[Elecraft] Elecraft AX-1 Whip Antenna

[john at kk9a.com]

Thomas Schiller, N6BT once wrote an article titled "Everything Works". In
the article he discussed how he worked all continents on CW (a mode that you
can actually hear) using a light bulb antenna during the ARRL DX contest.

The AX1 appears to be a 45" whip with a base inductor made of 20AWG wire. I
am not sure what is inside the base, if anything, to bring the impedance up
to 50 ohms. With some sunspots, I am sure that it is fun for pedestrian
mobile use which is what it's designed for. A 1/2wl dipole or 1/4wl vertical
will be a much better radiator. 

John KK9A




David Gilbert ab7e wrote:

A comparison to any other antenna would be useful.  A comparison to a 50 
ohm resistor with a similar counterpoise wire would be even more useful 
as a baseline measurement.  If anyone wants to lend me their AX1 I will 
do that.

73,
Dave   AB7E


On 9/19/2022 10:33 AM, Ron Gruner wrote:
> 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