The Highly Portable, Ultra-light Multi-Band
Micro-Windom
Price, Quality, Service - Now pick all three
The Micro Windom is likely as complicated as it will ever get for us. We will never tire of extolling the virtues of the simple half wave dipole antenna, especially resonant ones. There are times however, when multi-band and other dipole variants become extremely useful. They are still dipoles and function as dipoles. Ham radio operators may have noticed the recent volatility and unpredictability of the amateur radio bands. Therefore, especially for those of us who appreciate the elegance of low power, our antenna systems need to make the most of what power it is given and exploit any advantage that it can. In that spirit, we are happy to introduce our latest offering. Like all our other antennas, it is extremely light, extremely portable and exceptionally rugged. Moreover, it remains true to our values of providing high-quality antennas that perform as well or better than others of the same type or class while providing the utmost value in terms of cost, service and delivery. This is antenna is designed for use up to 50 Watts SSB.
For $129.95 you will receive:
- Our Micro Windom dipole variant with integrated 4:1 Ruthroff Balun placed at the apex, as depicted in the photos & diagrams, tested and described below. Made in America from materials sourced from U.S. sellers.
- A vertical section complete with connectors, to be placed between balun and choke
- A miniaturized, portable RF Choke to be connected at the feed-point
- A BNC end protector cap for each connector (3)
- A 7.5" x 10" camouflage drawstring pouch as pictured
- Free Shipping within the United States
- Your order will be shipped within a maximum 3 business days of payment being received.
- 60 Day FREE returns
Check out our antennas operating in the field on and view some excellent ham radio content on YouTube by providers such as Ham Radio Concepts and Outdoors on the Air.
More great antennas can be found here: N9SAB Store
Antennas of similar design have many different names. Depending on who you ask, it's called a Carolina Windom, a New Carolina Windom; others just call it the Windom. For our purposes here, we have decided to call it the Miniature Off-Center Fed Micro-Windom Dipole Variant, or Micro-Windom for short. As the name suggests, the Micro-Windom is a variant of the Off-Center Fed Dipole with two critical differences. First, the integrated balun at the apex is a Ruthroff-type voltage balun rather than a current balun. It allows for 4:1 impedance matching that results from feeding the antenna approximately 1/3 of the distance from the end but does not impede RF flow back to the feed-line. Second, a RF choke is added 10 feet below the apex. (Note: some designs call for a line isolator in this section. Line isolators are big, heavy and typically over-engineered so that they may function across a broad range of power levels. We are placing a relatively large inductance at the end of the vertical radiator sufficient for 50 watts (SSB) or less, so we will just say RF Choke). What this configuration does is to allow the 10 foot section of the feed-line between the balun and the choke to radiate. The resulting radiation pattern includes low-angle emanations that are useful for DX operating. Admittedly, this is controversial in some circles especially when operating at power levels of 100 watts and above, but there are positive results to be gleaned from this antenna configuration within certain parameters. From our perspective, these parameters are Low Power operation on frequencies above 7.00 MHz. Our practical experience with this antenna also bears this out. So with this in mind, we have developed the Micro-Windom, optimizing it for ultra-light portable operating. We make antennas for fun. In producing the Micro-Windom for personal use, it was noticed that it had better characteristics for operating DX. Any DX, but especially Low Power DX, can be challenging. We believe this antenna configuration yields the highest probability of working long distance stations (particularly Europe, Central & South America, and the nearer Asian stations) than any other of the antennas we make. Note the screen captures of the PSK reporter map in the photo section. Fabricating and testing these antennas has been found to be exceptionally labor intensive, so only a limited number are produced.
People familiar with our antennas already know that compact, light, effective performance, to us, means a dipole, or in this case a dipole variant. The difference here is that we now offer all the highly portable and durable characteristics of our regular antennas in the multi-band Micro-Windom for 40 through 6 meters.
This antenna requires a tuner
Fortunately, there are many lightweight, portable tuners available and many newer radios include an auto-tuner. If you are so equipped, then our Micro-Windom is for you. Our antennas are solidly built, rugged and designed to be a high-performance value alternative to much more expensive and fragile equipment.
The antenna is a 40 Meter OCF dipole fed approximately two-fifths distance from the end rather than the traditional one-third. This raises the feed-point impedance to approximately 200 ohms. To compensate, the antenna is equipped with a 4:1 Ruthroff style, voltage balun embedded between the BNC female connector and the 20 AWG UL1007 elements (See schematic with photos). The balun uses one (1) Fair-Rite 5943005101 toroid. Between the balun and the feed-point, a 10-foot section of RG58 coax, complete with BNC male connectors is supplied. Attaching to the end of the coax is a RF choke that consists of 3 BNOC-43 ferrite apertures with multiple windings. The result is a highly functional dipole variant for use on 40 meters through 10 meters. Using a Yaesu FT-817ND as a transmitter and a MFJ portable tuner, The Micro-Windom tunes between 1.1 to 1.5 SWR on all bands 40 through 6 meters. During testing it is strung between 25 & 30 feet from the ground and fed with approximately 30 feet of RG-8X coaxial cable. So the testing involves: Radio - Tuner - Coax - Antenna, the same way every time, every antenna. All are tested this way before shipment. As with our OCF Dipole, a screen capture map taken while testing is included. Perfect for outdoor or stealth operation. Perfect for a small base station antenna. Working QRP DX can be an immensely satisfying experience that our Micro- Windom helps make possible. It is also a great, inexpensive gift to give to those involved with amateur radio that requires no additional finishing. It fits easily into a backpack, glove box, bag or carrying case.
