It's funny how people "communicate" through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and what not, sharing as much as they can .. But if you try to communicate all over the world by talking to a fellow radio enthousiast through a transceiver and a mike sending out a signal, all of a sudden your some kind of nutcase 😂 Good video Andy! 73

Thanks, that was very interesting, enjoyed watching. Yes, people ask me why I get on the radio when I have a cell phone, I tell them you can't just pick up your phone and dial a random number and meet someone with similar interests in the hobby you enjoy.

Amateur Radio is a niche hobby that appeals to those who love a good experiment. I can see you are well and truly hooked Andy. 73 M7BLC

CB and Ham was a big part of my childhood, listen for hours to people around the world 🌎 was just amazing. Now I just use Websdr's around the world to listen people around the world, never of thought possible 40 years ago. Great vídeos Andy thanks 👍🏻👍🏻

2:20 the PL-259 is essentially a 4mm 'banana' plug with a crude shield around it. You can shove a 4mm plug right up in there

Hello Andy, thank you for simplifying and democratizing the hobby. I've been following your videos for a while, it's simple, grounded and well done. 73 John + 88 Dorota & Eva from the Free Bands

Instead of forcing it into the center pin, I’ve found that it’s really easy to put a banana plug on the end of the wire and it connects quite easily into the the center pin of the tuner.

Brilliant radio and ATU. Nice to see you making contacts too.👍

Great content brilliant radio setup.

Worked quite well for a quick lash up & you got a contact too!

Ah! Good to see I'm not the only one who uses speaker wire for everything it shouldn't be used for! 😉 Nicely done!

It nice you've made long distance contact with low power that's where the fun and bonus. great video

Good job Andy on your QRP rig and tuner and long antenna. 73 de ZS5DG in South Africa.

Good one Andy. That antenna is no less a CB antenna than it is an amateur radio antenna. Always put a ground wire on any tuner, it will always improve the antenna performance, especially on 160 and 80m. Good info on the power output for different voltages, certainly worth knowing for portable work. I maintain my G0 call but have been a VK6 for decades. How on earth do you keep everything so spotlessly clean?

There's still NOTHING like the thrill of your equipment, antenna, battery, their all of the above and NOTHING but AIR in the middle! Best when sunspots hot. Not dependent on millions of people to get you across the long haul. Was an operator before, will be again. KC5SBF for amateur, (I can claim that back again) and SW797 for CB band. 27.375 was my home, 27.305 will become my new USB stomping ground. Yeah I know 30 is supposed to be AM. Sleepy's people basically owned 30 in the day. It will be OK. Looking forward to this next sunspot cycle.

Hey man, you came up in my recommendations, glad you did! Great video!

ha, funny if odd timing of your location and this video. I was watching your playlist on the solar power setup for your shed (thinking about a setup for my man cave). I know things move on but I really liked the set up you had in the shed.

This is helpful Andy, I understand long wires better now. I'm an M7 call sign by the way.

Always fun with those big antennas, I had a 160m long loop with a MFJ tuner up for a couple of years before a wind storm took out one of the trees supporting it. It was a lot of wire to get up there in the first place, and quite a mess to roll up again :-)

Love it Andy good stuff

Brilliant fun Andy,,,,,, I love mucking about with bits of wire too 🤣🤣👍👍

This is MASSIVE! When we were little Jonny Novices the old guys had us run down the Field Day Hill with a roll of 500 feet of wire and the Elmer in his pop-up (caravan) had an FT-101 and this roller tuner thing. All was wonderful until the lightning storm. Then all the sudden inside the tuner was this repetitive WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE-SNAP! WHEEEEEEEEEEE-SNAP! WHEEEEEEEEEE-SNAP. We ran like hell.

Nice to get a qrp Italian in the log, only .5Kw. Nice tuner I got the mat-705 because I couldn’t wait for the Icom one and I’ve never used it yet, lol . Nice house btw.

Nice little video, definatly biasing my radio purchase to the 705. I play with ham radio, because I am interested in how, and dont want to be "just another dumb user.". 73

It's a great tuner, which I also bought recently to use with my new ICOM IC-705 😀. It matches everything, using 10 watts from the Mains power supply that I have for it. It does a better job than the built in tuner in my relatively new 100 watt Yaesu FT-991A, which can only handle about a 3:1 matching coverage on the bands. 73 de W2CH, Ray, Nashua NH USA 🇺🇸

I have the AH-705. It is a great atu. I’ve used it on POTA activations. You are guaranteed to get on the air. Thanks for the vid.

