Perfect Antenna Strategy for Small Plots 

Just for interest sake. I have re-designed my DX Commander radials to fit in a 2m x 2m space with great success. SWR readings as follows: 40m (1.06); 30m (1.05); 20m (1.08); 17m (1.11); 15m (1.34); 12m (1.09 but still needs a bit of tuning); 10m (also still need to be tuned). Element wire = DX50. Radials = 15mm copper pipe spiderweb design. Test results = Rigexpert 650 Zoom. Furthest contact 12232km (South Africa to Canada Twice with 2 different contacts on 85W SSB) It just proofs that you do not need a massive area for radials for a DX Commander antenna. 73

I would go for 10m with a cb 5/8 wave on a concreted-in pole.

My back garden? When I buy my DX Signature… I’ll struggle to get the radials down even cutting them to 2 mtrs But I’ll do it when I’m ready

Fan dipole? don't have the CMC problems like efhw and can be adjusted for any band in particular

I use an 40-10 EFHW mounted around my fence top at 6’ above ground in conjunction with my DXC expedition and have had good success.

Good comparison thank you while I don’t own a Elecraft KX3 I have the Icom 7610 ( 2 years ) and 7300 ( 6+ years ) but I use the BHI DSP module with both and they both sound fantastic! Many HAMs will buy a radio to have better audio like a Yaesu for their DNR ( which I agree sounds great ) but many don’t know that they can add Noise reduction to their existing radio for far less money……plus I love the Icom’s user interface 73

So many sources of wire for experiments, even an old extension cable or lawnmower type cable can be stripped down for the individual wires. Although some of us old boys have a lot of money tied up with the hobby there is so much fun to be had with basic things. I certainly had great contacts and a lot of fun using a long length of wire down the garden fed from a homebrew tuner and an FT707 bought from a CBer....

for a small yard it would have to be a DX Commander!👍🍻

Thanks guys! - Lots of insight into practical antennas. - Cheers!

8 car size lot? You're measuring like an American now Callum! 😂 Enjoyed the video Boys, looking forward to what's next

Not been able to find an answer to this... say you have a vertical with a radial field. Would there be major issues if a dipole crossed the radial field? I've not had issues with a 40m dipole 15 or so feet above a 20m dipole, but I don't know if a radial field with lots of wires would affect things too bad.

My loop on ground will be made from messenger wire split from RG-11 75 ohm Catv coax. Can't wait to try it next year!

I don't know how it will go. I can only fit four cars in our garden and a large quarter of that is the hot tub 😁 I'm definitely going to go for a loop on the ground. It'll have to follow the base of the garden fence as we don't have grass. Then I was thinking of building a dipole. I have loads of that BT phone wire. I bought it from someone at college in 1989 and used it on various projects over the years 😁 73s M7GTX

Thanks guys. Got me thinking about planning and running more cable runs now now.🧐👍🍻

Start from the beginning. Buy a house with trees and no restrictions. Small tower and small tribander. Loop and vertical for diversity. Hex beams are great antennas for city lots if the town nazis stay away. No reason to have only one antenna 😂

If you got a wooden fence, you could put a long wire on it with electric fence insulaters

This was the main reason for me initially getting a dx commander, the garden is only 20ft by 15ft. I hadn't thought about having a ground loop for the rx.

I have a very small yard with far too many antennas in it. I even have a Hexbeam. But starting out, I only managed the DX Commander and a 40m EFHW. Then, I added a loop on the ground. I added an 80m EFHW which goes from my back yard to across the trees in the front of my house. It is fed in the back yard so is not visible from the street in the front of the house. So if you can make use of both your front and back yard that way, it's a good alternative.

My set up is DXC and a efhw for 40-10 and it works perfect for me having a very small back garden.

Cal you are absolutely correct, having a DX Commander has spoiled me for anything else. I do intend to do a LOG hopefully this summer. I will run through an SDR. I will send the audio from it and my IC 7300 through a small mixer so I can have one in my left ear and the other in the right ear. Cheers from Moose Jaw. Tim VE5THF

If you're doing a listen-only antenna, another great source of cheap or even free material is if a retail store is renovating their sound system. One of the companies that I work for does that as a contractor, and our largest client at the moment is a major retailer here in the States that's renovating all of their stores. The general rule is that we want enough speaker cable to get the job done, but a little extra for any unforeseen problems that may come up, and of course there are always the little scraps here and there that come with any installation job. If you can catch them at the time they're tossing all the scrap out -- because there's not enough of it to justify the cost of taking it to be recycled, so it just gets dumped -- then ask them if you can take the speaker wire off their hands. I've got some 12 gauge that I brought home from one job, and I use one side of it as a random-length wire wrapped around a hula hoop going into the level side of a 9:1 balun... so, not **technically** a mag loop, but it's directional like one. It's wired to BE a mag loop, but with the 9:1 balun, it darn near blows out my SDR. Going straight into the level side, though, It's just about as sensitive as my YouLoop, despite being tied to the electrical field rather than magnetic. I do plan to build or buy a 4:1 balun at some point and once again try it as a mag loop, AND use the other side to run a loop around the perimeter of my apartment balcony. I'm on the second floor, so it won't quite be an LOG, but I would bet I can still get some performance boost out of it since the YouLoop does pretty well on the horizontal plane, as well.

