Susan:
I have had very good success with a very portable and easy
to manage vertical antenna. I own two (for a planned
portable 40m phased array) but use them singly at the
moment.
Its the model S9v by S9 Antennas. www.s9antennas.com
Just returned from a mini DXPedition to Singapore while on a
job assignment. Mounted a S9v on the rail of the 300 ft
ship I was working on, fed it with a 4:1 balun, grounding
the balun to the ship's metal and with 100ft (two 50 foot
sections) of RG8X, I could "tune" it to low SWR and use it
on 40 though 10. Descent performance, worked some 300 QSO's
in two weeks of casual operating every once in a while when
work permitted. Both my Kenwood TS570 (the travel rig) and
my K3's internal tuners at home had no problems with this
setup.
The antenna collapses down to three and a half feet and
telescopes to 31 feet. Its all fiberglass (a tube with a
wire inside) and has cleats to wrap the wire around when
telescoped. John, the designer, also sells a ground plate
and a portable, stick-it-in-the-sand mount for this antenna.
They are very reasonably priced. Best of all, it weighs 4
pounds, you can raise it with one hand. Think of it as a
long fishing pole with a wire inside, and you get the idea.
You will need the antenna, a mount (The one John sells or a
4 foot PVC Pipe would also work), A radial plate (or some
electrical tape to tape the radials to the PVC Pipe mount) a
4:1 low power balun (Balun Designs, DX Engineering or MFJ
make them, or make your own) and some radial wires to lay on
the beach. Attach the coax and have at it (put the balun in
a Zip Lock Freezer bag and seal it from salt water spray
first).
For your sail boat, the antenna is easy to store, just place
it collapsed under a bunk or hang it from the ceiling like a
fishing pole until you need it. The outer shell of the tube
turns itself into a carry case for the antenna and the
radiator wire when telescoped.
I have no commercial connection with S9 Antennas, I am just
a satisfied customer.
Have fun on your trip!
Lu Romero - W4LT
(O'Day 222SE "White Knuckles")
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2010 22:11:00 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
From: "Mike WA8BXN" <hubb...@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Speaking of off-shore manufacture...
To: "WILLIS COOKE" <wrco...@yahoo.com>, "Vic K2VCO"
<v...@rakefet.com>,
"ussv dharma" <ussvdha...@yahoo.com>
Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Message-ID: <blu0-smtp58171b7e134c889b16948df2...@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I've not been on the radio at an ocean beach (but have been
to such beaches,
should take a radio next time). Others with experience doing
it may have
better answers. I would use a quarter wave vertical
suspended from a
fiberglass mast (fishing rod would work depending on the
band) with a bit of
wire in the water as radials. From what I have read it works
quite well.
When I have been to the coastal ocean I was looking more to
do swimming.
If I wanted to play radio I would probably go with 20 M. 16
feet doesn't
take that much of a pole for the vertical. Its not my
favorite band because
most of the time I am greatly inland and have the room for
lower band
dipoles. DX has never been a special interest for me but on
a costal
location could be interesting.
Enjoy what ever you decide to to my friend!
73/72 - Mike WA8BXN
______________________________________________________________
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
