"Lostgallifreyan" wrote in message
. ..
Hello. I spent a night building a portable longwire out of scrap acetal,
stainless steel wire and a few other scrap parts. It works well but not as
fast to use as I'd like, and the shape for stowing means it's not a
circular
coil and there is no guide to keep it winding easily without overrunning
the
edge of the former.


snip


Another question.. I'm considering a similar (but less demanding) idea for
laying out radials for a temporary ground. For ease and speed these would
have to be laid out on the ground, and the receiver will be battery
powered,
so this would be its only electrical reference to the ground. Is this ok,
or
is there some better way to make a portable ground? Meaning, something I
can
carry on foot for miles with little effort.

I have experimented with and demonstrated (ham fairs, Field Day) shortened
HF antennas, like the Hamstick and Hustler brands. These require radials
and I had been attaching them by nuts and bolts to the metallic base upon
which I place the mag-mount antenna. I carried several bases, each with
radials for a different band.

This is not your exact situation, I realize, but the latest version of my
radials might be useful: I have several short "pigtail" leads bolted to one
base. Each one is terminated in a banana jack and I have pre-cut pairs of
tuned radials with banana plugs on them. Several sets of my tuned radials
are ready to be unwound from foot-square cardboard frames, stretched out and
plugged into the jacks. The cardboard frames are simply the lids from
cardboard boxes. I notched out a few square inches at each end to form a
flat spool. Tangling is minimal. Presently I can deploy 8 radials. (Per
some discussions I have read, improvements gained by using more than 8
radials might not be audible.)

My radials are never exactly straight and it doesn't seem to matter. I have
not staked them, so to reduce the potential tripping hazard to the visitors.
I might use a small stone at the far end.

Your question, "Is this ok?" will be answered Yes by me. With only two
radial wires laid upon the ground, my antenna was entirely satisfactory.
From Southern California, we reliably worked the middle of the US with 100W
on 20m SSB during Field Day last year. However, having only two radial
wires gave a "best VSWR" no lower than 2:1 with the analyzer. The tuner
could fix that but adding another pair of radials brought the best VSWR down
to about 1.5:1.

I hope this also works for your long-wire. I am not at home, so I can't do
play-time for another week :-)

"Sal"
KD6VKW