I'm fooling around with custom portable Vertical array antennas for portable and DXpedition use. I was wondering if anyone in our list Brain trust had a favorite way to cut wires to a (reasonably precise) 1/4-wave length. (Yes, I can measure and No I don't want to model, I want to field test and calibrate.) What I want to do is have an elevated vertical (say base at 8'-10'), and add a temporary 1/4-wave "reference" counterpoise wire with a 20-degree downward slope. Then, use this set-up to adjust whatever physical items I'm using for the vertical element to get a 1:1 match, calibrated to the radials length. I want to end-up with a balanced antenna that is resonant and does not require a tuner (given that I'll have some minor adjustments to fine-tune the antenna's match at different locations). So, theoretically, the vertical could be made of 6-inch diameter aluminum tubing (not likely in the field), insulated or non-insulated wire of any size, or whatever. I'm also curious about and I to be able to see what the differences are in the lengths of antennas based on what materials of different types and sizes that I use. Ideas??? Thanks.
72/73, Craig W. Behrens--NM4TK3, KX3, K2, K1 +++ ______________________________________________________________ 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
