What is it:
The basic premise of the antenna is strip the 1/4 wave of shield off the coax, leave a 1/4 wave of coax with shield, and choke before the before the physical feed point.
This is resonant end-fed dipole, typically installed vertically. There are lots of plans for this on the internet, but another “outside-the-box” ham and I were discussing it and had a few interesting ideas for this antenna for lower bands and how to potentially make it switchable between bands.
- Using a length of coax long enough for a 1/4 wave of the desired band plus feedline run with appropriate connectors on each end.
- Make a connector with the 1/4 wave of wire that would be the stripped portion of coax and use a barrel connector (if necessary) to join the two.
- Use ferrite beads and zip ties or tape for the choke placement.
The 3 simple things make this antenna easier to build as you aren’t trying to strip 8′ or more of outer insulation. This might also lower the cost of the antenna as wire is cheaper than coax. In the field one could change the radiating wire & the position of the ferrite bead choke to change bands rather quickly.