Mfj whip for KX2 mobile

[Jim Nestor]

Waiting for my KX2. Plan to use for camping and stationary mobile.
Initially, the antenna for stationary mobile will be hamsticks (40 & 20m) mounted
to roof rail on suv.

Thinking  about trying a 16-17' mfj whip on the roof rail mount. Should be a 1/4 wave on 20m.
With a couple of wire radials it should work better than a hamstick. I expect the KX2 ATU should
"Tune" it on 40 and maybe also work better than the hamstick.

Has anybody used one of the mfj whips with a KX2 or KX3?

BTW, for camping have a number of antenna options: endfed wires, dipoles, verticals supported from trees or 33' mast bungeed to the awning of travel trailer. Nothing beats camping and playing radio...


73,

Jim, WK8G

Sent from my iPad
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[Don Wilhelm]

Jim,

I suggest that you have better antenna efficiency alternatives than the
hamsticks.
Since you have a 33 foot mast - I assume non-conductive - I would
support a 32 foot wire from the top of it for 40 meters.  Add one or
more 32 foot counterpoise wires (radials) along the ground.

Then for 20 meters, haul a 32 foot dipole on the mast (fed at the
center).  That will serve as a vertical dipole and should work fine - no
radials needed.

Cost is only wire and the coax to run to the feedpoint.  Since you will
likely have a short coax run, you can use RG-58 with little loss.

Your ideas are quite workable, but if you have the 32 foot mast already,
why spend the extra $$$ for the commercial antennas - just invest in
some wire and have fun.

I might add that you can also use a 58 foot radiator (supported from
your 32 foot mast) in an "inverted L" configuration with a 13 foot
counterpoise on the ground.  No feedline, just connect to a BNC to
binding post adapter and the KX2 internal tuner will handle it just fine.
Those lengths were recommended by one of the KX2 Field testers who does
a lot of SOTA activation.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 7/13/2016 8:32 PM, Jim Nestor wrote:

> Waiting for my KX2. Plan to use for camping and stationary mobile.
> Initially, the antenna for stationary mobile will be hamsticks (40 & 20m) mounted
> to roof rail on suv.
>
> Thinking  about trying a 16-17' mfj whip on the roof rail mount. Should be a 1/4 wave on 20m.
> With a couple of wire radials it should work better than a hamstick. I expect the KX2 ATU should
> "Tune" it on 40 and maybe also work better than the hamstick.
>
> Has anybody used one of the mfj whips with a KX2 or KX3?
>
> BTW, for camping have a number of antenna options: endfed wires, dipoles, verticals supported from trees or 33' mast bungeed to the awning of travel trailer. Nothing beats camping and playing radio...
>
>
> 73,
>
> Jim, WK8G
>
> Sent from my iPad
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to [hidden email]
>

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