Next time, ill take my antenna analyzer along to actually measure the impedance. The kxat1 internal automatic antenna tuner is optimized for use with randomlength wire antennas with one or more counterpoise wires. View antenna display, showing the wires making up the model of the fiveelement beam, with currents and 2d slice superimposed to show orientation. With modeling you can determine the pattern, feed point impedance and even the swr of your antenna system before cutting one piece of wire or one tube of aluminum. It lacks a finger dimple and feels cheap compared to. I researched this, eh, pretty thoroughly, but i keep running into a little problem with the recommended lengths for directfed antennas. The length has been carefully chosen to ensure that it will work with the internal antenna tuners in portable radios such as the k1, kx1, kx2, kx3 and k2. I use a bnc to two bindingpost adapter that plugs into the antenna bnc connector on my elecraft kx1. All in all, id say my new antenna is a big success. With this arrangement, it will only produce around 1 2 watts of rf power. Endfed 406m antenna and kit kx3kx1 and qrp accessories. In the spring of 2007, i did a lot of reading and decided to try the icom ah4 random wire antenna matcher. The ax1 can be configured for htstyle or rightangle use as shown below.
I will make sure to keep the antenna shorter in future, or use a better counterpoise. Balun ezwireusing the best ferroxcube toroid ferites. Both of them seem able to tune just about any length of wire not an exact halfwavelength, and that being the case, why bother with the 9. Not only is it a fullfeatured ham radio transceiver, but its also an exceptional shortwave broadcast receiver. End fed 640 meter hf multiband antenna for elecraft kx2. Hf dipole antenna this antenna software will help you design a simple wire dipole antennas for 1 30 mhz. Just select a band, tap the antenna tune switch, and go for it. Here is a simple antenna calculator for two popular forms of ham radio hf wire antennas. Perhaps the top segment is too light duty to hold anything but a vertical wire, but the next segment down should handle at least a lightweight inverted v configured wire. Wire antennas for the beginner every ham knows how to make and install wire antennas. If you depart from the use of 14 or 16 gauge wire you will need to make adjustments of the lengths of the wires. A set of lithium cells lasts an estimated 30 hours i listen more than transmit. Kx3 wire antenna this weekend i took my kx3 on a camping trip and used the 24 wire antenna and 16 33 counterpoise wires i used for my kx1.
It intended for use with lightweight transceivers such as the elecraft kx2 an kx3 that are equipped with an. Figured it would be a good antenna to keep around in case i wanted to work portable with my kx1, and later kx2. For example, wires can be rotated with a simple command to design vee and delta loop antennas without having to polish your trigonometry skills. The whole antenna fits on one small spool and weightsin at 2oz. Hf ham radio random wire portable antenna back yard test duration. This software can not only be used to design but also to find out antenna gain, stacking distance, and standing wave ratio swr.
Little did i realize at the time that it would become my main antenna my living conditions changed suddenly and i was forced to go lowprofile. Mfj1778 g5rv wire antenna 8010 meters authorized dealer. Using this software, you can design and build your own yagi antenna. The kx1 manual recommends a length of 24 to 28 for 20, 30, and 40m. The vertical antenna discussed above was the first attempt, but did not provide the performance i was seeking. Kx3kx1 and qrp accessories end fed antennas for the qrp. At fd last year my buddy worked france with 5 watts on 80 cw. Great little gadget for boosting signal that actually works by sp bisbee florida really does boost signal, maybe twice as good as antenna alone.
The latter is also an easy setup, but requires getting some elevation. So if you are putting up a vertical, i would recommend a 43 or 44 foot. Yagi calculator is a free antenna design and analysis software for windows. Elecraft random length wire for use with kx3 there is a reason for the 43 foot vertical alternately the 44 foot each side of center antenna advocated by cebik sk. By the table, you notice allways low swr and easyly tunned by any antenna tunner manual ou automatic. I now have one 40 radiator wire and three 16 ground radial wires that i throw out around to operate. An eight wire antenna increases gain of capture by 7. I would like to hear from some other kx1 operators and what works for them. Like my other very popular end fed antenna this is a lighter version which includes a excellent throwing line and small gauge wire antenna combined with ultra light unun and coax.
I use it on a super small radio and it gets stations in from about 100 miles away. The elecraft kx3 continues to impress the swling post. With a good antenna and lots of coffee to keep you awake during the night hours, i am sure you will enjoy fd with your kx3. But if youve never done it, you probably have a few questions. The xiegu x5105 is a lot cheaper and has a fantastic lithium battery, brilliant tuner and antenna analyzer. Kx1 random wire antenna recommendations i have had some mixed results using model 1296 bnc adapter using a 28 random wire with a 16 ground wire. I was able to tune reasonably well on 20 meters and even 30, but was unable to tune less than 3. Ezwire antenna standart wire lenght is 16,2m or 32m xl but using the same balun you can according to table select another wire lenght. Antenna height and wire length likewise are easily changed. Stealth light weight endfed multi band antenna system. Qrp with an elecraft kx1 and a long wire antenna posted on march 5, 2014 by grant mcduling having gone 100% qrp, i have decided to.
