What like this quality 3 ele made from B&Q’s finest £1 tape measures?
They work well as a collapsible Yagi. But they fail miserably on a summit as the wind collapses them. Or you can only use them on a still, windless day and that doesn’t happen very often in the UK.
An additional hint.
Get used to set alerts in advance and check how you can set spots here: SOTAwatch3
This will make chasers aware that you are activating and will make it easier to achieve the 4 QSOs required for a succesfull activation.
73s
Ingo
Hi Stephan,
I got mine locally in Poland after some searching. Yes they are difficult to find.
However, I just Googled it and I got a link to the shop in Switzerland of all places.
Hope this is correct data.
Regards,
Marek
Hi Lee,
As long as you keep an open mind about your equipment, placement, angle of verticality or otherwise, length, whether home made or commercial, you’ll do fine with SOTA. Experiments are the key to learning and finding out new facts. There are many ways to achieve any result.
Good luck and enjoy SOTA.
73 Andrew VK1DA & VK2UH
Thanks Marek,
Thanks for your information!
Unfortunately, the linked antenna is a different one: about 70cm long and not telescopic.
But anyways, I still have one spare Chinese clone as backup. And the one I use now is pretty robust, compared to the former ones. To me it seems that the quality differs with each antenna.
@M0LFV Before you get overwhelmed by too many possibilities, just make your experiences by using what you have. I completely agree with Tom @M1EYP that the original rubber duck antenna is a viable option, especially when one is on a hill with a good take off. Enjoy the hobby!
73 Stephan
Thanks everyone for all the very useful information. I hope to have my first activation or two over the Christmas break. 