[Elecraft] Elecraft AX-1 Whip Antenna

[Jim Brown]

On 9/24/2022 12:31 AM, David Gilbert wrote:
> I haven't done much portable operation except for Field Day, and when I 
> do I have access to tall trees for some pretty good wire antennas ... 
> including wire yagis.

Dave,

This sentence says it all. Your experience and hamming is very different 
from theirs. I've done a bit of both, in a pretty wide variety of 
situations. Backpacking is VERY different, and that's part of what SOTA 
is all about. And every setup I've done, and I've done very different 
ones, applied what I knew about how stuff works to the specific problem 
I was trying to solve. THAT is what ENGINEERING is all about -- it is 
the definition of engineering. That was my day gig when I was working -- 
designing sound systems for specific uses for a specific space where 
they would be used. It's not about using ideal principals to an ideal 
problem.

W6GJB and I have set up QRP on ridge tops with a KX3, a wire taped to a 
telescoping pole, and a suitable length of #22 laying on low brush as a 
counterpoise. We worked four continents in 15 minutes. About 20 years 
ago, I used a similar setup with a K2 on 30M in a suburban park north of 
Chicago as part of a QRP night for our local club. I got through the 
pileup to work a DXpedition. Photo is at the top of my qrz page.

One of things i enjoy doing is surveying a ham's QTH to help him think 
about what antennas in what locations that can be rigged at HIS QTH, 
with HIS restrictions, optimized HIS operating goals, and HIS budget.

Wayne did a fine piece of engineering for the AX-1. It's not the ideal 
antenna for EVERY application, but it's a useful design for several 
forms of portable operation, especially if the user has bothered to 
learn enough about how antennas work to apply it intelligently.

73, Jim K9YC