{"id":509,"date":"2018-06-04T18:59:30","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T00:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/?p=509"},"modified":"2020-04-13T17:26:06","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T00:26:06","slug":"matchbox-endfed-antenna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/2018\/06\/04\/matchbox-endfed-antenna\/","title":{"rendered":"Matchbox Endfed Antenna"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I have been experimenting with a matchbox end fed antenna that I got from nelson_antennas on ebay. He makes them and sells them on ebay. Here&#8217;s a link to his page&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebay.com\/usr\/nelson_antennas\">https:\/\/www.ebay.com\/usr\/nelson_antennas&nbsp;<\/a>&nbsp; I have had great luck with this little guy. I was able to hear Australia last night with a Yaesu 450 and a lazy measurement of 60 feet of wire. The Yaesu will only tune for SWR&#8217;s below 3:1. I am happy to report that I can tune this antenna from 6-160 meter bands with no issue right out of the box. He constructs them with a 9:1 toroid wound balun.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The local hardware store didn&#8217;t have anything copper I could use for an antenna so I bought a 1\/4 mile of 17 gauge zinc coated electric fence wire to use my antenna.<\/p>\n<p>I strung the wire up in a tree off my back deck using a bow and arrow with a fishing rod. I shot the arrow through the tree with a helper manning the fishing pole. I can&#8217;t believe I got it in one shot. Tied some 275 paracord to the fishing line and reeled in my catch on the other side to feed the antenna wire up the tree. Here&#8217;s a shot of the wire.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-509 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181514-scaled.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181514-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181514-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181514-scaled-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181514-scaled-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-520'>\n\t\t\t\tView of antenna in tree\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Dutch (K0AWS) gave me the idea of counter weighting it in the tree so the tree can sway in the wind and not tension the wire. The rock is about 18 inches off the ground.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-509 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_184505-scaled.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_184505-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-513\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_184505-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_184505-scaled-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_184505-scaled-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-513'>\n\t\t\t\tWeight suspended from tree\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>I am using my fence as my ground. I brightened up a spot with a file and wrapped some of my wire around it and tied the other end to the ground lug of the balun. Below are some photos of what that looks like.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-3' class='gallery galleryid-509 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181529-scaled.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181529-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181529-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181529-scaled-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181529-scaled-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181449-scaled.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181449-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181449-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181449-scaled-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181449-scaled-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181435-scaled.jpg' title=\"\" data-rl_title=\"\" class=\"rl-gallery-link\" data-rl_caption=\"\" data-rel=\"lightbox-gallery-3\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181435-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181435-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181435-scaled-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/IMG_20180604_181435-scaled-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>This antenna cost me $38 for the balun and about $20 for&nbsp; 1\/4 mile of wire and has been working great for DX&#8217;ing. I liked it so much I bought one for the mobile ARES station to replace the dipole we have been using.<\/p>\n<p>73 and Happy DX&#8217;ing<\/p>\n<p>KE0LTD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have been experimenting with a matchbox end fed antenna that I got from nelson_antennas on ebay. He makes them and sells them on ebay. Here&#8217;s a link to his page&nbsp;https:\/\/www.ebay.com\/usr\/nelson_antennas&nbsp;&nbsp; I have had great luck with this little guy. I was able to hear Australia last night with a Yaesu 450 and a lazy&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antennas","category-articles","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ab0pc.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}