[Elecraft] Elecraft AX-1 Whip Antenna

[Ron Gruner]

I've been impressed by how well my little AX-1 whip antenna performs on 20
meters. Here's a photo of the rig: https://gruner.com/k4rhg/andover_ma.png
and the propagation map: https://gruner.com/k4rhg/wspr_2watts_sep16_2022.png

A friend, Derek Rowell (AK1WI), gave me a two-watt WSPR kit he had designed
-- easy and fun to build. I connected the unit to the AX-1 sitting in a
window sill facing west and strung the out-of-the-box counterpoise over a
lamp shade and bed headboard. No idea what the SWR is, but it must be
pretty good.

I immediately began receiving propagation reports and within 24 hours had
reports from 240 unique stations. The farthest was VK5ARG (17,276 km) with
a SNR of -21. Even though the window faced the west, propagation into
Europe was strong with SV9KI (7,800 km) reporting -26 SNR. The
propagation report is from http://wspr.rocks/  <http://wspr.rocks/>

I've found that WSPR is a great way to evaluate antennas. The AX-1 seems
to be performing very well.

73,
Ron Gruner
K4RHG


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