The L–H transition in a helical-axis heliotron, Heliotron J, is investigated. For electron cyclotron heating (ECH), neutral beam injection (NBI) heating and ECH + NBI combination heating plasmas, the confinement quality of the H-mode is examined with an emphasis on its magnetic configuration dependence. The vacuum edge rotational transform, ι(a)/2π, is chosen as a label for the magnetic configuration where ι/2π is the rotational transform and a is the average plasma minor radius in metres. The experimental ι(a)/2π dependence of the enhancement factor over the L-mode confinement reveals that specific configurations exist where high-quality H-modes (1.3 < HISS95 < 1.8) are attained. is the experimental global energy confinement time and is the confinement time scaling from the international stellarator database given as . R is the plasma major radius in metres, is the line-averaged plasma density in 1019 m−3, PL is the power loss in megawatts that accounts for the time derivative of the total plasma energy content and Bt is the toroidal magnetic field strength in tesla (Stroth U. et al1996 Nucl. Fusion36 1063). The ι (a)/2π ranges for these configurations are near values that are slightly less than those of the major natural resonances of Heliotron J, i.e. n/m = 4/8, 4/7 and 12/22. To better understand this configuration dependence, the geometrical poloidal viscous damping rate coefficient, Cp, is calculated for different values of ι(a)/2π and compared with the experimental results. The threshold line-averaged density of the H-mode, which depends on the configuration, is in the region of 0.7–2.0 × 1019 m−3 in ECH (0.29 MW) + NBI (0.57 MW) operation. As for the edge plasma characteristics, Langmuir probe measurements have shown a reduced fluctuation-induced transport in the region that begins inside the last closed flux surface (LCFS) and extends into the scrape-off layer. In addition, a negative radial electric field Er (or Er-shear) is simultaneously formed near the LCFS at the transition.