The Buddipole and Buddistick thread.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - The Buddipole and Buddistick thread.

Posted: 5/23/2011 1:45:59 PM EDT

Got a contract or policy book that says a bunch of garbage like this?

if so then read on, these antennas get mentioned a lot, but all the good information is from the manufacturer. we have a few hams here who live in confined areas or residences who don't allow permanent antennas, and this antenna is perfect for those situations. Also with the interest in emergency communication and portable use, one of these may be a good investment for you to have laying around.

first up is

The Mini-Buddipole

The Buddipole is a portable rigid multiband dipole antenna consisting of extendable whips, a coils, and arms. this antenna breaks down into a very small package and can easily be carried in almost any bag or backpack. it is exactly the same as the standard Buddipole, except it comes with 4 11" arms instead of 2 22" arms, this makes it more portable and compact, with only adding 2 extra pieces to connect.

Weight: ~2 Pounds

Price: $225

Length: 16 feet

Max Power: 250w

Bands: 40-2 meters (80 and 60 with optional low band coils)

the package comes with everything pictured above excluding the Triple Ratio Switch Balun, that is an accessory ($79)

The Parts:

The Case

the case (pictured above) is a regular cordura case with a pretty decent zipper. everything has its own little pouch though I keep my VersaTee just sitting in between my coils. the little elastic straps for each part keep everything form getting jumbled up and scratched, and when closed the case is very slim.

VersaTee

The center of the antenna is the VersaTee. the VersaTee is a pretty nifty design and makes the whole antenna, as the name describes, versatile.

while I have only used the antenna in the dipole configuration the VersaTee allows you to configure the antenna in a vertical format, dipole, or L. they also sell a Rotating Arm Kit ($45) that allows you to position the antenna in almost any imaginable position from V, inverted V, slope, at any angle you can position them at. the arms lock into little holes on the outside of the VersaTee which keeps them from slowly drooping during deployment.

there are two holes in the bottom for guying the antenna, I made some loops from para cord that I can clip my guy lines to when I use them.

the feedline attaches to the VersaTee, the banana plugs just pop right into whichever 2 of the three knobs on the mounts you use. when using the antenna in a vertical configuration a counterpoise can be wired form the VersaTee where the feedline connects to ensure a good connection.

in the bottom of the VersaTee is the Acme thread adapter, it allows you to connect essentially any thing with Acme threads to the antenna and use it as a mast. I found that some metal threads on poles were poorly cast and cut at the plastic adapter, I recommend and use plastic threaded masts.

Antenna Arms

The Antenna arms are aluminum tubes that easily screw together. they give the antenna added length and support. not much else to note here.

The coils

The coils are pretty much standard coils, except they are very well built and can handle 250 watts. they use the same tap and banana plug design as the VersaTee which make changing bands on the coil fast and easy. the coils come painted for popular bands so you don't have to remember how many turns down to count like you do when using a band less commonly used.

The Whips

the whips I have are just standard black whips, they collapse down to a little over a foot long. also available are long whips, to be used with the low band coils ($18) standard whips are $12 extras can be used to turn the buddipole into a 6m Yagi.

also available are military style shock cord antennas, they quickly deploy, though I dont see how much faster that can really be over just extending a whip.

Edit: I did break a whip, my antenna fell and it landed whip first into the concrete. the whip was bent at a 50 degree angle, I was able to carefully bend it back and besides a small crack, the whip still telescopes just fine and still works, I bought another whip anyway and I keep the "broken" one as a backup. I was very surprised that I was able to get the whip bent back and telescoping, most of the time whips snap in half when you try and fix them , and almost all of the time they never telescope again. I am very impressed.

Feedline

standard is a 25 foot feedline made of RG-58. it has BNC connectors on it which at first I found quite annoying as I preferred PL259s, but the more I used this connector the more I wish it was what stuck out the back of my radio. I dont remember if my BNC/PL259 adapter came with this antenna or not, so I wont say it did, but the option to have one included is there when you order.

I dont know what is in the thick part of the feedline where it turns into the banana connectors, I assume its just the wiring to the connectors and some ferrite beads over the cable.

Triple Ratio Switch Balun

this optional Balun is $80 and is exactly what it says it is. you can choose form 1:1 2:1 and 4:1. I received it as a gift from a ham who decided I would use it more than her. all in all its a great balun and does its job. I haven't noticed any RF issues when I use it unlike before I had it. worth $80? probably not, when you can just build one yourself rather inexpensively. but as a commercial product its well done.

