| This antenna was a long time
in the dream stages. I laugh when I say that, simply because I
only would dream of it the day before I wanted to use it, and it didn't
exist yet! I would think of packing up the HF equipment and going to a
park, the beach, or on a camping trip. The idea of taking along a decent
portable HF antenna kept coming to mind.
The idea of using a dipole for 10/17/20/40/80 meters, along with a
tuner seemed at best very cumbersome. Many of the places I go do
not have an abundance of trees to tie or attach to. The Dipole concept
just wasn't working for me.
I started looking online for HF verticals. I found a few designs!
Nothing seemed to fit for me. I didn't want to "walk n' talk", or have
an antenna that would fit in a backpack per se.
In the middle of my (DAY) dreaming, I concluded that I wanted to be
able to strap the antenna mast to the car racks, put the radio gear in
the back seat, and head out.
Off to the Junk Box!
I started scrounging around for wire, parts, etc. I did some slight
math (NOT MUCH). Since I am using a tuner on this antenna the length is
not critical. but keeping it flexible from an engineering standpoint
was.
I wanted an antenna that could be altered for length easily, could be
tuned at the base for capacitance in order to get closer to the ball
park for the band I wanted to work, even before using the tuner. I think
you see where I'm going here.
Needless to say I rounded up a pile of goodies from the treasure
chest (junk box) as my partner calls it! hi hi! and got busy working.
**********************
Lately I have had the privilege of being in Elmer to a young man
KD8FZZ . Rob is a General
class Op as of 2 weeks ago, and he is just getting his feet wet in the
antenna building area.
This project has been a chance for me to teach some theory, and
construction methods. Rob has had the chance to use his digital camera
and photograph the project, and get the pictures ready for this page.
Stay posted as I update this story in progress. |