Making the Antenna Work

I have been running the Hi-Q 3/80 using a DX Engineering autotransformer to match the antenna, but the favored way to do this is with a shunt coil.

So today I built and installed a shunt coil on the antenna mount, to see how it would work:

And it works well. With the long (72") whip I can tune to the bottom of 80 meters with a solid 1:1 SWR, and I have less than 1.7:1 SWR on the other bands.

That probably means I could do better with the coil if I tried different turns count, or tapped it, or some such, but I'll leave it as is for now.

See the ferrites on that antenna control cable? I am trying to get RF out of my AM/FM when I am on 20 phone. (Hasn't worked.)

Update: if you want some instructions on tuning of shunt coils try here.

I have the MFJ-459B analyzer which makes adjustment quick and simple. I don't think I would try adjusting the coil without it.

I am thinking I will eventually move the coil inside the mount framework and possibly cover it with a plastic box for protection. My entire mount was inspired by K7PEH's design and howto, so a big thanks goes out to Phillip for his design which got me going with Hi-Q antennas.

Posted in Operating by WA5ICA at July 5, 2008 03:32 PM