Show Us Your Antenna!

It’s a somewhat obscure design but can be very effective. I remember Herbert OE9HRV made one for 10 or 12m for one of the challenges and he fed it with a QRO signal and it worked very well.

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SWR 1.0 with T1, on 60-40-30-20-17-12-10
Vertical, because often my summits are covered with trees.
9.38 m…because the top part of my pole is broken, It was a length of wire available, and my T1 tuner was able to tune it.
2 Radials…I was inspired by 2, just because I felt that 2 is better than 1 for efficiency, and I thought it was not too heavy, and ok to throw them on the ground.
Length of radials, I had initially in mind 40 m and 20 m as my favorite bands for SOTA, so approximately lambda/4. No magic with the real numbers, the lengths are just what they are.

OK…not a really academic approach…The first time I used the set-up, it was working. Then, I had more activations. Contacting all European countries was never an issue. And when I am lucky, I log Ws, ZL, FR, etc. Since I am happy and lazy…I kept it.
I never used it above 17 m, I suspect it is probably a cloud burner on 17-115-12-10.

73 de Pierre F5MOG

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Hamsticks for 17m and 20m with 2 1/4 wave wires.

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Yes, this obscure slot consists of a pair of aluminum pipes (phi 6mm x lambda/6) and stainless twisted wires (phi 1.5mm x half lambda). 1:1 ferrite core transformer is also installed for unbalance feeding. Maximum power acceptable is 20 or 30 watts maybe.
73 Jun, JI1TLL

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Mt McKay, VK3 VE-007, December (Australian Summer)

My usual SOTA antenna - a SotaBeams 20/30/40m linked dipole set up as a symmetrical inverted V. The support is a 7m heavy duty fibreglass Squid pole and the heavy yellow line is a 5m guy line attached to one leg of the dipole.

73

Leigh VK3SG

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My absolute favorite antenna, which I use in 90% of all activities, is still that of the vertical wire of 9.2 m with a radial of 5.1 m. The vertical wire is pinned to the top with a folded shrink tube and simply pushed up. It’s incredibly quick to set up and doesn’t take up much space. I push the DX Wire mast apart at the top and fix it with Velco or lean it against a branch. If necessary, I can also brace it. (In this report there are many pictures)

The antenna works from 60m to 10m by the tuner of the KX2. Due to the vertical radiation I have had great DX QSOs with it.
The vertical wire also forgives the use of horizontal 2m antennas. So I can with my 2x3Elt. Group in the middle at the same time shortwave and vhf.

In a pinch, I’ve also set it up at an angle or as an Inv. V with walking sticks.

For events like EU-NA S2S party I use a small PA without AT. For this I have a tuned endfed for 40/20/15/10m. The wire then goes to the 1:49 balun in the film can. There I could alternately plug in a tuned wire for other bands.

My newest antenna is the one for my current favorite bands 60/30/17m, which I have in the bag with the 3 QCX Mini. Unfortunately it takes up a lot of space…


73 Armin

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Inv-V dipole for 30/20/17m on 5m pole. Fed with RG174 with choke balun (125mm dia) at top.

I enhanced the colours, wire is highlighted out in red, nylon cord to ground stake is highlighted in yellow. Nylon cord at the end keeps the ends of the antenna more than 1m AGL.

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I like build a little antennas following the equilibrium between lightweight and performance.
Here you are a example, monoband EFHW for 14mhz, T50-43.

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5/8 wave 10m vertical. Ground radial where made with 4 3.5m fishing rods. Pole is a dx-wire midi 11.5m fully extended

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Neat idea for adjusting the coil tapping point :+1:

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How does it perform K1RID? I have the same hamstick and was considering something like this.

Hey Bill. I love this setup. I can erect the antenna in fewer than 5 minutes and, with the bungee cord, I have been able to secure it to rocks, bushes, tree stumps, etc. Never an issue with that, and part of the fun of it is the macgyver-ing.

I saw the trucker-mirror mount attached to a metal pole years ago in a tweet from a Spanish ham working on the beach. I’ve lost his name but am grateful.

My 2 radials are always elevated in one fashion or another. I use small bungees, a loop at the end of the wire and something convenient on the far end - most often a tree or brush branch. The near end is an alligator clip.

From ME and NH and at elevation, I have worked Oregon, California, etc and France, Spain and Germany. On the beach the dx is more modest. I’m no SOTA maniac and, between work and family it will likely take me 25yrs to earn my MG, but I love it.

The real challenge is carrying the thing. I need to make a proper quiver from an old sail cover. For now I use a fabric sleeve with a strap tied on and carry it across my back. Still, very light.

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It was an unusual summit in the sense that there was nothing to prop up my antenna so I used my pack.
It was also really cold, resulting in a quick activation.

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Okay, thanks for the reply Stuart. Using your pack as a mast support looks like it might’ve worked fairly well and it is an interesting option. I suspect it wouldn’t that work well in the wind, however.
73 Eric KG6MZS

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Good idea for photos. I have decent Photoshop skills so I am going to try this trick. Antennas are tricky to photograph well, Thanks Andy
PS; nice image otherwise as well. Your choke balun looks very light.

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Coincidence that this was from 1 year ago today!

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15m Hentenna, 15m is my favorite band, can be rotated on my spike, feels like a 2-element beam, the current conditions make nice DX QSOs, see my SOTA log of the last activations, in the 15 m band :wink:

(The antenna is horizontally polarized and has a very flat opening angle. Functionality similar to a rotary dipole)

no traps, full size, no tuner. “setup, plugin and transmit !”

I hope to see you on the 15m band :slight_smile:
73, Herbert OE9HRV

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Packtenna Mini (20m monoband EFHW). Mast is hidden in the tree and attached to tree branches with Nite Ize Gear Ties. Using the Sotabeams Carbon 6 mast. Short run of RG-316 to the ICOM IC-705.

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I’ve often wondered if this short run of coax provides enough of an effective counterpoise for the Packtenna when I’ve used this configuration. I get results, but I don’t have any way of knowing how much better longer coax might or might not be. I suppose if I could effectively use EZNEC I might get some idea, however I don’t have those skills (yet).

Lovely photo Mike, thanks for posting.

73 Eric KG6MZS

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Massively trick setup! Thanks Herbert for sharing this cool photo.

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