I would like to apologize to everyone who tried to buy one of my transformers and found them not available. My entire stock sold out overnight after the video was released! I am making more now. Please check back on eBay over the next day or two. Thanks for the great response! 73, Walt NE4TN
@@walterbeaton5056 Do you make a End Fed Half Wave for legal limit ? And if you do what bands are they work on. 73 AE4OY William Peacock EM-81UF SOUTH EAST GEORGIA 🤓
i LOVE IT, GREAT! GREAT!! GREAT!! , Thanks again for another video, it helps a lot, and I love the way you show us the SWR after adjustment of your wire. Ir is encouraging very much, All the very best, keep on the good work, 72 Mike VE2TH 60 years of QRP this year..
I just bought one of them. It arrives tomorrow and will be my permanent home install. Walt is super nice and great to talk to as well. Gave me great advice on my setup.
Took your advice and got one I am 100% pleased with it I love not having to use the tuner the only problem is I'm in the third floor apartment so I got 66 ft of wire strung around the apartment so it is a compromised antenna but I still had a qso with Russia on 10 m
Watching in 2X speed is quite entertaining. Great job Mike, this antenna was recommended to me earlier and I have it in my cart, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Might be a good time to do so.
Still making more every day! However production doesn't meet demand! I list each day's production at 5pm Eastern. If you find nothing listed please try again the following day. Thanks for all the interest!! 73, Walt NE4TN
Wow- your method for measuring and cutting your wire to length is brilliant!!! Got to get one of those tape measures wirh the loop- you cant beat that!!!!!
Killer video! You can never have too many antennas.... My garage is proof of that! Been debating between a KX2 and the IC-705. The more I see the 705 the more I am leaning towards it.
Aloha Mike, great to see you on Ria’s live stream today. I think you could of cut about 7 more inches to account for wire stretch later on. Also, if you were going to keep this wire antenna up at your house for extended periods of time, you could attach some good high test fishing line to that “S” clip to use a half gallon of jug, half full of water to act as a counter weight so that wind doesn’t blow your wire all over the place and keep the wire taunt. The water jug should be free to slide up and down during high winds and plus you will have a better and consistent RF signal. That’s why they call this hobby experimental. Great video!
I've got the higher power version as well. I shouldn't really have any issues with wire with this version but yes, other wire antennas i've had have stretched out over time. You'd think I would do something like a counterweight like you suggest but I just never do lol! I'm a glutton for punishment.
Mike, its the good thoughts that count in life… I just thought that I would share my ideas with ya and to give ya a good idea for a future video that many folks have encountered with wire antennas. Keep up the great work, Mike!
Nice job Mike. I built my own EFHW and I really like it. Been using it about two years now on POTA activations and field day. Nice a portable. '73 de N3RCA
Hahahaha...that's too close, get away! You such a nut at times! But I like that about you, Mikey. Howdy so far? I never put solder on Ringterminals which will be used outside on long terms. I pretty much got the same Antenna for my portable activities. Home made EFHW antenna 49:1 transfomrer balun. 33ft wire then a extensions coil with 34µH and another 6ft. wire with insulaton egg. The Balun is good for 500W-PEP 40,20 and 10m with no AT-Tuner to use. The other Bands 17,15 and 12m with Tuner. I saw your sneaky lil Electret pre-amp Mic. with the Clip Holder. Got myself one of these too with a rx/tx LED green / red switching. Happy thursday Mikey. And thx for another episode of "how to never built your own stuff" just kidding. Stay safe buddy. 73's de Your Friend Uncle Guenter from the German Fontier
OK, another great video brother! but when your video started, you reminded my of Curly of the 3 Stooges!! Combination of your voice and your sense of humor. lol!
Mike I ordered both the qrp and 100watt and some sotabeam wire and thicker Guage for the 100 watt. Qrp for my x6100 and 991a and other for Home along with my Dx commander.. thanks man 73 !
I paid $4.14 for a 100’ roll of 20 gauge speaker wire from eBay after tax and it’s Double since it has a Red and a Black wire so I separated them and I have 200’ of wire.It included FREE Shipping from here in Florida as well.So I have around $40 Total in my QRP Antenna for my ICOM 703 PLUS.👍👏🎙
I had it hanging from a hook on my porch strung across the street with the 10 meter mast. I'll be doing another video with this at a POTA as well so you can see how I'll deploy it in the field.
