Spy Radio: Antenna Considerations

we all know the story in the dead of night a man sits hunched over a small radio in the corner of a cramped East Berlin apartment cigarette smoke swirling overhead as he frantically writes down seemingly random characters on a small notepad pulling in the invisibly thin antenna wire back inside his apartment Window he opens his code book and one time pad deciphering the message quickly his case officer needs to meet urgently he grabs his coat on the way out the door not knowing that his so-called invisible antenna wire wasn't really invisible he doesn't know that a concerned neighbor made a quick phone call in the meeting he was heading out for would be his last the Cold War era is filled with International Intrigue and political day taunt spies stealing out in the dead of night to fight a global war a war with no battles only casualties if World War II was the Golden Age of spies then the Cold War era was the Industrial Revolution of Espionage Spas used the most cutting-edge technology of the day tiny cameras microphones in everything tracking tags on diplomats cars and most importantly radios for the Spy abroad governments have spent billions of dollars to build massive infrastru g tracking tags on diplomats cars and most importantly radios for the Spy abroad governments have spent billions of dollars to build massive infrastructure to communicate with even just a handful of clandestine agents overseas infrastructure which is still used today the 1980s gave us the rise of ultra portable shortwave radio receivers which could be used by spies to listen in to number stations back home they would rely on predetermined schedules tuning in at the right time each day receiving their Espionage instructions from higher command at one time shortwave receivers were super popular with most people around the world owning a small shortwave radio this was perfect for spies since owning a civilian grade shorewave radio wouldn't be viewed as suspicious if captured by authorities shortwave radio is a dual use technology at face value it has a perfectly innocent use listening to news or music from around the world however it also has another use tuning in to number stations to receive coded messages even to this day regimes Trapped In Time know the power of shortwave radio in North Korea for instance possessing a shortwave radio carries a death sentence in the years since the ped In Time know the power of shortwave radio in North Korea for instance possessing a shortwave radio carries a death sentence in the years since the Cold War the technology of Espionage has gotten a lot better and become a lot more modern one-time pad messages can be sent in an email or over text message or as is extremely common these days via Bluetooth or NFC however with most counterintelligence or spy hunting operations focusing on spying on smartphones or emails or other internet-based means of communication old school shortwave radio is still very much an option for spies to send and receive messages around the world however shortwave radio is not without its own downsides and one of the biggest problems with shortwave or HF radio is that we are limited by physics and this affects arguably the biggest problem with HF radio the size shape and space needed for the antenna antenna so let's go over some options for clandestine HF antenna emplacement which kinds of antennas work best for small cramped areas but can also be set up as clindestinely as possible with one extra caveat portability if we are looking to send and receive messages by radio in cramped locations that we hav s clindestinely as possible with one extra caveat portability if we are looking to send and receive messages by radio in cramped locations that we have to constantly move between this makes everything infinitely more difficult so why is portability such an important factor when everything else is already pretty challenging history provides the answer if you are an agent stationed in a foreign land either in the west or behind the Iron Curtain it would be a really bad idea to transmit from your home even if you are sending and receiving Communications that are encrypted Direction finding stations can narrow down your location pretty accurately though on shortwave frequencies Direction finding is a lot more difficult than you might think especially in a cramped Urban environment counterintelligence agencies on both sides of the war spent decades hunting clendestine radio stations in their own cities some were found and spy Rings were rounded up others were never found despite the best efforts to Direction find them in our modern world Direction finding is just as much of a problem as it was in the past but the incentive for massive nation-states to devote billions of dollars to rooti irection finding is just as much of a problem as it was in the past but the incentive for massive nation-states to devote billions of dollars to rooting out spy radio stations it's just not there like it was in the past from the end of World War II to the height of the Cold War the stakes were much higher this is best demonstrated by diving into the history of how all of this got started during World War II Allied Powers learned the hard way just how difficult it was to set up resistance groups in occupied territory the Romantic idea of the French Resistance is certainly still fresh in our mind but in reality creating an effective resistance organization was very very difficult and the French Resistance in particular was not nearly as effective as one as led to believe after the war both eastern and western Nations tried to solve this problem no more air dropping and operative in Behind Enemy Lines with a radio to coordinate resistance no more insertion by submarine into a strange and foreign land these super spy activities would still be done but only sparingly as a last resort and certainly not without prior coordination with ground forces many OSS and soe agents lost their lives l be done but only sparingly as a last resort and certainly not without prior coordination with ground forces many OSS and soe agents lost their lives trying to parachute into enemy terrain with a radio throughout japanese-held Burma sometimes the last person to see an entire OSS team was the jump Master watching an entire unit's parachute canopies descend into the unfriendly jungle below never to be seen again clearly something had to be done learning from their disastrous origins in Burma the American office of strategic Services would establish resistance leadership before a conflict ever began the British Special Operations executive who also had their own troubles in northern France added their lessons to the mix and the concept of stay behind operations was born the goal of stay behind operations was to create a network of local operatives who could remain hidden and then activate when needed creating a more coordinated and sustainable form of resistance this new approach aimed to avoid the dangerous high-risk missions of the past and instead prioritize the establishment of long-term effective resistance networks to do this military units would secretly be stationed among the st and instead prioritize the establishment of long-term effective resistance networks to do this military units would secretly be stationed among the civilian populace and maintain intense networks of weapons caches secret radio transmitters observation and listening posts and so on these military units would work hand in hand with vast civilian resistance groups to build the infrastructure and most importantly the communications plans prior to the next War breaking out these military units and their civilian counterparts would lie in wait for an enemy at the time the Soviet Union to start rolling their tanks across the German Countryside once again stay behind units would not fight these initial Invasion waves but instead hide and wait until the front lines passed them then these stay behind and forces would be Behind Enemy Lines and able to carry out guerrilla warfare in the enemy's rear areas these crack Commando teams were called operational Detachment alpha or Oda teams fun fact this is where we get the a team from quietly stationed around West Germany these units Were Meant to serve as both intelligence collection assets and educational resources training local resistance fi oned around West Germany these units Were Meant to serve as both intelligence collection assets and educational resources training local resistance fighters to carry out operations Behind Enemy Lines just in case west of Germany became east of Germany and since they were already in place before the war they were already there and already had vast networks of Supply caches radio transmitters and everything else needed to wage a clandestine War a few years after their creation someone in the Pentagon realized that special forces dudes trained to operate Behind Enemy Lines and train local guerrillas well these guys might be really handy to help out with a problem that was developing in French Indochina what we now know as Vietnam setting up operations in Vietnam and Southeast Asia in general some Oda commanders started wearing unique headgear during training operations and other unit functions this was the Green Beret though the history of the origins of army Special Forces is a fascinating one one of the biggest considerations for the original a teams in place throughout Europe was Communications of all of the Spy tradecraft that has been taught over the years the ability to operate riginal a teams in place throughout Europe was Communications of all of the Spy tradecraft that has been taught over the years the ability to operate a radio usually has been a baseline task if a potential agent could not operate a radio or they had no familiarity with the concepts of radio communications there was very little