Super Antenna MP1

19-07-2019 9:03pm #1

Today I got the Super Antenna MP1 for easier deployment when working portable when there are no trees around or when I don't want to mess with getting ropes in trees etc.

So far got to Germany and France on 40 meters that's not bad for such an antenna, I was running 100 Watts from the old Yaesu FT-77.

Below is the pic set up in the garden and it's shown without the 80 Meter coil which I've attached now and will give it a go in a little while.

Malmsteen · 22-07-2019 5:05pm

Looks fantastic Mad_Lad let us know how you get on.....

22-07-2019 8:27pm

Malmsteen wrote: »

Looks fantastic Mad_Lad let us know how you get on.....

Cheers, I made contact in London and France last night on 40 meters without much difficulty, got to France easier. I also tried some other stations and they couldn't hear me against the big high power stations that are a lot closer.

You can't beat it for super fast deployment the only thing is that it's a bit tricky to get the SWR down even with the chart they give you which is handy. An antenna analyser is very expensive , I need to see if I can get a cheaper one.

It won't beat the hyendconpany's end fed for efficiency but it's sure a lot easier to deploy and I was running 100 watts into the MP1, I'm not sure if I'd be able to make many contacts at 5 Watts QRP like I can with the little Xiegu X5105 5 watt radio and the 4 band end fed from Hyendcompany.nl.

I want to get a 100 Watt radio maybe like the Yaesu FT-891 and I can also try it on 5 watts, a Lithium 20 Ah battery should run it for long enough, eventually I might get a foldable 120 watt solar PV panel. Sometimes 5 watts just doesn't cut it.

There's a video on youtube where a guy gets from the U.S to France on the MP1 ! so it definitely works.

So next on the list is battery, Yaesu Ft-891 ( 2nd hand ) and antenna analyser.

I just might sell the X5105 because I can use the FT-891 also for QRP even if it is less efficient at 5 watts. Still can't beat the portability of the X5105 and it will run for many hrs on the internal battery.

By the way, have you booked the Exam for November ? it won't be long coming around !

I have to say I'm having a lot of fun, I love working portable out doors.

I like the challenge of lower power, it's too easy to stick up a yagi and get a 1 Kw amp or more , what's the point if it's just too easy ? yes at times it's nice to make the contact , for instance , I tried to call someone in Cuba Saturday night or the early hours of Sunday morning and he got the last 3 letters of my call but not the first, I was disappointed but it was a very noisy band, I've got the Brazil and Costa Rica so conditions were not so good for lower power, he was coming through good but I just wasn't making it, no doubt he was running power.

4dxc · 29-07-2019 3:36pm

Deleted User wrote: »

An antenna analyser is very expensive , I need to see if I can get a cheaper one.

Get the Mini60s, it`s all you need for around 90 Euros on ebay.

Deleted User wrote: »

I like the challenge of lower power, it's too easy to stick up a yagi and get a 1 Kw amp or more , what's the point if it's just too easy ? yes at times it's nice to make the contact , for instance , I tried to call someone in Cuba Saturday night or the early hours of Sunday morning and he got the last 3 letters of my call but not the first, I was disappointed but it was a very noisy band, I've got the Brazil and Costa Rica so conditions were not so good for lower power, he was coming through good but I just wasn't making it, no doubt he was running power.

I get the attraction, but the real effort is with the other station who is most likely running a Yagi and 1 KW. Otherwise you`d probably not hear him and he wouldn`t hear you either... with your small antenna and QRP.

29-07-2019 3:54pm

4dxc wrote: »

Get the Mini60s, it`s all you need for around 90 Euros on ebay.

I get the attraction, but the real effort is with the other station who is most likely running a Yagi and 1 KW. Otherwise you`d probably not hear him and he wouldn`t hear you either... with your small antenna and QRP.

Have you got a link ? I remember reading some of the reviews and they were not do good ?

