[Elecraft] Re: [ K2 KX1 K1 ] Advice sought on Elecraft radios

[Mike Morrow]

Dan wrote:

> ...hams ... helped me set up the HI-Q-Antenna 380 TAD ... and then we
> tried a $5 home made 20M dipole between two trees oer a shed that was 
> “significantly” louder on both the K2 and Norcal.  The NorCal 40A and
> K2 are being switched back and forth in the same setting and environment. 
> We had an MFJ antenna analyzer to test with as well – the 380 TAD tunes 
> 1:1 beautifully and is optimized for 40M and military frequencies.  It’s 
> an impressive piece of engineering.  So here I am with an antenna(s) 
> that cost more than the K2 radio, and satisfied with neither.

I've had a four-band K1 for more than eight years and it is my favorite
all-time QRP rig.  But I don't have other Elecraft rigs, so I can't
provide any comparative observations.

With respect to antenna performance, the significant improvement that you
experienced using that cheap dipole compared to that very expensive short
loading-coil tuned contraption is entirely normal.  Outside of using a
full-sized rotatable HF beam, nothing outperforms the simple full-sized
(no traps or loading coils!) half-wave center-fed wire dipole.  If you
have any room at all, you'll be much better off installing resonant wire
dipoles wherever possible.

They don't *need* to be mounted particularly high, either, although higher
would be better.  I've worked many DX countries from all around the world 
using 20m and 15m wire dipoles less than eight feet above the ground.

Beware of high-priced shortened HF vertical antennas or dipoles.  Any
*direct* performance comparison along side the wire dipole will always
be grossly disappointing.  In the case of verticals, in particular, if the
grounding system is poor the on-air performance difference can easily be
five S-units (30 db)!  

There is little doubt that your short Hi-Q TAD dipole is performing as
well as the physics of such a device will allow.

73,
Mike / KK5F
(One who has fiddled with HF antennas for more than 40 years.)