Hi All, When in Key West I have little space for antennas. I built a simple Off Center Fed 40M Windom [ 67/33 or about 44' & 22' ]. The long element is a 15' off of the ground while the short element that is not much higher goes up to the peak of my QTH and back down to the other side of my deck.
My K2/100 - KAT100 generally runs 75W & I've had great success with this antenna on every band 40-10. For 80M and 160M I alligator clip an 8' piece of wire from the end of the short element to my gutter system with provides another 80' of metal to the antenna. Do I burn up 160 & 80, not big time no but, I make contacts on both bands. In addition, if you ask me what I do for a ground: It's a 40' piece of #14 wire connected to a 2' piece of copper ground rod. Key West is a rock and it's tough to get down any further. Is my 40M Windom Gutter/Rube Goldberg Contraption a dummy load, no! I have the K2ZR/4 contest wallpaper and logs full of contacts to prove it. It 'taint perfect but you do what ya gotta do. And, if the bands are in lousey shape I ride my bike 5 minutes to my shady spot at Fort Zachory Taylor Beach and play some tunes on my Taylor Big Baby guitar. Life is good! 73, Dick K2ZR Niagara County, NY Mid-May to Mid December Ricardo en Cayo Hueso K2ZR/4 Key West, "The End Of The Road" IOTA NA-062 Mid-December - Time to go to Dayton The Southernmost Ham Shack In The Continental USA -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Nr4c Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 7:01 PM To: Jim GM Cc: Elecraft Subject: Re: [Elecraft] A Good Antenna Length? Oops, Jim I use two antennas here at my place. For 80 and 160 I use a 170 foot long wire running from just over my feed line entry to a point 40 ft below a branch on a 75 ft pine, up to to the branch and over to another tree ( kinda like a "Z"). This is fed to an "L Match" made from a section of coil and a variable capacitor for 80 and I add an additional fixed cap for 160. For higher bands I have a 40-20-10 meter "fan" dipole that my K-Line (& my KX3-Line") will tune on 40-20-17-15-12-10-6 meters. Many will say "it can't work" but please don't tell my radios! The Elecraft tuners can tune anything! I once worked a friend who'd just moved and was using a "GutterTron" ant in the CQWW. Yeah, the gutter and downspout fed against a ground-rod. Another friend loaded up the liner in his chimney, called a GutterTron. Have fun. Try anything. It just might work. You can make a lot of antennas from a $45.00 spool of THHN and plastic "cutting" board from Walmart. About 2/3rds the price of a G5RV. Sent from my iPhone ...nr4c. bill > On Jul 4, 2014, at 5:21 PM, Jim GM < <mailto:jim.gmfo...@gmail.com> jim.gmfo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > What antenna lengths are you using on 160M with your KX3 or KXPA100 > internal tuner? What is best for 160-6 meters? I like making my own > antennas with wire. > > I usually have to give up one band or another cause it just would not > tune up on a certain band. > > I have tried to stay with in these guide lines. > > -- > Jim K9TF > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: <http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: <http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm> http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: <mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net> mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: <http://www.qsl.net> http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email > list: <http://www.qsl.net/donate.html> http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to > <mailto:n...@widomaker.com> n...@widomaker.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: <http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: <http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm> http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: <mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net> mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: <http://www.qsl.net> http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: <http://www.qsl.net/donate.html> http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to <mailto:k...@arrl.net> k...@arrl.net ______________________________________________________________ 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
