The ZS6BKW antenna is a better match for our bands than the G5RV. The method of construction and tuning is essentially the same for both antennas but the dimensions are different.
Here is the ZS6BKW antenna installed at AK6R fine tuned for the CW/FT8 frequencies on 40-20-17-12-10 meters. An excellent antenna when installed at 30 feet or higher and no tuner required avoiding the tuner losses and constant retuning. If you want to work all bands from 80-10 install an antenna tuner between the 1:1 balun and the amplifier and ignore the 39/40 switch.
Is this the best FT8 antenna? – I think so as I has made over 70,000 contacts and it still is a proven winner -Good world wide DX, easy to install, no tuner and takes full legal limit.
Here are several different 1:1 baluns you can use depending on power requirements:
Model BA-9-250 is a 9:1 balun/unun kit (assembly from parts supplied required) used to translate a 50 ohm input up to 450 ohms at RF power levels up to 250 watts PEP when used with a matched load. With a matched 450 ohm load the SWR over the frequency range 1.8 to 30 MHz is shown in the following table measured with an AIM 4170 network analyzer. Notice that the conversion from 450 to 50 ohms is very consistent from 1-31 MHz and SWR is less than 2:1 over most of the range allowing easy tuning by most radio internal antenna tuners or an external tuner. Graph is for a 9:1 unun often used with long wire or end fed antennas.
Radio Club idea:
Typical SWR curve for this project:
Here is the Coax Noise Filter used to suppress coax common mode currents (works for all type of antennas)
PDF of ZS6BKW at AK6R Construction Article HERE: My ZS6BKW Antenna