[Elecraft] Portable Antenna

[Grif]

Some experience here with the PAR EndFedZ EF-10/20/40 may be of interest to the group. As you all may know it is a self-resonant half-wave QRP antenna - 25watts continuous - for 40, 20 and 10 meters. It requires no "counterpoise" and has a sealed matching network at the feed point end. I'm using it in a second floor bedroom with the matchbox at the top of a window, 25' from ground. The other end is tied to a tree, 20' from the ground. The matchbox is connected to the transceiver with a 4' run of coax. Now the interesting part. I've connected a 39' "counterpoise" to the transceiver. It snakes around the baseboard and into a closet. I can now operate on all bands, 80 through 10. Except for 80 and 30, the SWR is under 4.0. On 30 I bypass the matchbox and connect the transceiver antenna center conductor directly to the output of the matchbox with a 4' wire, and the SWR is less than 3.0. On 80 I short the input to the matchbox with the same direct wire, and the SWR is in the range of 4 to 6. My Icom IC-703 (10 watts max.) internal tuner matches all of the above easily, as does my KX-1 on 40, 30 and 20. (I haven't built the 80-30 board yet.) At some point I may get a second EndFedZ for portable use. At present I use an MP-1, Buddistick "tuned" (length adjusted to a quarter wave) "counterpoise",  and the KX-1 for casual operation on vacation. For serious portable work I use a Buddipole or Buddistick with a Yaesu FT-857. All great antennas.

Grif, KF4JG