[CW] What is the best transceiver for operating cw moble ?

[David J. Ring, Jr.]

John,

A good sign of an efficient mobile antenna when the antenna is a small 
fraction of full size is "small bandwidth" - or "high Q".

Hustler "small traps" have less Q than the big traps, which means that the 
BIG traps (which handle more power) have a SMALLER bandwidth - and thus a 
much higher efficiency.

This is the reason that the screwdriver antennas have been developed - not 
just to change bands, but to change frequencies!

There is one antenna that tops the rest for multi-band use:
http://www.hiqantennas.com/

The developer has the equipment to measure efficiency and he claims it is 
the most efficient antenna on the market.  The antenna uses some patented 
improvements in high-Q design.

If I were going to work 80 or 40 meters (or even 160m) I'd spring for one of 
his capacity hat models.

Top loading allows the use of less coil, which means less losses, and 
greater efficiency.

Another interesting approach is to use an automatic tuning unit and a mobile 
whip.  Several manufactuers (SGC and ICOM) make dual resonance whips - two 
whips in one - one just a thick stick, and the other a helix wound copper 
tape.  (One resonates at around 28 MHz while the other resonates at a much 
lower frequency (12 MHz???) thus improving the efficiency at the lower 
frequencies.)

I would add Hot-Rodz for top loading to the ATU approach to raise the 
efficiency.

Remember low SWR does not mean "high efficiency" as a dummy load has low SWR 
but very very poor radiation efficiency.

73

DR

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John J. McDonough" <wb8rcr at arrl.net>
As far as antennas, I have had very good luck with Hamsticks.  However,
there are all sorts of clones out there, and some of them don't work very
well.  I've also had good luck with Hustlers, but they are extremely narrow
banded.  Unfortunately, there is no 80 meter Hamstick ... only 75.