Posted by
Mike Morrow-3 on
Jun 10, 2005; 5:18pm
URL: http://elecraft.85.s1.nabble.com/Re-K1-KAT1-FD-OCF-dipole-tp379219.html
Steve wrote:
>OK, I wanted to build a plug-n-play off-center-fed
>doublet for Field Day to match my K1 (40-30-20-17) /
>KAT1 / solar powered portable station....
>What say ye, fellow Elecrafters? Should I just use a
>4:1 and eat the inefficiency? (At battery QRP, I
>don't like that option and besides, the purist in me
>revolts against such technoblasphemy.)
>... kit my solar-powered K1 with a snazzy, efficient and
"matching" antenna?
Steve,
I guess my question is: Why choose this type of antenna? Baluns of any type especially warrant avoidance if losses are of concern.
For more than 30 years, portable HF operation has been my main interest in ham radio. In that interval I've tried almost every conceivable type, home-made and commercial-made: dipoles fed with coax, doublets fed with ladder line, verticals, loops, etc. (but no beams). I've found that absolutely nothing ever worked as well as the simple cheap light-weight coax-fed resonant half-wave dipole...nothing else even comes close.
For the four band K1, a 40m dipole with three insulators with jumpers spaced properly in each leg will produce a very compact, low-cost, resonant antenna for each K1 band. No balun is needed at the antenna, and you'll have the coax feed you need.
For years I've used such an antenna, except that I have nine jumperable insulators in each leg and can, in just a couple of minutes, set the antenna for resonance on any HF band from 40m to 10m.
73,
Mike / KK5F
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