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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Giuseppe Morlè, who writes:

Dear Thomas and friends at the SWLing Post,

This is Giuseppe Morlè, IZ0GZW, from Formia, in central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

In this video, you’ll see the evolution of the “Scarrafone” antenna—this is the Scarrafone 2.0!

I’ve held onto this coil for many years; it was a gift from a friend.

I figured I could improve upon the performance of the previous Scarrafone… and I was right!

A larger coil diameter and an 800 pF variable capacitor make all the difference.

I’ve placed seven screws along the coil to help with tuning across all HF bands.

I didn’t have a proper knob, so I used a sparkling wine cork instead—it works perfectly!

It’s truly an amazing antenna for portable use, and finding the right tuning points is actually a lot of fun.

I hope you all enjoy it!

An update: Adding medium-wave reception

I’ve also made another improvement to the Scarrafone 2.0 antenna by adding another coil for medium-wave reception.

It consists of a plastic electrical conduit pipe containing three ferrite cores, with 30 turns of wire wrapped around it.

At the ends of the windings are the usual alligator clips, allowing me to switch between shortwave and medium-wave reception.

This second video was filmed inside my shack in the early evening.

Thanks, and greetings from Formia!

73,
Giuseppe Morlè, IZ0GZW