http://www.morganmfg.us/radio-products/conductive-anti-oxidant-compounds/

Morgan Manufacturing is owned by a relative of the ICE owner.  This fellow did most of the manufacturing for ICE.  He has many of the same products.  Unfortunately he has not done a good job of advertising his connection and products. 

I have no experience with MM, so can't vouch for him.  bill

http://www.k0bg.com/caphats.html

Yes, capacity hats will definitely improve the efficiency and performance of shortened antennas like mobile antennas.

They work by distributing the RF current more evenly across the antenna.  And RF current is what creates our EM field.

They should be placed at the END of antennas.

They should be placed as far away from loading coils as possible.

You will need to retune the antenna after adding a cap hat.

See Alans website above for more info.

p.s.  "Hot Rodz" Capacity Hats are sold by DX Engineering.

My wild guess is $30 absolute tops, unless there is someone that is a Datong fan.

Power supply voltage is an issue with your power supply and the radio.  It has nothing to do with the type of antenna or whether you have radials.

-Voltage measurements should be taken at the radio terminal connection.

-Maximum current draw will occur when in a continuous mode like CW, AM, FM or RTTY.

-Check and clean your connectors.  For molex connectors or other plugs, spray a little tuner cleaner/Deoxit and seat/reseat several times to scrub any oxidation.

-Don't forget to open up and clean any inline fuses.  They build up corrosion too and we never think to check them.

-What radio are you using?

-What brand, model and Amperage rating is your power supply.

I don't see that there is anything to be short of taking down the antenna and adjusting it.

-Given the circumstances I would consider anything under 3:1 to be usable.

-What sort of SWR's are you finding?

-What type of coax are you using and how long is it?

The KX1 manual gives example antenna+counterpoise lengths for each band, that will work with the optional internal tuner.

These are absolute minimal antennas for getting on the air.  They will perform much better, and match more easily by adding additional counterpoises, e.g. 1,2,3 more fanned out under the antenna.  Adding counterpoises/radials is the simplest way to improve single wire/random wire operations.

Any tuned, antenna resonant on a given band will outperform these simple wires.

The key to more flexible operations is getting an external tuner that can handle a wider range of impedances and different feedlines, i.e. coax and balanced line.

The key to light weight antennas is using small wire like Wireman 26AWG copper clad steel flex wire, and light feed lines like 300 ohm TV twinlead, or RG174 (short length) or some flavor of open wire line.

"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch". 
You won't get fabulous operations from a KX1 and just any scrap of wire you found laying around.  Add a quality antenna and some better matching box and QRP really starts to sparkle!   bill

Use the cut and try method.  Take some wire, wrap around the antenna and keep extending it until you find the resonant frequency.  Should take 2 or 3 minutes at most.  Then you can work on ordering a replacement whip.

http://www.ustower.com/#!catalogs-&-forms

Go to their website or call them on the phone for the technical specifications.  Unless you are an ME doing your own design, putting up towers is not something that should be trusted to heresay on the internet.

Good luck on your project!

-A dipole is a dipole, and they should all have the same radiation pattern.

-Ideally, the feed line should not radiate, hence should have no effect on how the antenna operates; Open line, coax, parallel wet string, etc. 

-Height is the key to better antenna performance.  Having you antenna ends droop to 8ft, is going to cost you much in signal loss due to earth coupling.  Do what you can to get those ends up level.

-Antenna experimenting is one of the most fascinating and cost effective facets of ham radio.  Two books every ham must have:

-ARRL Antenna Book.  Dozens of proven antenna designs with theory from MF-SHF

-ON4UN's Low Band Dxing.  Not just for Dxer's it covers 40m, 80m, 160m.  Easy reading and even more up to date than the ARRL Antenna book.

The web is a vast minefield of half truths, crackpot ideas and often falsehoods about antennas.  Start your research with these two books and you will save much time and confusion!   

Now, get some wire and go play!  bill

bill

Don't forget that these things are calibrated in Zarathustra units. 

To quote a song from the 1920's "Which is the rooster, which is the hen?"

These days people will call an antenna they design by any old name according to what they wish it was, or what they want to fool people into thinking it is.  

If an antenna is not physically a half wavelength long, it isn't a half wave antenna!!
-These examples are 'Loaded dipoles' or "Loaded verticals".
-Not saying they don't work.

This is one of the big falsehoods that unscrupulous manufacturers foist on hams with little experience.  The classic approach is to wind say 10m of wire onto a 6ft glass pole and call it a 20m half wavelength antenna.  It's not.  It's a 6ft antenna with a lot of wire.  (compare to a certain popular vertical manufacturer with a lizard's name).

-Modifications to these antennas:  You are on your own. Do your own calculations, modeling and empirical measurements!

-Most End Fed Halfwave antennas I have seen don't use a counterpoise.  But, honestly, what antenna won't work better with more wire, in the right places??  But consider, once we start adding counterpoise(s) to this antenna, aren't we better off to just make a dipole or a vertical with some radials?  

-Loading coils help shorten an antenna.  They don't improve performance (gain), and they can't possible replace radials/counterpoises. Ever.

p.s.  In your title, you asked about End Fed Zepps.   None of these antennas are EFZ's nor do I think the original author calls them that.  To review, and End Fed Zepp is a Halfwave wire, fed with a (vertical) 1/4wl open wire line.  Period.  Change the length or the feed line and it isn't a Zepp anymore.  tah-dah.

I'm not familiar with that mic.  The wires may not be the right size to fit an RJ connector, or the wire/insulation may not grip satisfactorily.

In any case, hand made connector typically are not strong nor flexibly rugged.  After all they are intended to lay behind desks and in cableways with rare connect/disconnect cycles, and no tension.

I recommend cutting a factory made connector from a quality +stranded cable and splice it to the mic cable. Shrink tubing on the wires and two layers of single wall tubing or one of double wall (adhesive) tubing on the final splice would be wise.

Caution:  If there is any chance the radio has a pin with voltage, typically eight or nine vdc, be absolutely certain of your pinouts, and continuity check everything!  You only get one chance to short it out! 

Mike, if you don't get an answer, I suggest posting over at AM Fone.

Ok, I'll be glad to work with you.

I've had some luck with leveling plastics from a National NC-173 by placing them on a flat surface and heating gently with a hot air gun.

p.s. I checked my RGB-2, and their is no model number or serial on the patent number placard.

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=26335.0

This topic at AMFone, has a copy of the metal ID tags. 

You can print out, laminate and stick on your radio, or you could have a plastics/metal/tropy shop make up photoresist copies.

If your bandspread dial is not readable, I will consider (deep breath) taking the face off mine and making a copy that you could print on clear overlay and then glue to a replacement disk.    bill