point in continuing with further training like sabotage operations remember in the real world sabotage operations Behind Enemy Lines were not as important during the Cold War taking a peek behind the Iron Curtain Oda teams prepared for a hot war that never came running Communications exchanging information and Manning electronic listening posts was the primary and sometimes exclusive mission of America's Special Forces today the idea of stay behind forces officially ended as most nation states shut down their programs following the collapse of the Soviet Union however with a major war currently underway in Europe it does not take much to imagine that both eastern and western powers are quietly re-examining the idea of stay behind operations and are almost certainly already miles ahead of where the Cold War left off you might ask how does this apply to us all dea of stay behind operations and are almost certainly already miles ahead of where the Cold War left off you might ask how does this apply to us all of this spy stuff is is cool and all but we're not really concerned with International Espionage all we want to do is talk with a friend about our opinions or a medical procedure or politics or pretty much any purely innocent idea that is now treated as extremism by certain governments around the world learning from history we can easily draw a few conclusions that apply to the prepared citizen today for one Communications must be in place and functional before a conflict Begins by extension this also also means that other operational needs must be taken care of before the conflict as well but at minimum Communications are the most important part we can use coms to coordinate everything else that's why the comms network is a top priority secondly on the operational side of things clandestine tradecraft is a top priority as well remember stay behind operations and all this cool spy stuff are the actions of a nation-state if we a concerned and prepared citizenry want to apply some of these lessons today we must realize that we don't hav are the actions of a nation-state if we a concerned and prepared citizenry want to apply some of these lessons today we must realize that we don't have a nation state backing us up we have to do all of this ourselves with our own funding and as such we have to be more careful in today's world a suspicious wire in the wrong spot is a huge indicator of wrong think and can easily get you in some trouble okay maybe not today specifically but we can see the writing on the wall for the future as the hobby of ham radio becomes more popular and certain agencies and governments begin to realize the power of radio and this hobby will be a prime target for suppressing Free Speech we don't have to look any further than the recent Cuban jamming incident to realize that governments have already figured this out so before that happens and before that becomes too much of a concern preparation and muscle memory is good to develop now while things are still comparatively easy and we can discuss these ideas in the open thus having a compact clandestine antenna is important but portability and Mobility are critical too in the event you are being hunted and you have to constantly move around it is thes antenna is important but portability and Mobility are critical too in the event you are being hunted and you have to constantly move around it is these challenges that we hope to answer today but we first must determine what our needs are we don't want to get distracted by cool spy stuff and get a little bit carried away with pretending to be James Bond we want to learn from history and Implement what works best in the event that even basic communication between citizens is locked down or otherwise not available if the average citizen one day has to live their life like a spy from the 80s just to get by we want to make that as easy as possible depending on what your needs are there are two major paths you can take if you only need to receive transmissions and you are not looking to transmit at all that's one path if you want to transmit and receive messages that's another path for most of you watching this you probably want to go down the swl or shortwave listening path this is its own hobby with many people around the world getting into the addicting world of Simply listening to the signals that are out there getting a small shortwave receiver or a cheap SDR is a great way to get nto the addicting world of Simply listening to the signals that are out there getting a small shortwave receiver or a cheap SDR is a great way to get started with listening and it's great for learning for me personally if I had to learn the radio world all over again I would strongly recommend starting with an SDR don't worry about buying a cheap analog handheld radio at first you can do that later but learn how radio propagation works first with an SDR sdrs weren't really a thing when I first got started but they are now an industry standard so getting started with listening is a great way to start and just to to cut right to the chase if all you want to do is listen on shortwave bands the antenna that comes built into your radio will work just fine in most cases you don't really need to do anything special but if you wish you can plug in an external real antenna which is just a random piece of wire that you either plug into the radio if it has a jack for it or you can clip it to the extendable aerial you would be surprised at how effective A simple piece of wire is for increasing the number of signals you can get so if you just want to Echo James Bond and only receive signals thi fective A simple piece of wire is for increasing the number of signals you can get so if you just want to Echo James Bond and only receive signals this is as far as you need to go things get a bit more complicated if you're looking at receiving data modes which is my own interest but for the most part this is a good start and that's perfectly fine because it sets you up for the other vastly more complicated path you can take transmitting this of course requires a significant investment not only the license required to get into the ham world but also the fact that everything in the HF radio world is very expensive the ham world is unfortunate for the most part still stuck trying to sell 1930s technology at very premium prices but the good news is that if you invest in the receive only route at first you usually don't end up wasting money since having an SDR or a compact shortwave receiver is always handy to have the bottom line is that with either path you have some serious choices to make regarding antennas specifically generally speaking the antenna options for receiving messages are a lot easier than for transmitting HF signals however there are trade-offs at every turn no matter king the antenna options for receiving messages are a lot easier than for transmitting HF signals however there are trade-offs at every turn no matter what radio you use a shortwave receiver or a several thousand dollar HF rig the biggest problem you are going to have is the antenna and depending on what you want to do you can open the whole can of worms that is the biggest fist fight of the ham radio world resonant antennas versus tuned antennas here's what I mean let's take a look at a standard dipole antenna for the 40 meter band dive polls are a fairly standard antenna style they're some of the oldest antenna Styles it really throughout history they're extremely easy to make they're extremely common and they work very very well this antenna as shown here is set up in an invis configuration or near vertical incident Skyway for closer range Communications this works pretty good if you can transmit during the time of day where invis propagation is actually you know functional but dipole antennas are resonant antennas meaning that the majority of the signal that is pushed into them resonates at the proper wavelength for the frequency you are on and the transmission gets made effici majority of the signal that is pushed into them resonates at the proper wavelength for the frequency you are on and the transmission gets made efficiently this is a gross oversimplification but it'll get us started depending on your choice of frequency or band the antenna has to be the exact right size the right length if we change bands we need a whole new antenna at least with dipoles so why go with a resonant antenna why would we want to use an antenna that's 68 feet long if we can get away with something smaller in a word efficiency to explain this let's look at something that is a very important concept to understand standing wave ratio or SWR if you hop on the YouTube you will hear hams talk about SWR all the time mostly in the context of showing how efficient or good an antenna is sometimes SWR gets a bit overhyped but it's still a very important thing to understand at its simplest SWR is simply a measurement of how much of a Signal's power is actually getting pushed into the antenna and thus the airwaves versus how much of that power is being reflected back down the antenna back into the coax and back into the radio if we look at this handy chart here courtesy of the fire at power is being reflected back down the antenna back into the coax and back into the radio if we look at this handy chart here courtesy of the fire stick antenna company we can see that this measurement is of course displayed as a ratio so for instance an SWR of 2.4 to 1 means that there will be a loss of 17 17 of the power that you're pushing into that antenna is going nowhere it's getting reflected back into the radio and if your radio is transmitting at 4 Watts that means in reality only 3.32 watts of power is actually making it out of the antenna and into the world in a world of perfect physics we would always have an SWR of one to one meaning that your radio pushes one watt