To clear up some confusion in the comments...It is clear to see that you have 5 turns on the core. Each time the wire passes through the center of the core it is counted as one turn. Even though the drawing we see in the video has 10 turns the 5 turn toroid as built will work but more turns are preferred. The fact that it is a tri-filar winding, no matter how many turns, will result in a 1:3 turns ratio which also results in a 9:1 impedance ratio. This could be made with just 3 turns but, again, more turns are preferred. 10 turns would be much better. No matter how many turns it will always be 9:1 impedance ratio because of the 3 conductors in the windings and the way they are terminated. A ground or at least a length of counterpoise wire is important to achieve a satisfactory SWR.
Interesting. Do you have a link for such of a schematic. If not, I am also assuming I can purchase one, but them may need the wire lengths. That for the main wire, and the counterpoise. Thanks. 73.
Paul, thank you for sharing your project. I learned a lot about a simple longwire antenna. Your construction was very clean and well laid out. Watching you go through the field testing was icing on the cake. I'm going to try building this antenna. I live in a hole so this would be the perfect antenna for me to run right down the edge of my property through a tree line.
Thank you so very much for this very wonderful, well put together and explained with hands on construction, I am saving this to my favorites because I also want to build this, you are very good at making instruction videos! with your explanation and showing step by step, it couldn't be any easier. God bless and have a wonderful day!
Thank you very much for this nice comment my friend 😊 When you will made this antenna you can use better toroid material 43 for better performance 😉👍 73 and good luck with your own antenna project! Paul OM0ET
Congratulations for such a neat video and for your hands-on experience. Loved it, I will surely try to make it. Thanks for making this video available, it's very easy for even a kid to follow your instructions.
Muy bueno el vídeo que realizó muy bien explicado y fácil de entender le agradezco su tiempo dar para enseñar a la que estamos aprendiendo de los que saben mas. 73
Great video. I tried this with 8 turns and it works well. I used a NEMA (waterproof) box and put rubber behind the SO239 to help make it water resistant. It's a fun antenna to use at my weekend house. I'll eventually put up something more permanent, but it's a nice, easy antenna to deploy and get on the air. Thanks and 73
It is probably obvious to the majority of viewers, but it should be stated that the building of any balun or even a unUN requires the use of enameled or specially coated wire (sometimes called "magnet wire"). The use of enameled wire is so that the wires don't touch each other and short out the circuitry of the windings. There can be NO SHORTING OUT between these wires. Take some care not to scratch the enamel of the wire down to the bare copper surface ( except where soldering of the end of the wire needs to take place--- and this requires a complete removal of the coating for effective soldering purposes). If physical separation of the wires can be guaranteed for the life of this project, magnet wire may not be necessary, and uncoated wire may be used, but not recommended.
You did a wonderful job awesome a true person who knows technical things you have the right tools to work with really really looks great and it's working fantastic awesome job my friend thank you for sharing from Atlanta Georgia
Thank you very much for this nice comment Joe 😊 I am very happy that my videos are not useless and can bring something for HAM's 😉👍 it asure me that it's worth to do this more. Thank you again! 73 Paul OM0ET
Really interestig vid. Thanks! I wanted a simple piece of wire for 80.. and hopefully 160. I was just SHOCKED what a low end fed wire can do! It's crazy. It's noisy, yes, but easy to put up. And other than the UNUN, its a simple piece of wire. I use it on all bands from 80 to 10. If anyone wants to see my experience, look for '80 EFHW & Multi tap UNUN. I'm not a youtuber tho... and don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just a simple QRPer in Michigan you see.... 73 OM!
Excellent! I have most of the parts needed. Just going to order the T15 toroid and build one of those myself. A very good video, thanks for making it and you earned my subscription. The built in SWR plot on your transceiver is very nice. 73's!!
Thank you very much for the nice comment! I wish you good luck with your own antenna Adam and look at my latest video about testing this antenna outdoors (part 3). 73
Uff, it's hard to say :D I really don't remember :) I've just fitted my tools and screws precisely on to all parts used in this project... Thank you for the nice comment ;) 73, Paul.
Some how I don’t think the SWR is 1.1:1 on all the bands because when you make the first contact and watch the SWR meter it’s reading just under 1.5:1 when talking so something isn’t correct here. There’s absolutely no way a 9:1unun is going to give a flat SWR like that on all the bands unless a dummy load is connected, it’s just impossible. Even the worlds best made quality 9:1unun wouldn’t give a reading like this.
Sorry but I am not an expert or proffesional... but I am happy that I don't need tuner and I can make a couple of QRP contacts when I am outdoors. The SWR meter range is 1 to 10 so is possible that small amount (about 1.4) may looks like 1 on that scale. But no matter if 1 or 1.4 - barely seen difference in looses. ;-) 73 Paul
SWR isn‘t everything. A 50 Ohm dummy load also has 1:1. For the low bands you need very long wire. On the higher bands the radiation profile has many peaks. For qrp a Fuchs antenna works fine. Always check if the ground connection is good.
