2 element wire moxon!!!

[Buffalo]

Hey folks,
I used an online calculator for this. The moxon antenna has always sparked my interest. I have built a couple of Yagis and my 4 element is up in the air as I write this listening to Australia blasting in here at the moment. Been up there for some time and definitely outperforms my Sirio 2016 for DX. Otherwise no idea how good it is.


That aside, I had some 14awg wire laying around and thought okay let’s do this. Did the calculations and decided, before I committed to building a frame for it, I would string it up in the yard and see what I had. Wasn’t sure about anything really. Moxon was new to me. It was only 5’ off the ground. DX was dead here but bandwidth was absolutely unbelievable. Never seen anything like it.


At any rate, here is the SWR readings on my VNA. Matches my Mfj meter and the meter on my radio. Still hard to believe.

 

[Buffalo]

Got it set up for portable use on my little kayak trailer. Match is great but DX in anemic today here.

 

[wavrider]

Propagation will come back.
Glad to see someone still playing with wires

 

[BC Coyote]

I love playing with wires ! My most recent wire project is an 11 meter delta loop that I strung up between a couple trees at about 35 feet AGL. It massively outperforms my A-99 on most DX contacts. Very very happy with it and it didn't cost a penny to build as I had the wire, the 4:1 balun and the coax laying around the shop!

 

[Buffalo]

When I built my four element wire yagi, the original plan was a four element quad, but I got lazy and cheap. Still tweaking on this moxon. Tuning is the easy part. The design department came up a little short on the support structure LOL.

. One more up in the air test and this one is going to a local friend. Really have no more room for another antenna here. Nixed the portable plans for now. Learning experience and the moxon from what I’ve noticed is an amazing antenna.

 

[edfiero]

I built a moxon about 10 years ago.... But at a height of 20 feet it did not perform any better than my Maco 5/8 vertical. might be worth it if you can get it up higher than I did.

 

[BC Coyote]

I built a moxon about 10 years ago.... But at a height of 20 feet it did not perform any better than my Maco 5/8 vertical. might be worth it if you can get it up higher than I did.

Generally speaking, no antenna for 11 meters will work properly unless it is at least 36 feet AGL. They will still work at lower heights, but the directionality tends to be lessened and the angle of radiation gets higher the lower you go (which is not a good thing).
I have a horizontal delta loop at 35 feet and even at that height it isn't as directional as I would like. Thinking about getting it up another 10 feet or so......

 

[Crawdad]

Propagation will come back.
Glad to see someone still playing with wires

Playing with wires is one of my favorite things about this hobby. I've cut and tuned Inverted V's for the 10, 11, 12, 15 and 17 meter bands, and they have all worked very well. The feedpoint for all these antennas is only at 17', but they have allowed me to make contacts out thousands of miles, all around the planet. A homebrewed wire Moxon for 6m has talked out 1,000 miles+. All this on no more than 100 watts out.

Height is might, but if your situation doesn't allow for every antenna you get up to be a full-wavelength AGL, put it up anyway and get on the air! You'll be surprised at how well they work despite the naysayers.

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