[Elecraft] T1 Bicycle Mobile report

[Leigh L Klotz, Jr.]

Today I put a CB whip on the back of my bike and cable-tied the T1 to a 
6" piece of coax, and then another length to my FT817. The whip was at a 
45 degree angle but began to sag towards the back.  I also clipped a 
length of wire to the top and various other positions to try to get it 
to load on 60 or 75m, but couldn't get it to load below 70m.  Matches 
were easy on the high bands, and seemed a little more lossy on 40m.

I ran 2.5W or 5W, but did not make any SSB contacts, though I did get a 
weak signal report from a KH6 in Honolulu from my QRV location at the 
San Francisco bay.

See pix at http://wa5znu.org/log

It was mostly a dry run, as I don't think the 817 has enough power to 
work SSB bike mobile.  Next week I plan to try again, with my K5OOR 50W 
amplifier for the FT-817, now that Elecraft has given us the test 
results for intermittent operation SSB in the 35W range.

I did not try the 817 connector cable, but when I do I will rprobably 
need to use some kind of wiring harness, as there were more wires than I 
was comfortable with already.

I know that Bud W3FF has had good experience with tuned grounds on the 
low bands so I may look into that as well.  Also, I need to get the 
antenna more vertical, whixh may require some metal work.

Leigh / WA5ZNU