[Elecraft] Antenna problem / phenomenon

[Leigh L Klotz, Jr.]

Have you tuned the length of the 30m antenna?  Out of the box it might 
be wrong.
You also need a ground strap, if you don't want a permanent 
installation.  I hopr your car is metal, not fiberglass.  You may need 
some straps to hook other parts of the car together, such as roof to 
body, or hood to body, to get more metal in the ground plane.  If you 
plan to operate while the car is running and use car 12v, you wuill have 
much more to do, but if you operate when the car is off, this is 
enough.

I operate 40, 30, 20, 17, and 15 with similar antennas (Hamstick or Pro 
Am) and a tri-mag mount and a short piece of #14 zip cord (both) to a 
screw on the car.  For feeding the antenna, I use coax to a balun and 
then twinlead through the sunroof.  I use the WB6ZQZ step-down balun and 
usually use it on the 25 ohm setting, depending on what makes the tuner 
happiest.
73,
WA5ZNU / Leigh.
On Mon, 16 May 2005 2:05 am, Gerhard Schwanz wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have a new set of mobile antennas, pro am series with magnet mount. 
> Most
> works just fine but I have one thing I don't understand. I have a K1 
> and a
> K2 and while the K2 (without tuner enabled) shows an SWR of 2:1 on the 
> 30m
> antenna the K1 immediately reduces power to 0.1w and shows SWR 9.9. And
> what's most stunning, the KAT1 can't even reduce this 9.9...