Guy Lines

You can buy a Guying kit from Buddipole ($25) but personally I think its the one item they sell that is made of substandard parts. any arfcommer should have a spare 100 feet of para cord laying around and thats the start of your own personal guying kit.

I had 100 feet of Orange para cord I purchased specifically for guying antennas, its high visibility so when you are at field day people wont trip over it, and out in the woods you wont loose it.

I cut my paracord into 33 foot chunks and added some #0 NiteIze S-biners, little black plastic ones to prevent any shorting or what not. I clip one to either of the loops on the VersaTee, and the third is clipped to both of them. they go out to metal tent stakes you can pick up anywhere for a few dollars, and just to avoid knots I bought three 9 in 1s also made by NiteIze, they are the pricey part of the kit at $4 each. they make tightening guy lines very simple and take a lot of fuss out of making everything just right.

in the end the kit I quickly put together has 10x the build quality of the one Buddipole offers, at almost the same price.

Putting it Together

the parts all screw together quite nicely, and they stay together. one issue that I have had is you can actually hand tighten these to the point of having to use a little force to get them back apart. I don't really see this as a con, because I would prefer it to a section that can loosen up a little and then mess with SWR, and lower the efficiency of the antenna.

I can put this thing up in a matter of minutes, it can be awkward balancing everything trying to get each assembled arm onto the VersaTee, but it can easily be done, and if not, you can always put it together once piece at a time.

Tuning

after it is assembled you can extend the whips out to the length required, an instruction chart is provided for each band, though over time I have used my own lengths for bands and now only use an analyzer to double check that I am in the ballpark before I use it. I still use a tuner, as it is small and in some situations might really be a good idea even when you set up the antenna properly.

tuning this bugger is one thing that will always be a problem. because of its size, location to other things, and since this antenna is probably being deployed in an area where you don't have much space or are around buildings every time I set it up its a little different. with an analyzer I have had this antenna reading 1.2 across the whole band and sometimes it will be 2 to 1.2 to 3 across the band, these numbers are all perfectly acceptable if you have a tuner, and really your radio should be able to handle it without, its just not ideal.

there is a method for tuning by ear, but I find it to be a pain, and really, it is already a pain with an analyzer, putting it up, checking it and then pulling the mast down quick to make an adjustment.

the more I use this antenna the more I become better t putting it up, the last few times I have set it up I have checked with an analyzer and gotten a 1.7 with out needing to adjust it, easily fixed with a tuner and acceptable without one.

when I first got this antenna tuning was very frustrating, partly because I was a new ham doing this by myself, and partly because of the antenna. I am very glad I stuck with it.

Masts

I picked up a Mr Long Arm pole from menards, its 12 feet extended and cost me under $20. I believe they also sell a 24 foot one for $40 but I didn't have the cash to sink on one and they were just a bit too long collapsed to comfortably fit in my car. the tripod I use is one salvaged from some floodlights, its not mine and I need to come up with a replacement. if anyone has broken flood lights laing around let me know.

Buddipole does sell a collapsing mast ($55) and tripod ($85) but at those prices I don't care how nice they are. though the mast does collapse from 10 feet to under 2 feet, making it very portable, but unless you are hiking or backpacking probably not worth it. they make a larger mast that collapses from 16 feet to 3 feet, but that is $99.

the whole thing is easily set up with only one person and works really great. I have worked all over Europe, Russia, South America, and have a few contacts in Africa, all from my QTH in North Dakota.

Overall Thoughts

I am very happy with this antenna, setting it up is easy and so is carrying it around. the build quality is superb, I had the antenna fall over once, I thought it was fine with just the tripod on cement, when there was no wind, sure enough a light breeze knocked it over. horrified at my stupidity for not just putting a cinder block on the tripod I rushed over and looked at it, expecting at least a broken whip. nothing was broken and there is a minor scratch on the paint of an arm.

if you do break something replacement parts are available online.

besides having to double check that the taps are tight, when I put it together, its together, and it is rock solid.

