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Need Help please!!!

undertaker

Undertaker
Apr 5, 2006
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Texas
Ok just got a end fed antenna for my FT-450d. My question is how do I set this up it has one insulater on end. A box that the coax screws into.

Any help much appreciated..

Bobby
 

Figure out where you want to hang it, tie the insulator off with some rope to a tree, pole, whatever. Run the antenna in the direction you want it, and hook up the coax. There should be a provision for a ground wire, hook that up as a counterpoise. Of course, you'll have to use your tuner to match the antenna to your rig.



73,
Brett
 
Last edited:
Thanks Brett do I just use plain copper wire? And does it need to go to a ground rod?

Yes, you can use copper wire. I'm not grounded to a rod, and I'm using insulated wire. You will have to fiddle with the counterpoise length to get it right. Check your antenna instructions and see if they offer some guidance.

73,
Brett
 
ok it says no counter poise is required..(y)

Yes it can work without a counterpoise. But without ,it will use the coax as the counterpoise and can cause all sorts of issues with cmc . Be warned the cmc can be horrific on some frequencies.

I like to use mine run like a dipole ,horizontal. To keep the cmc at bay I fit a choke 8 ft down the length of cable. .
Using 43 ft of wire as the radiator + 8ft of coax gives me a good swr on 10m, 15m, and 20m without a tuner. And tunes easily on the others with the inbuilt tuner in the rig.
Like stated earlier you may have to play a little with the length to get what you want( remember you can adjust the counterpoise ,or coax,or the wire)
My choke is 30 turns of rg58 and works well even with 350 watts
 
The Par Endfedz antennas sold by LNR Precision also state no counterpoise is needed.

http://www.lnrprecision.com/endfedz/

There are 29 pages of glowing reviews on eHam of operators simply hanging them in all sorts of configurations with excellent results (an overall rating of 4.9 put of 5.0). And the term counterpoise isn't mentioned in 99% of them.

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/3632

Not being argumentative. Just trying to understand. Have always been confused about this.
 

I read it, VK. Makes perfect sense to me.
Science sure can put a damper on things. Takes the fun out of reading the reviews by the guys who hang their end feds 10' high on one end, 2' high on the other, and talk all over the world with ease and no mention of problems with noise, SWR, or the hairs standing up on the back of their necks because of RF in the shack.
 
Its all about what you are comparing it to. Or putting it another way "in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"

Dont get me wrong I like my end fed. But it's like most things it's a compromise and to get the best out of it requires a bit more knowledge and work.
 
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Its all about what you are comparing it to. Or putting it another way "in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"

Dont get me wrong I like my end fed. But it's like most things it's a compromise and to get the best out of it requires a bit more knowledge and work.

You are correct indeed. Take a look at the reviews on most G5RV antennas and you will see glowing reports. Now take another look at how long most of those operators have been licensed and you will likely find out that most of them have not had a license that long and have no real experience to compare it too. Does a G5RV work? Sure it does. Are there better antennas just as simple to erect? You bet there is. Canvass the old timers that have run many different antennas and you would be hard pressed to find any of them running a G5RV. I once ran a dipole hung up in my basement and made all kinds of DX contacts throughout North America and Europe with it but it was still a crappy antenna.
 
This is the first time I have ever even seen this kind of antenna. I will figure it out . thanks for all the help...
Bobby
 
Bobby,

The higher you can get the center of the wire the better. It will work without a counterpoise (using your coax as such) but will work better when you add a ground wire.
If you are only using 100 watts you may not experience ant RFI issues. If you jump up to 500 watts, experience tells me you will have to deal with RFI - which may be resolved by a counterpoise, antenna ground, station ground or all of them.

People go around and around and around again but that antenna does work, you just need to understand that out of the box you may have to experiment.
 

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