[Elecraft] Upcoming Vacation and my K2

[Jack Brindle]

>Any experience on an antenna to take with me?  I will be flying down 
>to Miami so whatever I take must be able to fit on a plane (and of 
>course pass through security).  I was looking at the St Louis 
>Vertical as a possibility however, there is a gutter spike at the 
>bottom of the dowel that may cause a problem getting on the plane.

Speaking as an ex-South Floridian, I think you will be a bit 
impressed with whatever antenna you bring. Verticals work very well 
in this environment. Perhaps the best antenna I ever ran was a 
Hy-Gain 14AVQ trap vertical. Not that the antenna itself was so 
great, but being four feet off a nice brackish water table gave me an 
outstanding ground plane. The result was great DX. I actually 
experimented with ground radials, and discovered they really didn't 
matter. Funny, the same antenna in Southwest Louisiana was really 
terrible until I laid down about 40 radials...

You might consider a sloper dipole, attached to the hotel balcony, a 
trap vertical, or other simple antennas. Good luck and enjoy the 
operating!

-Jack Brindle, WA4FIB
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