End Fed Half-Wave Antennas - Tips and Tricks

Here are some things you can do to get even more fun out of an End Fed Half-Wave Antenna.

[jimbos]

I'm a new Ham and have learned more about antenna's from you than from all the study and reading. Thank you.

[robertmartin]

I really like your relaxed manner of speaking. Your content is very informative while you also share your experience with newer Hams. Thanks for your service!

[mikesawyer]

Your knowledge and training is so valuable to me. This video is a masterpiece. And I enjoy your presentation style.

[BoulderHikerBoy]

Wow! This is a great video! It answers all of the questions I had, particularly those about how to make this type of antenna work in a smaller space. Great stuff!

[DaveJohnsonUTU]

I'm new to HAM, and I've watched several of your videos in recent days. I've learned a lot from your videos, and this video on Tips and Tricks was really helpful. I appreciate your concise but complete explanations of several concepts that don't get explained elsewhere. Thank you very much!!

[woodskidever]

The Charles Dowding of Amateur Radio! Awesome delivery ole chap!

[ABVampire]

Nice video. My first wire antenna was an EFHW after decades of yagis and verticals. It was a 10-40 with a 24' counterpoise in a straight horizontal line pulled tight between a cliff and building 65' AGL I'm still amazed at how good it works from 10-80 no ATU needed! Should have made one decades ago. n2eye

[adzbasslines]

I built the 80m loading coil. Worked a treat! Here's my build details:
Measures 110 uH (B&K Precision 875B LCR meter)
0.8 mm enamel wire
1 - 1/16" (26.6 mm) outer diameter plastic pipe
Close wound wire - 129 mm long coil
145 turns
Simply adjust the resonator wire length for the desired portion of the 80m band.
Thanks Peter
72

[mikemiles]

Great video👍 Half the fun of ham radio is playing with antennas and trying to make the strangest of configurations work❗️

[joseico]

I made myself a EFHW style end fed half wave (shortened to approx 23m), including the transformer and a 110uH coil, I am pleased with it because it is indeed multi-band and its relatively easy and cheap to make. I am now making a more durable version for permanent installation. Thanks for this informative video that added to my knowledge on these antennas.

[WoodyPhillips]

Sir, I gave this a try. I had an 80 meter EFHW that did not fit on my lot because my house was in the way. I tried running it off the roof but was blowing circuit breakers in the house at full power. (Not ideal). So, I tried this "trick". Not only did it work PERFECTLY, but I successfully moved the preferred low point in the SWR out of the CW section and squarely in the phone section at 3.9MHz at 1:1.15.


Pro tip: When tuning the resonator start long and rather than cutting the wire, simply keep winding the excess around an insulator (I used a bare copper wire for the resonator). The last changes to the resonator were literally centimeters in length and even then I went too far and had to back up. However, the theory and reality are equal. This is absolutely brilliant!

Thanks so much.

[AusProbiz]

Another very educational and helpful video, thank you OM Peter!

[donaldhuber]

Thank you. Some of your tricks have also been used on dipoles in the past. For example using a coil as an RF choke as at higher frequencies and a loading coil at the lower frequency.

[brian.]

I fitted the 80-meter coil today, SWR 1.2 I have it in an inverted V configuration due to a small garden, the center of which goes up the mast. The transformer is fed by 213 coax down the garden where the transformer is bolted to a pole 10 feet off the ground. no counterpoise, no earth. works very well more than pleased.

[rjinnh]

Absolutely great info that adds flexibility to EFHW aerial configurations.

[mikes]

Another great video Peter, first class explanation of chokes and coils. Used to see my students eyes glaze over when I was trying to explain the differences. Thanks for posting. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 73 de M0AZE Mike

[kfbws]

I purchased and built the ARRL 40 meter End Fed Antenna. It has the same radiation pattern as my DiPole but it has a bit more noise on receive, probably due to the much higher feed point impedance. Using it with my Elecraft K3 and the 10:1 internal tuner It will tune up on 80 - 10 without any problem and sometimes I can get a 1.2 :1 on 160 and 6 meters. In general I am very happy with the EFHW antenna. The voltage and current distribution across the antenna is exactly the same as the center fed DiPole. No counterpoise is needed.

[FiestaToros]

beautiful garden and helpful video. Thanks!

[nigelbrooks]

Great video, these are great antennas I sometimes use another trick I use a 80 to 10 efhw I use it on top band with great success I have a dipole connector with a short wire and Croc clip which I simply clip onto wire antenna on transformer ( hot side if dipole connector) I then connect ground side of dipole connector to a ground rod, radials are even better, then undo pl259 feed from transformer plug into dipole connector you now have a quartewave for 160m. This also works a treat for say 66ft wire 40 to 10 as a quartewave for 80m, this us a very simple method if your transformer is easily accessible. Thanks again

[brian.]

Hi Peter, I only have a very small garden so mounting it was a problem. I ended up putting the end-fed down the garden in an inverted V configuration, the center of the end-fed is connected to the mast at the house end using a none conductive connecter, I also put a counterpoise from the box 12 inches off the ground. I was very surprised at the signals I was receiving on all bands, I still had the dipole up so I could compare the 2 antennas, and I think the end-fed came out on top, I now need to but the OJV-80K coil or I might even make one. Thank you for the film.