How to set up your Xiegu VG4 Multiband antenna.

Thanks for sharing enjoy your videos.

Imperial is like living in the Dark Ages!😂
Metric rules the 🌎👍😁

Almost makes me want one 👍

Thanks Chuck!

Ok, I have this bookmarked so when the antenna finally shows up I'll be ahead of the game.

NO! TO CHICOM!

Are these the final dimensions you ended up with? I watched your other video and then saw this one.
Rick, W2JAZ

Hey Chuck just wanted to say thanks for making this video. I was having a hard time tuning up the VG-4 laying flat on the ground, as my final installation location would not allow frequent removal for the sake of tuning. Following your video and measurements, got me to acceptable SWR levels once the antenna was raised. Saved me a lot of time and swearing. Unlike other hams, I am of the type that likes to receive an antenna and get it on the air with minimal fiddling. Thanks again and 73.

This was very helpful. thanks N6TRC John

How many watts is it rated at

What’s your opinion, should I try one?

Any chance we can get the lengths in millimeters 😂
We don’t understand imperial measurements here in Australia 😂

Hi Chuck. Greetings from Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺.
Just installed the Xiegu VG4 today following your measurements. I actually had a tape measure with both metric and imperial scale - I just had to brush up on my fractions on the 1 inch scale 😀. The antenna is mounted on a 3 meter tall pole in the back yard and the SWR is perfect and flat on all the bands including 40m 7.000 to 7.2000 MHz. Only issue I had was inserting the first aluminium section into the insulator. It was really tight so I used some silicone spray lubricant - aligned the holes for the bolts - and used a rubber mallet on the end of the bottom section.
Best 73 John VK3JHA

Thanks for your effort and the measurements. JFYI, for my setup (on a 6m grounded aluminum pole) the given lengths are way too short. 40m has the min at 7.200 (1:1.41), 20m at 14.525 (1:1.09) - via RigExpert AA-35. 73 OE6HKE

Just assembled the VG4 per your measurements and all but 40m fell into a workable SWR with my 7300. I made one adjustment on sections 8 & 9 and bam!!! 1.3-1 on 40m at 7.250! Thanks for sharing this video with us!!!

Just assembled the VG4 per your measurements and all but 40m fell into a workable SWR with my 7300. I made one adjustment on sections 8 & 9 and bam!!! 1.3-1 on 40m at 7.250! Thanks for sharing this video with us!!!

Thanks

Hi, these are very valuable tips for VG-4 users. Could you please write these values ​​in table form in a uniform way?
And the question is - at what height should the VG-4 be mounted to work properly? Thank you RAFAEL HF1R

was not clear when say from this point and a measurement . I am still as lost as before in the video .

Hi Chuck. Having bought the VG-4, but not yet assembled it, I am indebted to you for the clear measurements you've taken the trouble to publish. But it may be of interest to you and your subscribers that Xiegu have not only changed the mounting hardware from a plate to clamps, but they have also changed the length of No's 5 and 7 to 250 mm. I'm not sure if this will affect the overall tuning using your measurements.

Thanks Chuck on the Xiegu VG4 antenna. I used your measurements from the video and it work great. When I installed it 20ft up in the air with the help from my Son it worked like a champ! Jumped on the radio made a couple contacts to Sweden on 10m and a couple POTA activations in the US on 20m. I think I will enjoy the use of the new antenna. Thanks again! Frank W1VBX in Maine.

Does anyone know if this antenna will tune up on 80-meters with a tuner. Also, any way to add an 80-meter loading coil?

What is the swr on 10Mhz (30M)?

Question about your dimensions. I followed your measurements and mounted it atop a 10 ft. pole. The results are that I must use a tuner on all bands and have high Q. Without a tuner I'm above 3:1 SWR on all bands. That's not right. Any suggestions? Thanks. KA6USA

As a GenX from the UK the ‘dangerous’ part about my education is that I’m old enough to have lived around (& remember) imperial measurements from my dear old builder dad but also young enough to have been indoctrinated into post 1970’s metrification at school. A very dangerous set of skills :-)

So, at the risk of teaching anyone in particular how to suck eggs, or for those just keen to turn imperial measurements into metric down to the nearest 1/16” (specifically into mm) either now or in the future, here’s how it goes.

