so i finally got around to building a proper 40m dipole instead of just using the random wire ive had up for like two years. cut it to the standard 468/f formula which gave me roughly 66 feet total, used some 14 gauge stranded wire i had left over from a fence project, and hung it in an inverted V off my pushup mast in the backyard. center is about 30 feet up and the ends are maybe 8 feet off the ground.

feedpoint i just used a choke balun i wound myself, 10 turns of RG-8X through a FT240-43 toroid i ordered off ebay. swr came out around 1.4:1 at 7.150 which honestly isnt bad but im wondering if i should bother tweaking it down or just leave it. the ends of the wire are just tied off with some paracord to some fence posts and im not sure if the soil conductivity back there is affecting anything since its pretty rocky terrain out here in the high desert.

also curious if anyone has thoughts on the wire gauge, 14 seems fine but ive heard people say thicker is better for lower bands, not sure if thats actually a real effect or just old timer advice that doesnt really matter at these power levels (running 100w)

1.4:1 at your target freq is totally fine, i wouldnt mess with it. the 468 formula is just a starting point anyway and you got lucky landing that close on the first cut. honestly if your radio is happy and youre making contacts just leave it alone, trimming half an inch at a time to chase a 1.1:1 SWR is one of those things that will drive you crazy and the real world difference at 100w is basically nothing.

on the wire gauge thing, the difference between 14 and 12 gauge at HF is so small its not worth worrying about. the skin effect at 7 MHz means current is mostly flowing on the surface anyway and even pretty thin wire has more than enough surface area. people have been working DX on wire antennas made from stuff thinner than that for decades. the rocky soil might have a small effect on your takeoff angle but with an inverted V at 30 feet youre not exactly doing low angle DX work anyway so it probably doesnt matter much for your use case.

nice, i did almost the exact same thing last spring except i used a 1:1 ugly balun instead of winding a proper choke. been meaning to redo the feedpoint with a real balun but it works well enough that i keep putting it off. what toroid did you wind yours on, the FT240-43 or a mix 31? ive seen both recommended for HF and never really understood the difference for this application