Tag: efhw
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The One HF Setup I’d Recommend If You Want Capability Without Breaking the Bank
If someone asked me to recommend one HF setup that covers almost everything a ham could need without draining the bank account, here’s exactly what I’d point them to.
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Center-Fed vs End-Fed: Choosing Your Antenna’s Feed Point
Part of our Building Your First Ham Radio Station guide. Where you feed a wire antenna, at the center or at one end, changes more than just how you hang the wire. It affects impedance, installation flexibility, and even how forgiving the antenna is about your specific yard. Center-Fed: The Classic Dipole Approach A center-fed…
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Ham Radio Cheat Sheet: Q Codes, Band Plan, Phonetics & Antenna Lengths
Every ham radio cheat sheet you need in one place: Q codes, the ARRL band plan for Technician, General, and Extra, the phonetic alphabet, and EFHW and random wire antenna lengths for HF.
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Building a 49:1 Transformer for a 40m End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna
The end-fed half-wave presents a nasty impedance to match. Here’s how to wind the 49:1 transformer that tames it, and build the 40m wire to go with it.
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The Random Wire Antenna: Magic Lengths, Lengths to Avoid, and the Right Transformer
A random wire antenna is one of the simplest, cheapest ways onto HF, but the length you cut it matters more than most people realize. Here is what actually makes one work well.
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How to Tune a Vertical Whip Antenna for HF
Verticals live and die by their ground system, not just their length. Here’s the actual process for getting a whip resonant on the band you want.
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Building a 1:1 Common-Mode Choke for HF
RF in the shack, unstable SWR, mystery noise: a lot of it traces back to common-mode current on your coax. A choke is a cheap, quick fix.
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Which Portable HF Antenna Should You Actually Bring?
Random wire, EFHW, dipole, or Moxon. Each one earns its spot in a portable kit for different reasons. Here is how to decide what actually goes in the bag.
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Different Antenna Configurations You Can Run With an EFHW
One end-fed half-wave wire can be deployed in a surprising number of shapes. Here are the common EFHW configurations and when to reach for each.
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Building a 9:1 Unun for a Random Wire HF Antenna
A random wire is the cheapest, most flexible HF antenna there is, as long as you pick the length carefully and match it right. Here’s the 9:1 unun build.
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Why an End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna Benefits From a Counterpoise
End-fed half-wave antennas are famously simple, but that little counterpoise wire is doing more than you might think. Here is why it helps.