Never underestimate what can be done with a minimal antenna.
On one of my trips to TI2 land with a IC706MKIIG, I carried 2
antennas, a Roll up "Mini G5RV" advertised for 10-40M and a Cubix
KingBee quad for 6M (4el) and 2M (7EL). I went through a mess with
the customs officials and they didn't release the 706 until I
obtained my TI License. That took My entire first day there and much
pushing by my wife a Costa Rican national who know just what buttons
need pushing (I had the application forms filled out but needed to
visit the Radio Control office and a lawyer to get the license before
they released the Radio from customs. My wife vowed never again
would I carry the radio there on vacation.
What caused the radio to be stopped was not the radio in a Attache
Case with power supply but the 6' long box with the quad. when asked
what was in the box I said an antenna for Ham Radio. when asked if I
was carrying a radio I replied yes and it wads impounded by the
customs officer.
After getting the License and retrieving the Radio from Customs I set
up the radio and the mini G5RV and with the help of a small MFJ tuner
was up and running on HF. Conditions were good on 10 and 12 meters
so I decided to listen on 6M and found it open to Brazil and
Argentina and other countries in South America via
TE propagation. The mini quad tuned well with the MFJ tuner and I
was on the air on 6M.
My intent was to go to Radio Shack (yes they exist there too) the
next day and get a few sections of TV mast to mount the Quad. I
found out they didn't sell it and found out from Keko (TI5KD) that
most people used Steel water pipe for masts. Now try fitting 3 meter
sections of 1" pipe in a MiniCooper. It just won't fly. So the quad
remained in the box and I used the wire for the next 2 weeks logging
a slew of contacts in both North and South America on 6M.
On later trips I just carried the G5RV and 50' of RG8X and the
tuner. It worked well on all bands from 40-6M as an inverted "V"
with the apex about 30' in a tree. Maybe the reflections off all the
"Tin" roofs helped. I don't know but the Mini G5RV remains my travel antenna.
The station consists of a IC706 MKII G, an Astron 20A Switching
supply and a MFJ 901 10W tuner. It all fits in a Attache Case
Including the antenna, Mic, Key and Paddle.
The Moral, don't worry about the antenna. Just get on the air and
operate! Yes the 7element M2 beam at 48' here at the Home QTH with
700 watts works better but the wire works better than nothing.
VRY 73
Bob Cumming
W2BZY
QRV 160M-3CM (no 5760)
from EL98hr
At 10:42 AM 2/28/2007, Dan_K9ZF wrote:
>While I agree that dipoles and loops work, and are much better than no
>antenna, I would hesitate to recommend them to "new VHF+" ops.
>
>I think the many hours of white noise between QSO's keeps a lot of the
>new hams away from weak signal stuff. And using compromise antennas
>systems will increase these hours considerably.
>
>Put up what you can. But realize that more antenna equals more QSO's.
>
>73
>Dan
>--
>K9ZF /R no budget Rover ***QRP-l #1269
>Check out the Rover Resource Page at: <http://www.qsl.net/n9rla>
>List Administrator for: InHam+grid-loc+ham-books
>Ask me how to join the Indiana Ham Mailing list!
>
>
> >
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