[Elecraft] Antennas for K1 Field Use

[David Y.]

Mike and All,

Au contraire, mon ami!  Don't be too quick to dismiss using a vertical. 
It's not quite as simple as throwing something over a tree, but you have to 
have a tree!

Here in the desert, verticals are often the best choice.  Some ham friends 
of mine and I go out frequently on camping trips, and unless we go to high 
ground, trees are pretty much non-existent.  A couple of these guys have 
fabricated vertical installations that are very good performers.  A 20 meter 
vertical we used was elevated about 6 feet, and 30 radials were staked out 
around it.  The whole job only took about an hour to erect.  A 40 meter 
vertical is in the works.  Performance on the 20 meter vertical was 
excellent, so we then did two of them and phased them.  Of course, results 
were even better.

I have a collar device which slides into my trailer hitch.  I can put a mast 
section in the collar, and then an R7 vertical on top of it.  That gives me 
40 through 10 with good results.  I'm not saying a nice, high dipole 
wouldn't be as good or better, but I've used R7's for years, both at home 
and away, and I don't feel very deprived.  Well, I'd love to have a nice 
beam installation, but that's just not possible, at home anyway.

Speaking of beams, I also have one of Vern Wright's portable beams.  I've 
used it several times now, and it works great!  I put mine up about 25 feet 
with a collapsible flagpole, and it is a relatively easy process.  I 
intended to use it this year for Field Day, but we were on high ground, and 
the trees were too close.  On other outings though, it has been a very good 
performer.

I've commented multiple times on how to make some of the various portable 
vertical systems, like the PAC-12, Buddistick, and MP-1, work considerably 
better than the "out-of-the-box" setup.  So, I won't repeat all of that. 
It's not very hard though, and the results are quite rewarding.

If circumstances allow you to put up a dipole, that's probably what you 
should do.  But don't think a vertical system is not an effective option. 
You certainly don't have to suffer the 30 db or so deficiency that Mike 
suggests, or anything close to it.  With just a little extra effort you can 
be within an S unit or so of a dipole, and you might even sound better to a 
DX station.

Dave W7AQK
.

original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Morrow" <kk5f at earthlink.net>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: <kd8fip at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 7:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Antennas for K1 Field Use



> That would be very inaccurate.  HF vertical antennas for field use will 
> almost
> *never* have a proper and effective ground system.  Add to that the losses
> of loading coils/traps, and one will very certainly find *at least* a 30 
> dB difference,
> receiving and transmitting, in side-by-side comparisons between the 
> vertical and
> any simple wire resonant dipole.  That means six S-units.  That means a 
> one watt
> signal into the dipole will be better than 1000 watts into the vertical!
>
> The installation of a semi-effective ground system for the vertical would 
> require
> multiple tuned counterpoise wires that are far more troublesome to employ 
> than
> just using a simple resonant dipole.  The dipole requires *no* grounding 
> system.
> For operation in that very rare environment in which there is nothing to 
> support
> the ends of the dipole, I've used two wooden mop handles and some cord 
> with
> tent stakes as guys for the poles.