On the HamRadioHelpGroup mailing list, there was recently a discussion of end-fed antennas. One guy wrote:
I plan to use a QSO-King end-fed antenna with my new Kenwood TS-590. Does anyone have any experience with this antenna? I’ve read good reviews from many people.
I chose this antenna for several reasons. The biggest is that I lease my house and this will have the least physical impact on the house. It will also be relatively unassuming. I will string this between two telescoping antenna masts that I can stick in the ground and attach to each side of the house.
Well, after taking a look at that antenna, I replied:
I’m not so sure that I’d believe all the claims that he makes for this antenna, but you should be able to make some contacts with it. Most end-fed antennas are single-banders with a matching network that provides a match to 50 ohms on that band. This guy’s just using a balun to bring down the SWR to something that your rig’s internal tuner can match.
Instead of spending 70 bucks on this thing, why not buy some ladder line and antenna wire and make your own end-fed Zepp antenna? Google “end-fed zepp” for plans. Using ladder line will be a lot more efficient than using coax.
The “QSO King” is an end-fed antenna, but it’s not an end-fed, half-wave (EFHW) antenna that most us think about when we hear the term “end-fed.” I’m not even sure what you’d call this antenna, except maybe an end-fed random wire, with a balun connected to it to try to bring the SWR down to something than a rig’s internal tuner can match.
Another ham, who’s noted for more caustic remarks than I usually make wrote, [The antenna’s Web page] “cleverly interlaces demonstrable facts (like the voltage withstand of Thermaleze wire and waterproof enclosure) with subjective and anecdotal statements of performance. No where in his ad does he state any measurable performance parameter.”
In response to the statement in the ad, “Important Note : The antenna works best if the coax is at least 33-ft. long,” this same guy wrote, “Warning, Will Robinson! Beware the design that requires a specific feedline length. It can only mean it’s radiating, or it’s ballast.”
Finally, he advises, “If all you’re looking to do is run a tuner-fed random wire with or without a radial or counterpoise, just run the wire, jack it into the tuner and be done with it. No point in sending this guy money just to get the same (or worse) result.” Amen.
Can’t speak for the antenna since I don’t have one. However LNR Precsion sells end fed antennas with an UNUN similar to the QSO King. The LNR antenna gets 5 out of 5 at eham. Not a bad thing said about it. It would appear the QSO end fed work work equally as well.
As far as a specific length for the feedline. It would appear he is just trying to achieve an adequate counterpoise. DX Engineering also comments that for their 43 foot all band vertical that one should use at least 150 feet of coax.
I’m no expert by any means but I really don’t see anything askew with the antenna but then again I have been known to be wrong in the past :)
The boxes at the ends of the Par EndFedz antennas sold by LNR are not ununs, but rather matching networks. The EndFedz and the QSO King are really two quite different antennas.
What difference does it make if it doesn’t compare to an antenna that YOU might like or support financially as long as it works as they say it does. I have used this “QSO-KING” antenna for a long while now and have ran 1kw through it and have made contacts in Australia, Japan,New Zealand, and several more long distant contacts with great results and no problems. Unless you can prove that it does not work or does not do what they say it will do then your word is only hearsay. Get your facts together first before putting someone elses product down.
Bob your right on the money….Ive got Maple Leafs end fed 1500w rating….I run 100 watts and sometimes 10 and still talk across the pond with no trouble….I ext the radiator to 114. wow big difference. Im going to try 250 ftr as well. You can call the builder directly and he will answer any technical questions/issues you seem to have. Do that elsewhere….lol Rating 5/5
The gentleman asked for a technical opinion on the QSO King antenna, and we gave him one. I did say that he would be able to make contacts with it, and you proved me right.
The difference it makes is that instead of spending $80 on this antenna, you could spend it on parts to make your own antenna–one that would work even better.
The antenna works great for me. I am using 72 feet of wire set up as a flat “V” configuration due to HO restrictions. It does generate some stray RF that sets off my emergency phone dialer and body capacity touch lights. I feel this is fair tradeoff for the performance and I can take this antenna down in a matter of minutes.
I would agree that this antenna might not be an ideal situation nor would it perform necessarily as well as a regular dipole cut for a certain band. But many operators out there cannot put up dipoles due to either HOA restrictions or lots that will not accommodate such antennas. So for these hams, antennas like the QSO KING and their variants are the best way to get “on the air” , although be it with a compromise antenna. I have personal experience with the PAR Endfedz EF-40/20 and these have done quite well for me.