A rear tiltfoot angles the kx2 for use on any surface, from desktop to park bench to rock. This year i took the added precaution on including a few backup options, and boy was i glad i did. The kx2 is a quality usbuilt rig like all of elecrafts gear but ive never been a fan of its plastic encoder knob. The random wire antenna is probably one of the least expensive, easiest and cheapest hf antennas to use if you have a tuner and you want to get the most out of a length of random wire without having to pull out that calculator, doing the math, getting the center. It will also work well with ldg tuners and the elecraft t1. Elecraft kx1 battery modification the elecraft kx1 is a nice radio, but i needed more than 1 2 watts of power output. This portable qrp antenna takes about 2 mintues to put up 3 if you get the wire tangled. On april 26, i enjoyed filed operation with elecraft kx1 and fishing rod wire antenna. Ill be trying it out again at the next amp team meeting. How to build several easy antennas for amateur radio. The unun would just introduce more loss into the system. Mfj enterprises inc,ameritron,hygain,hygain,cushcraft,vectronics,mirage,mfj,mfj enterprises, antenna,radio,ham radio,amateur radio,tuner,analyzer,starkville,amplifier. If you use 12 gauge wire, the table lengths need to.
With the proliferation of personal computers and affordable even free software, antenna modeling has become a popular amateur activity. Current drain is as little as 5 ma, yielding up to 8 hours of typical operation on a single battery charge. I bungee tie the jackite to a bollard, tie on the wire to the eyelet and extend the pole. It is not resonant on any amateur band and the impedance range can be handled by most tuners. My rig of choice was my elecraft kx1 and my antenna my new buddistick. For 100khz up to 30 mhz ground the outer of the ftype antenna socket on the rsp. Elecraft kx3 1606 meters ssbcwdataamfm 10 w pep 100 w with kxpa100 amp rtc and battery charger board 1. I cant speak to the longdistance backpacking i only do daytrips. He gave me a 549 report for my 3 watts on battery power.
Elecraft recommend that the kx1 atu unit be used with random length wire, so long as the wire is not 12 wave length on the desired band. The kx3 travel kit is designed for rapid deployment following transport by bicycle, foot, canoe, or kayak. These included a long wire antenna, extra batteries and a multitool. Bandspringer midi, end fed antenna, 10m60m sotabeams. Theres also an internal automatic antenna tuner module kxat2, which can tune a random wire, dipole, or whip on multiple bands.
The two radios that i use for portable operations are the elecraft kx1 and the elecraft kx3, both outfitted with antenna tuners. Amateur radio has been a supreme way of communications for many ways of getting messages from one place to another for decades. If you have no particular preference within a given ham radio band, then simply enter its center frequency i. I know some people have hiked the appalachian trial with hf. Have previously used 2040 meter mfj whips, a 2040 meter wire dipole wan 18 wonderpole mast, and the elecraft suggested wire antenna with a bnctobinding post adapter. The ax1 is resonant on 20 meters in one switch position, while the other is designed for efficient 17 and 15 meter matching using an atu. Youll also need at least one ground radial, 16 or longer more on that below. The endfed 40 m to 6 m antenna is arguably one of the best field antenna choices you can make for qrp ops and is especially well matched with the kx3, ft817, the kx1, and any other qrp rig with a tuner. Hi again last night, i worked a guy who also is a kx1 owner, and we got to talking about antennas.
Separate tables are provided for wire that is insulated by pvc and wire that is bare. I mentioned that while the antenna suggested in the antenna tuner manual. Hi all, after building a random wire antenna, it was time to take the new configuration on activations and see how it works in the real world. Whether you use the ax1 as a stealth field antenna, for pedestrian mobile, or as a versatile backup, itll be ready when you are. Elecraft ax1 portable hf antenna elecraft ax1 ultraportable 1720 meter antenna system faq q. It is strongly suggested that you use a glove or at the very least some sort of protection for your index finger of. Since you are only running 5 watts, i would focus on using a resonant antenna and the ld8073 is a resonant antenna. Ver2cal wire antenna actuallyaver2callyorientated resonate12wavedipolewith theearthbeingthe return half duetopoorground conduc2vitya. I decided to leave the ft817 at home and go cold turkey on real cw only activations, with no capacity to fall back on ssb to ensure i got four contacts. This is a 40m to 6m antenna system using the lightest weight components without sacrificing durability or convenience. The ax1 is a dualband 20 and 17 meter compact antenna system based on an optimized 2piece whip. Even though i added bypass capacitors to the atu as recommended by wayne, it went haywire a couple of times. Find the correct constant due to the way modern ham radio transmitters are designed, we all try to tune our dipoles for the lowest swr so our transmitter will provide maximum output to the antenna without a tuner involved. Wire, source, load, transmission line, and ground entries are done in a spreadsheetlike format.
Qrp with an elecraft kx1 and a long wire antenna vk4jaz. Typically it is a small cw radio, like a kx1 or a mountain topper, and a wire antenna. Antennas for getting started with sdr sdrplay community. Although it is hard to work with, and build this antenna, for amateur radio use, its one of the best. My favorite feature is the internal antenna tuner which enables me to operate effectively in the field on 20, 30, and 40 meters with a simple 26 ft piece of wire and one or two 17 foot counterpoise wires or often just a ground wire clipped to a metal picnic table. Well, its a nice day today here in florida and got your antenna up in the air and hooked to my kx1 and hank, k1pug from ct just came blasting in here. Random wire antennas best lengths to use for random wire. Then i have about 15 of coax that screws to the match box and i run it into my car window to my operating position in the drivers seat. My location would be up on mt coottha, which is not very far from my qth. The random length of wire was a little long for 30 m.
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