[Elecraft] Portable equipment...

[Al Gulseth]

Since this for the moment has morphed into the "shameless plug dept." the guys 
up the road from me at the Joplin MO ARC also offer an antenna launcher:

http://joplin-arc.org/?page_id=84

Disclaimer: no financial interest etc.,  just a great bunch of guys who host a 
top-notch hamfest every year. (Anyone who can bounce back after being whacked 
by an EF5 tornado gets a "thumbs-up" in my book. I personally saw some of the 
destruction a few months after it happened and heard some mind-boggling 
personal accounts of the storm's power from witnesses. But that's probably 
getting too far off topic....)

73, Al

On Mon October 5 2015 4:21:56 pm Rick WA6NHC wrote:
> Take a look at antennalaunchers.com for a good pneumatic launcher. I
> have no pecuniary interest but have know the owner for 40 years now and
> love the launcher.
>
> Rick nhc
>
> On 10/5/2015 2:10 PM, Phil Hystad wrote:
> > I was going to add my own comments to the original question but I don’t
> > see how I can do anything better than Jim’s comments below.
> >
> > Well, maybe just one thing…
> >
> > I have a Buddipole and I kind of like it.
> >
> > It works great in some situations where the other methods are not as easy
> > to accomplish.
> >
> > I used to do wires up in trees (using a sling shot with fishing line
> > although I use a Bow & Arrow at home — I also have trees on the
> > property).  And, I had a 30 foot push up fiberglass pole that I used as
> > the center for an inverted 20-meter Dipole which is easy to put up.  I
> > have a mount I made (or, I used to) fastened on the back of my pickup
> > truck for the pole giving it another 3 feet.  I need to fix up a new
> > mount though as I junked the previous one.  Of course, this works only
> > when you use your pickup truck as the base station but I am portable in
> > the field doing that (while my wife is busy photographing birds). 
> > Unfortunately, I broke the fiberglass pole and need to get a new one
> > someday.
> >
> > However, now that I am more experienced with the Buddipole and I have my
> > own extension mast that I use at times, it is not a bad deal.  I operate
> > almost always 20 meters though.
> >
> > But, nothing can beat the cost of wires in trees and if you had to buy
> > pushup fiberglass pole, that is still cheaper than a Buddipole.
> >
> >
> > 73, phil, K7PEH
> >
> >> On Oct 5, 2015, at 1:52 PM, Jim Brown <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Mon,10/5/2015 12:49 PM, David Davis wrote:
> >>> The two items I have been looking at are the following:
> >>>
> >>> 1. PX3 Panadapter
> >>> 2. AA-170 Antenna analyzer
> >>
> >> The answer depends on a lot of things -- your technical background, your
> >> operating style and objectives, etc. What do you plan to do with your
> >> "portable" station? Backpacking? Driving somewhere to set up? In the
> >> wilderness or in a neighborhood park? What do you want to work? What
> >> bands, what style? Contesting, summits, lighthouses, casual operation,
> >> vacations, etc.?
> >>
> >> Definitely do NOT waste money on an antenna analyzer until you have real
> >> antennas to measure. Besides -- the KX3 has a very good SWR readout
> >> built in, so it's easy to use to figure out where your antenna is
> >> resonant, and tweak it to length if necessary. If the feedline is short,
> >> all you really care about is whether the antenna loads -- push the
> >> button to activate the KXAT3 and see if it loads OK (close to full
> >> power).
> >>
> >> The PX3 is VERY useful when trying to find activity on a quiet band, but
> >> you must learn to use it first.
> >>
> >> I agree with the suggestion of some form of launcher to get wires in
> >> trees. The tennis ball launcher is great if you're driving to the site,
> >> but far too heavy to carry up a trail. For backpacking, something like a
> >> "wrist rocket" would be a far better choice. Several of my local friends
> >> (AE6RF and N6RNO) are quite skilled at launching wires into trees using
> >> nothing more than fishing line with a small heavy weight attached, using
> >> their arm as a catapault. Once the line is in the tree, use it to pull
> >> up the rope that will hold the antenna.
> >>
> >> I'm not a fan of Buddipoles -- inefficient, heavy, expensive. I like one
> >> of several telescoping fiberglass poles to which it's easy to tape a
> >> wire. Buy or improvise one or more fixtures to mount it vertically, buy
> >> more wire to use as radials or a counterpoise, and you've got a far more
> >> effective antenna for less money. #18 (or even #22) works fine for
> >> backpacking.
> >>
> >> 73, Jim K9YC
> >>
> >>
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