[Elecraft] Best Portable Antenna

[Dave Van Wallaghen]

Hey Fred,

Sorry to hear of Natan's health issues. I had a very hard time getting a 
hold of Tom apparently due to some email server issues at the time. I 
tried to order this before Dayton last year and never did get a 
response. I wound up on Natan's email and he immediately got back to me. 
He was very professional and cordial. He told me that they were getting 
ready to move operations and that it would be 6 - 8 weeks for delivery. 
I got it in 4 - it was everything they stated it would be and packaged 
very well.

I read a number of folks that had "service" problems with Tom but with 
Natan, my experience was a good one. I should drop them a note to let 
them know how well it is working for me.

73,
Dave W8FGU



On 01/29/2013 09:04 AM, Fred Smith wrote:
> Hi Dave
>
> Thanks for the info, Nate had emailed me yesterday about it and I was sadden
> to hear of his health issues that had caused him to pull back from the
> project for a while. I linked to it yesterday nice to hear from someone that
> has one in use for a while.
>
> 73,
> Fred/N0AZZ
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dave Van Wallaghen [mailto:w8fgu at comcast.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 7:20 AM
> To: Fred Smith
> Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Best Portable Antenna
>
> Fred and all,
>
> Realizing that the terms "best" and "portable" mean different things to
> different people. Here is a portable vertical that I've been playing
> with since June: http://www.n6bt.com/n6bt-Bravo7K-1.htm
>
> This is a design from Tom Schiller, N6BT of the Force 12 era. He has an
> entire new line with his new company. This antenna is an asymmetrically
> fed vertical dipole. It supports 7 bands, 10m-40m via tuning of the
> lengths of tubing and some loading coils on certain bands. It is full
> length 10m - 20m and there is some loading for 30m & 40m. He touts
> 90-99% efficiency with upper 90's for the non loaded bands and 90-95% on
> the loaded bands.
>
> The asymmetric design allows the feedpoint to be at the bottom for ease
> of feeding and keeps the center of gravity for the antenna near the
> bottom. I ordered mine with the tri-pod base and made up 3 u-shaped
> aluminum stakes to hold the tri-pod to the ground in the yard. So far it
> has survived hurricane Sandy effects here in SE Michigan and winds over
> 50mph. I did have a 60mph gust last week that finally pushed it over -
> no damage.
>
> I regrettably have little time to operate these days, but when I'm doing
> other things in the basement I run WSPR and have done direct comparisons
> with my window line fed 140' doublet. It performs comparably in my
> opinion. It exhibits the same properties as a vertical i.e. noisier,
> lower take off angle etc. Using both antennas for diversity reception is
> really cool. It almost eliminates QSB conditions sometimes in that if
> the QSB is changing polarizations, you hear the signal move from one ear
> to the other.
>
> There was a review of this antenna in QST last year and some suggestions
> were made by the reviewer, Ward Silver, N0AX, about mounting things more
> efficiently for changing bands etc. All of the suggestions made were
> incorporated in the version I received.
>
> Although the price tag is around $290, I believe it is cheaper than some
> of the comparable Buddi-system configurations. Obviously, I can (and
> have) made simple wire antennas for far cheaper and perform well. It
> just takes me a lot longer sometimes to get the wire where I want it.
> The one thing I like about the Bravo 7K is that it is made from easily
> purchased parts so that you can repair it in the field if necessary. I
> found all the lengths of tubing on the DX Engineering site. All of the
> hose clamps to secure the tubing are SS hose clamps found at most
> hardware outlets.
>
> It is portable and light, weighing in around 12 lbs or so, but not
> something you'll want for backpacking or other type of operating where
> keeping the weight down is a priority. I bought a drum hardware bag for
> mine that holds the antenna and all supporting cables, stakes, rope,
> tools etc. I made a W2DU balun for mine that is permanently mounted
> underneath the loading coil box. I found that tuning it was pretty much
> like it is laid out in their manual. I used a pipe cutter to notch my
> tubing elements so that I can easily change bands in seconds without
> remeasuring. It can be detuned fairly easily on 30 & 40m by large
> objects or different soil near the placement.
>
> I have taken it on a couple of small trips in the last few months and I
> can set it up in less than 15 minutes and be on the air. I'm currently
> stressing it out with a Michigan winter and hoping to be impressed with
> its toughness if it still works this spring ;-)
>
> I have no outside interest in this company, just a satisfied owner at
> this point. YMMV.
>
> 73,
> Dave W8FGU
>
>
>
> On 01/29/2013 04:36 AM, Fred Smith wrote:
>> To the Group
>
>