[TVARC] Facebook Posting by W3PYF: Inexpensive Mobile/Parked Operating Setup for KX3

[Anthony Hackenberg]

Hi Members of TVARC’s MailList (especially those interested in mobile ops),

If you’re interested in mobile (while stationary) operation, you should
read W3PYF’s recent Facebook posting.  Below is his intriguing posting in
Facebook’s “Elecraft KX3” Group, about his inexpensive, mobile (while
parked) operating setup [NOTE: If the two (2) attached photos do not
survive TVARC’s maillist’s protocol, then you should be able to see them
via this link

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Elecraftkx3/permalink/3069032523222810/ ]

73,

Tony

*W3PYF’s Posting Starts Here*:

Inexpensive KX3 operating setup for my [W3PYF] six-speed
manual-transmission 2014 Mazda 3 when parked for mobile CW. $29.95 Lido
suction mount, $17 steering-wheel table from Amazon. Between-seat arm rest
makes sending easy.

Key is an old Ham-Key, easily one of the most rugged ever made.

Antenna shown is my SK OM’s old Swantenna high-Q slider-tapped coil - he
used it on 75 SSB for years. I mounted it on a 1-1/4” trailer hitch with a
12” extension to lower the resonant frequencies into the CW bands and get
the coil a bit farther from the metal body. I lay a counterpoise for 20 and
40 meters on the ground.

I’ll be experimenting with a variety of antennas. Most promising is a
40-meter dual-hamstick dipole on a $30 16-foot telescoping window-cleaning
pole (Lowe’s) that I hope to fit in a trailer-hitch flagpole mount. I also
have Hustler resonators for 80-40-30-20-15-10 with the multi-resonator
fitting I can try, but I think the high, horizontal-polarized hamstick
setup will likely work best, even though more work to switch bands. If it
works on 40, I’ll invest in the 20 meter hamsticks, too.

Thanks to the pandemic, at 77, I don’t see flying from Boston to my
children and grandkids in western NC anytime soon - so I’m preparing to do
the two-day/1000-mile run by car for the foreseeable future (sleep in the
car in fast-food parking lots, peeing in the woods). I may mag-mount a
145/440 antenna and install my dad’s old Alinco DR-610 also, once I figure
out if there’s enough activity along the route to make it worthwhile.

DE W3PYF





-- 
Anthony W. Hackenberg
Email: anthony.w.hackenberg at gmail.com
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