into the antenna and one watt will be pushed out of the antenna perfectly well we don't live in a perfect world because the only antenna capable of an SWR of one to one is an antenna made of air specifically air in a vacuum I guess so we can see that's not possible we have to make our antennas from wire so there's always going to be some kind of loss most ham radio operators will strive for as low of an SWR as possible usually any SWR under two to one or sometimes three to one is what we're going for a cr m radio operators will strive for as low of an SWR as possible usually any SWR under two to one or sometimes three to one is what we're going for a crazy high SWR like a measurement of 10 to 1 means that your antenna is not resonant you can push all the power you want into it but really your antenna is just acting as a heat sink a cloud warmer and the signal itself is being converted into heat instead of transmitting out through the air now SWR readings can become a bit misleading for instance on this chart here technically an SWR of 10 to 1 means that there's a loss of 66.9 percent now you might say all right that's that's a lot but we're still getting something out right after all 33.1 percent is being transmitted and if we're using 4 Watts that means we're still getting 1.32 watts of output and in the shortwave radio world even a single watt has a lot of power for certain modes so what's the problem well remember this is all theoretical in the real world things are a bit different if you have an SWR of 10 to 1 you are going to transmit to exactly no one that signal probably won't even go as far as the other side of your house technically it should but in the real world if you ha smit to exactly no one that signal probably won't even go as far as the other side of your house technically it should but in the real world if you have an SWR of over four or five some people say over three you are not going to be transmitting very far at all and worst of all if you transmit with a hide SWR you could possibly break your radio remember SWR is the ratio of how much power is getting out versus how much power is being reflected back to the radio this means that transmitting with a high SWR is going to push all that power back into your own radio which can physically damage your radio this is why we tried to get an SWR as low as possible I personally would never key up the mic on a 10 to 1 SWR because I would be concerned that my radio would be damaged coming back to our antenna a simple 40 meter dipole if we were to hook up an antenna analyzer to the antenna this is what we might see a chart detailing the SWR of the antenna as we can see this antenna has a great SWR on 40 meters as most of dipoles do and SWR really really close to one right here at 7.1 megahertz or right in The Sweet Spot of the 40 meter band now on either side of the lowest point we can see that the y close to one right here at 7.1 megahertz or right in The Sweet Spot of the 40 meter band now on either side of the lowest point we can see that the SWR starts to increase as we move up or down in frequency and then as we start to move out of the 40 meter band our SWR gets crazy high because this antenna is not resonant on any other band just 40 meters but since this u-shape here is so wide and deep we can cover pretty much the whole 40 meter band without having an SWR over say 1.5 or so at the extreme ends of the band we might start to creep up and reduce our efficiency but for the most part this whole band is good to go this is why dipoles are very much used in the qrp world if you have a small qrp radio like the ic705 or the elecraft kx2 or 3 or even a mountaintopper or something the general attitude throughout the ham Community is that resonant antennas are preferred for low power work because we want to squeeze every bit of efficiency out of the radio as possible and since resonant antennas are are usually quite long this is why we usually say the smaller the radio the bigger the antenna has to be but there are of course exceptions and one of those exceptions is using a diffe we usually say the smaller the radio the bigger the antenna has to be but there are of course exceptions and one of those exceptions is using a different type of antenna are there other options that allow us to use a resonant antenna keeping the benefits of high efficiency but also being able to switch bands around so we don't have to carry around half a dozen different antennas the answer to that is yes we have a couple of other options a great alternative to a dipole is the in-fed half-wave antenna this style of antenna has become super popular throughout the ham community over the past you know few years or so as more and more people want to explore other bands than just the the common ones the extreme popularity of in-fed half-wave antennas has earned them a bit of resentment from the old school hams who sometimes see the promotion of in-fed half waves as over the top and here's why let's bring in the SWR chart for the lightweight end fed sloper or leff's antenna from chameleon don't let the name convey use you at its core this is an in-fed halfway of antenna I'm using this chart because this is the in-fed half wave that I personally use most of the time if I have the space fo s an in-fed halfway of antenna I'm using this chart because this is the in-fed half wave that I personally use most of the time if I have the space for it now unlike the 40 meter dipole we've got a lot going on here with this antenna as we can see this antenna is resonant on several bands all at once which is awesome we can see that the SWR stays pretty low as well maybe not as great as a near perfect dipole but certainly respectable and for most people in most circumstances for routine daily Communications like spy stuff the difference between an SWR of 1.5 and an SWR of 1.8 is going to be negligible so this antenna seems like a perfect solution or as close to it as possible but remember everything in the world of radios is a trade-off and we can see this when we look at the chart unlike the dipole which had a deep and wide u-shape this antenna's curved on the parts where it's resonant are a lot sharper a lot more v-shaped than u-shaped this means that this antenna for some bands has what we call a high quality factor in the ham world you will often hear this called a high Q High Q antennas have a very narrow bandwidth that they are resident on low Q antennas like a dipole have a d you will often hear this called a high Q High Q antennas have a very narrow bandwidth that they are resident on low Q antennas like a dipole have a decently wide bandwidth that they are resonant on technically the Q factor is really just an expression of how quickly or slowly a resonator dampens out but that's a bit too much for us to get into for now just think of high Q antennas as having super narrow bandwidth sometimes so narrow that the bandwidth for the antenna is only one or two megahertz wide sometimes even lower than that in that case where you have a super high Q factor forget moving up and down the band with a high Q antenna you will have to retune the antenna every time you change frequencies pretty much now this isn't necessarily a bad thing for one this specific antenna is not at all a high Q antenna it works great for pretty much all of the ham bands or at least the most popular ones but by having a higher Q than a dipole and a narrower bandwidth that the antenna is resonant on it means that in the real world when you're going to emplace this antenna when you're going to string it up in a tree it's going to be less forgiving than say a dipole might be now don't get 're going to emplace this antenna when you're going to string it up in a tree it's going to be less forgiving than say a dipole might be now don't get me wrong I have tried all kinds of utterly garbage emplacements with this specific antenna and it works just fine so so don't think that you can't get it to work I have strung this antenna up horribly and had an SWR of over three to one and still made contacts with the ic705 around the United States so for this specific antenna the Q factor is perfectly acceptable and not even worth worrying about where Q starts to matter a lot is when we talk about the Ultimate Spy antennas these right here these vary widely in naming conventions because this style of antenna usually is marketed or rebranded so many times that the original name is completely lost right but this very compact fact HF antenna is what I'm talking about because it seems like the perfect compact HF antenna solution until you actually use one and figure out what you have to do to make it work but we'll get back to these in a moment for now multi-band resonant antennas seem like a great option don't they maybe not as efficient as a dipole but in practicality you can get a r moment for now multi-band resonant antennas seem like a great option don't they maybe not as efficient as a dipole but in practicality you can get a respectable SWR of you know round two or maybe as high as three while still being portable and allow you to use multiple bands that's the reason for the hype with these in-fed half-wave antennas they are a good balance of all factors and a happy medium for most people but for the Spy trying to contact other Agents from a cramped apartment or for the citizen trying to communicate with friends around the country regarding forbidden topics to get censored by social media or government agencies the dipole and the in-fed half wave antenna might not be a good option the chameleon lefts for instance is a little over 60 feet long and if you use it in its preferred configuration a sloper Arrangement used still need about 40 to 50 feet of linear ground space when I lived in a place that had a postage stamp backyard these kinds of antennas were not an option simply because I did not have enough space to