Topband: Best way to jury rig a quick 160m contest antenna?

Mike Smith VE9AA ve9aa at nbnet.nb.ca
Wed Jun 22 21:29:35 EDT 2016


Upcoming IARU contest this summer.  I'll be away from home.

No access to outside world from shack. None. Zero, Zip, Zilch, Nada. 

 

Small Tribander (1 coax)

 

40m and 80m inverted Vees. Separate coaxes.  All runs are likely 100' long.

 

How to get on 160m for mults?

 

Mults and Q's are very small potatoes on 160m in this contest, but certainly
there's 5 or 10 mults possible.  I'd rather not give away some of my

score.

Would like to come up with something really quick (so I can check band
often) and not have to plug/unplug coaxes or mess with jumpers etc.

 

No ground radials possible.  No more coax runs or control cables possible.
No access outside the shack. Just the 3 coax runs. That's what I have to
work with.

 

Maybe a plastic switchbox of some kind that shorts the 2 leads of the 80m
vee together (to give you a radiator-The center)

and another switch to short the 40m vee together for one raised radial-The
braid?  Can I match this mess with the tuner in a K3?

Rather not mess with other tuners.

 

Looks messy on paper. Might not even work.  I don't even have 40m and 80m
inverted vees here at home to trial anything.

 

Surely someones done it when they've travelled somewhere on a Contest
DXpedition to some residents DX location at some point in the past?

 

Ideas? Tnx

 

Mike VE9AA

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB

 



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