet bases give a better match. The solution I’ve found that works for me is to add 25 feet of coax to the 15 feet on my mag mount. The extra bit of coax isn’t enough to burn off the mismatch due to feed line losses, but I believe it acts as a bit of a counterpoise for the antenna. It’s a simple solution, and for whatever reason, it works.
The temperature on the hill today was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit with a light breeze. It wasn’t stopping the skiers, as there was plenty of activity on the hill, but I didn’t want to stay outside too long. So after quickly deploying the antenna, I retreated to the vehicle, where the engine was still running, keeping it warm.
I set the FT-891 on the dash of the car and sit in the passenger seat. Doing this gives me plenty of leg room and I don’t have to contend with the steering wheel. The logging computer, running Hamrs, sits on my lap. Putting the headset on, I was ready to get on the air.
The Activation
At this point I turn the engine off and find a free frequency. 10 meters was quite active today. Apparently this weekend is the North American QSO Party and there were plenty of contesters on the air. It took a bit to find an open spot. I did find something around 28.383 MHz. spotted myself and started calling CQ POTA. For all the activity on the band, returns came in slow. I got a couple on that frequency and then I had to move as I was getting crowded by an adjacent contester. I moved all the way up to about 28.465 Mhz and resumed, after about 20 minutes I had 10 stations in the log. That’s when the band shifted and a NAQP participant showed up on frequency and started calling CQ. I didn’t fight it as I was happy with the 10, that was enough to consider this an ‘activation’ and on 10 meters, no less. That’s when I made the decision to drop down to 15 meters.
The car’s interior still felt comfortable so I didn’t restart the engine, but instead got out quick and changed from the 10 meter to 15 meter stick. It’s a fast process and took less than 2 minutes. The sticks are pretuned, so I don’t even check them with the meter, I just change and go.
Moving to 15 meters, I experienced more of the same. The band is lousy with contesters. I found a spot around 21.315 Mhz and started calling CQ. Just like 10 meters, the same happened on 15. I would get a few contacts and then the QRM got to be too much as someone would just pop up and call CQ Contest. During the course of my 15 meter activation, I moved three times and netted 24 more contacts in about 30 minutes.
I think part of the problem with my holding the frequency was the bands themselves. There was a significant amount of fading and shifting on both 10 and 15 meters. What started out as a quiet spot would be overrun as propagation moved around. While the Sharks Sticks are decent antennas, they also are a bit of a compromise, and my reduced power just couldn’t compete with stations running more optimized systems. But that never stopped me before, so I make do with what I got.
But after moving for the third time on 15 meters, I had enough of it and not quite wanting to go home yet, I decided to finish up my activation with a little bit of digital. I swapped out the antenna for the 20 meter stick, connected the Digirig to the computer, and fired up WSJT-X for some 20 meter FT8. For so much phone activity going on, and it also being Support your Parks weekend, I was a bit surprised that the waterfall on FT8 wasn’t fuller. I worked 21 stations in about 30 minutes. It took quite a bit of retries for a full QSO, either due to band conditions or my compromised situation. But by the end it was 2:00pm local time and I was getting chilly, so I shut down for the day.
But before completely shutting down, I managed three contacts on 2 meter FM simplex. Thank you to the locals that were monitoring the frequency.
Conclusion
Doing POTA during a contest weekend can be a challenge. I don’t have any issues with contesters and I’ve done the same things when participating in a contest that they do. It’s all part of the sport. You can either join them or work around them. I chose to work around them and since I was able to respot myself, I would just QSY to a new frequency and spot. If I was in a location where spotting was more difficult, I would have been more likely to stand my ground.
At the end of the activation, I netted 58 contacts, 10 on 10 meters, 24 on 15 meters, 21 on 20 meter digital, and 3 on 2 meter FM. I received favorable signal reports from most of the stations, so the hamsticks work.
