For all you HAM's out there...
Today is Morse Code Day
What Is Morse Code Day?
Morse Code Day, observed on April 27, honors Samuel Morse, the inventor of Morse code, and celebrates this groundbreaking method of communication. #MorseCode #HAM #AmatuerRadio
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/what-is-morse-code-day/vi-AA1Bkmew?ocid=widgetonlockscreen&cvid=3ff7ccbae44a496c95d91e935d6d03c5&ei=13
.... .- .--. .--. -.-- / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . / -.. .- -.-- / ..--- --... - .... / --- ..-. / .- .--. .-. .. .-..
I think @N4JAW has convinced me to try CW during one of my #POTA activations this weekend. In preparation, I cut and filed a small piece of steel and double-side taped it to my (aluminum) aviation knee board. The KM4CMT paddle magnets stick nicely, and there’s still room for a pad.
I’ll likely try it tomorrow at some point on the way down to my dad’s place.
For 40 minutes, this is how my #MorseCode CW #POTA #parksontheair activation sounded this morning. I LOVE this sound. #AmateuRadio #HamRadio
SSEFHW – Another Shortened End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna for 20m
Peter Waters G3OJV Screen grab from YouTubeI was browsing through ham radio videos on YouTube recently as I often do (daily!) when I came across one from Peter Waters G3OJV on the Waters & Stanton video channel. The title of the video immediately caught my attention: “Shortened Vertical Half Wave Antenna”. End-fed antennas are a favorite of portable operators because of the ease with which they can be erected. End-Fed Half-Wave antennas have the added advantage of needing a counterpoise that is 5 times shorter than required by an End-Fed Random Wire.
Another attribute that is appealing to portable operators is a small station footprint, so a vertical antenna, combined with a very short counterpoise, results in a stealthier station that is less likely to interfere with other people using the same park or trail, or attract unwelcome attention.
I achieved this already with the 20m CLEFHW (Coil-Loaded End-Fed Half-Wave) which has performed very well, although it has also attracted consternation from antenna physics experts. Sometimes we just have to shrug and accept the principal that “if it works, it works” and move on.
When I watched Peter’s video I realized I had overlooked another very simple way of shortening a half-wave antenna. Peter took a commercial helically loaded quarter-wave antenna and put it at the top of a pole. Beneath it he connected a full-length quarter-wave wire to create an electrical half-wave fed at the bottom through a 49:1 impedance transformer.
I realized I had used this technique once before to fit an 80m EFHW into the restricted space of a campsite. I built a 40m EFHW, added a coil and then a short pigtail wire. The 40m EFHW comprised one half of an 80m EFHW while the coil and short pigtail made up the other half. Yes, it was a compromise with lower efficiency than a full-length 80m EFHW but it got me into my weekly CW rag chew with friends who are often over a hundred miles away when I am traveling.
SSEFHW (Shortened Sloping EFHW) version 1A Shortened Sloping End-Fed Half-Wave antenna
I built the G3OJV shortened EFHW for 20m using the same loading coil I had built for the CLEFHW with a 57-inch whip from an old hamstick as the radiating element. A 17ft wire was added below it to make up the other half of a 20m EFHW. It worked – well to be precise, I made contacts with it using just 5 watts.
I did make one change to the G3OJV design. The whip, loading coil and mounting arrangement are a little too heavy for my 29ft fiberglass pole (a damaged MFJ 33ft pole repaired with sections of a Crappie fishing pole). So I erected a kludge pole that was only 15ft tall and routed the bottom wire out an angle to a point a few feet away from the pole. This resulted in a strong front-to-back gain ratio at elevation angles above 35 degrees, but also, unfortunately, expanded the footprint on the ground. From my QTH in southern Ontario, the front-to-back ratio is an advantage since most of my contacts are to the south. I point my wire at Texas to cover most of CONUS.
But, this arrangement resulted in a set of gear that is not very convenient to carry down a trail. I had to come up with a better idea. So I built SSEFHW version 2.
SSEFHW version 2SSEFHW version 2 is a Shortened Sloping EFHW made entirely of one single length of 26ga silicone coated wire, wound around a short section of 2-inch diameter PVC built-in vacuum cleaner pipe, 57 inches from one end. Approximately 28 feet of wire was used in its construction.
The coil section is approximately 7.7 microhenries to match the original heavier coil used in version 1. The whole antenna is so light it almost defies gravity and fits in a small plastic freezer bag.
Another kludge 17ft pole was made from the remains of two 13ft Crappie poles (after being scavenged to repair my damaged MFJ pole) and a short piece of half-inch Schedule 40 PVC plumbing pipe. It all fits over, and is supported by, a driveway marker pole stuck in the ground.
You may notice the dramatic difference in weather between the two pictures taken only a day apart. The image to the right was electronically color enhanced to improve its contrast.
Side note: Kludge is cheap and cheerful but a Spiderbeam pole is now on order from Vibroplex. Spiderbeam poles, engineered in Germany, have a good reputation for strength and robustness. Ham Radio Outside the Box will review the product when it has been received.
SSEFHW with “Fuchs style” 49:1 transformerI was entirely unsure how Version 2 would perform and was pleasantly surprised when the SWR, measured using my RigExpert antenna analyzer, turned out to be 1.8:1 at the output of the 49:1 impedance transformer. That is already an acceptable SWR but, to preserve the legendary immortality of the PA transistors in my QRP Labs QMX transceiver, I added my “Old Barebones” ham-made Z-match and brought the SWR down further to 1.05:1.
Does it QSO?
No, absolutely not. I make the QSOs; the antenna is just a dumb bit of wire [smile]. My first contact using the SSEFHW was with a station in Kansas about 900 miles away. He gave me a 559 RST report and I received him at 599. Not bad for a QRP CW contact and typical of the kind of reports I have been receiving using other antennas. The SSEFHW (sounds like the name of a ship doesn’t it) can be supported by a pole, or even a low tree branch. My feeble throwing skills will not be overly challenged launching this antenna into a tree.
Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula (courtesy Open Street Map)Kudos where it belongs
I cannot claim originality for this antenna, that belongs to Peter Waters G3OJV. I simply massaged Peter’s idea to suit my own backpack portable operating style.
You will find me in remote clearings at the end of a trail on the Bruce Peninsula or elsewhere along the Niagara Escarpment.
Cliff edge operating site on the Georgian Bay coast of the Bruce Peninsula. The lake is 300 feet below the cliff edge. No parking here, in fact no road! This site is a 1km hike through black bear country.The Bruce Peninsula is approximately 100km long and forms part of the Niagara Escarpment which runs from Niagara Falls at the border between Ontario and New York State to Tobermory, Ontario at the top left of the map.
The west coast of the peninsula is bounded by Lake Huron while the east coast runs along Georgian Bay and comprises dramatic scenery with tall cliffs plunging down to the lake. With scenery like this who would want to sit inside a vehicle to play radio?
Help support HamRadioOutsidetheBox
No “tip-jar”, “buy me a coffee”, Patreon, or Amazon links here. I enjoy my hobby and I enjoy writing about it. If you would like to support this blog please follow/subscribe using the link at the bottom of my home page, or like, comment (links at the bottom of each post), repost or share links to my posts on social media. If you would like to email me directly you will find my email address on my QRZ.com page. Thank you!
The following copyright notice applies to all content on this blog.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.