What's your favourite antenna for portable activity?

[yo3fvr]

Very good results I have with MAAS HVT-400 multiband whip, with PFR3 and FT-817nd+LDG Z817 autotuner. 73!

[PH9E]

My MFJ 1979 keeps surprising me. This telescopic whip can be extended to 5 m and is useable as a quarter wave vertical for 10 and 20 m (the bands I'm allowed to operate on). I usually mount it on a small tripod (appr. 1 m off the ground) and use an elevated quarter wave radial cut for 10 or 20 meters.
Best result: 8000 kms to Aruba Island in the Dutch Caribean, from my small urban backyard, running 5W out of my Yaesu FT-817ND.

[W4RQ]

My favorite is a home brewed Small magnetic Loop, made it using a cigar box donated by a local smoke shop, housing an old AM Radio dual ganged tuning capacitor. A uhf connector mounted on either side of the box connects to the two stators. The loop consists of LM-400 coax and I have two. A 50 inch diameter for 17m, 20m, & 30m and a 33 inch diameter for 10m, 12m, and 15m. I feed the loop with a transformer coupling using an FT140-43 toroid core and 2 to 5 turns of wire, and a short RG-174 coax to my KX-3. It is compact and easy to transport, and sets up on a picnic table.  The loop favors DX and it is amazing to me that it works so well!  I will soon make a shorter  6m loop of LM-400 coax to make my little cigar box antenna even more versatile. At a cost of less than 50-USD, My Small Magnetic Loop is a real 'smok'n' portable antenna!

[nx1p]

1) If I am climbing a mountain, then, the LOCFD (linked off-centerf-ed dipole) see www.nx1p.com
2) If I am on a beach or a one night camp ground, then the BRAVO 7K.
3) If I am in a portable/fixed location for multiple days, then the foldingantenna.
4) If I am in a hotel room and want to be totally frustrated then the buddipole.

[VE2TH]

For us, it is BUDDIPOLE or Buddistick, always full size, no compromise.

At the beach, sometimes one or 2 X elements verticals Buddistick, with one radial each in salt water or very near, when the tides are lowering.

When in a park or a campground, and if there is a "CHAIN LINK FENCE" I put my special bracket and screw my Buddistick, once again full lenght for the band I want to operate.

No chain link fence, then I use one radial, which is adjusted with the AA-54 Antenna Analyser.
And I put that radial in the direction I want to, because I noticed some directivity in the direction
this radial is pointed. The end of my adjustable radial is always at about one meter above the ground.
This way I can adjust my antenna very easily by adding or removing one turn at time, with the help of the wire line winder.-

1- One telescopic whip 2.8 meters long

2- For 10 meters, only the whip adjusted with AA-54 Analyser. same for 12 meters.

3- For 15 meters, only the whip with 1 X 56 Cm arm

4- for 17 meters, again the same whip with 2 X 56Cm arms

5- For 20 meters, again the same whip with 4 X 56 CM arms

On six meters I also use a 2 or 3 elements full size beam for 50 MHz.

With the tripod & the long telescoping mast, I have this beam fully directional (Armstrong method, by hand) and it is one wavelenght above ground.

Next time I shall try a 5 element beam for 50 MHz built entirely from Buddipole parts.

On ten meters I sometimes use a 2 elements beam built with 4 X long whips and arms for the boom.

All the needed parts including coax, etc, are in only one long bag which is 107 X 18 X 18 Cm.made from 1000 denier Cordura Plus padded nylon utilizing industrial strength nylon thread and double-stitching at all stress points.

I use this system for 12 years now, and very satisfied, because I can use it anywhere, and I also can try many configurations.

Another important point, it can be assembled in only 10 minutes and dismantled much more faster, especially when meteo annonced some thunderstorm.

You will find more informations on: www.buddipole.com

For those who do not know, you can buy only the parts you want for a special usage.

If you want more informations:

A- check www.buddipole.com

B- Check the Yahoo Group, where you can find a ton of precious informations from other users,

C- If I can be of any help, let me know.

All the very best to all, and HAVE FUN EVERYDAY.

72/73, Michel VE2TH, Georgette VE2RH The OM/XYL TEAM.

[PD5L]

 I use a hyendfed and 12 meter fibreglasspole. 73' PD5L

[IV3DSO]

I am a fan of the delta loop and I built one for 10 and 15 meters. light, cheap and very efficient. Has a tilting system that it allows the opening and closing with one person ... here it is.

