Flexible HF whip antenna

[KD8GUA]

I am looking for a flexible whip antenna for HF to mount on my vehicle. I broke my 102" whip while trying to test SWR with and without the spring, so now I'm in the market for a new one. I don't necessarily want to buy another 102" whip, because it was not very resonant on 20-40-80-160 meters. I want something.g tall enough to cover 80-10 with a tuner. I'm not in the market for Ham sticks or Hustler style loading coils and the like. I need a very flexible whip, either fiberglass or stainless steel, over 8 feet long that I can tie down over my car for both clearance issues and NVIS capabilities. I've only seen one antenna so far, from Motorola, that is a fiberglass sectional antenna, that is over 12' long and designed to be tied down. However, lead time from the factory is 18 weeks and the cost is over $200.

Are there any other makers of this type of antenna? The whip I'm looking for must have the 3/8" x 24 thread, since I'm using a heavy duty ball and spring mount on my rear quarter panel.

Thanks!

 

[Fast1eddie]

Maybe Military surplus?? Antenna kits for AN/GRC-106 (HF Transceiver w/400 watt amp), they ate certainly sturdy and frequency agile enough.

 

[prcguy]

There are the Outbacker whips with tap points for all the bands, otherwise every short multiband HF whip or tuner fed whip is a huge compromise in performance.Especially the gimmick antennas like Chameleon and so on.

When the bands were hot a couple of solar cycles ago I ran an SGC dual wound whip with an SGC tuner at the base and it worked really well on all bands, even 160m. In reality the bands were working really well and when the sun pooped out the SGC system became a big expensive dummy load. The Motorola whip would be similar to the SGC and also cheaper.

Cheap Hamsticks will noticeably outperform all the miracle multiband antennas and the expensive SGC dual wound whip and they are not that bad except for the hassle of changing them all the time. You can cluster several Hamsticks together but its not very pretty.

The standard military HF whip is 16ft while in motion and 32ft when fixed fed from a tuner at the base and this is a noticeable jump in efficiency on the lower bands due to the length. I've run several military whips while fixed mobile but its not practical while moving in the city.

So, do you need good performance to be able to talk to anything you hear or do you mostly listen? If you want good performance while in motion you will have to install something big like a good screwdriver (and not a POS Yaesu ATAS) or drive around with a compromise antenna and deploy something larger when you park.

BTW, I've been searching for basically the same thing you are for the last 30+ yrs and have tried just about every HF antenna out there. I currently run a Tarheel 100HP which I am very pleased with but it is big and ugly, At this stage in my life I would rather compromise looks for performance.
prcguy

 

[jhooten]

Maybe Military surplus?? Antenna kits for AN/GRC-106 (HF Transceiver w/400 watt amp), they ate certainly sturdy and frequency agile enough.

Is what I am using on my truck. With 12 feet worth of sections it will tune on 40 with a Yaesu FC-40 tuner. When stopped for the evening add in the other 3 sections and it will do 80 well enough to check into the local nets.

 

[KD8GUA]

That's exactly what I need, a 12 foot whip. I'm using a radio that will eventually be logged into an ALE network, so any frequency at any time will need to be able to be utilized. Therefore separate Ham sticks aren't really an option!

 

[LtDoc]

There are a lot of if's and but's in there, but a 12 foot whip is just too impractical for typical "driving around" use. So, you have a choice of a physically long antenna or an 'electrically' long antenna. Just depends on how much convenience you require. If 'looks' enters into it somewhere, you are even more limited.
Resonance.
The resonance of an antenna is determined in two basic ways. By length, which supplies the required amounts and proportions of reactance to produce resonance at the desired frequency. Or, by using a fixed length of antenna and another device that can supply the required reactance to make that antenna resonant at the frequency desired (loading). Physical length can get really impractical very quickly for a mobile (a fixed antenna too). That fixed length and variable loading can be more practical but can get very expensive pretty quickly too. So you 'pays your money and take your choice', as the saying used to be. [There's another 'step' to that analogy which involves a spirally wound inclined plane type fastener, and you will get that too no matter what 'choice' you make.]
Good luck!
- 'Doc

 

[mancow]

I have had good luck with the chameleon but I am also realistic about its capabilities. I went with it mainly because it's very rugged. I have used it with counterpoises while camping and it does fairly well but of course it can't compare with something larger.

 

[KD8GUA]

The 12' mobile whip will be fine for my use because I will be tying it over my car in an NVIS configuration mostly. I've looked into the chameleon whips, but do you have to use the chameleon loading coil? That would require a significant change to my antenna setup!

 

[KD8GUA]

Does anyone know if the Shakespeare 120-99-4 low profile HF antenna uses a 3/8" mounting stud? The rest of their antennas use the ATAS 120 system which requires mounting hardware I'm not buying when I have a perfectly useable mount already. I've contacted their Tech Support email, but have received no reply.