Yes absolutely, the other stations Antenna is usually doing all the work, still , it's nice to hear your signal make it 1300 Kms or more with 5 watts and the idea is to get out there and have fun, 100 watts portable will make all the difference for sure lol.

I'm not so sure 5 watts would be heard well on the MP1 on 5 watts so I ordered the FT-891, got one 2nd hand from the U.K. I'm quite surprised how small this radio is for a 100 watt rig ! :eek:

I am selling the X5105, I can use the FT-891 at 5 watts, 20 , 50 etc.

Using it with the Hyendcompany.nl mini 100 watt 4 band antenna will no doubt be better than the MP1 after all it's a resonant antenna, but the MP1 is for quick setup when there are no trees and/or when I don't want to mess around with trees, Spiderbeam etc.

But the FT-891 ? it's really small ! Haven't even turned it on yet , was working the last 4 nights but I'll power it up in a little while.

4dxc · 29-07-2019 6:52pm

They are perfect for the money. This is one with Bluetooth - probably not really necessary, and shipped from Germany. The ones without bluetooth are cheaper. Most of them are shipped from China etc. so it could get a bit annoying with shipping, tax etc.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/1-60Mhz-MINI60S-SARK100-HF-Antenna-Analyzer-Android-Bluetooth-for-PC-EU-STOCK/172857869187?hash=item283f21c383:g:lA8AAOSwNJ9Zs2QM

29-07-2019 9:09pm

No I wouldn't care about the Bluetooth, don't have an Android phone anyway. Looks good but reviews are not so good , think they can be a bit of a hit and miss.

I take it you have one ?

29-07-2019 10:08pm

The Ebay link you gave me in Deutschland ,

Delivery:
Between Tue, Aug. 6 and Mon, Sep. 2 on today's receipt of payment ? wtf lol, could be coming from china directly.

4dxc · 31-07-2019 5:56pm

I have one but am not selling it.

I bought mine on ebay and made sure it came from the original distributor and had the attached seal on it. Various apps and tools are on the internet for this analyzer.

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31-07-2019 8:57pm

The German seller is out I’d be as well to order it from China myself. Could be September getting it though. Amazon reviews are not great but at least I can send it back to amazon if it’s crap. I guess they’re a hit and miss quality wise.

31-07-2019 9:06pm

I got my battery today in halfords, it’s lead acid heavy but cheap 42 ah, to increase life I’ll try use only about 20 ah, it’s not a deep cycle battery.

I’ve been watching the current on the power supply and on SSB Phone I rarely see more than a 26 amp draw and I do t always have to use full power.

It’s heavy about 11 kg but to be honest I won’t be carrying it far from the car ever nor intend to.

Eventually I might get a cheap lithium pack for low power use , the price of them is a bit nuts considering how much battery prices have fallen over the last 7 or 8 years it’s a rip off to be honest.

Basically sellers cashing in on the fact lithium lasts a lot longer therefore they thing the batteries are worth much much more, they’re not.

This is actually good because I got a watt meter and can monitor my power usage to see how much I use on average and can size a lithium pack to my needs in the future, perhaps I might get an 8-10 ah pack for 10-20 watts for more portable use.

01-08-2019 11:34pm

Did some portable from the garden this evening with my new FT-891 and Super Antenna MP1, got a Car battery for portable power, it's a 45 Ah battery, after 2.5 hrs of use I used almost 4 Ah , 3.9 something so lets say 4 Ah, that was calling CQ for about 5 or 6 mins or a little more on 80 Meters + 2 QSO's, Belgium and Sweden, Belgium contact gave me 59 and +20 at the end, amazing, Sweden gave me 57, not bad for such an antenna, sure it was only 2 contacts I made but I was having fun that lovely evening it was + I was trying to break a pileup too for ages but hadn't a hope, it's hard to break a pileup on the continental with 100 watts any day with any antenna so it's nearly impossible to compete with Hams with their big Yagi antennas and 1 Kw + of power + they are probably a lot closer to the guy anyway.