Mike, would you please consider doing a video on the basics of reading space-weather for hams? Most of those numbers - I have now Idea how they impact radio! Where's Tamitha Skov when we need her? :)
Dude, you freaked me out. I’m was in the process of ordering a 49:1 toroid core (240-43) to wind my own. Going to use 18 gauge to wrap around the toroid. Going to be in my Go Box for field activities. Ok, now I’m watching your video. Bub-bye. KI5IQE
Thanks for another great video, Mike! Friendly tip : If you use the circular crimp-connector as you did, you have to take the wing-nut completely off to connect your radiating element and counterpoise. This could lead to a lost wing-nut. I prefer to use the spade-style crimp-connector for portable operation. (the u-shaped connector) With those you can back the wing-nut off a couple turns, slide in the connector and secure the wing-nut with reduced risk of losing anything. 73 - VE3KLT
Yeah, I agree. It's a double edged sword for me. Though it will prob never happen, I just see the spade connector working its way out, so I opted for the ring connector. In hind site, I should switch it out. I dropped the wing nut in the street when I was filming. I for sure would drop it out in the field.
@@hamradiotube gotta agree with you there Mike! These U-shoes can work themselves out. Rather have the full ring terminals. Just keep the wing-nut in your hand until you put it back on.
@@hamradiotube I wonder if it would be possible to drill a tiny hole in the wing of the wing-nut and tie a fishing line (or something else?) to it so it's anchored when removed. (?)
Sometimes what I do to prevent a terminal from working loose is use a modified ring terminal, on one side I make 2 cuts, #1 is around the 100 degree mark or so and #2 about 150 degree mark making an opening just large enough for the post to slip into the center, this produces a hook . To install simply loosen the wingnut, slide the opening over the post & tighten. This allows quick and easy installation without risk of loosing the wingnut. 47 & 73 de KB5ILY
Because I simply don't have enough antennas. :) Thanks for another great video! I use dog fence wire for my antennas. It also has a yellow jacket. Edit: Dog fence wire is solid-core. 2nd edit: Just bought the 100W version.
Right? I have no clue how many antennas I own. I'm such an antenna nerd its not even funny. Not a big fan of the solid core wire. I've found it breaks with repeated use, which would happen as soon as I get out to the park and get everything set up. You'll like that 100 watt version. Its not much bigger in size either. Thanks for watching.
Instead of cutting off the antenna wire, just fold it back against itself and wrap it around and tape it or small wire tie. As the SWR changes due to locations you have options to change the length back to what it once was.
Next time you cut the wire, you might try wrapping the wire through the end insulator and bring the extra wire back on itself and thn wrap in place. Then the wire is still connected if you need to readjust.
yes, I did do that, and mentioned it but I didn't film it. I wrapped about 16" back on itself after a couple cuts, measured it and cut it there. I think thats where I left it when I got to 65'
Just got mine two days ago and the 20 gauge wire but I have not cut the wire yet for tuning.I crimped and soldered the connector on the wire but I have not gotten to the trimming yet.
Nice review, Mike. That looks a whole lot like the one I homebrewed, but mine is sized for 200 or so watts. For the price, buying one of those bad boys pre-built is really rough to beat! I am really liking using an EFHW. It is easier to set up and break down than a DX Commander for portable use, and doesn't create an obstacle to mow around in my back yard. 73, KO4AZY
It really is. I was looking at parts alone a while ago and they would have been right around the same price. Plus I don't own a 3d printer so I wouldn't have as nice a case for it either. EFHW's are some of my favorite antennas. Though the DX Commander is still one of my top 2.
The toroid is probably a 140/43mix and my experiance is 68' is usually the sweet spot. if you're creative you can build the 49/1 for around $15.00. I built one that is good for about 300watts with a 240/43 mix and i also added the 110 mh coil and it does 75 also. I build the 49 and 64 /1 transformerI find there is really no difference ithe two different winings.73 ki0ad
Hey K8MRD! Wondering what the other end of that setup looks like (radio end) - you staked out the transformer around six feet off the ground? Did you run any counterpoise? How much coax from the radio to the transformer? Thanks in advance. I picked up one of these a few months ago and haven't had the chance to set it up, so I was super excited to see this video pop up!! Cheers and 73.
