I would say no. Iron dust cores, such as -6 mix, are used to make high-Q inductors. Ferrite cores, such as -43, are used to make wideband transformers or chokes. They are not really suitable for inductors.
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okay thx good to know!!
73
Julian
The toroid in the AX2 as pictured by @W7ETF Steve is an unusual one, it’s painted to indicate -6 material but has the height of about four T-50-6es all stacked. Any idea what this is? It seems that other short base-loaded whip experimenters have had success with conventional T-68-'s…
The original coil core looks like a T51-6 (e.g. Micrometals).
In order to avoid the somewhat tricky soldering work during the modification due to the limited space and to enable a problem-free fine spread of the windings to set the desired resonance frequency, I use 2 stacked T-50 toroidal cores as a “replacement coil core” (Mix #2 for 14 and 18 MHz, Mix #6 for 21-28 MHz), wound with ECW 0.63 mm (AWG #22).
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By the way,
The improved stability of the BNC connector on the AX2 compared to the AX1 motivated me to “retire” my AX1.
My small (finger … and backpack friendly) loaded all-band antenna with the existing 60/40/30 m extender includes now
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AX2-20 (for 60/40/30/20 m)
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AX2-17 (for 17 m)
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AX2-10/12 (for 10/12 m and (together with LC30m) 15 m)
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2 guyed radial pairs of 2.5 m (for 17-10 m) and 3.1 m (for 60-20 m)
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Tripod (for all seasons/earth surfaces …)
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Selfie stick allowing a feed point height of approx. 0.85 m
Note: I noticed with my AX2’s (when new) that the hexagon nut on some examples was only tightened hand-tight and in one case it was even loose. The result of this: The antenna wobbles about like the AX1 or a little more …
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Heinz did u print the cases with your 3D printer or are these the original plastic cases?
73
Julian
… if I remember correctly, there is no 3D printer in our household …
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Ahh okay got it haha.
It looks easy to make the antenna with an 3D printer and a BNC plug.
How is the performance of your AX2? Did you made “good contacts”?
73
Julian
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Dear Heinz,
Your neat whip antenna extenders, as for any of your homebrew gear, are precise as a good Swiss watch!
Thanks a lot for sharing your detailed info. I also like that tripod which seems to be lighweight as well.
I’m in the process of building something similar here. Christmas will bring me a whip to play a bit with…
73 Ignacio
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Thank you Ignacio.
The main motivation for building this little and, above all, very handy antenna came from the fact that my fingers/hands had been plagued by tendonitis over the last few years and required some annular ligament operations (still a few pending …).
I hope to see your smiling face soon when your short whip also captures the signals from well-known SOTA dx stations (e.g. from ZL, JA, PY, LU, W, VE, …).
For my part, I would also like to use my little whip to try to exceed the previously achieved distance of 992 km for an s2s QSO in the 60 m band, hi.
73 gl, Heinz
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