so ive been on the hobby about 8 months now and finally decided to stop using the little mag loop i bought and just build something proper. ended up going with a simple half wave dipole for 40m, cut the elements to roughly 33.5 feet each using some 14 gauge stranded wire i had leftover from an old extension cord project. fed it with 50 ohm coax through a SO-239 center connector i picked up at the hamfest last spring.

got it up in kind of an inverted-v configuration because i only have one decent support (a tree in the backyard, maybe 30 feet up at the apex) and the ends slope down to about 8 feet off the ground on each side. antenna analyzer is showing me around 1.4:1 SWR right at 7.150 which is honestly better than i expected but im wondering if i should try to get it flatter or if thats already good enough to not worry about. also the resonant point seems a little low, like around 7.080 or so, not sure if i should just trim or if the inverted-v configuration affects it vs a flat dipole.

also curious if people bother with strain relief or any kind of weatherproofing on the coax connector. right now its just soldered and taped with electrical tape but ive seen people do all kinds of stuff with coax seal and self-amalgamating tape and i dont really know whats overkill vs necessary in a wet climate (PNW here).

1.4:1 on 40m is totally fine, honestly dont overthink that part. most rigs will tune that without even blinking and the losses are negligible. the inverted-v will shift resonance a bit lower compared to a flat dipole yeah, closer spacing of the ends changes the effective electrical length slightly. if your resonant dip is at 7.080 and you want it around 7.150-7.200 for general use, trim a few inches off each leg at a time and recheck. go slow, easier to take off than add back.

as for weatherproofing, do NOT skip it in the PNW. electrical tape alone will eventually wick moisture and you'll wonder why your SWR went weird in six months. self amalgamating tape is the way to go, wrap the coax connection good and it'll last years. coax seal is fine too but gets messy. i just do a layer of self-amalg and call it done.

nice work getting it up, inverted-v was my first build too. one thing nobody told me when i did mine was to leave some extra wire at the ends when you first cut it, like an extra foot or two folded back, then trim to resonance. makes the whole tuning process way less stressful. sounds like youre past that point but worth knowing for next time.

also 33.5 feet per side is a bit long for standard 40m anyway depending on the formula you used, the ol 468/f gives you about 33.4 feet per side at 7.0 so youre right at the edge. the inverted-v effect pulling it lower makes sense. id just trim it down a bit like the other guy said, couple inches at a time until the dip moves where you want it.