I now use the MFJ version of this wire antenna. Works great. One of the 1st contacts was Germany on 40M one night @500W. Amazing. Mine is good into Southern hemisphere a lot now.
Terry Leatherland, K5PGF281-455-8090Sugar Land, Tx On Tuesday, December 29, 2020, 11:18:03 AM CST, Rick Hiller via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org> wrote: Sounds fun. I'm in for one for the lake house.....Rick W5RH | | Virus-free. www.avast.com | On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 10:55 AM mark janzer via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org> wrote: If there is enough interest, we could pull together a session for members to build their own 40m or 80m EFHW antenna, for the BVARC January 23rd Club Activity morning at the Bayland Park Community Center. The design would be this (credit to Rick Hiller for the reference): 19-End+Fed+Half+Wave.pdf (squarespace.com) EFHW Antenna --- Building The Transformer - YouTube The parts are locally sourced (JPM Supply and Home Depot), either triple or dual core unun (240-43), and the entire assemblage would cost roughly $60-$70. We'd use the 43 material for the cores, vs. 52 - to reduce the cost. The 43 cores are readily available from JPM Supply.Members would reserve ahead (pre-pay via Paypal) once a parts list is fully generated. The antenna parts would be brought to the session, box pre-drilled, and a nanoVNA would be present for preliminary testing. 73MarkK5MGJ On Tuesday, December 29, 2020, 03:21:34 AM CST, Mark Brantana via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org> wrote: RonI do have a NanoVNA, and I like the dipole thought. The EFHW design has a match. Basically a toroid. I will likely experiment with both antennas.Thank you. 73.Mark N5PRD Sent from my iPhone On Dec 29, 2020, at 1:50 AM, Ron Bosch via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org> wrote: And so everyone knows why I am up so darned late, I am waiting for the 02:22 ISS pass to download a stinking picture since I only have 2 more realistic shots at doing so :-) On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 1:43 AM Ron Bosch <boschfam...@gmail.com> wrote: Mark,A few points that I couldn't make on the net, because of time.1. I wasn't saying don't do it, just don't expect a bunch of QSO's. You will be limited to when the band is really open, and the noise floor is low at the receiving antenna. That will reduce the number of potential contacts by at least an order of magnitude. That being said, operating anything is better than operating nothing. 2. IMHO, and end fed antenna is not a good choice unless you also build a matching bridge. You can't expect to maintain an exact 50-ohm load from an end-fed with just a toroid, you also need some shunt resistors, and variable caps, and such, and you will need to tune it depending on conditions due to reactance unless you built-in a big enough reactance in the circuit, and cut the end-fed to exactly 1/2 wave where you want to operate, and the toroid with that much permeability probably ain't cheap. A better approach to me would be a 20M 1/2 wave dipole trimmed at operating height with an antenna analyzer.3. Doing this in the city, with the amount of interference, and the antenna compromises we have to make seems to add a whole other set of issues to making contacts. If I were to do it, I might plan to take the rig out of the city to operate it, and get the advantage of using trees and such to get my dipole at 33 feet up, with a low noise floor to increase my chances of contacts. 4. In any event, I suspect you are really going to need at least a Nano VNA to make sure you don't smoke the finals, since I doubt seriously that a QRP kit includes protection circuitry. That will add a minimum of $50 to your build, although you would save a bunch on the antenna if you built a 1/2 wave dipole instead. Heck, I have an extra 1:1 current balun I can part with for the rock bottom price of $0.02, and since I am including my $0.02 in this email, net due is $0.00 :-) RonKE4DRF On Mon, Dec 28, 2020 at 11:44 PM Mark Brantana via BVARC <bvarc@bvarc.org> wrote: I thought I had things all figured out. I originally wanted to get back on HF, and found I could get some great used equipment for about $400, not including antenna. Add a 10-80 m antenna from MyAntenna for around $165. I already have coax installed. Grand total: $565 Normally, this cost would not be an issue, but like so many others I am short on funds due to CV-19, so it is a bad time for this expenditure. I find I can buy a 20-m QRP Labs CW mini with case for about $90, and build an EFHW antenna for another $20 (including the matching toroid). Grand Total: $110 Everything has its advantages though. A ham since ’78, that’s 1987, I feel that 1. this would force me to improve my almost forgotten code without the inevitable distraction of voice alternatives, 2. this would give me a chance to build a full small project and antenna. Today, though, some felt that this setup would lead to disappointment on my part. I am fully aware there will be some limitations to QRP, but the generally negative comments form our net were as follows: 1. The band is poor at this time. 2. The 4-5 Watt QRP would not get in, and even a 100 Watt unit would not suffice, but needs to be about 500 Watts. This would lead me to need back to spending at least $565, and more for an amplifier. (So we are now saying that even a typical 100 Watt radio is insufficient?) (I would also note that QRP sells a 50 W amplifier for this radio as an add on. Experience counts. So, I am looking for my fellow hams with QRP experience to share their thoughts. I thought I had this all figured out, but if I am going down a wrong road, I need to know. What has been your experience with 20-m QRP? Mark N5PRD ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org -- Rick Hiller e-mail: rickhiller73@gmail.comCell: 832-474-3713Physical: 9031 Troulon Drive Houston, TX 77036 | | Virus-free. www.avast.com | ________________________________________________ Brazos Valley Amateur Radio Club BVARC mailing list BVARC@bvarc.org http://mail.bvarc.org/mailman/listinfo/bvarc_bvarc.org
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