I really like this antenna, it does what its supposed to and it does it very well. considering its performance at only 12 feet off the ground I cant think of any complaints. No its not a yagi 50 feet off the ground, but I can carry it in one hand and it packs up into a small bag.

comparing it to a wire, it hears well and it speaks well. I have plenty of DX off this thing and I am in the heart of the North American continent, people along the coasts should be able to do a lot more with this than me. I do own a small wire that I can put out, but because I cant leave anything up I find it more complicated to deploy with almost no difference in performance.

everyones specific location will give different results in your ability to put out any antenna, I prefer this for my situation but that doesn't mean I don't have other wire antennas just in case the situation warrants, so far it hasn't.

would I buy it again? yes. do I recommend it? yes.

I have access to and have used the buddistick, which will be posted below when I can get pictures and write it up.

Posted: 5/23/2011 1:46:25 PM EDT

[#1]

the cheaper option of the two setups is

The BuddiStick

Weight: ~1 Pound

Price: $139

Length: 8 feet

Max Power: 250w

Bands: 40-6 meters (80 and 60 with optional low band coils)

The Buddistick is the vertical version of the Buddipole. it consists of two arms one coil and one whip. it is mounted to a plate that can then be mounted to a tripod, mast, or clamp that is sold by Buddipole.

I will forgo the details on the arms whip and coil because they are exactly the same as mentioned above. I snapped a few pictures quickly after borrowing my friend's Buddipole so this review may be more brief, as I am going to focus on how it is different from the Buddipole.

with the exception of the mounting plate, everything is exactly the same as the Buddipole, and if you want you can run your Buddipole in this vertical configuration. you cannot however run your Buddistick in a dipole configuration, in fact running it like a vertical is about the only configuration you can do.

The Mounting Plate

the mounting plate is exactly what it says it is. the plate holds the antenna element, feedline connector, counterpoise and has space for you to mount the plate to what ever you are using to support the antenna.

the plate its self is solid, I had a lot of problems with the feed line connector and the element mount staying attached, just hand tightening the antenna would make this very hard to remove, I needed pliers or a wrench to hold the antenna mount while I unscrewed the antenna. while trying to unscrew that the mount would end up unscrewing from the feed line connector and the whole assembly would fall apart. no matter how tight I would tighten them they would still eventually come loose. the assembly consists of a feed line connector, and insulator, the plate, a lock washer, and the antenna mount. having them all fall apart in the field and trying to remember which side the insulator goes and where the washer goes was a real pain, I wish this had been better constructed.

Assembly

the antenna assembles just as easily and fast as the Buddipole, you connect the arms to the coil, and then the whip. then take the antenna and screw it into the mounting plate. the counterpoise gets attached to the mounting plate and then you mount the antenna to what ever you are using to support it.

The Counterpoise

Something the Buddistick has that the Buddipole doesn't is a wire counterpoise. the counterpoise is attached to the mounting plate on the green screw. the wire is a very good quality wire though it kinks very easily. it comes with little markers to tell you where the ballpark is for each band, though they slide around quite easily defeating the purpose, I added electrical tape, which still in the cold would end up slipping.

Mounting it to a Mast

mounting the plate to a mast is a little tricky, Buddipole does sell an adapter to go from the plate to a pole with Acme threads, just like the Buddipole does, I did not purchase it because I thought of a better option.

on the mounting plate there are 2 holes that can be used for mounting, I went out and got a few 12" threaded rods from Menards and grabbed some wingnuts, nuts, and some hose clamps. I wrapped everything metal in electrical tape to try and isolate it from the mast electrically. when I was done I came up with this:

I found that this was the most stable way to mount this antenna, the whole thing was solid and it wasn't staying up on one small peg. we used this mount with a 24 foot mast and it didn't bend or fall off while raising it, we usually had the mast extended around 18 - 20 feet.

Buddistick Tripod

This tripod is an accessory ($24.50) it was cool and small, but it did a very poor job of supporting the antenna unless you were on a solid surface with no wind.

the tripod can be adjusted to point the antenna in any direction, sounds great but I have no idea what they were thinking when they designed this. This tripod only support the antenna when it is completely vertical, if it is angled in anyway it will fall over. and if you secure the tripod somehow, the joints to adjust the angle are just ball joints, so no mater how tight you crank down on it it will still slowly bend and droop over time, getting it positioned to the proper angle is a nightmare.

