Deluxe HF Multiband End Fed Matchbox Antenna

(12/30/2019): Firstly, I'm sorry to learn Ken has passed away. He was very helpful and the perfect "Elmer" in my deploying my first end-fed antenna.I had taken down the antenna about this time last year, so the home could be resided. In the interim, I'd learned to put a current choke on the coax feedline before the coax entered the shack. In my case, this was up in the attic. This solved the sketchy performance on 80m. I had so much RF entering the shack on 80m that if I attempted to transmit at full power (100W), often the GFCI would trip. Putting a $10 choke (Palomar Engineers) in the attic solved this and the antenna now tunes 80m well. I've spent just minutes with it since reinstalling and had a quick QSO with a contest station in Manitoba on 20m - about 2500km.I installed the matchbox under the eave of the home so it's protected from the elements. Assume it will last quite a while this way. I continue to use the 55' wire included and re-ran the counterpoise to be more perpendicular.Since Ken has passed, you won't find his particular antennas, but anyone reputable who is producing a similar unit should yield similar results. These are easy enough to build, but it was helpful to have an experienced ham build my first one for me. 73.ORIGINAL POST FROM 2016: I love this quality built item. Installed it easily in a couple of hours. First used my homebrew PVC air cannon to launch a line over a branch about 40 feet up. Next, I tied the end of the included antenna to the included end insulator and then to my paracord and hoisted it up a bit. I hung the box itself from under the eave of the far corner of the house. It's about 20 feet up I ran a length of wire down the side of the house for the counterpoise. Ran the antenna through the hanger to give some strain relief and connected it. I'll probably go back and add a length of paracord for the strain relief. I sealed the box per the instructions with silicone. Being under the eave should keep it mostly out of the rain. Then I finished hoisting the end of the antenna so it has some slack but is almost 40 feet up. Ran the coax in the window temporarily. Will go back and run it through the attic. Immediately was able to tune 60m - 10m through an LDG AL-100 autotuner and Alinco SR8T rig. 80m doesn't tune yet in this config. I will try an MFJ manual tuner later to see what it looks like. So far pretty happy considering the price, ease of install, and performance. Not to mention it's very stealthy and almost passed unnoticed by my neighbor. 73, N0TM.

This works well for the end-fed wire and also for for other unbalanced antennas. I hooked mine up to a virtually all band wire antenna mounted on my 6-ft wood privacy fence. I fed it with an LDG auto tuner and it tuned down to to about 1:2 SWR. Antenna came from the ARRL book: Small Antennas for Small Places. Before using it, I took the back off and made the external connections were all sealed with silicone, as the company recommends if you intend on leaving it out in the elements. Deluxe HF Multiband End Fed Matchbox Antenna

Outstanding service, great shipping and a very friendly fellow. Quite happy with this antenna. As suggested by W4KGH, I did use silicon sealant around the edges and holes, as well as some Lock-Tite on the screws.