Hey there all! I have scoured the net loking for a cheap , portable, and
decent antenna for 6 meters but have been unable to find such a
creature. The primary freq intrest is 50-50.3 for a little CW/SSB work.
I ride by bike often in the park and am looking for something that I can
string up in a tree fairly easily that doesn't require a whole lot of
tuning. any help or plans anyone could provide would be greatly
appreciated.


TIA
KD5JBK
Chauncey Baker
EM 15

Chauney,
Try a dipole. Doesn't get much more portable
than that.
'Doc

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 19:43:43 -0600, Chauney Baker
wrote:

Hey there all! I have scoured the net loking for a cheap , portable, and
decent antenna for 6 meters but have been unable to find such a
creature. The primary freq intrest is 50-50.3 for a little CW/SSB work.
I ride by bike often in the park and am looking for something that I can
string up in a tree fairly easily that doesn't require a whole lot of
tuning. any help or plans anyone could provide would be greatly
appreciated.


TIA
KD5JBK
Chauncey Baker
EM 15

Chauncey,
Considering you're requirements I'd think that narrows the field to a
wire dipole with RG-8X coax. That would be light and easy to string
up with some monofilament fishing line and a couple of sinkers to
sling over the branches. When I've worked portable (driving to the
location) I used to use a Halo, but that required carrying a tripod
mount and a few masts - could take the pleasure out of bike riding.
On my last trip operating portable I went with the dipole and it
performed just fine, in fact I was able to get it up notable higher
than with the 10' of mast I normally use. As for a cheap alternative
- you simple can't beat it. I guess if you got fancy you could make a
wire beam - but it would be challenging to maintain the proper
geomoetry for the elements in relation to each other.

Howard

I have scoured the net loking for a cheap , portable, and
decent antenna for 6 meters but have been unable to find such a creature

Build it. Get two RatShak 72" whips, a block of wood or plastic, a piece of
coax and some string. Drill two parallel holes in the wood or plastic around
1/2 inch apart the proper diameter for the RT whips. Slide one thru one way,
the other pointing the other way. I drilled a hole in the bottom to allow use
of an old flash stand...use what ya got (camera tripod, piece of PVC,
whatever). I threaded the holes in the RT whips to accept screws....one friend
just uses alligator clips to connect the coax. Make a choke balun by winding
several turns of the coax about 6" dia., connect everything up and tune for
your favorite freq.

The string? Tie it to the middle of the block (I used a screw to secure mine).
Once the antenna is resonant on your freq., cut the string to that
length....easy means of setting the proper length of the whips. (use knots to
indicate other freq. points if for more than one band/freq)

Worked Nebraska, KS, ND and SD one afternoon with this and an MFJ 9406, all
while on the App. Trail. Very portable and very cheap.

A

"Chauney Baker" wrote in message
news:1SAWb.41005$L_4.17046@okepread01...
Hey there all! I have scoured the net loking for a cheap , portable, and
decent antenna for 6 meters but have been unable to find such a
creature. The primary freq intrest is 50-50.3 for a little CW/SSB work.
I ride by bike often in the park and am looking for something that I can
string up in a tree fairly easily that doesn't require a whole lot of
tuning. any help or plans anyone could provide would be greatly
appreciated.


You may wish to look at:
http://parelectronics.com/end_fedz.htm

or

http://parelectronics.com/stress_moxon.htm

The latter is featured in a review in QST March issue.

73,

Dale W4OP

TIA
KD5JBK
Chauncey Baker
EM 15

I'm currently making one of the antennae on
http://www.qsl.net/g3pto/6m_dipole.html
A folded dipole. with somewhat larger bandwidth than 1/4 wave
dipole.

Howard wrote:
On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 19:43:43 -0600, Chauney Baker
wrote:


Hey there all! I have scoured the net loking for a cheap , portable, and
decent antenna for 6 meters but have been unable to find such a
creature. The primary freq intrest is 50-50.3 for a little CW/SSB work.
I ride by bike often in the park and am looking for something that I can
string up in a tree fairly easily that doesn't require a whole lot of
tuning. any help or plans anyone could provide would be greatly
appreciated.


TIA
KD5JBK
Chauncey Baker
EM 15


Chauncey,
Considering you're requirements I'd think that narrows the field to a
wire dipole with RG-8X coax. That would be light and easy to string
up with some monofilament fishing line and a couple of sinkers to
sling over the branches. When I've worked portable (driving to the
location) I used to use a Halo, but that required carrying a tripod
mount and a few masts - could take the pleasure out of bike riding.
On my last trip operating portable I went with the dipole and it
performed just fine, in fact I was able to get it up notable higher
than with the 10' of mast I normally use. As for a cheap alternative
- you simple can't beat it. I guess if you got fancy you could make a
wire beam - but it would be challenging to maintain the proper
geomoetry for the elements in relation to each other.

Howard

--
OK!
What GeNiuS pUt thE CaPlocK KEy
RiGhT NeXt to The Shft KEY?


Seek not to confound me as I am dim-witted and slow of study.

Wedge KC2GMJ