One mistake people make with the Windom is trying to tune it to resonance on its fundamental band.

The problem with trying to physically change the length is that you then throw all of the harmonic resonance's off, so you are right back to using a tuner.

Also, by its very nature, even at resonance, the SWR on a Windom will usually not be 1 to 1.

The best thing to do with a Windom is to simply hang it, and understand that you will need to use a tuner with it almost anywhere you operate. There will be a few places where the SWR will be low enough to not use a tuner, but those will be narrow segments, and may not be where you want them.

Same goes for the G5RV.





Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs