I was both surprised and delighted that my “DX Commander” prototype survived the winds Saturday night during the ARRL Sweepstakes phone contest. A 41 foot (12.5m) mast was held up by three 10″ (25.cm) tent stakes from Walmart! I checked in on it Sunday morning and snugged up the guy ropes. Man, the wind was still howling!
Overall, I think the antenna worked pretty well on all four intended bands. Although the IC-7300 has a typical limited auto-tuner (I use a KX3 in the field – it can tune a vinyl gutter) it tuned well. Better yet, it performed well. I managed over 150 contacts while operating sporadically, perhaps 16 hours in the seat. I only did search-and-pounce, only pouncing on stations I could hear quite clearly at that. I managed to work Bruce K1BG, and he mentioned that he had worked a number of new hams from his Tech classes – YAY!
I used my end-fed-half-wave (EFHW) antenna when 80 meters was open, as the prototype was cut for 10-15-20-40. I’ll likely add an inverted-L element for 80 meters in the next iteration. I didn’t really hold out hopes for a Clean Sweep of all sections, but I did manage 62. It’s clear that neither of my antennas was hitting too far to the west.
I’ll better document the prototype in the December Signal. I’ll have some data including FT8 propagation maps, as well as improvements I’ve already concocted. Well, I call them improvements…
de KK1X
KK1X took this picture at Bash Bish State Park in Mount Washington MA. Then he had to hike back up…