Greetings Bill K4XS,
First, thanks for all the many many contest QSOs over the years from your many
operations.
I'll describe my portable setup, which is low profile, easily set up, and
handles KW.
KJ7U 6-160HD screwdriver antenna. https://www.kj7u.com/ (he has a lower power
model that several hundred$ cheaper).
Tripod stand (sold by KJ7U)
12V controller for 1:1 SWR on every band (autosearches lowest swr either
direction up/down)
Set up with a few radials at your portable site.
The antenna ships with the whip in 2 pieces with set screws. 14ft when set up.
Here's what I like:
*Extremely portable/convenient - both antenna and tripod are in cardboard boxes
that fit easily in the car.
*Easy setup on the patio of a rental or campground.
*KJ7U has a setup pic at a picnic table, another neat idea, and no stand
required (on his home page, I didn't pics were allowed at this reflector).
First week of August I will be on the air with this setup from an Airbnb in the
Outer Banks area of NC. Will likely be in NAQP CW that weekend.
73 & hope this helps,
Darrell AB2E
________________________________
From: TowerTalk <towertalk-bounces@contesting.com> on behalf of Steve Harrison
<k0xp@k0xp.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2025 12:34 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Good vacation antenna
On 7/3/2025 7:37 AM, cqtestk4xs--- via TowerTalk wrote:
> I'm no longer in a QTH where I can put up a tower, or for that matter, any
> antenna. So I am planning on doing some operating when we camp out.
> I'm looking at a multi-band vertical that can be attached to the tent camper
> tongue framework (temporarily). I want the antenna to cover 40-10 mtrs,
> easily set up and take dpown and can be collpsed to roughly 6 ft sections.
> The old 14 AVQ would be pwerfect but is no longer made.
> Any ideas?
Yup; when I was living with my ole, doddering father in a gated
HOA-ruled community during his last days, I used an old,
weakened-by-innumerable shots Wallyworld slingshot to shoot a
nearly-invisible 60 or 80 lb fishing line up as high as I could get it
into a pine tree. I tied the heaviest teardrop-shaped weight that
Wallyworld had on the far end and had to watch to see where the fishing
line eventually snaked down through all the pine branches. Sometimes, I
could not find the weight; sometimes, it got caught up on a branch. And
sometimes, I had to jerk the near end of the fishing line countless
times to coax that weight to gradually, slooowwwllyy work its way down
to where I could grab it.
That end of the fishing line became the line by which I then pulled up a
thin wire (see below) that sloped upward to some extent as high in the
tree as I could get it, but was sometimes only 30 - 35 feet long, and
sometimes at least 58 feet of wire strung up sloping to the top but
vertically through the tree. I reasoned that being nylon fishing line, I
did not have to use an insulator 8-)
The ground-near end of the wire was tied to, and terminated at my
metallic bedroom window frame, to an ordinary type N (or UHF, I don't
remember now) female connector. The shell of the four-screw flange-mount
connector was bolted to an aluminum bracket solidly screwed to the metal
window frame. Down at the bottom of the frame, I attached more thin wire
and ran it to the nearest cold water pipe. I also cut and laid out two
counterpoise wires, 34 feet long, running in opposite directions. (The
length of these was chosen only for convenience; I really didn't have
room to make them any longer).
Then I attached a short length of RG213 or similar cable to the
connector, led it into my bedroom and tuned it with an old, decrepit
Heathkit SA-2060A tuner (decrepit, because that roller inductor coupling
was ALWAYS loosening up since there was no ability for it to wobble
back-and-forth freely to accomodate the well-worn plastic roller
inductor shell).
I used that antenna from August 2018 until August 2021 and finished
working my 5BDXCC with it, in addition to working over 50 countries on
160M, too. I was able to run 700W output from an AL-800, however, which
really made a big difference. I usually didn't have to wait long to bust
pileups 8-D
I did have to redo the wire antler a few times when something broke or
came loose. I used a Robin-blue (to try to camoflage it against the sky)
#28 insulated stranded wire (from AllElectronics (back in the days when
they were still alive and kicking).
Nobody EVER seemed to notice either the wire, nor my operating with all
that power. If anybody ever noticed the fishing line coming out of the
tree, they never said anything to me about it. I have no idea whether I
ever had any TVI; dad didn't have a TV and neither of us ever listened
to any music radio stations.
Of course, I always worked on the wire either in the early morning hours
before sunup, or I'd shoot through the tree while hugging the side of
the house so nobody would notice me 8-D
So very simple wire antlers can actually work out quite well in
temporary accomodations.
Steve, K0XP
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.contesting.com%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftowertalk&data=05%7C02%7C%7C2810cebacd144d609e9708ddba4ff201%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638871574743791361%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=bPvUzg%2BiivoiJ8svYBQ54U3%2BdeKXWT4AwI9Rs3C%2FotQ%3D&reserved=0<http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk>
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|