End Fed Antenna Magic: Incredible Results with a VERY Long Wire Receive Antenna
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- A Full Demonstration and Exploration of How We Can Improve Reception. This is a full demo! Fantastic bit of science here - you will love it. Discovering the Amazing Capabilities of Predictive Science: I predicted some good receive ability - but I wasn't prepared for this. What else can we do to improve it again? Maybe we should transmit through it too! Please let me know what you think! Here's the links:
• Ham Radio Livestream o... - Original Stream these clips came from
• Fascinating VERY Long ... - Very Long Wire - Original video
73
Callum.
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I believe you are doing more for the future of ham radio than 99.9% of the rest of us. Thank you again.
I do this for me - but it's fun to share too!
Thankful you like to share.
When I was a 15-16-17 year old I had an HF radio and I would listen during all of my down time and every single time I heard hams chatting about antennas, antenna testing, tips/tricks, debunking silly designs, etc etc etc. Your series of antenna testing videos are what I need! It wasn't until you tested the vogue LOG antenna that I actually decided to try it. Keep it up Cal!
Nice one Bob!
During Lighthouse Weekend we use a 400+ foot long end fed antenna. We were located on a cliff about 100 feet above salt water. The antenna was supported by a 40 foot tall flag pole in the middle. To date it was the best antenna we have used at this location. We were at the Horton Point Lighthouse in Southold, NY
Being an End-Fed guy currently... I will now be buying a DX Commander because of your fair review. Thank You!
Have confidence :)
Just thought I'd make a quick comment on this gentleman. I wrote to him once about something I don't even remember.
He actually wrote back in under ten minutes. I had never previously written to him either.
He's a very down to earth guy. Very innovative as well.
Glad you had a pleasant experience..!
A couple RX antennas I have is a 450ft loop on the ground, using a home-brew binocular torroid 9:1 transformer, and I also have a nearly 500ft beverage antenna, 7ft off ground, oriented towards Europe. I left my beverage "ungrounded", or without termination on either end, which enables it to be bi-directional on the RX signals. Both antennas are 14AWG stranded copper wire, and fed with 75ohm RG11 coax. Both are great tools in the ham radio tool box. My beverage, hands down, is my best RX antenna bringing weak signals to the forefront simply by reducing noise ratio from the signal. One TX antenna I use is an EFHW cut for 160m, 64:1 transformer, put up in an inverted-L configuration, also made of 14awg stranded copper wire.73 and thanks WD9M
Lovely!
Naturally, you are earth grounding the side of the transformer connected to the aerial wire. The other side of the transformer, leading back to the shack, is of course never earth grounded.
Your antenna is working well. I've never been a fan of endfed antennas myself. I've built 1000 ft loops fed with 450 ohm line and they seemed to tune a lot easier with the auto tuners and with low Rx noise. I had one at my HF station in Maui on the beach at 35 ft off the ground with 14 guage wire and it worked well for 1.8 to 7 MHz operation. I used fixed beams pointed to the US mainland for higher frequencies.
I used to love those auto-tuners. And yes, they LOVE big antennas..!
Cal I just had a conversation with a friend that has an end fed pointing east west and how he can hear Vancouver from his farm just outside of Moose Jaw. We didn’t understand why he could receive well along the length when we understood the transmit signal is strongest broadside to the wire. I still don’t understand but you just proved it’s not uncommon. Cheers from Moose Jaw
Tim VE5THF
I've always enjoyed the older books, and not just on subjects like this. In the days before the internet and whatnot, it was more about making do with what you could actually get your hands on, as opposed to what you could afford. It is always neat to go through those old books and see the things that we have generally moved beyond and kind of forgotten over the years, but are still very valid and useful today. There's a lot of that "old school" stuff I learned over the years that I still find incredibly handy in my job as a bike mechanic, despite all the electronic doo-daddery they absolutely jam into those things these days.
Very, very cool stuff. Really looking forward to see what else you dig up from the book.
Yes Thor.. We will try a few more!
Great video! Love seeing the two audio feeds in the headphones.
