on Monday, i was active from DM/BM-135 (Hesselberg) and it was possible again to work solid (S5-S7!) DX in ssb-mode to W and VE with 5 W (FT 817) into my small vertical HF-P1 from “Super Antennas”.
You´ll see, that the 5 W will bring my antenna to glow
(i know: the vy good equipment and the antennas from the ham´s far away will provide this success!)
I love all the QSO´s to any chaser (tnx to all, wo are qrv at any time…), but DX and S2S-QSO´s are really the highlights in the activations!
Tomorrow, (27/01/2016) i will continue my trip across the southern part of the swabian alb. Hope, that the condx will give the opportunity for some dx…and of course many, many qso´s with all of you! I´ll be active as long as possible before sunset.
Hello Gerhard!
Great to read about your experiences with this tiny vertical and QRP. I see you were using it on 20m and 40m on Hesselberg.
Since I am also experimenting a lot with short verticals on my activations, I´d be very interested in how your actual setup looks like. Which and how many radials are you using? Are they laid out directly on the ground or elevated?
Hope you enjoyed your activation today!
Looking forward to meet you on the bands, preferably S2S
first of all many thanks to all chaser´s for 58 qso´s from Heersberg (DM/BW-064) on Wednesday, 27. January.
And especially many thanks to N4EX, AC1Z (ssb), VE1WT, K4MF and N7CW (cw) for the fantastic dx-qso´s!
@ your request (Tom):
At first: be aware, that the small vertical is a compromise between weight, compactness and functionality, but from my point of view, a good one!
My setup is as follows:
Height of the antenna base (using a photo-stativ): abt. 0,5m up to 1,5m depending on terrain
2 Radials, Lambda/4, (Lambda /2 was a mistake…sri…) of each band (i´m using the radial-wire´s like a “linked dipol” to reduce a “wire-salad”
radials directed in a “V-form” to the region, i want to cover (abt 45 degree)
if possible, i mount the Antenna direct at the hillside and throw the radials downside.
using the hillside to achieve a higher antenna-impedance (angle more then 30 degrees, most of the hillsides at the swabian alb will allow this)
the first meters of the radials should be in the air, i pay no attention for the rest (laying on the ground/rock or hanging in the trees…)
and at last but not at least: i´m using an extended Radiator, abt 2,85 m high (a foldable Surplus-army antenna, AT-271A, but for higher freq, it´s too long for the coil and you better use a telescope-radiator.
In the future, i´ll will experience with Delta-Loops for 20 m to improve my signal.
I have good experience with a vert. J-Pole-Antenna for 24 MHz, but i can´t find enough high trees and i can´t throw high enough for a 20 m-J-Pole
I hope, that my response was sufficient and perhaps interessting for other ham´s in this forum. And i hope, it was placed in the correct part of the forum, if not, please apology.
For more details and personal contact, you can send an email to: dl4to@t-online.de
The elevated antenna and parts of the radials seem to provide a quite higher efficiency. Noted that once with short (less than wl/4) radials just a few centimeters above the snowy ground.
I´ve also tried an old AT-271 on 28 MHz. Although a bit too long, it was easily matched with a manual antenna tuner and worked pretty well, even with sub optimal radials.
Can´t await to do further experiments on the upcoming activations. If there are interesting findings, I´ll post those in the “Antenna” category.
Thanks again for sharing your experience! Have a lot of fun and many dx with you portable antennas
