[Elecraft] OT: 43' vertical antenna

[Ken Kopp]

I used a 40' self-supporting Premax shipboard whip on our 
travel trailer for six years.  It was fed with an Icom AH-4 with
6" of connecting wire between the tuner and the whip. I think 
it worked well.  It was -not- a good performer on 80M, as one 
would expect.  I wouldn't consider feeding this antenna with
a lengthy run of coax.

I -do- have extensive bonding of the ground system to the metal 
trailer's body and frame and also uncoiled a number of radials 
"into the bushes" when we were parked.

I used these same whips in the 3 mHz frequency range on 
small ocean survey vessels, but hasten to point out that this 
approached an ideal situation ... a vertical over salt water. (:-)
Again, this antenna was fed with a tuner immediately beside
the base of the whip.

I now use a modified High Sierra "screwdriver" antenna on the
trailer, mostly to gain acceptable performance on 80M.  I more
than doubled the length of the base to coil length to improve
the efficiency.

73!