On 5/11/2012 8:16 AM, va3...@gmail.com wrote: > I for one am in a quandary on what to get at dayton > > A buddipole, alex loop, or g4tph.
The LAST thing I would go for is any form of loaded antenna, because they tend to have poor efficiency, limited bandwidth, and are expensive. Small loops (small as a fraction of a wavelength) also have generally poor efficiency. What I would look for instead are various means of supporting a long wire in a variety of situations. For example, there's a very nice, non-conductive telescoping pole made by a German ham (DK?SQ) that collapses to 1 meter and expands to 10m. I've seen various mounting accessories and clamps to facilitate holding it either vertical or away from a building on a railing. Tape a wire to that pole, lay out another wire to act as a counterpoise,and you've got a very efficient TX antenna! Wire as small as #22 makes an antenna that is much more efficient than an inductively loaded antenna and also more broadband. I used exactly this antenna at the annual QRP night of our local club when I lived in Chicago. I set up my K2 with a battery on a picnic table, taped a length of #22 to that pole, wedged the pole between the tabletop and the seat so that it was about half-way vertical, and laid a couple of wires out on the ground to act as a counterpoise. In a little over an hour, running 5W, I had a half dozen QSOs on 30M and busted a pileup into the Caribbean. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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
