Carbon fiber vertical antenna (9m long)
Carbon fiber pole cannot be used with a wire since the carbon fiber properties as a conductor will interact with your wire.
Carbon fiber is not offering a good resistivity therefore after tweaking a bit the pole to you can bring down the resistivity significantly . This kind of pole is coming with a kind of polish cover and in order to remove it you can use sand paper and mostly acetone (nail polish remover) in particular at the segment junction and at the feed point.
This part is the most important and you really need to ensure all segment junctions will have conductivity and a firm contact from each others to ensure the energy transfer. During the grinding , it is mandatory to use a mask since carbon fiber can really damage your lungs.
To feed the antenna i am using a giant paper clip with some clamps. The purpose of the clamps is to insure and enhance the paper clip contact with the the pole and reduce the resistivity .
The antenna is 9m long and using a homemade 1:9 transformer. I am using this antenna for BOTA with a single counterpoise soaking in the sea water.
I did not used this antenna during my last BOTA but used it 3 times already with some success.
Compare to my vertical fiberglass pole antenna using a wire as a main driver the difference is not noticeable.
This antenna is tedious to prepare since you need to perform a lot of grinding but when done, it will provide a nice very portable antenna for your outdoor activity. Not the best performer , therefore by the sea this antenna is performing decently and during my last BOTA activation manage to contact many DX stations from Brunei (North America , Europe and many more)
The main benefit of this antenna :
-very light (385gr only)
-easier to deploy compare to my fiberglass vertical antenna .
-easy to carry and in case to travel with. The lenght is 75cm only and unfolded the antenna is 9m long.
-using a 1:9 transformer + N7DDC ATU , the tuning is really easy from 40m up to 10m band.
-more durable compare to a fiberglass pole.
I can feed this antenna with about 45w but never try above .
This kind of antenna is popular in Japan (POTA)
A video from Takeshi Abe JG1GPY
F5NPV - V85NPV 