[KC8AON]

My newest favorite is a vertical half rombic antenna.  Its fed from the end, only requires one support, works all bands less than 2:1 swr without a tuner (yes it really works).  I built my own with information found at the link here: http://www.korpi.biz/hr.pdf

[M0KCP]

Hi All

I like to keep my portable ops lightweight. So I normally use a Buddistick. With my 817, 12v SLAB and keyer, it all fits in one small backpack. So, mountain or beach, I can setup where I like, quickly.

My mono band inverted V antennas do work better.  But it's more to carry and takes longer to setup.  Changing bands is a pain, because, of course, you have to tear-down whole thing again. 

Cheers
Rob M0KCP

[sm5mek]

I like my 4 bands vertical, no need of tuner for 17 -40 meter, only use the right connection on the coil. It is easy to build at home. Use 6m fishing pole or hang it in a tree. See more on my home page. 

[GM0LVI]

I like my 4 bands vertical, no need of tuner for 17 -40 meter, only use the right connection on the coil. It is easy to build at home. Use 6m fishing pole or hang it in a tree. See more on my home page. 

Looks good Jenny. Is there any chance that you could post a sketch of the circuit. I might have a try a making one like yours.

[GM0LVI]

This served me for several years as my favourite (and only!) portable antenna.

Here’s a 10-20m top loaded GP I made a few years ago. I needed an antenna that was shorter than full size because I often operated from a studio in Greece that had another studio directly above and I didn’t want my antenna intruding on the view above and annoying other guests. I also needed an antenna that would fit into a standard suitcase.
The tubing is salvaged CB antenna parts (bought for next to nothing at a car boot sale). The insulated  base section – bottom in the photo, is made from fibreglass tube I’d left over from making quad spreaders. And the coil section is wound on plastic water pipe with wire I salvaged from an electric motor and wrapped in self-amalgamating tape. The top section is an old transistor radio antenna.
Each thin tube section is topped with a small length of wider tube to allow the next section to connect. The wider top sections are riveted to the thinner sections and to ensure connectivity and security a banana plug on a short lead (riveted) connects each section.
I didn’t want to take a set of radials for each band so I cut a set for the lowest band (20m) and then doubled back the wire until it was the theoretical length for the next highest band, cut the insulation so that I could QSY by just clipping a crocodile clip to the bared wire. I repeated this so I had 20,17,15 and 10m covered. I missed out 12m. I were to repeat this construction I’d just wind the radials on formers and mark them at the critical points and this would give a bit added flexibility tuning on site.
The centre core of the coax connects to a wing nut on the bottom tube and the radials to a washer terminal soldered to the coax. The short length of connecting coax terminates in a PL259 connector.
I did the initial tuning at home using an analyser and it was quite a fiddle involving sliding the second section up and down inside the base tube and then fine tuning with the top ‘radio antenna’ section. Once I’d found the critical points I marked the sliding section with felt pen and an engraving tool. You can see the hose clip I use to set the length and prevent telescoping.
For support I’ve used a 5 litre water bottle with a hole in the lid as a base and Velcro (hook and loop) straps to attach to balcony uprights. I’ve found that the ‘radio antenna’ top section has an added bonus as it allows me to tilt the top section if I’m near the point of intruding into eye space in the studio above.
There’s a photo of the antenna (and me!) in action on my QRZ page. I can’t say it’s my favourite antenna as I far prefer a full size GP. And the jury has still to decide if the Buddistck I used from that particular studio last June was any better than my home-brew effort. In earlier years.

[sm5mek]

I like my 4 bands vertical, no need of tuner for 17 -40 meter, only use the right connection on the coil. It is easy to build at home. Use 6m fishing pole or hang it in a tree. See more on my home page. 

Looks good Jenny. Is there any chance that you could post a sketch of the circuit. I might have a try a making one like yours.

All info is on my homepage at adress http://www.sm5mek.se/antenner/four-band-vertical-four-ant/ all in English. Higest fq is radiator and after that i did one coil for every other band on lower fq. Tuned coil by coil with 2 proper ground wire.

[KC8AON]

My favorite righ now is a "vertical half rombic"  see my post" All band no tuner needed antenna (This is and endfed antenna) on this forum for more information, but its an all band endfed wire that requires no tuner at all.  Just put it up and start operating any band you wish.  No, its not the most efficient design in the world, but for all band operation including 160 meters, its a great design if you happen to have an all band rig.  SWR less than 2:1 10 thru 160 meters and very simple to errect !  Here's a link to my post about it: http://www.qrpclub.org/qrp/index.php?topic=859.0

[ON6KZ]

I like my Alexloop magnetic loop antenna. Covers 40m to 10m. Very lightweight and it takes only 2 minutes to put it together.
Restrictions: max. 10 W CW / 20W SSB.