I love that little FT-891, great receiver and quiet, lovely !

4 Ah of battery, I'd get a long, long time out of that 45 Ah car battery, it's a lead Acid but was cheap and I won't ever be carrying it too far anyway, even if going by the general rule of not using more than 50% of a lead acid battery 20 Ah would last me for 12.5 hrs at the rate I was going tonight.

A 20 AH of 12 Volt LiFeP04 is expensive, you're talking nearly 300 Euro's , the lead acid cost me 80 Euro's, happy days + lead acid is a lot easier maintain, Lead acid loves to be 100% charged all the time, the complete opposite to Lithium which likes to be stores at about 50-60% charge and charged fully only before you use it. Lead acid is cheap but LiFeP04 has a much longer life but even so , it's a lot more expensive but it's also lighter.

Still , this is good because I am collecting good data on my power usage for when I do get a lithium pack, I might get some RC LiPo or the much safer LiFeP04, if I got 2.5 Hrs out of 4 Ah then I could use a 5 Ah Lithium pack and get roughly the same time @100 Watts or double at 50 Watts etc, I could use the more efficient EFHW antenna and get better results from that then the Mp1 at 100 watts probably so a 5-10 Ah Lithium pack would be easy to build for QRP use + I already have a good RC Lithium charger. Lithium needs voltage monitoring and must be charged with a balance charger when no BMS is used + needs voltage monitoring of the cells.

I am quite happy with the setup now I have to say, the MP1 can be deployed in a few mins, the EFHW much longer when trees and rope are involved but the EFHW will be more efficient.

I'll post pics below.

01-08-2019 11:37pm

Spot the Mp1 in the background near the top of the pic !

patspost · 14-08-2019 10:30pm

Interesting thread.
Thanks for sharing.
Just wondering where did you buy the radio from?

15-08-2019 11:53am

patspost wrote: »

Interesting thread.
Thanks for sharing.
Just wondering where did you buy the radio from?

I bought the FT-891 2nd hand from LAMCO Barnsley in the U.K.

I fear brexit will snooker a lot of my buying from the U.K, if it were not for the U.K I would find it a lot harder to get stuff......

Going out today to do some portable work with my Ham friend who is bringing the clansman again. going to use the MP1 and end fed, I'll use the FT-891.

15-08-2019 11:23pm

I was out having fun in the garden this evening, it was a lovely evening, made some contacts with the MP1 again, have to say it impresses me a lot, just put it up in a few mins, tune it and off you go. Yes you do have to tune it for each band but with an analyzer it's not so bad.

Furthest I got on it so far is about 3100 Kms tonight to UX2IO in the Ukraine, not bad for such an antenna, that was on 20 meters.

I was out portable in the afternoon, using the end fed, the FT-891 is a great little radio.

Battery power, I used about 7.5 Ah of the 45 Ah car battery for all the time I was on this afternoon + evening. A 10 Ah Lithium pack would be perfect but to be honest the car battery is cheap and should do me a couple of years and I won't be dragging it far from the car.

For portable abroad I'm not so sure what I could bring with the FT-891 because most Lithium batteries over about 4 Ah are banned on planes however, I could use 50 Watts and take a small battery if possible. 4 Ah @50 watts should last a fair while.

I love to get out portable, outdoors, it's a great hobby !

WHL · 16-08-2019 8:55am

Quick question Mad Lad. How did you connect the heavy duty battery to the radio. What kind of cable etc

16-08-2019 10:32am

WHL wrote: »

Quick question Mad Lad. How did you connect the heavy duty battery to the radio. What kind of cable etc

Just got some 25 amp cable and 30 amp anderson connectors, used normal car battery terminals got from Halfords.

You'd need an anderson crimp tool, I already had one from my ebike tinkering days. Should be got from Radionics.

