Ham Radio Stealthy Antenna Options - the last one works!

[@wayneskiba1237]

Jonathan, thank you for the antenna review to show what are some good stealth antennas, I use at my home qth three end fed antennas one for 20 meters and one for 80 meters and one for 40 meters, and all work great for me and I have been able to work into Europe, South America, and the Carribean, and they are in a sloper configuration with the highest point only about 12 feet off the ground, I live in the central part of the USA, close to Chicago Illinois. I am happy to see that you also have one at your qth. I had one running along the top of my fence for 160 meters but could never get it to load up properly. Thank you for sharing and Happy New Year!

[@ChrisBartlett-y6q]

Nice presentation. Always good to experiment with wire antennas. Often find something that will work. As I always say, ANY antenna is better then NO antenna.

[@M0JSX]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@M0RMY]

Thank goodness we don't have the HOA equivalent here in UK - but we do have our share of nosy neighbours, local councils and regulations to observe/satisfy/avoid/ignore/comply with. It's entirely possible to get an antenna up and stay compliant with whatever the situation is. I have previously had great results with a Tarheel II screwdriver antenna on a roof (metal roof of my garage with just one jumper earth wire to a bolt in the roof). Combined with a Target Tuner (or equivalent) gives automatic band tuning 80-10m.

[@M0JSX]

Great point Tom.

[@m7trsradio]

Too right it's more about the neighbours. Mine like to tell me I have an antenna up in the garden. Err yes I know I've put it there. 👍🏽😂 73

[@paulsengupta971]

I have built a Cobwebb antenna for my attic. It's basically a fan dipole for 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 and 6, all in a compact 2.8m x 2.8m square. Picks up a lot of noise, but when it's quiet, it's not too bad considering I'm in a terraced house and the build came in at under £25. I have a plan to create a similar 40m square folded dipole on its own in my attic on another feeder - that would be a 5m x 5m square (20m wire) which would have to be fairly low down but would just about fit in my 7m x 5m attic. I have another plan to put in an EFHW on 40-10 by putting the unun in the attic, and then taking a thin wire from the front of the house, up and over the roof, down the garden to a telescopic pole, then either across the back of the garden or vertically downwards.

[@M0JSX]

That sounds excellent! I’d love to see some images of it!

[@DXCommanderHQ]

0:53 - I approve :)

[@M0JSX]

I thought you might!

[@apostolosmystikis7064]

Hi Jonathan, I am running similarly an EFRW with a 9:1 UNUN and 8,80M wire in the rails of my balcony (3rd Floor) L shape horizontal and with 10W in SSB its working pretty well in Phone with maximum distance i have made so far from London to 3000km in Russia, Greece, Italy, Romania and betweens in 18,15,20m bands. works quite well with 1:1 -1:2 SWR i confirm this multiband random wire works magically, 73 M7SVA

[@m1sdh]

My one and only antenna right now, is a fan dipole in my attic for 20m, 15m and 10m. Attic is only around 7.4m end to end, so have a loading coil ¾ the way along 20m elements and drooped the end a little. Despite limitations, it does surprise me how well it works 👍 What I'd like to work out this year is how to get on 40m from home, which may find me finally working out how I get something outside.

[@m7trsradio]

Happy new year Great video. I too have a small garden and have to weave a 20m wire around for an efhw. I have tried a 10m with 9:1 which worked quite well as a vertical and about 10m radials. I have a mag loop in the attic which I am not too sure about. I run a ft817 with 5w so by the time it manages to get out of the antenna it's probably more like 2w. Lol 73 mate

[@neilbchilton]

I haven't even got a usable garden at my QTH because it's a terrace and at the end of the rear yard is a BT pole with a load of lovely wires stringing from it (but none I can use of course). So my choice is a 40m EFHW in the loft going in a kind of S shape. Tuned with a Nanovna and actually works really well. I am solely FT8 using a QDX at the moment but can get the occasional QSO with the east coast of the US. Message being... Just use whatever space you have and give it a go! 73s

[@M0JSX]

Any antenna is far better than no antenna! 73!

[@WX4CB]

the "U" shape you have along the fence is similar to what I have in the trees.. mine's about 190 feet of wire but a mirror image of yours

[@Pedro8k]

Some i know lives in a detached property and put up a dipole for hf that goes around the whole house in the gutter under the eves of the roof totaly hidden and seems to work ok

[@j3xk72r9]

If you use 24swg enamelled wire, it is almost impossible to spot and you may be able to get it up higher.

[@clivedavies3]

Hi my tempry antenna is 20m wire with a 10m counteroise and fed with 5m of ladder line and 10m of rg58 military spec it has gotten in to america, brazil on ft8, ft4 and is always happy to produce results in europe it is 6ft high along my fence i run 10w and a ziegu g90 from my living room i can tune from 10m to 80 meters with the internal atu regards M7CLI.

[@M0JSX]

Sounds intriguing. How are you feeding the antenna? Is the ladder line acting as an impedance matching section? 73!

[@pcfreak1992]

There is also the Chelegance MC-750 and its clones. It’s basically the same thing as a DX Command except that it can only do a band at a time. When you switch bands you don’t adjust a coil but the whip length itself. The whip has markings on it for each band, so tuning is fast and easy. Often flag poles are okay and permitted up to 10m, so if you can hide a wire inside, it’s basically just like a DX Commander Expedition. Maybe a DX Commander with a flag is already legal 😂

[@paulsengupta971]

Flagpoles would be bizarre in the UK!

[@pcfreak1992]

@@paulsengupta971 You’re just very patriotic about your country 😉

[@johnmilner0859]

I’ve used a similar setup on the fence for some time and have had reasonable results into Europe using only 10 watts. I also bought a super antenna kit. All I will say is that it has been the biggest and most disappointing expenditure on an antenna I have made. Useless. The £49.99 EFW antenna has been the cheapest and most successful for me. Always enjoy your videos.

[@M0JSX]

Thanks John. Yes. Similar experiences with the superantenna here. I haven’t tried the alternatives (Slidewinder, wolf river coils etc)