Perhaps its antidotal because it’s an opinion founded on my own experience but I have never found a small vertical to be of much use on forty and below.
Think AL’s plot says it all. I am looking at around a half dozen operations in the field this season with the mutt starting with the annual Delaware Goes to War event in April and ending up at AA 83 in October and I always set up an inverted
V for operation on forty with a second antenna cut for sixty.
One year at Gilbert operated on the fourteen foot vertical onboard the mutt for the MMRCG 7296 net and did a A/B comparison between the vertical and the inverted V and there was a big difference, what I was able to receive easily on the
V was week on the vertical. But that’s probably because I just don’t know how to use a vertical? Have a backpack with a eight foot vertical that I use at a lot of events with a drag behind counterpose that’s lots of fun but without a big antenna would not
expect it to be dependable for any distance.
Have found that the fourteen foot vertical works great on twenty and seventeen meters where its closer to being resonate in those bands, worked both into Europe and California on seventeen before running the vertical but think other than
local below those bands its just not doing it.
Also as long as I am spouting off on the subject will also say about the AS-2259 that the couple I played around with appear to all be centered outside the Ham bands and did not show me any love. But they do have a huge resale value.
I know how I am going to hear about how some of you have earned your DXCC just using 1 watt and a vertically polarized noodle and how I have no idea what I am talking about but that’s what works for me.
Events that I know of so far where the mutt will be in the field and on the air for 2023, will be operating the following (0900) RTTY 7087, (10:00) MMRCG Net 7296 and (12:00) M&S Net 5357
Delaware Goes to War, Fort Miles event April 22
MVPA Show Hagerstown, MD. Hagerstown Airport May 6
Dayton Hamvention, Xenia Ohio. May 20 ---- No Mutt, cant cover the expense of dragging everything six hundred miles! Backpack and base radio for 3885 and 51.0 using vertical antennas —
Tank Farm, Alexandria VA. Aug 26
Red Ball MVPA Show (gilbert MRCA) Gilbert PA. Sep 23
Able Archer 83, Fort Miles Delaware Oct 22
Will try to squeeze one or two non-scheduled opps like setting up in the back yard and the like.
Ray F/KA3EKH
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of Al Klase
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2023 10:29 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MRCA] Manpack HF ntenna Ideas?
Jeep,
Stick with the wire.
Your 10-ft whip shown in red, versus low dipole in blue . This is pretty much true for 80, 60, and 49-meters.
An end-fed half wave could be a good deal with the tuner. Scroll down the page Here:
http://www.mrca.ar88.net/Old%20Pages/Net/11-11-2010.html
73,
Al
On 2/16/2023 6:59 PM, Doran Platt wrote:
I have a tactical tricked-out Yaesu FT-897D with an LDG AT-897 tuner. Even have the requisite H-250. I have used it a time or two for Moose and Squirrel with an inverted V in the back-yard. Is there a practical design for a whip that would work on the lower band 80/40/5MHz? I have some rods from a 292 antenna and a folding antenna from a PRC-8,9, or 10. Running the '897D from a 12v battery the power level is about 40 watts at best (vice a solid 100 watts with 13.5V). Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree? A decent counterpoise is always the bugaboo. TNX
Jeep K3HVG