string them up properly I could never get an SWR down to even just a safe level much less an ideal level when trying to use one of these in a ver e to string them up properly I could never get an SWR down to even just a safe level much less an ideal level when trying to use one of these in a very compact area so what can we do is there a way of taking advantage of the physics of dipoles and having a compact Urban friendly ground footprint at the same time as always yes there is an option or rather several options that all rely on the same idea loading coils this can get really complicated but the general gist is that we can effectively shorten the length of a dipole antenna by coiling the antenna wire in a very specific way these coils reduce the overall length of the system so as far as physics is concerned we technically have 60 plus feet of wire but due to the coil the whole thing is shorter in the real world we see coils most often with VHF and UHF handhelds like from the movie Die Hard the handheld radios used in the movie had small stubby antennas how can this be well it's because inside that rubber casing is a coiled up antenna usually we see this for UHF radios that operate on the 70 centimeter band this is because these antennas can get away with being all coil and at those frequencies they're going to be a really s rate on the 70 centimeter band this is because these antennas can get away with being all coil and at those frequencies they're going to be a really short antenna anyway which is perfectly fine for short range Communications such as up and down nakatami Plaza but for comparatively lower frequencies such as the shortwave Arena we can't really get away with having an antenna that is 100 coil it would be cool if that would work but in actuality it doesn't this is where these kinds of micro antennas come back in they are almost entirely made of a very long coil of thin wire with a very short aerial taking what we have already learned these kinds of antennas usually have an imp possibly High Q factor if we were to look at an SWR of this kind of antenna this is what it might look like forget having resonance on a band you will be lucky to make this antenna resonant on a single frequency and you might not even be able to work all modes sometimes you might only have success with really low bandwidth modes like CW since the Q factor on these is so high these antennas are super frustrating to tune this was a huge mistake of mine that I had to learn when I was first getting into radio years a s so high these antennas are super frustrating to tune this was a huge mistake of mine that I had to learn when I was first getting into radio years ago with a high Q antenna tuning it to the right frequency by ear takes forever and under real world field conditions where you're trying to get a message out clandestinely it's just not possible with these kinds of antennas you also need at least half a dozen radials radiating elements are again a topic for another day but suffice it to say you think you can get away with just the stock photo on the website but no you actually need a lot of ground space to spread out some radial wires in an attempt to flatten out the Q factor and increase your bandwidth the tiny bit all of this takes time so bringing our goals back into the equation we can't really use an antenna that takes forever to tune and is super frustrating to work with in field conditions where muscle memory is a huge thing this is just not a something that's going to work if all of that is a bit confusing I understand but just think of this general rule of thumb the more coils you have in your antenna the higher Q or narrow or bandwidth you have to work with so in effect the hink of this general rule of thumb the more coils you have in your antenna the higher Q or narrow or bandwidth you have to work with so in effect the more compact the antenna the narrower the bandwidth and the more frustrating it is to tune this means that these options are usually a no-go for what we are going for clandestine but still effective antennas that are easy to set up and use in situations where the in placement is important so what's the solution then if these small antennas won't work what's the what's the happy medium well a company called buddy pole has one answer this company started years ago with a very specific idea to industrialize the process of making loaded coil dive pole antennas the Buddy pole and the subsequent buddy stick are technically both loaded coil off center fed or center-fed dipoles over the course of human events this is the best compromise we have come up with so far with a buddy Pole or buddy stick system you have some of the benefits of a dipole and some of the compromises of a compact antenna on these antennas the Q is higher but it's not as bad as the more compact antennas and once you get it tuned just right you can usually move up and down these antennas the Q is higher but it's not as bad as the more compact antennas and once you get it tuned just right you can usually move up and down a band just like you would with a normal traditional dipole the Q factor is not so bad as to limit you to just part of a band usually when you get these tuned in you can move up and down a band without retuning it every single time if you wanted to change bands you would need to retune it but you would need to buy a whole new antenna so there's that benefit this setup allows us to have the smallest ground footprint possible for working HF radio while still having a respectably low SWR and an appropriate SWR curve or an acceptable Q factor right balancing every important factor nicely for me what has worked really well has been using a buddy stick in a very small lot I purchased the Buddy stick system but also got the tent pole style aerial with what buddy pole calls the Stinger attachment to make tuning a lot easier this allowed me to set up the antenna as compactly as possible remember the Buddy stick is still basically just a dipole so it absolutely needs a radial you can't just use the vertical element with the coil to be resonant the Buddy stick is still basically just a dipole so it absolutely needs a radial you can't just use the vertical element with the coil to be resonant the radial is mandatory because technically it's not really a radial it's the other leg of the dipole but by setting things up the way I have the radial can be much shorter than you might think this is one very specific way to sort of cheat physics using a loaded dipole with a vertical element and a short radial which is actually the other leg of the dipole how effective is this solution from my own experience it does work it's not ideal by any means after all you're always working with a compromised antenna the question is how compromised is it this solution may be a lot more compromised than you want but it is an option and if it's all you've got it's all you've got especially if you want to stick with the resonant antenna in the smallest possible space so this is an option that I've used with pretty good success in the past now there is one other option that we have to cover in the field of resonant antennas it's another one of those Game Changer antennas that seems like it would be perfect blowing all other antennas out of the wa ield of resonant antennas it's another one of those Game Changer antennas that seems like it would be perfect blowing all other antennas out of the water these are magnetic loop antennas most commonly called mag Loop antennas these are Ultra compact resonant antennas that are most commonly used to get around Homeowner Association rules regarding antennas in case you haven't figured it out by now there's a lot of overlap between the world of Espionage antennas and the solutions that people have worked out in order to get around tyrannical HOA rules and the mag Loop is one way to do this how these work is a bit beyond the scope of this video so we'll have to discuss that some other time but the key takeaways is that mag Loops are super calm compact so they work really great up in attics or even on a desktop however there are some downsides that are deal breakers for some as you might have guessed there is no way of getting around physics there's no magical way to get away with a small compact antenna system without some serious compromises and one of the biggest compromises with these is that these antennas have to be tuned for each band you want to operate on sort of like a buddy st ses and one of the biggest compromises with these is that these antennas have to be tuned for each band you want to operate on sort of like a buddy stick but a lot more finicky at times the real problem for some is that these antennas usually have a super high Q factor depending on the type of Mag Loop products vary of course by different manufacturers so if it's a poorly made mag loop I would go so far as to say that these might have an insanely High cue so much so that it takes quite a bit of time to tune to a point of decent resonance some people might balk at that having lots of experience with mag loops and thus knowing they're geared to the point that it's it's not a problem but for me I like to hop around bands quickly almost always in austere field conditions where the set up is less than ideal so for me mag Loops are too much of a headache however for the person that doesn't mind staying on one band or likes fiddling with things to tune up a good SWR mag Loops are great and they are really the only option that works for people in super small apartments where they don't want their antenna to be seen by any curious eyes outside if you can get away with stringing up a loaded e in super small apartments where they don't want their antenna to be seen by any curious eyes outside if you can get away with stringing up a loaded dipole on a balcony or out of a window or something like that or if