[Elecraft] Antennas for use with Elecraft T1 ATU

[Karl Larsen]

    I'm a T1 owner and I use the 44 and 88 foot dipoles. I can say with 
experiance that everything Ken says is true. You just can't do better.

73 Karl




Kenneth A. Christiansen wrote:
> Hi from Fargo, ND and many camp sites.
>
> This is the antenna I have used for the last 5 years in my camper with 
> I feel excellent results. It is a 44 foot doublet (22 feet) on each 
> side of center) with a feed line of  22 feet of 450 ohm window line. 
> The center is supported by a 23 foot telescoping painter's handle with 
> a hook at the top made out of an old paint roller. The ends are 
> supported by 10 foot lengths of 3/4th inch PVC pipes to make an 
> inverted vee.
>
> This loads well with either my KAT2 or KAT100. I added a W2DU 1 to 1 
> balun and I find the antenna so stable the settings the tuner picked 
> from the last camp site usually work at the next camp site with no 
> changes. I have a 1 foot jumper of RG8  between the tuner and the 
> balun. This works as is on all bands except 30 and 80 meters. On 30 
> meters 22 feet of feed line is a bad length and transforms the low 
> impedance of what is a 30 meter dipole to a high impedance which gives 
> the tuner trouble. I cut a jumper of 22 feet of 300 ohm twin lead and 
> wound it into a coil with a 7 inch diameter. All my twin lead feed 
> lines use alligator clips so to use 30 meters I just clip the 
> additional 22 feet loop of feed line in series with the 450 ohm window 
> line.
>
> I have 22 foot extensions I can add to each side of the doublet to 
> make it 88 feet for use on our 75 meter SSB net. These extensions have 
> to be tied to a tree or other support but the 44 ft doublet is self 
> supporting by the 23 foot painters handle on the hitch of my camper 
> and the 10 foot PVC pipes which are supported by the rear bumper of 
> the camper and the front bumper of my tow vehicle.
>
> If  I want to work 160 meters or don't have a location where I can add 
> the 22 foot extensions for 75 meters I have a loading coil and can tie 
> the two sides of the 22 foot feed line together and use the loading 
> coil to make a top loaded vertical which uses the frame of my camper 
> as a counterpoise and that works about as well as a good mobile station.
>
> I used to use a home made full wave quarter wave vertical on 20 meters 
> which used the frame of the camper as a counterpoise. I thought it 
> worked well  but in 2001 the 44 ft doublet was brought up here on this 
> reflector. I built it and used both antennas for just two camping 
> trips. The doublet was so much better than the vertical that I quit 
> taking the vertical along. I have run QRP battery 1B for the last 5 
> field days and the weak point is me as an operator and not my station 
> or antenna.
>
> Last week end I was set up at Fort Ransom State Park, ND. I worked 
> W1PID on 20 running 3 watts on a K1 and 88 foot doublet (I was running 
> the 100 watts). I QSYed to 30 meters and ran 5 watts on my end and had 
> a 25 minute QSO with K4AKC who was running a K1 and 4 Watts to a G5RV. 
> When we got done CU2BV from the Azores called me and we had a 15 
> minute QSO down at 13 wpm and I was still running 5 watts.
>
> I have been camping and portable for about 39 years and used many 
> different rigs and antennas but nothing I ever had before has worked 
> as well with as little effort on my part as the K2/100 and 44 ft doublet.
>
> I hope more of you try this antenna and have as good luck with it as I 
> have had.
>
> 73 from North Dakota where it is now 94 degrees F headed to -30 
> degrees F in just 6 months.
>
>
> Ken W0CZ      w0cz at arrl.net
>
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