KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

///////////////////////////////////////////
Portable antenna book is typical ARRL publication

Posted: 20 Jul 2016 12:08 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email




The ARRLsÂ*Portable Antenna Classics is a typical ARRL antenna book. That is
to say, its a collection of QST articles, the oldest dating back to the
September 1980 (The Shooter A 3-Band Portable Antenna by E.W. Twisty
Ljonquist, W4WDK/W1CQS). Fortunately, antenna physics hasnt changed in the
last 35 years, so this article is as relevant today as it was in 1980.

Overall, this book reprints 25 HF antenna articles, six VHF and UHF antenna
articles, and seven articles on masts and supports. A lot of these articles
I remember reading when they were first published, such as The NJQRP Squirt
by Joe Everhart, N2CX. I was interested in this antenna because its only
68-ft. long, but can be tuned on 80m. I never did get around to building
this antenna, and now have a homebrew version of the 80m Cobra antenna
hanging in my backyard.

Another example is The Miracle Whip: A Multiband QRP Antenna by Robert
Victor, VA2ERY (July 2001). This antenna was actually commercially
available for a while, and the URL for the companys
website—www.miracleantenna.com—appears in the article. Unfortunately, the
company seems to be out of business. Going to that URL brings up a site
that reviews sewing machines.

Some of the antennas are what you might call novelty antennas. These
include the articles Build an HF Walking Stick Antenna by Robert Capon,
WA3ULH (December 1994) and A Paint Pole Antenna by Anthony J. Salvate,
N1TKS (August 1995). While you might get these antennas to work, Im not
sure how useful theyd be for serious portable operations.

In general, though, the articles in the book are pretty good, and even if
you dont make the antennas exactly as described, they will certainly give
you some ideas for your own design. For example, A Simple HF-Portable
Antenna by Phil Salas, AD5X shows how to build a simple, lightweight dipole
that can be configured for useÂ*on multiple bands. Another article that I
liked was A Portable 2-Element Triband Yagi by Markus Hansen, VE7CA
(November 2001).

Another idea that this book gave me was to publish my own book on portable
antennas. One of the shortcomingsÂ*of this book, imho, is that it doesnt
mention any commercial products at all. Nor does it discuss antennas that
can be used with the internal antenna tuners now commonly found in QRP
rigs. So, look for KB6NU Goes Portable or KB6NU on Portable Antennas
sometime in the future.

The post Portable antenna book is typical ARRL publication appeared first
on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.