Bought a Buddipole

[N5MUD]

Made the 1.5-hour drive to Ham-Com in Plano, TX ("the biggest hamfest in Texas") today and bought a deluxe Buddipole system at the show price. The manufacturer/owners were there, and I was super impressed with the multi-band flexibility and quality of materials used. Having it shipped to me (for free) to avoid sales tax, so I don't actually have it yet. Pretty excited to have a portable HF antenna finally.

Would have bought a Yaesu FT-857D also but several vendors were sold out of them. Guess I'll have to order one on the interwebs.

[N5MUD]

Wow, I think I'm hooked! Tonight I set up my Buddipole for the first time; set it by the book for 20M. Got OK but not great SWR, but the dipole is only 8' off the ground and 12' feet away from my metal shop building and in a bunch of trees. Hooked up my brand-new Kenwood TS-480SAT and listened for hours to Russia, Ecuador, Mexico City, Indiana, Wisconsin, and a bunch of others. I was afraid to call until I get the SWR on the antenna better, but it sure was fun to hear everyone. There was action all over the band. I think I'm going to really enjoy operating on HF.

[K7NNT]

Awesome! I have thought about getting one too. You will like hf I am sure. Keep us posted.

[K7NNT]

Lee, you really got me fired up for one of these! I called HRO today here in Phoenix and the guy never heard of them... I found that hard to believe. Anyway they do not seem to carry them. Any more reports for us? Pictures?

[AD5VG]

Randy, try here: http://www.buddipole.com/dealers.html I remember looking at these when they first came out because they would be a great solution for an apartment ham.

[N5MUD]

Lee, you really got me fired up for one of these! I called HRO today here in Phoenix and the guy never heard of them... I found that hard to believe. Anyway they do not seem to carry them. Any more reports for us? Pictures?

Here it is, still set-up for 20M, just outside my shop building door (where my shack is). Might be a little hard to see because of the trees and etc. I tried a horizontal dipole first, but couldn't get the SWR below 2-2.5, I suspect because I'm too close to my big metal shop building. Changing the arms to the 45-degree orientation you see here resulted in SWR of 1.6, and I made a contact in Canada last night.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h218/FJ80/radio/IMG_0816.jpg

The cool thing about these antennas is that they're like an Erector Set or Tinkertoys (OK, Lego's for you younger guys), you can use the components to build dipoles, verticals, beams, almost anything you want for all bands from 40M to 2M inclusive. Actually, you can make a vertical for 60 and 80M, but they're apparently more difficult to tune. Yet it packs into a very small bag, about the size of a small backpacking tent. Pretty sure that it will work a lot better out on a camping/4WD trip, away from buildings and etc. I will probably put up a permanent OCF dipole here at the shop and just use the Buddipole for travel/4WD. Will probably try to rig the mast to go on my receiver hitch mount instead of using the tripod.

[K7NNT]

Very Cool! Thanks for taking time to post Lee. I have read they are hard to tune, I do have an antenna analyzer so that may make it easier. I think they work best out in the open so I would rethink the hitch mount. Worth a try I guess. I do like they fact that they can be set up a lot of different ways. I have read Buddipole in the Field - PDF LINK (http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/buddipole/buddipoleinthefield2.pdf), by B. Scott Andersen (NE1RD), love his callsign. :) and learned a lot. Did you get the longer whips? Any options?
Thanks again Lee!

[N5MUD]

Randy, as long as you use the "cook book"-approach charts from Buddipole and/or NE1RD, the tuning is actually pretty easy and very close on the first try (so far). I have an MFJ 259-B to check it with every time, but the initial recommended settings are very close. Pretty sure they would be even closer if/when I get away from my metal shop building.

You may be right about the hitch mount, but I'm thinking that if I could get say four 4' sections of military-surplus fiberglass poles on the receiver hitch and then the 8' Buddipole mast on top of that, it would get me 24' above the receiver hitch and almost 20' above the roof line of the truck. I'll have to take both the receiver hitch mount and the tripod into the field and try both I guess.

As far as options, I just got the "Deluxe Package" at a special hamfest price. It includes the rotating arm kit, some extra coil clips, an extra standard whip, and the 8' mast and tripod. But I'm going to order the longer whips and the longer coax right away. I should have ordered them originally, but I'm still learning of course and will be for a while. Really impressed so far. The equipment is all very thoughtfully designed and well built.

[K7NNT]

Thanks Lee. Keep us posted and I will of course post when / if I pick one up.