 

[jhooten]

Does anyone know if the Shakespeare 120-99-4 low profile HF antenna uses a 3/8" mounting stud? The rest of their antennas use the ATAS 120 system which requires mounting hardware I'm not buying when I have a perfectly useable mount already. I've contacted their Tech Support email, but have received no reply.

It's been awhile since I've seen one but if memory serves it is the same and the marine fold over mount threads.

 

[quantar21]

Why not just bite the bullet and do it the right way. If you are running a Micom radio just go with the Micom Wima antenna with the 12' whip option. Nothing else even comes close.

 

[prcguy]

The 120 series does not use 3/8-24.
prcguy

Does anyone know if the Shakespeare 120-99-4 low profile HF antenna uses a 3/8" mounting stud? The rest of their antennas use the ATAS 120 system which requires mounting hardware I'm not buying when I have a perfectly useable mount already. I've contacted their Tech Support email, but have received no reply.

 

[bluestallion]

when i had my car i used a 102 with spring that was tied into my ah-4 tuner. I worked all kinds of 10-15-20-40meter dx

 

[prcguy]

The AH- 4 will tune the 9ft whip but on 40m a $20 Hamstick will outperform it by an S unit and on 80m your probably looking at 2 S units better on a Hamstick.
prcguy

when i had my car i used a 102 with spring that was tied into my ah-4 tuner. I worked all kinds of 10-15-20-40meter dx

 

[Resqr551]

Flexable HF whip

I tried the Chamelian and it SUCKED. I am running an 80 meter ham-stick, HD ball & spring mount, A 9-1 UNUN, into an auto tuner, and running an Icom 706 mkIIg.
I also ran about 25 ft of HEAVY groung braid thru the frame of SUV for counterpoise.
I am satisfied with the results, I QSO on 80, 60, and 20 meter regularly with this setup in my SUV.
I thought about mounting a 24ft marine HF whip in NVIS , but it's just WAY to long. Stick out about 10 ft in front of my front bumper.

Randy / KE4AHP

 

[prcguy]

An 80m Hamstick on 80m has an impedance less than 15ohms, why would you use a 9:1 balun? Is the tuner at the antenna or radio end?
prcguy

I tried the Chamelian and it SUCKED. I am running an 80 meter ham-stick, HD ball & spring mount, A 9-1 UNUN, into an auto tuner, and running an Icom 706 mkIIg.
I also ran about 25 ft of HEAVY groung braid thru the frame of SUV for counterpoise.
I am satisfied with the results, I QSO on 80, 60, and 20 meter regularly with this setup in my SUV.
I thought about mounting a 24ft marine HF whip in NVIS , but it's just WAY to long. Stick out about 10 ft in front of my front bumper.

Randy / KE4AHP

 

[LtDoc]

The only "Miracle Whip" I've ever found that half way lived up to it's reputation is found in a jar in most grocery stores. It's not my favorite even so.
The simple fact is that the lower you go in frequency the bigger and uglier the antenna (FIXED or MOBILE), and you can't change physics. If that whip is shorter than a 1/4 wave length it's efficiency will also fall short of a 1/4 wave length antenna. There's no way around that, get used to it. It's also a fact that efficency isn't required in huge amounts.
And then there's the "looks" factor. Sorry, 'looks' just doesn't do much for electronics, only for your ego (OR the limits placed by a significant-other! You better pay attention to that one.).
- 'Doc

 

[Chameleon500]

KD8GUA,

You should look at the following combo antenna for your vehicle setup: Chameleon HYBRID + V1L. A lot of people are using it:

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq127/Chameleon_Antenna/WP_000114.jpg
http://s440.photobucket.com/albums/qq127/Chameleon_Antenna/?action=view&current=KC2NBEMOBILE31.jpg
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq127/Chameleon_Antenna/IMG_1728.jpg
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq127/Chameleon_Antenna/2012-02-20_13-07-48_404.jpg

The only way to know if that combo will work for you is to go directly on their forum: (All Discussions - CHAMELEON ANTENNA FORUM)
and ask actual owners what they think about it.

Another place where you can read about it is here: CHAMELEON HYBRID SERIES Product Reviews

 

[RadioFreeq]

I've used a 17 meter hamstick with the Micom autotuner for ALE, and it works well from 3.5MHz to 28MHz.
The 80m hamstick is not advised because the coil forms a choke for the higher frequencies, and reduces your efficiency.

 

[rfradioconsult]

For years I used a Icom AH4 tuner with a 17M Ham Stick, worked well including 80M. When using such a setup DO NOT use coax between the tuner and the antenna, use a insulated wire, a piece of insulated center conductor from RG-8 will work, or a piece of spark plug wire from a small engine shop.

A Micom 3T ALE with a WIMA tuner and 4 section 16ft antenna does it for me, just installed 2 of those puppies!