you're super lucky and you can string an infant half wave out of a window and into like a tree or something that would be infinitely better in in my opinion than using a MAG Loop but if you are just flat out stuck and you still want to get on the air the mag Loop is pretty much all you've got the other major downside of Mag Loops is price mag Loop antennas are pretty much the most expensive antennas you can buy sometimes you might even pay more for the antenna than the HF radio you are using so these are automatically not an option for many people but again if you are limited to a super small area like a balcony or apartment and you can't get away with anything else mag Loops are pretty much all you've got so that's pretty much it for resonant antenna options all of these work in their own ways and have advantages and disadvantages if you want to stick with resonant antennas this is what you've got to work with however like clockwork there is another path you can take sadvantages if you want to stick with resonant antennas this is what you've got to work with however like clockwork there is another path you can take this path relies on using antenna tuners and a usually random piece of wire and this is where the fist fights break out because there are Die Hard Defenders of Both Worlds those who prefer resonant antennas and those who use tuners to match their radio to whatever piece of wire they are using here's the reason for this conflict those who prefer resonant antennas view tuners as unsportsmanlike viewing resonant antennas as the purest form of radio this is not an elitist kind of attitude there's good reasons for this because there's also the general impression that resonant antennas are more sensitive and more efficient than using a tuner in the other Corner those who use tuners say that tuners are a great way of improving a not so great antenna emplacement and in many cases allow people to get on the air that ordinarily would not be able to get on the air because they don't have the space or the geometry for a resonant antenna antenna tuners have also earned a place in the prepping Community because the wire you use for an antenna can or the geometry for a resonant antenna antenna tuners have also earned a place in the prepping Community because the wire you use for an antenna can just be a random piece of metal plenty of people have hooked up their radio and their tuner to gutter downspouts or metal roofing or a metal fence or any large piece of metal and using their tuner they can get on the air pretty effectively so how did tuners work well it's a bit complicated but the gist of it here is that automatic antenna tuners contain a bunch of relays and Hardware that sort of Tricks your radio into thinking that it's getting a good SWR this is why the guys who like resonant antennas say that tuners allow people to be very lazy with their antenna setups because there's a lot of misconception of how antenna tuners actually work this this is why using SWR as a metric for determining how good your antenna is well that can lead you astray there's so much more to antenna Theory than just SWR you can have a guy get a garbage antenna string it up very ineffectively hook up a tuner and get a decent SWR people think an antenna tuner is magically making their antenna great it's not the main thing tuners do is allowing you to tuner and get a decent SWR people think an antenna tuner is magically making their antenna great it's not the main thing tuners do is allowing you to transmit with a garbage non-resonant antenna without harming your radio so when you hook up a tuner and magically your SWR comes down on the band you want your antenna didn't change at all the tuner only matched the impedance of the antenna and the coax to the radio to make the radio happy in truth there is no such thing as an antenna tuner the tuner is not doing anything to the antenna really antenna tuners are technically matching units or matching Transformers matching the radio to the proper impotence for whatever antenna you using this is how tuners can lead you astray you can get into a situation where your tuner is telling you that you have a good SWR but that SWR isn't telling you the whole story again this is why we can't always use SWR as a metric for determining how good your antenna really is with a tuner your radio is being tricked into thinking that your antenna is resonant so in reality antenna tuners are mostly a safety device making your radio function in situations where the SWR is so high that you would break your t so in reality antenna tuners are mostly a safety device making your radio function in situations where the SWR is so high that you would break your radio tuners bring the SWR down artificially so you can safely and effectively transmit but we have to remember that your antenna itself didn't change it still has a high SWR nothing changed there the only thing that changed is that that reflected power is being reflected back into the tuner instead of your radio so the bottom line is this you hook up your radio to an antenna and you check the SWR and it's not great it may be a four or five or even higher you plug in your 10 tuner hit the button and boom you have an SWR of one to one or something like that this does not mean that your antenna magically got better your antenna is still not really resonant it's still a garbage antenna the only thing that changed is now your radio is happy and content with pushing power into that antenna because all of that nasty reflected current is being absorbed by the tuner and not being sent back into the radio that's why the world of antenna tuners is kind of a lie yes you can hook a tuner up to a wire fence or a gutter downspout and you can get a the radio that's why the world of antenna tuners is kind of a lie yes you can hook a tuner up to a wire fence or a gutter downspout and you can get a perfect match but you're still not going to be pushing hardly any power out most of it's going to get reflected back into the tuner if you are planning on using a tuner to cheat physics I'm sorry but that's just not the case you can't really do that so if the cake is a lie when it comes to tuners do antenna tuners still have a place are they still worth the sometimes Hefty investment in some situations yes I personally prefer resonant antennas because I'm almost always running in qrp comms very very low power however there are times when a tuner is Handy for instance I can string up my chameleon lefts and add the 80 meter extension to get as much wire up into the air as possible then I can add in a tuner to get me down to 160 meters if I want ordinarily my radio would Revolt if I tried to key up on 160 meters without a tuner but with a tuner everything is fine in terms of the true energy that is being radiated by the antenna you know nothing changes and the tuner is not increasing my range at all but it does allow me to use my radio i that is being radiated by the antenna you know nothing changes and the tuner is not increasing my range at all but it does allow me to use my radio it allows it to function without breaking even when using an antenna that is not really resonant a very common setup with using a tuner is pretty simple it starts with just a piece of wire this is usually called a long wire antenna or a random wire antenna A simple piece of wire of random or unknown length as much wire is physically possible is strung up again as high as possible and that wire is attached to the tuner which is then connected to the radio the radio is turned on tuned and you are good to go how long should the wire be technically it doesn't matter and nobody can really answer that to be honest as long as possible is the general answer people give this is where tuners really shine when you only have a small area to work with and you are just a bit too short to use a proper antenna for instance let's say you have a small backyard or a small attic and you want to get on 40 meters with a dipole or something but you've clearly not got enough space just properly string up a 40 meter dipole or in-fed half wave you could string ers with a dipole or something but you've clearly not got enough space just properly string up a 40 meter dipole or in-fed half wave you could string it up as best you can you could wrap it around the perimeter of a fence spreading it out as best as you can and the extra wire you can run wherever possible now if you did this and you checked your SWR you might find that it's a three to one or a four to one or something less than ideal remember dipoles need to be stretched out in a straight line as possible to be as resonant as possible you start scrunching up the wire in an attempts to make it fit your environment and and your SWR might start to creep up if we are trying to be as covert as possible tuners can be a huge benefit from World War II to the Afghan war operatives on all sides have made use of random wire antennas that simply blend into their landscape one of the most common is the simple clothesline though not as common today in wealthy modern westernized cities clotheslines strung up in backyards or in between buildings are extremely common throughout Eastern Europe Asia the Middle East and the entire third world even in westernized Nations rural areas are common places t extremely common throughout Eastern Europe Asia the Middle East and the entire third world even in westernized Nations rural areas are common places to find the simple clothesline lines which sometimes conceal a shortwave antenna trees have also been used to conceal antennas with vertical elements going right up the trunk to the top of the tree if needed depending on the setup this could also provide some limited directionality if needed to confuse and confound Direction finding efforts but unless you have a tree or a clothesline that is the exact right height or length chances are