[Elecraft] Antennas for Field Day

Fri Mar 15 10:59:00 2002

Horizontal antenna -
Option 1 - Double Extended Zepp on 20M .... In an Inverted Vee 
configuration so it is not too directional.  Or two of them - 1 east west 
and one north south, although from MI we rarely turn the TA-33 away from 
SouthWest!   Make them as close to duplicate as possible so you can switch 
the balanced feedline from one to the other without retuning ..... or have 
two tuners.
Option 2 - a ZL-beam.  2 elements and a phasing line of 300 ohm line 
between the two elements.  If you slope it, you can run out and move the 
lower end of it to change direction.  Or put up a couple of them!

Vertical antenna -
1/2 wave vertical
End fed - with a few radials - don't need many.
or
Center fed with coax.

73    Hank    K8DD

At 3/15/02 10:25 AM -0500, [email protected] wrote:

>I am planning new antennas for Field Day and could use some advice on what
>configuration will give the best-cost performance ratio.
>
>Last year my club was 4A with stations for 20, 40 SSB and 20, 40 CW. My K2 was
>used for 20 CW only because the QRO rig was not there in time. The K2 did well
>so I hope to use it this year.
>
>I am located in central Indiana. The field day site is the local fair ground.
>There are two rows of wood light polls running north and south. They are 
>spaced
>conveniently to string up dipoles that point east and west. These poles are
>about 30 ft tall. The club has used dipoles for several years.
>
>I am looking for a simple antenna system that will be an improvement over the
>dipoles. Twenty-meter performance is a must, but a multi-band solution 
>would be
>nice.
>
>Option 1 ? Two Dipoles
>The simplest option I can think of is to just add a second dipole at a right
>angle to the first. Because of the spacing of the supports the second dipole
>will be in an inverted-V configuration. With the K2 dual antenna ports it will
>be easy to switch between the two. The tuner will make multi-band operation
>possible.
>
>Option 2 ? Manually turned wire beam
>A beam like the one described by VE7CA in the November QST would work well at
>our site. Cebik describes a 3-Band Hybrid Maxon-Yagi on his web side that 
>could
>be used in the same manner. Ether of these antennas would be inexpensive and
>provide significant gain. My main concern is the need to manually point them.
>How does this work out in practice? It seams that valuble time can be wasted
>moving the antenna.
>
>Option 3 ? Two beam antennas
>With two beams antennas, like the ones above, one can be mounted pointing east
>and the other one pointing west. With the K2 antenna switch east/west 
>direction
>changes would be instant, but the antennas could not be pointed north or 
>south.
>Is it better to have the quick choice in two directions, or the slow choice of
>all directions provided by option two?
>
>Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Jeff Burns
>AD9T
>
>
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*/     Hank Kohl  K8DD      [email protected]
*/     ARRL TS              http://www.qsl.net/k8dd
*/     MI-QRP - Vice Pres.  QRP-ARCI - Director
*/
If God intended you to be on single sideband, he would have given you only 
one nostril.
- Steve, K2PTS