The MHF-1

A true Multiband H.F. off centre fed wire antenna

With these benefits:

1. Covers 160 Mts - 10 Mts, Top Band to Ten, 1.8 - 30 MHz - including Broadcast Bands.
2 . No A.T.U. Required on 30mts, 20mts, 17mts, 15mts, 12mts, 10mts.
3. Wire antenna can be bent to almost any shape to fit available space.
4. No ferrite needed.
5. Can be slung out of a window - which is how I made mine.
6. Totally forgiving construction techniques allowed.
7. Fed with 50 ohm coax to keep local RFI to a minimum and the rig happy.
8. Can be used 'end fed' style or dipole style layout.

How can such a simple antenna acheive all this ? For the ham bands, the feedpoint
impedance for the given dimensions of the antenna wire will, broadly speaking, be around
200-300 ohms.

The antenna is fed at this convenient point using a broadband, air spaced UNUN or
unbalanced to unbalanced transformer. The unun transforms the impedance to one
suitable for modern coax fed rigs.

What does this thing look like ? Here is the schematic diagram:
Whats that coil near the middle ? This is the unbalanced to unbalanced broadband
impedance transformer, or UNUN. There is no ferrite to cause losses. It is a bifiliar winding
airspaced on a 1 inch former. 13 turns of speaker wire will do nicely. I wound my balun on
a cardboard tube from the centre of a cooking foil roll. Wire used is not critical, the thicker
the wire the more the watts it'll handle. I used speaker wire at 24/0.2 gauge ( 24 strands 0.2
dia wires) does'nt even get warm here at 50 Watts CW mode. The winding details are given
below:

Here's a photo of my own coil - its just speaker wire on a cardboard former wrapped in
electricians tape:
The MFH-1 antenna can be used sucessfully on topband, 80 and 40 with the use of an atu.
No atu required 30 mts - 10 mts ! Although I sometimes use my ATU to fine tune the last
ounce of energy from the rig PA !

How did you get all that wire in such a small space ? Heres my layout below. The two
wires can be strung out in anyway that suits. Dipole layout would be ideal, but 'end fed'
style would work too, I know as that’s how mines laid out. In fact for true portability how
about one run of speaker wire for the whole thing ? Just strip back the excess length on
one of the speaker cables !

Dimensions. One leg at 25.9 metres. The other leg is at 18.3 metres. These two lengths of
wire can be laid out dipole fashion, for those with acreage, or run parallel to each other, for
the 'end fed' style, or laid out anyway that suits. I followed the contour of my yard, out the
top window, sloping down to the yard fence at 6', across, around, and back up for the long
leg ! I kept a 2 - 3 feet space between my wires.

Does it work ? 20 Watts qrp - 17 mtr band, first run:

A note on the coax feeder. It is possible to create a RF choke to further reduce RFI. I did
this by making an air spaced coil of 6 inch diameter and 8 turns of the coax cable itself as
seen in the picture: The choke sits at the antenna end of the coax run.

Good luck, enjoy, and good dx !de g0ier op Brian Feb 2010