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KJ6ER Antennas

January 2026

Happy New Year! DOMINATE 17M-10M with the Dominator End-Fed Vertical with an optional

Parasitic Director for up to +4 dBi Gain!

Dear Fellow Portable Antenna Geeks 😀

In this month's newsletter, I am excited to feature
the Dominator End-Fed Vertical Antenna System with incredible omnidirectional gain of up to +1 dBi. If more gain is desired to break through pile-ups on the upper bands, add an optional parasitic Director for gain up to +4 dBi with over 8 dB front-to-back!



The Dominator is an end-fed (EF) halfwave vertical antenna utilizing a 25' telescoping whip, 49/56:1 unun and a linked counterpoise wire. It covers 17M-10M with a low takeoff angle of only 18 degrees. It is an excellent omnidirectional antenna for both continental and DX communications.



The 2-element DominatorArray expands the antenna system with a single driven element (Dominator with 49/56:1 unun connected to a feedline) and a parasitic element as a director in front (not connected to a feedline, counterpoise or an unun). The 2-element system generates far more gain up to +4 dBi and an 8.4 dB front-to-back! The director is mounted on a rotatable PVC structure (as shown in the PDF) or as an independent element on a PVC/spike or tripod.



If you do not have the time or ability to build a Dominator antenna, you can purchase one of several assembled Dominator configurations on Etsy: the basic Dominator End-Fed Halfwave CORE, the Dominator End-Fed Halfwave System with an included 25' telescoping whip and ground spike, and the parasitic Dominator Director CORE which optionally includes a second 25' whip and spike.



More than 130 products have already been sold at the J-Systems Store on Etsy over the past 5 months with over 30 perfect 5-star reviews from buyers!

KJ6ER Dominator
KJ6ER DominatorArray
Dominator EF System on Etsy
KJ6ER Dominator Director on Etsy

In the 4NEC2 computer model radiation graphic below, the omnidirectional Dominator is in red and the directional DominatorArray is in blue. On 10M, note how the DominatorArray generates +4 dBi forward gain, which is +3 dB more gain than the omnidirectional Dominator with +1 dBi gain (in all directions).

KJ6ER DominatorArray versus Dominator Radiation
Challenger Parasitic Radiation (Side)
Dominator Parasitic Radiation (Top)

How does the DominatorArray work? - The electromagnetic field from the driven radiator energizes the nearby parasitic element by inducing current within it through mutual coupling which, in turn, reradiates the driven element signal both constructively and destructively forming a unidirectional semi-cardioid radiation pattern. 



Where constructive, the parasitic element reinforces a portion of the forward driven signal for increased gain. Where destructive, it cancels some of the rear driven signal to create a null forming beneficial directivity and front-to-back characteristics. This radiation pattern helps minimize unwanted signals and noise from the back of the antenna system.

Both Dominator antenna system configurations can use either a 49:1 unun (transformer) with 2,450 ohm impedance (49 x 50 ohms) or a higher efficiency 56:1 unun with 2,800 ohm impedance (56 x 50 ohms). In either case, the bandwidth is extremely broad and flat across each band, 17M-10M. Shown at the right is the 10M band using the 2-element DominatorArray.

DominatorArray 10M SWR Sweep

~~~  What's Coming Next Month!  ~~~

KJ6ER Marauder Antenna System
Marauder 20M SWR Sweep
Marauder Radiation Side
Marauder Radiation Top

In next month's February newsletter, I will be introducing a brand new KJ6ER antenna system called the Marauder! That new antenna name was suggested by a fellow antenna geek based in North Carolina, Zach Matthews AI4ZD, who was emailing me while I was designing the antenna. As I described it to him, he got very excited and offered up some antenna names for me to consider! Wooo hooo!


The Marauder is a unique 20M-10M vertical antenna system based upon the classic MOXON design which leverages two isolated folded dipoles in a rectangular configuration; one being the radiator and the other the reflector. I designed it to have a vertical orientation using two 17' telescoping whips and two linked crosswires. The driven element is a folded end-fed halfwave with a 49/56:1 unun. I took it out on a few POTA activations for testing and was amazed how well it performed; averaging over +3 dBi forward gain and 15 dB front-to-back! Stay tuned for more details!

As we begin a new year in 2026, buy yourself a well-deserved gift of a fresh set of high quality ABR coaxial cables. If you use my callsign KJ6ER as the coupon code at check-out, you will receive a nice 10%-20% discount on your total order!

ABR Coaxial Cables

Until next time, keep having fun out there! Building ham radio antennas is our last homebrewing frontier and I am dedicated to helping you do so successfully! See all my free antenna design plans at the cloud links below.



If someone forwarded this email to you and want to be added to my antenna geeks email list, send me a message and you will be the first to receive new KJ6ER antenna designs and updates! I am also available to present my antennas to your Amateur Radio Club via Zoom. Let me know if they are interested! 



As always, feel free to reach out to me if you ever have any questions, I'd be happy to help you! 🙂 73 KJ6ER, Silicon Valley

My mission is to design efficient and effective portable antennas for the every-ham that focus on the optimal integration of performance (high radiation efficiency), elegance (speed and simplicity of deployment) and convenience (ease of transport and storage). These designs are always shared for free with the global amateur radio community to encourage more radio operators to homebrew their own portable antennas. 

KJ6ER Antennas

Cloud Drive File Links (KJ6ER):

Greg Mihran, KJ6ER

Campbell, California

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