My practical experience is that miniature antennas do not work very well. You end up with a miniature signal which is not much use with QRP.
I recently operated from Vanuatu as YJ0BJ and I used a Steppir CrankIR vertical for 10 - 40m. It worked very well indeed and whilst it does not assemble in two minutes, it does all pack away in the carry bag provided. However, you need a mounting post, fence post or something to mount it on. My holiday location was almost on the beach so arguably I had the salt water benefit. However, I have tried it here at home, now with the 80m extender kit (still all packs in the one bag) and it works OK. I will be on again from YJ0BJ in November 10 - 80m. The rig will again be my K3. See the photos and write up on my YJ0BJ QRZ page. Barry VK2BJ On 20 July 2015 at 15:31, Jim Brown <j...@audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote: > On Sun,7/19/2015 9:52 PM, David Gilbert wrote: > >> It's not going to radiate any lower than the horizon, and that kind of >> low angle is extremely useful for long distances. That can be appropriate >> even for QRP, although it might be more propagation dependent versus making >> some high angle short skip contacts. If I want to see how far I can work >> when backpacking, I'm going with a vertical unless the ground conductivity >> is just plain awful. >> > > The soil conductivity on most high mountaintops IS just plain awful. :) > BUT -- there's nothing like having your antenna on a 3,000 ft tower, even > if it is made of rock. When you get there, almost anything works, and > anything decent works really well. > > W6GJB has a "go-kit" for his KX3 that includes a simple telescoping > antenna that mounts to a tripod with a coax connector in the base, and a > couple of wire radials that can be tossed into surrounding vegetation if > there is any, or lay on the ground if there is not. Last summer as a site > survey for FD, we set that up at Berryessa Peak (70 miles N of SF), and in > about ten minutes, made three contest-style CW Qs to JA, SA, and the east > coast of the US. > > Spiderbeam sells a 40ft (12M) telescoping fiberglass pole that weighs 7# > and collapses to 3ft-10in. About $135 with shipping from TN). > > For about the same price, there's the DK9SQ 33 ft carbon fibre pole that > collapses to 3.8 ft and weighs 2.2#. I used one of those with my K2 at my > old Chicago club's annual QRP night in a local park. A photo is on my > qrz.com page. I taped a #22 wire to it, wedged it between the seat and > the top of the picnic bench (at roughly a 45 degree angle), and laid out > two more wires as radials. Running 5W on 30M, I easily made a half dozen > QSOs, including one that was a Caribbean station running a pileup. > > I agree that the Alex Loop, as well as home brew versions of it, can be a > pretty decent backpacking antenna. W6GJB also has one of those. > > 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 > Message delivered to vk...@optusnet.com.au > ______________________________________________________________ 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
