Random Wire 9 to 1 Antenna Building, CAHR ARES Antenna

I got my hands on Coffee and Ham Radio 9:1 Random wire Antenna or the CaHRTenna Ares Antenna. I am going to be building the kit with you along for the ride. Swing by and see if I mess up and how I correct or overcome the mistakes.



Frank L.

 

looks kool

 

And it worked great as an antenna. The follow up video this monday

 

Good job sir! One thing though You're having WAAAAAY too much fun Mr. Frank

 

Can I make it too? I don't know how to procure parts.
73 JF1IRQ

 

Thats just the person i am. I can't stop having fun. Glad you enjoyed it

 

Yes sir, you can buy the kit at, https://coffee-and-ham-radios.square.site/shop/antennas/2

 

Thank you for the information.
73 JF1IRQ

 

I have a 9:1 PackTenna that I'll swear by! Very similar in design, it is efficient, easy to carry and deploy, and is my go-to for HF. I can increase or decrease the length by hooking up jumpers connected by 3mm banana clips in-line for when I'm at a location/summit where there may not be enough room for all 74 feet of deployed wire. I'm sure this one works great as well and you can mod this one as I have mine. A 17.5 ft. coax for your feed also doubles as a good counterpoise since with random wires everything after the "antenna in" port is part of your antenna system. I see no difference when hooking up dedicated counterpoises so the coax is all I use now. The only "down" side is the weight of the coax at 17+ feet... I hike in sometimes 2+ days into the Cascades where I recreate and I'm already overweight with gear but the performance is worth it and really no other antenna fits the bill for primitive camping/SOTA work that I do. Great vid and information! 73.

 

All this talk about 9:1 baluns has every newbie ham thinking he has to have one on his antenna even though they have no idea about why its needed or IF it is needed for their particular antenna .

 

A simple search on the Zed, if the newbie has an ounce of initiative, can reveal a wealth of information. @WA7ARK has provided volumes of information that other helpful hams have added to on this topic. No reason for being in the dark, the details are all hear for anyone to see,

 

Of course Newbies meaning new folks in ham radio will not be familiar with each and every ham radio related web site or book so balun manufactures should include substantial detail to determine if such a balun, any balun is required. Recent LDG Electronics advertisements included meaningful explanatory graphics. Oh well live and learn, 67 years ham radio here.

 

I've never needed to heat the colored plastic ends up beforehand to remove them from ring terminals. Just grab and hold the ring portion in a wide mouth pair of piers (like standard slip joint pliers), and then grab a hold of the plastic portion with a pair of needle nose pliers...and simultaneously pull and twist the plastic piece. It will just slide ride off. Be forewarned: if you twist the pair of pliers holding the ring end, OR you inadvertently grab the barrel of the terminal along with the plastic piece in your needle nose, you WILL twist and deform the ring portion, especially on lighter gauge units.

 

https://udel.edu/~mm/ham/randomWire/
Before you go to cutting the antenna wire checkout the chart for length. It is a random wire antenna but not any random length will work. I have built at least 30 of these last 10 was 173’ for 160-10m with less than a 2:1 swr across 160-10m. If you had just connected the ground to your shield you co-ax would become your counter poise. Oh and you use the length in the white on the chart not the colored section.

 

Q: How is a 9:1 balun supposed to work with an end-fed antenna? I thought a 49:1 balun was required, due to the end impedance in a half-wave wire being literally in the thousands of ohms, not 450 ohms like this balun has....