Thread: HF Antenna

I am looking to buy a HF antenna capable of using VKS 737 freqencies 8022 & 5455. If any AULRO members have a spare antenna or one they are looking to sell please let me know.

I recently purchased a HF Scout L/R Tracker and want to use it on an upcoming Simpson Desert trip.

Thanks

good evening everybody,
because of our travels in the defender to remote areas I became involved in amateur radio. of course I experimented over the last couple of years with mobile HF radio installations and tried various things out ...

I spare you the bad experiences and jump straight to what I think is the very very best solution: a whip as long as possible with an antenna tuner sitting right at the base of the antenna. it is important that the connection from the tuner to the antenna base is as short as possible!!! a 5m long stainless steel rod for 10$ from a steel shop would do the job.

my own set up: I got my fingers on a 5 m long tank antenna; I cut myself wing tops for the defender: on the passenger side there is the air intake for the heating. on the driver side there is a hole in the body, too, however, it has no function and is covered with a plastic blank. so, I cut the driver side wing top such that I can mount the antenna where the hole in the car body is. the antenna tuner sits in the engine bay right under the antenna.

for the antenna I paid 20$ and ordered the LDG Z-11-PRO tuner from the US for 213$.

the other day we did some measurements with an antenna analyser: SWR values of 1:1.1 (!!!!) on the 10,15,20 and 40 m bands. for 80 m I would have to include a balun what I have not tested yet.

it is important to note that low SWR values can be achieved by much shorter antennas ( helical design, screwdriver etc), too, however, only when the antenna is really long the SWR is an indicator for the efficiency of the antenna.

good luck with your antenna choice, whatever it will be!
cheers, axel