Folks - for more information on Greg’s designs, writing and all things antennae - check out https://kj6er.net/
Many thanks in advance for watching.  Dave.

"I need to drink more zinfindel" LOL!

I’ve finally got all the parts for my Challenger build now. Would there be any reason not remove the Palomar 4:1 unun and 1:1 choke from their boxes to have them connect and sealed with the same spacing within my 16 inch tube with side BNC and counterpoise connection points? Less physical items and dangling crap while out hiking sure seems like it would be a positive improvement.

Greg, I so appreciate your designs. I have them all. I have had to incorporate the Dewalt tripod into all of them, however, because the rocky soil in the Texas hill country. The same soil that takes advantage of your designs. Went past 10k at US-3014 with the Performer and Challenger and looking forward to more 59's in the future. Don  K1DLA

Great information…. Greetings from OA4BUO…

Great video guys I've been testing the challenger anttena i have swapped the telescopic antenna for a
Fiberglass mast and 21 ft of wire using thick speaker wire i get perfect swr with 75w from a ic705 and
Micro 100w pa i have worked all over Europe with good reports up in the northwest we have had much needed rain so once its dry again i need to get out at night and try the dx chris g0wfh

@gregmihran8616 I gave my POTA Performer the @paulTheSouthernHam treatment he calls the POTA Picnic antenna.  I am running an FT-891 barefoot with that antenna and got my first contacts to Alaska (2676 miles), Arkhangelsk Russia (4437 miles), and Austria (4646 miles) from Central Wisconsin.  I also got my first contact with Salty Walt with this setup.

73

  Jim
KE9BNG

I believe this will be the most important YouTube vid I’ve seen this year. As a rookie HAM of 2026 still doing its first steps (QSOs) I even think this will shape the way of how I will go on on HF since my main goal is getting experience with propagation in different conditions involving every factor that goes into this - experimenting with antennas maybe being the central part of that.

I wonder what it would take to model this Antenna centered on a Metal Roof of a 30x40 Pole shed ?
I Live on 10 Acres of dense Woods and the only clear area is the pole shed.

I use the Challenger and the Performer even at home.  It's nice not having to incur the expense of a tower to get a horizontal antenna up high enough for a low take off angle and also not having to worry about a lightning strike because I take them down when I'm done. Greg is a rock star.

I appreciate the content, Dave.  I wonder though if you have considered skipping the generative AI music you add to the end of all these videos - it detracts significantly from the quality of your fine subjects and does not encourage people to remain subscribed.  There are plenty of human musicians out there who would gladly provide you with similar quality music that doesn't sound like AI slop.  Thanks for considering - 73 de W1PJE

Great interview. All hail RSPCW!
I'm curious if raising bottom of antenna and steeper radials angle would lower elevation of main lobe.
Also, if per-band wire and no links might speed band change time?

(Typo in description spelling "Mihran".)

I love these antennas.  I’ve been using the POTA Challenger lately as I find it a little cleaner than the PERformer.  The Challenger has been my go to for my recent SOTA activations.  The only thing I find with these antennas for a metro area is that they can be a little noisy on the receive.  They are fantastic for POTA and SOTA activations, though

2:29  what is it with ham radio operators and “My wife lets me”?

3:50 there’s such a thing as diminishing returns. Quoting numbers like 93.9% vs let’s say 97.3%. Nobody on the other end is going to notice that. There are things called compromises. Like putting up an antenna that covers 4 band ei EFHW vs wasting time retuning to change bands.

11:54  “Resistance is futile” pun intended. Sorry couldn’t help myself.

19:31 in this picture the choke is coax wrapped around a ring. What’s the difference between this and the kind where the beads are slipped over the coax?

37:41 I get the home brewing thing but by the time research what I need, then source the things I need (wire, connectors, cutters, crimpers), then spend the time making it, I could just buy it commercially from the guy on Etsy. Home brewing like everything else isn’t cheap any longer. Besides I’m going to spend $40-60 for a good set of crimpers to use once?

38:08 I used my supposed non-efficient EFHW this past Saturday to make 193 contacts in 2.3 hours or 84 contacts per hour on 40m. That included at least a dozen rag chews as well. On 20m and above this antenna shines for sure, the PERFormer that is.

42:07 doing the 500 watt thing portable kinda defeats the purpose of cheap especially at Flex’s $6000 price tag.

Great interview about a great antenna. I live in Shetland, so I'm surrounded by the sea. I've been trying out a version of the PERformer on the beach and on the clifftop over the beach. On the beach, save the effort and put down the two radials at the waters edge. I use RBN as my measure and there is no advantage to raised on the beach. Where it can benefit is a clifftop over the beach. If you can get 35m above the sea for the antenna, that gives about the same result as the beach. Anything more than 35m will be better performance than the beach.
My biggest  question though is about using 18m band radials, marked for 20,17 and 15. I leave the extra wire on the winder as a coil at the end. It makes my radials electrically longer, which will mean when I tune the antenna with a nanovna it will be way longer than expected, maybe 5.45m for 20m. I can still bring the tuning to 45 + 345m at the frequency I want. Does that mean I'm losing watts to the coil in the radial or does it just make my antenna longer for the same efficiency?
From the results I achieve, I think it's not hurting my propagation but would love to know. It could even be a benefit as there is more wire in the air for Rx and potentially my TOA would be lower again. Sorry for the crazy long comment but I'd love to get some feedback on this. Thanks 73 de Jef M7VDE

Swings and roundabout - it's all a matter of interpretation, you're just ignoring the variables and assuming everyone is dumber than you...

👍

You are on the right track but you're missing an important concept to maximize efficiency. But 👍 yeah. You're close.

It’s a dipole on its side. The BuddiStick marketed it as well. Kinda funny how elevated radials keep getting “discovered”.

Is this going to be a long story ???? 😂😂😂