Wow.. Awesome build wire Antenna..the swr test is so happy🥳 .. but Paul..the last qso .with only 5watt ..where was that station??.. was he far away from you in Kilometers?! Hi5 from P.K.NL😊
What material is the toroid you're using here made of? 🤔 Is it a solid yellow (usually type 6 ) or yellow / white (usually type 26?) The type 6 should be very similar to the type 2 (usually red) but with a frequency span 1 - 50 MHz while the red should be 1 - 30 MHz if I'm not mistaken. I recently made a 9:1 of a really small yellow / white toroid I had laying around after scrapping a SMPS since I couldn't find anything else in it but a solid green toroid which I can't figure out the material composition of, but I think it too is a powdered iron toroid. I made my 9:1 with 9 trifilar windings to compensate for the very small mass - outer diameter is only 18mm while the green one is only 15mm. Original recipe was 8 trifilar windings on a 240 size toroid. The transformer gives a low (1.1:1 - 1.3:1) SWR reading with a 45m long wire but it seems like it won't do much good under 7MHz and that's a bummer. Since I'm a pure digital (and morse) person I'm somewhat satisfied anyway since I get good NVIS coverage on the 40m band with the antenna about 5 m AGL, but my hope was that it would give better results. Well, it was free... I will of course re-make the transformer when I get hold of some usable ferrite mix toroid but it was worth the effort anyway... 😏
Hi! I used both of them (yellow/white[t205-26] and red/black[t200-2]) With y/w i have lower vswr, IMHO is not a reason to think that antenna works better.
You will find it better if you use three different colors of the wires as it will make it easier to get the right connection with the in and out connection .
Hello Paul, Thank you for your nice video. Just to avoid any misunderstanding, the measured good SWR is without using any internal ATU in your X5105, right ? Thanks - 73's. Stephane.
I don't think the problem is being lossy, as 2 or 6 mixes are more lossy/less efficient. The problem is that type 26 is not suitable for RF. I did fall into the same error of using the same core material, thinking that all powdered iron is equal, and believe me, power loss is not an issue. The issue is getting above 16MHz as it rapidly starts to decrease performance. Good for AM transmission, though. Just to summarize, you are trading off bandwidth for efficiency when you select this or that core material. I found out that, due to my mistake, type 26 is still useful in the lower frequencies. Far from ideal, of course, indeed. I wouldn't use it for 40 meters. But it is far more efficient that type 2 or 6 materials at 500KHz-4MHz.
Hi Paul, Interesting video nicely done. I'm curious about one thing, bearing in mind I'm a newbie. You gave signal reports of 59 on both calls but the S meter didn't show that. Do you have to make some adjustment to the reading? Is it just QRP convention?
Hey Paul, no, it's not only in QRP. 59 in general also means that you hear the station "clear and loud". Most of S-meters are not correctly calibrated, or not on same values anyway. Best 73, Paul OM0ET
Great job on the video. One thing I must have missed, but why are you testing the continuity between the 3 wires? All of the wires are bare and touching each other throughout the turns. So there will always be continuity between any of the combinations of the 3 wires. Please help me understand what I missed? Thank you..
Encouraged by the prospect of turning my collection of old PC power supplies to some use, I opened them and found the cores are only 27mm in diameter. What diameter was yours? I presume from the part number you gave, it is 33mm or 1.3" and I presume the smaller 27mm ones could not be used? thanks...
I am not sure now, but one advise, ferrites from PSU's are not very good for this purpose. They have high loss. Good one is a FT140-43 toroid material. ;)
@@OM0ET Thanks for your help! I think I will have to buy a new one to be sure of what I am getting, or wind an experimental one, and see what the analyzer says.
Very good workmanship, and good building skills. Got my Tech. Lic. in 2012, then had to put everything into storage for some years and just recently started trying to get back on the air, so I've basically started over with re-learning -- so my question(s): I see references to 1:1, 4:1, 9:1 Baluns...how do I determine which I'd need to use? After I homebrew an antenna, what do I need to measure to determine which type of Balun/transformer I need for that antenna, and how many turns it needs, etc.? Can anyone explain what needs to be measured in regards to the antenna and feedline, to determine what balun should be used? Thank you for your time and assistance.
Baluns are used to transform impedance and as a typical modern transceiver has a 50ohm tx/rx impedance the balun or unun will match the radio to the antenna impedance. A typical half wave dipole has a nominal impedance of 50ohms (30 - 70) there fore a 1:1 current balun would be used to block common mode currents on the coax. The antenna in this case is balanced and the radio is unbalanced, Bal-un. A folded dipole antenna is nominally 200ohm at the feed point so a 200ohm to 50ohm (4:1) balun would be used. The end fed long wire antenna has a high impedance of between say 200 and a 1000ohms at the feed point and so a 9:1 ratio is often used and the end fed wire is also un-balanced like the radio therefore a un-un is used. When I made my unun and tested it and it did not work well across the entire 1.8 - 30MHz range that I wanted, I had to reduced the number of turns until I got the performance I wanted, therefore there is often a bit of trial and error to get these thing right.
