Hi
I’d like to share my last project.
I bought one miracle whip about 20 years ago, may be one of the first unit, but it has never satisfied me.
It needed radials , tuning position of the knob is dramatically accurate and finally the performance is poor. This is my personal experience. Last week I bought an used portable tripod for 3 euros and I decided of making an antenna using the miracle whip. I unplugged the stylus and replaced it with a bird cage tube (50cm) . On the tube I wound an electric wire (around 1m) . At the base of the stylus I made a copper contact to fit into the tube contacting the wire and I adapted the tube to attach to the tripod. the stylo fits into the tube also for transport pourpose and the whole antenna is very small. the tripod (made in germany may be in ’ 70) has brass extendable legs and is very solid. The shape of the open stand is perfect as a base of a groung plane . now the antenna gives good results and allows you to tune all bands very easily without additional radials, which anyway can still be useful.
The first sota activation (with IW0HK and IU0KTT Recovery of our Qrp Sota Beacon on I/AB-013 Monte Ocre) went very well with many QSOs in 20m and excellent reverse beacon reports. If you want to see how it works on air I posted a video on my youtube channel to show that. how to modify Miracle Whip Antenna in a good working qrp antenna for sota activations - YouTube
best 73 de IZ0FYL Luca
