[GCARC] Your first HF antenna

Thu Apr 20 08:23:05 EDT 2023

Randy KC3VCC, I agree with Rolf's recommendation of the End-Fed Half Wave antenna as a good first HF antenna that is cheap and easy to install.
This antenna simply is a wire with an impedance transformer at one end, that will cover 40, 20 (maybe 15) and 10 meters.  Your neighbors might not be able to see the wire.
If you find that 66 ft. of wire is too long for your property, you can shorten it to 33 feet to cover only 20 and 10 meters.  It would work on 80 meters too if you had the space to extend the wire to 133 feet.
If you are not ready to build the ARRL antenna kit, you can purchase similar antennas already assembled from MFJ (available online and from HRO in Delaware or Gigaparts), myantennas.com and other sources.
 Karl W2KBF

-----Original Message-----
From: gcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net <gcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Rolf Wurmbach
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2023 9:37 PM
To: Randy <kewlflydude at yahoo.com>
Cc: GCARC <gcarc at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [GCARC] Recommendations needed

Randy, congratulation on your General. Over a year ago I was confronted with the same issue for my base station, the rigs are FT-991A and a Xiegu G90. Wanted something to get on the air and in budget. I put up the 40-10m EFHW kit from ARRL for now $ 79.95 (was around $ 50 a year ago). It’s a little tricky antenna and requires a ground connection at the secondary side where the 50 Ohm coax is connected. It’s a fun project and you may put it up to the chimney and sloop it down just a few feet above ground with the 49:1 impedance xfmr at the ground side, total length is about 65 ft (if my math is right somewhat a round 50 ft from the chimney the sloop should come down. I had QSO into Minnesota, Ontario, Texas, etc., it may not a good solution for DX. For 2m/70cm I put up a vertical Diamond X30A, however if I would do it again I would buy the X50A for a few bucks more and a little more gain. For the feed lines a use RG-8X from HRO.
You mentioned POTA, here I take the G90 and have a Wolf River Coil base loaded vertical antenna, there are a few YouTube videos out there on this antenna. On a nice sunny day I put the Wolf River coil even up in my backyard and play with the G90 on my back porch.
This are my 5 cents. 

73
Rolf
KD2VQG

> On Apr 19, 2023, at 14:01, Randy via GCARC <gcarc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> I just passed my General exam.
> I recently purchased a Yaesu FT-991A and it will be delivered tomorrow.
> Currently, I have a Tram 1477 VHF/UHF antenna, but need something for HF.
> Recommendations are needed regarding HF antennas for both home and car.
> I want to be able to use at least the 10, 15, 20 and 40 meter bands.
> Space is limited on my property and a long wire dipole is out of the question.
> My back yard is approximately 50 feet wide and 25 deep with neighbors behind and both sides.
> House is a small cape cod with a chimney roughly 35 feet off the ground.
> Township rules dictate I can’t have an antenna higher than 15 feet above roof line.
> Car is a Honda Element and I will use the radio for mobile and POTA.
> 
> Randy (KC3VCC)
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