you will need a tuner in order to make the most out of a less than ideal clandestine setup if you had the room for it and if your background noise isn't too bad a dipole or invet half wave would be great but if not a random length of wire as long as possible can be strung up however possible and a tuner can be used to get you the rest of the way toward an acceptable SWR you aren't going to improve your transmission range at all it's not going to magically make your antenna awesome but you are going to make your radio able to function albeit not as great whereas without a tuner you wouldn't be able to key ake your antenna awesome but you are going to make your radio able to function albeit not as great whereas without a tuner you wouldn't be able to key up at all looking back in time we can see that almost every radio used by clandestine agents had a tuner of some kind why is this well because in placing an antenna was already very risky so it wouldn't do well for a spy to have to keep going back to the antenna to lengthen or shorten it if it was in place in a less than ideal location sometimes a covert radio operator only had one chance to get an antenna up and once it was up they had to make it work no matter how garbage the SWR was this is why antenna tuners were and still are critical tools of the Spy toolbox in one specific case Norwegian resistance agents had trouble using their assigned frequency to communicate with higher headquarters these operatives were tasked with observing German shipping along the coast of Norway in 1943 already operating in an extremely risky environment as German Coastal Patrol Boats were constantly Direction finding their Transmissions British MI6 agents were dismayed to discover that environmental conditions and the extremely remote locations of ob ection finding their Transmissions British MI6 agents were dismayed to discover that environmental conditions and the extremely remote locations of observation posts meant that the frequencies had to be changed quite often just to make contact and since frequencies had to be changed often anyway to avoid detection this became a huge problem of frequency management eventually operatives settled on using nighttime only frequencies in the 40 meter band which worked best along the IC Norwegian Coastline however these problems could have been alleviated somewhat if better technology such as better tuners were available at the time which could have made contacts a lot easier under those less than ideal antenna and placement conditions looking forward a bit in time one of the most widely used radios specifically designed and for stay behind operations under NATO's gladio program the fs 5000 was a highly modular shortwave radio system a core component of the radio itself was the antenna tuner which was designed to work with a 15 meter long random wire antenna this is one of the main reasons why it's so difficult to find out information on what antennas were most useful for those operating ndom wire antenna this is one of the main reasons why it's so difficult to find out information on what antennas were most useful for those operating clandestinely most of the time they used a simple random wire antenna with a tuner So the antenna doesn't get documented as much also in the early days of vacuum tube based radios the antenna was not as big of a deal as it is with today's radios tube based radios were a lot more forgiving in this regard and were able to adapt a bit more easily to the antenna remember there is no cheating physics no matter how hard we try things can get really confusing really quickly there are so many ways of trying to get around the rules but in the end physics always wins you might say all of this is well and good but let's take a look at what this might look like in the real world keeping with the idea of stay behind operations we have to realize that radio communication is very important but also quite tedious even today the most die-hard ham radio operators would not entirely be thrilled if they were mandated to conduct comchecks and exchange messages every single day in accordance with a comp plan rain or shine 24 7. the mundane nature of the re e mandated to conduct comchecks and exchange messages every single day in accordance with a comp plan rain or shine 24 7. the mundane nature of the requirements of clindostan radio comms can turn a fun hobby into a tedious chore this adds in another important factor convenience if we look back through history convenience was a top priority as well for most stay behind forces specifically the civilian operatives that might one day fall under the command of the military side of things they had to live somewhat double lives for instance civilian operatives of Switzerland's stay behind group p26 were expected and required to have a day job prior to joining which would provide appropriate cover for their clandestine activities having a day job while also running a secret life is tough work in Austria something similar was also underway friends Ola created a fun organization station called the osterichester van der sport on gazelle in English the Austrian hiking Sport and Social Club this was a nice little group of a few thousand members who like to hike around the countryside compete in various sporting functions and play with copious amounts of plastic explosives that's right one of th o like to hike around the countryside compete in various sporting functions and play with copious amounts of plastic explosives that's right one of the largest stay behind organizations ever operated secretly under the guise of a hiking club and keeping up this double life on a daily basis was no picnic so it's best to make things as simple and easy and convenient as possible especially when it comes to Communications which is a lot to expect from most shortwave antennas going out into a dark and stormy night standing in the middle of the woods with a tangled bird's nest of wire is pretty frustrating but even more so if you are trying to quickly get set up to exchange a few messages before you take a few hours rest so we've honestly got a lot of unreasonable demands we need a covert antenna that functions is compact yet easy to tune oh and it has to be really convenient to put up and take down down on a daily basis speaking generally about what we've talked about already we can have a really efficient dipole or in-fed half wave antenna but it's huge and requires a lot of ground space or we can use a loaded coil system and hope that we have enough space for radials or we can use a c a but it's huge and requires a lot of ground space or we can use a loaded coil system and hope that we have enough space for radials or we can use a compact mag loop antenna which is a super high q but may work for us if we don't plan on jumping around a lot or we can use a random piece of wire with a tuner and hope that we have enough power at that moment with that configuration to send the message keeping in mind that there is no blanket solution for any of this and things are constantly evolving in the communications World there are some general solutions that may work in many situations first let's start off with my preferred antenna system at the moment the chameleon lightweight in-fed sloper or less like I mentioned this is a great multi-band antenna that does not require a tuner this is a very popular antenna in the ham radio world so you can do a lot more research on this specific product but let's talk about some of the concerns and benefits this has for clandestine operations for one it's end fed this seems like it wouldn't matter too much but the biggest benefit this provides us is that this is so much easier to coil up quickly in the dark through muscle memory alone I c matter too much but the biggest benefit this provides us is that this is so much easier to coil up quickly in the dark through muscle memory alone I can easily lower the antenna to the ground and by feel by touch I Can Begin winding it up following the antenna back to where I staked it out on the other end I don't have to worry about winding up each end of a dipole I know it sounds like this wouldn't be that big of a deal but this alone is the reason why I have switched mostly from dipoles to infinite antennas for the most part another major reason that I prefer this antenna is that it's easy to use in the rain or rather it's easier to waterproof somewhat so that you can use it in the rain ordinarily you are going to be very hard pressed to find a ham radio antenna that works in the Rain the chameleon left is not designed to function in wet conditions but the arrangement of the sensitive parts make it easy to design a waterproof cover for the system but we'll have a separate video on this topic shortly establishing radio communications in bad weather is important just for emergency situations or making sure that you can check in during a predetermined calm window but there is anoth s in bad weather is important just for emergency situations or making sure that you can check in during a predetermined calm window but there is another reason water resistance is important in relatively peacetime conditions or at least in the domestic United States right now you're going to be very hard pressed to find someone who wants to be out in the woods at night in the rain under these environmental conditions we can get away with a larger antenna system and assume a slightly larger operational footprint since the number of curious eyes that we might encounter is very small if you are trying to establish Communications on the down low it probably wouldn't be a good idea to operate like most Pota or parks on the air enthusiasts do stringing up a large antenna in a public park on a sunny Saturday afternoon is certain to get some attention which is fine for the normal ham radio hobby but it's not necessarily a super great idea if you