EFLW woes

[golddustpeak]

I’m trying to understand what went wrong with my newly installed EFLW antenna.

It all started with me wanting to get back on the air with something other than FT8 due to high noise levels,.

The noise level in our home was a continuous S9 and after lots of discovery and work I’ve managed to get it back to a respectable S2 to S4.
During this time, I decided that a 59-foot EFLW antenna would be my only practicable choice due to HOA and physical restrictions.

I chose 59 ft (with a 20 ft counterpoise) as the best non resonant length that would fit the property.

The feed point starts about 6 inches away from the house 20 ft above ground.

From there the wire runs up, west a few feet then south a few to an elevation of about 25 feet where it meets an insulator hung from a tree branch. At this point the wire turns and runs east for it’s length ending in an insulator hung from a tree branch at 15 feet or so.

The antenna (14 Ga wire) is fed from my radio to a tuner then a choke then the UNUN.

The wire will tune to very low SWRs (1.1 -1.9). The Radiation pattern is promptly E SE and W NW.

So far I was thinking that I was good to go but when I got the noise level down to where it should be I found there were VERY few stations to be heard on Phone or CW (on any band) with a few more during contests but at low levels.

Yes, the wire has branches to the south of it but none touching.
I am operating from a second floor level but I believe my grounding and bonding are OK.

So now I’m not sure exactly where to go next. My only current thought is to move the UNUN out a foot or so from the house.

Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated,

TNX

 

[golddustpeak]

I’m trying to understand what went wrong with my newly installed EFLW antenna.

It all started with me wanting to get back on the air with something other than FT8 due to high noise levels,.

The noise level in our home was a continuous S9 and after lots of discovery and work I’ve managed to get it back to a respectable S2 to S4.
During this time, I decided that a 59-foot EFLW antenna would be my only practicable choice due to HOA and physical restrictions.

I chose 59 ft (with a 20 ft counterpoise) as the best non resonant length that would fit the property.

The feed point starts about 6 inches away from the house 20 ft above ground.

From there the wire runs up, west a few feet then south a few to an elevation of about 25 feet where it meets an insulator hung from a tree branch. At this point the wire turns and runs east for it’s length ending in an insulator hung from a tree branch at 15 feet or so.

The antenna (14 Ga wire) is fed from my radio to a tuner then a choke then the UNUN.

The wire will tune to very low SWRs (1.1 -1.9). The Radiation pattern is promptly E SE and W NW.

So far I was thinking that I was good to go but when I got the noise level down to where it should be I found there were VERY few stations to be heard on Phone or CW (on any band) with a few more during contests but at low levels.

Yes, the wire has branches to the south of it but none touching.
I am operating from a second floor level but I believe my grounding and bonding are OK.

So now I’m not sure exactly where to go next. My only current thought is to move the UNUN out a foot or so from the house.

Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated,

TNX

A thought about the trees.
The trees are Aspen and the antenna was installed before the trees leafed out. I really can't say that there is much difference between then and now.

 

[prcguy]

You might try a resonant EFHW which would be about 64ft long for a 40-10m version. They work much better than a random wire fed with 9:1 or ?? and don't need a tuner and I've tested them side by side and have seen the difference. I would also recommend a good ferrite based common mode choke in the feedline outside before the coax enters the building to choke off RFI that might get induced onto the coax shield inside the house.

 

[Golay]

You might try a resonant EFHW which would be about 64ft long for a 40-10m version. They work much better than a random wire fed with 9:1 or ?? and don't need a tuner and I've tested them side by side and have seen the difference. I would also recommend a good ferrite based common mode choke in the feedline outside before the coax enters the building to choke off RFI that might get induced onto the coax shield inside the house.

I gotta agree. A properly working EFHW antenna is not going to be just random length. The length and the balun ratio are matched.

 

[WB5UOM]

I'd be interested in what was done done to get the noise level from S8 to S2-S4....

 

[prcguy]

I'd be interested in what was done done to get the noise level from S8 to S2-S4....

I would test with a mobile setup to see if the noise is concentrated in an area or widespread. If the noise is coming from things in the house move the antenna away from the house or find/kill the RFI making devices in the house. If the noise is all over your neighborhood or a wider area then you can't really fix that.