I couldn't get the anderson connectors from radionics for some reason they don;t seem to have them anymore so I got them from sotabeams.

https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/powerpole-30a-connectors-shack-pack-12/

Sotabeams also sell a crimp tool which is essential for the andersons and they are great.

I'll post a pic later.

and the wire, just select 25 amps when ordering.

https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/power-cable-twin-red-black/

A deep cycle 20 Ah battery would be more than enough, I uses about 7.5 Ah out of 45 Ah, thing with lead acid , normal car battery non deep cycle is that they prefer 50% cycles, so that would be about 22 Ah capacity I have in that 45 Ah however If I had to use more I would because I don't care if the battery has a shorter life, they are cheap and the next one I get will be a deep cycle sealed battery.

A 10 Ah LiFeP04 would also do the job and be much lighter and can use 100% of it's capacity all the time.

For SSB 10 Ah would be plenty for a days use, AM/FM maybe not. You won't see much more than 16 amps pull on SSB Phone and at that 16 amps is not frequent I found.

WHL · 16-08-2019 3:04pm

Thanks Mad Lad. My wife recently got a new car battery and I held onto the old one. I would only be using for RX so not a big issue (I think). I’ll have a look on the Sotabeam site. Looking forward to the pic.

16-08-2019 4:21pm

WHL wrote: »

Thanks Mad Lad. My wife recently got a new car battery and I held onto the old one. I would only be using for RX so not a big issue (I think). I’ll have a look on the Sotabeam site. Looking forward to the pic.

No Bother, yes, the old car battery should have a good bit of life in it as it's just probably not able to crank the engine enough, unless it's completely knackered.

When finished, put it straight back on the charger. Use a solar charger then to maintain it if u can, with a proper charge controller on it, or you can just leave an intelligent only charger, connected 24x7, but read the instructions first to make sure it supports leaving the battery connected.

Put it on a good intelligent charger and leave it over night, if there's one of those eye things in it make sure the colour is as it should.

16-08-2019 9:10pm

Here's the pics of the battery connections.

A+-Guru · 19-08-2019 9:34am

This is what I got for portable operations, a whopping 115ah

19-08-2019 11:58am

A+-Guru wrote: »

This is what I got for portable operations, a whopping 115ah

Lol you must be planning to run 2 x 100 watt radios for 2 days ? Haha nice !

A+-Guru · 20-08-2019 4:48pm

haha, its more of a backup for my base in case of a powercut I can power up my base for some QSO, but I do plan to take use it for portable operations.

Deleted User wrote: »

Lol you must be planning to run 2 x 100 watt radios for 2 days ? Haha nice !

24-08-2019 10:35am

I went back to Oisin House about 10 Km North West of Carlow Town yesterday , had fun, it was freezing with the wind ended up in the car with the heat on.

I love this MP1 antenna, it's just so easy and quick to deploy. You can see the little black bag on the table ? the MP1 and my End fed antenna + Antenna Analyser and radials all fit in that little bag. The MP1 breaks down into a tiny package and included mounts to mount on fence post, picnic table etc, depending on the one you order. Overall, a great little antenna for such a compromised antenna, it's a compromise I can easily live with.

I was getting pretty good reports on it, 54 in Italy to 59 in Sweden and Slovenia for example , the Guy in Germany was amazed with such an antenna, 100 watts.

I also love the FT-891 Radio, it's incredibly small and light, a great portable radio.

You can see Carlow Town in the Top left of the pic

Had to get into the car it was too cold with the wind

A+-Guru · 24-08-2019 10:42am

Very nice, get yourself a mag loop sometime, it's fun making qso with low power, I use a chameleon f loop, had the loop indoors 2 nights ago and made a qso to south America with only 10watts

24-08-2019 3:30pm

A+-Guru wrote: »

Very nice, get yourself a mag loop sometime, it's fun making qso with low power, I use a chameleon f loop, had the loop indoors 2 nights ago and made a qso to south America with only 10watts

Haha savage was that ft8 or SSB phone ?

