Don:
I have done almost the same thing here on portable outings. I use a 33'
MFJ telescopic fibreglass pole. (What holds your up?
I use a 4 prong hand cultivator with a 3' shaft. Hold pole on shaft
with a couple of bungee cords. I'd like to scrounge the
arrangement you use for the homebrewed 4:1/1:1 balun.) Otherwise I opt
for the Buddipole at 9 feet as a dipole or a vertical
with two drooping radial wires. I have also used very frequently the
33' single wire vertical and a Electraft T1 tuner. (The T1
is sometimes cranky to get to tune.) Never thought about using the dual
22 guage teflon wire as a twisted pair balanced line!
Just using a vertical wire I frequently use a single radial, the length
varying depending on the band.
ALWAYS a problem is 80-30 meters. Usually done with a pair of drooping
radials and a vertical radiator consisting of 4 "Antenna arms"
(88" total) and a single 9.5 foot telescopic whip above the antenna
arms. One Buddipole loading coil at base of vertical /antenna arms
combination tuned for resonance. In many instances the trees, etc. for
Inverted V dipoles 2' fibreglass "driveway marker rods" 2 feet long.
I will try the teflon twisted pair feeder. Never thought of that. I
have some old 75 ohm receiving twin lead, good for that sort of thing,
but it is too oxidized to consider it reliable in the field!
I try to avoid the loading coils in the dipoles except for the higher
bands. Although the Buddipole works well as a dipole at 9 feet up
sometimes the vertical whip is better on 20 meters. As I said, ALWAYS a
problem at 80-30 meters to play with verticals with whips.
Good tips. All of that can be a big guess without the trusty MFJ analyzer!
73,
Sandy Blaize W5TVW
On 4/19/2015 6:58 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
My best field antenna consists of a 32 ft. heavy duty push-up
telescoping fiberglass pole which supports an inverted vee with
radiator legs 22 feet long (of #22 teflon insulated wire). The feeder
is twisted pair #22 teflon insulated wire (parallel feedline) 25 feet
long.
That feedline terminates into a balun which is switchable between a
1:1 and a 4:1 ratio (a smaller homebrew version of the Elecraft BL2).
I carry a 25 foot length of coax to connect from the balun to the
transceiver.
That antenna loads and works well for 40 through 10 meters - I switch
the balun from the 1:1 to the 4:1 position depending on the band in
use and the best match.
I also carry two additional lengths of #22 teflon insulated wire which
I clip onto the ends of the radiator to extend the length if I want to
operate on 80 meters.
That is my portable antenna, and it works well for me. I prefer
balanced antennas when I can use them. It is not 'backpack' eligible
because of the 32 foot pole, but then I am not doing any backpacking
these days.
I can put my antenna up in several configurations. If I have a
support for one end, I can set the antenna up as a dipole. If I only
have the fiberglass pole, I support the center of the dipole at the
top of the pole and use it as an inverted VEE (the most desirable and
common configuration). In cases where I do not have much horizontal
real estate to work with, I set it up as a vertical - the end of one
radiator wire is tied to the pole and the other radiator wire is used
as a 'radial' - 10 feet of it comes down the pole (the feedline is 10
feet above the ground), and the remainder of the 'radial' is hung on
nearby shrubs and bushes in the best manner possible.
So, three antennas in one - depending on the terrain and other
available supports.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 4/19/2015 7:31 PM, J wrote:
I'd also like to try a doublet of 60 to 88 feet; fed with a parallel
feedline of made the same "stealth" wire as the antenna (no heavy ladder
lines). The doublet would be more cumbersome (requiring one central
support
or else supports at each end). The antenna plus feeder length would be
chosen to provide a relatively tame feedpoint impedance and reactance
on the
three bands; 40/30/20M.
More research is needed on end- and center-fed (no coax) wire antenna
lengths for the KX1 (and the KX3)
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