Vertical Antenna Clamp

This too is an accessory ($24.50) and unlike the tripod, it has a lot of nice uses. when the power went out on campus I went outside and stuck this thing on a picnic table and ran emergency power to keep myself occupied. it attaches quite well to any table or other surface you can get it on. again, you can adjust the angle of the antenna and again it has some problems. mainly the same ball joint. with this being a bit more solid when attached to something drooping wasn't as much of an issue, but it still was. the other angle control at the base has a bit better system, it has a peg that can be fit into a notch when screwed down, but again a problem, the knob to tighten this is inside the mount, you cant get your hand on it to really tighten meaning you can only get it finger tight, again causing drooping.

Buddipole Guy Kit

This accessory as mentioned previously is $25 and I wanted to post some pictures just so you can compare what you can make to what you can buy. The cord is rather thin, but strong enough for the application. the clips are all plastic and have a ball joint to keep things from getting twisted up, I am not a big fan as I could see them popping out with enough force.

Tuning The Buddistick

Tuning this thing is hell. I wouldn't trust it without a tuner. SWR can jump all over depending on wind and positioning of the counterpoise. length of counterpoise needed changes based on position as well. you can tune this without an antenna tuner, it involves setting everything up and then running the jumper around the coil to to find the point where there is the least amount of noise coming from the radio. I never tuned this antenna this way and I never will.

Overall Thoughts

Overall I think this is a good antenna to have on hand, that is if you buy it used at a great price. if you ever wanted to buy this new I would say just buy the Buddipole and run it in this configuration, you only need to get a wire counterpoise to do it.

this thing would be very good as a backpacking antenna or any other situation where you need light, small, and easy to deploy. you don't have to mess with getting wire up into trees and you don't have to worry about finding trees.

For the short time I used this antenna I worked a few European stations and stations all across North America.

One thing that really makes me frustrated with this antenna is if you buy it, there is no real way to just buy into the Buddipole the $140 price tag is very attractive to some people depending on their situation and when they get it they may soon realize that the versatility of this antenna is almost nothing. For $60 more you can get the Buddipole, and for $85 you can get the Mini Buddipole, the one with 4 short arms verses 2 long arms. it may seem like a lot, but if you really want to sink the money on this product its worth the extra so you have the versatility to fit almost any situation.

If I could talk to Budd, W3FF

If I could talk to Budd, the creator of the Buddipole I would voice my concerns stated here and suggest the following.

1) Get rid of the mounting plate with the Buddistick and include the VersaTee

2) Sell a "Buddipole Upgrade" that consists of 2 short arms, a coil, and a whip

3) Redesign your guy kit and use decent materials

With the change of suggestion number 1 they would essentially be selling half a Buddipole, what the antenna actually is, and with suggestion number 2 you create an affordable option for people who purchase a Buddistick to upgrade their antenna to a Buddipole. His whole vision for these antennas was "to provide hams with an antenna system where you could mix and match parts and change configurations to experiment with optimizing performance. " and he "wanted an antenna system that was modular and that allowed me to change configurations as needed." he achieved this with the Buddipole, but failed miserably with the Buddistick.

Budd does provide detailed instructions on how to make your own, which really strikes me considering most of the antenna makers wont release such things themselves, giving home brewers one more hurdle when they try to replicate an antenna.

I think suggestion 3 is just a no brainer, the build quality in the antennas is superb, and he needs to sell accessories that are held to those same standards.

overall, I am very happy with my Buddipole purchase, It has the build quality I need for my personal application, it is constantly being set up and taken down thrown in my car, thrown in my room, thrown in a backpack, and everywhere in between. it fills the hole that a home built Buddipole would not, and I am perfectly happy paying to the piece of mind that comes with knowing you have a solid reliable product in case you need it.

I am available for questions on either product, post them here or you can PM me. if anyone wants more detailed pictures of any specific part just let me know and I can post them.

Posted: 5/23/2011 1:52:54 PM EDT

[#2]

Nice write on a nice product. It's on my list to acquire.

Thanks!

Posted: 5/23/2011 2:45:27 PM EDT

[#3]

Very complete review. My compliments!

I have worked the inventor/manufacturer of this antenna twice while he was vacationing in Jamacia (I believe). Good signals on both ends and I was mobile using 100 watts to a simple Hamstick.

I have considered this antenna and your review helps.

FWIW he mentioned the advantage he had mounting the antenna on the saltwater beachfront. I have had the same experience during our frequent trips to /KP4 Rio Grande beach where we have family

Good work. ._._.