K-1473 Rib Mountain State Park 10 & 15 meter Phone contacts
K-1473 Rib Mountain State Park 20 meter Digital Contacts
I’ve been using this window screen as a ground network for six months now. Is there something better out there? My viewers say there is, so meet the new magic carpet: Faraday cloth.
Window Screen Antenna Ground Plane: Video: https://youtu.be/UadUg5H8KO8 (This is the video that started the whole ground screen revolution).
About six months ago, Dave KZ9V and I demonstrated how a simple piece of aluminum window screen can be used as an effective ground network for a vertical antenna. The screen offers similar performance as conventional ground mounted wire radials, but it has the advantage of being easier to deploy and taking up less space than wires. Suffice to say, the concept has pretty much taken the amateur radio portable operation world by storm. Countless hams have tested the window screen and it’s working for them.
The downside of window screen is that it can be hard to roll out, it’s a bit stiff, and when rolled up it takes up more physical space in the back of your vehicle. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a material that was flexible, lightweight, and folds up into a tiny package.
But I love it when someone takes an idea and finds a way to make it better. And recently I’ve started seeing many hams that are into portable operations using a new material as their ground network. This material is lightweight, folds into a small package and offers equivalent performance as a window screen. This magical material is known as faraday cloth.
What is faraday cloth? Faraday cloth, also known as faraday fabric or EMP fabric, is a conductive fabric material with strands of copper, silver, and nickel threads woven into it. The purpose of this cloth is to block electrical charges and EMF or electromagnetic frequency radiation. It works on the principle of the Faraday Cage.
Michael Faraday was a 19th century scientist dabbling in electricity and electromagnetism. He discovered that static electricity resided only on the exterior of a charged conductor and had no influence on the interior of the conductor. This shielding effect led to the invention of the Faraday cage, a metal screened structure that blocks electromagnetic radiation and radio frequency radiation.
This cloth uses the same concept, with metal threads, it creates an impervious surface to electromagnetic radiation. EMF sensitive objects wrapped or sealed within the cloth should be protected by RF radiation like an electromagnetic pulse. I’m not going to question the effectiveness of the cloth in that regard as that’s not the topic of this video.
But the one thing the cloth is good at is being used as a conductor. Running a continuity tester across the cloth, you see it is a conductor, and it presents a minimal amount of impedance. That means it could be used in the same manner as a window screen as a ground network for your vertical antennas.
To verify that, I spread out the cloth, set my antenna base on it, and deployed my vertical antenna. I’ll also check the SWR, impedance, and resonance for the 15, 20, and 40 meter bands.
But there is a downside to the cloth. It is significantly more expensive than aluminum window screen. My 36×84 inch roll of screen was under $10 and this 43×108 inch piece of cloth is about $32. Granted you get a little more material, but that’s three times the price. The cloth, being lightweight, tends to blow around in the wind. You may want to add grommets to the corners to stake it down, or have some weights ready to keep it blowing away.
Finally, I did some WSPR tests comparing wire radials, aluminum screen, and faraday cloth. Crunching the numbers, I found the differences between the three to be minimal and all within the margin of error. WSPR tests seem to confirm that you won’t be losing any performance between conventional wire radials and the faraday cloth. I think that’s great news, but how does it perform on the air? For that, I took a road trip to my favorite POTA spot and put the faraday cloth on the air.
As a bonus, patrons can view the full, unedited phone contacts for this Parks on the Air activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas
I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.’
Do you have a favorite? I know I do. Stick with me as I count down the top ten most popular ham radio videos of 2023
Looking at the numbers for 2023, I published 102 videos and hosted 15 livestreams last year. At a rate of about two a week, I can’t believe I’ve kept up that aggressive production schedule. All that content adds up to 1.6 million views with over 123 thousand hours of watch time. That’s pretty amazing but I always feel it’s you the viewer I need to thank.
