Lightweight QRP end fed half wave

Today with not too much on i decided to knock up a lightweight EFHW 49:1 impedence transformer for when i go portable SOTA / HEMA . as you can see just the transformer is less than 100G so pleased with that, yes if used BNC would of been a little bit lighter but not so much .







Yet to try it out , just waiting on some 0.5mm wire to turn up.

Nicely done Matt

Just finished winding my very first balun, a 16:1 for a t2fd/butterfly/rhombic, (still experimenting so yet to decide).
Thing is, made it using the RFI ferrites from some old SCART and VGA video leads, (type #31 cylinders buried in them!), so cost me absolutely nothing
Checks out with my antenna analyser from 1.5MHz to 50MHz so all good! Don't think it weighs as less as yours though

I'd happily shares pics if I could only figure out how to post them(!?)

Working on the multiband principles of experimental antennas by Bonnie Crystal KQ6XA.
One antenna for all bands and low noise? Even if it turns out to be a compromise antenna, (aren't they all?), it'd be good to get back my full SWL capabilities without the 'noise holes' my fan dipole left me with

Love 'homebrew' stuff! Thanks for sharing.

All the best,
Victor

Cheers victor.

I will post more pictures and even a video once get the wire and build the rest with a difference between

Need to make a guide how to post pictures at somepoint... another job for Matt

Take care

Victor wrote:

Nicely done Matt

Just finished winding my very first balun, a 16:1 for a t2fd/butterfly/rhombic, (still experimenting so yet to decide).
Thing is, made it using the RFI ferrites from some old SCART and VGA video leads, (type #31 cylinders buried in them!), so cost me absolutely nothing
Checks out with my antenna analyser from 1.5MHz to 50MHz so all good! Don't think it weighs as less as yours though

I'd happily shares pics if I could only figure out how to post them(!?)

Working on the multiband principles of experimental antennas by Bonnie Crystal KQ6XA.
One antenna for all bands and low noise? Even if it turns out to be a compromise antenna, (aren't they all?), it'd be good to get back my full SWL capabilities without the 'noise holes' my fan dipole left me with

Love 'homebrew' stuff! Thanks for sharing.

All the best,
Victor

Hi victor. In order to post photos they first need to be online somewhere such as Flickr, Ipernity, Dropbox, Imgur etc, etc. (there are many more....most are free but some are not. I use Imgur which is free....link below). All you need to do then is to "copy" the BBCode and "paste" it into your comment / post here where it will "magically" turn into the original photograph. The BBCode will usually be found next to / near your online photograph. Hope this helps.

https://imgur.com/

Hiya Phil,

Cheers for that, really appreciated.

I shall try this out on my PC as the tablet is infuriating and hopefully it plays well with Linux.
I used Flickr years ago but all goes weird when a photo hits 'explore' and you get deluged with emails 'faving' your photo?!?! Never posted a photo outside of it's domain before, (old fart I am!), so I shall give it a go.

Again, much appreciated

Best regards,
Victor

not true what phil just said you can do without , give me a few days im working on it .

Oh i have another home brew antenna which is laughable if not got much space ! watch this space !

Victor wrote:

Hiya Phil,

Cheers for that, really appreciated.

I shall try this out on my PC as the tablet is infuriating and hopefully it plays well with Linux.
I used Flickr years ago but all goes weird when a photo hits 'explore' and you get deluged with emails 'faving' your photo?!?! Never posted a photo outside of it's domain before, (old fart I am!), so I shall give it a go.

Again, much appreciated

Best regards,
Victor

This is how to do it using Imgur.....other sites may be different.

Matt86 wrote:

not true what phil just said you can do without , give me a few days im working on it .

Oh i have another home brew antenna which is laughable if not got much space ! watch this space !

I'm not sure what you mean by "not true".....please explain.

Nice one Phil

I think what Matt means is he has another method for doing it(?) Maybe direct uploads to Charlie Tangos?
We'll see I shall wait with baited breathe Matt.

Cheers again guys, much appreciated. Sorry for flooding your great post Matt with my daft questions

Exactly, you can use the forum uploader or you can upload to ohotobucket etc a forum picture host and copy and paste a direct link . As said I'm working on a guide on my other list to do jobs .

Victor, have you come across my YouTube channel?

I have Matt. Enjoyed and subscribed

Thanks Victor.

Nice and aesthetic job. 
Inspires me to make my own but 64:1 (2 turns primary; 16 turns secondary) and setup new EFHW in the garden.
Could you please tell us more about the design? For instance what is the purpose of this capacitor? What is it's value? The toroid looks like FT140-43. If so then winding two turns makes a coil of 3.54uH Soldering a capacitor let's say 100pF in prallel with that coil makes resonant circuit for 8.459MHz. I gues its low. Could you please clarify this this a bit?

I too like your YouTube channel Matt. Keep up the good work. I was gearing up for some SOTA/POTA then this lockdown put a stop to it. So it's back to my trusty dipole in the loft at the moment, going to try a half square tomorrow. 

Hi Victor, do you have a link please to the bonnie crystal book you mentioned? Sounds interesting though a quick look hasn't come up with anything (I must try harder) Cheers.

Hi Dale,

Bonnie Crystal KQ6XA is a passionate Amateur Radio operator and exceptional designer & experimenter.
It wasn't a book I mentioned but some work she published online, (in various places as it happens).

Take a look at the link that follows, some interesting stuff -

HF Link Broadband Antennas

I've personally experimented with the Terminated Folded Dipole arrangement with good results but looking at the house roof/attic butterfly installation. Must get back on that, can't believe it was back in May!
(Still trying to get a volunteer to get up the loft for me and been difficult with the current world scenario).

Some people will argue it's just a long bit of wire to a dummy load but there's more to it than that


Anyway HTH.

Victor

Sounds interesting, let me know how you get on with it. Roger with the loft problems, I go up and ache for days afterwards plus I have an RSJ up there to contend with - plays havoc with the swr/resistance ect, thankfully I have an Analyser, I'd be lost without it. 
Thanks for the link, I'll take a look. 
Cheers 
73's 
Dale 
CT3550

No worries Dale.

Bit of a sod having an RSJ to contend with. Luckily we've got wooden beams and a recent heat exchange boiler upgrade means the monstrous big header tank has disappeared
Still can't get up there with my gammy leg though!

Yeah, handy having an analyser, I've got one of the MFJs and it's a god send for such things. You can imagine my surprise when I hooked up the T2FD, (hanging out the window), to find a flat SWR and solid impedance from 1.5MHz to 30MHz! I thought it'd never work but it's a good contender as the reception it gave was surprisingly good.

I just need some non-inductive power resistors so that I can do a final construction. That way when I grab a volunteer they'll only have to be up there once

All the best,
Victor