I am not an antenna purist and will use whatever is handy but my favourite antenna (at the moment) are a 44 foot Center feed zepp with tv twinlead and a 4:1 balun or if trees are not available I really like my semi homebrew center loaded vertical using a 12 inch base rod, a Wolf River Silver Bullet coil and a collapsible military whip for 80/40 or just a 36 inch whip for 20 - 10 if I want to be stealthy. I had a buddy stick but it is to finicky to tune, whereas the Wolf river coil just slides down for maximum noise and let the KX3/KXPA take the last bit of swr out. For radials you can't beat the tape measure radials.
On Sun, Jul 19, 2015 at 12:45 PM, Wayne Burdick <n...@elecraft.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > Have you found the "perfect" above-the-treeline backpacking antenna for > use with your KX3 or other small rig? I've used everything from a 10-meter > coat hanger whip, to a yagi that breaks down into two dozen pieces, to a > dipole held up at the center by a willing (and tall) campmate. The variety > (and price range) of such antennas is staggering. > > I've had pretty amazing results using short, base-loaded antennas on the > higher bands--especially when conditions were good. My personal best is JA > from W6 on 15-meter SSB, running 3 watts to a Maldol 48" whip. These > antennas collapse and break down into just two pieces, taking very little > space in my lightweight go-bag. This leaves room for a couple of 25' wires, > adapters, and weights for times when there are trees available. > > But the search for the ideal miniature HF antenna continues: something > both very compact *and* highly efficient. Ideally it would break down to a > length of 8" or less, do an excellent job on 20 meters and up, and earn a > passing grade on 30 and/or 40 meters. > > One other key factor, at least with the KX3/KX1/K1 genre, is to take > maximal advantage of the rig's internal ATU. A wide-range ATU (such as the > KXAT3) can turn a narrow-banded antenna into one that covers a full band or > even multiple bands, within limits. One general approach is to coarse-tune > the antenna's own inductance, then let the ATU do cleanup. > > Is the best antenna for backpacking a very small magnetic loop? A cleverly > designed, center-loaded telescoping whip? A length of #30 wire lofted by a > small helium balloon? (Or, more intriguingly, some combination of these?) > > I'd be interested in hearing about your antenna theories and field > experiences, backed up by entertaining fish stories, if they aren't > embellished to an embarrassing degree. If your supporting documentation is > too voluminous for the forum (attached photos, etc.), feel free to email me > directly. > > If anything substantive or surprising emerges, I'll do a followup posting. > > 73, > Wayne > N6KR > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 bill.va...@gmail.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