That is awesome! Love that tuner. I use a MFJ Automatic IntelliTuner

I absolutely love the track at the end! I can't stop listening to it :)

Nice bit of kit!

I am a radio amateur, and my call is N2JBI, and I really enjoyed your video, and this makes me want to get that tuner, and a HF tranceiver and work the world with QRP power.

Great video as usual takes in cb and ham, I am amateur but I also like 11mtrs 👍good stuff Andy

Reminds me some 20-25ish years ago, a ham showed off his new rig with an integrated antenna tuner. Just plugged in a random wire attached it to an old heater/radiator standing in the shop (not connected to the pipes obv.) pressed a button and started a QSO with a friend of him. It was short range, sure, but i was more impressed that the room didn't start to smell of dead mosfets :) The clicking of the relays sounds still the same apperantly.

That’s a cracking radio and ATU, actually tempted myself. 73s. I always ask people what their hobbies or interests are and then liken their interests to mine, it’s just different because we are all different.

Nice job buddy , enjoy watching you 👍

Well done , Icom gear is tops..good experimenting..

Very informative, shows that a few watts can go a long way. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Tony G6XYZ

Hi Andy, I really enjoy your videos, thank you. I just got the Icom AH-730 fed with 10m of wire into my IC7300 and I'm really impressed with it. I've had QSOs on all bands from 160 to 10. Best Wishes David M7CZM

Very good video... Thank You

Loving all the radio vids, nice work Andy thanks

Thanks Andy , I typed Icom antenna tuner and you came up 👍🏽there is a new one coming out Icom AH-730, it’s quite a big beast and is around the £500 margin, knowing you I’m sure you’ll be doing a test on it 🙏best wishes mate, great videos as always 👍🏽

Cheers Andy for another no fuss upbeat informative video mate keep them coming.. Ringpiece Manchester love it, I like Lewis's content also 73 Paul.

The "banana" plug thing is not supplied to the UK market. What I do tho, is mount a banana plug on the end of your random wire and plug it in the centre of the SO socket on the Tuner. You don't need an adaptor plug thing :)

I’ve used a similar setup for HF at home but mine knocked out our ADSL so my wife and kids banned use. Great little setup, quite simple and some great results by the look of it. As others have said in the comments, QRP is like fishing and the skill required is what makes it interesting.

Thanks andy nice video .

They are so friendly aren’t they, the ham radio operators. I can see how difficult it is to actually say goodbye to them.😏

Andy I have almost the same problem with my 500 ft wire with a PL-259. So after I soldered I used a hot glue gun and filled it to the top. It also makes it waterproof. Good DXing Andy. W4DRA

Sweet that AH-705 💯👍🙋‍♂️

Great results for such a lash-up (literally!) reckon you'd get out relatively well on just about anything! or at the very least, not blow your rig up when you try for top-band on a coathanger! Thanks mate!

Good one 👍

Amazing

Amazing video

love it when andy hams harder👍 i may be swaying towards liking the poser lol, especially while i'm building my e-trike and powered push trailer, then all my research keeps fetching me to his channel and his sound advice

RingPiece Manchester 😂 I come for the patter as well as radio stuff haha. Another great video Andy, I’m really considering the 705 for myself soon.

You gotta love wilko! I hope it doesn't close in future.

Very good Andy . I recently upgraded to General class , I have some decent rigs , but a lot to learn. But this seems like a pretty easy way to get on the air 👍. I’m almost finished with my 60 foot tower , I have a tribander dipole for 80/40/20 meters I’m going to hang at about 45 foot , wish me luck . Happy DX’ing , 73’s from Tennessee, USA 🇺🇸

Bugger the electric bill ,get the solder out and do it right

I have and AH-4 tuner and use it for portable set up (drive there and set up to transmit) 135 ft is about as big as practical for me to deploy and take down each time. I have shorter lengths for areas with smaller usable space.

Nice test with the ant tuner best regards de Ct2kfq 73s 73s

Nice video. Neat setup. Quick and simple. Barry, KU3X

Thanks for the video! Did you try to tune in 160m? Just to see if it can tune.

Same tuner here it’s a best

Hey Andy do you have the video up of the thunderpole wire antenna trial

Try connecting up to a leg of an electricity pylon and use that as a giant antenna

Great video thanks - does anyone know whether this is compatible with the icon IC-7100?

Cool Antenne Werkt Goed zo te zien.

I genuinely thought you installed a tower in your garden from that thumbnail lol

Those tuners can tune a wet noodle - they're very good. Nice work on the italian station. 73's VK2EMP :)

Nice one

What SWR values did you get on the various bands ?