Thanks for the video and I did subscribe. I found and bought that 9:1 unun on eBay and bought one. One question I have why did you put the puller above your cement and bar? Do you think when wind blows or ice it will raise. Also, are you concerned about it being cover up with snow. Looking for ideas. Thanks
Great video. for sharing. I built mine as per your U tube and it works just fantastic. .By adjusting the CP and the angel of the antenna wire I can get the SWR below 1,5-to -1 Thanks for sharing BOB AF2DX
Thank you, once again for the video. I can imagine the joy you have derived at the result of the 'unUn" matching transformer, you made. The SWR reading was perfect. Your TX/RX set X5105 is quite remarkable. I will procure one, once my license is ready. What is your comment on X5105? By the way, I'm on the process of making your "Random Wire Antenna matching "unUn"9:1, transformer. You inspired me. Thanks. Stay safe and 73s
Paul, you say the wire length is 20 meters. I thought random wire antennas were not supposed to be resonant to any one band. What was the actual length in feet, please. Thank you.
Always love me some antenna videos, and testing. It's weird, but a HAM could have great antennas for every band, but he/she would still build/buy more. Your latest antenna is just a temporary fix until you get the next one. *lol*
Thank you! 😊 Sometimes is difficult to build own antenna because of no time, no space, no tools or no materials. Then is much easier way to buy a new commercial one 😉 Thank God I have this possibilities hihi. Have a nice day 🙋♂️ 73, Paul
Hi, could you explain once you fitted the heat shrink and wound the wires you used an Avo to test which wires were which but they were all touching together creating continuity between all of them so why did you test them ? Does it matter which route the wires take as they are ostensibly one wire split into three at each end. Thanks gold little video👍
Hi Paul. Thank you very much for your work and for your excellent videos. After I saw this video, I made myself a 9:1 UnUn with a toroide from an hold PC power source. With a 20m wire and 11,5m counterpoise wire, the antenna its working on 160, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 19 meters band's. On 80m the swr it's very high. I am trying to figure out what is going on with this. But this is a very simple to made and a very good antenna for QRP. Keep the good work. 73 from CT2JAW
Thank you , you may want to explain the use of litz wire and why you scraped the ends for those who are trying to figure out the continuity testing . Nice work om
I used a lacquered wire that I found in a bucket. I had to scratch the lacquer at the ends of each wire so that they could be further solder. And thanks for watching my video! ;-) 73
Loved this video exactly what I was looking for and if you had not made it I'd still be looking for an answer to my long wire +balun project , all the best from m0omt stu in the uk
Thank you very much Stu for this nice comment 😊 When you will made this antenna you can use better toroid material 43 for better performance 😉👍 73 and good luck with your own antenna project! Paul OM0ET
Great result from your antenna build. Your QTH must be an ideal location. Down the road a few KM and result might not be as good. QRP OP's that experiment with antennas know this so don't expect too much. We are happy when the antenna works better than expected. Great video and build. KB8AMZ
Thank you very much Terry! 😉👍 Yes QTH location is important but I believe that not so much when we work on short waves. We QRP'ers just need a good propagations, high point to hang an antenna on a quiet place without QRM and everything is fine 😀 73 Paul
I think you would get better results with the long wire higher off the ground plus add a counterpoise, but surprisingly you got good results even with 5 watts.
Yes Gary you are right. But was late afternoon and i was hurry to quick set up antenna and do short test until darkness will come. I was there just for 30 min 😁 and had 3 QSOs with 5W. Not bad 😂 73
The SWR might be misleading. Is the ATU on the radio turned on or off. It appears to be on. The SWR might be the reading that the radio sees but not the SWR of the antenna.
Good video. For newbies, can we clear the info in that your socket is an SO-239, and not a plug, e.g. a PL-259... I'm definitely going to have to make this!
I observed,in many videos making so called balun or unun that they never tell why they use that only toroid, that only wire (dia).and what will the measuring parameter for which it is made for
Wow, Paul that has got to be the best build vid I have ever seen, I’ve seen good ones but had to watch again and again to catch the odd connection and the like. Your camera work and the attention to detail you give your viewers is very impressive this is the standard everyone should try to master. Great SWR results off the bat. OM0ET , I salute you and your Awesome vid👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼Regards 26CT3250. 73
I am new to antenna construction and grounding. During your demonstration using your tuner with the finished antenna, what would the ground have been connected to if you had used it? A stake in the earth?
Thank you very much Jim for watching and nice comment! ;-) Actually I wanted to use a counterpoise too and I don't know why, the signal was slightly better without counterpoise so I decided to not use it :-) hmm... 73, Paul
A 9:1 unun is usually paired with a random wire (i.e., a length that isn't resonant on any ham band), but I thought I heard you say you are using a 20m wire (which would be resonant on at least 20 meters and wouldn't have the right impedance for a 9:1 unun)? Did I hear you wrong?
Depends on your antenna input impedance. If 200 ohm = 4:1 or 450 ohm = 9:1 for matching to your 50 ohm output from transceiver. It means that 200:4=50ohm or 450:9=50ohm.
Hey, Just thinking out loud here: You don't want to test it? as in: take 450 Ohms of resistance across the 2 poles and check that it shows 50 Ohms on the so239? It looks good and feels like it's working and all, but that's the first test I'd have done I reckon :/ Thanks for the vid ;) Made me want to do one!
But i don't have the antenna analyser. Sorry :-) I mesured this antenna with Xiegu X5105 transceiver and internal graphic SWR meter. Thank you for watching my video and your interest btw! ;-) 73
My friend, that's what about my channel actually is - experimenting, testing, comparing, review... so the answer is, why not? 😁 Source you can find in the video description.
