Do End-Fed Antennas Really Need a Counterpoise?

Comments · 72

• TE

  @TelecomTraining · 3 months ago · pinned

  📡 QUESTION FOR THE COMMUNITY:<br><br>What type of antenna system do you use, and what serves as its return path?<br><br>• Ground radials?<br>• A dedicated counterpoise?<br>• The coax shield?<br>• An earth ground?<br>• Something else?<br><br>I&apos;d love to hear your experiences and what has worked best in your station.<br><br>73,<br>Trevor

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• M7

  @M7XCB · 3 months ago

  Excellent very clearly explained great video.

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• BI

  @billc2054 · 2 months ago

  Nice job explaining and not going too fast,as not to be able absorb the concept. It was almost too slow, but it was worth the time. &nbsp;I have an end fed antenna that I haven’t used yet and glad you mentioned multiple length radials for the different bands. 73’s

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• KA

  @karlmatthias2698 · 3 months ago

  This is good

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• BI

  @BillO964 · 2 months ago

  Are we still beating this debate to death? The answer is No.

• AN

  @analogplanet9675 · 3 months ago

  Really a nice explanation, in accessible terms. I visualize common mode currents (in the context of a radio receiver front end) as what happens if you are far away from the ground, like if its a long wire to ground, your station is location up the antenna some amount and will wiggle with the rf, making &quot;you&quot; &quot;hot&quot; with respect to the surroundings.

• DO

  @DonzOzzo · 3 months ago

  Great visual explanation. I&apos;m setting up a ZS6BKW and an end fed. The end-fed has a counterpoise so hope they work well. :)

• RA

  @radiotory · 1 month ago

  When you use a handheld radio you is a counterpoise in this case.

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• CE

  @ce6kjbmarcos43 · 4 weeks ago

  Podrá explicar los contrapesos en las antenas end feed.<br>Porfa

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• SK

  @SkyCharter · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po8iY_JTooU&amp;t=359">5:59</a> And sometimes there is no counterpoise at all and the EFHW still demonstrably works just fine.

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• W8

  @W8RIT1 · 3 months ago

  @<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po8iY_JTooU&amp;t=15">0:15</a> Correct! I&apos;ve always put it this way. You ask 2 hams 1 question, you get 3 answers.

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• SN

  @sneezingfrog · 3 weeks ago

  Every setup is different, and yes, absent anything else, the coax shield becomes the counterpoise. Depending on your bonding setup, this may or may not be ideal. In the field, radio running on battery, and with a choke on the coax, great setup in my opinion; no reason to make things more complicated than they need to be. In a more permanent shack setup, coax shield properly bonded, etc., what you tend to discover is two things. The first is that you have to add a lot of choking to prevent that return path from being a real problem with things like wired smoke detectors, and the second is that making the entire house ground part of the antenna is likely to push your noise floor up substantially. This is definitely a case where in the worst case, say an 80m EFHW, it&apos;s going to cost you 13 feet of wire and half an hour to experiment, and experiment you should, particularly with analysis of your noise floor with and without a counterpoise.