The QRPer Board

I’m looking for some recommendations for a pole and ground stake to put up an EFHW antenna without having a high point. Something fiberglass and portable with a way to put it in the ground.
All ideas are welcome.

I use an MFJ-1910 collapsible 33' fiberglass pole. It's real thin at the top, but OK for the end of an EFHW (or the middle of an inverted-v). I think many people go with the sotabeams version, which appears to be even smaller and lighter.

73 Skip K4EAK

Thank you! I’ll check it out!

For my 33' fiberglass pole I may use 0ne of these methods.

I use bungee cords to tie the pole to a post (that is anchored to the ground) or a small tree.

I use a 6" wide x 2 ' long board with a 3/4" threaded iron floor flange mounted near one end of the board. I have a long 3/4" iron nipple screwed into the flange. I drive my car so that one tire is on the end of the board without the flange. My telescopic mast fits over the iron nipple and is held vertical.

I got a 2' piece of PVC tubing that fits inside my mast, an end cap for the tubing, a large spike and some epoxy adhesive,
I drilled a hole in the end cap for the spike. put the spike in the end cap, inserted the PVC tubing and filled the endcap thru the tubing with epoxy adhesive. I can drive the spike into ground and mount the mast over the PVC tubing. I guy the mast when it is only supported at the base to keep it from falling. be aware that many places do not want you to drive anything into the ground.

Maybe one of these ideas will help you.

Joel -- N1JEO

A good source for poles is spiderbeam

https://www.spiderbeam.com/index.php?ca ... Poles.html

the poles are quite robust and well made, and if you have questions, you may contact them

As for the ground stake support, you may consider a fishing rod stake

https://www.amazon.com/Fishing-Aluminum ... B07BQ1NLVW

the above is just an example, there are several models and the ones using for "surfcasting" are usually the more robust ones, or... well, you can build one yourself

[edit]

As for the poles, you may also consider something like these

https://armysurpluswarehouse.com/arctic ... -for-9-95/

the above are mil surplus poles, not telescopic but in sections (4ft each) which can be joined to reach the desired height, the drawback is that those poles are quite heavy with respect to the ones from spiderbeam, but if you aren't planning to carry a lot of them around, they may fit

also see

https://www.tmastco.com/

https://www.k0vab.com/antennas/portable ... enna-mast/

HTH

just an idea

https://shop.spiderbeam.com/en/shop/spi ... 1764#attr=

the above is pretty though and has a 40ft length which is fine to get down to 80m (or even 160m with an inverted L setup), sure it isn't exactly cheap, but may be a good pick imHo

I use the B n M Black Widow telescoping poles- 13' and 16'. I use a length of orange driveway marker stake to hold it up. They hold my EFHWs and a very light 40m dipole up with no problems. Keep your dipole coax tight to the pole for the first section and it won't bend over so much. Can't beat the price.

https://www.bnmpoles.com/collections/fi ... 1464616971

Sotabeams in the UK also do a good range of tried and tested telescopic fibreglass poles. https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/antenna-sup ... -hardware/

Richard M0RGM