[Elecraft] KX1 #1403 Antenna Project

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

-----Original Message-----
Jack wrote:

I have been following the antenna threads since I started building the KX1.
These experiments are based on that thread, the ARRL Handbook 2004, previous
research into commercial verticals and my own experience.

 

The goals are to find the best antenna for the KX1 under various operating
conitions.

            

1.       Smallest, lightest, easiest to set up 4 band backpacking antenna.

2.       Smallest, lightest, easiest to set up for 1, 2, or 3 bands for
backpacking.

3.       Most efficent antenna for 4 bands but still backpackable.

4.       Most efficent 1, 2, or 3 band antennas but still backpackable.

5.       Learn Antenna Theory and Practice.  Formulas, Software, Instruments

-----------------------------

Good goals Jack. 

I'll note that 1 and 2 are exclusive of 3 and 4. I've seen "backpackable"
2-element quads built of lightweight telescoping tubes and collapsing poles
that certainly qualify as the "most efficient" but they are definitely not
the smallest, lightest and easiest to set up.

Indeed, it's the tradeoff between the various issues that each of us are
willing to live with that defines what we ultimately call our "favorite"
portable antenna. 

Number 5 is always an excellent investment of your time and it'll
demonstrate clearly that *where* you backpack has a great deal to do with
your antenna choices. Steep mountain trails have a wholly different set of
conditions and opportunities than, say, the seashore, which offers
opportunities for getting excellent performance from some antennas that
can't be duplicated anywhere else without a great deal of added complexity.

Hopefully the genuine enjoyment will come out of learning about all those
things and, in the process, you may well become one of those who offers some
insights for the rest of us to use. After all, learning how to make
something work better, and occasionally learning how to make something work
that no one thought would is what "Amateur Radio" is all about. That's what
Marconi did, and he liked to call himself the "...first radio amateur". 

Ron AC7AC