EFHW myantennas 4010P EFHW (End Fed Half Wave) Antenna with Spring Tension system, AL7PS
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- This is my End Fed Half Wave (EFHW) antenna, manufactured by MyAntennas. It's installed 40' feet high on one end and 5' feet high on the feed point end in Sloper configuration. Due to frequent high winds in my area, I'm utilizing a Spring Tension system on the antenna to prevent wire breakage during the duration of the installations. I'll show the SWR readings on this antenna from four HAM bands, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m.
The CMC choke is Myantennas CMC-130-3K. The earth ground provides lightning protection. All coax is RG8X.
This is AL7PS - Наука та технологія
Finally are real world set-up video with out the BS clickbait and dumb talk. This video gave me some great ideas, thanks!
I'm assuming your key is a Lionel J38? If so the shortening rod is missing. My is missing too... hi hi. The bolt broke off at the base, but the key still works great.
Great innovation, but I would think to combat rust from ruining your spring over time, it should be painted with perhaps a Rust-Oleum product ?
As for movement, especially of the ground wire, I wonder if the Copper will become,
" Work Hardened ", and fail over time ?
I have a similar issue with a Red Maple tree, that I'm hoping to get trimmed, so not to have an antenna pass thru it !
Thanks for your posting !
you should change that ground wire with a braided strap, not only does a braided strap carry HF better but it's far more flexible and less prone to fatigue. Solid copper wire will work harden and break pretty quick.
Greetings could you tell me what gain have the EFHW antenna. Excellent your video
W4EDY
I want one of these man! Will it work on 11 meter without tuning it out of the ham frequencies?
I have a CB base station and run CB's in the dump trucks on 11 meter and learning all I can off and on about ham radio.
I was ready to take my test then covid hit and sort of threw a monkey wrench in the gears.
da di da dit da da di dot dabblled a little in CW as well but not enough.
I have the same set up up but I use a counter weight.
I see a problem with your setup that you might have already experienced since this comment is 2 years after your video. If the tall tree that is holding the top end of your wire starts to bend toward the house (toward the low end of the wire), the antenna wire is going to go slack and sag. It might even sag enough to get caught in your other trees that the antenna is normally above. I would suggest putting a heavy weight in between the end of your rope and the top end of the spring. This weight needs to be heavy enough to take up much of the weight of the antenna. This will allow you to use a lighter weight spring that will give you a greater range of motion to handle heavy winds that sway the tree a lot. When you attach the bottom of your spring to the post, be sure to pre-tension the spring so that the antenna wire will stay taught when the tree sways toward your house. I hope that helps.
Couldn't you use the tuner to lower the swr? We're you running the efhw direct?
From the camera angle we see it looks like you don't know how to read your SWR meter.
I love TS-430/MFJ. LW6DGR.
You seem to have a lot of noise on this antenna. Even with the choke. I've made comparisons between a ZS6BKW and an EFHW 4010 67' and the ZS6BKW consistantly outperforms the EFHW with a much lower noise floor. I experience the same noise as you. Static and buzz. My ZS6BKW which I built 10 years ago is quiet as a mouse and much easier to pull weak signals out with. I'm still trying to make the EFHW work. If I didn't have the ZS6 to compare it to, I guess I would have thought it was a great antenna.....
I'm going to build a ZS6BKW to compare. Have always wanted to. Thank you for your educational comment. I appreciate it
Will this tune on 3980? John, AB4O
Excellent! KC3SSQ
Might try placing the choke outside.
Having the choke inside lets common mode come into the shack up to the choke.
The closer to the transformer, the better.
It has been relocated to within 1 foot of the transformer per manufacture recommendation.
How long your wire? And how many turns on the coil
Hey I also spent a year at King Salmon Alaska 👍🏻
loving the dog leash clip! i would have used a lump of metal for tension (e.g. sash window weight) as tension springs are notoriously unreliable.
Can you compare it to a dipole
If you had the space, could you add about 66' of wire to this EFHW-4010-P and add 80 and 30 meters to your band coverage?
Very interesting thank you.
great set up! i'd change out the solid ground wire for a heavy gauge multi-strand copper. N8XLQ. more paths to ground .
Myantennas makes good stuff
Nice video good clear visual, so many videos are hard to see the setup on these end feds. You did a very nice video and audio wise on this video, thank you. I’m going to be using an MFJ 1482MP this weekend for the first time. I’ve never used an NFed before looking forward to it!
