https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/7bf3b0ed-eee1-435c-951f-fca7ba084952 Trying out 7 and 14 MHz pedestrian mobile from a local beach. The equipment was a Yaesu FT-817, home made whip antenna and 2 x 7.2v battery packs. As can be seen from the shaky picture, there was a shortage of hands, especially when transmitting. Contacts were made within VK2 and VK3. Observations: No increase in signals when walking (barefoot) through water compared to sand., No increase in signals when trailing counterpoise is being pulled through water instead of sand., The human body is too small to have much effect as a counterpoise on frequencies such as 7 MHz., The optimum counterpoise length varies, with it most important to get a good match to the transceiver. A tuned counterpoise might help., Contrary to popular opinion, being right near the water doesn't always provide the best signal. Going (say) 100m inland may help, especially if there's a bit of height. For example, a later 40m contact to VK2 (approx 1000km distance) reported much better signals when elevated off the beach, eg standing on a pile of rocks., The final contact for the afternoon was on 10m FM, through a repeater. 500mW was enough to access VK3RHF, which is about 30km distant across generally flat land. More antenna info at: https://vk3ye.com PS: If you liked this video please consider supporting Amateur Radio VK3YE by: Subscribing on YouTube,, Checking my books page at https://books.vk3ye.com, Shopping on Amazon via: https://amzn.to/3iiDQXv, or, Shopping on eBay via: https://ebay.us/i9DuWP (then if you buy something I'll get a small commission at no cost to you) Sat, 09 May 2026 10:19:01 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://stream.echo6.co https://stream.echo6.co/client/assets/images/icons/icon-512x512.png https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/7bf3b0ed-eee1-435c-951f-fca7ba084952 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://stream.echo6.co/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.