[Elecraft] [KX3] Portable Antenna question

[Fred Smith]

Lynn

I posted this same question here and to a QRP Club I belong to sometime back
and received well over a 100 emails both on and off both reflectors. Many
ideas and some of my own derived from other designs that I adapted I will
give you 3 offhand in just a moment.

You spoke of a possible install in your car, if I might tell you what a
friend in CA. found after 3 mo of trying to get his KX3 and a 300w mobile
amp of some kind he had at the same time to go with it. He bought a mobile
mount ran all the wiring installed a Screwdriver antenna. After all that
work was and numerous calls to Elecraft and the radio sent for a mod of some
kind then a month of trying to get it to work still no joy. He sent it back
to Elecraft to have the mod removed and a new LCD display cover installed
because the other was scratched during all the in and outs. When returned he
sold it as he's not a QRP op that's a shame.

Antennas the one piece of equipment that I use for about everything as I'm
not a hiker and have limited mobility I drive to where I operate. But that
piece of gear is light weight it's a 31' fiberglass telescoping windsock
pole that has an eyelet on the top about 3 1/2" in dia. by 4' when collapsed
and weighs about 6#?? I have several other items that I use with this 2 5
gal plastic buckets like oil comes in to support the pole one can be filled
with rocks etc for weight the other is filled with concrete with a 4" ID
pipe in the center of it both will need a couple of guys on windy days. The
other is a steel plate that I can pull one tire on with a 4" ID pipe 30"
tall that hold the pole and lets the SUV serve as somewhat of a ground
plane.

I use a Par end fed 10/20/40 for one of them my second is a 31' vertical
with several counterpoise's that I have on rolls 6 of them 33' each.

The last one (s) are simple but the most effective single band made from
300ohm twin lead I have 5 of them cut and rolled 10/15/17/20/40m. These can
be setup as an Inverted V or a flattop dipole if you have other supports I
have a few small insulators and Dacron rope for guying and the supports.
These are the most effective with my KX3 because they allow all the power of
the radio to the antenna using the duel binding post BNC adapter. They don't
take up much room and are in the bottom of my Pelican case with all I carry.
it is a med size one for the KX3 plus I have a 250' roll of 18ga wire that I
take along just in case I need some.

I have not used all of these away from the house but have used them in the
back yard and they work well and all tune easily with the KX3's tuner. I had
always thought that my Icom 703+ had a good internal in it till Elecraft
came along, as with other things.

Get ready to have a lot of fun with your KX3 BTW I am now using mine for SWL
a lot of the time where I was using my K3 before.

73,
Fred/N0AZZ



-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Lynn W. Taylor,
WB6UUT
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2013 10:52 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [KX3] Portable Antenna question

Of course -- and experimenting is half the fun.  I expect to go through a
lot of wire playing.

I'm pretty good with the theory -- and as everyone has said, it makes sense
to avoid feeding the end of a half-wave wire.

I haven't yet found the impedance range for the tuner in the manuals.  
I'm still reading.

I also moved not too long ago, and a lot of things (like my antenna
book) are in a box somewhere.  I'm still searching.  I think my Par
EF-20 is in one of those boxes, as is a nice chunk of coax with a BNC on one
end, and a PL-259 on the other.  I did find my straight key, but I haven't
been on CW this millenium.

... and I've got 100' of Wireman #534 due to arrive tomorrow.  I can always
buy more.

-- Lynn

On 3/8/2013 8:29 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> The message here is the the KX3 is a radio, and the antennas that work 
> well with it are the same that work with any radio.

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Version: 2013.0.2904 / Virus Database: 2641/6157 - Release Date: 03/08/13