Wonderful experiment and demonstration, really goes to show how much a quiet receive antenna helps. Not just signal to noise but it's also easier on the ears. 👍
Yes, exactly :)
Absolutely brilliant and so enjoyable to watch. Every time you walk around a field with a reel of wire, sometimes in the cold or drizzle, you post a video, and it feels like we’re there with you! You continue to experiment with ‘things radio’, (which, as we know, is the purpose for which we were all granted amateur radio licenses), and you share your results, good or bad, with the rest of us, to increase our knowledge. For this, I thank you, and long may you continue to make these videos…73.. John..G4EIJ
Yeah, I know.. The colder and wetter it it for me, the more you enjoy it! LOL
Superb again Cal! Your enthusiasm is contagious 🤠
Haha.. You need to feel sorry for Wendy! :)
Wow... I'm about to put up a long fence around my property. Thanks for doing the experimentation. Really looking forward to following the progress.
Nice
Especially well done Callum, this is a prime example why most of the contest stations use beverages/recieve antenna's, "Phat" example of a good tech example/educational story. Respect!
Good point!
Hello Callum: I love your energy as well as your continued strive for bringing us groundbreaking antenna information + the digital data thru your videos. Most hams think they know antennas but in reality it's what there buddy said or out of the ARRL HANDBOOK. O'l chap please keep on kicking it up,
73's , good health, 👍, God Bless. TMP, Unit 22 from N.J.
Erergy.. Yes, even though I might be wrong sometimes :)
I run a 80 to 10 meter 59:1 End Fed Half Wave antenna with about 132 feet long wire in a Inverted VEE up about 32 feet using a army surplus mast held up with a T-Post and rebar into the base wrapped with plumbers tape. I've had great results with this antenna, background noise is low. I also use a 20 foot counterpoise as well.
THIS IS AWESOME. I operate portable (SOTA) so every activation is a set-up in a new location, new conditions, varying ground conditions... etc. I'm also packing light so I don't have a bunch of meters/analyzers with me and the majority of my time is eaten up by the drive and the hike. So... watching your in-the-field experimentation with those variables made me feel A LOT better about my gear. Everyone acts like their "No-Tune Antenna" acts the same on the summit as it did when they analyzed it at home. THIS VIDEO explains that... no, there are so many other variables other than your antenna length when you deploy. Grew leaps and bounds watching this several times. Thank You!
i'm in the center of Ohio and had a sched. with my father on Long Isand mornings for many years. I've tried several types of antennas. My best success came from a twenty meter dipole that is strung below the eves of my home. It is about 30 feet long and I can almost reach up and touch the feedline . It works best for contacting Dad on 40 meters!. Another oddball contact occurred on a CB whip antenna I tuned to 40 meters. I live below grade and the antenna was laying on the floor. I heard a station, called him, and he responded. I misheard his location and was shocked when he told me he was in Hungary!
The fun of RF!! HAHA
not sure how I got here but this brought back fond memories. in the last 60s I built a heath kit receiver (still have it and last time I checked, it still works on the original tubes!) and ran a wire out my bedroom window to a walnut tree out in the field, end fed. I used to listen all night real quiet so my parents couldn't hear, keeping careful records of where I could identify the sender. This was in California and I listened all over the world. Good ole days...
Great memories! And thanks for popping along!
This is the kind of content that really inspires me with amateur radio.
Ah! Fabulous :)
I'm quite literally a 100watt guy with a wire in one of my apple trees (Yaesu FT-857 with N9SAB OCFD). Thanks for thinking of us! I actually need to admit that I have a piece of scrap wood clamped to a flag pole with some old 3/4" and 1" tent poles cobbled together for a 3 element 10m beam. Was able to get a fella from Ukraine using FT8 from Northwest USA pointing across the Pacific. As a new ham, this is all pretty fascinating. Measured the yard this afternoon and realized I can probably run a 130 foot long EFHW across the back yard for 10-80m. Now to save up to get the parts to build. Really appreciate your content!
Diamond!
I've been using a "snake antenna" on 160m for years. I increased the length to 250 feet recently and worked 43 stations on the Stew Perry with only 5 watts from Massachusetts. (Both transmit and receive) The antenna sits on the ground but I was told to put it on top of some logs and that would increase the performance. Very nice presentation: Fantastic results.