Well, I think charging $80 for the QSO King is a scam, especially since you can build a real end-fed antenna for less than $15. Heck you could build five or six of them for the price of one “QSO King.”
But….. there IS the problem. Hams these days, few people build anything themselves. We have been turned into “appliance” operators.
Dan, calling the QSO king a “scam” is not right – you clearly don’t know what is in the box, if you say it will cost $ 15 to build. To achieve 1500 watt rating it uses 2 x 240 torroids at $ 10.00 each. Add in the cost of connectors, box etc and it will cost $ 40 for the complete UNUN. Then pay for 120 ft of good quality wire – I am not sure what it would cost in the USA, but probably $ 20 here. That would make it $ 60 to build yourself.
Maybe you could build it cheaper. This antenna works.
What antenna works? A “QSO King”? I don’t doubt that. Nearly any piece of wire will work. You don’t have to pay 80 bucks for a piece of wire, though.
Since posting this, I’ve built an end-fed, half-wave antenna for 20m that works great and only cost me about $10. See https://www.kb6nu.com/kb6nu-finally-builds-an-end-fed-half-wave-antenna/ for more details.
This is an old posting but my comment would be:
The QSO King is rated 4.9/5 on Eham with many good comments (for good reason).
I have owned one for over 2 years and have worked 35 countries and also WAS with it.
I don’t know if you could buy the wire and waterproof box and toroid, plus assorted hardware for much less than about $45 – so the $69 price seems very fair.
The antenna works quit well and is especially useful in HOA areas, and for emergency use. When I put up my tower and Mosley beam I left the QSO wire up and use it now for odd bands that the Mosley will not work on.
Joe Lalumia
W1XWX
Well, one ham’s deal is another ham’s scam. You could make that antenna for a lot less than $69. There’s no way that the parts cost any more than $20. If you’re happy with it, though, then who am I to judge?
I also thinking of using qso King end fed antenna I live in apartment building on the top floor 16 stories in the air I am now I’m talking with the owner of the building dated like a 24-foot antenna on the roof so I’m going to persuade him with a wire in a slope position at 11:10 foot off the top of the roof on the high end on top of the Elevator Shaft 20 feet any tips our suggestions with this type of setup?
I have owned my QSO King for 6 months already. I have made some excellent contacts with it. I live in a HOA restricted sub-division. I am using a Yaesu FT-1000MP, running 100 watts using the FT-1000MP’s Internal tuner. I have made contacts on 10 meters, 20 meters, 40 meters, and 80 meters with outstanding results. Last week I made a contact to Santiago, Chile on 10 meters and my signal was reported as 5-9. When I have told people that I am using a QSO king, they are amazed. I have 117” wire and it is set up in a sloping “U”. I don’t understand the hostility from Dan.
Michele, KE6GRN
“Well, I think charging $80 for the QSO King is a scam, especially since you can build a real end-fed antenna for less than $15. Heck you could build five or six of them for the price of one “QSO King.”
You advertise a lot of services on your blog. I’m sure if I requested a proposal to design a website from WordPress for me, I too would consider it a “scam.” Considering I could build it for a WHOLE lot cheaper. And it would look better too! :-)
Fortunately, I have many clients who think that my Web-development services are not a scam. Having said that, I often counsel prospective clients that they can set up their own sites for less than what I would charge them. I have no desire to charge someone for something that they can do themselves.
That was my motive for writing this blog post—to save hams money. Perhaps calling it a “scam” was kind of harsh, but I’ll stand by my words that you could build this antenna for a lot less that $88 ($76 + $12 shipping). Not only that, you’d learn a lot in doing so.
It’s your money, though, and you can choose to spend it however you want.
Dan,
A fellow ham just purchased one of these, I was also skeptical. I was doing some research on the antenna and your post comes up the most commonly. Once I did the research and found the same things you found, I have decided to keep the cash in my pocket and put it toward something else. I support your encouragement to build, and learn. Building an antenna of this design, besides saving money, is a perfect opportunity to learn some antenna basics and antenna building skills (soldering, etc…) I also agree it is quick and easy to setup, and that may be what someone wants, and if it works for them, good for them, but it is nice to see people learn more about HOW the equipment works, and not just how to work the equipment.
