Hey Gang,
Thanks for all of the great replies to my question about antennas in
the field. I have gotten some great responses and I have decided on
trying 3 of them from the house and seeing which one I like the most.
One of the antennas is the off center fed dipole. I made it out of
number 14 gauge uninsulated wire, all I had handy. I cut one side of the
diople to 44' the other side to 22'. I then put a center insulator in
between the two pieces of wire. I then soldered some 450 ohm ladderline
to the antenna wires. Then I put some end insulators on the wire. Next,
because I didn't have a lot of rope, I just tied the rope to the
insulator, of course after I got the rope up in the tree. I then
stretched the antenna, the side of the antenna that was 22' long, and I
went to the edge of my house, in the bushes, about 5' high, and I put a
fence post in the ground. I then tied the inlulator off at the post and
managed to the center insulator close to a weeping willow tree and I
ran the 450 ohm ladderline down the tree, the tree was about 7' tall,
and I ran the ladderline about 1" or so underground. I came in the
house and hooked everything up. I hooked up my FT-840 and turned down
the power to about 5 watts. I called CQ on 30 mtrs and N8FYU from MI
came back to me. He gave me a 529 and I gave him a 559. I ran some
tests between this antenna and my 80 mtr dipole fed with RG-8X. He
said my signal was 559 with it, but there was some QSB on the bands.
Then I worked XE2DV and 6D2X with 5 watts. Then VP2VF, Dirk who is
real big into Ten-Ten, had a pile up going. He got me on about the
third time. I said AE4. He said AE4. I said AE4JM, 5 watts ur 59
Alabama. He said Wow, 5 watts, your doing fine, he was still commenting
about my signal to the next station he worked. I tried to get OA4SS
QRP, but no luck. I'm going to say a wordy dirdy and say I went QRO
100 watts and got him on the first or second try. These contacts
were made on 15 mtr SSB except for the MI station on 30 mtr CW.
This is a great antenna, maybe not the best but it will due for me.
The next antenna that I am going to try is also from the help of
the QRP-L. It is a regular old plain jane diople. I am going to make
it out of number 16 or 18 insulated wire. I haven't made up my mind
yet, blue or black insulation. Hee Hee! I will make it 48' long.
It will be about 24' on each side. Then I will put an insulator
in the middle and feed it with RG-8X probably. I then take two
aligator clips and put about 11' feet of the same kind of wire
soldered onto the aligator clips. I will put a sinker or rock or
something on the bottom of the wire so that when I take and scratch
a little bit of the insulation off of the two ends of the dipole to
attach the aligator clips, then the rock will go on the bottom of
the wire so that it will stay down and not flop everywhere. The
antenna is for 30 meters, then when I add the aligator clips it will
be for 40 meters. It would be possible to have two sets of clip
leads and the make the antenna for 20 mtrs.
The third antenna that I want to try is a 33' long vertical.
I also got this one from a member of the QRP-L. Take 33' of wire
and attach it to one end of the 450 ohm ladderline. Throw it up
in a tree, then take another piece of 33' long wire and attach
it to the other side of the 450 ohm ladderline and run it across the
ground. I haven't had much input on this antenna. But I did
get it from a generous ham on the net. I will probably use insulated
wire fro this antenna also.
So these are the antennas that I am going to try here at my
house to see which one I like best for camping in boyscouts and camporees.
I really appreciate all of the help from everyone on the list. It is
a great list. Thanks for all fo the help. Best 72 DE Matt, AE4JM
-- JCARC--ARCI 9178--ARRL--ARRL ORS--Ten Ten 66932--VP 2855--WAS Matt Wright, ph. (205)228-6547, packet: AE4JM@K4BFT.#HSV.AL.USA.NA email: cnw@HiWAAY.net snail mail:8679 Co. Rd. 19, Section, AL 35771 Ramsey mini rcvr-40mtrs, NC38S, SW30-30, NC49'er, NC40A with KC1
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