At my location with the lot size, the best antenna for me is an Endfed. Now I am not at all complaining because just a short time ago I was in a condo using the MFJ 1788 loop antenna. My first Endfed antenna was the
W1SFR 6m-40m. I will once again repeat myself saying this antenna is great I have kept mine for portable operations once the summer comes. The top rating for this antenna is 100 watts and since I operate digital at power levels that could be beyond this antenna rating. I did not want to overdo it and lose this great antenna. I then purchased the
DXextreme Endfed from DX antennas. Mine is the 33-foot version which is the shortest but is the right size for my lot. While using my W1SFR Endfed on FT8 I monitored it's results on
PSK reporter and captured these results with pictures. I wanted to see if there were any noticeable differences in results between the two antennas. The new antenna went up on February 28th and I have been monitoring PSK reporter and taking pictures of the new antenna results. The mode of operation has been FT8 and the power output for both antennas was 60 watts. The location for the new antenna was the same as the old and the old antenna was 35 feet long and the new antenna is 33 feet long. I was not really expecting any differences but I was surprised when I compared the results.
The first comparison was 20m during the day between 14:15-14:45 local time. The first picture is from W1SFR's Endfed antenna at 14:16 and the second picture is at 14:40 from the DXextreme Endfed antenna.
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| W1SFR 20m |
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| DXextreme 20m |
To my surprise, the DXextreme antenna seemed to make it into Europe and a few other spots the W1SRF EndFed did not. I do have other pictures from other times as well that show the same results but I did not want to fill the post with them as I have other bands to show.
The next band is 30m and again these pictures are from early afternoon at 14:50 local time for W1SFR's antenna and 15:40 using the DXextreme antenna.
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| W1SRF 30m |
Once again I noticed that my spots in Europe were more with the DXextreme antenna over the W1SRF.
Regarding 40m I was happy with the W1SFR antenna compared to my balcony mounted MFJ 1788 back in the condo as I really had no luck reaching Europe on 40m with the loop antenna. The W1SFR allowed me to get into Europe and I was happy with that. But the DXextreme really opened things up for me overseas.
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| DXextreme 30m |
Overall I am very happy with the performance of the new antenna it also allows me to rest at ease knowing I am not overtaxing the W1SFR Endfed in the digital modes.
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| W1SRF 40m |
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| DXextreme 40m |
Comparing 2 Endfed antennas.
19 March 2020 | by 
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The review of your antennas is quite interesting and pointed. Regarding the DX EXTREME 40 you have peaked my interest in having one to use myself. I have a small lot area to use to install one. End fed antenna of short length would help, but I need one that would handle up to 500 watts. Thank you for your posting OM,73,Paul
Good afternoon Paul and thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment, this antenna is great and the shortest length it comes in is 33 feet and this is the one that I have. This antenna is rated at 2KW PEP, so I imagine 500 watts is just fine. I do strongly recommend you use this antenna alongside an antenna tuner that can handle up to 10:1. Most shortened EndFed antennas require a tuner. I have the Icom 7610 but it can only handle 3:1 (unless placed in emergency mode with max 50 watts out) I use the LDG AT200 pro as I need the 200 rating for my FT8 times. LDG makes a very nice 1000 watt tuner which I did have awhile ago but sold it…….I can’t seem to count the times I have sold a piece of gear to only later regret it when I could use it.
Go to the DX Extreme site and look around and contact the owner he is very good at getting back to you and answering your questions.
73 have a great weekend and stay safe
Mike
VE9KK
I’m experimenting with long wires and baluns. Currently I use two wires, which happen to be at right angles to each other, out of the upstairs shack, one abut 9 metres and the other about 20, because that’s how they fit. I feed them through a Hari (TM) balun which I got second-hand and I think it’s 9:1 because of the yellow connectors. I find that on my humble 100 watts the internal atu on my IC-7300 will match to the extent of almost 20 amps (max) on key down, and I get good signal reports on, 15,17,20,40, and 80 metres (but not 30).
It might be intereting for you to put up a wire or two and feed them through a balun, with a coax link to the shack atu. You could try 4.1 or other ratios. Note – I have never gone QRO (so have no advice about it) but I am currently at 192 DXCC confirmed by cards. 73 and good luck!
I bought a 1 Kw 9to1 un-un transformer on eBay, built in Eastern Europe (apparently). With a good ground rod, and ferrite coax choke, I ran some 16 gauge electrical wire about 20 feet from my back porch to alley fence and back to my chimney about 35 feet up. I get one MHz bandwidth on 20 meters to 1.5/1 swr, good swr on 17m, and with my auto-tuner (AT-600Pro2)I loadingo 1.2/1 on every band 160m to 6m. 100 watts gets good QSO’s throughout the continent. Great city-lot antenna!
I bought a 1 Kw 9to1 un-un transformer on eBay, built in Eastern Europe (apparently). With a good ground rod, and ferrite coax choke, I ran some 16 gauge electrical wire about 20 feet from my back porch out to alley fence, over 10 feet and back to my chimney about 35 feet up. I get one-MHz bandwidth on 20 meters to the 1.5/1 swr point, good swr on 17m, and with my auto-tuner (AT-600Pro2) I load <= 1.2/1 on every band 160m to 6m. 100 watts gets good QSO's throughout the continent- including on 160m. Great city-lot antenna!
Good afternoon Andy and thanks for taking the time to read the post and comment,
Yes, antenna experimenting can be fun, time-consuming, frustrating and in the long run rewarding. Unfortunately with the small size of my lot I am not able to put up more than one EndFed at a time.
Have a good weekend Andy and stay safe during these times.
73,
Mike
Good afternoon Jim and thanks for stopping by, yes the EndFed antenna is great for small lots which also gives you the ability to get on many bands. The EndFed that I have allows me to go from 10m to 80m while using the LDG 200pro AT tuner. Now come the summer I am going to be trying out some ideas with the EndFed and see how it goes.
Thanks and stay safe Jim.
73,
Mike
VE9KK