so ive been putting this off for way too long and finally just did it last weekend. cut a half wave dipole for 40m, used some 14 gauge stranded wire i had in the garage and hung it in an inverted-v config off a 33 foot painter's pole in the backyard. ran some RG-8X down to the shack.

the thing actually works, like i made contacts on it same afternoon which was honestly a surprise given how sloppy my soldering probably was at the feedpoint. but here's where im not sure what i did was right — i just twisted the wires together at the center insulator and soldered them to the SO-239 i had, no choke balun or anything. been reading that you really need a choke there to keep RF off the coax braid but honestly i didnt notice any issues. hand doesnt tingle on the mic or anything.

also my SWR is sitting around 1.4:1 at the bottom of 40m which is where i mostly operate and its like 2.1 at the top end. is that reasonable for a wire dipole? i cut the legs to what the formula said, 468/f in feet, so about 32.8 feet each. the ground here is kind of dry clay which i know affects things but not sure by how much.

anyway pretty happy with it overall, just want to make sure im not doing anything dumb that'll bite me later

that SWR spread sounds totally normal for a 40m dipole, dont sweat it. a 2:1 at the band edge is pretty much expected, most tuners handle that no problem and your rig's internal tuner if it has one definitely will. the 1.4 at the bottom is actually pretty good for a first build without any trimming.

on the balun thing — you're probably fine for now but you might start noticing weirdness eventually, especially if you run more power or if the feedline runs near metal stuff. common mode current on the coax can cause all kinds of subtle problems, not always the tingly hand thing, sometimes its more like pattern distortion or picking up RFI from the house wiring. a simple choke wound from the coax itself works fine, just google W2DU choke or ferrite bead balun and you can throw one together cheap. i use 10-12 turns of the coax through a couple of mix 31 toroids and its been solid for years.

dry clay soil does shift the resonant point a bit, usually makes the antenna look shorter electrically so you might need to add a little wire rather than trim. but honestly at 1.4:1 i wouldnt touch it, thats plenty good.

yeah the balun thing is worth doing at some point but your setup is working so dont panic about it. i ran a dipole without one for probably two years before i noticed my SWR was doing weird stuff depending on where i stood in the room, which was the common mode current messing with things. threw a ugly balun on it (just coax wound on a pvc pipe) and it settled right down.

side note — 14 gauge stranded is fine but if that antenna stays up long term you might find the stranded starts to corrode at the twist points especially if you're getting rain and freezing. had one let go on me after about 18 months. solid copper or even copper-weld holds up better for permanent installs. just something to keep in mind down the road