X-Tenna Variable Ratio EFHW Antenna
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- Using the X-Tenna Variable Ratio EFHW antenna as a temporary antenna while working in Poland #EFHW #antenna #amateurradio
For more information on this antenna go to:
www.etsy.com/s...
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![[กูเพิ่งซื้อมึงปิดหนี] 20 นาที ผมรีวิวเกมที่แย่ที่สุดในโลก CONCORD](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XhC-3q3Ii7I/mqdefault.jpg)
I know perilously little about short wave radio and I still find your content interesting - a sign of a good instructor. Be safe over there!
Thank you so much Kimberly! That means a lot to me. See you guys when I get back to the states!
Hello.
Welcome back, to European HF area. Hope to catch you on the air this weekend. Thanks for a videos.
Thanks! Hope to catch you on the air!!
Walt, thanks for sharing. That’s an awesome antenna! I recently “discovered” the EFHW, so to speak. I started with the KM4ACK EFHW kit, which uses a 49:1 transformer. After building that kit, it motivated me to try and build my own. I bought enough supplies to make 3 antennas for about 50 bucks..Making the 49:1 transformers is pretty straight forward, and it seems to work very well for the bands I would like to use.
Thanks Nate. I need to build the KM4ACK kit. It looks good.
(KC8YBC - Xtenna) Walt, great video, visibility into the exciting XTenna products is much appreciated. 73s
Jon, it's a great product. Looking forward to making other antennas with it.
73, Walt K4OGO
Enjoyed listening to the QSOs. Looking forward to using my G90 next week along the shore of Lake Michigan while on vacation out there.
Thanks for watching, good DX my friend! The G90 is an awesome radio for portable ops.
Walt your channel is great as it is. I would suggest you to add more QSO in your videos. But just as it is it's much better than all those YT channel that only buy, review and configure stuff.
You're doing a great job!
Thank you so much! I will take your advice and possibly add more. Just didn’t want to bore people with too many QSOs. All the best and 73!
Well done Walt. I enjoy seeing the things that interest you....Thanks a bunch..😁😁😁
Thanks so much Kenneth!
Explain the three impedances and their real world use. Love your practical use of qrp
Thanks for watching! I should have probably gone into more depth on that. That’s a good subject for another video.
I was also curious about the switch - looks like there’s only one 240 toroid in there so is it interrupting the windings ? Or how’s it work?
@@downsouthsafaris6788 that would be a great question for the builder. Have a look at his Etsy page and contact him
you sounded good in Norway.. it’s always fun to hear a recording of the audio from the other side. looks like you “got it going on” over there.. hope to make a qso with you soon.. ! thx for sharing your experience.. keep the videos coming.. 73, k0klb
Thanks so much Kevin, same to you, I absolutely love the Corntenna video!
I just finished tuning mine. Great antenna.
Yes, I like this antenna a lot!
A great video and yes, the antenna is interesting too. A good antenna is only good if it has proven itself with QRP. Just like with the Xiegu 5105 and its 5 watts. Ok keep it up, subscribed to the channel.
Thanks! and thanks for subscribing!
To bad you missed the Greenfest on sunday 7aug22. we were on 40 mtrs activating multiple parks and fauna &flora. 40 mtr band was full of operators. I would have loved to work you here in Belgium. Perhaps in one of the coming days/weeks. Thanks for sharing. Love your channel.
ON4RF , Filippe
Thanks so much Filippe! Hope to catch you on the bands!
Thanks for the QSO and thanks for promoting my channel!
Thank you for the awesome video clip. I’m hoping a large part of my subscribers will subscribe to your channel. It’s one of my favorites.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES I won’t complain if they do. And thanks for the kind words. I’ll try to point my subscribers your way as well!
Great video Walt. Hope to catch you while you are in Poland.
Thanks Stuart!! I'll be very active on the weekends, hope to catch you!
Good one Walt, great video! Looking forward to good conditions and doing a QSO with you from ZS..
Thanks Mark! Yes I’m hoping we can make that happen!
Another great one Walt! That antenna looks great. It reminds me of some of the qrpguys builds. I just bought the qrpguys kit for the 40/30/20 triband that has a switch as well. Taking it off-grid with the (tr)usdx in a couple of days. I'll have to maybe get this X-Tenna for my next trip!
Thanks! I have that triband antenna, it’s great. You will love it.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES I just found your video on the triband. Very cool! Have you tried their EFHW 40m-15m with tuner kit? I'd like to see how that one works for you. With no tuner on the (tr)usdx I'm trying to figure out ways to get max performance!
@@av3510 I have the QRPGUYS EFHW and it’s ok but I kinda remember really using my ATU to use it.
Great video. I’m definitely going to look into getting one of those xtennas. Have a good one! Be safe!
Thanks my friend!!
Loved it!
Thank you!
Great video Walt, pleased the trip is going well.
Looking forward to the MW/SW stuff, plenty of pirates between 1611 to 1710 most evenings, most are Dutch but you may get the Greek ones and a few others 👍🏼
73 Franco
Thanks Franco! I’m actually scanning the bands tonight for them! 73 Walt
I’m in the U.K. and Pirate activity seems a bit quiet on SW up to yet (20:01 UTC). Hopefully things liven up later! I’ll send you a list that might be helpful via Twitter. 73 Franco
@@FrancoDX yes I’ve heard HitMix on 6.185, noise floor is horrible tonight. Looks like things are going to improve tomorrow
A couple of questions... You cut the wire to 67 feet. Were you going for resonance on any bands, and did you achieve it, or did you use a tuner?
