EAntenna 5070OWA9

April. The Sporadic E season is about to start. And since my last antenne for 50 and 70 MHz didn’t survive a storm it is time for a new one. This time I bought the 5070OWA9 fom EAntenna at the local Hamshop. It is a 4-element antenna for 50 MHz and a 5-element antenna for 70 MHz mounted on a 3,55 meter boom. The driver for 70 MHz is passively feeded from the 50 MHz driver.

Mouting
Mounting the antenna was quite sraightforward. I needed extra tools like a 5,5mm socket and a 2,5mm Allen key, and a 7mm wrench to mount the coax, the rest of the tools are provided. But… the guys at EAntenne forgot to drill some holes in the 5 supplied mounitng plates to put the 70 MHz elements on the boom. So I had to drill 20 M6 screw tap holes (the holes itself are there). To bad, but the local Hamshop already mentioned it on the webshop.

The balun
I still got a Current Balun with ferrite clamps from the old antenna so I decided to recycle this one. Else I’d suggest to make an ‘ugly balun’ or ‘air wound rf balun’ with some coax windings. The balun I use is from Innovantennas and bought a few years ago together with baluns for 144 and 430 MHz.

The G0KSC Innovantennas Current Balun
The antenna mounted. It will be removed in the winter to reduce wind impact on the mast.

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