Nice work! I have a question about the toroid you used. It's yellow with white, which looks just like the T130-26 toroids I have from another project. Is that what you used, instead of the toroid in the VK6YSF plans?
Hi Ralph. This yellow toroid was used before in an old PC power supply unit. I don't know exactly what type they are using in this PSUs but is fine for this antenna 😊👍
You should not tin a wire that goes into a connector with a screw to retain the wire because the solder cold flows. You tighten the clamping screw, then the solder cold flows and makes the connection loosen. The connector should either be soldered to the wire, or if you use the clamping screw, the wire strands should be left bare (untinned). If you want to keep the weather out of the connector, you can use a bit of silicone grease (sold in auto parts stores as sparkplug boot grease). This will waterproof the connection. 73 and good luck! WA2SKO
Thanks for the great video, but I notice that you use a type t 6 toroid, do you think make the same thing with a FT toroid? Thank you, best '73's de IU7FKX
To clear up some confusion in the comments...It is clear to see that you have 5 turns on the core. Each time the wire passes through the center of the core it is counted as one turn. Even though the drawing we see in the video has 10 turns the 5 turn toroid as built will work but more turns are preferred. The fact that it is a tri-filar winding, no matter how many turns, will result in a 1:3 turns ratio which also results in a 9:1 impedance ratio. This could be made with just 3 turns but, again, more turns are preferred. 10 turns would be much better. No matter how many turns it will always be 9:1 impedance ratio because of the 3 conductors in the windings and the way they are terminated. A ground or at least a length of counterpoise wire is important to achieve a satisfactory SWR.
Thank you very much for this very informative and clear comment 😉👍 Have a nice day and 73. Paul 🙋♂️
explained very well.
Interesting. Do you have a link for such of a schematic. If not, I am also assuming I can purchase one, but them may need the wire lengths. That for the main wire, and the counterpoise. Thanks. 73.
@@k2icc vk6ysf.com/unun_9-1_v2.htm
With three conductors there’s one primary winding and two secondary windings, a wind ratio of 2:1, isn’t that a match ratio of 4:1?
I am glad to see you using a PoziDriv screwdriver on the PoziDriv screws. So many people use the wrong screwdriver
Paul, thank you for sharing your project. I learned a lot about a simple longwire antenna. Your construction was very clean and well laid out. Watching you go through the field testing was icing on the cake. I'm going to try building this antenna. I live in a hole so this would be the perfect antenna for me to run right down the edge of my property through a tree line.
Thank you John! If you will made your own antenna, try to use 16,2m or 42,5m long wire for your UnUn. Good luck with your own project! 73 Paul
Thank you so very much for this very wonderful, well put together and explained with hands on construction, I am saving this to my favorites because I also want to build this, you are very good at making instruction videos! with your explanation and showing step by step, it couldn't be any easier. God bless and have a wonderful day!
Thank you very much for this nice comment my friend 😊 When you will made this antenna you can use better toroid material 43 for better performance 😉👍 73 and good luck with your own antenna project! Paul OM0ET
Congratulations for such a neat video and for your hands-on experience. Loved it, I will surely try to make it. Thanks for making this video available, it's very easy for even a kid to follow your instructions.
I am so happy for your kind comment Kamal ;) Thank you! 73, stay safe! Paul.
This is inspiring! I need to build this antenna! Thank you so much. Brilliant presentation! New ham here!
Beautifully done! And another excellent video as well. Some wonderful results. Cheers!
Excellent content.
Thanks and 73 from Osasco, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Thank you 4 watching! 🙂
SWR 1.1 across the band. Unbelieveable. You said it!
Amazingly informative and concise. Perfect video! Thank you!
Thank you for the nice comment! :-) 73
Excelente e obrigado pela aula. Muito didática. Perfeita!. 73 Hugo Ruas front Brazil.
SUPERB DEMONSTATIONS, VERY HAPPY WITH YOUR 9.1 UNUN , 73S
Enjoyed you making the 9:1 yellow balun and 20 meter long wire antenna. Yes, it worked well. 73
Muy bueno el vídeo que realizó muy bien explicado y fácil de entender le agradezco su tiempo dar para enseñar a la que estamos aprendiendo de los que saben mas.
73
Very good project - Well done - Thank you for sharing !
Good video, very clear with both the construction and operation of the Antenna
Thank you! 😉
Paľo išlo Ti to super. Gratulujem. 73!
Dakujem! 😉
Thank you for sharing this video. Cheers and 73!
Great video. I tried this with 8 turns and it works well. I used a NEMA (waterproof) box and put rubber behind the SO239 to help make it water resistant. It's a fun antenna to use at my weekend house. I'll eventually put up something more permanent, but it's a nice, easy antenna to deploy and get on the air. Thanks and 73
Great! Tim I hope you will enjoy this multiband antenna! 😃👍 Good luck and have fun! 73, Paul.
It is probably obvious to the majority of viewers, but it should be stated that the building of any balun or even a unUN requires the use of enameled or specially coated wire (sometimes called "magnet wire"). The use of enameled wire is so that the wires don't touch each other and short out the circuitry of the windings. There can be NO SHORTING OUT between these wires. Take some care not to scratch the enamel of the wire down to the bare copper surface ( except where soldering of the end of the wire needs to take place--- and this requires a complete removal of the coating for effective soldering purposes). If physical separation of the wires can be guaranteed for the life of this project, magnet wire may not be necessary, and uncoated wire may be used, but not recommended.
great workmanship,well done.
