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Reviews For: Buddistick Portable Vertical

Category: Antennas: HF Portable (not mobile)

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Review Summary For : Buddistick Portable Vertical
Reviews: 63MSRP: $125.00
Description:
Designed as a multi-band, portable antenna for 40m - 10m, the Buddistick™ is an excellent performer with any rig up to 250 watts.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.buddipole.com/buddistick.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00634.7
W0VET Rating: 2006-05-08
Just what I needed. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The design and manufacture of the basic Buddistick package is top-notch.

As a researcher on Dakota Prairie Grasslands, I have the pleasure of spending time in pristine parts of the Great Plains. I travel in a Jeep Wrangler where space is limited. I also do not wish to spend valuable time setting up complicated antennas, etc. An ICOM 703 along with the Buddistick is the ideal solution.

Thanks W3FF!
PU2VGA Rating: 2005-11-01
Great Little Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I took a long time to order this product from W3FF. First I thought of getting the buddipole and finally decided to start with something simpler like the buddistick.
The reasons for my choise were portability, performance and presentation of the product.
Later I got to know what EVERYONE tells about W3FF products, that is they are well made (first class material used) excellent customer relations and most important, the product does work as advertised.
I have tried the antenna with different rigs, such as the Yaesu FT-897D, FT-817ND, FT-857D and IC-703. With all these radios I managed to performe nice QSOs and reports were good to excellent. I must add to this that I have just used the antenna on the balcony of my building and not yet on an open field which should be even better.
Sure, I have no commercial relation with these serious guys but this is just my contribution to those still not sure about the product. It is truly a worthwhile investment as results will come from your TX.

73 - Eduardo
F/PU2VGA
K2BRG Rating: 2004-01-02
This is NO dummy antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am fairly new to amateur radio so I ask you to keep this in mind when you read my review. This is my first portable antenna so I do not have much to compare it to in terms of personal experience.

Before my family and I left for Florida for the New Year holiday, I ordered the W3FF Buddistick portable vertical antenna. I was able to find quite a bit of information on the highly regarded Buddipole, but decided that given the environment down here at the CCR in Florida that a small vertical on the ground would be more practical than a small dipole at height. So I dragged along my IC-718 and my small switched PS that I normally use with the G707A and hooked everything up. Of course, I don't have an antenna analyzer so I am sure I worked a little harder than necessary. I would say it took me about 10 minutes or so to work out each band.

The first thing I found was that having the antenna about four feet off the ground with two elevated radials didn't tune very well. Placing the works on the ground did the trick. I was able to get pretty close to 1:1.1 on 10/15/17 and 1:1.4 on 20. I didn't get around working 40 meters, but did get the SWR down to about 1:1.5.

The first day I got on the air, the KP was about 2 with a flux of maybe 115. In a couple of hours I worked OK1, IV3, GD3, ZS,OH, OZ and more on 20 and 15 meters. I was not 5/9+20, 4/5 to 5/7 were the typical reports. In my opinion, that is not too shabby for an antenna that fits in a very light and small bag.

What is nice was that I was able to take my new hobby along with me, and not annoy my dad's homeowner's association.

Based on my working with the antenna for a few days so far, here are some tips.

There are three variables you have to work with when dealing with the antenna- the whip, coil and radials/counterpoise. Just for the fun of it, I started with 15 meters. Here are the steps I went through.

1. Set up the antenna really close by next to a table containing the radio. Attach the radio to antenna with the cable you are going to use, and turn your TX power down low.

2. Raise the whip up all the way, and unplug the coil tap. Tune the radio to 21.325 or so.

3. While listing for noise level, hold the tap lead against the topmost loop of coil and start moving it down until you get the loudest noise. When you get the loudest noise- you might be close.

4. After the tap is set, do a quick TX to get an idea where you are. For me, full whip and about turn 5 got things started on 15 meters.

5. Attach only the first radial. I am using little spools of Radio Shack hookup wire. Adjust the radial to get the SWR down. I found that just over 7 feet worked for 15 meters.

6. Move the antenna to where it will be operating from and toss another radial on. Check the SWR and adjust the radials to lower SWR if necessary.

7. When things are just perfect, wrap some tape on the radial wires and use a Sharpie marker to make a mark on the coil.

Some measurements I came up with are:

10M 6' Radials, most of the whip, REMOVE coil
15M 7' Radials, full whip, coil turn 6
17M 8' Radials, full whip, coil turn 11
20M 9' Radials, 50" whip, coil turn 15

Hope this info helps.

The base package that I ordered for $125.00 also came with the mounting kit, counterpoise and travel bag. I also ordered the clamp. Looking back on it, I would also order the extra 3 coil clips to speed up band changes. The quality is first rate and their customer service is great.