I bought a qso king as a new ham who the city imposed stupid laws on. ( housing people said if I put an antenna on a chimney mount, my chimney would be considered a tower)). I have found that on 10 meter, the qso king mounted inverted vee with 53 ft. is about 2.5 s-units less than a big stick. But I have made numerous contacts with it and found that at the level of knowledge that I was at, it was a good investment. The product is well made, and the maker is willing to talk with you as you work with it. That was important to me as a new ham. I have found as I am in the process of building one myself, that the parts cost about 25 bucks. I cant argue with a man for making a profit for his work. If it works, I will have an easily set up field antenna. Give a fish, eat for a day. Teach to fish, eat every day.
Please excuse my extreme prejudice, but the product’s name, QSO-King is a huge, red flag – at least in my world. It’s a hunk of wire and a balun – nothing particularly regal about it. Period.
Though the expedient for some, others would benefit from looking into the end fed half-wave (EFHW) antenna. There are various simple tuner circuits that will work with the EFHW, too.
And consider taking a step into Terra Incognita: that is, actually building an antenna tuner for an EFHW. It doesn’t have to be anything more elaborate than a basic L-network: one coil and one capacitor.
72/73,
Jeff WN1MB
Winsted CT
My guess is that it’s a 9:1 Unun. I have purchased the Balundesigns 9:1 Unun and the kit form of a 9:1 Unun from Palomar Engineers ( http://palomar-engineers.com/baluns-and-ununs/model-ba-9-250-kit ) with the suggested length of wire, 124.5′ and get SWR’s close to what’s published. (not so much on 74/80 Mtrs) Currently they are hooked up to my SDR-iq Servers and allow decent RX on all bands. I’ve tried other antennas but they always seem to lack in one end of the HF spectrum or the other.
As for TX into one of these, I have installed one at friends QTH and being ‘locally’ zoned for no antennas (daughters house, she wants no antennas obviously visible). He does get out despite being antenna challenged. He’s active on 80/40/20 Mtrs with it.
The kit will run you $29.50 and then the cost of the wire. But hey, some folks are just plain lazy or appliance operators so can’t be bothered with melting solder and winding toroids.
73 Kriss KA1GJU
72 ft of horizontal wire & a decent counterpoint will give fantastic results 80 through 10. No lossy unun baluns or other coils / capacitors.
Im using 30 ft of coax most of which is inside my home with 10 ft of heavy duty wire from the coax braid to a copper pipe part of my central heating system.
Antenna needs to be at least 12 ft above ground & may struggle to tune on the lower end of 80 metres with an aauto atu.
Results are so good that many contacts ask what I’m using & find it hard to believe.
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.
adi said: “No lossy unun baluns or other coils / capacitors” and then “may struggle to tune on the lower end of 80 metres with an aauto atu.”
Just in the interest of accuracy, an “aauto (sic) atu” is comprised of “other coils / capacitors.”
Glad to hear you’re enjoying such good results from your antenna system. It’s truly amazing how well just some wire will work. Back in my novice “career” I built a T-network transmatch and then proceeded to tune all manner of oddball metallic objects for antennas – including the proverbial coat hanger.
Towers, yagis, and quads are nice, but they’re certainly not necessary to get on the air and make some contacts. YMMV.
72/73,
Jeff WN1MB
http://www.earchi.org/92011endfedfiles/Endfed6_40.pdf
I built the unit above …….I had all the parts, except the screws (My junk box has reached Critical Mass, which is really scary). I had some 4 wire flat cable , I got from Radio shack.
Just striped off one wire and it made winding the core easy. Secure one end with a small tie wrap and start winding and then secure the other end.
I used about 60 ft of wire out to a 30 ft push up pole strapped to our privacy fence,
the other end goes to an eye bolt at the peak of the gable.
I used a ferrite slip-on bead kit from Palomar …….
http://palomar-engineers.com/antenna-products/1-1-balun-kits/slip-on-sleeve-baluns
to put on the end of my coax just before it goes in the house; via an Alpha Delta Surge
Protector mounted on a ground rod.
It tunes great 80 through 10 which is all I have tried.
I can now use all of 80 meters instead of the 60 kc band width provided by a dipole or my old Butternut vertical. It should fit in just about any backyard.
The bands have been pretty bad as of late, so I won’t give glowing testimonials of exotic QSO’s , but the antenna lets me get on the 4 State QRP PSK net and now I can get on 75 meter phone with no sweat.
One last comment ….. this unit is good up to 100 watts. If you are power mad then use a bigger torriod and wire with better insulation.