Isn't the purpose of the common-mode choke to keep RF off the coax shield? Putting it at your rig doesn't really accomplish that, does it? I've never seen a choke of this kind placed anywhere except as close to the feed point (in this case, the transformer between the end-fed wire and the coax) as physically possible. I don't know what MyAntennas said about this, but you may want to consult independent (i.e., not-for-profit) sources.
Todd you are very correct. The choke was moved into the shack for this very reason. During the filming the choke was in the incorrect placement. Thank you very much for pointing that out. It's great when people like yourself point out "errors". Thanks again Todd
Sorry the music sent me running :(
I have seen where people want to run > 50' of coax from the unit to ensure that the coax is not a half wavelength of your desired frequency. Then I also see where people mount the unit very close to the shack to keep coax and ground wires as short as possible. I also see where people like to raise the unit up to 40' as well as the other end of the wire. So who is right? Which is best? ua-cam.com/video/iMbN_uDeyU0/v-deo.html
End feds are not better than a mobil antenna in geographic situation mobils are much in performs .
the Big problem with end feds is the qrn . I don't like those antennas in city environment .
Have you had to replace the cords yet? I used the same cording and it lasted about a year. It decomposed earlier thanni thought, glad i caught it before it broke. I replaced it with Dacron type cord. Maybe my Texas weather/heat got to it.
I've had mine going from 35' tree to my 15' roof and had misery of it snapping and coming loose. I'm definitely trying this. About how much tension do you use to keep it straight?. Great video!
How did you get the antenna up that high into the tree?
Very clever! I will use your system here. 73! WI9RHC. Milwaukee.
Martinez Matthew Miller Laura Thompson Laura
Great video! I've got to do this! BTW - from a retired musician, nice music!
Woot! Like #990
Like the video very much. I’d like to use a segment of it on my UA-cam show that helps encourage people to join our hobby as well as teach and help those who are already in it.
I like especially the SWR measurement section here. Thank you for taking the time to create this video.
I’ll be sure to credit your video and put a link to it in the description section of my video. Well done! Thank you for helping expand knowledge in ham radio.
Warm Regards,
Larry
de K7HN
Greetings from California.Thank you for the educative and practical antenna system explanation . There are two things that attracted the attention very much. This is apart from the antenna installation. 1) The spring attachment to take up a) slack of the antenna cable b) wind velocity movement and 2) the inaugural and concluding jazz music. The whole description had professorial gravity, meaning you were able to explain the procedure well to make the viewer understand the whole concept of what you did. We have (I have) very often viewed and heard people talk things that; they don’t know or they were unable to impart knowledge to others , properly. Your explanations were calm, cool and matter of fact. Thank you very much. Please stay safe. Best wishes and 73s
Wow, thank you for your kind words, it greatly helps. Glad you enjoyed it. Im in Lodi California.
Welcome, Sir. Keep safe. 73s
Great antenna and I bought them based on your video and review!! Shack and POTA activations and hunting! Thank you de KO4KHB 73
One of the best EFHW demonstration i have seen so far. What wire are you using for the antenna
Hall Richard Moore Jose Brown James
Moore Linda Hernandez Michael Brown Laura
What was the swr without the tuner. Whatever that is, it is still there with the tuner in the circuit. The tuner is just making the radio happy.
Almost exactly what the manufacture stated on the specifications. This is a very good quality EFHW from @myantenna
Hi I use a similar system but use weight and not a spring gravity works for you
Me too, Peter. I have used a pulley and weight to mitigate wind and swaying trees since the 70s without surprises. My 130 ft 80-10-2K EFHW is held up by the weight of two bricks (11 pounds) and a pulley about 15 feet out from the top of a big pine tree. --- 73, kc4i
Nice installation. I have to say I like your background music as well...lol! A 2 to1 SWR is only a loss of 10 watts if transmitting 100 watts. And you are correct, your transmitter can handle that. Especially after using the tuner to match the load to the transmitter. 73!
Love the sloper. It's been the next best rig. Other than dipole. Us army school trained. Get it up get it down quick. My home rig gets from Maine to texas and into Washington state and Oregon. All over a scrap hunk of wire no body wanted. Even got bits of plastic to wind the transformer near the ground. Like video tks de kv4li
yo, you a mainer?
Arent't you supposed to read the swr on the point where the needles cross ?
The swr is doable i guess, but i wouldn't call it good at this moment.
Are you gonna change anything to get it better ?