Absolutely stunning vid, congrats.
You did a wonderful job awesome a true person who knows technical things you have the right tools to work with really really looks great and it's working fantastic awesome job my friend thank you for sharing from Atlanta Georgia
Thank you very much for this nice comment Joe 😊 I am very happy that my videos are not useless and can bring something for HAM's 😉👍 it asure me that it's worth to do this more. Thank you again! 73 Paul OM0ET
Another great video!
Thank you and 73!
Thank you very much! 😉
What ferrite toroid core did you use here?
I couldn't find any L15 on eBay.
I used yellow toroid from the old PC switching PSU
Ah, nice.
I've few old PSU around.
BTW, I found this chart:
www.karinya.net/g3txq/chokes/
Pretty useful :)
Yes but i am sure that better cores could helps.
Thanks for the great information Paul. Hope to hear you on the band. Roll on cycle 25
Thank you Dave! :) 73, will see you once on the air! Paul.
Nice antenna build. Works very well!!
Thank you, yes i will test it more times in the future. I doesn't need tuner, that's good. 73 ;-)
Great presentation Paul, many thanks for sharing.
Thank you Bharat! 😉👍 All the best! 73, Paul
That is the coolest drill bit I have ever seen ;)
Excellent build Paul, you always make it look so easy.
Happy the swr was so low across the bands. 73 my friend & good DX
Thanks Preston! ;-) 73, Paul
Really interestig vid. Thanks! I wanted a simple piece of wire
for 80.. and hopefully 160. I was just SHOCKED what a low end fed wire can
do! It's crazy. It's noisy, yes, but easy to put up. And other than the UNUN, its a simple piece of wire. I use it on all bands from 80 to 10. If anyone wants to see my experience, look for '80 EFHW & Multi tap UNUN. I'm not a youtuber tho... and don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just a simple QRPer in Michigan you see.... 73 OM!
Excellent!
I have most of the parts needed. Just going to order the T15 toroid and build one of those myself.
A very good video, thanks for making it and you earned my subscription.
The built in SWR plot on your transceiver is very nice.
73's!!
Thank you very much for the nice comment! I wish you good luck with your own antenna Adam and look at my latest video about testing this antenna outdoors (part 3). 73
Very nice project that’s on my list to make. Thank you 😊 73🍺🎙
i wish you good luck with your own project. I used the toroid core from old PC switching PSU. :-) 73
Dobrá inspirace vyrobím a vyzkouším. Akorád to bude od vrchu dolu jako sloper. Pozemek mám asi těch 20 metrů.
Love this video lots of information easy to under stand thank you in spring will build one like the link 73
Thank you for a great video - very instructive - will be making one!
Thank you. Wish you good luck with your own antenna! 😉
hi, very nice work. can you share the dimensions used? for the step drill, screws, banana jack, drill bit size?
Uff, it's hard to say :D I really don't remember :) I've just fitted my tools and screws precisely on to all parts used in this project... Thank you for the nice comment ;) 73, Paul.
Espectacular!!!, intentaré hacer una... Gracias por la aportación a los colegas radioaficionados, OA4Y... 73!
Gracias! ¡Te deseo una antena! Te deseo mucho éxito en el trabajo. Estreñimiento y 73. Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo! Paul OM0ET
LA RUEDA AMARILLA ES UN IMAN..?
Some how I don’t think the SWR is 1.1:1 on all the bands because when you make the first contact and watch the SWR meter it’s reading just under 1.5:1 when talking so something isn’t correct here. There’s absolutely no way a 9:1unun is going to give a flat SWR like that on all the bands unless a dummy load is connected, it’s just impossible. Even the worlds best made quality 9:1unun wouldn’t give a reading like this.
Sorry but I am not an expert or proffesional... but I am happy that I don't need tuner and I can make a couple of QRP contacts when I am outdoors. The SWR meter range is 1 to 10 so is possible that small amount (about 1.4) may looks like 1 on that scale. But no matter if 1 or 1.4 - barely seen difference in looses. ;-) 73 Paul
SWR isn‘t everything. A 50 Ohm dummy load also has 1:1. For the low bands you need very long wire. On the higher bands the radiation profile has many peaks. For qrp a Fuchs antenna works fine. Always check if the ground connection is good.
It counts as a good video only for them who do not understand the matters. I would not recommend this to anyone.
@@marcisberzins why wouldn't you?
Wow.. Awesome build wire Antenna..the swr test is so happy🥳
.. but Paul..the last qso .with only 5watt ..where was that station??.. was he far away from you in Kilometers?! Hi5 from P.K.NL😊
What material is the toroid you're using here made of? 🤔
Is it a solid yellow (usually type 6 ) or yellow / white (usually type 26?)
The type 6 should be very similar to the type 2 (usually red) but with a frequency span 1 - 50 MHz while the red should be 1 - 30 MHz if I'm not mistaken.
I recently made a 9:1 of a really small yellow / white toroid I had laying around after scrapping a SMPS since I couldn't find anything else in it but a solid green toroid which I can't figure out the material composition of, but I think it too is a powdered iron toroid.