Because I couldn’t do it without you and I’m thankful for your continued support of this channel. I always feel I have the best viewers as their comments are insightful and I’m not plagued with those sad hams that every other channel bemoans. This quality level of viewer gives me the incentive to continue on and I’ll maintain my schedule of producing high quality videos at a rate of about twice a week.
With that being said, let’s look at the top ten videos for the last year. One subject dominated this year. I think we can all guess that it was the window screen ground network or magic carpet videos. Four of those videos made the top ten list and accounted for over 15% of my viewer traffic. Those were some real heavy hitters. But without further adoo, here are the top ten amateur radio videos for 2023.
As I said, the magic carpet videos have been the runaway hit this year. Starting off the list at number 10 is this one where Dave, KZ9V shows how you can use a couple of window screens to turn your 40 meter end fed half wave antenna into an 80 meter quarter wave radiator.
Digital operations were never my strong suit as I always found it putzy in the field. The Digirig digital interface totally changed that and now I love adding FT8 and the other digital modes to my parks on the air activations. This video shows you how easy it can be for you to do the same.
I love my Shark HF sticks as a fast setup antenna. This is especially true in the winter months when I don’t want to spend a lot of time tuning and adjusting my antenna. In this video I show you how you can get two more bands out of your shark sticks for just pennies.
2023 must be the year of the vertical antenna. Wolf River released their Sporty 40, Chameleon announced a loaded vertical, Rez Antenna Systems released the Ranger 80, a super durable high quality alternative to the Wolf River Silver Bullet 1000. I demonstrate the Ranger 80 in this video.
People love gear haul video and I had a particularly good haul at the recent Fox Cities Amateur Radio Clubs hamfest where I found an awesome FT-817 QRP transceiver setup.
I get so many questions on what I use out in the field for transceiver, antenna, battery, and accessories. This video breaks down my current HF transceiver kit.
The window screen ground plane is such a success that some hams asked if Faraday cloth, a metallized fabric used for electro magnetic protection, could be used as a ground network. The short answer is yes, and this video proves it.
Just a week ago I released a video on a 10 meter J-Pole antenna, but it was too new to be counted in this years list. Last year’s 10 meter antenna, a dipole you can make for just a few bucks checked in with over 25,000 views this years
After two years of easing us into this, the date has finally come for amateur radio operators to do exposure calculations for their antenna transmission systems. The FCC rule change isn’t onerous, but it sure raised a lot of questions. This video shows you how to do it.
The original magic carpet video is the runaway best video of this past year with over 117,000 views in its first 30 days and 160,000 total views for the year. It’s an old concept, but it has totally revolutionized portable operations with its fast vertical antenna setup. I’ve gotten some pretty amazing contacts using the window screen as a ground network and I know other hams are using it with great success.
So there you go, the top ten amateur radio videos of 2023. Did your favorite make the list? Let me know what you think in the comments below. You can also find a playlist of the top ten videos in the description below.
Not mentioned in this top ten list are my Parks on the Air activation videos. For those I decided to do a little montage of all the great scenery that appeared in those videos. That video will be released next week.
Here are some plans for the coming year. We’re in the middle of season 11, and I have some really exciting antenna reviews that are coming out in the next few weeks, Dave and I will be mobiling for the Minnesota and Wisconsin QSO parties, so expect those videos in February and March and of course Hamvention is coming up in May and I will be in attendance, so save that date.
Along with that you can expect more Parks on the Air activation videos, product reviews, ham radio how toos, and our monthly livestream. And of course the normal cast of characters will appear: Joe, Dave, and Travis for some wacky adventures.
But I think the biggest addition this year will be more web based content. I’m not one to put all my eggs in one basket so more blog articles and written content will be featured on my website.
Is there a topic you’d love to see, Let me know and I’ll add it to the list.
This week, Dave, KZ9V, shares with us how he modified his 40 through 10 meter end fed half wave antenna to work as a ¼ wave radiator on 80 meters using the window screen ground.
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