73 Dennis KC0IFQ
I must tell you all about my experience with this antenna. I have read all the reports , the if, ands, and buts, but here is my story on the QSO King 59 ft end fed. I have a place of business that I rent the store front. Behind the building the only thing I could use is a vertical ham stick on top of the AC unit on the roof. We all know a ham stick without the proper radial system of a vehicle does not do well on tx. So i got the 59 ft end fed QSO King. I mounted the box at the highest point of the building right into the brick and the wire out 59 feet with a Dacron line high to a tree. Now, I must tell you, i can tune 10 20 15 17 75 and 80 meters with the built in antenna tuner, 40 meters however needs and external tuner. I was on 80 meters the other night and was talking to some friends I talked to every night, and they all heard me s9 or more. I must say at 100 watts, it felt good. Some of us just cannot get up an antenna without using a compromised one. for what i paid, with the wire and the coax and the waterproof box i would only save 25.00. so why not buy one? I did, and I am happy I did because I knew this antenna before I bought it. My friend bought one and used it and I was amazed. That’s what sold me on this baby. So if you have an HOA, or you’re limited to space, or you need to be stealth, this is a good way to go. It works for me. Good receive. Now no, I wont be the biggest signal on the band but, I’m in the game and I can enjoy amateur radio at my place of business. So that’s my 2 cents. And it will take 1.5 kW. I did use a line isolator that a friend gave me. Its a breeze to put up. It looks like a gray ATT telephone box. Great for stealth situations. I’m very happy.
Well! An old thread i know, however i have just this afternoon put up a 72 feet wire in an inverted L configuration 35 feet vertical 37 feet horizontal. The vertical section joims to a “gwhip” (google it) 9 to 1 Unun on the positive side just 3 feet off the ground, the negative terminal is joined to a 65 feet counterpoise running on the ground away from the antenna. I can work 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 40 and 80 including 10 mhz etc. The only bands that needs the assistance of my radios internal tuner are 20, 40 and 80 and then only just, the other bands have a very good match without the tuner. First contact from here in the uk on 20 was with a w6 and i was 5/5 to 7, 20 db above his noise floor using 300 watts. Many other contacts followed and pile ups were broken over the following couple of hours and yes i am very surprised, message is, dont knock it til tou try it…..i only purchased the Unun as its so well made, i used my own wire etc. The antenna i built is a replica of the gwhip widebander. Many 73
This thread has been online for a while, but it’s hardly “old.” It gets lots of hits because this is a popular topic. thanks for the comment, Bob!
I also live in a restricted QTH..My first antennas were Pars,20 and 40 mtrs..Had problems
due to deployment..Being an old new ham I wanted multi band use,I bought the lighter version called an easy tenna..I know it;s a 9:1 unun..Started with 53′ and one 64′ ground radial and 100 Watts..I worked Europe,Japan,antartica etc..I pushed the issue and it’s 107′ inverted L with about 250′ of elevated counterpoise..It’s not a steppir but it works great for the condition..I have since got a 130′ EFHW made by Myantennas.com..same layout,only one earth ground..It’s a bit better than the random wire..Just a bit but it tunes using yeasu 450D tuner..All bands,all freqs..80 and up…He has a box he calls a transforner..I think it’s a 55:1 unun with a small capacitor..No radials,just an earth ground,Very handy for Restricet hams and it works very we..He makes a 63′ 40 and up version…Bob/KF7WMM
What determines how an antenna will radiate is only the current that is in the wire and what sort of physical shape that wire has. It doesn’t matter how you get the current into the wire, that has absolutely nothing to do with how that wire radiates. Antenna modeling programs look only at the wires that are radiating. Fancy programs may throw in some helpful cricut ideas for matching, but that’s only gravy, it has nothing to do with how the wire radiates a signal.
Is there any significant difference in performance between 43′ and 53′ or 73′ OF radiating elements
TNX and 73s
4Z4MU
Ron,
I know this is an old thread but I just read your post and felt a need to reply.
You imply that only the shape of the antenna and the power applied are determinants in how it will radiate. But an antenna’s proximity to metal objects, or to the ground, are also very significant influences on how the antenna radiates. Antenna modeling programs do in fact consider those variables too.
Mark K1LSB
The QSO King is the best multi-band antenna ever! 50 plus years as a ham; never seen anything like this! With 117 of wire to a tree I get low SWR’s on all eleven bands. Great performance on 160-6 meters. My FT-950 tunes them all WITHOUT using the autotuner!
My AL-80B amplifier puts out full power with no tuner on every band. Finally, I have great performance on 160! Read my write up on my QRZ page.
Dale W6PDL