If this is a traditional end fed, the coil helps bring down the 10m resonance from around 29.5mhz down to 28.4mhz (the ssb portion of the band). Since the 49:1 design uses the harmonics to it's advantage by the time you get up to 10m frequencies the harmonics are pretty high up in the band.
Agree, this is for adjusting so phone regions of higher bands don't exceed 2:1 range. You see a similar coil provided to do the same thing on some 80m end fed designs. Not a trap or meant for loading to add an additional band. Just for fine tuning the higher resonant bands.
My setup in my office at work is a Xiegu G90 to Nelson 9:1 UnUn with 54ft of 14awg thhn. End of wire is 24ft on a surplus Military tripod with segmented mast. I can recieve and transmit 1.8 to 29.00. Folks talk bad about long wire (Random Length) but, I found it to work very well.
So this product inspired me to make a resonant EFHW for 80m. I used a Chameleon wire winder and slapped a 64:1 (3:24 turn ratio) unun with a 240-43 core and a 100pf capacitor. Total for parts cost me under $50. I run it with the feed point on the ground as an inverted V, so you only need to elevate the middle of the wire, which is lightweight unlike the unun, and you can keep the coax run shorter. The nice part is you can just mark the lengths you need to unfurl for the higher freqs so you're resonant on other bands. I get great performance with it on 80 and 40 I found that with a single core, I got 8min of runtime at 100w continuous digital TXing before the unit heated up on me. I then tested a 2 core unun, and called the test after 20min of continuous TXing (again, 100W digital) with no rise in SWR. I love my Chameleon antennas, but when I talk up their products to aspiring hams, price is ALWAYS asked. I made this to show a few friends you don't necessarily NEED to fork out a pretty penny for an effective antenna (although the convenience is nice if you can afford it).
Wow what an expensive antenna… I built the 80-10m version from scratch for about $30.00. I run mine in several configurations. My favorite is an inverted “V”. I also run it as an inverted “L” from time to time. Once I hoisted it up 100’ and used it as a flat top. And lastly a sloper to 65’ with the matching unit at 6” above the ground. Lastly I found using a 17’ counterpoise laying on the ground helped dramatically reduce the noise on the lower bands.
An EFHW is a pretty easy build. One issue is package quantity for parts: Need 6ft magnet wire have to buy 25ft... 1 cap buy 10... 140ft wire buy 200 etc. Spent around $50 with parts left over to build several more. Would be a good group build. Up 30ft, G90 at 20 watts SSB, British Columbia to Argentina to Russia plus 52 POTA contacts from Florida so far. de KE4MIQ.
LOL! Josh, I get so excited when my noise level is down to S5-6 where I live (Eagle River, AK) a lot of the time it's S9+ I just built one of these 49:1 UNUN HWEF antennas from scratch...It works pretty darn good when I am out working portable ops with my IC-7100...the IC-7300 stays put in my shack at the house. Chameleon antennas are awesome, I own several of them!
Another personable tag along, thanks. I use a Myantennas 10-80 HWEF and it works well through our trees at home.... Where are you operating from? It looks like a public park, except for the substantial house and deck.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse How cool is that! With access to a place in the hills and, as I recall, a place at a lake, you've got some fun options for operating. Your buddy Jason (Hamradio2) has access to a beach home in Gaveston Texas. This sure makes location ops comfortable.... no tents and sleeping bags. Thanks for the details, take care.
Would this antenna still work and get the same bands if it was 63 feet up in the tree and sloped 25 feet as apposed to it 25 feet up in the tree and sloped 63 feet?
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Will do. I use my drone to get the wire/string over the trees. I attach the string to the drone, fly it up over the tree dropping the string over the tree and bring the drone back down with the string in place to pull any cables that need to be up in the air.
Great video, i think this is the first time I've ever seen a video where someone has put up one of these trap antennas, ive seen people do them on poles and after the install but not done like this.. you have a good throw if it was me I'd be taking out the neighbours windows lol.. excellent loved it.
I do not like masonry cord. For sticky trees with lots of bark and limbs it gets all kind of hung up. Plus it has a lot of give and will need to be retensioned of left up a while.
