Keith, the absolute all around easy, and works every time, antenna is the simple balanced dipole; a half wave long for the band in use. You can use a tuner with it and ladder line or TV twin lead feeder on higher bands.
The other simple portable antenna is the loaded ground plane. You can do 20, thru 10m with a simple coil in the base of a vertical about 9 feet tall. You can use simple, four, zip cord radials with it. One such commercial version of this is called The Minuteman antenna and is on the web. Off center feeds can work, but then in some earth conditions you may have RF on the rig chassis problems, and they may not work well. They have the disadvantage of bringing the high current antenna feedpoint right to the radio, increasing the chance for lossy coupling to nearby conductors. -Stuart K5KVH _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