I made my 9:1 with 9 trifilar windings to compensate for the very small mass - outer diameter is only 18mm while the green one is only 15mm. Original recipe was 8 trifilar windings on a 240 size toroid.
The transformer gives a low (1.1:1 - 1.3:1) SWR reading with a 45m long wire but it seems like it won't do much good under 7MHz and that's a bummer. Since I'm a pure digital (and morse) person I'm somewhat satisfied anyway since I get good NVIS coverage on the 40m band with the antenna about 5 m AGL, but my hope was that it would give better results. Well, it was free...
I will of course re-make the transformer when I get hold of some usable ferrite mix toroid but it was worth the effort anyway... 😏
Hi! I used both of them (yellow/white[t205-26] and red/black[t200-2]) With y/w i have lower vswr, IMHO is not a reason to think that antenna works better.
You will find it better if you use three different colors of the wires as it will make it easier to get the right connection with the in and out connection .
Hello Paul, Thank you for your nice video. Just to avoid any misunderstanding, the measured good SWR is without using any internal ATU in your X5105, right ? Thanks - 73's. Stephane.
26 mix 9:1 would be pretty lossy, I would use a 2 or 6 mix in a pinch, 61 mix ferrite core would be the best option to minimize losses.
I don't think the problem is being lossy, as 2 or 6 mixes are more lossy/less efficient. The problem is that type 26 is not suitable for RF. I did fall into the same error of using the same core material, thinking that all powdered iron is equal, and believe me, power loss is not an issue. The issue is getting above 16MHz as it rapidly starts to decrease performance. Good for AM transmission, though.
Just to summarize, you are trading off bandwidth for efficiency when you select this or that core material. I found out that, due to my mistake, type 26 is still useful in the lower frequencies. Far from ideal, of course, indeed. I wouldn't use it for 40 meters. But it is far more efficient that type 2 or 6 materials at 500KHz-4MHz.
great results thanks so much
very nice! excellent workmanship, also!
Thank you 😊
Hi Paul, Interesting video nicely done.
I'm curious about one thing, bearing in mind I'm a newbie. You gave signal reports of 59 on both calls but the S meter didn't show that. Do you have to make some adjustment to the reading? Is it just QRP convention?
Hey Paul, no, it's not only in QRP. 59 in general also means that you hear the station "clear and loud". Most of S-meters are not correctly calibrated, or not on same values anyway. Best 73, Paul OM0ET
Great video! Thank you!
Great job on the video. One thing I must have missed, but why are you testing the continuity between the 3 wires? All of the wires are bare and touching each other throughout the turns. So there will always be continuity between any of the combinations of the 3 wires. Please help me understand what I missed? Thank you..
They are enamelled wires
Encouraged by the prospect of turning my collection of old PC power supplies to some use, I opened them and found the cores are only 27mm in diameter. What diameter was yours? I presume from the part number you gave, it is 33mm or 1.3" and I presume the smaller 27mm ones could not be used? thanks...
I am not sure now, but one advise, ferrites from PSU's are not very good for this purpose. They have high loss. Good one is a FT140-43 toroid material. ;)
@@OM0ET Thanks for your help! I think I will have to buy a new one to be sure of what I am getting, or wind an experimental one, and see what the analyzer says.
@@jonathanwarner1844 Yes my friend. I wish you good luck with your experimenting ;)
Very good workmanship, and good building skills.
Got my Tech. Lic. in 2012, then had to put everything into storage for some years and just recently started trying to get back on the air, so I've basically started over with re-learning -- so my question(s): I see references to 1:1, 4:1, 9:1 Baluns...how do I determine which I'd need to use? After I homebrew an antenna, what do I need to measure to determine which type of Balun/transformer I need for that antenna, and how many turns it needs, etc.?
Can anyone explain what needs to be measured in regards to the antenna and feedline, to determine what balun should be used? Thank you for your time and assistance.
I have found this website with infos about this topic: www.highonsolder.com/ham-radio/baluns-ununs/
Thank you.
Baluns are used to transform impedance and as a typical modern transceiver has a 50ohm tx/rx impedance the balun or unun will match the radio to the antenna impedance. A typical half wave dipole has a nominal impedance of 50ohms (30 - 70) there fore a 1:1 current balun would be used to block common mode currents on the coax. The antenna in this case is balanced and the radio is unbalanced, Bal-un. A folded dipole antenna is nominally 200ohm at the feed point so a 200ohm to 50ohm (4:1) balun would be used. The end fed long wire antenna has a high impedance of between say 200 and a 1000ohms at the feed point and so a 9:1 ratio is often used and the end fed wire is also un-balanced like the radio therefore a un-un is used.
When I made my unun and tested it and it did not work well across the entire 1.8 - 30MHz range that I wanted, I had to reduced the number of turns until I got the performance I wanted, therefore there is often a bit of trial and error to get these thing right.
@@petermiles6557 thank you very much for fully explanation! 👌
Thanks for the video!
hacia muchos años que no veia un video sencillo explicado y montaje de los componentes,.juan cx3et.
Thanks for the video and I did subscribe. I found and bought that 9:1 unun on eBay and bought one. One question I have why did you put the puller above your cement and bar? Do you think when wind blows or ice it will raise. Also, are you concerned about it being cover up with snow. Looking for ideas. Thanks
Very good antenna. Did you try with ground/counterpoise? What was the length of the radiating wire?