When laying out the yard, where are we putting the antennas for 6 meters through 23 centimeters?

Soon I would ned all this - 73s

Thank you Calum and John. Great chat guys.

Can your vertical antenna (DX Commander) be set in the middle of the loop on the ground if you don’t have enough space to put them next to each other? Or would this cause any type of interference? Just a inquisitive thought 💭

I don't think tuning a antenna with RF will work. Where you want the wire to break is where you have no power. Now I can be wrong. Keep these videos going, you got my interest for radio back after 40+ years of silence.

Thanks, this was fun to watch and gave me some good ideas.

After watching your videos and the movie "All The Light You Cannot See", I was inspired to brush up on my radio and attenna theory and then take my Canadian Advanced Amateur test. It is a great hobby, and even as an RF engineer by training, I am amazed at what creative hams come up with. Who would ever think a loop on the ground would be a good receive antenna! Thanks for putting out these videos. They are entertaining, inspirational AND educational! 73 VE3NAP

Could I use my dogs electric fence as a loop?

Plenty of free/abandoned CAT5 cabling sitting at the dumpsters here. Strip the ends off and twist the 8 pairs together and you have good antenna making material.. Know a frugal guy who did this for the CQWW contest and took 3rd place.

I would like to know how to "plum" the Ground loop into the back of the radio?! How Would that be done?

You cannot have too many ant. Ports on a rig.

uhhh small garden? he's talking about 100 square meters (325ft square) thats not a small garden in my "book" I live in a 3 story single family home and my back garden is about half of that (and so are the gardens of most of my neighbours :-) )

Dear DX Commander, What was the most important lesson you learned while studying for your technician license?

Thank you

Thank you are you able to get reception on 40 and 20 m with the loop on the ground

If I put 8 cars in my garden, could I strap them together and make a great big ground plane?

It's all a British Plot!

Another great video, I really enjoys these, I learn and learn...

Hello Mr. DX, what would you put up if you had acres and acres, but the budget and hassle level doesn't match up to putting up towers and such. Been a general for a couple of years, and I use a 7300. Current antenna is a 40m HWEF, which is usable on 10, 12, 15, 17, 20 and 40. Would be nice to hit more WARC bands and get on 80m. I'm in a mild climate but a windy area!

Hi Cal advice please or scratch your head. I have had your DX C up for several years now. I never expected much on 10m especially when you look at its surrounding building very close by. Other bands are amazing and it never stops amazing me. I had a thought, never good I know, but i disconnected the 10m ele leaving the 20m 1/4 wave to become 10m 1/2 wave. Yes I had to press the auto tune on the internal FTDX10 and it tuned to nothing so far so good. Quickly tuned onto 4 EU beacons, reconnected 10 ele. B1 S5 B2 S5 B3 S5 B4 S3. Disconnected 10m ele B1 S6 B2 S6 B3 S7 B4 S4 on RX. So what is going off with the Far field plot on TX using the 20m 1/4w as 10m 1/2 wave ?. Is it safe or not, very interested on your thoughts.

I put an EFHW in my loft but have some issues with displacement current affecting the mains in the house, im to understand that a loop doesn't create any displacement, mainly use for RX but would like to TX on 40m and 10m occasionally a 4:1 balun and a loop does it need to be a specific total length?

Asda sell washing line 20m plastic coated with a brass coated wire in the middle its reasonable light weight but very strong and can be soldered

How's about the typical lot size in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii - 464.52 SM (5,000 SF)?

"Invisible" dog fence wire is insulated and pretty cheap. Available at your home improvement store.

FFS talk about hard sell...😂

My problem is that I live in the Appalachian Mountains and my yard is probably 100’ x 100’ with power lines running over half of it. I have nothing but a steep hill with a lot of trees behind me, but a whole lot of it. I’m just running a 60’ EFLW with a 9:1 unun right now, in the yard at the back of my house. I haven’t had my license but for about 9 months, so I’m a novice with a general license, and everywhere I look, someone has a different idea. I would love to know what my best antenna option would be. I have acres behind me, but covered in trees and it’s pretty steep, but traversable

I don't get that cutting itself to length concept. isn't the current on a dipole at the far end away from the feed point next to nothing?

Hi Callum! What can you tell about grounding loop antennas? There is a french station who grounds his horizontal loop through the ground connection of an UN-UN, and tells that his noise level dropped dramatically... I built A LOT of horizontal loops, 40,80,60,160... and never grounded anything... maybe the coax shield at the house entrance will do it? Thanks in advance.

Can’t wait for the fuse antenna!😂

Hello people 💙

how large does the loop on the ground need to be to receive 80m and below? is a balun needed?

What aload of rubbish. Show me where the 'average' garden size in the uk is 100Sqm and certainly very few are 10m long x 10m wide. Most i've seen (established houses) are long 10/12m and thin 4/6m so there is no way you can get your 40m wire loop in there. My last house was 10m long by 3m wide, that was a mid terrace. This channel seems to assume that everyone has loads of space for large antennas (yes 10/15m high is large) and have a tree where you can dangle a wire from. Not many trees in the gardens I see for sure! Most new builds are on average now 15/20sqm - tiny!

great stuff as usual guys de W9US