Yup totally correct. Actually have half my dipole hanging in a evergreen 80’ up totally by either friction or the rope has embedded into the limb. Thankfully and gratefull it’s still hanging at the 80’ mark bc the HOA maintenance guy cut the lower part of my rope free of it secure position when he saw my wire but gave up when it wouldn’t budge and snipped the rope at 20’ highest his ladder would take him. I’m also working with maples trees mainly and they new limb have slippery bark. I guess there are many tools required for different trees. Thank you will look into the arborist cord, I want one of those rope cube fold boxes too
Hi always enjoy your vids. Wondering why you don't have the line winder and transformer close to the ground rather than lifting them upwards? Also that would enable you to easily attach a counterpoise of 25ft or so if you wanted. Also only a suggestion - check some arborist vids out on line throwing. I did and found it very helpful. They have two techniques both of which use an underhand throw. I regularly can throw 50 ft using a 12oz weight. 73s
This may be a workable setup even for my 2nd floor shack .. which is about 16 feet up to a mast in the opposite corner of my yard about 8ft up. wish me luck
@HamRadioCrashCourse Yes! A stake, 3 feet off of the ground, the Balun on said stake with only the antenna wire connected to the mast. In Tech Prepper's viddy it seemed to be an issue supporting the weight. My immediate thought was to leave the balun and feedline down low but I was un-sure of what may happen to the SWR's. And thanks for replying to me.
It'll work either way. I've ran the Unun up a tree an the wire down and away. I've also ran the wire up to a tree with the Unun on the ground. Works fine.
Would it not be easier to hoist the end, and have the matching unit and the coax lower? Thats how my endfed is fed at the house. Less coax stain, easier to pull up the end with no bulk.
By having the feed point up in a tree the peak current is at the highest point above ground. This antenna requires a 'length' of coax running vertically down from the feedpoint to serve as a counterpoise and also to stop noise (see Josh astounded about the noise in the video) by using a coil or ferrite before the coax attaches to the rig. The other issue is changing SWR as the aerial sways in the wind so watch that meter at high powers!
I think because this is meant to be more trail friendly than permanent or base designs. It has lighter gauge wire and likely Chameleon is worried that not providing enough strain relief for winder/matching unit, at the bottom the total weight on wire could eventually break it. If you notice the matching unit has a heavier toroid than provided for some trail friendly or home brew designs giving higher power rating and bandwidth. I think with bungie and properly supporting matching unit you could run the end with the ring at the higher end.
Josh, look up "How to throw a heaving line" and monkeys fist knot. Being a professional mariner, this was so hard to watch when you were sending that messenger line up the tree.
What is up with the S6 noise floor out in the boonies? Solar panels? BTW, I thought there was going to be an incoming Karen attack about your antenna at 10:37, LOL
The missing item is something called a "throw-bag". This is a rugged bean-bag filled with shot and equipped with a steel ring which you attach to your paracord. Look for these in various weights from an arborist- or tree service supply house.
Pale legs and black socks are prerequisites to be a ham radio operator.
Oh, and that hat! Didn’t anyone see a pocket protector?
If this is a traditional end fed, the coil helps bring down the 10m resonance from around 29.5mhz down to 28.4mhz (the ssb portion of the band). Since the 49:1 design uses the harmonics to it's advantage by the time you get up to 10m frequencies the harmonics are pretty high up in the band.
Agree, this is for adjusting so phone regions of higher bands don't exceed 2:1 range. You see a similar coil provided to do the same thing on some 80m end fed designs. Not a trap or meant for loading to add an additional band. Just for fine tuning the higher resonant bands.
My setup in my office at work is a Xiegu G90 to Nelson 9:1 UnUn with 54ft of 14awg thhn. End of wire is 24ft on a surplus Military tripod with segmented mast. I can recieve and transmit 1.8 to 29.00. Folks talk bad about long wire (Random Length) but, I found it to work very well.
So this product inspired me to make a resonant EFHW for 80m. I used a Chameleon wire winder and slapped a 64:1 (3:24 turn ratio) unun with a 240-43 core and a 100pf capacitor. Total for parts cost me under $50. I run it with the feed point on the ground as an inverted V, so you only need to elevate the middle of the wire, which is lightweight unlike the unun, and you can keep the coax run shorter. The nice part is you can just mark the lengths you need to unfurl for the higher freqs so you're resonant on other bands. I get great performance with it on 80 and 40
I found that with a single core, I got 8min of runtime at 100w continuous digital TXing before the unit heated up on me. I then tested a 2 core unun, and called the test after 20min of continuous TXing (again, 100W digital) with no rise in SWR.
I love my Chameleon antennas, but when I talk up their products to aspiring hams, price is ALWAYS asked. I made this to show a few friends you don't necessarily NEED to fork out a pretty penny for an effective antenna (although the convenience is nice if you can afford it).
Well said. Homebrew is always a good idea.
