You might consider going with a G5RV antenna as a "starter" antenna. It's multiband...80 meters and up to I think 10 meters...your rig has the auto-tuner so any minor matching adjustments will be handled by the tuner just fine. There's no real challenges with the antenna. It's not the "best" antenna in the world, but it will work very well as a simple starter antenna (people have worked the world with them), especially if your tree is high enough. I assume you have 1 tree? If so, then I'm assuming you'll run this in an inverted-vee configuration (center up high as possible, ends slope down from center at a 30 to 45 degree angle). The inverted-v is a little more omni-directional, which again is good for a starter antenna. I think key is getting the center up as high as you can. 30 feet? 40 feet? Again, as much height as you can will help (in general).
If you are pressed for space, then you can always consider the G5RV jr. It's shorter in length, requires less height, but it only runs 40 meters and up (40 - 10). I believe MFJ has a G5RV. If not, there's plenty other vendors that do. One's pretty much as good as another. The G5RV is simple enough that you could probably even make one yourself... I can't comment too much on the batteries, other than to say I know of people powering their rigs using car batteries and golf cart batteries... Good luck and welcome to Amateur Radio! 73, Dave K6DCH On Jan 4, 2010, at 3:19 PM, KC2VNI wrote: > > Folks: I am a new ham. I just purchased a K3 100W radio with an auto-tuner. > Several basic questions: > > 1) Wire antennas- Do you guys have suggestions for a multi-band wire antenna > pre-made by someone like MFJ or similar that I could hang in a tree? > > 2) Battery based power: From speaking with the fellow from customer support > from elecraft, a 100 Amp-Hr battery is what is required to operate at 100W. > What type of battery do I use? Is sealed-lead acid acceptable? What size > fuses do I want on the line running from the radio to the battery? > > I recognize that this radio has orders of magnitude of capability that I > don't understand yet. I also recognize that reading the manual will be of a > help here. If you have further resources and/or suggestions, please advise. > > 73, > > KC2VNI. > > -- > View this message in context: > http://n2.nabble.com/New-K3-User-and-New-Ham-tp4253024p4253024.html > Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
