[G3OJV] knows the pain of trying to operate a ham radio transmitter on a small lot. His recent video shows how to put up a workable fundamental HF antenna in a small backyard. The center of the system is a 49:1 unun. An unun is like a balun, however while a balun goes from balanced line to an unbalanced antenna, the unun has both sides unbalanced. You can see his explanation in the video below.
The tiny hand-size box costs well under $40 or $50 as well as covers the whole HF band at up to 200 W. The video shows the inside of the box which, as you’d expect, is a toroid with a few turns of wire.
The proposed antenna is an end-fed dipole fed with the unun. These are somewhat questionable with some people swearing they can’t work as well as others saying they are amazing. We are guessing they may not outperform a ideal antenna system, however we likewise know that you can have a lot of fun with nearly any type of kind of radiator.
The element is about 33 ft long, however to make it fit, you can bend the antenna to fit your lot. Again, it is probably not optimal, however much better than nothing. Erecting a wire antenna like this is easy as well as just requires some insulators as well as supporting rope or string. using thin wire as well as low-profile rope, you can hide it nearly anywhere.
Does it work? seems to in the video, at least judging by the SWR. As [G3OJV] says, why not try it before dismissing it?
We’ve seen other options, of course. We’ve likewise seen these end-fed antennas made with tiny band traps.