Correct, many changes have been made and now a Nano VNA Vector Network Analyzer is used instead of SWR meter. Now the antenna is 1:1.0 across all 4 bands with no tuner. Thank you
@@Greencountry209 Great video , thanks. What are the many changes made ? Will be buying this antenna soon. Thanks
@@dkk4751 Probably shortened the wire a bit at a time, MANY times. Too high priced. Make yourself the same thing for less than $40.
Nice setup, thanks for sharing that!
Great Job! I am just using a Home brew 4010 with a 49:1 Xfmr. If you Ate nor a member as yet, please go to the EFHW Group on Facebook. There are over 8500 members! 73 de K8KEM
Good deal. Yes I'm already a follower of that group. Learned so much from Steve and everyone.
Not familiar with my antennas but I would expect the coil on the wire should be at the far end of the antenna, not near the feed point. I couldn't find any instructions on their web page. You might want to check this.
The coil is placed exactly one quarter wave length on wire specifically, correct design
you are reading your SWR meter incorrectly. Also, why is the processor on for CW?
Reading it incorrectly? Do explain
Ken, thanks for this. I am running the MyAntennas 4010 also into an older Kenwood (TS-130s). Hope to meet you on the air one of these days! K7SBF
Your welcome. Thanks for visiting and comments
I thought the point of that half wave length end fed was that no tuning was needed? Great upload; I love your tensioner! Thank you!
In perfect conditions I'm sure tuning is not necessary, however, trees, buildings, height, slope angle all impact the antennas ability to propagate, thus a tuner for adjustments. Thank you for your comment.
How was the see on 17 meter band?
Well explained. Gave me some ideas thank-you.
Hey ken, I just bought the 8010P to replace a full size inverted V G5RV and I like your idea of the spring tension on the one end. The only difference in mine is that im going to mount the transformer end up high on the house sloping down to the other end of the yard. I dont have any trees on a 1/2 acre lot so im forced to use a fireberglass mast on the far end mounted to my fence. You mentioned that myantennas recommends the transformer box be mounted close to the ground but I cant seem to find that info on their website. They do mention that I wont need a ground wire if the box is mounted high because I have a grounded feedpoint before the coax enters my house. 73 Vince N3VMC
Hi there, there website does say to have it 4 to 6 feet above ground. It makes a difference. Also, you will not need a counter poise if at this height.
Hi Vince, I too have the 8010P and It's a great antenna. Head on to Steve Ellington's channel and he shows how to use the 8010 in general for 60 meters which really does work. I can easily now tune 60 with my radio's internal tuner. We use 60 for our ECOM. For my 60 meters to tune well, my feed point does need to be close to the ground. Once I raise the feed point pass a certain height, the SWR for 60 goes high and cannot be tuned by the radio. It's a trial and error kind of thing. My 8010P is up about 18 feet, goes horizontal for 90 feet, makes a 90 degree turn and slopes down. My feed point is less that 12 inches above ground. With this config, the other bands work well too. So glad I don't need a separate antenna for 60 meters. I'm getting good reports for 60 meters. 73s.
Greasy idea
What kind of spring did you use? I have to pull pretty hard on mine to get the sag out of it.
I bought it at Lowe's. It has one and a half pounds of resistance. The next step up was two and a half pounds. And then a 5 lb.
looks like a screen door spring
Thanks for the video.
73
wd4dda
Youre welcome
I'm curious about the 8' ground rod driven near the transformer, and connected to the unit's grounding terminal. I'll assume you did not bond this ground rod to the "other" rod which is presumably grounding your rig. Do you think there are any issues with ground currents flowing between the two?
Correct, the rigs in the shack have their own single point ground strap to a rod. What's the concern about ground rod next to transformer?
@ID_Bill yes and no...they say that as a CYA what happens is we tinker (it's in our DNA) with it and add on things like remote tuners and amps that may carry the unwanted current on another wire to shack. My issue is I didn't see a lighting arrestor. A second bonded rod or bonding to ground rod used by shack can all depends on how far ..is there a concrete slab so you can't bury it...lots to consider
@@Greencountry209 I know this was long ago, but to answer your question, ALL grounds are to be bonded together, including service panel entrance ground, shack ground, antenna ground and tower grounds. Grounds are not all at the same potential. By not bonding them together, you are making the coax braid the path for differentiate current. Not only that, but you have made the coax braid the path for lightning dissipation. It is also a code violation. NEC very clearly requires that ALL grounds be bonded together.
