I wanted to thank everyone who commented on this thread. I felt an obligation to wrap it up since I ‘poked the hornet’s nest’ :)) I did get some good information and some interesting comments. It’s always fascinating to see how things morph from the original post.One thing I did realize is that there still is some confusion over what is an end fed halfwave; a fair amount of folks conflate an end fed wire of any length with a resonant half wave. While it’s true that a resonant half wave may be a non resonant random wire at bands other than it was made, that’s not exactly a useful premise for my needs. So-in the interest of closure I’ll post the original question in the clearest fashion I can and ask that any thoughts on this please email me directly and if i get some good responses I’ll post to the list so we can all have that to enjoy. I also want to keep it Elecraft related as best I can. ,Ok-here’s what I’m asking: Think about a SOTA (summits on the air) outing where I’m hiking to activate a summit and the goal is to travel light. ‘Ounces are pounds’ as the saying goes.Radios are either a KX 3 or KX 2 both with autotuners. I have a number of options I use already including resonant dipoles; verticals and loops, and I plan to continue to use these as conditions require. You never know what’s the best option until you’re actually at the site..One other option is either an end fed random wire with a counterpoise (length selected to avoid a resonant quarter or half wave-there’s charts out there to help select good lengths) or an end fed (resonant) halfwave cut to resonate at the desired band. Think say, 66 feet for 40M give or take. Now-when I use a non resonant random length wire I feed it directly off the radio (BNC-binding post adaptor). With a resonant halfwave I would (and have) used a 9:1 transformer, coax (variable length) and perhaps a common mode choke, and perhaps a short counterpoise. Between just those two antennas is there any advantage to using the resonant halfwave over the random length wire? Is there more gain? Better takeoff angle? More lobes ? Would this justify packing the extra stuff for the resonant halfwave? I’m guessing a lot will depend on terrain/height,etc so may be hard to answer, but that’s the question, and that only. I imagine efficiency may be a factor, but if I can eliminate a transformer,feed line,and choke and feed directly to the radio that should help eliminate some losses. So-it isn’t about how to build/buy an EFHW; what to use at a home station,etc. It’s just this one question. Like i said-I have a few good answers but curious if there’s something I’m missing about the EFHW over the random length antenna. Thanks everyone, and I hope we all can get out and enjoy our great rigs as much as possible. The KX 2 is the radio I’ve been dreaming about for a long.long time and now I have one... Dan Presley N7CQR n7...@arrl.net
> On Feb 9, 2017, at 4:03 PM, Kevin - K4VD <ke...@k4vd.net> wrote: > > Thanks Scott. I use the Par EndFedZ EF-10/20/40 and EF-20/40 depending on > what's in the bag at the moment. These are resonant and I'm assuming the > KX3 tuner is enough to keep the SWR low. The radio always seems happy. > > I will add up to 8 feet of wire next time out and try some A/B tests. > > During this thread there's been a couple of comments that kind of challenge > my way of thinking. I would never have thought a random wire would be > considered superior to a resonant antenna. I also don't equated high SWR > with high loss. My home antenna is comprised of a dipole fed with 600 ohm > ladder line through a 4:1 BALUN. It's about the best antenna setup I've > ever had and I use it on all bands 80 (where it is resonant) through 6. The > KX3 and the Flex tunes it nicely and the log fills up. > > Threads like this get me questioning everything I thought I knew. That's > not a bad thing. > > Kev K4VD > > On Thu, Feb 9, 2017 at 5:37 PM, K9MA <k...@sdellington.us > <mailto:k...@sdellington.us>> wrote: > >> On 2/9/2017 16:28, Kevin - K4VD wrote: >> >>> I work portable with about 1 ft of coax to my end-fed. Never really had a >>> problem making contacts. Guess I could do a lot better with a longer coax >>> or with a counterpoise? >>> >>> Kev - K4VD >>> >> It wouldn't hurt to add a counterpoise of 6-8 feet, just a single wire on >> the ground opposite the antenna, but it may not make much difference. (I'm >> assuming EFHW, not random or quarter wave wire.) That short coax, the >> radio, the headphone cable, etc. is probably serving as an adequate >> counterpoise. You definitely do NOT want a longer coax, unless there's a >> matching network at the feedpoint to keep the SWR low. Even then, the long >> coax would only be advantageous if it allows you to place the antenna in a >> more favorable location. >> >> 73, >> >> Scott K9MA >> >> >> -- >> Scott K9MA >> >> k...@sdellington.us >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Elecraft mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >> Message delivered to ke...@k4vd.net <mailto:ke...@k4vd.net> >> > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > <http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm <http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm> > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net <mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net> > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net <http://www.qsl.net/> > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > <http://www.qsl.net/donate.html> > Message delivered to n7...@arrl.net <mailto:n7...@arrl.net> ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
