A Simple, Low Profile, Multiband Antenna for POTA

Sometimes it is necessary to set up for a POTA activation in an area where other park users like to go. In this situation we can either entertain distracting inquiries from people passing by who may just be curious about our activity, or blend into the environment and not be noticed. I prefer the latter. So when I learned of a field antenna that could be mistaken for an innocent fishing pole I was immediately interested. But, of course, this is Ham Radio Outside the Box so I just had to re-invent the idea to create my own variant. I was influenced by three ideas I had read, or seen, online.

Influencer #1

The spark that ignited the creation of this new antenna came from Peter Waters G3OJV who recently published a YouTube video with the title: “Invisible HF Vertical Ham Radio Antenna”. Peter used a 13ft vertical wire worked against a set of ground radials to cover the 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m bands. A 13ft vertical antenna is, perhaps coincidentally, comparable to a half-size Rybakov. A full-size Rybakov comprises a vertical wire 24-29ft long that can be tuned to all the bands from 40m and up. Just like the Rybakov, Peter’s antenna employs a 4:1 impedance transformer and requires a tuner.

Influencer #2

I liked Peter’s idea very much, but I immediately considered that a ground-mounted vertical antenna requires an extensive system of radials to be efficient. Laying out lots of radials is not very convenient for temporary, portable antennas. I still recall the “dancing lady” who stopped by one of my activations. When she was advised to be careful of the wires on the ground, she performed an entertaining little dance routine to avoid stepping on them. Greg, KJ6ER popularized the idea of using a raised vertical to reduce the number of radials to just two. Greg’s now famous POTA PERformer antenna uses this technique and it works very well.

Influencer #3

My third influencer was actually two hams. Jim Heath W6LG posted a video about using a photographer’s lighting tripod to build a portable antenna. Jim’s idea was expanded upon by Frank K4FMH with his “Eiffeltenna”. Frank and Jim both proposed using a telescoping whip mounted on the steel tubing of the tripod to create the radiating vertical element of the antenna. But both had the same idea of working the radiating element against a ground plane of radial wires or Faraday cloth.

Could I combine these three ideas to create a shortened portable antenna with a raised feedpoint and just two raised radial wires that could be used on multiple bands? Of course, the answer is most definitely yes. I built the antenna, took it out to the field to test it and was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked.

The key component was a lighting tripod purchased at a charity store for less than the cost of a Happy Meal at the Golden Arches. The whip is from Buddipole and extends to 112 inches (2.85 meters). The tripod has two extending steel tubes mounted in a lower fixed section. The challenge was to create a feedpoint at the top of the fixed section, about 3ft (1m) above ground, while ensuring isolation from the bottom tripod tube section and reliable connectivity between the top two sections when fully extended. The total length of the top two tube sections plus the whip totaled 13ft – perfect!

In order to mount the whip to the top tripod tube section, a coupling nut was slipped into the top tube and secured by drilling a hole through the tube and coupling nut so that a small nut and bolt could be inserted. The coupling nut is a very snug fit already so there is a good electrical connection. The Buddipole whip and top tripod tube are just about the same diameter and color making the appearance of a continuous length to enhance the “fishing pole” illusion.

There was also a key design requirement that the tripod had to be collapsible for carrying to an operating site. This complicated the design, but for every problem there is a solution. I used a Dremel tool to remove the paint where an electrical connection was required. That created a bare steel-to-steel connection which may corrode over time. I may further improve the connectivity by applying copper tape to the points where the tubes meet.

I took the antenna out to the field to see whether it could perform well enough to complete a POTA activation. I chose nearby CA-0281 – MacGregor Point Provincial Park for the trial. MacGregor Point lies on the Ontario shore of Lake Huron about a hundred miles (160km) across the lake from the State of Michigan. The Great Lakes are freshwater bodies that do not enhance propagation in the way that saltwater does, but at least there were no topographical features to impede my signal to the west and southwest.

Propagation conditions were not so good with a lot of QSB so I didn’t expect a great result. My radio was my trail-hardened Yaesu FT-891 at 30 watts CW.

Before calling CQ I decided to try hunting some stations to see where my signal could reach. This was so successful that I was able to secure a “basic 10” QSO’s by hunting alone. The results were impressive enough to give the antenna a strong thumbs up.

Finally, did the “fishing pole” disguise work? The park was quiet, but two park wardens stopped nearby to empty a bear-proof trash bin (MacGregor Point has just one resident black bear that I have only seen once). The wardens did not show any interest in my activity, neither did several other passers-by. My cunning cloaking device apparently worked fine business.

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