Force12-flagpole-ants-003, updated June 18, 2007

Even without a sale, the price for this tremendous antenna is still low. You can have an incredible flagpole antenna that will get you on the air with a fine signal.

Using this antenna is so much fun that I often use it instead of the Yagis. Neat to say, "Antenna here is a flag pole!" All you need is a rig, tuner and coax. Most customers call back, or come up to me at a convention or club meeting to share how much they like their flagpole antenna.

We've seen some "flag pole antennas" made out of plastic with wires inside - this is a real flagpole and a real antenna.

Our flag pole antenna operates on all bands, 40 through 10 meters using your rig's tuner. It can also be used on MARS frequencies in this range, as well as on 11 meters.

The standard flag pole antenna has four (4) sections of 2" diameter 6061-t6 aircraft grade aluminum tubing that neatly drop into place for an overall height of 15 1/2'. There is a rotating top cap with a welded top and ear for the rope. The cleat to tie off the rope is another welded piece on the bottom section that attaches to the base insulator section. The base is simple to install using a PVC sleeve and one sack of cement - that's all there is to it. This makes the flag pole antenna non-permanent to conform to as many codes (i.e. CC&R's) as possible. Installation is about an hour using fast-drying cement (see install info below) - and you are on the air!

The Force 12 flag pole antenna comes complete with: four (4) swaged tubing sections; top rotating welded cap; rope slide; rope; flag clips; solid pultruded fiberglass base insulator and an optional installation kit. The kit includes four (4) radials already with lugs for simple attachment and a feed point pigtail. With the kit, all you need is your coax feed line.

The Force 12 aluminum flag pole antenna weighs only 12 pounds and ships in a 4' long carton. For more efficient coverage on the low bands, additional sections are available.

These are usually IN STOCK. Sometimes, due to high demand, there is a wait for shipment - but - well worth it!

Call for current pricing on the flagpole antenna, and the installation kit.

dditional 4' sections are also available.

Contact Force 12, Inc. at 1.800.248.1985 or send an e-mail to force12@sbcglobal.net .

Top (above)

Cleat (below)

The photos to the left are of the extended base, feed line and radials. The insulator is super strong 1.5" diameter pultruded fiberglass and the hardware is stainless. This set-up uses four (4) 16' radials, laying on the ground. Two radials are in one direction and two are the opposite direction, as the lawn is narrow. The span between the ends of each pair in a particular direction is 10'. Each radial end is secured to a small tent stake (making it easy to locate and mow the lawn). The radials are #12 insulated wire and are all attached to the base post. More radials can be added, of course, but the goal in this set-up was to determine performance using a simple system.

The 50 ohm coax feed line is attached through a coax barrel connector to a short piece of 50 ohm coax that has been split to connect to the flag pole (radiator) and to the base post (ground - radials). The coax feed line on this system is 80' long and its length is not critical. You will notice there is no balun at the feed point. As the coax is ready to enter the house (about 20'), it is coiled into an 10-turn RF choke that lays on the ground. Placing the RF choke away from the antenna allows the coax feed line between the choke and the flag pole antenna to be utilized as part of the antenna system. This combination enables the system to be tuned on 40-10 meters. The VSWR ahead of the tuner on 40 is very high (>10:1); however, the station's TS-850S and TS-870S internal tuners match the antenna system easily. These transceivers match the flag pole antenna as shown on all bands, 40-10 meters. There is no indication of RFI on any device running the transceivers at 100-120 watts. How well does it work? Remember that everything works (see my article in July, 2000 QST) and the key is always efficiency - the flag pole antenna has a large diameter conductor in the clear, so it turns out to be pretty good, all things considered.

The low bands are the best test, because the flag pole is shortest on these bands. A 1/4 wavelength vertical on 40 would be about 33', so this is less than half-size. Reports on 40 meters of 599 (and 599+) from Asia are not uncommon and these are from JA stations using wire antennas. In this direction, the path is through the house about 15' away. The next band up is 30 meters and the results are equally impressive: breaking the pile-up on TI9M with 3 calls was nice. The higher bands are more efficient and the antenna as set-up has a VSWR of 1.2:1 across 20 meters. Receiving 59+ reports on 12 meter SSB from Europe almost makes one walk outside and see what is going on! For improved performance on the low bands, additional sections are available.

If your location is such that the Force 12 flag pole antenna would be a welcome addition, please contact us. It is easy to install and the installation kit provides a four (4) radials and feed point pigtail for you. The flag pole in the photos was installed in about an hour using a post hole digger, small garden trowel and quick-setting cement: a) went down 18-20" with the post hole digger; b) cut out a 12" circle of sod around the hole; c) placed some small rock at the bottom of the hole for drainage; d) set the supplied sleeve in the hole with the bottom section of the flagpole antenna; e) guyed the bottom section and used a level to be sure it was vertical; f) mixed the cement and trowled it into the hole, including the 12" circle; g) washed a few smooth rocks and set them in the circle for a nice look; h) waited until the cement was set. Added the radials and coax in about 30 minutes. The radials can be on top of the ground, or 1" below the surface - enough not to trip on them. This is a great way to have an effective antenna in restricted locations, look good for your neighbors and be patriotic at the same time!

Contact Force 12, Inc. at 1.800.248.1985 or send an e-mail to force12@sbcglobal.net .

The popular flagpole antenna has received many requests for improved performance on 40 meters. As you know, the Force 12 flagpole antenna is full size on 20 meters and uses your tuner for operation on the other bands. Obviously, it is very short (half size) on 40 meters. Although the flagpole is efficient and works DX on 40, it can be significantly improved by base loading. Using common modeling software, the feed point on a standard flagpole on 40 meters is about 5 ohms with a reactance of around -j460 ohms. Using the extremely useful A.R.R.L. TLW software, this shows a VSWR at the flagpole of about 16:1. Using a 100' length of RG-213 coax, there is approximately 16dB of loss on the coax line due to this mismatch. Enter the FP-40C.

The new Force 12 FP-40C base loading coil is approximately 10 uH with a Q of 600. With the coil in series with the flagpole, the 40 meter feed point is now about 6 ohms and the reactance is down to around -j22. This computes to a feed point VSWR of 6:1 and the loss on the 100' of coax feed line due to the feed point mismatch is reduced to less than 2dB. This is an improvement of 14dB. The rigs tuner will like this set-up a lot better, too!

The other requests were to keep it simple and looking like something in the garden or lawn. We use a manual bypass wire switch to short out the coil when you want to operate on the higher bands and the coil is enclosed inside 4" diameter PVC with end caps - something not out of place in a yard. The FP-40C installs in about 10 minutes using a drill with 3/16" bit to drill new feed point holes.