Gary wrote: > I thought I would share my story of what happened over the holidays. > I took my K2 and a home brewed magnetic loop antenna. The mag loop is > about three feet in diameter and sits three feet off the ground...I > operated mostly 15 meters and some 17 meters at 5 watts QRP.
I'd suggest trying a simple dipole. A 15m dipole is only 22 feet end-to-end, and it is very easily set up almost anywhere. I was living in an apartment in the 1980 and 1990 periods of solar activity, so I'd set up such an antenna on the balcony, with a 10m element arranged "bow-tie" from the common center insulator. > One morning I fired up the K2, set it for 5 watts and started calling CQ. A > faint signal came back. It was a ham in Scotland!!! For those of you that > have beams, it's probably no big deal. We were both running 5w and he was > using a K1. There's that K1 advantage...one of the few small QRP rigs that can perform on 15 meters (and higher, if you roll your own filter board). > I know that most of it has to do with propagation and the antenna. In this > case mostly propagation. I'd say that you are correct. The antenna you describe would be outclassed on transmit and receive by a resonant dipole by several S-units at least. Set up both at a location and experience the gross difference you'll get as you switch from one to the other! Guaranteed! 73, Mike / KK5F ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
