Want advice on End Fed Antenna

[nevesjerry]

Thanks for the the advice.
jerry

 

[KE0GXN]

Side by side there is a big difference in performance between the MyAntennas EFHW and the Alpha J-Pole Sr. I probably don't need to mention which one wins.

@prcguy you comments ended up peaking my interest into checking out the MyAntennas site.....bought one of their chokes and it brought noise floor immediately down 2 s-units on 80 which is one of my highest noise floor bands. We’ll see how things go this weekend during the DX contest

 

[prcguy]

Great to hear this! Every station is different and some will see a good improvement in the noise floor while others may not. I did and it was a good bang for the buck.

@prcguy you comments ended up peaking my interest into checking out the MyAntennas site.....bought one of their chokes and it brought noise floor immediately down 2 s-units on 80 which is one of my highest noise floor bands. We’ll see how things go this weekend during the DX contest

 

[K6GBW]

For what it's worth PRCGuy turned my on to the EFHW about a year ago. I had been using a non-resonant wire with a 9:1 Unun, but they work very inconsistent unless you have a good radial field. The EFHW is a lot easier to deal with. I have one for 80 meters and up using a 130' wire. To get around the space problem I mounted the transformer underneath the eave in the front of the house and ran the wire up over the top of the house to a mast and then down to a small tree in the backyard. I used an eyebolt through the eave as a strain relief. The antenna doesn't need a tuner but I use the internal tuner of the radio to make it absolutely flat on all bands. The noise level from this antenna is much less and it just works. The wire is also very hard to see. So even in a small lot there are ways to get it to work.

 

[KE0GXN]

@prcguy Did pretty good during the contest. Did most of my damage on 15, it was super quiet and signals were booming in from all over the world. 20 wasn’t bad either. 40 was wishy washy at times.... I did for the first time ever at my station hear Europe on 80 meters (Italy). I‘ll admit I didn’t put much effort into busting that pileup, even with the choke the noise was a little high and it was Italy which I have logged many times on other bands, so I abandoned ship pretty quick and moved on. Kind of wish I would have tried a little harder though...besides Canada, I don’t have any DX on 80 yet in the log. So I kinda regret that one...

Oh well, there is always the next DX contest.

 

[prcguy]

Was that with the Alpha antenna or did you get a resonant EFHW?

Hi Hi OM and good luck in the contest.....

@prcguy Did pretty good during the contest. Did most of my damage on 15, it was super quiet and signals were booming in from all over the world. 20 wasn’t bad either. 40 was wishy washy at times.... I did for the first time ever at my station hear Europe on 80 meters (Italy). I‘ll admit I didn’t put much effort into busting that pileup, even with the choke the noise was a little high and it was Italy which I have logged many times on other bands, so I abandoned ship pretty quick and moved on. Kind of wish I would have tried a little harder though...besides Canada, I don’t have any DX on 80 yet in the log. So I kinda regret that one...

Oh well, there is always the next DX contest.

 

[KE0GXN]

Was that with the Alpha antenna or did you get a resonant EFHW?

Hi Hi OM and good luck in the contest.....

It was the Alpha with the MyAntennas choke. I don’t want to give up 160 OM, otherwise I would be saving my pennies for one of Daniel’s antennas, they seem solid for sure.

 

[K6GBW]

I have one of Danny's chokes as well. Amazingly good product!