Excellent topic.
Never forget that when on an expedition, your location
can add dB to your signal. Better to have SOME antenna
than NO antenna.
I currently live in an apartment, and have had only
indoor antennas for the last two years. I have a 6m
dipole made of 20-gauge speaker wire that has worked
well in my operating room of my second-story apartment
here in Illinois. True, the noise level is higher
(S-5), so I don't hear the really weak stations, but
I've made plenty of QSO's during moderate openings,
including Central America and the Caribbean. I was
able to hear the JA opening back in June of 2006, but
didn't work any of them.
I've recently come up with a way to temporarily get 2,
6m hamsticks out the bedroom window as a dipole. It'll
take a bit of effort to do that during an opening, but
it gets rid of the extra noise level.
So I wish I still had my VHF antennas at 75 feet in my
backyard? Of course I do, but I'll certainly take an
indoor antenna over none at all.
73,
Sean KX9X
--- Robert Cumming <w2bzy@cfl.rr.com> wrote:
> Never underestimate what can be done with a minimal
> antenna.
>
> On one of my trips to TI2 land with a IC706MKIIG, I
> carried 2
> antennas, a Roll up "Mini G5RV" advertised for
> 10-40M and a Cubix
> KingBee quad for 6M (4el) and 2M (7EL). I went
> through a mess with
> the customs officials and they didn't release the
> 706 until I
> obtained my TI License. That took My entire first
> day there and much
> pushing by my wife a Costa Rican national who know
> just what buttons
> need pushing (I had the application forms filled out
> but needed to
> visit the Radio Control office and a lawyer to get
> the license before
> they released the Radio from customs. My wife vowed
> never again
> would I carry the radio there on vacation.
>
> What caused the radio to be stopped was not the
> radio in a Attache
> Case with power supply but the 6' long box with the
> quad. when asked
> what was in the box I said an antenna for Ham Radio.
> when asked if I
> was carrying a radio I replied yes and it wads
> impounded by the
> customs officer.
>
> After getting the License and retrieving the Radio
> from Customs I set
> up the radio and the mini G5RV and with the help of
> a small MFJ tuner
> was up and running on HF. Conditions were good on
> 10 and 12 meters
> so I decided to listen on 6M and found it open to
> Brazil and
> Argentina and other countries in South America via
> TE propagation. The mini quad tuned well with the
> MFJ tuner and I
> was on the air on 6M.
>
> My intent was to go to Radio Shack (yes they exist
> there too) the
> next day and get a few sections of TV mast to mount
> the Quad. I
> found out they didn't sell it and found out from
> Keko (TI5KD) that
> most people used Steel water pipe for masts. Now
> try fitting 3 meter
> sections of 1" pipe in a MiniCooper. It just won't
> fly. So the quad
> remained in the box and I used the wire for the next
> 2 weeks logging
> a slew of contacts in both North and South America
> on 6M.
>
> On later trips I just carried the G5RV and 50' of
> RG8X and the
> tuner. It worked well on all bands from 40-6M as an
> inverted "V"
> with the apex about 30' in a tree. Maybe the
> reflections off all the
> "Tin" roofs helped. I don't know but the Mini G5RV
> remains my travel antenna.
>
> The station consists of a IC706 MKII G, an Astron
> 20A Switching
> supply and a MFJ 901 10W tuner. It all fits in a
> Attache Case
> Including the antenna, Mic, Key and Paddle.
>
> The Moral, don't worry about the antenna. Just get
> on the air and
> operate! Yes the 7element M2 beam at 48' here at
> the Home QTH with
> 700 watts works better but the wire works better
> than nothing.
>
> VRY 73
>
> Bob Cumming
> W2BZY
> QRV 160M-3CM (no 5760)
> from EL98hr
>
>
>
> At 10:42 AM 2/28/2007, Dan_K9ZF wrote:
> >While I agree that dipoles and loops work, and are
> much better than no
> >antenna, I would hesitate to recommend them to "new
> VHF+" ops.
> >
> >I think the many hours of white noise between QSO's
> keeps a lot of the
> >new hams away from weak signal stuff. And using
> compromise antennas
> >systems will increase these hours considerably.
> >
> >Put up what you can. But realize that more antenna
> equals more QSO's.
> >
> >73
> >Dan
> >--
> >K9ZF /R no budget Rover ***QRP-l #1269
> >Check out the Rover Resource Page at:
> <http://www.qsl.net/n9rla>
> >List Administrator for: InHam+grid-loc+ham-books
> >Ask me how to join the Indiana Ham Mailing list!
> >
> >
> > >
> >_______________________________________________
> >VHFcontesting mailing list
> >VHFcontesting@contesting.com
>
>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/vhfcontesting
> _______________________________________________
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>
Sean Kutzko, Amateur Radio KX9X
Gillespie, IL Grid EM59cd
http://www.seankutzko.com
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