I bought an end fed (40m long) several months ago and contemplated how to erect it. I think I’ll do as you did: start with the grove of trees in the back yard but really high, then make an L back towards the house over an even higher tree. I have a mechanism that will allow my drone to release the wire. Excited!
Great videos.
Fabulous!
I love the leg kick when you're throwing the wire.
Yes.. I think I almost took-off!
Excellent video Callum. I used 500 metres of electric fence cord as a Beverage at no more than 1 metre about ground, pointing at North America. The end was terminated in a potentiometer connected to an earth rod. The pot was adjusted to peak signals at the receiver. This was obviously a 2 man job, or at least man and daughter with mobile phones. The results were remarkable on 160 and 80, many local nets we audible in the US and Canada that were completely inaudible on my 160metre horizontal loop or 3/8 wave end fed for 160 (190 feet long, mostly at 40 feet high). It's great to experiment at minimal cost. The biggest expense was bribing the daughter to help me.🤣
Fabulous story! Thanks for sharing!
Very impressive. I enjoy these antenna R&D videos. Please keep them coming. Can't wait to see the other heights and end grounded.
Thanks, will do!
I’ve often wondered what a real long wire would do. Great presentation.
Many years ago I met a American veteran living Canada, whom served in Italy. He is/was a ham. He told me he dragged a long wire on the ground up Monte Casino. He stated that long wire could reach his HQ better than anything the other guys had(with shorter antennas). He stated it was very directional. The part he hated was repairing the long wire when the German snipers kept cutting his wire. VE6KBI Dana - enjoyed your video. Thanks
Great comment!
Well done - great info. I may try this on my hunting lease, which is ~175 acres
Woah! Do it :)
17:59 Bits of wire... I wholeheartedly agree! I'm still "young" in ham radio, but that comment resonates with me a LOT as I don't run an amplifier. Thanks!
This video was awesome!!! Thanks for being entertaining and informative. Amateur radio needs more Elmer’s like you.
Wow, thanks!
Brother you did it you got your 3to 4. More DB with the long wire wow. Works great. Thankyou. KC9LRA. Bob. . Indiana.
Yeah, it's truly wonderful..!
Callum, when you say the antenna faces the USA, does that mean the broadside length of wire faces SW or does the end of the wire face in that direction? Thanks
Off the end
The wire has end fire as on 20m its multi wavelength
Feedpoint is opposite USA..
@m0mcx I have a 49.1 balum with a 130ft length of element , would it be possible to run another element in the opposite direction.
Hello from Kentucky,USA. I’m a new amateur..enjoying your vids…
Welcome!
the beverage antenna is very good and would work 12 inches off the ground
I used to work aurora and meteor scatter in the early 90s on a G5RV on 2m FM when it was in the "down" position for high winds. It ran North/South at about 2m above ground, it lay along the top of a old thin hawthorn hedge. Compared to a 4 element yagi and a 2 element quad up high it had load of gain. I recall experimenting with some barbed wire fence-tops too out on the moors, using a field gate to create a break at the feed point. IIRC I used croc clips to a chocolate block connector on the end of coax lol.
Again, worked good for auroral if N/S, and I worked some 200km stations to the south that were completely inaudible on a vertical colinear on the car. That was the clincher, a long wire oriented end-towards the target station at 2M would produce nothing end-on UNLESS it provided good gain off teh end of the wire (needs to be very, very long in terms of wavelengths)
Can't remember how i fed these long wires at VHF now - my mind i blank for matching arrangements. Age is a killer lol
edit:I believe I used the original NEC on IBM PC XT to check out the pattern/gain potential. All DOS-based programs and quite a lot of hand-plotting of the output onto graph paper. MININEC made life easier later on.
edit2: I recall seeing some graphs in an ARRL antenna manual, possibly in the beverage, vee or rhombic sections that gave a clue of likely gains. 30 years ago now, memory is hazy sorry.
You took the words out my mouth...Age is a killer!
There is a ZL running a 606m wire sloping down a hillside i believe he is in the ZLWRTC team heard on 20meters about 5 days ago
land I have and wire is cheap! I am just considering what radio to buy but a long wire is a game changer. The snow fence is up and your low budget,long reach wire sounds like a good choice.