Nice video, keep it up, thank you :)

Hi Andy I have always wondered what CB would be like on a wire antenna horizontal - Any chance you could test that setup for DX CB - I have always used verticals for CB but not Horizontal wire. All my SWL is dont on a G5RV but never really had much luck on CB because its not tuned obviously but wonder if its more people are vertical polarized ?

4:02 yep ! Cool beatz to finish the vid', cheerz from VK3-land

Why is that your old house... How come you still have access?

You might want to check with where you bought that Ah705. When I bought mine I did get the banana pl259 connector you talked about and didn't get.

Hey Andy - I am somewhat new to HAM and follow your videos. Where in the world are you located? I currently have 2 simple handhelds, the ICOM ID-51 and picked up the discontinued Yaesu VX-8DR.

Hi, I really admire your passion for Radio and the lovely music 🎶🎵 you make for your videos. De VU2RZA ❤️

Keep faffing Andy ..I'll order that tuner for my icom 705. Need a decent battery for my rig so why don't u market one and we'll buy them. Good vid as ever 73

Could you use your drone to send the cable up even higher than expected.

Doddgydd I would use h bombs to make contacts 500 watts ok but all you really need is 600 not 1500watts legal limit . if you know the decibel math 600 watts is perfect qrp is fun but you need conditions ! Great video Andy , John Boy Utah, bought sigma comm. 360 that's all I have room for wish me luck I,have been hearing mixed reviews! Chow 🇺🇸🇺🇸from across the pond.

you must have hit the lottery buying all this ham radio equipment

Great video. I have to ask though. Do ham radio operators use their radios anymore for anything other than testing how well the system performs? It seems like all the videos are on how to optimize them and radio checks. This is coming from an amateur CB user 30 years ago. Thanks.

The credits at the end gave me nightmares.

Hi Andy, how long would it take to do the basic ham course for a total begginer. I have just got the basic beginners book and have been watching your vlog

Probably the largest antenna ever used for amateur radio purposes consisted of 43 masts between 100 and 300 metres tall holding stacked rhombic antennas. obviously not rotatable. Located where ? Sorry official secrets act, but it was also used by the RAF as part of an over-the-horizon radar system. I often tested the backup system using CW. Never mentioned that I also had a 500KW transmitter. That is not a typo.

I bet a Peltier heater would be the way to go on the Twizzy

Need it for if phones n internet if they go down👍

Lol at lewis at the end there:)

Loving this, im looking to buy a basic beginners CB after your vids :-)

My dad had a 52 foot silver rod cb airial and got to iceland from north east england on a good day his mates hated him for bleed though different classes i know but i thought it to be impressive

Hey, Andy, thank you for the video and creating a learning atmosphere here. I would like to suggest a more proper use of a PL-259. Soldering is one of the simplest skills and one of the first that a ham should learn since it is used in almost every corner of our hobby. By folding the strands over the center pin and forcing it into the SO-239 on that gorgeous new tuner, it's possible that the fingers are now bent and won't make a great connection without the strands. It's really bad practice unless it was a priority to be on the air, and not a good message to propagate. Calling this a huge antenna is of course subjective, but I believe most would consider a 40m beam (especially when combined with a tri-bander on the same boom) a huge antenna such as Force 12 does with their products. I did enjoy learning about the 705 and the tuner, and I am happy that Icom keeps up the great work. I have a 756Pro, two 706's, and an AH-4 and that tuner will handle anything you throw at it. Be well, Mr. Andy!

good stuff andy enjoying your vids 73 m3hnl

705 is +/-15% 13.8V as per specs and I have tested 10w out at 12.4v.

enjoyed that, better than ringway lol..

Thanks for the frequent videos. I find I'm really liking the amateur radio ones. With your call sign, M6JKA you frequently say Mexico and on other occassions Mike. Is Mexico replacing Mike in the international phonetic alphabet? As for your solar powered trailer, can we expect any radio expeditions? I'm hoping you're going to do some slow scan TV at some point. (If you do you're going to need a M6JKA test card!)

if you just want to try temporary for shits and giggles; helium balloon to raise the antenna(sky is the limit:P)

andy have a look at helium mining with antennas

Ringpiece Manchester😂😂

Always earth any tuner

Or you could put a banana plug on the end of the wire and it fits in an SO239.

I look at radio this way yes you can pick up a phone and chat straight away or use social media but with radio it's not that easy as Andy tried to take to someone in the states its more of a challenge some days the bands can be dead and on the other hand it can be mental