Great video. for sharing.
I built mine as per your U tube and it works just fantastic. .By adjusting the CP and the angel of the antenna wire I can get the SWR below 1,5-to -1 Thanks for sharing BOB AF2DX
Thank you, once again for the video. I can imagine the joy you have derived at the result of the 'unUn" matching transformer, you made. The SWR reading was perfect. Your TX/RX set X5105 is quite remarkable. I will procure one, once my license is ready. What is your comment on X5105?
By the way, I'm on the process of making your "Random Wire Antenna matching "unUn"9:1, transformer. You inspired me. Thanks. Stay safe and 73s
Thanks for nice comment! 😊 X5105 is my the best QRP I ever had! If you will made random wire antenna, use 17.6m long wire and 9:1 UnUn 😉👍
OM0ET, thanks for the suggestion. Wilco. 73s
Thanks you for contribution..............
Great video. How long did you make the counterpoise? Have you used your counterpoise?
Thank you. Counterpoise was 5m long.
Thanks for the question
Paul, you say the wire length is 20 meters. I thought random wire antennas were not supposed to be resonant to any one band. What was the actual length in feet, please. Thank you.
One of best videos i seen
De a71br
Oh thank you for the compliment!! 😊
thank you very good video
Thank you very much my friend! ;-) Happy new year! Paul OM0ET
Always love me some antenna videos, and testing. It's weird, but a HAM could have great antennas for every band, but he/she would still build/buy more. Your latest antenna is just a temporary fix until you get the next one. *lol*
Thank you! 😊 Sometimes is difficult to build own antenna because of no time, no space, no tools or no materials. Then is much easier way to buy a new commercial one 😉 Thank God I have this possibilities hihi. Have a nice day 🙋♂️ 73, Paul
@@OM0ET You're welcome, and I'm in a temporary location with no tools, space, etc., so I know how that is. lol
Hi, could you explain once you fitted the heat shrink and wound the wires you used an Avo to test which wires were which but they were all touching together creating continuity between all of them so why did you test them ? Does it matter which route the wires take as they are ostensibly one wire split into three at each end. Thanks gold little video👍
Hi, it's simple. the wires are enameled - isolated each other. All turns have to be lead in one - the same direction. No matter which direction.
Slightly off topic: what is this velcro case that you are using for your x5105? I have not seen this available but it is a perfect solution!
I bought it with my TECSUN PL600 receiver 😃 Fits great for X5105 👍
Hi Paul. Thank you very much for your work and for your excellent videos. After I saw this video, I made myself a 9:1 UnUn with a toroide from an hold PC power source. With a 20m wire and 11,5m counterpoise wire, the antenna its working on 160, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 19 meters band's. On 80m the swr it's very high. I am trying to figure out what is going on with this. But this is a very simple to made and a very good antenna for QRP. Keep the good work. 73 from CT2JAW
Hi, out of interest Paul how long did you make your counterpoise wire? Bill G6ATO
Great build and video. Are you able to make available the plans for this UNUN? The link in your description is offline now. Thanks
Dumb question. Does the ground go to the actual ground?
Thank you , you may want to explain the use of litz wire and why you scraped the ends for those who are trying to figure out the continuity testing . Nice work om
I used a lacquered wire that I found in a bucket. I had to scratch the lacquer at the ends of each wire so that they could be further solder. And thanks for watching my video! ;-) 73
well thought out process and details
Thank you Philip 😊👍
Loved this video exactly what I was looking for and if you had not made it I'd still be looking for an answer to my long wire +balun project , all the best from m0omt stu in the uk
Thank you very much Stu for this nice comment 😊 When you will made this antenna you can use better toroid material 43 for better performance 😉👍 73 and good luck with your own antenna project! Paul OM0ET
Good step-by-step guide and very impressive results on QRP.
73 de SP2DMZ
Thank you for watching 😉
Great result from your antenna build. Your QTH must be an ideal location. Down the road a few KM and result might not be as good. QRP OP's that experiment with antennas know this so don't expect too much. We are happy when the antenna works better than expected. Great video and build. KB8AMZ
Thank you very much Terry! 😉👍 Yes QTH location is important but I believe that not so much when we work on short waves. We QRP'ers just need a good propagations, high point to hang an antenna on a quiet place without QRM and everything is fine 😀
73 Paul
God bless and have a wonderful day!
Thank you and God bless you to! ;-) 73
I think you would get better results with the long wire higher off the ground plus add a counterpoise, but surprisingly you got good results even with 5 watts.
Yes Gary you are right. But was late afternoon and i was hurry to quick set up antenna and do short test until darkness will come. I was there just for 30 min 😁 and had 3 QSOs with 5W. Not bad 😂 73
why you are not using the ground cable?
The SWR might be misleading. Is the ATU on the radio turned on or off. It appears to be on. The SWR might be the reading that the radio sees but not the SWR of the antenna.
Tuner was turned off
I love the video , can you tell me what box you are using I want to start using them instead of the 4"x4" electrical boxes here in the US
Thanks! :) Here is the enclosure: www.soselectronic.com/products/kradex/z56js-ip67-tm-abs-261228
@@OM0ET Thank you so much . Saved me hours of looking I do believe.
