[NLRS] 6 Meter Moxon field test

[ADUHAWK@aol.com]

Several weeks ago we ordered a Par 50MHz Stressed Moxon.  It was about 30 
minutes from pulling the first staple out of the packing box to completion.  It's 
an elegantly simple design that fits our use for roving very well.  For the 
most part we "run and gun" on the bottom six bands using yagis from 144-903 and 
a looper on 1296.  Six meters has been the problem.  We have used a dipole 
made from mobile whips and a variety of loops.  The current loop, a KB6KQ is 
about 9 feet off the ground.  It's on a separate mast from the beams that get up 
to about 12.5 feet of the ground. It's the best of the bunch IMHO.

A real plus for us rovers is that this antenna is smaller than a 2 element 
yagi.  While the spacing of a 2 element is similar to the "spacing" of the 2 
elements here, the antenna is 7 feet wide, which saves about 3 feet of width 
compared to a yagi. 

We have used a three element beam for longer stops and it's fine.  It's just 
a little difficult to swing our army surplus mast up with the weight of the 
beam on the top.  There is some put up and take down time involved as well.  
This is why the Moxon appealed to us.  It only weighs three pounds and with the 
basic assembly done, reassembly and mounting to the mast is a less than a 5 
minute operation.

The day it arrived, it went out on our balcony on about 12 feet of mast.  The 
band was dead, but I checked the beacon in Kankakee, IL.  It's about 70 miles 
distant.  When I had the antenna pointing at it I could hear the beacon.  It 
was gone off the side.  I could not hear the beacon on an old style M2 loop. 
This was encouraging, but we had to wait until we could get the antenna up the 
way we would be using it.

Memorial Day, we stopped at Nickoll Knoll in Arlington Heights, IL.  It is 
located at the SW tip of EN62 and is one of our regular rover stops.  It's a Mt. 
Trashmore park and golf course right next to a Motorola facility.  From the 
top of the hill you get a great view of the Chicago skyline some twenty miles 
to the SE.

Back to the antenna.  It's a very simple job to tune it up.  It would take me 
longer to describe how to do it than to actually do it.  After initial 
assembly it's a no tools effort to take it apart and put it back together in the 
field.  I only had to make one adjustment after a look on the analyzer.  I 
eyeballed the dimensions and it worked out perfectly.

We were using the FT690R II.  It's a 10 watt portable.  A quick look down in 
beacon land gave me the Kankakee, IL beacon from about 80 miles in fine form.  
When I turned the antenna 90 degrees it was just above ESP.  Same thing off 
the back.  Next, I dialed up a beacon in EN74 -- maybe 150 miles distant.  
Strong signal looking at it, no signal off the side and a whisper off the back. At 
50.125 a weak KE4 was calling CQ.  I replied, but no dice.  Just then, Gene 
N9TF called CQ.  He is located about 10 miles north of our location and he was 
looking to try out a couple of new antennas.  So, we got to test each other.

He was running 25 watts and was peaking a bit over S9.  He held up the AGC 
enough so that there wasn't a lot of fluctuation of the meter between words when 
I had the Moxon on him.  Off the side his voice peaks were about S6, and the 
meter wasn't held up between words.  You know what I mean.

We mounted the Moxon on a 23 foot fiberglass painter's pole.  It was breezy 
enough for some kite flying, so I had to telescope the mast to about 15 feet.  
I don't think we'll use that mast with this antenna in contests.  Back to the 
army surplus mast.  Much sturdier, and the light weight of this antenna won't 
give us the problems the 3 element CC does.

The moral of the story is that Par should sell a gazillion of these things.  
They are a natural for roving and lightweight portable ops.  It's not my 6 
element on 24 feet resting in our storage unit, but it sure beats the heck out of 
a loop if you want some forward gain and back and side rejection.  Our quick 
little test certainly isn't definitive, but we're happy.  

As usual, Pat took a bunch of pictures.  We can send you a couple if you 
would like to see what this setup looked like.  The real test will come in the 
June contest.  We will be starting out in EM57 in southern Illinois and working 
our way north along 90 degrees of longitude.  Hope to work you all from a bunch 
o' grids. 73, Tim K0PG/9  


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