During these times...Projects

With everyone pretty much stuck at home in isolation it's a great opportunity to think of antenna projects and other things like that.  I installed a random wire antenna last fall but with my Z11 tuner is not tuning it at all (I'm not sure if it's broken or just a bad setup) I can only operate it on 30M which is fine by me as it's one of my favourite bands.  That being said, i ordered 2 little kits from QRP Guys.  The first kit was the EFHW Mini tuner.  There are 2 versions to choose from and I chose the 80M version.  This little rig will hopefully help me turn that random wire antenna into a dedicated 80M EF antenna.  I will have to lower it down and add about 10 feet of wire to get to the recommended 135' starting point.  The below photo is from their site.

The second kit I purchased was for the Multi Z Tuner 10-40.  My plan with this little gem is to use it with the doublet I plan to install over the coming weeks.  I have the wire and space to install up to an 80M doublet and I figure I might as well go that route even though this tuner will only help down to 40M.  This kit is a bit more involved but shouldn't be too bad since there are no SMT components involved.  Here is the photo from their website:

A few years back I bought a good length of 450 ohm window line for a project that never came to fruition so now I can use it for this.  I have heard a lot about these antennas and the multi-band properties make it attractive.  I've always been one for using tuned dipoles but in my windy location they are a challenge to maintain.

I did have a plan to have the center support insulator 3D printed.  I found a nice one on  Thingiverse but the local library, which has the printer, is closed until further notice so I may just have to fashion one up.

I will post my progress with the Multi Z Tuner as I tackle that kit first.

Cheers es 72/73

Scott