| KY4TS |
Rating:  |
2022-06-27 | |
| Compact, light, and it works! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Purchased the Buddistick Pro from Bud at this year’s Dayton Hamvention. I wanted a,very small, light antenna system to take on the road that didn’t require a mast or tree, so a vertical was the logical choice. I used it for Field Day and was very pleased with the results. I had also set up an end fed long wire and a Wolf River antenna. The Buddistick was usually better on receive than the wire and I ended up making most of my contacts with it. Tuning it with the clips and elevated counterpoise was a snap thanks to my Rig Expert analyzer and once set, was easily repeatable. As others have mentioned, 40 meters was a bit of a challenge, but that is mostly due to the low impedance of very short for frequency vertical antennas. I’ll be adding the triple ratio balance soon. The new tripod and Versahub are great! It was easy to get the antenna standing upright on some not so level terrain. I used the included hook and para cord with a rock to help secure it. Overall performance wise, the Buddistick was about equal with the Wolf River, but I have to give the nod to the Buddistick for ease of setup, repeatability of settings, and compactness. It will be making the trip with me out west later this summer. Thanks Bud and Chris! |
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| K2WBB |
Rating: |
2020-08-24 | |
| Works Great |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Recently purchased the Buddistick to do SOTA/POTA activations. I was able to tune 20 meters to a 1:1 SWR but was not able to tune 40 at all. The instructions said that the coil may not even need to be shorted, and to extend the counterpoise out to about its full length of 33'. Couldn't get it better than 2.5:1. That's no good for 5 watts. Then I tried shorting the coil near the top, above the 20 meter short. Even worse. Finally, I tried up one or two notches from the bottom, reeled the counterpoise up about 10', and "voila", a 1:1 SWR. We did a POTA/SOTA activation from a mountain top and made 17 contacts, including out to western Canada from NH on 5 watts with an RST of 55. Not bad.
The only con is the Buddistick mini tripod. I added it to the order for $25, but it's simply too small and flimsy for the antenna unless inside on a perfectly level floor and not even a breeze. I've since purchased a lightweight portable aluminum tripod that has a much larger footprint. |
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| K6SDW |
Rating: |
2020-05-14 | |
| Patience!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
An update - first off, its an HF vertical ground plane antenna, other than a lower takeoff angle compared to a dipole, there's nothing special about verticals. With that in mind, recently I set mine up on 30-meters using the coil for extra "L" and the longer stinger Buddistick sells, 3 ground radials which are not raised due to HOA restrictions. Well, I'm blown away how well I'm getting out running 100 watts!! At night running FT8 (at 25watts) I'm consistently working the other side of the world! On CW I wish there were more hams on this band, if I can hear them I can work them. As I wrote before, the antenna is well made.
So, you don't need a 43' vertical to have a good signal, although it would help. Buddistick is a bit expensive.
Antenna, for a vertical, works very well....but you must have patience when tuning this thing as it's a very Hi-Q antenna.
We were camping up near Yosemite so I used vertical most every day to keep up with W1AW contest. No matter what band, if I could hear them, I could work them using the Buddistick - not bad for a vertical!!
Quality is excellent
1. Don't leave home without your antenna analyzer, it just makes tuning this thing much easier.
2. I've found a small, mobile antenna tuner like what MFJ sells is a must to QSY on any given band.
3. The ground wire is key to lowering your SWR so take your time and get it right
For whatever reason, my experience is that 40mtrs is easy to get tuned up, but the higher you go in frequency the more difficult it is to find the SWR dip.
Cheers All |
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| KA0USE |
Rating: |
2020-05-11 | |
| update |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
i recently read an article that stated when it comes to antennas, you can have any 2 of the below:
wide bandwidth
high efficiency
small size
i gotta admit, i think he's on to something!
i have small size and wide bandwidth. it does work, but with limits, and if you can accept it's limits you can be happy. note i'm using a yaesu ft-817nd radio with a max of 5w out, and that pares results down some.
the workmanship has held up well.
i had some german ladies stop my my field location and asked who i was talking with.
