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K9WK Antennas Diagram

The horizontal HF antenna is a 73-foot MyAntennas EFLW-3K end-fed long wire.

The low end of the antenna is up at about 30 feet and the high end is up at about 60 feet. It is fed with RG-213U coax. There is a MyAntennas CMC-130-3K line isolator about halfway through the coax run to keep any stray RF out of the shack.

There are 3 counterpoise wires (approximately 30, 40 and 66 feet in length) attached to the 8-foot ground rod on the side of the house. These wires are buried about 3 inches below grade.

This antenna runs over the stream in my back yard and the 66 foot counterpoise wire is attached to an 8-foot ground rod that is grounded into the stream which drains into the Delaware river which is about 3/4 of a mile away.

The vertical HF antenna is an IMAX-2000, which is about 24 feet long. It has an SWR of about 1.5:1 on 28.400 MHz and the SWR is less than 2:1 across the entire 10-meter band. It is fed with LMR-400 coax and it also uses a CMC-130-3K line isolator in the coax run to keep RF out of the shack.

This antenna also works great on 12 and 15 meters when it is tuned with the internal antenna tuner in my FTDX-101MP or my KAT-500. It acts as an end-fed vertical and uses the same counterpoise system as the end-fed long wire.

A Comet GP-6 on a roof vent pipe is used for 2M/440 FM as well as a Ringo ARX-2 for my 2-meter APRS iGate. A pair of horizontally phased loops and an 8-element quad that are supported by telescoping masts on my deck are used for 2-meter SSB.

For 220, I use a Hustler G7-220 mono-band vertical up at about 36 feet mounted to my deck with a home-made standoff bracket to the eave of the house on a 36-foot push-up mast. This antenna is built like a commercial grade antenna, Let's keep 220 alive!

K9WK Antennas Picture

This is my antenna "farm" showing the Comet GP-6, HF Vertical, 73' End Fed Long Wire, Hustler G7-220, Ringo ARX-2 and 8 Element 2 Meter Quad. This picture was taken from the end of my driveway.

K9WK Antennas Picture

This is my 80-meter and 160-meter inverted vee. Each leg of the antenna is about 42 feet long. It is fed with about 50 feet of 450-ohm ladder line. The ladder line is connected to a Palomar Engineers 9 to 1 balun in the shack by the window and is attached to a 12-foot length of RG-213U coax to my Palstar AT2K antenna tuner.  It performs very well, as I have worked stations in Germany, Austria and Serbia in the 80-meter DX window.

The apex of the antenna is up at about 50 feet. This picture was taken from across the street, just to show how high it really is from a little bit of a distance away.

K9WK 2 Meter Antennas

These are some of my 2 meter antennas. I have a Cushcraft Ringo Ranger ARX-2 for FM and a pair of horizontally phased loops for SSB. They are up on a 36-foot push up telescoping mast off the deck in the back my house.

This puts the top of the Ringo at about 200 feet above sea level. These antennas have an SWR of less than 1.2:1. The Delaware river is about 3/4 of a mile away and it is at sea level.

K9WK 2 Meter Quad

K9WK 2 Meter Quad Installed

This is my 2 meter quad. It has 8 elements and it has 14.3 dB gain. It is up about 36 feet (which is really about 190 feet above sea level). The mast above the rotator is a 1 1/4" oak hardwood dowel that has been stained and coated with polyurethane so that it is sealed against the weather. Wood won't affect the radiation pattern of the antenna. My SWR is less than 1.1:1

I bought it from Randy, WB5QFM off of eBay. He builds these antennas and, I will tell you, they are absolutely outstanding! The workmanship is better than anything that I have ever seen in my 50+ years as a ham. Give a quad a try instead of a beam, I guarantee you that you will be happy that you did!

   

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