Wire Advice for a wire antenna to use while camping

[rf_patriot200]

Slinky,, the forgotten antenna.

The last couple I saw at the store were Plastic !

 

[oldradioguy2010]

I have had this one from maybe the 70s

 

[Blackswan73]

They still make steel slinkys. They are usually sold as “original” slinky’s. They usually cost around $7. They also make anodized slinkys in various colors

B.S.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

They still make steel slinkys. They are usually sold as “original” slinky’s. They usually cost around $7. They also make anodized slinkys in various colors

B.S.

Yup, you see them from time to time in various toy stores. They come in a red and yellow box and IIRC are made in the USA. Have bought a bunch over the years to give to the grandkids... kept one for myself, it's in my field bag for mini-DXpeditions to local parks.

 

[krokus]

Metal Slinky thread:

Inexpensive "random wire" (Slinky)

This came up as part of inexpensive gift suggestions, USD 3.59. The Original Slinky Walking Spring Toy, Metal Slinky https://a.co/d/8QfwuE0

forums.radioreference.com

 

[db_gain]

An offset fed dipole can be a nice portable antenna;

Building an Off Center Fed (OCF) Dipole Antenna - KB9VBR Antennas

For this year’s ARRL Field Day event I was looking to put up a homebrew antenna that was easy to construct‚ easy to deplay‚ and give me multi-band support. I settled on an 80 meter Off Center Fed Dipole antenna. Watch the video to see how I do it: The OCF or Off Center Fed […]

www.jpole-antenna.com

For rx use skinny little rg174 coax is entirely suited and very lightweight, but you can also use rg11 or similar if that is handier.

 

[T680]

I'm sure the OP has found a solution to his query but that's not going to stop me from commenting. I used a C Crane Radio Solar inside a couple of semis for a while and picked up a lot of stations on AM, FM and WB. The body of the truck was fiberglass but there was plenty of RFI too. Plus the RFI from the trucks parked by mine. I was able to do this in a number of states too.

 

[BDavis27707]

Currently I run an insulated wire from my van to a nearby tree. I use an alligator clip to the CCrane 2E antenna. This seems to work pretty well for my needs. At some point I will use my SDR and will likely need a longer wire for at that point..

 

[EAFrizzle]

I use a 50' spool of speaker wire as a loop for portable HF and below. I leave 5'-10' together at the receiver end, solder the opposite end together, and separate and spread (or hang) the loop. A bit of measuring, cutting, and soldering can get you a good FM loop dipole as well.

We don’t care and will continue to recommend HF wire antennas, cuz that’s what we do.

Hear, hear!

 

[wa8pyr]

Buy a chalk line reel like this DEWALT 100 ft. Chalk Reel DWHT47372 - The Home Depot then cut off half the string and replace with thin wire. I use a bowline knot on both the wire and string and you may have to drill out the rivet where the string comes out and maybe remove the internal felt string gripper.

Since I use mine for transmitting as a 40m EFHW I completely replace everything using 64ft of 22ga Teflon wire and about 40ft of sub miniature para cord that is the same dia as the wire. The string is internally attached to the reel so when you pull out the wire then the string the reel housing becomes your throw weight.

This particular chalk line reel has a two or three to one gear ratio making windup very fast. You can deploy it in minute and wind it up faster. Here are a couple of older chalk line reels I modified and one is a complete tuned 40-10m EFHW good for 100w SSB.

I’ll second this. @prcguy gave me how-to tips so I made one of these awhile back, works great for both receiving (as a long wire) or transmitting (as an EFHW).