Posted: 5/23/2011 2:59:09 PM EDT

[#4]

Excellent thread, thanks for taking the time to post this.

Posted: 5/23/2011 3:36:01 PM EDT

[#5]

Very nice write-up.

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Buddipole. I too have been considering one.

Posted: 5/23/2011 4:04:50 PM EDT

[#6]

Thanks very much! I have to get one of those.

Posted: 5/23/2011 4:43:33 PM EDT

[#7]

The buddipole for PSK31 is on the tripod at the far right side of the picture.

this was our digital station for field day last year.

Posted: 5/23/2011 4:46:58 PM EDT

[#8]

I'll try to set up my HFpack with the buddistick sometime soon and post pictures. I used the 17 meter hamstick at Dayton.

Steve, WG0AT, (goathiker) is in the center of this picture with the buddistick on his pack.

Check out his videos on youtube.

Posted: 5/23/2011 4:47:57 PM EDT

[#9]

I made this a long time ago:

Sorry for the terrible photo, but it's a dipole made out of two hamsticks and a modified mirror mounting plate. It sits on a piece of PVC (which I stuck in the ground or through the holes in a few cinder blocks for portable use). Spray painted brick colors and mounted right against the building or under a wood railing would be very hard to see. Or painted green & brown and hoisted into a tree....

Posted: 5/23/2011 6:56:21 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Thanks very much! I have to get one of those.

Now on my list of 'stuff to get'.Now to get an HF radio to plug into it.

Posted: 5/23/2011 7:19:02 PM EDT

[#11]

I love mine!

Unfortunately, the Jeep Jr groundplane accessory is not included

Posted: 5/23/2011 8:07:29 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

I love mine!

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k496/echomancer/photo3.jpg

Unfortunately, the Jeep Jr groundplane accessory is not included

omg what is that???? someone call the cops there is some suspicious person doing weird things outside!!!

Posted: 5/23/2011 8:16:53 PM EDT

[#13]

Here's my homebrew Buddipole.

Here's the Arfcom writeup/how to:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=22&t=618677

Which resulted in this:

That day in the park, on 20 meters, I talked all over the US, coast to coast.

Posted: 5/24/2011 9:22:57 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I love mine!

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k496/echomancer/photo3.jpg

Unfortunately, the Jeep Jr groundplane accessory is not included

omg what is that???? someone call the cops there is some suspicious person doing weird things outside!!!

That was taken on the second day of the VA QSO party. There were at times a few cops in the parking lot, but they never approached. I did however have several curious people drive by and lear at me. At one point, I had someone drive over to ask what it was because their kids thought it looked "wicked".

PS: I have not operated this way at my apartment since the last incident. This was taken in the parking lot of a local park.

Posted: 5/26/2011 6:15:12 PM EDT

[#15]

bump for the update

Posted: 5/26/2011 6:49:40 PM EDT

[#16]

I got the book written by B. Scott Anderson in pdf format named 'Buddipole in the Field'.
Available through the 'Creative Commons' license free to us.
Linkage to pdf. Do a (RIGHT) click and 'SaveAs'

ETA: Sorry, ARFcom didn't like the square brackets around the word 'RIGHT'.

Posted: 5/27/2011 2:45:16 AM EDT

[#17]

since I own a buddistick I will add some comments about it.

Tuning can be tricky, but it is with any small vertical antenna. Budd Drummond designed the buddipole and buddistick antennas long before they started the company and sold them commercially. The original design does work, but the commercial ones use materials and specially produced parts that you can't get at a hardware store. They are lighter weight and more sturdy. I do have several different homebuilt ones and bought the buddistick because of improvements that I wasn't able to get in a homebuilt version. I have tuned by the noise method for many years. I can usually get the swr between 2 and 3 that way. not a real problem with the builtin tuner in the IC-703. I usually mount it on a photo tripod. the Buddi tripod is too small to be worth buying. One Item that was new at Dayton this year is a tiny portable antenna analyzer made by iPortable.

http://www.iportableus.com/_mgxroot/page_10784.html
This analyzer is small enough to take along in a pack. It is only HF but much better than a MFJ if that is all you need. Only 8 were made for sale yet. He sold out at Dayton. I know were 6 of the 8 went. All to friends in the HFpack group. Budd, Chris, Paul, Steve, One who I just met and didn't get his name... and myself. $200 is expensive but well built and worth the money.
I will take some pictures and post more later.
One note about iPortable. He makes very nice cases if you are looking for emcomm cases. Kinda expensive but very well built if you aren't into building your own.

iPortable is a small side business for Mark so sometimes there is some delay getting popular items out.

