[Elecraft] How Long Is "Long Enough"?

Tue Aug 6 13:44:01 2002

Tom and All,

I use 85' of wire with a 17' counter poise laid on the ground (which is 
known as a W3EDP antenna) and a 4:1 balun at the intersection.  Works well.

At 09:38 PM 8/5/2002 -0400, Tom wrote:
>Wayne,
>   I like the "tossing a wire into a tree" approach myself.  What sort of
>balun do you use on the # 26 wire?
>
>Thanks
>Tom McCulloch
>WB2QDG
>K2 s/n 1103
>
>
>Friend of Bill W.
>    ---  If you are too, drop me a line.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Wayne Burdick <[email protected]>
>To: Weymouth Walker <[email protected]>
>Cc: Elecraft Reflector <[email protected]>
>Date: Saturday, August 03, 2002 4:55 PM
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] How Long Is "Long Enough"?
>
>
> >Weymouth Walker wrote:
> >
> >> The subject is: the "shortest" dipole I can get by with
> >> when operating portable with the K2 ...
> >
> >
> >Weymouth,
> >
> >One possible answer is: use a random-length vertical rather than a
> >dipole. A piece of wire of any gauge (I use #26, usually) can be tossed
> >into a nearby tree. In many cases this is simpler than putting up a
> >dipole--you can get on the air in literally seconds if you keep a weight
> >attached to the line. It will often outperform a low dipole on
> >lower-frequency bands.
> >
> >Another advantage of the random-length vertical is that you can get by
> >with no feedline, especially if you have a balun available. Instead of
> >using the balun to convert unbalanced to balanced, use it just as a way
> >of providing some isolation between the K2's chassis and the antenna.
> >Eliminating the feedline is the key to minimizing the fiddle-factor in
> >getting an antenna up.
> >
> >I've loaded wires as short as 20' on most bands using the KAT2. Avoid
> >lengths that are an exact multiple of a half wave on any band you plan
> >to use. Bring a few extra hunks of wire to lay out as radials.
> >
> >73,
> >Wayne
> >N6KR
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> >
>
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73, Chas, W1CG
K2 #462