[Elecraft] "Quick & Dirty" Antenna?

[Dave Gingrich K9DC]

At 08:05 4/29/2002 -0400, kb4utz@bellsouth.net wrote:
>Good morning,
>
>I'm going to be taking a group of high schoolers camping later this week 
>(at the Great Smokies National Park) and was thinking about taking along 
>the K2. However, I haven't yet built an antenna to take along on camping 
>trips (my trips are usually in a Coleman pop-up or tents... this is going 
>to be a "tents" trip). I also don't have much free time between now and 
>when we leave on the trip so I can't devote much time to fabricating the 
>antenna. So...

The KAT2 will tune just about any length wire directly attached to the 
radio. The longer and and higher you can get it the better. Avoid resonant 
lengths like 66 feet and take along a piece to lay out on the ground.  If 
you don't have them, you can buy a BNC to SO-329 adapter and bannana plugs 
at Radio Shack. It is helpful to take along some method of getting the wire 
up, like football player's passing arm or a sling shot.

I often do public park duty with my K1 and a 23 foot wire up in the nearest 
tree, or out on a 14 ft fishing pole. I just returned from a trip to Korea 
where I was able to talk back home using an 85 ft wire from a second floor 
window and a 60 ft wire on the ground (although I admit, I borrowed a 
giga-tenna on the Indiana end of the circuit).

See http://dcg.us/hoosierhill for pix from another event using the same setup.

-Dave

================================================
Dave Gingrich, K9DC - Indianapolis, Indiana  USA
K2 #2211, K1 #931, QRP-L #2376, ARS #1109,
FPQRP #389, IRLP #473, k9dc.ampr.org, CCIE #6748
================================================