[Elecraft] Elecraft K1-20 - - Now Camping - Antennas

[Dick Ballard]

I use a method similar to my home installation of a 100 foot spool of
#16 insulated "primary" wire hanging from a limb high up in a big fir
tree. At home it drops from a 70 foot branch at a 45° angle. The
copper plumbing system in the crawl space is the "ground" half of the
system.

When camping I use the Hyperdog sling shot with mason's line and a 6
oz lead fishing weight to get my 100 foot wire as high as possible
into an available tree. I have another similar spool of wire which
could be the other half of a dipole if another tree is available. But
usually I just string it along the ground somewhere under the first
wire to act as a sort of radial.

I've used this method with my Icom703 and an MFJ-945C antenna tuner.
When camping, I use a short coax between the tuner and a binding post
adapter for the wires. That adapter ends up being quite low on a short
pole with only about 10-15 feet of coax from the tuner (which also
keeps losses at bay with the higher SWR's in this arrangement).

I set up the MFJ in the middle of a band (without the 703 tuner
engaged) and then use the 703 tuner to refine the match when I move
within the band. The MFJ settings are recorded so I can quickly switch
between bands. The resulting angles of this type of antenna produce a
mix of pattern and propagation characteristics of both horizontal and
vertical antennas.

Dick Ballard W7AND
ballardr at att.net
Beaverton OR (near Portland)


On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:09:20 -0800 (PST), you wrote:

>Wow, What a support Group !!!! Thanks to all the oldsters out there who responded to my cataract problem (surgery went well yesterday by the way).
>   
>  Now my next question is what kind of antennas to use (mostly for 20 meters) when out camping. Here in Northeastern Illinois, most campsites have only one tree to hang a dipole on which would leave the ends to droop to the ground etc.
>  What do most of you guys use when camping?
>   
>  Next question in line will be Power Supplies for the K1.
>   
>  Dick Powers WB9PWQ / AFA3DP