are trying to be a little bit more covert so establishing comms in bad weather conditions is kind of preferred anyway anybody hanging out in Charlie's weather has got to be pretty dedicated to whatever they're doing the third major reason I prefer of preferred anyway anybody hanging out in Charlie's weather has got to be pretty dedicated to whatever they're doing the third major reason I prefer this antenna is that it's multi-banded with without using a tuner and it allegedly can handle a lot of power and pretty intense Duty Cycles this makes it a decent candidate for Advanced Transmission modes like ale or automatic link establishment obviously this type of antenna is not recommended for this task and we're honestly asking a bit too much of it when it comes to really demanding modes like ale but in a pinch or for shorter range links it will function or at least that's what our limited testing has indicated so far but much more research to do on that front this system does present some downsides though for one it's a no-go for urban environments it's just simply too large to function in smaller backyards if you have about 60 linear feet of space in an attic it could work but remember long wire antennas dipoles or in-fed half-wave antennas like this one suffer from a higher noise floor in urban environments sometimes if your environment is large enough and the noise isn't too much of a problem this is a great option though an e floor in urban environments sometimes if your environment is large enough and the noise isn't too much of a problem this is a great option though another downside of this system is this coil right here which is several feet from the end of the antenna this coil is to help help with resonance on 10 meters which is a nice touch but this also means that this part of the antenna can't really be easily fished through tree branches I think this coil is why the antenna is advertised as a sloper because that configuration is the most appropriate way to deal with this small loading coil not a huge deal breaker for me personally but it may be a downside for some another major downside to this antenna is the weight this is a deal breaker for some people this antenna really requires a tree to hang it from most carbon fiber masks that are on the market for this purpose simply will not do it's just too much weight too much force being pulled laterally when this antenna is stretched out in a sloper configuration even in an inverted V configuration every portable Mast I have struggled to the point of failure bottom line is that if you do not have trees or a very substantial AKA not really portab every portable Mast I have struggled to the point of failure bottom line is that if you do not have trees or a very substantial AKA not really portable Mast this antenna is automatically a no-go so the chameleon left is a good option for me personally but what if space is a concern or I am in an area with no trees for these situations I have had good success with the Buddy stick Pro quite an expensive antenna for what you get but this is again a very popular antenna in the ham world but there are some benefits for the operator with some unique concerns A major benefit to this system is that it's a resonant antenna that doesn't require a tuner it also has a vertical element which has its own benefits but most importantly it has a much smaller ground footprint the 40 meter band is pretty much the lowest collection of frequencies that most users operate on yeah 80 meters and 160 meters require larger antennas but for the most part 40 meters is one of the toughest challenges for compact antennas that's the lowest set of frequencies that most people are going to be operating on on the 40 meter band The Buddy stick Pros counter Poise slash radial system is comparatively short all total most people are going to be operating on on the 40 meter band The Buddy stick Pros counter Poise slash radial system is comparatively short all total you only need about 30 feet of ground space according to the manual in practicality I've been able to shorten this considerably with good results albeit at the expense of the SWR creeping upward this makes this antenna a decent option for cramped Suburban backyards granted a vertical antenna that's kind of low to the ground is maybe not the best idea for the tall structures present in the urban landscape but it has worked for me in the past another benefit is that no ground spike is required for this antenna for me this is a pretty good benefit for others it may be a downside for me I mostly use this antenna in either very congested areas or places where I don't have trees like mountain tops where there are also a lot of rocks or frozen ground places and situations which aren't super great for ground Spike based antennas this is a minor nitpick by comparison but it's still a factor I didn't want to mention I really like ground Spike based antennas I really do and if the jpc12 antenna had come out before the Buddy stick I might have go n't want to mention I really like ground Spike based antennas I really do and if the jpc12 antenna had come out before the Buddy stick I might have gone that route instead for the urban landscape at least but I also really appreciate an antenna system that is entirely self-contained and not reliant on having a Cooperative ground for a ground Spike another benefit this antenna has specifically for for lower profile operations is that it functions comparatively low to the ground at the most the included telescope equip doesn't get more than 10 to 12 feet off the ground depending on how you extend the legs this works great in urban or Suburban environments where privacy fences are usually five to six feet tall so you could set this entire system up behind a fence with the bulk of the system down and out of sight extending the telescopic whip above the level of the fence it's not too visible especially at night or at least it won't be as visible as a mast would be when I lived in a not so great neighborhood this is exactly what I did I set everything up behind a fence got my win link and js8 call up and running then extended the whip for a few minutes while emails and check-in messages t everything up behind a fence got my win link and js8 call up and running then extended the whip for a few minutes while emails and check-in messages were sent then lowered the whip back down behind the fence out of sight and unorthodox and very specific arrangement I will admit but it was both a necessity at the time and good practice for operating under clandestine conditions how effective was this Arrangement well well like always better than expected but less than hoped for urban areas are pretty horrible for radio operations but I was easily able to get out and make region-wide contacts on js8 call regularly throughout my region on 40 meters not too bad for a seriously compromised setup with this antenna there are a few downsides specific to more clandestine uses for one there is no way on Earth you're going to be able to use this antenna in the Rain the Versa Hub design while convenient lightweight and otherwise a great idea is extraordinarily hard to waterproof there's no real way of putting a dry bag over this system or waterproofing it to operate in bad weather you might be able to tape a dry bag over the loading coil to prevent water from shorting out the bare wire and m proofing it to operate in bad weather you might be able to tape a dry bag over the loading coil to prevent water from shorting out the bare wire and making your antenna no longer resonant but the Versa Hub itself is a no-go if buddypool were to use a type in connector here which is waterproof instead of a BNC connector which is more common maybe you could get it to work I have tried using silicone tape to waterproof a BNC see type in adapter in place but I can never wrap the tape in such a way that I felt comfortable doing that so in practicality no matter how you slice it this is a fair weather antenna system that really has no place in extreme weather conditions another downside for the clandestine operator is that this can be a bit of a bear to assemble at night there are a couple of really tiny pieces that can easily get lost in the daytime much less at night assembling is fairly quick once you get the muscle memory going but this is not what I would consider a tactical antenna system where everything is super simple Ultra rugged and reliant on gross motor skills I would not want to assemble the Santana in cold weather where your finger dexterity is reduced the other con is rea and reliant on gross motor skills I would not want to assemble the Santana in cold weather where your finger dexterity is reduced the other con is really just a general gripe of loaded coil antennas that use different Taps for different bands you can't really quickly change bands with these yeah some people say it's quick and easy but it requires physical action on the part of the operator if you are laying in your tent at the end of the day trying to do some calm checks before going to sleep you have to get out of your tent go over to the antenna and move the tap to whichever band you want to talk on not a big deal for hams of course but for my own use cases this gets old really quickly this gets very tedious if you are trying to use amateur radio as a tool not just because it's a fun hobby all in all the Buddy stick Pro is a system that I purchased to meet very specific sets of needs I needed a resonant antenna that was modular and could also get me on 40 meters with a very small ground footprint and at the time all of the mag Loop antennas on the market were simply sold out because this was during the height of covid for many people I don't know if this would be a worthwhile inv antennas on the market were simply sold out because this was during the height of covid for many people I don't