K8AQM: 56 Countries in 4 Hours on a 20' Flagpole | Greyline
Customer Spotlight · K8AQM / VE9AQM
56 Countries in 4 Hours. 29 States on 160M From a 20-Foot Radiator.
See the 20’ flagpole Ted runs →
The Weekend
Two contests, casually operated, between football games
Ted, K8AQM (also VE9AQM), ran his Greyline 20’ flagpole antenna through two contest weekends and kept casual notes. They are the kind of numbers that make you read them twice.
CQ World Wide CW
56 countries, 154 QSOs, all continents — in just under 4 hours on 20, 15 and 10M, running 300 watts.
ARRL 160M CW
76 QSOs, 29 states plus Canada — casually, in under 3 hours, with only a 20-foot radiator on top band. He even heard a ZF2.
A QSO , for anyone newer to the bands, is simply a two-way contact — two operators confirming they heard each other. DX means distance: the far-away, hard-to-reach stations. Ted worked a pile of both. And here is the line that matters most to the engineer in you: on the same antenna, the same weekend, the vertical dipole clearly outplayed his end-fed half-wave wire. He did not guess. He compared them directly.
K8AQM’s lakeside installation.
“I operated CQWW CW casually, search-and-pounce only. Here the flagpole vertical dipole clearly stands out compared to my EFHW wire. In just under 4 hours on 20, 15 and 10m, I worked 56 countries and 154 QSOs and all continents using 300 watts. Having only a 20-ft radiator on 160m I really didn’t expect many QSOs — yet operating between football games for under 3 hours I worked 76 QSOs, 29 states plus Canada, and even heard a ZF2.”
— Ted, K8AQM (VE9AQM)
That sign-off, 73 , is operator shorthand for “best regards.”
The Physics
Why the flagpole beat the wire
A glowing review is pleasant. A reason is useful. So here is what Ted’s side-by-side actually demonstrates.
His EFHW — an end-fed half-wave wire — is a fine, popular antenna. But like most wires a ham can hang in a suburban lot, it spends much of its energy radiating at high angles : signal that goes up steeply and comes down a few hundred miles away. Excellent for a rag-chew across the state. Less so for distance.
The Greyline is a vertical dipole — a full dipole stood on end. Its natural takeoff is low , hugging the horizon, which is precisely the angle that turns into DX. That is why the same operator, same power, same weekend, suddenly hears 56 countries instead of a handful. The antenna is not louder; it is aimed where the distance lives.
And because it is a dipole, it carries both halves of the antenna in the air. No radial field required — the second element does that work. Ted hit water at 3.5 feet down, so the lake handed him a superb ground plane as a bonus, but the design never depended on it. That is the difference between a vertical dipole and an ordinary quarter-wave vertical, which genuinely does need a lawn full of buried radials to perform. The full physics, with the W7SX and N6LF references, is here →
Ted’s station
Elecraft K4D + KPA-500 (running 300–350 watts)
MFJ-994 BRT remote antenna tuner (600W ATU), not grounded
RF choke + 1:1 balun on the coax
LMR-400 feedline (upgraded from RG-8X to squeeze out every watt)
20’ Greyline flagpole antenna, ladder line to the tuner
Note the build detail that says everything: Red Loctite and lock washers on the structural joints, a weatherproofed ladder-line connection, engineered for the north winds coming down Lake Huron. In Ted’s words: no loose bolts, no bending in the wind — it simply works.
Read From the Source
Where results like Ted’s get compared
Ted’s 160M run is not an outlier you have to take on faith — it is the kind of result operators post and dissect every contest weekend. To see how real stations stack up, go to the source:
TopBand (160M) reflector archive
— the low-band community where a 20-foot radiator working 29 states is exactly the conversation.
3830 score-reports reflector archive
— the original soapbox, where operators post scores and setups after each event.
CQ-Contest reflector archive
— decades of station strategy from the people who win.
Chasing the band openings behind those scores? The ARRL Propagation Forecast Bulletin is the operator’s weather report. It was carried for years by Tad Cook, K7RA, a Silent Key since April 2025; the ARRL continues it in his memory, and we tip the hat every time.
Your Station
Ted is lucky — but anyone can do this
A 20-foot flagpole that works 160–6M, looks like a clean municipal flagpole at the base, lights at night, and shrugs off Lake Huron’s winters. That is the whole proposition: real DX and real elegance, in one pole the whole household is glad to have in the yard.
160–6M, true multi-band
One antenna, the full HF spread plus 6M.
No radials to bury
It is a vertical dipole; the second element replaces the radial field.
Low-angle DX takeoff
The reason Ted’s country count jumped.
Elegant by design
Clean lines, premium finish, no stubs, traps, or coils. A proper flagpole that happens to be a serious antenna.
Shipping Monday–Friday from Idaho. How to order — the checklist →
7-Year Performance Guarantee
No questions asked. We use the honor system, and trust you do too. Seven years of service or replacement.
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
If for any reason you aren’t happy, send it back for a full refund. Circumstances change. We want you happy.
More Operator Notes
“4-band DXCC this summer from my HOA.”
“Holds its own vs. my taller antennas, with no radials. And it’s stealthy.”
“Since I added the Greyline vertical dipole, I’ve added over 200 to my DXCC Challenge account — right at 900 now.”
“30W and a couple of hours, I worked the entire planet on FT8.”
“If I can hear it, I can work it. It hears very well.”
“Clean sweep in November Sweepstakes — the entire list of sections.”
“Got Indonesia on 40m SSB with 100 watts. Just over 9,000 miles.”
More customer reviews, submitted directly →
Greyline YouTube channel →
eHam product reviews →
We hope you enjoyed Ted’s story. Maybe it stirred a memory of your own. Good luck finding your rare ones. Ham radio is fun again. Pass it on.
Our mission: to serve you with higher-quality products that genuinely improve your time on the air. Antennas that work real DX, look elegant in any yard, and earn their keep for the whole family’s peace of mind. Smart, Strong, Elegant.
73, Greyline Performance · 435-200-4902
Ham Radio is fun again! Pass it on…