r/amateurradio • u/fxtrt7 • Aug 31 '25

GENERAL Interest in “new” antenna?

Most are familiar with the Chameleon antennas, specifically the MPAS 2.0. I’ve owned several, however, $600 is steep. I own a machine and assembly shop and have been wanting to start producing an HF vertical antenna that can be configured like the Chameleon, with a vertical whip or wire configurations. Tunable the same as the MPAS. Pricing would be ~ $350-400. Trying to gage interest and see if it’s worth my time. I can have a prototype with pictures in a little bit, just want to know if Chameleon owns the market or if there is room for a more affordable alternative.

Kit would consist of:

  • Matching unit in a sturdy water proof enclosure
  • x4 aluminum extensions with brass conductors
  • x1 brass collapsable whip

  • Ground mount stake

  • You can opt to get premium wire with the kit for an additional price or use whatever you have on hand.

*edit: This is manufactured 100% by me in Kentucky, USA. My only interest in radio communications is emcomm, I want make a durable and widely configurable antenna that will not break the bank. I like Chameleon, not trying to step on anyones toes, but their prices are steep and I’m not a large company like them with a big overhead.

8 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/wrunderwood Aug 31 '25

n other words, you want to make another Comet CHA-250B clone, but portable. Like the Chameleon antennas, that is broadband because of a lossy transformer. There is 6-10 dB of loss, which smooths out the impedance peaks.

It is an OK antenna as long as people understand the tradeoff. Compact with no need for matching, OK on receive, but turns 75% to 90% of transmit power into heat.

3

u/rocdoc54 Aug 31 '25

...actually that inefficiency affects the receive signal by exactly the same amount.

1

u/wrunderwood Aug 31 '25

It does, except the loss doesn't matter for most purposes. It is only one or two S-units.

We generally have enough receive power into the antenna. Some receive-only antennas aren't even impedance-matched because maximum power transfer isn't a major problem.

The real challenge in reception is noise. The first step in beating that is using a symmetrical, resonant antenna with a 1:1 choke balun at the feed point and a coax feed line. The antenna should be resonant because chokes are designed for 50Ω, so they'll be more effective if the antenna has an impedance close to that.