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hamsticks	Reply
by DAVIDVD59 on September 27, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Yes I know not the most efficient antenna but something to fart around with this year, as winter is fast approaching. I have one for 75m, 40m, and 20m. I have made no contacts yet on 75m, (imagine that only a 100 watts though), on 40 m very good qso for a 1/2 hour, and 20m only a weak contact as the band was pretty well closing here late in the afternoon, early evening. The 75 meter and 20 meter hamstick adjusted the swr under 1.5:1 with some trimming. The 40 meter hamstick will not go below 2.25:1 swr regardless of what is done with it, without using my mobile tuner. Next spring I will buy a better antenna, any ideas on why the 40 meter, the one with the best contact, has a higher swr except for possibly being defective????

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by AA4PB on September 27, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I find that a HamStick properly mounted has an impedance of about 25 ohms and thus around a 2:1 SWR. You probably have some additional loss on 75M and 20M which is raising the impedance and making a better match. Your high SWR on the 40M Hamstick is probably an indication that it is working more efficiently than the others. While the loss makes a nice SWR, it actually converts some of your RF to heat instead of radiating it as signal. The bottom line is that low SWR is not always a good indication that an antenna is working efficiently. My dummy load has a good SWR but its not a very good antenna :-) I put a 2:1 UNUN at the base of the mount and had a low SWR on all bands with Hamsticks. While Hamsticks are not very efficient on 75M, I can certainly make contacts around the state with one here in VA in the early mornings and evenings.

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by K0BG on September 28, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Actually, there is a good reason for it. The mast portion is hollow, which allows the whip to slide down into the vicinity of the coil. This fact makes adjusting one difficult at best without an antenna analyzer. Every spirally wound antenna I've tested, Hamsticks included, when properly mounted with mass below them, not along side, have measured between 34 and 60 ohms, depending on the band. The epitome of efficiency, they are not. Alan, KØBG www.k0bg.com

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by DAVIDVD59 on September 28, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Well they may not be your version of efficiency K0BG, as you believe only a screwdriver antenna will work but I spent this morning making contacts on 20 meters all over Europe with 4/2 and 5/3 to 5/9 reports, working through pileups of all things and signals were not great. Many stations trying. If I had dentures, I would have dropped them right out of my mouth, I couldn't believe it, I didn't contact every station I tried but over 80% of them! My cheap hamstick and a mag mount of all things, $600 cheaper than a screwdriver antenna. Unbelievable!

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by K0BG on September 28, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
David, the number of DX contacts you can make means absolutely nothing! If it means anything, it's that the bands were open, and the amount of radiated power, and the receive S+N/N ratio was sufficient to make a contact, nothing more. Fact is, folks regularly make DX contacts with a Yaesu ATAS, mounted on a luggage rack. It just so happens, the ATAS is one of the worse performing HF mobile antennas there is, and a luggage rack is one of the worse places to mount an antenna. Here too, it means nothing if you rate the antenna based solely on the ability to talk to someone, DX or otherwise. If your premise were true, then why do contest and DX stations put up elaborate antenna systems? It is because they want to work stations in adverse conditions, not just when good band conditions allow average stations to make contacts. This begs the question, do you want to operate only when the band conditions are good? Or do you want to operate when the band conditions are marginal? That decision depends on just how much money you're willing to spend. Alan, KØBG www.k0bg.com

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by WW5AA on September 29, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
When I bought my first screw driver, I was using ham sticks. Since I like to work all the bands, I figured it out and had spent $168 on ham sticks. The Johnson DK3 screw driver sold for $179 at the time. Yes, I worked a lot of DX with the ham sticks, but after having the efficients and convenience of a screw driver, I sure would never go back to ham sticks. But to each his own….have fun. 73 de Lindy

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by KG6WLS on September 29, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I totally agree with Alan. If you want to DX mobile, then use one of these: http://www.alumatower.com/new/images/tmp52-60EB4.jpg ...with a Force 12 C3. ;-) 73 KG6WLS

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by IRABREN on September 29, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Here are the facts: (from my experience) 1. Hamstick: a highly inefficient antenna. Yea - you can make contacts when band conditions are good - so what ? To use 1 - you have to carefully adjust it using an analyzer ( mfj259b). Some consider them non-resonant. When I first started - I had a 20m hamstick on top of my car - mag mounted ( even worse efficiency ) I "thought" - it worked "great" - I talked to mexico, portugal, all of us - etc etc - BUT - that didn't last. The mag mount deteriorated. The car provided a poor ground plane. Yes they are cheap - and you get what you pay for. I now use a HS-1800 "screwdriver " - and am much happier 40m and especially 75 m hamsticks are crap. Ira, KE5STP

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by AI4WC on October 11, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
FWIW, I use Hamstick dipoles; mostly on 20 meters and I have pretty good luck with them. They are about the smallest usable antennas for HF. I tune them according to Lakeview recommendations. Every antenna is a compromise, whether you care to worry about it or not. The drawback of the Hamsticks is that the lower in frequency you go, the narrower the bandwith. The 75 meter (no, they are not sold as 80 meter) Hamsticks are very narrow, so much so that I never use them, but I've made a lot of US and European contacts with the 20 meter setup with less than 100 watts. For my apartment setup, they have proven a pretty good choice, but I know nothing replaces a lot of aluminum or copper strung up at the right height.

RE: hamsticks	Reply
by DAVIDVD59 on October 17, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I continue to half excellent luck with my hamsticks on 40 meters and 20 meters. No contact on 75 meters yet, but I haven't tried really hard given the attitude of 75 meter operators. For something to screw around with, the cost verses the results are not bad. My tuner takes care of any swr issues, and I have good contacts.

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