How-To Build, Cut & Tune an End Fed Half Wave Ham Radio Antenna!

There are quite a lot of End Fed Half Wave antenna kits on the market and assembling them is all pretty much the same process. While tuning an End Fed can be complicated the first time, these are my tips to make it much easier!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

📻 Support Ham Radio Crash Course Content 📻
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

★ FOLLOW ME HERE ★
Physical Mail.............►Josh Nass P.O Box 5101 Cerritos, CA 90703-5101

Music by Sonic D:

#HRCC #hamradio #amateurradio

[dougdaniels]

Callum (DXCommander) has a great Quick-SWR-calculator spreadsheet to find how much you need to cut (or add) going from the resonant frequency to the desired frequency. Saves a lot of time and effort with a new wire antenna, especially in the field.

[houndofgoshen]

Great video!!! Very thorough assembly instructions!!!! Thanks for sharing. New HAM here. Got my Technician around the first of November. Going to test for General tonight. Been lurking around your YouTube LIVES and watching your videos for a while now. Thanks for all you do for the HAM community.

UPDATE:::: passed my General tonight. Aced it!!!!

[trumpdonald]

For portable operating I use a 20’ carbon fiber guppy fishing rod and a umbrella stand.
30 bucks and it works great for my end fed.

[dexterslaboratory]

Re the Hakko, they're an OK iron... but their day of being a good choice thermally is over.
The needing to hold it against things for long periods is evidence that you might be wanting to consider something better.
I have a JBC Station... not in the budget of most but thermally it's incredible.
What i have found is that the MiniWare TS 100 and TS80P have exceeded the performance of the Hakko Irons.
I believe the magic is in the fact that the heating element is part of the tip, rather than the tip and element being separate like the Hakko.
This is the same principal the JBC unit i have.
I own the TS-100 and find it an exception performer at 20 - 24v
The TS-80P supports USB-PD and can run off a good power bank with USB PD capability.
The TS-100 will also run at 12v but it performs 4x better at 24v
I'd recommend giving the TS-80P a go.. don't own it, have used it, performs 99% as good as the TS-100, but has better ergonomics and the TypeC PD is great.
It will respond thermally faster than the Hakko and won't lose tip heat so easily.. End result is you get more heat into stubborn components when you need it... Bonus - it's portable.
Only major downside that stops it being a fill desktop replacement is lack of a robust stand.
If they made a really accessible, comfortable, ergonomic and proper desk stand there would be no reason to reach for a Hakko ever again.

[scottforbes]

I really enjoy watching videos like this. It makes me want to get licensed.

[jwkingsman]

What perfect timing! Just finished my EFHW build and am going out to tune it today!

[arthurpaton]

Interesting that the position of the counterpoise was never mentioned. It has made significant difference on my end feds

[slick]

So I wonder what adjustments you could have made to the counterpoise to improve performance.

[Trent]

Good vid Josh, u need a choke at the feedpoint but also u need atleast 1M or more rope on the end to keep the wire end up from the ground

[billjohnston]

Josh another great video, thanks for all that you bring to the Ham Community.
A quick note that can aid in the soldering process would be to pre tin all the connections before actually joining them together. Once tinned the connecting process will be quicker thus reducing the time required to heat them sufficiently for proper joints. Just a quick note from an older ET. Thanks again.

[jimhagen]

I have been debating for a couple of months as to which antenna analyzer I should purchase, NanoVNA or RigExpert. This video has made up my mind, the ease of use, & easy visibility of the RigExpert far outweighs the cheaper cost of the NanoVNA. & I need it specifically for my 40m EFHW. Thanks Josh for Yet ANOTHER GREAT Video!

[cecilmadden]

I think when you wrap insulated wire back on itself, you get a compacitive effect. If the wrapped portion was uninsulated, you would get less removal requirement.

[JonathanKayne]

I built myself a linked EFHW using some polystealth wire and the K6ARK unun.
The difference was that I calibrated it for 20 meters then added another element and redid for 40 meters.
Though in the field I've found it works great on both bands but if I am only planning on doing 20 meters there isn't much point to adding the second element

[mortimersnerd]

Thanks for the video Josh... there is always so much to to learn.

..have often seen these toroid's wound crossover but I often wondered... why the need to do that? Why not keep the lines of flux running in the same direction all the way around for better (possible) efficiency? .. crossing over reverses the lines of flux and it also creates a break...

So I wound mine continuous.

130' EFHW...ratio 14:2.. FT 240 52 core @ 100 watts (FT 891) the core stays cool, VSWR is 1:1 on 20 and 40. I also mount my core in nothing. If you think about it, there is no need. Mine is sprayed with conformal for a bit of protection. Makes for way less weight.. it just hangs from the insulator by a couple of cheap nylon tie-wraps. No connectors needed either, RG 8X soldered directly to the input. Coax shield is the counterpoise. Works like a champ... DX on 5W is easy...These are high Z antennas, so earth ground at the rig; doesn't change the antenna characteristics but grounding reduces static buildup and RX noise, especially on dry days.

What's the efficacy of this? Who the heck knows, but I suspect over 85% maybe even 90%.. what's not to like?

[temporarilyoffline]

I don't know what looks better - that CaHRtenna or that RigExpert Stick! Great job on that build!

[sona]

It would be good to mention that when doing measurements using coaxial cable VNA shall be always re-calibrated for a new reference plane (end of coax in this case, using Open-Short-Load method). Otherwise what you really measure is a impedance transformed by a coaxial cable. Especially on higher bands this can produce completely abstract and misleading results. If we do calibration then we will measure real impedance at the *antenna output* port - this is the correct way (the coax will "dissapear" for analyzer). It will also allow as to: 1. bring antenna to resonance by adjusting antenna wire (reactance ""X equal to 0 at the antenna output port) and then 2: to adjust transformer to match the real part of impedance to get proper VSWR.

[KKUSYHamRadioAdventures]

Great Build Josh, I like the inverted V so you have the adjustment end down where you can get to it. Interesting hear your final length, you were really close on what you said your length would be.

[NBK]

Do you have any videos of the Mighty Doublet antenna? coax fed antennas are over rated. Non Resonant balanced line fed antennas are fun to play with and not worrying about swrs are a wonderful thing

[RichardHopkinsLobosSolos]

OK, when you're out doing the tuning. What's the badge that you have clipped to your belt? It appears to have your picture and logo.

[B.Murphy]

Ah! Now I ain't scurred. Great video Josh!