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:
Purpose. Model BA-9-1000 is a 9:1 balun/unun kit (assembly required from parts supplied) used to translate a 50 ohm input up to 450 ohms at RF power levels up to 1000 watts when used with a matched load. It provides conversion from unbalanced coax to balanced ladder line/antenna feed point and gives a 9:1 impedance step-up to reduce SWR on the coax. Place at the junction of the balanced line and the coax to convert from balanced line to unbalanced coax.It can also be wired as an UNUN with unbalanced coax input to unbalanced output such as an end fed antenna.
KIT Contents. The kit consists of a F240-61 ferrite toroidal core, three colors of insulated wire, a SO-239 UHF connector with stainless steel hardware, and an instruction manual.
Assembly time: About 1 hour
Radio Club idea:
Buy 10 for a club do it yourself construction project - you can learn something and also build an end fed antenna (just add wire).
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