On their site, the FAQ they say to avoid half wave lengths. In fact, they suggest 71', 58', 41', 35.5', and 29'. Did you try any of those lengths before settling on 67'? What inductance ratio did you select? Last question, did you use a counterpoise, given they have sockets for the wires on the other end?
I have a few different end-fed antennas, including the X-Tenna, the Sparkplug antenna, and the K6ARK micro efhw kit. I'm thinking of building one of the last with some of his micro traps, to see what performance I get.
If I'm going to use a tuner, I usually gravitate on one of the designs for a W3EDP end fed. They come in 3 sizes. I have a full size up as my main wire at home, and it works fairly well, but it's not up as high as I'd like. I'm old and not very mobile, so getting the far end up in a tree is extremely difficult.
I want to mount a permanent set of halyards in a couple of trees in my backyard, so I can experiment with wires up in the air to a decent height.
I am whether or not you use a tuner because the Sparkplug antenna is supposed to be resonant on several bands, including 20m, but I can't get the SWR low enough. 40 and 15 we're great, but not 20m. If you have to use a tuner anyway, I might go with a W3EDP from the beginning.
I can send you links to the implementation I use, if you're interested.
I actually trimmed it to about 67 to make it resonant on 40 which worked out well. I did have to use an ATU on other bands. I did the traditional EFHW setup and used 49:1. I'll revisit the antenna with the other options. I've typically used a 9:1 for those lengths you mentioned as a random wire setup. You have me intrigued now and I need to do some more research.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES Something to make things easier...if you want to use those tiny banana jacks but have already used up the 3 they give you, they are NOT 2.5mm as they claim, they are 2.0mm banana plugs. I got a bag of 30 male/female pairs on Amazon for under $9. That'll give you enough little bullets to be able to plug your different length wires into it easiy. You'll need to figure out strain relief so you can use different wires, but that's not a big issue.
I'd purchased some 2.5mm banana plugs, and was very annoyed to find that they were too big. So I double-checked with a 2mm clutch pencil lead and that fit into the socket. To my great consternation, I paid way more for those very rare 2.5mm banana plugs, and next to nothing for the 2.0mm plugs.
Always look forward to videos. KO4HPC 73
Thanks so much Adam!
Thanks for all of your great videos! Too bad they will not ship the X-Tenna to Germany. I guess I will have to make my own! 73! Tim, DK8MT
Thanks so much! I did not know they wouldn’t ship to Germany. Sorry to hear that.
73, SP/K4OGO
Nice one Walt, I'll have a listen out for you when I'm out and about, try listening for radio Caroline on 648Khz my favourite station.73 Adam G7CRQ.
Thanks Adam, I love Radio Caroline and I’m actually thinking about flying over one weekend to do the Ross Revenge tour.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES that'll make a great video of the whole adventure from leaving home and everything in-between.
Great content. Thx man
Thanks so much for watching! 73 de SP/K4OGO
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES you just nailed it in one. Just like me , I can only do a video if it’s something I am interested in. Talking about something you’re not in To does not come over well
@@digitalanaloguehamradio I agree!!!
How about and update on the micro bit ( not sure the complete name, the one from India you got at gigaparts ). Sure did like that little radio
Great video keep them coming
Marc Kf4imv
Thanks Marc, the uBitx is back in the states. I’ll fire it up when I get home. 73!
Great channel ! Btw Might I have heard u say massatusses?
Thanks! Hahaha Yes with my accent. I grew up in the south.
I have a super dumb question... Why did you select 67'wire length and what transformer value did you select?
Not a dumb question, it was recommended in the instructions with the unun. It’s actually about a foot longer than a true half wave for 40 meters but it worked. I selected 49:1 which gave me a decent match.
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES
Thank you!
I did buy an X-Tenna and left the wire length as is. It seems to work OK. I have been looking around for other random wire lengths and 67' wasn't one I found, which piqued my curiosity. I didn't notice that in the one sheet manual, but you know how guys are with manuals...
Walt - I did indeed purchase an X-tenna recently. It comes with 3 small banana plugs. Need to make some more radiators. Do you happen to know what size these banana plugs are? Thanks AC1NY
Hi Gregory, sorry I’m not sure of the size. To be honest I’m not a big fan of those plugs and have been thinking of doing some sort of modification to mine. 73, Walt K4OGO
The banana plugs that came with my x tenna are 2.0 mm.
🤘💯🎸🎸🎸🤘🙋♂🍻
Guten Tag Uncle G!!!!!!!!!!!
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES Guten Tag Onkel Walter! Wie ist das Wetter in Polen?
@@DK5ONV sehr schön und cool
@@COASTALWAVESWIRES +35°Cel. hier und sehr schwül. Hot and humidited
@@DK5ONV 9 Celsius when I woke up this morning. It was wonderful. 21 this afternoon.
Thanks for the video, Walt. Can you share what you had to do, if anything, to be allowed to operate over there? Did you have to get permission from someone in Poland? If so, how did you do that?
73 de KO4QOA
There’s great info on this on the ARRL website. Poland is a CEPT country and an American amateur can operate here for 90 days at a time under the agreement. There is paperwork you just download from the ARRL site and keep on you along with an official copy of your FCC license and your passport. 73 de SP/K4OGO