PA0RDT mini-whip active antenna

Among a couple of variations of mini whips antennas designs found in the net, I picked up the following circuit due to components availability in my shack..

I used the motorola MPF102 FET transistor instead of the J130. For the buffer I used the 2N1613 switching transistor instead of the 2N5119. Also, I tried the BS170 and the 2N2219 respectively and different bias settings and decouping capacitors. There was no much difference for the HF bands but for LW and MW bands the performance was better.

The easy and fast way of construction.The antenna probe measures 30X45mm. Larger receiving surface area overloads the amplifier.

The antenna is attached to a wooden pole 4 meters above ground level. The plastic enclosure is from an empty silicon tube.

To my opinion the above mini-whip antenna is good enough for general all-band listening (LW/MW/SW). I can receive more NDB and MW broadcast stations with this mini-whip than my inverted V doublet in "T" configuration..