When I talked to Mark at iPortable he told me that he spent 2 years designing the analyzer. The 8 he had at Dayton sold out by early afternoon on Friday. He said that he would have another 8 completed and available on the website in a couple weeks. WG0AT, Steve (goathiker) got the first one and after trying it gave such good reports that the rest of them went fast. Unlike the MFJ analog frequency control this is a tru digital stepping meter. Also unlike the MFJ it takes very littke power and will go to sleep if you have it on and not used for 30 seconds.

Posted: 7/2/2011 5:53:20 AM EDT

[#18]

Well, I think I may have to get me a Buddipole. I'll be out of town attending a school for 6 weeks and need a portable, quickly deployable, antenna.

Thanks for the great write up!

Posted: 7/26/2011 3:27:05 PM EDT

[#19]

I cannot stress enough how important it is to alway, always, always use the guy lines, even if there is no wind, even if you think it is plenty stable, use the guys.

I was putting up and taking down, adjusting whips for SWR, experimenting, and got lazy. There was no wind. Well, not at the moment I put it back up. Turned my back to fiddle with the radio and what was that? That was the noise of the antenna blowing over and breaking both whips caused by a gust of wind from nowhere.

Posted: 8/13/2011 6:37:53 AM EDT

[#20]

I'm taking my first steps into HF after having had a grand total of 2 conversations on VHF since getting my license this year. A used 817 just arrived in the mail, and based on this thread I bid (and won) won an eBay auction for a Buddipole kit. It will do dual duty as an antenna for late night listening on camping trips as well as temporary setup at my antenna-restricted neighborhood. One of these days I'll try to string a long antenna into the huge willows in my backyard, but this should do until then.

Posted: 8/13/2011 8:09:38 AM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

This analyzer is small enough to take along in a pack. It is only HF but much better than a MFJ if that is all you need. Only 8 were made for sale yet. He sold out at Dayton. I know were 6 of the 8 went. All to friends in the HFpack group. Budd, Chris, Paul, Steve, One who I just met and didn't get his name... and myself. $200 is expensive but well built and worth the money.

Also consider the RF-1 Analyst from Autek Research. It quite literally fits in a shirt pocket, runs from ordinary 9v transistor radio batteries. Reads out Freq, SWR, Z, C, and L.

http://www.autekresearch.com/rf1.htm

When doing some early antenna work I had tried to borrow our ham club president's MFJ-259, but it was back at MFJ (for the third time!) for repair. She instead loaned me her little RF-1. Worked great, and a few months later one showed up in my Christmas stocking.

Posted: 8/13/2011 9:28:26 AM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Also consider the RF-1 Analyst from Autek Research. It quite literally fits in a shirt pocket, runs from ordinary 9v transistor radio batteries. Reads out Freq, SWR, Z, C, and L.

http://www.autekresearch.com/rf1.htm

http://www.autekresearch.com/rf1mod.jpg

+1 for the RF-1 Analyst from Autek Research. After AFM graciously loaned me his for an antenna project, I bought my own. Thanks again AFM!

Posted: 8/13/2011 10:18:27 AM EDT

[#23]

Any time, Big Daddy! Anybody with a cool dog like Tactical Lab is OK with me!

Last night I ran a quick scan on my fan dipole. Usually 75 meters resonates right on, +/- a few khz, of 3.900 mhz and 1.2:1 SWR. Last night it was at 3.816 mhz, and 1.4:1. Walking along the antenna I found that Confederate Jasmine (a climbing vine that flowers in the spring) is wrapped around the 75 meter segments. I trim this stuff back several times a year, but it is as if it can see the wire, and I watch over time as tendrils appear to be reaching up to it. Weird. Anyway, I'll go out this afternoon and trim it back.

For a Buddistick or Buddipole (I have a homebrew version) you need it for trimming the whip lengths.

But for any antenna project, good to have.... hanging antennas on field day, special event stations, camping, etc. And the price is certainly right.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - The Buddipole and Buddistick thread.

Outdoors » Ham Radios

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us