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:
Palomar Engineers RFI Filter Kit for ICOM M700PRO and M710 HF Transceivers - RFI Kit ONLY - NO RADIO INCLUDED
BUY THIS KIT NOW TO REDUCE NOISE IN THE RECEIVER AND SUPPRESS INTERFERENCE TO/FROM OTHER ELECTRONICS ON YOUR VESSEL.
Purpose
The RFI kit is designed to be installed on your radio transceiver to reduce Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) caused by common mode current on the outside of the coax braid at the output of your radio and AC/DC power cable and antenna tuner cable.
This kit will help reduce or eliminate:
1. “Hot mic” RFI caused by poor grounding of antennas or common mode currents from linear amps feeding unbalanced (coax fed) antennas without baluns/line isolators.
2. RFI to other electronic devices including audio/video systems, computers, marine electronics, etc.
A side benefit is a reduction in noise floor in your receiver depending on the amount of noise being introduced by common mode currents (which are blocked/reduced by the chokes in this kit).
These chokes use a special mix of ferrite core material that is effective in suppressing radio frequency interference from transmitters and high noise floor on receivers.
The split beads beads are easy to use, don’t require modification of the protected equipment and work in almost all cases, even when plug-in filters fail.
Use of the chokes often helps cure SWR problems between transceiver and antenna tuner s used on marine systems. The DC power line choke helps keep common mode current out of the power line which could cause interference to other devices connected to the same power line if not suppressed.
Included are the following chokes and installation guidelines:
MC-1-1500-50 RF Input/Output: Coax Common Mode Noise filter installed between radio and antenna tuner coax to reduce noise into receiver and suppress RFI.
double male barrel connector on each end for joining noise filter directly to antenna tuner.
DC Input Filter: F240, 1.4" ID – coil 3-7 turns of DC power cable through center
Antenna Tuner Cable Filters: 2 clamp on filters - 1/2 snap on for 1-2 turns through center at each end of cable.
NOTE: RADIO NOT INCLUDED!
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