End Fed Half Wave Vertical Antenna

This is an empirical "shoot-out" between a 135' OCF dipole mounted up 40' in the clear vs. a 31' end fed half wave vertical sitting on the deck. Hope it awakens interest in an age-old aerial design that offers an alternative to the compromise antennas so often selected by those who have to deal with restrictions - or who want to operate portable and actually make some contacts...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• EFHW
• EFHWA
• Vertical
• vertical antenna
• ham radio
• K2
• Elecraft K2
• antenna
• wire antenna
• portable antenna
• EFHW antenna
• EFHWA antenna

[stanscoyote]

Dear KC2VSO - you can't "buy it" but you *can* duplicate it based on the links provided at the end of the video -- buy the mast from MFJ; the 9:1 UNUN from the Honolulu Emergency Amateur Radio Club; find or fabricate an appropriate base (umbrella stand, tripod, etc.) -- and voila - you'll have the same super DX antenna as I have. GL es 73 de WB2LQF

[stanscoyote]

Patrick ON4CDJ - Thank you for your comments. The short answer to your questions is that the antenna is very effective on 40 meters through 10 meters even though it is only resonant on 20. That's why it needs some method of tuning - either an antenna tuner, coupler, or at the least a parallel adjustable tuned circuit. I use my internal tuners. Recent QSOs examples: TF3CW on 30; RO9O,5T0JC, ZD8ZZ, TU2T, on 17; 5N7M on 12; ON4UN, RK3ER on 10. All 5 watts or less; Worst RST 539 (ON4UN).

[stanscoyote]

Dear ADI YO2LIW - no, an end fed half wave antenna does not require radials. It requires only the simplest return such as a very short counterpoise (as short as one meter, a simple ground rod, or even a big piece of metal (like a fence or an air conditioning unit). My vertical in this video is just using the coax shield. The reference material noted at the end of the video provides much more information. Of course it's understood that improving the ground beneath ANY antenna improves perf.

[kc2vso]

can you send me a link were i can buy this please..

[Digi4u]

Thank you for your answer Stan. In fact, I am using about the same antenna, but horizontally. The only difference here is, that it is not resonant on any band, using 16m (53'), and also with a counterpoise abt the same lenght. Maybe I should cut it to a halfwave for 30 or even 20m for better results ? I get a decent SWR on the bands 20m and below, but having troubles to tune it on the higher bands.

Patrick ON4CDJ

[Digi4u]

Hi Stan, and thank you once again for this very informative video.

What I'm wondering....it's a halfwave for the 20m band, so it's resonant and also having a 1.1 SWR, as seen in the video. But how effective is this antenna on the other bands, where it is not a halfwave ? We saw pretty decent SWR's on the other bands, but that doesn't tell much about effectivity. Did you make some on-air tests on, for example, the 30m band ?

72, 73 !

Patrick, ON4CDJ

[yo2liw]

Hello

nice presentation OM. Did you connect some ground (radials, ground rod) at the 9:1 Unun?

73! Adi

Yo2liw