Good video. For newbies, can we clear the info in that your socket is an SO-239, and not a plug, e.g. a PL-259... I'm definitely going to have to make this!
Thank you. When you will make it, I advice to use a better toroid core material then mine 😉👍I wish you good luck with your own project 😉 73, Paul
I observed,in many videos making so called balun or unun that they never tell why they use that only toroid, that only wire (dia).and what will the measuring parameter for which it is made for
Wow, Paul that has got to be the best build vid I have ever seen, I’ve seen good ones but had to watch again and again to catch the odd connection and the like. Your camera work and the attention to detail you give your viewers is very impressive this is the standard everyone should try to master. Great SWR results off the bat.
OM0ET , I salute you and your Awesome vid👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼Regards 26CT3250. 73
Thank you so much for your very kind comment! ;-) Have a nice day and good DX! 73 Paul
I am new to antenna construction and grounding. During your demonstration using your tuner with the finished antenna, what would the ground have been connected to if you had used it? A stake in the earth?
Paul, great video. I really enjoyed many of your assembly techniques. I am curious why you didn’t attach a ground or counterpoise.
Thank you very much Jim for watching and nice comment! ;-) Actually I wanted to use a counterpoise too and I don't know why, the signal was slightly better without counterpoise so I decided to not use it :-) hmm... 73, Paul
A 9:1 unun is usually paired with a random wire (i.e., a length that isn't resonant on any ham band), but I thought I heard you say you are using a 20m wire (which would be resonant on at least 20 meters and wouldn't have the right impedance for a 9:1 unun)? Did I hear you wrong?
Electric heat is better than the flame. The flame is fine for emergency repair. I use my heat gun and get beautiful results.
just wondering why you didn't simply twist the wires together.
Nice video!! Please, tell me, when can i use a 9:1 and a 4:1 balun? Whats the difference? 73's from Brazil.
Depends on your antenna input impedance. If 200 ohm = 4:1 or 450 ohm = 9:1 for matching to your 50 ohm output from transceiver. It means that 200:4=50ohm or 450:9=50ohm.
Don't use a chocke after the balun?
Hey, Just thinking out loud here: You don't want to test it? as in: take 450 Ohms of resistance across the 2 poles and check that it shows 50 Ohms on the so239? It looks good and feels like it's working and all, but that's the first test I'd have done I reckon :/ Thanks for the vid ;) Made me want to do one!
But i don't have the antenna analyser. Sorry :-) I mesured this antenna with Xiegu X5105 transceiver and internal graphic SWR meter. Thank you for watching my video and your interest btw! ;-) 73
No worries, just need a multimeter for the measurements since it's all wired up ;)
Have a look at the unun link and see the AIM 4170C antenna analyser plot viewing a 450ohm resistive load through the unun.
vk6ysf.com/unun_9-1_v2.htm
I did it already. Yes it's 50ohm when is 450ohm resistor placed between antenna and ground poles. It's almost in all bands same. 😉
Very nice craftsmanship and a professional looking video. I now feel confident in building this 9:1 UnUn for my longwire antenna. Thanks and 73!
Thank you very much Gary for the nice words! I wish you good luck with your own UnUn. 73 :-)
Do you ever have a problem with cold solder joints?
Nope :) Never
Love your videos thank you
Thank you for your support 😉 73 Paul
Why are you using an autotransformer? Is there some advantage of this over a transformer with primary/secondary isolation?
My friend, that's what about my channel actually is - experimenting, testing, comparing, review... so the answer is, why not? 😁 Source you can find in the video description.
Goodnight. I want to ask a question. The physical earth if you connect it to the balun? 73!
Hello Martin. The counterpoise is required on the UnUn 9:1. If is not proper ground you can use a wire or a long coaxial feedline. 73
@@OM0ET Thank you Paul!
Nice work! I have a question about the toroid you used. It's yellow with white, which looks just like the T130-26 toroids I have from another project. Is that what you used, instead of the toroid in the VK6YSF plans?
Hi Ralph. This yellow toroid was used before in an old PC power supply unit. I don't know exactly what type they are using in this PSUs but is fine for this antenna 😊👍
Yes, seems like this one: www.tme.eu/en/details/t130-26/ring-ferrites/micrometals/
@@OM0ET Yes, that looks like the one I have.
@@prizmev 😉👍
Nice work greats
73s from TI5WNF in Costa Rica
Thank you! :)
You should not tin a wire that goes into a connector with a screw to retain the wire because the solder cold flows. You tighten the clamping screw, then the solder cold flows and makes the connection loosen. The connector should either be soldered to the wire, or if you use the clamping screw, the wire strands should be left bare (untinned). If you want to keep the weather out of the connector, you can use a bit of silicone grease (sold in auto parts stores as sparkplug boot grease). This will waterproof the connection. 73 and good luck!
WA2SKO
Thank you! :) 73
Beautifuul work and good response in R.O.S. SWR 1.1:1....fantastic de in3ufw
Grazie Marco! Thank you for the nice comment. 73 😊
brilliant work Paul (y)
Thank you!
Thanks for the great video, but I notice that you use a type t 6 toroid, do you think make the same thing with a FT toroid? Thank you, best '73's de IU7FKX