* Smallest increment mentioned is 1/16”
* 1 ‘whole inch’ therefore being 16 of those ‘16ths’
* To convert inches into mm just multiply the whole given measurement by 25.4
* To include any fraction part as a decimal for your calculator, the ‘bit’ to add goes as follows: (just lose the leading zero):

1/16 ‎ = 0.0625
2/16 ‎ = 0.125 (or more commonly 1/8)
3/16 ‎ = 0.188
4/16 ‎ = 0.25 (or more commonly 1/4)
5/16 ‎ = 0.313
6/16 ‎ = 0.375 (or more commonly 3/8)
7/16 ‎ = 0.438
8/16 ‎ = 0.5 (or more commonly 1/2)
9/16‎ = 0.563
10/16 ‎ = 0.625 (or more commonly 5/8)
11/16 ‎ = 0.688
12/16‎ = 0.75 (or more commonly 3/4)
13/16‎ = 0.813
14/16 ‎ = 0.875 (or more commonly 7/8)
15/16 ‎ = 0.938
16/16 ‎ = 1

So, where the poster says 134 5/8” that’s just.....
134 (whole) & 5/8 (fraction) then multiply by 25.4 to convert the total to mm.

So, 134 5/8 = 134.625 x 25.4 = 3419.475mm
Long-winded I know but hopefully helpful to some. Alternatively just type the inches measurement (as given) into google and ask it to convert to mm.

But anyway, for those that can't do that, I got:

1. From Base to top of Section 3:
134 5/8" (134.625 x 25.4 = 3419.47mm)

2. From Top of Section 3 to bottom of section 4:
1" (1 x 25.4 = 25.4mm)

3. For Section 5 (short piece):
Full section plus margins of:
1/16" (.0625 x 25.4 = 1.587mm) bottom + 1/8" (.125 x 25.4 = 3.175mm) top or 3/16" (.188 x 25.4 = 4.76mm) total with no overall length given / needed)

4. For Section 7:
Top of section 6 to start of section 7:
½” (.5 x 25.4 = 12.7mm) then total for section 7 (measured coil to coil): 12 5/8” (12.625 x 25.4 = 320.675mm)

5. Then from bottom of section 8 to tip:
90 ¾ (90.75 x 25.4 = 2305.05mm) TOTAL

6. For Section 9 (from taper, though not shown in video):
45 1/8” (45.125 x 25.4 = 1146.17mm)

7. For section 10 (top section from top of 9 to tip):
26 1/4” (26.25 x 25.4 = 666.75mm)

Feel free to copy / paste / screenshot / save fir future reference.

Note, the above is notwithstanding the possible difference that @debbie62140 mentioned further down.

You make great videos and are easily understood. I’m thinking of installing this on the roof. Did you see or hear anything about needing the antenna closer to the ground for some type of ground wave/radials?
Thanks, KD0BRE Mark

Well you got me close> I am a CW man. Here are my initial measurements: 7.220 1.6 SWR, 14.100 1/028, 21.400 1.245 SWR, 30.400 1.12.... So except for 20 meters all of the other bands are high. I have the Antenna Mounted in the clear at the 10' level. I'll start tuning for a lower SWR of the bands in the morning. Thanks for your initial guidance. I would like to see your final SWR reading though. 73 Bruce N9BX

Thanks for the great information. What is your opinion of construction and operation of this Antenna ?
I live in the northeast Biffalo Ny and was wondering about the construction and durability.
Thank you

What is your opinion about quality and durability of antenna ? Performance also ?
TnxJoe

Just purchased and put it up. I used your measurements and it tuned up great. Talked to a guy on 10m in Northern Maine from Louisiana.
Thank you so much for video.
73!!!
KJ5ISH

I know you were dealing with a short tape measure but the really helpful measurements would have been:
1. Base to bottom of 1st trap (which was 135-1/2" as seen in the video) This is the 10m section and should be tuned 1st.
2. Bottom of the 1st trap to the bottom of the 2nd trap. (This is the 15m section and should be tuned 2nd)
3. Bottom of the 2nd trap to the bottom of 3rd trap. (This is the 20m section and should be tuned 3rd)
4. Bottom of the 3rd trap to top of antenna. (This is the 40m section and should be tuned last)
If there's anybody out there that has a tuned VG-4 and can provide measurements as such that would be great if you could share those measurements. TNX W5UW

First of all, thank you very much for your work and commitment. However, I have this antenna, bought 2 weeks ago (2025) and I followed the measurements exactly, which I converted to the metric system. I even checked twice to make sure I didn't make a mistake during the conversion because unfortunately the effect during SWR measurements is that the antenna has a good and expected SWR basically only in the 20m band. In the 40m band, the dip is a bit too high and the 15m and 10m bands the SWR is completely different. I noticed during the measurements that I have different lengths of elements number 5 and 7. And maybe this is where the discrepancies come from. I wrote this not to criticize you but to draw attention to the fact that the newer version of the antenna, characterized by, among other things, a completely different mount to the mast, may have a different SWR using the dimensions you used.

Hey Chuck, what's your honest opinion of this antenna, i will be moving the QTH in 12 to 18 months to a farm and dont want to set up a tower and beam at this residence, and I'm looking for something that fits with the limited space I have here. Don't have the room for ground radials so the VG4 looks appealing

Useless video for most of the world, weird lengths and fractions of fractions.