Start with the job you need the antenna to do
Portable vertical systems are easiest to choose when you begin with the operating job, not with a list of parts. These routes take you to the part of this handbook that answers the decision in front of you.
CHA BV or CHA PRV 2.0?
Choose CHA BV when you want a modular resonant vertical built around interchangeable stainless radiators and fixed loading-coil options. Its current guide documents direct resonant operation from 40 through 6 meters and an optional 60 ft wire path for selected lower bands.
Choose CHA PRV 2.0 when you want a complete, field-adjustable resonant vertical whose MCC 2.0 provides the documented tuning control. Its primary guide path covers 40 through 10 meters as a vertical and 6 meters as an off-center-fed dipole.
Both systems must be assembled and tuned at the operating site. Their parts and patterns are not interchangeable merely because components can be threaded together.
Resonant adjustment and remote tuning solve different problems
A resonant portable vertical changes its effective radiator or loading to bring the antenna close to the intended operating frequency. A remote tuner transforms the impedance it sees at its own terminals. The tuner can broaden the useful operating range of an installation, but it does not make every radiator, counterpoise, feed line, or power level equivalent.
Keep the product guide in control: use the documented BV or PRV configuration when operating those systems, and use the URT1 guide when the tuner is part of the station.
The radiator is only half of the current path
A vertical needs a return-current path. For the documented CHA BV and CHA PRV 2.0 field configurations, that path is provided by the guide-specified counterpoise wires. Their number, length, placement, connection, and contact with the site affect tuning and repeatability.
Do not diagnose only the visible whip. Inspect the base, loading or matching component, radial connection, coax, connectors, support, and the surrounding conductive environment as one system.
Base loading versus center loading
Loading location changes current distribution and therefore changes the modeled pattern and practical behavior. A coil at the base is not electrically identical to the same coil higher on the radiator. Reproduce the exact guide geometry before comparing a measurement or opening a pattern.
CHA PRV 2.0's primary configuration places the MCC 2.0 between its lower and upper SS58 radiator sections. Other guide-defined optional configurations place the MCC differently. Treat each as its own configuration.
Counterpoise and radial layout
The current CHA BV and CHA PRV 2.0 guides specify four 12.5 ft counterpoise wires for their principal vertical configurations. Spread them around the base as the site allows, keep them clear of traffic, and avoid creating a trip hazard.
Ground conductivity, wet soil, pavement, nearby metal, vehicles, fences, and buildings can all change the installed result. If the site changes, recheck resonance rather than assuming the old setting remains exact.
A portable counterpoise is not a broadcast-style ground field
The four-wire layout in the CHA BV and CHA PRV 2.0 guides is the documented portable configuration for those products. It is a practical field deployment—not a claim that four ground-laid wires reproduce an ideal, dense radial field.
ARRL ground-system guidance explains that loss and current distribution depend on radial count, radial length, soil, antenna height, and whether radials are elevated or ground-laid. More wire can improve a permanent installation, but a fixed-station radial study must not silently replace the product's portable setup instructions.
Start with the exact Chameleon configuration. If you deliberately compare a larger radial system, record the site and change only the radial system so the result remains meaningful.
Mount height and surroundings matter
Raising a short vertical changes its relationship to ground and to the return path. The CKB includes controlled mount-height studies for supported BV and MCC configurations, but those studies are normalized simulations—not approval of a particular tripod, vehicle mount, balcony, roof, or structure.
Use a mechanically suitable support, maintain the guide's clearances, and retune after changing height or surroundings.
A repeatable tuning workflow
- Assemble one exact configuration from the current guide.
- Connect the specified counterpoise or radial system and route the coax consistently.
- Measure at the reference plane you intend to compare.
- Make one small mechanical or coil adjustment.
- Measure again and record the direction of change.
- Begin transmitting at low power and stop if a connector, coil, tuner, or conductor heats or arcs.
A low SWR is useful, but it does not by itself prove high efficiency, a particular pattern, or long-range performance.
How to read the 2D and 3D NEC patterns
The published patterns show normalized shape for an exact modeled geometry. Use them to compare where energy is favored or reduced, how height changes a modeled pattern, and how a documented loading position changes current distribution.
They do not include every real loss, installed mismatch, tuner loss, coax loss, nearby object, soil variation, or site obstruction. They are not guaranteed gain, range, SWR, impedance, or field-correlation claims.
CHA BV: the documented system path
The CHA BV is a modular portable resonant vertical. Its current April 23, 2025 User Guide controls assembly, component order, initial settings, tuning, power limits, and safety.
The standard SS17 path uses the M-COIL on 40 and 30 meters and direct radiator settings on the higher documented bands. The optional SS25 path uses its own guide table and the M25-COIL on 40 meters. Do not transfer settings between radiators.
The current guide also documents an optional 60 ft CHA LZ SLOPER wire in an Inverted Lazy L configuration for 60, 75, or 80 meters—one selected band at a time. A two-M-COIL 60-meter BV is not an authorized configuration.
CHA BV approved pattern evidence
The governed inventory includes the published SS17 and SS25 direct-feed studies, exact fixed-coil configurations, and controlled mount-height studies. Each model is tied to its own radiator, band, loading position, and height.
