Friday, October 22, 2021

A better antenna for POTA activations

MyAntennas EFHW-4010-P
My favorite and most effective antenna for portable operation has been the PAR EF-MTR end-fed dipole for 20, 30 and 40 meters. That antenna is rated for a maximum power of 25 watts and is perfect for use with the IC-705.

For my more recent POTA activations with the 100W FT-891, I've used HamStiks - very much a "compromise" antenna, these whips are small but will handle the higher power of the FT-891.

But as of this morning's mail delivery, I now have a EFHW-4010-P from MyAntennas.

It is very well constructed, with a thick housing for the matching transformer and heavy-duty strain relief hardware. Also included, but not shown in the photo, is a frame upon which the antenna can be wound when not in use.

This antenna is rated at 200 watts CW/SSB (75W FT8) and is resonant on 10, 15, 20 and 40 meters. The


designer, Danny E73M, says it will operate on 12, 17 and 30 meters with a tuner. I have an LDG autotuner installed into the car along with the FT-891 and am anxious to see how the antenna performs on a variety of bands.

Time to test the antenna with a simulated POTA installation...

Armed with my trusty magnum slingshot, I launched a line high enough to haul the new antenna into a tree about 20 feet from the shack window. The 66 ft/20m antenna extends from just outside the window up into the tree without the need to bend it into an inverted V. It is a straight 66ft near-vertical, angled at about 60 degrees.

The nanoVNA-H4 shows the following overview of the antenna's SWR from 6-30MHz:


 

And the following for each of the four bands:


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I'm hoping to get a chance to test the antenna this weekend at K-6552.

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4 comments:

  1. Looking forward to your review John. I've been looking at that antenna. All of Danny's products get great marks for construction and performance.

    73,

    George
    K2WO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GM George, I just got in from taking it down in preparation of a POTA activation tomorrow - weather is iffy though. In the short time I had the antenna up, I worked 3DA0WW and 7P8RU on 15, 17 and 20 meters with 100 watts CW. That's not spectacular by any means, but all contacts were through pile-ups , fairly quickly, with (almost guaranteed) kilowatts in attendance.

      Hopefully I'll be at K-6552 tomorrow - I'll post the times later. In the meantime, I'm keeping an eye on the forecast.

      73,
      John

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  2. Hi John,
    I was out at the dike yesterday when I heard a familiar call activating a park. :) I though you may find it mildly interesting how you sounded like on my side of the pond so I hit the record button on my phone.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerik45Qj2g

    73s,
    Ollie (13dka)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ollie - very interesting! The antenna used and other info is here:
      https://ae5x.blogspot.com/2022/06/amazing-skies-antenna-test-and-eu-dx.html

      73,
      John

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