Just found this channel. I live for antenna experimenting and I'm loving your content thus far.
Welcome aboard!
I just bought a 2.5 acre lot with a chain link fence around the perimeter. I am going to try this technique. Thanks so much for the inspiration Cal! 73 K6TjO formerly of CA now residing in OK
As a newb in VK3 with a farm to turn into an antenna farm, this is tremendously exciting.
Ah great!
That's been my experience too. I run an OCF random wire dipole on a 4:1 balun, 205' on one leg 90 something on the other leg about 3 meters up. The noise just disappears. It's awesome. Thanks for putting this out, can't wait to try this on a longer setup!
Recently.. Performance has tailed off.. I need to check what's happened.. Maintenance probably!
My secondary antenna is a, "straight," piece of wire extended across 12 hectares. I use it for receive. I can pick up aviation beacons across the continent sometimes.
I’m sharing this. I hear so many stations calling cq, then the whole North America answers the cq but the station doesn’t copy anyone.
This with a qrm eliminator would solve a good part of the hearing issue big gun stations have.
73
Agh! I know :)
Hi Calem !! I've just come across you doing this really good bit here.. !!! Great, it's nice to see people learning and discovering the arts of antenna's.. I am a very old hat !! Merchant Marine Radio officer from the past ,, I was looking on the internet at how the modern day ham "looks" at wires antenna's of various descriptions. I was really amazed to see not much info at all !!! ,,,, and there you are !!! explaining the concepts,, through experimentation ,,, "well done" . It only gets better,,,, (good song that),,, thing can only get better !!!!.. At the moment I have 2 old fashion un-terminated V-beams, one is 320 mtr up at 40 mtr, and the 2nd is at 70ft and 120 mtr legs,, no1 points NW/SE,, no2, North and South over the poles,, not much in it really,, but amazing difference is signal strengths,,, I think when you get yours up a tad more, to lower the angle, the difference will be really there,,, to be seen.,, carry on, I will be looking with interest at your results,,,, my very best regards to you,, and your followers .. Carl
Hello.. I think your name might be Carl. Welcome.. Yes, I'm mucking about with wires! V Beams also fascinate me, not sure I have the room.. See you again soon, I absolutely LOVE your credentials!
You love to play antenna. I wish I had that room to just have fun and try it.
I experimented with a 49:1 and a wire as long as I could afford. The transmission is highly affected by the height, as expected. I used a very long fishing pole in the middle so it looked like an inverted V. Transmission and reception improved dramatically. Time and weather didn't allow me to continue experimenting but I have a 20m wire to install on top of my apartment, about 20m above ground. I have high hopes in this configuration
Great stuff Cal mate.. see you on the bands.. 73
FAB!!
Thank you for these insightful and informative comparisons! I've been thinking about setting up something just like this and now I'm even more motivated
Do it :)
Hallo. Keep up the good work. You are going to wright direction. Personally, had a chance to work with 9km long wire for couple of nights (working for telecom company which had just layed new route of air cable). Been working some crazy dx like i was local with them. If you like to research wire antennas a bit more, try horizontal angle antenna (2 wires in form of V, like a horizontal angle, some 9-11 wave lenghts of desired freq). ...have had some pretty good experiance
Fantastic!
Nice to see you so excited about your experience, which is what the best of Ham Radio is all about.
Couldn't agree more!
Thank you for investigating the transformer end feds. I love my homebrew transformer and wire.
Your testing helps us in our ham radio practice. I am a visual learned so videos are priceless
Perfect!
Brilliant! That length of wire did the trick! There’s always more to learn about this hobby. Thank you!
You bet!
Man with the tractor and hedge cutter will love you Cal. Interesting results I have a 240 m wire at my portable location. It does receive very well.
I did ask landlord if I could trim all these and he wasn't keen... Grrr.
For some reason, this video is just hitting my feed. Fabulous video. I am so encouraged by your spirit of experimentation and innovation. This is what originally attracted me to the craft. I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on the need for more focus on antennas as a key--perhaps THE key--component of the experience.