Just running about 20' of RG316 coax into the antenna and the wire is strung up across the street about 30' up. No counterpoise. Pretty simple. The transformer is hung from a hook under my porch, maybe 7' off the ground.
@@hamradiotube Thanks for the reply! I brought mine out this past weekend and made quite a few contacts on 40m voice. Antenna was clearly strung NW/SE. I was reaching up into New England and down/over into KY and even MO, from K-0656 with only 20w - not bad my first solo effort! :) Antenna was around 25' high in a tree and then down directly to a picnic table with only a tiny jumper of about six inches!! Worked great!
Hi Mike, would you get better results with a counterpoise, or is one really needed for EFHW? I'm fairly new to ham radio and just getting to understand making your own antennas.
You don't typically need one with an EFHW. I've tried adding one during the build process before and it didn't make a lick of difference. So long as your coax is longer than about 16' you should be good.
Looks like a good antenna, I might have to check out the higher power option, I need to replace my old 20 year old inverted V that needs help. 73. KV5P
I bought one in the white box, just now getting around to setting it up. However, I notice that he has taken his ebay sales down. It appears that it is no longer available. Now out to cut wire....I was looking back at your setting to shorten my setup time.
Sir, great review!! It’s always interesting learning QRP equipment. I have a strange question. At the 13:36 to 13:38 mark you receive some kind of sweep on the waterfall. We have seen the same sweep on a couple of my friends rigs, I don’t have an HF rig myself yet, but we have been trying to figure it out. Looks like some kinda Doppler to me but we are just curious. Maybe you have figured it out. We are in central Louisiana but your sweep seemed much stronger. I know weird thing to take away from you awesome video but great as usual!!
Thanks for watching. I see those a lot. I'm pretty sure they are some kind of propagation beacon. I don't think thats what they are called but Dave Casler did a video not too long ago about them. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9HpeywtFSZY.html
Mike, I’m on vacation but when I get home I have a chart I can send you that will help. It tells you how much to cut off to move the resonant point up 100/200 etc kilohertz.
@@hamradiotube Mike. here is the link www.radioworks.com/ntrimchart.html These are really just estimates so it may vary some depending on the antenna location and ground conditions.
I don't think he had many available. I emailed him before I posted and warned him of the influx of orders. Keep trying. Hopefully he'll have more soon.
Surprisingly well. I had the high power version up for a while in storms before I gave it to my day. My neighbor also has the high power version up and its not had any problems. This version is exactly the same just smaller.
That’s a good question. I’m not entirely sure but from what I can muster, it’s the difference between the analyzer pushing a very low power signal through the coax v actual wattage. I could be totally wrong though. The whole point of my channel has been to document my ham radio journey and document everything we can learn from. Regardless if it’s a failure or a success. For me, the greatest thing about failure is that we get to learn more.
Thanks for the video! I would be interested in knowing how this performs on 20m and 40m compared to a "shorty 40"...a 32ft radiator with 34uH coil and 4ft extension. 73 de N2MXX
I don't know. I've seen those but I haven't used one. I suspect this would be a little better just because its a full half wave antenna. Now I need another antenna lol!
@@skywarnnetn4uzz191 Most end fed halfwaves have a capacitor across the primary winding (as shown in THIS video on this antenna). The "40 shorty" uses the exact same matching transformer, so I don't understand your response.
@@daveN2MXX Good question. With the same transformer, the 32 foot radiator is a non-resonant length, seems to me IMHO. So the resonant EFHW is going to be a better performer. How much better? I would say that is really unknown.
"Do you guys wanna see a new antenna?" Is the answer to that ever no? Unless of course it's a person in a dodgy mini-van with no windows, then the answer is "I shouldn't but yes"
He’s working on making more. Just keep checking back. That’s unfortunately what happens sometimes when I do review videos. Especially when it’s a good American made product.