I will tell you I have always tested random wire and ready made and home made vertical PVC and wire vertical antenna. I have always gotten better results from my vertical antennas. You can go to YouTube or on my QRZ page go to the bottom of the page and click on the video. I have been doing QRP portable for about 15 years. I have used Alinco DX70 X108G, FX-9A,now my new toy KX2 all on QRP 10watts >From my DL750 Digicel
On Sep 29, 2016 9:18 AM, GRANT YOUNGMAN <ghyoung...@gmail.com> wrote: I take some degree of umbrage with all of the comments that classify a shortened loaded vertical as a dummy load and a random wire (with or without a 9:1 balun, etc) as always better. I regularly use both. If I’m at the beach, I guess I could have two friends hold a 35’ wire 5’ off the ground or put one end on a short pole and get excellent radiation straight up — or, I could quickly put up a Buddistick on a tripod or shock cord mast and start making some contacts. Keep the radial wire(s) 3’ or more off the ground/sand. Bungie the mast to a chair, or use a clamp on a table or whatever is handy, etc. Sometimes a wire is better, sometimes even a shortened vertical is better — there are a lot of factors. To claim that one is ALWAYS better than the other, has not, in my experience, been the case given the wide variety of landscape, propagation conditions, locations of stations at the other end, radiation patterns, etc. If you’re operating from an area with lots of trees, and you have a way to get a wire UP, then by all means put it UP and give it a try. (But carrying even light weight wire, by the time you add throwing line and weights, and potentially extra coax is going to negate some of the weight difference between the stick antenna and a wire). If not, either a commercial or home-brew vertical will be easier to put up and will make contacts. With Buddipole products specifically you’re better off with the long whips and a couple of 22” arms on 20 — it takes maybe a couple of turns on the loading coil to get to resonance with a one or two elevated radials — but that’s more to carry around. The Buddipole stuff I own lets me put up a full size 20M vertical if I feel like it, although I don’t usually do that because it has to be guyed to be stable, and that’s just more work and more stuff to carry for only a small gain. (This is not an ad for Buddipole. It’s simply one option and was part of the question). YMMV Grant NQ5T K3 #2091, KX3 #8342 > On Sep 29, 2016, at 1:01 AM, Michael A. Wong <michaelw...@mac.com> wrote: > > Hey folks, > > KX3 and Buddistick owner here. I've been getting a lot of feedback that I > would get better performance (more contacts) with a random wire vs my > Buddistick. So, while I've noticed that reception is much better with the > wire, with the Buddistick, I get 1.1:1 according to the KX3 and have made all > my contacts with the Buddistick. > > Now, recognizing the DIY nature of our hobby might lead people to recommend a > random wire over a commercial antenna, if I actually manage to deploy the > wire "optimally", should I really see performance equal or outpace the > Buddistick? Or am I simply finding bad luck the times I try to get a QSO over > a wire? > > I've tried deploying from a 30' pole sloping down, the hypotenuse of the > triangle pointing to my desired direction. I tried deploying 40+ feet between > two trees about 12' off the ground. Now I'm going to get a Zebco 202 and rig > up my slingshot to deploy vertical. But honestly, I can get the Buddistick up > and running in about 3 minutes.... > > Mainly, I'm on 20m and maybe I haven't read the right book on random wire > antennas, but I would appreciate the group's thoughts. > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to sosdrivingsch...@live.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
