80M QRP was very good out to around 250 miles most evenings, and the other bands performed similarly with greater distance as the frequency increased. I was located on an island about 60′ above sea level, and the W3EDP at 15′ actually did pretty well on 10.1 MHz and higher, with lots of European, Caribbean, and even a few African stations worked on 30, 20, and 17.

I first learned of the W3EDP in a wire antenna book from RSGB (sorry, I can’t remember the author’s name). The article on this antenna specifies the 17′ counterpoise be used on 40, 20,and 15, and no counterpoise on 80 or 10; no mention is made of the WARC bands. I had zero success with the 17′ counterpoise by itself. W3EDP apparently devised this antenna sometime during the 1930′s, so it is likely the original configuration worked just fine with vacuum tube finals and link coupling.

If one can come up with a satisfactory solution to RF grounding, I think this is a most useful antenna in difficult situations or for temporary/portable operation. I’m going to put one up here for /patio portable and work it against the large steel awning. Have fun!
73
Ric K5RIX (ex-WI6I)

If you read through some of the other replies, you’ll have noted that I did indeed get the antenna and tuner to work on 80m. I did this by connecting a 66-ft. counterpoise. So, this agrees with what you’ve done on the other bands, i.e. using 1/4-wave counterpoises.

I’d say that a remote tuner at the feedpoint is the way to go. In effect, that’s what I have now, except that the tuner is not all that remote. It’s only about three feet away from the radio on the window sill.

Some guys are using the SGC SG-239 in this type of application with decent results. I tried one here, but apparently, this particular tuner likes the counterpoise to be longer than the driven element. Since my wire is 85 feet long, and the counterpoise only 66 feet long, the SG-239 never found a good match. I still haven’t tried lengthening the counterpoise, and in fact, I think the counterpoise is actually shorter than 66 feet now, as my wife ran over it with the lawn mower sometime this summer.

73, Dan KB6NU

I’m very interested in your attempts here. I have a W3EDP strung up at my vacation QTH, and in good weather it is very pleasant to use connected directly to my KX1. But I would like to use it inside during bad weather, and have been trying to figure out how to achieve this.

The W3EDP requires a tuner. It also seems to require a counterpoise – mine is happier with an array of tuned counterpoises, cut for each band (20/30/40). When I’m connected directly, the KX1 does a nice job of tuning it up.

It doesn’t really like to be fed with a long length of coax, though – at least, the tuner doesn’t deal with it well. I’m thinking about putting a small remote tuner at the feedpoint, like what you’ve done. It won’t be very remote – within arm’s reach! W3EDP’s original tuner was *very* simple, but I’m lazy – I’d like it to be “automatic”. The Elecraft T1 might be the answer, but it’s pricey for a single application.

Did you get your SST T-1 happy?

Any other suggestions?

73 de chris K6DBG

All this wire and all this performance for just $12 at Radio Shack!
73,
Joel, N3GSE

What a difference this new counterpoise makes! The settings for lowest SWR are quite different than when I had the 17-ft. counterpoise connected, but this time, the SWR that I measure with the antenna analyzer agrees with the SWR measurement that the rig is making. At 3530 kHz, I was able to tune the wire so that the SWR was 1.1:1 and below 1.5:1 from 3500 to 3560 kHz.

I made two contacts tonights. Both responded to my call of CQ. The first was with K1ARO in CT, running less than 20W. He was 599, and he gave me a 589 report.

The second was with N8DJ in Edgarton, WV. He was 459, and he gave me a 559 report. Both QSOs were around 3530 kHz, and during both contacts the SWR measured by the rig was solidly 1.1:1 with the IC-746PRO’s internal tuner off.

I don’t think this antenna is the world’s best performer—it’s kind of noisy, for one thing—but it’s very cool that I can get on the air again. It’s also very cool that I was able to use this antenna tuner that I’ve had kicking around my junk boxes for decades.

The light bulb on the unit (it’s a neon bulb, I believe) is a (very) rough indicator of the output power You’re supposed to adjust the tuner for maximum brightness.

Sunday night, I actually applied some power to the wire, and actually made a contact. I had some funny results, though. First of all, I set up the tuner on a window sill, and brought the random wire in directly to the tuner. I then connected the 17-ft. counterpoise to the tuner’s ground terminal and laid it out on the ground. I then connected my antenna analyzer and adjusted the tuner for minimum SWR at 3530 kHz. I was able to get it down to about 1.20:1.

Next, I connected the coax to the IC-746PRO and cracked the power down to about 20W. WHOA!! The rig said the SWR was more than 3:1! I switched in the rig’s tuner, which brought the SWR down to 1.1:1, but I didn’t think that I’d have to use the 746′s internal tuner.

I wasn’t sure that I should try to operate with this configuration, but I figured I’d give it a go. I tuned around and heard K2PMC calling CQ. He was 599, so I called him back. He copied me, and said I was S5-6. We had a nice QSO, but I cut it short, as I was still not very comfortable operating this way.

The source of my unease is that never before has the SWR measured with the antenna analyzer disagreed so wildly with what the SWR measured by the radio. I’m not really sure what to make of it. One thing I’m going to try is to use a 66-ft. counterpoise, and if I get similar results, then connect the counterpoise to the 8-ft. ground rod I have just outside the shack window. As always, I’ll report on it here.

73/aloha.
Ernie NH7L