know if this would be a worthwhile investment due to the Fairly High Cost of what you get but also because you need an antenna analyzer to use this system you can probably get by without using one every single time once you get it set up but you really do need an antenna analyzer to set it up which is an additional cost depending on which analyzer you go with this could bring the price of this antenna system up to the point where you're better off using a random wire antenna with a tuner or honestly even a MAG loop at that point and the serious lack of a way to use the Buddy stick in the rain is a huge con that you can't really mitigate another option that is very similar to the Buddy stick is a relatively new chinese-made antenna called the jpc12 like I mentioned earlier now this antenna is a direct ripoff of various other designs such as the Buddy pole but if this doesn't bother you too much the effectiveness of this antenna has been noted by many radio amateurs I personally cannot speak to this antenna too much because I do not have one yet mine is still on order from na has been noted by many radio amateurs I personally cannot speak to this antenna too much because I do not have one yet mine is still on order from the Far East but I did want to mention it because just looking at what others have noted it seems to be a decent option it's sort of like the Buddy stick but is a lot easier to waterproof at least in theory just me looking at photos of it it looks like it would be fairly simple to modify some dry bags to cover all of the sensitive connectors to protect it from light rainfall it's also a ground Spike based antenna so there's that in conditions where it works that's great because the ground spike is more Compact and easier to set up than a tripod system but in Rocky ground or Arctic winter conditions this might be an issue for some the good news is that this antennas uses counterpoise radials that go along the ground unlike the Buddy stick which has a counter Poise slash radial that has to be elevated a few feet off the ground so that's a bit more convenient for me the reason I want to try out the jpc12 is because the ground Spike and ground radials will allow me to stake this thing into the ground inside a tint vestibule or out of a st out the jpc12 is because the ground Spike and ground radials will allow me to stake this thing into the ground inside a tint vestibule or out of a stove Jack so that I can one keep it dry and two set the entire antenna up in very bad weather and keep myself comfortable and dry but again I have not had hands on this antenna yet so all of this is theoretical at the moment I did just want to mention it because it's quite an interesting Arrangement that I did not want to leave out finally just as a sort of habit I always always always have a pack tuna with the radio I'm carrying this works on 20 meters 40 meters and I think it's resonant on 10 and 15 meters as well but don't don't quote me on that I always carry this antenna with the radio itself because it's very reliable very Compact and resonant for the bands that are most common 20 meters and 40 meters since I'm constantly moving things around and swapping out antennas for different needs I don't want to run into the situation where I've packed the radio but forgot a critical component of an antenna's system that would really suck I haven't done that yet but I've Come Close especially with the Buddy stick and its tiny pieces that nt of an antenna's system that would really suck I haven't done that yet but I've Come Close especially with the Buddy stick and its tiny pieces that can go missing in tall grass or at night the other main reason I use this antenna is due to the thin wire I'm not sure of the specific gauge of wire on this but it's really small which makes it great for situations where you don't want the wire to be as visible string the sentence up high and tight in an invis configuration and it disappears into the night sky this antenna is also great to dangle out of a window because it's so small couple this antenna with a small carbon fiber Mast and you've got a great setup for an inverted V configuration or an inverted L configuration all in all this is basically what I use to make contacts daily is it a hassle to put up and take down 60 plus feet of wire every time I want to check in yes most certainly but by not relying on a fixed antenna system I personally prefer to remain as mobile as possible testing things out in very different configurations each time this goes back to the convenience factor I mentioned earlier if you've had a long day and you just want to sit back and relax stringing up s each time this goes back to the convenience factor I mentioned earlier if you've had a long day and you just want to sit back and relax stringing up an HF antenna each and every day to check into a net is going to get tedious after a while there is most certainly an element of just suck it up harden yourself and complete the mission but after years of doing this many people start to lose motivation this is why convenience is an unfortunate reality if you find that you just don't want to deal with stringing up a wire antenna in the rain at the end of A Hard Day's work then you might have to Shell out some money for a MAG Loop that you can set up on a dinner table so at the end of the day we cannot forget that we're in this for the Long Haul and as much as we might not like to factor in convenience sometimes it's better to factor this into the equation early on when making antenna purchasing choices if a lot of these Solutions look basically like a simple ham radio setup that's kind of the whole point point the average low-grade modern HF transceiver is light years ahead of the Spy radios that were the absolute Cutting Edge of the 1980s the only thing the amateur world is completel n HF transceiver is light years ahead of the Spy radios that were the absolute Cutting Edge of the 1980s the only thing the amateur world is completely adverse to is the concept of encryption but that's a topic for another day but for super spy antennas I'm afraid the options we have today aren't as James Bond as we might want them to be for the most part simple commercially available Solutions really are the best options out there unless of course you want to get into building your own antennas which is certainly a great option as well but overall there is no one solution that works in any one location which is why secret agents throughout history have had standardized radios at times but the antennas that go with the radios were much more situation dependent which is honestly a great thing for the operative in hiding this meant that counterintelligence agencies wouldn't be on the lookout for one specific piece of wire or one standard piece of antenna equipment this also meant that visually searching for a hidden antenna in the urban landscape was not really a worthwhile Venture it was far more more common was for direction finding teams to descend on an area once a transmission w landscape was not really a worthwhile Venture it was far more more common was for direction finding teams to descend on an area once a transmission was detected drawing The Noose ever tighter as the clandestine radio operator raced to send his message before the direction finders could narrow down his Transmissions to a single building plenty of spies were discovered this way and many lost their lives as a result thankfully for the prepared citizen things obviously aren't quite this desperate yet however it would be very prudent to begin thinking about the types of antennas that will work for you while at the same time being as covert as possible for the agency or government hunting you down via Direction finding there's not really that much that can be done other than remaining extremely mobile or following other Emissions Control tips but for the Casual Observer the biggest giveaway is the antenna the antenna is what's going to get people's attention and might get you a visit from people you might be wanting to avoid and to remain effective and professional under adverse conditions we have a lot of options to choose from the options discussed today are by no means the only choic effective and professional under adverse conditions we have a lot of options to choose from the options discussed today are by no means the only choices you have they are just the most common options out there and what has worked for us here quite well and that's really what it's all about testing things out and seeing what works best for you when discussing these topics it's all too easy to get caught up in the technical details or the gear itself sometimes forgetting the origins of what is now simply a hobby for many people radio technology steeped in Warfare is a much more somber topic than we might imagine at first choosing an antenna to get around an annoying HOA rule seems a lot more trivial when we realize that most stealth antenna designs are the result of lives lost from the coast Watchers of the South Pacific to the operatives of the Frozen Wilderness of Scandinavia we must never forget that what seems like a fascinating topic to us was at the time a matter of life and death in our modern world we are once again Playing for Keeps troubling times are upon us and our actions sometimes have dire consequences the average person may not be a crack Commando of a stay behind for Keeps troubling times are upon us and our actions sometimes have dire consequences the average person may not be a crack Commando of a stay behind force or an agent of international Intrigue but we can learn the lessons that a lot of these forces had to learn the hard way and in our modern world where we have to defend what little privacy and Free Speech we have left these tactics become all the more important especially since we have to for the time being fight in the shade