Wow what an expensive antenna… I built the 80-10m version from scratch for about $30.00. I run mine in several configurations. My favorite is an inverted “V”. I also run it as an inverted “L” from time to time. Once I hoisted it up 100’ and used it as a flat top. And lastly a sloper to 65’ with the matching unit at 6” above the ground. Lastly I found using a 17’ counterpoise laying on the ground helped dramatically reduce the noise on the lower bands.
Plans link?
Google Steve Ellington efhw I made my own as well and added the 160 mod.
I heard a couple of folks on a repeater talking about this, really glad to see it demonstrated. 🍻
Lol, cool!
WoW I nearly fell off my chair when you almost needed two men to lift the go box. Guess its not a SOTA kit. Good fun video needs a bloopers section.
50 pounds.
I bought one of these 2 weeks ago and will be using it for the first time this weekend for Field Day.
Always set up and test new equipment b4 the actual event. 73
@@forgetyourlifeif it was the only antenna then yes I agree with you. However this was bought for testing and not relied on for Field Day operations.
@@ka6ete217 Roger that.
Thanks for the review!
An EFHW is a pretty easy build. One issue is package quantity for parts: Need 6ft magnet wire have to buy 25ft... 1 cap buy 10... 140ft wire buy 200 etc. Spent around $50 with parts left over to build several more. Would be a good group build. Up 30ft, G90 at 20 watts SSB, British Columbia to Argentina to Russia plus 52 POTA contacts from Florida so far. de KE4MIQ.
Any further info on the antenna coil? Also, did you use chameleon's coax with the toroid beads?
Curious about that noise. Did you have a current choke on your feedline?
Just noise in the suburbs. I also had a power line issue back then.
Josh, does the feed point have to be hoisted up? Can it the feed point be 4 feet off the ground instead of up in the air?
Yes it can.
LOL! Josh, I get so excited when my noise level is down to S5-6 where I live (Eagle River, AK) a lot of the time it's S9+ I just built one of these 49:1 UNUN HWEF antennas from scratch...It works pretty darn good when I am out working portable ops with my IC-7100...the IC-7300 stays put in my shack at the house. Chameleon antennas are awesome, I own several of them!
Awesome! I had the same thoughts in my review, it makes for a great all-in-one antenna.
Yeah, it is generally a well put together antenna. Nicely done again Chameleon!
Always good info.
You definitely look like a real ham radio operator with thr socks and hat combination🤣🤣. 73
Hell yeah.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Merch idea, HRCC bucket hat.
Yesss
Great video on a great antenna for POTA! What QSO mapping are you using to show your contacts? Anyone?
For POTA I use HAMRS
Another personable tag along, thanks. I use a Myantennas 10-80 HWEF and it works well through our trees at home.... Where are you operating from? It looks like a public park, except for the substantial house and deck.
It was my Dads place in Big Bear Ca. He has a great backyard for running a wire antenna.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse How cool is that! With access to a place in the hills and, as I recall, a place at a lake, you've got some fun options for operating. Your buddy Jason (Hamradio2) has access to a beach home in Gaveston Texas. This sure makes location ops comfortable.... no tents and sleeping bags. Thanks for the details, take care.
The coil is used to tuner the 10M band.
Would this antenna still work and get the same bands if it was 63 feet up in the tree and sloped 25 feet as apposed to it 25 feet up in the tree and sloped 63 feet?
Likely yes.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Thank you. I asked because the trees I have in near my house are no taller than about 50 feet.
@@BlackHamRadioUniversity Just get it as high as you can in the air.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Will do. I use my drone to get the wire/string over the trees. I attach the string to the drone, fly it up over the tree dropping the string over the tree and bring the drone back down with the string in place to pull any cables that need to be up in the air.
Josh you look really cool man😊
Is it Necessary that the wire be fed from the high point?
You'll get more performance going out that way.
Great video, i think this is the first time I've ever seen a video where someone has put up one of these trap antennas, ive seen people do them on poles and after the install but not done like this.. you have a good throw if it was me I'd be taking out the neighbours windows lol.. excellent loved it.
How's this compared to the K8MRD EFHW build you had a video on awhile back?
The km4ack end fed is a kit. It’s good, but it is of kit quality. The Chameleon stuff is more robust. Especially the Kevlar wire.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Ah KM4ACK, right. Thanks for the info.
I suggest masonry cord works great plus light weight then pull my 3/32 mastrant rope
I do not like masonry cord. For sticky trees with lots of bark and limbs it gets all kind of hung up. Plus it has a lot of give and will need to be retensioned of left up a while.
