[Elecraft] Advice on First HF Antenna

[Gary Hawkins]

Hi Craig,

DX'ing with the KX3 (or any QRP radio) for that matter can be very 
challenging as you don't have the power to break pile-ups.  Thus, you're 
either going to need to get a high gain antenna, e.g. tower and beam, or 
I would suggest digital modes.  I've had a lot of success with WAS using 
JT65, JT9, PSK and RTTY using 10W or below with modest wire antennas.

As many have suggested either wire dipoles, OCFD or G5RV all have there 
advantages and disadvantages.  I'm currently using a RadioWavz FD40-3 
fan dipole resonant on 40, 20 and 10m - for $56 this is a very cost 
effective and nicely built purchase and will get you on the air quickly 
while you consider other options.  I've built many wire and yagi HF 
antennas, and whether you build or buy you're going to need an antenna 
analyzer to tune the antenna.  I personally use a RigExperts AA-54, 
which I like a lot.

Thus my suggestion to get going would be RadioWavz FD40-3 and a 
RigExperts AA-54 or similar.

Have fun with your KX3.

73's Gary K6YOA

On 12/7/2015 6:12 PM, elecraft-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 07 Dec 2015 16:13:22 -0600
> From: CRAIG SCHROEDER<craigschroeder at mac.com>
> To:"elecraft at mailman.qth.net"  <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [Elecraft] Advice on First HF Antenna
> Message-ID:<01DC4AEF-3CDE-46A6-802F-50E1CD517FFC at mac.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> I am pretty new ham and a brand new KX3/PX3 owner excited to try my hand at DX'ing!  If you were buying your first HF base antenna, primarily looking for performance on 20 and 40 meters, what would you recommend?  Also, what do you suggest as a high performance field antenna for QRP?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Craig
> KD0TXL