Jouni OH3CUFJul 30, 2024

Sometimes things just work.

Yesterday after I had build new portable EFHW 20m/40m I realized I could do also random wire antenna. So after breakfast I build one together, in one hour. I CNC milled the holder from birch plywood. I chose 12m as wire length. Then I wen't outside and tested. On 20m many European RBNs spotted me with only 5W of power. I even hunted one OH WWFF park on 40m - which is crazy thinking of how bad the HF weather is ATM.

I need to remember this on bad days :)

Show threadBen AI6YR
@OH3CUF These antennas (EFHW) are great... it would make it so much easier for new hams to get on the air if we just handed these out with a random length of wire. Sure, they're not optimal, but they are near foolproof for at least getting on the air.
Jul 30, 2024 at 5:08pmWeb
Show threadJouni OH3CUFJul 30, 2024
@ai6yr Random wires need tuner which might be too exotic/confusing for beginners. I remember asking for help from HAM chat for my first HF antenna - I didn't have any clue what to get. They suggested EHFW kit from hfkits. That wasn't bad choice and still isn't. Very bulletproof on 40m/20m and a bit better peformer than random wire - if I've understood correctly. The good thing is that you don't need a tuner but downside is that you are stuck on those bands then. Which isn't bad at start.
Show threadEric K3FNB (they/them)Jul 30, 2024

@OH3CUF @ai6yr for sure an EFHW is a great antenna for getting on the more popular bands. I got on 10m as a tech, and 20m and 40m as a general with the same EFHW. The hardest part of a EFHW is trimming the wire correctly.

The only thing simpler and as versatile might be a 17' whip but that would require a SWR meter of some kind.

Show threadJouni OH3CUFJul 30, 2024

@k3fnb @ai6yr The hfkits antenna wire was cut to correct length, so there was no tuning needed for the length - which was very good thing to have. Easy to get 1.5:1 SWR. When you add the 80m coil then you need to tune the antenna.

I eventually got a tuner which opened other bands as well. At that point I could have of course used random wire too. However as I had fixed QTH antenna, the ~21m length wasn't a problem.

Keen to see how my DIY portable randomwire will perform in future!