I use the end fed with 5 watts sometimes don’t get much time to try dx.

I actually meant to ask you how the loop was going for you a while ago but forgot all about it when I got the MP1 I was interesting the chameleon loop but the cost is pretty high and only 10 watts , 60 watts with compensator but that adds to the cost again.

I got the MP1 for ease of deployment + the ability to run up to 300 watts because I want to make contacts for the small time I have when I go portable and I can make contacts each time with the mp1 and 100 watts.

A+-Guru · 26-08-2019 8:50am

Going great, I added a ciro mazonni stealth loop to my arsenal also.

It was SSB

out of the box the chameleon is 25watts, 60watts with compensator.

[/B]

Deleted User wrote: »

Haha savage was that ft8 or SSB phone ?

I use the end fed with 5 watts sometimes don’t get much time to try dx.

I actually meant to ask you how the loop was going for you a while ago but forgot all about it when I got the MP1 I was interesting the chameleon loop but the cost is pretty high and only 10 watts , 60 watts with compensator but that adds to the cost again.

I got the MP1 for ease of deployment + the ability to run up to 300 watts because I want to make contacts for the small time I have when I go portable and I can make contacts each time with the mp1 and 100 watts.

26-08-2019 11:41am

A+-Guru wrote: »

Going great, I added a ciro mazonni stealth loop to my arsenal also.

It was SSB out of the box the chameleon is 25watts, 60watts with compensator.

[/B]

That must have been amazing getting QSO to South America on 10 watts with indoor antenna, you must have been jumping up and down, bet the other guy was amazed !

Probably the same night I got Chile, conditions were good.

But 10 watts indoors on a loop is amazing.

The MFJ Loop is supposed to be good too, horizontally mounted they are supposed to work better.

How is the ciro mazonni loop working out ? never heard of it, it's a mad price, think if I were to spend that I would put towards a 60 foot tower and yagi.

Interesting all the same, what kind of power can it handle ?

You should start a thread on the 2 loops, it would be very interesting !

A+-Guru · 27-08-2019 3:13pm

have to say I enjoy snagging nice QSO's with low power, something rewarding about it, its easy to chuck loads of power out there and make contacts.

the baby loop is lovely bit of kit, very well made, type of thing that would last a lifetime, have not used it much yet but it appears to be excellent.

Baby loop can handle 1KW :eek:

Deleted User wrote: »

That must have been amazing getting QSO to South America on 10 watts with indoor antenna, you must have been jumping up and down, bet the other guy was amazed !

Probably the same night I got Chile, conditions were good.

But 10 watts indoors on a loop is amazing.

The MFJ Loop is supposed to be good too, horizontally mounted they are supposed to work better.

How is the ciro mazonni loop working out ? never heard of it, it's a mad price, think if I were to spend that I would put towards a 60 foot tower and yagi.

Interesting all the same, what kind of power can it handle ?

You should start a thread on the 2 loops, it would be very interesting !

27-08-2019 4:02pm

A+-Guru wrote: »

have to say I enjoy snagging nice QSO's with low power, something rewarding about it, its easy to chuck loads of power out there and make contacts.

the baby loop is lovely bit of kit, very well made, type of thing that would last a lifetime, have not used it much yet but it appears to be excellent.

Baby loop can handle 1KW :eek:

That’s amazing kit you got , yeah qrp is great fun but sometimes when I go out in the wild I just want to make contacts with the little bit of time I have and doing it on the mp1 and 100 watts is a lot easier lol.

You should try a wire antenna like the mini 100 watt 4 band from hyendcompany.

You have the baby loop and the stealth ? :eek:

I think my end fed is an excellent antenna the my antennas. Com EFHW 8010 but I got the space , if I remember correctly you have no real space for antennas ?

I wish you’d start a thread on all the kit you got it’s amazing

Super Antenna MP1

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