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EFHW antenna

1iwilly

1iwilly

Sr. Member
Dec 7, 2008
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Looking for advice on an EFHW antenna in the 1kw range. I'm using a Nelson antenna 200W-pep SWR are good, but it gets hot and SWR rises when using it for rag chewing if you get long-winded. 2 weeks ago i bought the myantenna.com 40-10 1kw-plus which i just put back in a box to return it best SWR on 40&20 meters 2.0 it didn't matter on high inverted V horizontally adjust the cable. it would tune to 1.2 1.3 with the antenna tuner but to me, i knew the antenna still had high swr which my OCD didn't like LOL and meant i wasn't putting out a good signal
 

1iwilly said:
Looking for advice on an EFHW antenna in the 1kw range. I'm using a Nelson antenna 200W-pep SWR are good, but it gets hot and SWR rises when using it for rag chewing if you get long-winded. 2 weeks ago i bought the myantenna.com 40-10 1kw-plus which i just put back in a box to return it best SWR on 40&20 meters 2.0 it didn't matter on high inverted V horizontally adjust the cable. it would tune to 1.2 1.3 with the antenna tuner but to me, i knew the antenna still had high swr which my OCD didn't like LOL and meant i wasn't putting out a good signal
Click to expand...
Get a good balun from balun designs.
 
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How much power are you running with the 200 Watt Nelson? I have the same antenna as a sloper and so far so good.
 
Ditoes to what SuperLid said. The balun supplied with the OG antenna is probably too light and is "saturating" and heating up under longer cycles. This likely, is why the SWR climbs as well (well --- that, and the antenna's wire is heating up and expanding).

Replace the 9:1 Nelson QRP balun with a heavier one. You can make one yourself, or buy a ready-made one for less than $100. I would get a 2K, or better so you can run 'legal limit'.
I would also confirm the antenna wire is #14 or heavier too. If not, just cut some #12, or 14 stranded to the same length as the OG wire.

Yeah, I know.... Basically, I'm suggesting the replacement of the whole antenna with a heavier gauge one. But it is what it is.
 
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