This Quick, Cheap, Easy, and Portable Antenna Mount / Ground Spike is a MUST HAVE!

As a new amateur ham, I was wondering the Telescoping antenna attached to the base, does this require at all a Balun and or a coil for common mode current? Just wondering... as I am looking for a simple antenna to start me off on HF and this looks like a great solution. I have the mirror mount I picked up, just need a Telescoping Antenna and anything else you may suggest to complete the setup.

I have a 4 foot copper ground around half way in the ground just outside of my shack. A copper ground wire goes inside about 10 feet to a terminal that grounds all of my equipment. Another wire goes in the opposite direction about 4 feet to ground a metal antenna mast . I attached a 20m ham stick to the top of this rod today , I’m having excellent reception so far with a SWR around 2.5 on the on the MFJ tuner. I haven’t tried to transmit yet. Do these ground wires possibly act as a radial of some sort or is in going to cause problems… thanks again and I subscribed today 🇺🇸✝️👍🏻

Should build them and sell them,with a reasonable markup as a side hustle.A lot of people don't have the tools

Why are you grounding your radial/counterpoise.

A great vid for ground mount vertical.
Have you tried using that system with a piece of aluminum screen instead of radials? wa7ups

That's great , it would be a good idea to build a ground T spike that would be easy to grip & pull out from the ground after use .

The ground spike should not be above the top of the antenna mount that can cause a slight SWR issue.

If you don't want buy a $10.00 bag of crappy tent stakes... Go find a hometown, old fashioned, real hardware store, who sells landscaping nails "By the Pound"! Buy you a few 10" or 12" galvanized nails. For $3.00 +/-, They make the best tent stakes you'll ever use, and last for 30 years!

Many old Fudds would regergitate at the fact they were using a CB antenna mount, for anything! ($7.50 at a well equipped truck stop!) Opting to spend $40.00 on the same item, that says HAM Radio on the packaging!

Loving the budget solutions my dude. New sub.

As an amateur (n9pww) and a trucker, I can tell you those antenna mounts are readily available at larger truckstops all day long. Usually around $20.

I'm just picked up a spike from Home Depot but it is painted. Should I scrape the paint off to get the bracket to ground to the spike?

Dude, god job.

Thanks for the video HRD. We're always inventing. Great for POTA or Field Day applications.

Nice inexpensive mount but i see you have that Red wire hooked to four black wires......Where are they going to? four grounds?____

I only have a mobile unit in my truck and I'm trying to learn more, what is the extra wire for and where does it go to?

I watched your video a couple of times to double-check the assembly of the mount and double-check the continuity of the center connector, spike, shield, and the 90-degree connector I put on the coax mount. Thank you. 73 de David AE4LH

Такой же кронштейн от MFJ использую. Из доработок - сделал удобный зажим, что бы подключать противовесы. Прикрутил его к старому штыку от СКСа. Что бы легко в землю втыкать. Использую совместно с антеннами, то же от MFJ, серии MFJ-16XX, при работе QRP на природе.

I'm new to ham radios and would like to build something like this for my first radio. Can anyone give me any info on the radials? Type of wire, kength, etc? I see tbe connectors, but not sure what's needed for the radials themselves.

I will look for the tent stake. Others turned the bolts around so they stuck out the back side. But that could be a problem for some. Thanks for the infomation! 73 W4DES

Instead of tent spikes you could use rebar or landscaping nails, I like the idea

You could use copper lightning rod for the spike. They are a little bit longer and larger diameter for better stability.

Did you notice, if you put 2 of those "trucker's mounts" back to back and reversed it makes a MFJ-347 hamstick dipole mount. For a savings of about $17+ shipping. Thoughts?

While assembled, use a dremmel tool with a cut off wheel. Just cut the one bolt off next to the nut.

Hey, this gives me some ideas for my QRPGuys Switchable 3-band vertical for 20, 30, & 40M. The antenna suggests using a wire vertical supported by a 21' fiberglass or carbon fiber fishing rod and a switched board with appropriate inductors for band switching. It is meant for temporary POTA or SOTA use, but your mount and spike could work in conjunction with the fishing rod in some form. I have a female BNC on the board so I will have to adapt that, but I believe I could possibly fashion an 8" PVC & cab as they suggest into the bracket as well. TIme to see what the junk box has available, LOL. Cheers & 73, Dave - KU9L

I am new to building antennas and always have questions.
How does the range on a vertical like this and say a Dipole, End or Center fed, Moxon or Yagi compare?

I love the simplicity of the one in your video here and can't wait to see the improvements you mentioned waiting on for the 4way, Multiband adapter. I think this would be awasome for camping, POTA and Field Days.... Lastly, love the usage of the Anderson Power Poles for the ground radial.

Hmmm. This will send me to my junk supply.

Where did you get that steak at ?

Watching all these antenna videos. Back in the day we just strung a folded dipole above the roof. No SWF meters. It was fine. We are all lost in these technicalities. What is the final result? What do you actually hear on 40m, 15, 10m? Very little, because everyone has migrated to 6m or 2m. Handheld. And how did mobile car antennas work?

No, the real choice was a "quad" or Yagi.

Why the red wire?

What and Where ...did You Get The 2 Silver 4 Sided Plates to Put The Antennas on?

How does mounting an antenna so close to the earth effect your available power? I'm new to amateur, but as I understand it, a vertical antenna needs a minimum height calculated for the band to allow optimum power output.

So you have a link to that 1/4 wave 20m antenna?

Thank you for the inspiration to build a portable Hamstick vertical without spending a dime. I built one with a Hamstick I was given years ago, a spare tent peg, a rear-view mirror mount I was given along with the Hamstick, and I used some ring terminals I had in my junkbox instead of Anderson Power Poles. I spent $0.00. It tuned up at 1.4:1 as measured by my MFJ 269B (which I had to repair first) and my KX1's tuner brought the SWR down to 1:1. I made 3 CW contacts this afternoon at my daughter's home in her back yard. It was a little tough at QRP but it worked. Thank you for setting the example with what you can accomplish with nothing more than what you have laying around the shack!

Turn the bolts around and use them to attach your ground radials. That gets them out of the way of coax connectors and gives plenty of room to attach all kind radials, The carabiner could also be attached so it would not be so close to the element

Cool build! If you flip the bolts the opposite way, you won't have the clearance issue and it'll save some pennies.

Never heard of harbour fright. But jokes aside great video very helpful

Chipotle Burrito and a Coke went up☹. Love these antenna solutions. Thanks for sharing.

If you'd like a longer ground stake, check out concrete rebar at building supply stores. You can get it cut to most lengths or cut it yourself with an angle grinder.

Wow! Great antenna mount solution. It’s too bad I can’t se it here in any New York City Park. There is a $2,500 fine for poking any hold in any park. You can’t throw wire up into a tree either or you will get the same $2,500 fine. I call it the City Parks as a museum concept.

I've done the same thing using cut off ground rods cut off at 18". They are more stable in the ground.

This is the set up i was talking bout. This mount with the coil n some radials is ALL you gonna need in the field or base.
Time to show us how to make our own home made river/slidewinder coil.
I made mines 100 turns on a 2,5" pvc + 14"wire and a hose clamp.

Great stuff! Super video too. Thanks! ⚡️📻🤘

Where can I buy that antenna???

Good job, I enjoyed the video. Let see more in the future.

Hey, I have made those for friends for a couple years, so thank you for publishing your DIY…. Just wondered if you could elaborate on your “X” plate please.. and thank you..De N1aqh Spike

Why not use a thread rod or rebar so it's not so close to the ground and you can get more height...

Too cool for school .... Nice job Sean! 73 - KF6IF