Model EFHW-8010 End Fed Antenna Characterization

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This EFHW-8010 End Fed antenna was recommended so we gave it a go.  The installation has the "business" end of the 130 feet antenna wire about 50 feet high sloping down to about 8 feet with some para-cord support from an overhanging tree near mid run to keep the antenna wire high as long as possible.  The inline choke and and matching transformer are located in the attic.  This is not the optimal setup, but the configuration was convenient for our QTH.  We are very happy with the performance and the Icom IC-7300 tunes it to well to all spec'd bands. 

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Regardless of how you interpret the data the antenna is working well for our setup.  73 and see you on the bands!
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Ham Radio HT 2m Antenna Comparison

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An OFC Dipole antenna was recently paid-forward to me.  My Elmer friend let me borrow an antenna analyzer to check it out.  I soon learned that the analyzer was actually put together from a kit.  It is a very nice package with a sturdy case, touch screen interface, and an easy to understand user interface.  Go to this page and see the AQRP 8KHz to 440MHz Vector Impedance Analyzer kit #25 for more details.  It's well documented and a very slick package. 

 

 

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Right away I wanted to play with the analyzer and decided to sweep a few 2m hand held radio antennas as a test (results below). 

• BaoFeng BF-F8HP Stock duckie antenna
• Kenwood TH-D72A Stock duckie antenna
• Nogoya NA-771 VHF/UHF aftermarket antenna duckie
• DIY 2m Tape Measure Yagi (instructions)

It's interesting how much flatter the VSWR curve is with the Nogoya NA-771 VHF/UHF aftermarket duckie.  Also, I never tuned the DIY 2m Tape Measure Yagi but just following the build instructions carefully seemed to yield good results.
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And, just for grins we swept a DIY simple wire dipole that was cut for 20m which is only use for Rx with a SDRPlay RSP1A. Our placement for the dipole is marginal and it works equally marginal on 20m and 40m.   FWIW, here are the results:

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