End-fed Half-wave 40-10
Twenty metres of wire on a Kevlar winder with a 49:1 UnUn. The field workhorse — multiband, light, and forgiving of imperfect sky hooks.
If the IC-705 is the brain, the EFHW is the lungs. It’s the first thing into the pannier and the last thing out of the tree. Sloping, inverted-V, vertical against a squid pole — the pattern changes but the radiation is always there.
The UnUn is shrink-wrapped inside a project box with a BNC and a dainty SWR readout slot for the trailside. The counterpoise is roughly a quarter wave and terminates in a knot — sophistication optional.
Used on these activations
Hunsrückhöhenweg
Rain, then sun, then conversations across half a continent on twenty metres. Best DX was a W4 through a hole in the …
Laacher See
Eifel, Rhineland-Palatinate — A volcanic caldera lake. End-fed wire slung into a young birch. Good afternoon, good coffee, good propagation.
Hohe Acht
The highest peak of the Eifel. Windy enough to steal a logbook page, cold enough that the coffee turned slushy.
Burg Eltz
Moselle Valley, Rhineland-Palatinate · castle — A medieval castle perched above a forest stream. Set up in the visitor meadow with a wire in a …
Festung Ehrenbreitstein
Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate · fortress — A Prussian fortress overlooking the Deutsches Eck. Operated from the ramparts with a clean shot …
Naturpark Moselland
Moselle Valley, Rhineland-Palatinate — A cold, sunlit afternoon between the vineyards. The wire was in an apple tree and the contacts came steadily.