[QRP] QRP, Buddipole, and Recent antenna experiments

[Daniel Reynolds]

I have had a buddipole with the tripod and 8' mast for over a year. It works
quite nicely. On the lower bands (40/30m) it is more geared towards NVIS
because of the height above ground. The furthest I've managed on 40m was a
two-way QRP contact with a fellow in Georgia. It was extremely weak. Being in
Oklahoma, on 20m, I've generally managed stateside only contacts (west/east
coasts).

My only HF radio is an Elecraft K2. When I was a young ham (first licensed in
'85 at 12 years old) I wanted to build a Heathkit HW-9 with all the options.
That dream never panned out ... but I did build the K2 last year, and have had
a really great time using it at the park with the Buddipole. I use a hardside
aluminum case for the rig and accesories and a buddipole duffel bag for the
antenna. They both stow away very neatly into the trunk of my car.

The other portably antenna's I've been playing with recently have been a long
wire - 100 ft long and up about 10 ft off the ground. I'm using two 16' crappie
poles on the ends (tied off around 12 ft) and three 10' crappie poles (strung
through the top loop in the pole) to support in the middle. The 10' crappie
poles fit into fishing pole holders that stake into the ground. The end poles
are guyed and taped to a stake at the bottom. I was able to work pretty good
NVIS with 10W SSB on 40m into NE Kansas (59 report), and NE Arkansas - this was
back around early June. This was with the antenna strung in an E-W
configuration.

Right now, I'm trying to find a way to put up a wire in the backyard and on the
roof of my first home (moved in last weekend). The backyard is about 50x40 (E-W
x N-S). There's utility lines strung through the back yard off the power pole
(SE corner to house), power lines along the south edge of the back yard, and
there's a metal fence about 3-4 ft high on three sides of the backyard (E-S-W).
To top it off, there's a metal out building in the backyard (SW corner) which
is partly underneath the neighbors tree, a metal patio cover (about 10x15 ft)
in the back yard (NW corner) and a metal carport in the front yard (about 20x15
ft). It is a small lot - and with all the metal in the backyard, I'm beginning
to believe that the only way to get out is to get my antenna up about 20 ft to
avoid interaction from the patio and utility lines. I've tried building a
compact loop, but my initial design utilized a very inefficient capacitor (more
info on request). I'm going to try using a piece of coax next time. I'm also
thinking about stringing up a long wire (W3EDP) over the roof from the back
yard. It would be temporarily tossed over the roof and tied off to one of my 16
ft crappie poles (to avoid snagging a neighbor child that might accidentally
run through the front yard). The house is single story, and the roof peak is
somewhere between 15-20 ft up.

Although I'm accustomed to operating picnic-table-portable, I'm looking forward
to getting some sort of signal out from the house.

72!
Daniel / AA0NI

--- n5wbi at clearsail.net wrote:
> Yes, it's been very, very quiet.  Maybe these
> two posts (yours and mine) will break the ice
> and wake up all of the other QRP'ers on the
> list.
> 
> By the way, I use a K9AY 20M QRP xcvr most
> of the time.  I have a SW-30+ 30M xcvr and
> an HW-8 that I use some of the time.
> 
> Right now, I'm looking for antenna ideas.
> It's getting harder and harder to toss my
> end-fed wires across tree bramches (old
> shoulder injury).  Have you used either
> the Buddipole or the MinuteMan 20??  How
> well do they work?
> 
> 73,
> 
> Steve Ponder N5WBI
> Houston TX
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> QRP mailing list
> QRP at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/qrp
>