[Elecraft] KXAT2: Recommended Random Wire Lengths

[murphy]

I love my new KX2 and the installed auto-tuner.  The manual mentions a
random wire antenna with a counterpoise and recommends #26 “Silky” from
The Wireman (catalog #534).  After obtaining 100 feet the first question
is how long?  Obviously I want it to tune 1:1 SWR, 80 to 10 meters but a
quick search of the archives and manual came up dry for specific random
wire lengths.  So I cut 29 feet x 2 and boom - no joy.  The 5MHz band
got no better than 4:1 SWR and 80 meters was, well, hopeless.  The rest
was good.  Ok searching the net the best I could find was
http://www.hamuniverse.com/randomwireantennalengths.html with the magic
number lengths: *29  35.5  41  58  71  84  107  119  148  203  347  407 
423*.  Still, no guarantee which would meet requirements on the
KX2/KXAT2.  So, after a splice and another cut, I can now officially
announce that a 58 foot "random" wire with a 29 foot counterpoise will
give a 1:1 SWR on all bands 80-10 on the KX2 using the KXAT2. :-)