Although my CW skills are weak, I can imagine that this antenna would have just as dramatic impact on CW-receive as it does for SSB.
Yes, I am sure too.. Imagine being able to hear that well on CW..? Hell, you could get anywhere! :)
I will have to live vicariously thru you on this one. Wish I had access to enough space to give it a try my self.
Wow this is fascinating. I know very little about this subject but I follow you
Welcome aboard!
Nice one Callum! I once had a 1000 feet Beverage at 5 feet above the ground, pointing to the USA, in a field sloping to the north-west. I did some pretty good measurements, and it seemed that it was giving me about 20dB signal to noise advantage over my transmit vertical on 80m trans-Atlantic! It was lovely to hear the delight in the voices of the state-side guys with their "apple-tree" wire antennas! 😀
Yes, I'll bet that was a delight!
Congratulations on a great antenna project... I love it when a plan comes together!
Thanks!
Now this has me thinking how I can run a long long loooong wire here... very interesting info and tests .. great job Callum!!
Go for it!
Nice Intro Callum. 73 Joe
Coming back to the hobby young man, this video is f*** epic !! Glad to see you’re fit and well brother ❤❤
Appreciate it!!
by the way i'm liking the studio i'm also a muso, and the same year as you born.. keep up the good work Callum
Cool, thanks! Happy 65 :)
This was actually exciting 👍👍
Interesting stuff! So wild to see what a dead simple wire antenna can do!
Take care and God Bless.
Yeah! :)
I really enjoyed this video!!
Thanks!
Interesting. In a local EMMCOM zoom meeting I was talking about listening. Listening is just as important as talking as you may hear something no one else does . Great stuff! 73 de KE5ES
So true!
Turn it into a beverage antenna and you'll be impressed with the lower noise floor!
Indeed and I think in the video, we discussed doing that. Soon. Bits on order.
One of my first contacts, on a borrowed 30w national tube radio on 40m using a full size 1/4 wave antenna on 40m I built on top of a barn with a good set of ground radials, was with a station in Antarctica , built by a scientist with a long wire pointing north ! I was the only one who could hear him, and he only responded to me !
Lovely!
Hi Cal! This is the content i love your channel for! Hope to catch you again on the air :) .
For sure!!
Hello Mr DXCommander, ive copied one of your ideas, and I have made a loop on the ground with 4:1 in my garden; it works like a dream. Finally, I can receive stations outside the EU; I love the idea of a long wire and will wait for more tests and results; I may use this type of RX antenna when operating a portable QRP station. Best regards many 73,s de M7SZY
Fantastic!
genius brother really cool
wishing you the best
God bless you and family
Thanks, you too!
Very nice work, Callum. Looking forward to following experiments with this loop!
More to come!
Great video Cal, thanks for doing what some of us cant do, no room for a long wire. looking forward to more of this experiment with interest
Am enjoying great reception on my BOG antennas here Callum, so simple and yet so effective, I run mine un-terminated such they are bi directional.... what a game changer.
Is also fantastic for medium wave DXing as well, very effective BCB, 160, 80 and 40 meters. Having the pre-amplifier out there at the pickup point 200 feet behind the house helps out a lot as well... Fun stuff de KC2UT Jerry
On the ground? OK, we'll also try that. Hang on :)
@@DXCommanderHQ affirmative on the ground..
Very good experiment. Thanks for posting. Love the long wire antenna, often underestimated.
Thanks for watching!
Many many years ago I helped someone string a wire from a tall tree over here to another tall tree waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over there. Estimating from my memory, I would say it was about 300 meters of slightly sloping ground between the two trees. The middle of the sag of the antenna was about 3 meters up from the ground at that point. The uphill end where the rig was was maybe 4 meters up.
This antenna seemed to let him get contacts with people along the line off the end from quite far north in north america down to place south in south america. He had a great big receiver and transmitter about the size of his key and worked on CW out to those ranges. I think when you get to many wavelengths of wire, almost all the power is in a cone around the end.
The best bit was this, " tall tree waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over there" HAHA!!
