[Elecraft] (OT) - portable radial idea?

[Michael Babineau]

Stan : 

Unless the “radials” are to be elevated a few feet above the ground there is really nothing to be gained by trying to cut them for resonance on each band.
If they are laid on the ground they will be detuned and the legnth will be all off anyway. 

The rule of thumb that I used is to make the radials at least an 1/8 wave for the lowest band, so in this case it would 16 feet long.  

I take a 20 foot length of computer ribbon cable (5 or 6 wire) and unzip it for all but the
last 4 feet. Then on the unzipped end I strip and tin each of the wires and then attach them all to a banana plug. Having the last few feet of 
cable still zipped makes routing the “radials” away from the rig and off of a picnic table much more convenient.  To make  storage and re-deployment
simpler I pull the loose ends of the wires parallel and then I attach an IKEA bag clip on the end then I can roll the whole thing up, tie it with a 
velcro tie and put it into a zip-top sandwich bag. . It keeps the wires from getting tangled. 

Why 5 radials ??? I have found from experience that 5 or 6 is about the limit of my patience for deployment.  I have a few sets so if I am not in a rush
I can use more.  This is easy to do with a Pomona banana jack to BNC adaptor as both the red and black terminals will each accept two banana plugs.

Cheers

Michael VE3WMB 

>From: stan levandowski <sjl219 at optonline.net <mailto:sjl219 at optonline.net>>
>Subject: [Elecraft] (OT) - portable radial idea?
>Date: March 10, 2017 at 7:14:50 PM GMT-5
>To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net <mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net>


>I found the plans (June 2010 Elecraft Reflector) to build a 40/30/20 meter "linear loaded" portable antenna for my KX1 (using a crappie rod, 300 ohm twinlead for the radiator, a BL2 balun, and ribbon cable radials cut to 1/4 wavelength for >each of the bands (16, 25 and 33 feet).

>My question is how terrible would it be to use a piece of that thin computer ribbon cable cut to the three lengths but NOT separated?  This would make it easier to deploy and roll back up.


>Has anyone ever tried using unseparated ribbon cable counterpoises?  The materials are on order and I'm sort of anxious to know.


>Obviously, this is a compromise antenna and I'm shooting to design a package for maximum installation speed vs. maximum efficiency.


>Thanks, Stan WB2LQF