Bought one of their ended wire antennas. Came with no directions so I emailed them asking for a copy of the recommended installation instructions. Was told in an email reply that they figured I would be smart enough to know how to install it as all hams should know how to to do this correctly. For the over priced antenna I would have thought they might have some installation recommendations. Will not purchase from them again.
They are correct. "Instructions" are based on your equipment and deployment configuration. As a HAM yes you must understand common basic wire antenna principles. And even if you tried to build one, including the transformer, you would be around the same price to purchase. The track record across the web for the EFHW from myantennas is nothing but stellar. I've recently had a phone QSO over 7,400 miles away with just 90 watts in an Inverted L config. This antenna performs with a doubt!!!
@@Greencountry209 I wad looking firward to some expertise with this particular unit. I have jad several endfeds and each was quirky on their own Just because your a ham doesnt make you an expert in every different antenna by any means.
@@Greencountry209 Oh you could build this for $40. I have.
Thank you for the video report. What is your gut feeling on the radiation pattern?
I just worked 7,800 miles on 80 watts phone. Radiation pattern is amazing.
Very nice, thank you.
I hope to work you on that straight key on SKCC.
Does the wire going thru those two trees cause any problems?
It goes over one and thru another. No impact on HF. I just worked 5,250 miles with 100 watts. It's working great.
@@Greencountry209 Hi Ken,
Even with insulated wire you will find the frequency of resonance will decrease when the wire is in contact with leaves and other objects, especially out on the ends of the antenna where the voltage is high. This happens because of the added capacitance from the leaves and it may or may not be an issue for you, but something to be aware of especially if you are chasing the SWR all over the place. Ice loading will have a similar effect. 73, Don
Hi ~ what is the Gain of a EFHW ?
.5 wave on 40. 1 wavelength on 20. 1.5 wavelength on 15 and 2 wavelengths on 10M. So 2.1db/2.3db/3db/4db. 15 and 10M are gain spurs. I've worked from Russia to Japan on My Antennas 40-10 in an end fed inverted V. I compared my roof mounted Cobweb to my end fed inverted V on 15M today with someone in Spain. He said the V was 1 db stronger at his QTH.
I thought you’re supposed to have the common mode shock at the feed point not at the tuner?
Hello, not with an end fed half wave. Manufacture recommended for best results
I’m sure the reason to have the spring at the weighted end than the field end, is because, further the spring from the weighted area, lesser the spring action. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks.
I was struggling with the selection of a noise filter. Kinda pricey for about 50 ferrites around a coax , but a nice encapsulated container. And you said it works. Your video is well made and clear. I took note of the solid #8 copper used as a grounding conductor for lightning protection. That is a good configuration because it's there to conduct a lightning strike--not stray Rf......If it does break after a year or so of swaying in the wind simply splice it together again. I like that..☺
nice job.
Thank you very much
Do you need a tuner with this antenna
Nope, It's Awesome! That's why many SOTA (summits on the air) HAMS use them. I trimmed and tuned mine to be resonant on each band, 40, 20, 15, 10 meters, right in the middle of the band. The SWR is 1 : 1.9 at the worst. Used them for years, and not slowing down...
I don't use one and have SWR of 1:1.5 and lower across all bands. I've trimmed/tuned it to be resonant in the middle of each of the 4 bands. 40, 20, 15, 10. #notuner
Awsome! Keep it up!
Thank you, appreciate it
Im getting ready to do an antenna setup just like this. Is the RF choke necessary though? I thought grounding the antenna was enough to stop any RF coming into the shack.
Yes it's very necessary. Reduced noise. Mine is sitting ust before the radio. Grounding is for spurious discharge. And if you ground it you do not need counter poise.
I thought he advertised this as "no tuner needed"?
Yes, the ad is correct, to a great degree. An 80-10 EFHW typically has a low SWR at some chosen low frequency such as 3.55 MHz, and near its multiples of 7.1, 14.2, 21.3, and 28.4 MHz. Within those dips, one does NOT need a tuner. However, the tuner can be very handy at keeping the rig happy when using frequencies on the slopes either side of those dips which are frequencies with higher SWR. --- 73, kc4i
brilliant !!!
Thanks for the informative video about your EFHW antenna setup. I am thinking about trying one of these myself. I appreciate your comments about your setup and I will see what I can come up with.
Your welcome, hopefully I've shared information that can be put to use. For me, this is what being a Ham is about. Invent, create, design, test, troubleshoot and learn from our discoveries.