Miracle Whip

Since my 2013 stroke, I have not been in our loft. Last night, one of my sons brought down a box and in it was my old Miracle Whip antenna! Later, I shall try it on FT8, probably on 15m.

UPDATE 1057z:  I decided to go on 20m FT8 initially. Within a few minutes I have already been reported by 16 stations with the Miracle Whip on the shack windowsill and the FT817ND!

UPDATE 1154z:  Now on 15m FT8 with the Miracle Whip on the shack windowsill. I was only on for a short while but the best DX was a spot of me from 3365km away.

UPDATE 1221z:   Now on 30m QRP FT8 with the Miracle Whip on the shack windowsill. 20 spots of my QRP. Even on 30m it works pretty well.

UPDATE 1221z:  On 40m FT8 with the Miracle Whip. 7 spots of my QRP within the first 3 minutes.

 

UPDATE 2008z:  153 stations spotted on 20m FT8 RX today, so far, with the Miracle Whip.

Miracle antennas

These were popular some years ago, but I have no idea if they are still available. 

Like all sorts of small antennas, these are a compromise. On the higher HF bands, when used with a good ground or counterpoise, they can be quite effective, being within a couple of S points of a full sized dipole. I used mine with a central heating ground and worked some remarkable DX on 10m SSB QRP. They fitted directly on the back of the rig and were very easy to tune.

I suspect mine is in the loft as I have not seen it for 7.5 years! I am too wobbly these days to go up there!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/mwhip .

Miracle antennas

Miracle whips and similar antennas are only as good as the whip length they are. The trick is an effective ground or counterpoise and matching them effectively. Although not miracles, the miracle whip is a good compromise. Using mine indoors, my best DX on 5W SSB is 11000km to LU. On 10m SSB QRP I expect they are very good for Es working in the Es season.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/mwhip

Miracle Antennas

The other day, I tried to find my Miracle Whip. I have not used this for many years. With a decent earth or counterpoise it is not that bad on the higher HF bands. It certainly is convenient and easy to match on all bands from 40m to the VHF bands. It fits on the back of the rig.

Years ago I even managed an 80m SSB QSO with it using the auto ATU in the ICOM IC-703 to help match the whip.

I searched high and low and failed to find the miracle whip. It is probably in the loft.

Originally these were made in Canada, but the designer has been dead for several years. Several people are offering similar antennas.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/mwhip

Miracle antennas and similar

It is a good few years since I last used my Miracle Antenna.

If you are after a simple antenna for HF you may be interested. Certainly, if used with a counterpoise, these are capable of useful (but not great) performance, especially on the higher HF bands.

Like all such antennas, they are compromises. In my experience you must use a good earth or counterpoise, otherwise they will be well down on every reasonable HF antenna. On the higher HF bands they can be quite useful, especially in the Es season when signals can be strong. They are simple to adjust, but they can never be miracles! They work (at best) like a small whip.

In my limited experience loops work better, but loops are narrow band and require frequent retuning if moving far in frequency.

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/mwhip

Miracle Whip Yahoo Group

It is some while since I last used my Miracle Whip antenna, although I still moderate the Miracle Whip Yahoo Group which has nearly 1500 members.

Some of the SPAM I intercept is amusing.   More often than not these are to the group owner and promise me all sorts of sexual favours. I think they think the group is another sort!  How wrong they are. Most messages are filtered so it is rare for these to get to the group. As soon as seen, they are deleted. The group has a low tolerance of SPAM.

For those who don't know the Miracle Whip and its derivatives is a small, self contained QRP antenna. On the higher HF bands with a counterpoise it works quite well. My best DX using it indoors was with the FT817 to Argentina over 11000kms on QRP SSB. This was on 10m. It works as well as a 56 inch whip will do if well matched. Do not expect miracles!

See https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/miraclewhip/info .

See http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamantht/miracle.jpg. The image is theirs and is linked here. The image is not on this site.

Miracle Whips and derivatives/copies

A 56 inch long whip can only behave like a 56 inch whip. This is a basic law of physics. What the Miracle Whip (MW) and its derivatives do is match this whip on the HF and VHF bands. With a decent ground or counterpoise wire the MW may be only a couple of S-points down on a "decent" antenna on the higher HF bands. They work reasonably well and, in the past, I used my MW quite a bit, even from indoors.  They are definitely NOT a miracle antenna, although they are not too bad.  Since the owner, a Canadian called Robert, died there have been a few newcomers in the market.

Would I buy one today? Probably not. I have had better results with small loops.  As a simply deployed mainly RX antenna they make an ideal companion for an FT817 or similar. Their beauty is their simplicity. If you want optimum performance in a small antenna there are better solutions.  Small loops seem to work better, but then bandwidth becomes very narrow although loops don't need grounds or counterpoises to work well. Personally, at QRP levels I'd use a loop every time.

As Wheeler showed years ago, efficient small antennas are reactive and unless losses are minimised, efficiency suffers. This is a fundamental limitation. Although high permeability ferrites and high permittivity ceramics can help to alter the size of space near an antenna and "magnify" the effective size of small antennas, the effect is small unless there is a lot of ferrite with high permeability or a lot of ceramic with a high permittivity. In theory, a tiny antenna can be very efficient but you'd need superconductors and lossless capacitors!  At the moment, sadly, neither are practical for mortals!

See https://sites.google.com/site/g3xbmqrp3/antennas/mwhip .

Miracle Antenna products

Although not the world's best performing antennas, the Miracle Whip and its associated variations have their uses when one is looking for a compact and easily tuned antenna for field use. On the higher HF bands the loss compared with a full 1/4 wave is less than might be expected if a decent counterpoise is used (1-2 S points down only).

Recently the Canadian owner, Robert, sadly died after a year or so of health problems. There were some doubts whether or not the company would continue, but it appears it will. Perrin VK3XPT made enquiries about the availability of one of their products, the Miracle Ducker and reported as follows to the Miracle Whip Yahoo Group:

UPDATE:

Here is the current status of Miracle Whip stock, globally. I hope this will help someone else here on the group!

- Miracle Antenna do not have any new stock of the Miracle Ducker range. They are waiting on some parts to arrive in the next couple of weeks, which enable them to complete a shipment of new Miracle Ducker TL that they will be sending to Hamcity. This looks to be the only shipment that will be made to any dealer for some time.

- WSPLC.com appear to have some stock, and I have placed an order with them. Fingers crossed that their website is up to date, and showing correct stock levels.

- I have contacted all (yes, all) other Miracle Antenna dealers, and even though some websites are showing stock, this is not actually the case!

So, if you want a Miracle Ducker TL any time soon, Hamcity and WSPLC.com look to be our only and best options. I hope this helps and I will keep the group updated on my progress.

73s
Perrin VK3XPT