Use the selector labels and evidence notes with the graphic. Rejected, non-convergent, or guide-contradicting cases are withheld rather than replaced with a neighboring product's curve.
CHA PRV 2.0: the documented system path
CHA PRV 2.0 is a complete resonant portable vertical. Its current May 4, 2026 User Guide controls assembly and field settings. The principal vertical uses the MCC 2.0 with two SS58 radiator sections for 40 through 10 meters; the 6-meter configuration is the guide-defined off-center-fed dipole.
The four 12.5 ft counterpoise wires are part of the documented vertical system. Tune at the operating site with an analyzer. The guide's power limits are 500 W intermittent SSB, 300 W CW, and 200 W for other modes; duty cycle and component temperature still matter.
PRV optional radiator configurations
The guide includes optional paths using other Chameleon radiators and extensions. Those paths have different component order, bands, and tuning procedures from the primary SS58 configuration. Confirm that every required part is present before using an optional diagram.
The current guide contains conflicting dimensional language and an SS INSULATOR inclusion ambiguity. Until Krumm issues a corrected guide, follow the exact illustrated configuration and current product package record; do not turn either conflicting sentence into a universal setting.
CHA MCC 2.0 is a component, not a complete antenna
The MCC 2.0 is the adjustable loading component used in documented Chameleon configurations such as CHA PRV 2.0. Its position, radiator above and below it, counterpoise, band, and field adjustment determine the complete configuration.
Because the MCC 2.0 does not radiate as an independent antenna, it has no standalone NEC pattern. The CKB routes it to the exact complete-system patterns in which it was modeled.
CHA V-DIPOLE: know what the kit adds
The CHA V-DIPOLE is an add-on kit, not a standalone complete antenna package. The current guide builds the configuration with compatible components supplied by an owned CHA TDL system, including two SS17 radiators, the hub, and coax.
For 40 and 30 meters, the documented configuration uses two M-COILs and the supplied hairpin match. For 20 through 6 meters, it uses neither the coils nor the hairpin. The 40- and 30-meter published NEC patterns model the radiating geometry but exclude the physical hairpin network from the solver.
CHA URT1: put the tuner where the mismatch begins
The CHA URT1 places the Tuner Unit outdoors at or near the antenna feed point while the indoor Coupler sends control power over the coax. That arrangement can reduce the length of feed line carrying a high mismatch compared with a tuner located only at the radio.
Nothing may be installed in the coax path between the Coupler and the Tuner Unit. A filter, amplifier, meter, switch, or lightning device in that segment can block control power or be exposed to an unsuitable condition. Follow the guide's port order exactly.
The current guide specifies 1.8–54 MHz, a 5–1500 ohm tuning range, 0.5–15 W while tuning, 120 W HF SSB/CW, 100 W on 6-meter SSB/CW, and 30 W for other modes. These guide values control over conflicting older storefront copy.
URT1 connection and installation boundaries
The Tuner Unit's Beehive terminal and coaxial ANTENNA connector are alternative antenna connections; do not use both at once. Choose the guide-defined connection for the installed antenna and provide the required return path.
Keep weather sealing, strain relief, drip loops, RF exposure, lightning protection, and mechanical support in the installation plan. The tuner does not make an unsafe support or undocumented conductor arrangement acceptable.
CHA URT1 MB: the mounting bracket path
CHA URT1 MB is a mechanical mounting accessory for the URT1, not an antenna and not a matching network. Its current Quick Start controls bracket orientation, hardware order, the 4-inch jumper, and feed-point routing.
It has no independent NEC pattern. Open the pattern for the exact radiator and return-path configuration connected to the mounted tuner.
Troubleshooting high or changing SWR
- Confirm the exact product and current guide—not a visually similar configuration.
- Inspect every threaded joint, connector, radial connection, loading component, and coax section with power removed.
- Restore the documented radiator and counterpoise geometry.
- Check whether height, soil moisture, nearby metal, or feed-line routing changed.
- Bypass optional components only when the guide permits it, then change one variable at a time.
- For URT1, verify the Coupler-to-Tuner coax contains no intervening device and tune at low power.
Safety and operating limits
Keep antennas, wires, masts, and supports well clear of power lines. Secure radials and feed lines against trips, vehicles, and public access. Stop for unstable supports, high wind, lightning, damaged insulation, arcing, heating, or unexplained behavior.
Use the current product guide for power and duty-cycle limits and complete the station's RF-exposure evaluation. A modeled pattern or successful match is not a safety approval.
Source and revision register
This handbook is governed from the current CHA BV User Guide dated April 23, 2025; CHA PRV 2.0 User Guide dated May 4, 2026; CHA V-DIPOLE User Guide dated April 30, 2026; CHA URT1 User Guide dated May 24, 2026; URT1 Applications Guide dated June 12, 2026; and CHA URT1 MB Quick Start dated May 24, 2026.
The registry stores exact source checksums, superseded-document history, known discrepancies, product aliases, model identifiers, and human-release decisions. A later controlled guide supersedes this summary wherever they conflict.
General background was checked against the ARRL Antenna Book, 24th Edition—especially its chapters on ground systems, vertical antennas, loading, feed lines, and antenna tuners—and Jerry Sevick's Transmission Line Transformers: Theory and Practice, 5th Edition. Those references explain general RF principles; they do not authorize a Chameleon product configuration.
