[TowerTalk] antenna choices for K4XS

[Ed Sawyer]

I can add some additional color to K4XS commentary.  For a few reasons – I
know Bill and he won’t mind and I actually own/owned a few of Bill’s
antennas from his original W4 QTH before moving to KH6.  

 

I bought a 6 el KLM 10M and a 6 el KLM 15 from N4BAA who had bought up many
of Bill’s antennas back then.  I think I paid $400 for the 2 of them back 5
years ago or so.  They worked as expected and I was very happy with them.
But the design is flimsy and they had road wear so about 2 ½ years ago I
swapped them out with something newer.  But the point of that is I was LOUD
for cheap.

 

Many years back I helped K1TTT with some antenna work and Dave was trying to
literally “just get rid of” some aluminum.  2 of them – which I received
were a Telrex 4 el 20M and a Telrex 8 el 15M (interesting side note that
these antennas started life on W1AW’s towers in the 1970s and 80s).  I also
rounded up some other Telrex elements which ended up being a 3 el 20M beam.
I still use and “own the band” into EU with that 15M beam on a 45 foot boom.
The 20M is now modified for better bandwidth at a sacrifice of about 0.5dB
of gain but still “kicks tail” on 20M to EU.  The 20M 3 el had some rust
issues finally and got replaced with a 3el Home Brew to the south.

 

A final note on Hygain/Cushcraft.  I have purchased these antennas as
“starting points” for large yagis.  I bought a 10M 5 el “Long John” beam and
added some extra aluminum purchased from Texas Towers.  The combo is now an
8 el – 44 ft boom 10M “Elephant Gun” fixed on Europe.  It “makes a
statement” to say the least.

 

You don’t have to spend $10k in antennas to put a smile on your face in pile
ups or contests folks.

 

73

 

Ed  N1UR