[Elecraft] verticals

[Howard Oakley]

On 18/2/04 14:49, Simon Lewis wrote:

> A small vertical in a bucket would be a great idea - question is - what
> model/make??
> 
> the deck is abt 12 ft square so guess the vert is probably the only answer!
> 
> anyone had any exp of force12 verticals is maybe has something for sale??

Simon,

I frequently use smallish verticals QRP over sea-water takeoffs (sorry, I
cheat to make my 5 W go further!). I have not made objective comparisons,
but here are my impressions of some, all on SSB:

Cushcraft MA5V - fairly cheap, simple to assemble, nice and small, excellent
range of bands and fairly good SWR across them, but not particularly
effective. I look on it as a super-whip now. However, have worked some
pretty good DX with it including V51 and PY, but didn't complete with J :-(

Force 12 Sigma 40XK, used on an Xbase (which is really neat!) - this is my
primary beach antenna now, and incredibly effective. It is still fairly
cheap, but you have to drop it to change bands (OK for me as I tend to work
just one band, or take several antennas). It is surprisingly tall, and I
think you'd want to devise some form of lowering system to make switching
bands easy. I have worked YB, VK, W6 and more.

GAPs I have used at home and like, but they are much too big for that small
plot, I fear.

I have looked at trapped verticals and so far not given into the temptation,
as I fear they will be little better than the MA5V, but Butternuts seem to
have a good reputation and reasonable price.

This year's experiment with antennas is going to be trying two Force12s as
an SVDA reflector-driver pair...

(Monday afternoon I used my K2 with the Force12 for the first time, from a
local beach. Unfortunately I set the antenna up for 12 m, and then tried to
operate on 15 m until I realised my error! With a tuner, the Force12 seems
very happy to tune 1:1 for most bands, but of course efficiency is
different. When I changed to 12 m the band was closing, but I still managed
to catch C6AMM. We learn by experience!)

72,
Howard.

Dr Howard Oakley
Isle of Wight, UK
M1BWR (IO90JO, EU-120)
Active from 80 m to 23 cm
QRP ARCI 11583; UKSMG 1718; ARRL; RSGB; RNARS