Yup totally correct. Actually have half my dipole hanging in a evergreen 80’ up totally by either friction or the rope has embedded into the limb. Thankfully and gratefull it’s still hanging at the 80’ mark bc the HOA maintenance guy cut the lower part of my rope free of it secure position when he saw my wire but gave up when it wouldn’t budge and snipped the rope at 20’ highest his ladder would take him. I’m also working with maples trees mainly and they new limb have slippery bark. I guess there are many tools required for different trees. Thank you will look into the arborist cord, I want one of those rope cube fold boxes too
Hi always enjoy your vids. Wondering why you don't have the line winder and transformer close to the ground rather than lifting them upwards? Also that would enable you to easily attach a counterpoise of 25ft or so if you wanted. Also only a suggestion - check some arborist vids out on line throwing. I did and found it very helpful. They have two techniques both of which use an underhand throw. I regularly can throw 50 ft using a 12oz weight. 73s
It gets better performance with the transformer at the top and slopping down or out horizontally.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse THANKS FOR THE INFO
This may be a workable setup even for my 2nd floor shack .. which is about 16 feet up to a mast in the opposite corner of my yard about 8ft up. wish me luck
Can the feed point be on the ground?
Like just laying on the ground? Probably not. Maybe a few inches off the ground, fine.
On a stake, sometime to minimize the weight on the mast.
I don't think I understand. If the feedpoint is low but the wire goes way up high. that is fine.
@HamRadioCrashCourse Yes! A stake, 3 feet off of the ground, the Balun on said stake with only the antenna wire connected to the mast. In Tech Prepper's viddy it seemed to be an issue supporting the weight. My immediate thought was to leave the balun and feedline down low but I was un-sure of what may happen to the SWR's.
And thanks for replying to me.
It'll work either way. I've ran the Unun up a tree an the wire down and away. I've also ran the wire up to a tree with the Unun on the ground. Works fine.
Would it not be easier to hoist the end, and have the matching unit and the coax lower? Thats how my endfed is fed at the house. Less coax stain, easier to pull up the end with no bulk.
It can be done your way. Chameleon has always advocated the matching unit be up higher though.
By having the feed point up in a tree the peak current is at the highest point above ground. This antenna requires a 'length' of coax running vertically down from the feedpoint to serve as a counterpoise and also to stop noise (see Josh astounded about the noise in the video) by using a coil or ferrite before the coax attaches to the rig. The other issue is changing SWR as the aerial sways in the wind so watch that meter at high powers!
I think because this is meant to be more trail friendly than permanent or base designs. It has lighter gauge wire and likely Chameleon is worried that not providing enough strain relief for winder/matching unit, at the bottom the total weight on wire could eventually break it. If you notice the matching unit has a heavier toroid than provided for some trail friendly or home brew designs giving higher power rating and bandwidth. I think with bungie and properly supporting matching unit you could run the end with the ring at the higher end.
Wire is Kevlar coated. It’s quite robust.
can end fed antenna has random shape like horizontal V then to L shape?
Yes
Josh, look up "How to throw a heaving line" and monkeys fist knot. Being a professional mariner, this was so hard to watch when you were sending that messenger line up the tree.
I wasn't doing boats on the air :D After watching a video, I am unsure that a marine style throw is going to be helpful over an arborist throw.
QRP Crew T-Shirt - 7300 in a box. Go ask the boss about accessorising. The accessories need to match the look!!! Poor Leah.
(j/k love your work).
Hi Josh. Where is this location?
Big Bear Ca was where I did the test.
I’m glad you showed the places but I would love to hear it and see you make the contacts so many next time
You can watch my live stream. We did it live last weekend.
Good stuff!
Thank you!!
Word to the wise: hills and valleys can be problematic.
Probably a loading coil to get you on 80m
Naw. It’s for 10 meters.
What is up with the S6 noise floor out in the boonies? Solar panels? BTW, I thought there was going to be an incoming Karen attack about your antenna at 10:37, LOL
It was one of those indoor motion lights switches!!!
I got it turned off and we were g2g
The missing item is something called a "throw-bag". This is a rugged bean-bag filled with shot and equipped with a steel ring which you attach to your paracord. Look for these in various weights from an arborist- or tree service supply house.
It was missing? I mentioned it a few times and showed it on video?
Dorkey Hat
First for non previewed. How did they comment 10hrs ago when it was just released 14sec ago ??
Members of the channel get early access to the videos.
Released to Patreon Supporters first ..
wattage limits are flip flopped during video. 8:10
What do you mean?
@@HamRadioCrashCourse you said 500w CW 250watts SSB. Reversed it.
Lol. Whoops.
73 ke4hpq