[VHFcontesting] antenna recomendations

[frank bechdoldt]

Below 900 mhz, look up gulf alpha antennas.  The beauty of their antennas is that they use rods you can replace at a local home depot or keep spares with you and a pair of dykes.
 
Above 900 mhz,  I'm in the looper crowd.  You can take along a wooden cone to straighten out any loops.  I have trimmed many tres with mine.  Needle nose is a good tool to take along as well.
 
If you have alot of seperate radios, some small wagon wheels for 900 and 1.3 are good. If you hear some qso noise while driving  you can flip the antenna switch and harvest the points.  
 
I have also used elk antennas for 300  mile qsos on 222 and 432.  Which has me reconsidering the length of my antennas. Is smaller ones that dont interfere with each other better than longer ones that add 3- 4 db and enter each other's paths?  Also shorther beam means wider hearing path.  I have lost qsos on 432 from running stacked 33 element beams at a 10 degree beam width.  But the ones I heard I heard well.
 
even on the loopers, one of my old competitors ran 10 elements on 900, 1.2 and 2.4 and posted good scores.
 
k3uhf
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