I bought a Buddistick some while ago when I was in the States. The publicity is good, the idea is good, but I found them too fiddly and a compromise. You set the tap on the coil to get the best signal, and SWR when transmitting, but it is a wide step. Once you have done this you fine tune the SWR to zero by lengthening or shortening the counterpoise. The instructions say the counterpoise should be something like 18 inches off the ground. So it is fiddly to use and not ideal for SOTA. I am thinking of selling mine because I donât use it now.
I now use a link dipole which I bought from Sotabeams, which is so easy to use, and doesnât need tuning. You can make your own link dipole, which is very easy. Sotabeams also have other simple wire aerials, and they are all way way cheaper than a Buddistick.
I just have to throw my 2 cents in here. The buddipole is best described as a compromise antenna - you get the benefit of a small compact antenna that has minimal space constraints to put up, but the compromise is that you lose a significant proportion of performance compared to a full sized antenna.
I have a homebrew buddipole knockoff, but do not use is for SOTA activations. Rather I use the best antenna that I can use on a summit. Generally I use an OCF dipole cut for 40m which gives me 40/20/10/6m without need for a tuner and 30/17/15/12m with a tuner with reduced efficiency.
I have heard one or two people using a buddipole (or copy) for SOTA activations and they have ALWAYS been significantly weaker than other activators around the same time and distance running a full sized antenna. QRP does not have to mean little signals - if you have a decent antenna a QRP signal can be very effective. But put simply, cute little radio (i.e. QRP) with a cute little antenna results in a cute little signal.
The buddipole is also heavier than a simple linked dipole and squidpole not to mention quite a lot more bulk. Do yourself a favour and leave it at home and use a more efficient antenna when out activating.
I built one (from Buddâs own article) and made it specifically so it was easy for SOTA. Takes hardly any time to setup and unlike the commercial one is very light. See here: Simple 3 band vertical (20m/17m/15m)
With a shorter top section it covers 12 and 10m and with an extended coil I can also cover 30m.
I bought a buddistick for a rocktop that I was going to activate. It came with 3 plugs. Perfect. My MTR has 3 bands. I dialed it all in at home, check it at a near by park. Nice.
I took it on an activation prior to my rocktop activation. All the numbers were off, SWR horrible. Same set up and everything. I had it mounted on a low tripod, and I found while on Mountain tops I have to adjust the height of the tripod by a good foot to make it resonant again.
Stupid! Parts of it are now rolling around the the back of my car. I went back to my EFHW wires.
DE K6CMG