@@DXCommanderHQ The number of "a" is an accurate dimension :) :) :) :)
I did a test with a 64:1 on a 250-metre-long barbwire fence at a height of 90cm and it went brilliantly.. Also on the 4ometerband p a lightning rod on a chimney 70 meters high... Also pefect! urbanTX-ing!! 73 de PD4TZ 44-11
Lovely.
For receive it would probably be best to have an amp directly at the antenna. this way you retain the SNR that you get directly at the antenna's terminals and can get away with a cheap coax for feeding
I have a 66ft wire on top of my garden fence with a 9.1 balun, its great for cutting the noise down on 40m and nothing else,
I love experimenting. What your doing is a lost art of this hobby.
Yes, I guess I'm a bit odd! :)
Awesome experiment, I will watch the rest while at work.
Thank you! Cheers!
Great video Cal. See you Friday for the livestream.
I enjoy your channel
My dad was a ham radio operator and him and I did a lot with ham radio
Minus the British accent you look and sound like my dad
Awe!!
@@DXCommanderHQ if I get you to say I’m a midwesterner accent “Larry hold that darn flashlight still” lol 😂
Love the down to earth approach Get R Done
I have an arrow connected to fishing line ready to shoot over the tree for my new sloper. I just like to listen! First nice day! I practiced a few times took the tip off!
I have a Boston terrier chasing the arrow ha haha just having fun!
knew that bow would come in handy. I use a 1886 loop for mw reception
I have received am radio stations 800 miles away on a good night.
New York to Chicago. I was that kid with a transistor radio under the bedsheets.
Keith Fenner loves that expression "Get R Done" :)
Thanks for sharing the results of your work.
No problem 👍
That's a beverage antenna , a bit short for your best gain. You have read the excellent book on beverages, steerable beverages and placing nulls. A ground wire at the base will help you enormously too. You have a good rural location. Cheers from Taos W5yb
OK, so a Beverage uses the magnetic portion of the signal against the earth - where this is a traditional end fed. They look the same but work differently.. Nearly right.. Beverage on the way!
I just started running the wire for a 40 meter 1 wave length long wire antenna. It is mounted about 5 feet above the ground. I'll let you know how it works.
Oh, yes please!
Wonderfull! I will try. Thank ya Callum. HNY 2023!
Have fun!
This is very interesting experiment thank you and I look forward to your future antennas
Yes Peter.. I'm loving it.. Already planning a switchable array..
you are amazinig Callum 😀 im doing some tests like you , to find out with antenna will be best for me. I love discovering new experience
Have fun! I love re-discovering stuff..
Well that is quite astonishing. Some good stuff you are doing Cal. 73 de John G0KTW
Hiya John.. Yes, it's quite amazing.
Absolutely fascinating. Yet another great video
Thanks again!
Your video got me to thinking about a receive antenna using the wooden privacy fence in my backyard then I ran into a partial spool (about 300' of 1000') of 16 awg stranded wire at a thrift shop and with some screw in eye loops to thread the wire through I now have a horizontal V loop (2 sides of the fence) running on the north and east. The bottom part of the loop is about 2.5 feet off the ground and the top part about 6 foot one continuous run the feed point is on the lower part of the run about 2/3 of the way from the V. Used an old balun and some coax to feed it into the house. It works better than I thought also got it to tuned on 40 and 80 running low power with VarAC was able to be heard into Europe and the West coast here according to the PSK map.
Great!
Just watched the video.
Looks really interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing future results of your other tests with the long wire.
I use a little over 40m of wire which was in an inverted L configuration 6 m high but recently added another 6m drop at the end which has improved the whole setup loads.
I get out extremely well with a low swr on 40 through to 10 but still a bit noisy on the receive.
Shaun M7HSA
Nice
Excellent, looking forward to your other videos on this
More to come!
Absolutely fascinating, only wish I had the brains to properly understand what you're doing
Me too!
Interesting experiment for sure. I also like to refer to the older antenna books too. There are some interesting and simple ‘forgotten’ designs in those books. It would be very useful just to check and eliminate any coax feed differences between the antennas (perhaps swap them over and conduct similar experiment just to be sure one coax feeder hasn’t gone ‘soft’). I’ll keep watching with interest. Happy New Year!
Nick M1DDD
Yes Nick. Good idea..