'myself, apparently', was my response for the day.
they howled.
update:
i got frustrated with the radial and did research- it should be 2ft (.66m) off the ground. i suspended it on some dowels stuck into the ground that had notches cut into the end to hold it in place. much better!
price increase: usd 139 for basic, usd 175 for deluxe as of 2020. |
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| WZ1Y |
Rating: |
2020-05-11 | |
| Functional & Compact, could use more radials |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Last summer I was looking for a portable HF antenna to bring on a vacation to IS0. Since I had been there before I knew there was a salt marsh, and wanting to take advantage of the good ground conductivity, I mainly looked for portable verticals. I didn't have much room in the luggage for radio gear, so I needed something really compact, and the buddistick was just that. It came in a lightweight and thin bag that I was able to slide into my carry-on. Watching the instructions online, I was at first skeptical of the auditory tuning method (you place the pin in the slot where the noise from your radio peaks), but with a tuner, the setup worked flawlessly. It's not too tall, maybe about 7 feet if I remember correctly, but due to it being so lightweight, it will blow over in gusts of wind. Some string that I tied directly around the vertical did the trick though.
It comes with 1 insulated-wire radial. I'd recommend more-- I soldered some lugs to the end of some copper wire cut for 20 meters, and screwed them on right at the base.
Thanks to the buddistick, I was able to make fairly consistent contacts calling CQ on 20 using only 30 watts. Overall great product for portable use. |
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| VE3WNSM0CEL |
Rating: |
2020-03-23 | |
| Very good customer support |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased the Buddistick about a month ago and my first impression was that the entire system was light weight and, therefore suitable for portable use exclusively which was fine. The first time I assembled the two rods the threaded insert in one of the rods turned due to not having been swagged properly. It was impossible to even lightly hand tighten the two sections. I immediately emailed Buddipole to let them know of this manufacturing defect. I didn't receive an email response, but this morning a new part arrived. Manufacturing defects do occur from time to time, but making it right is what counts...well done! |
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| 2M0AYZ |
Rating: |
2019-02-18 | |
| Very useful. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I recently bought the Buddistick De Luxe package and the extra-long whip and sleeve. This antenna has exceeded my expectations. It is well made from good materials, packs down small and light, and is easy to deploy. It is easily light and compact enough to be carried on a long hike. Build quality and materials are excellent. The components of the MP1 are compatible with the Buddistick, so I'm using the mounting plate and large tripod of the MP1, which I prefer to those of the Buddistick. So why not 5 stars? Because the coil clips are not as elegant a solution as the slider and frequency guide method of tuning used with the MP1. The extra long whip really boosts performance and is relatively inexpensive. The Buddistick is an excellent product that works very well. |
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| W8NOR |
Rating: |
2018-10-02 | |
| Great on vacation |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have used this several times on vacation and frequently just for fun in the back yard with solar power, primarily on 20m FT8. I have been able to tune it to under 1.5:1 SWR and it performs very well under current poor band conditions. I connect a MFJ-1979 antenna whip directly to the tuning coil on 40m for better performance. The taps are a bit tricky to move around and easy to lose. Order some spares. I use an old photo tripod to support the antenna. |
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| N2HX |
Rating: |
2017-07-05 | |
| great antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I had my Buddistick for 6 years now and have used it on 8 trips to St Maarten. it works great. I just clamp it to the balcony of our time share and I am on the air. I have worked over 100 counties and all states with it. On my Oct 2016 trip came in #11 in N.A. in CQWW SSB contest sin-op low power
so the next time you hear PJ7PL it will be my buddistick should be back in Oct 2017 |
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| K8CMO |
Rating: |
2017-04-03 | |
| Great portable antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have only had the Buddistick for a short time, but I love it for the most part. It is easy to carry portable along with the MFJ mast to get it up in the air. It is quick and easy to assemble in portable situations and works moderately well with my KX2 QRP rig. The only problem I have had with it is the SWR on 40 meters. I can't get it below 1.9:1, but I am working on it. 20 and 30 meters are great SWR. |
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