Portable HF antenna - lets hear what you use ?

Started by Lamewolf, August 24, 2016, 03:31:16 PM

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Lamewolf

Subject says it all, so lets hear from everyone - what HF portable antenna do you use with a good description.

RichardSinFWTX

I use a 6m-40m endfed that I bought from KX3Helper.com.  I've worked all over the world with it.  I raise it up 26 1/2' into the air on a telescoping windsock pole from my back porch down to the feed point hanging off my backyard fence 6' up

cockpitbob

I use an EFHW.  My favorite is 63' of wire and a SOTA coupler or my home-brew broadband transformer.  The 63' wire is resonant on 40/20/15 and 10(ish).  I live in New England where we can't see due to all the trees so I bring a slingshot with fishing reel.  My last outing I cleared a tree over 63' tall.  I know that because my 63' wire was totally vertical.

I also have a KX1 with internal tuner and use a 9:1unun and 25' wire with 15' counterpoise or 15' feed line.  I have a thing against tuners though and like resonant antennas better.

vwflyer

My antenna is not the best but it works and I pretty much built it out of what I had laying around. I bought a SOTA tuner and a 4 foot piece of RG174. I then took some left over 14 gage speaker wire I had from a home theater install and pulled it apart. I cut it into three lengths and used some left over automotive spade and ring connectors I had around to make it into a linked end-fed for 20, 30, & 40 meters; the three bands my MTR works on.

I use a 20ft Shakespeare Wonderpole for my mast when I don't have low tree branches handy but often times I just tie a rock to the end of a piece of paracord and chuck it over a branch. When I'm operating 20 meters I usually have it as a sloper from the pole or branch down to the tuner but when I have the other half of the wire connected for 40 meters it makes an inverted vee.

I recently bought a used YouKits HB-1B 5 band rig and a Sotabeams tuner as a package deal. With another stretch of wire and a few more connectors  I can make another whole station but since I'm out of speaker wire and connectors I might go out and buy some more flexible wire and better connectors this time. I'm not sure I want to make a wire with 4 links in it though for all 5 bands. I might take a little more time and plan the next one out more.

cockpitbob

VWf, try that 40meter wire on 20 and 15.  About 63' of insulated wire is resonant on all 3 of those bands.

gil

I try to always use a half wave wire with end-fed tuner.. My most used antenna to date is the PAR 40/20/10. I have found nothing better so far.. We'll see after I put up my 135ft Windom when I get back home..

Gil