My Carolina Windom Antenna
160M Special

I had a Carolina Windom antenna up for nearly 10 years before a vicious wind storm brought it down, smashed the matching transformer and cracked the line isolator.

(Click photo to enlarge)

That was the end of my beloved CW 80 antenna by Radio Works. :(

It had worked so well that I immediately went to the Radio Works site to order another one.

Surprise!

They had developed a new antenna, the Carolina Windom® 160 Special ... that would fit in the same horizontal space that my CW-80 used to fit in.

I would now have access to all HF bands 160-10 meters with an antenna type that had exceeded my expectations for years.

Needless to say that I immediately ordered one.

The CW-160 Special®
by Radio Works

(Click photo to enlarge)

Here is what I received.

• Pre-assembled top part of antenna (see text below).
• Vertical RG-8X radiator portion (grey coax coiled).
• The special line isolator.
• Enough Coax Seal® to seal all connectors.
• An extra insulator (see manual).
• Instruction manual.

The horizontal wires (50 feet and 83 feet) are already assembled to the impedance matching transformer.

The end insulators are also pre-installed. We are instructed to not modify the lengths of wire, as they are critical for proper antenna performance.

The instruction manual is very complete and full of explanations on how and why the antenna is built the way it is.

The Carolina Windom Antenna
On The Air Performance

What's it like on the air? The Carolina Windom CW-160 Special Antenna works like an upside down vertical...

• ... with near omnidirectional radiation pattern
• ... without the annoying QRN pickup of a standard 1/4 wave vertical!
• ... without the power loss in the ground/radial system!

It is better than any single-band or multi-band dipole.

Definitely better than any quarter wavelength vertical, no matter how good its radial network.

Besides, a vertical for 40, 80 and 160 means the use of traps to keep the size down to something manageable. Trap verticals do not even come close to the performance of the CW-160 Special!

The CW-160 Special also outperforms any wire antenna - homemade or commercial - that I have tried since 1974!

When I use the CW-160 Special Carolina Windom Antenna with my high-performance QS1R direct-conversion SDR receiver ... it's an unbelievable combination. Pure bliss!

Feedback

On Tuesday February 11, 2025, a ham radio operator wrote:

• "Claude, I ran across your article on the Carolina Windom 160. I have one from 1997, but I lost the instructions. Can you tell me how much power it is rated for? I know it used RG/8X and that is now recommended fot high power. I plan to use it at 1200 watts. Thanks, Pat"
  

(Full name and callsign are withheld until I get his permission to post them here.)

I had to go back to my archives for the supporting information - the type of stuff that I gather as a result of the research that I do before I post an article on HamRadioSecrets.com. I strive to keep my articles as accurate as I possibly can.

This time, I have to admit that I had omitted (failed) to include information about the power handling capabilities of the antenna. Fortunately, my readers are sharp-eyed individuals. It usually doesn't take long before someone spots a missing bit of critical info.

It's not an excuse, I know ... but I had never used my Carolina Windom 160 Special with more than 100 watts. I also had never used the antenna for digital duty, such as RTTY, or even AM, which, with their constant carrier, are more demanding modes (on an antenna) than SSB or CW. Most hams that I knew, at the time when I wrote my article, were not using higher power than 100 to 200 watts.

Radio Works had published critical information on the power handling limits of its antenna, of course.

They specifically mentioned that power fed to the antenna on 160 meters had to be kept under 500 watts PEP on CW and SSB, otherwise the "Dedicated Matching Unit" or the "Line Isolator" (or both) would be destroyed! Read this as "beyond repair"!

According to published specifications, ham radio operators could use higher power up to 1500 watts PEP, on 80 to 10 meters, as long as they limited themselves to SSB or CW modes.

I should mention that one has to use an antenna tuner, with wide range capability, with this antenna. Inboard automatic tuners, present in some transceivers, do not have enough range to handle the high VSWR that the antenna generates on some frequencies. I was using a LDG 600 Pro ('L' network) outboard automatic tuner at the time.

That tuner, and a good station ground for RF, allowed me to always be able to handle the VSWR with ease.

I'm including a snapshot of a summary of the specs below, as published by Radio Works.

Do I sound satisfied? You bet I am! :-)

For more on the Windom type of antenna
Click Here

73 de VE2DPE
Claude Jollet
104-30 avenue des Berges,
Notre-Dame-des-Prairies, Québec, Canada J6E 1M9

QTH Locator: FN36gb