Portable and Semi-Permanent Antenna Recommendation?

[ScannerChef]

Here's my situation: I'm a new ham, and I really want to try out HF for a while before embarking on any construction projects. Decent grounding in particular may be a hassle because of my situation. I am also interested in Parks on the Air, because I need to get outside more. Because of those factors, it seemed to me that a portable QRP rig might be just the ticket.

The ICOM IC-705 looks spectacular so I'm thinking that would be the transceiver. Now, what I would really like is an antenna that I can deploy out in the backyard without much hassle. I can leave it either fully setup or partially setup in the garage and just carry it out, so a bit of setup hassle is probably okay if it can remain in that state.

Here's what I'm thinking so far, I would love feedback or other ideas. Alternately, tell me about the flaws you see in this entire strategy before I commit to it.

AlexLoop Hampack: Looks very lightweight for the POTA aspect, and I think I could just leave it setup on a tripod at home and carry it outside or even use it in the garage if it's raining, so this is a very tempting option. What I don't like is that it supposedly has a narrow window of operation (high Q?) and so that means I won't be scouting for signals on the waterfall display. Can anyone confirm or deny that?

Buddistick Pro: I think this is more efficient than the mag loops, but I'm not sure? I could maybe leave it partially assembled in the garage and just screw together a few sections outside. Does the coil tuning thing mean this also won't be showing me much on the waterfall display?

Some sort of random wire thing: I have not used these, I guess I would have to unwind it and wind it back up every time I want to use it. Sounds like a big hassle but maybe I'm overestimating the difficulty. I could put some hooks or something around the yard if that would help. I assume I would also need to buy the automatic tuner for this?

 

[KA9MGC]

When I returned to the hobby after a long hiatus, I bought a Chameleon MPAS 2.0. It doubles as a portable antenna, and sets up quickly.
It covers 6 meters through 160 meters. You can set it up as a vertical, inverted L, and several other configurations.
It's not cheap, but to me it's worth it. It does require a tuner but most hams have one on hand.

 

[prcguy]

I started with QRP when the Yaesu FT-817 around 2006-2007 and quickly discovered your antenna is the most important thing in making low power contacts, even more important than the radio. Sunspots were hot and bands were jumping at the time making the FT-817 an instant success and the Buddipole had just come out and was one of the more popular antennas at the time and on 20-10m they were making good contacts so I bought one. I quickly found out they suck real bad below 20m.

After experimenting with nearly every antenna on the market and some very portable home made versions, I settled on the resonant End Fed Half Wave for 40-10m and a home made version that will fit in your pocket. The transformer will handle up to 100w SSB and its about the size of a Zippo lighter. The 64ft of wire to resonant on 40-10m and about 40ft of sub miniature parachute cord wind up inside a plastic chalk like reel and the reel serves as your throw weight to get the wire up in trees, etc.

This antenna works better than anything else I've tried for lightweight portable use and deploys in about a minute and winds up even faster. I also have the Chameleon MPAS and on 40-10m the home made EFHW which costs about $25 to make including the chalk line reel works better than the $500 Chameleon MPAS. Since the MPAS is not resonant it will load up somewhat on 80m but its performance below 40m drops off quite fast. That's all you can expect for 60ft of wire or using its whips, which is much worse.

I once did an A/B test between the Chameleon MPAS and one of my home made EFHWs and the MPAS did work surprisingly well being only about a dB or two down on 40m and several dB down on 20m compared to my EFHW. That's better than any of the random length end feds using a 9:1 transformer. I don't recommend any of those for QRP because you are throwing away too much signal in those lossy antennas.

I have played with a Chameleon loop and it did work although very touchy to tune and my impression is the EFHW will work much better, even though I didn't run them side by side. Its cute having a tiny loop and making contacts with it but its a compromise and not a cheap one.

 

[KA9MGC]

You're right about QRP. I managed to gloss over that fact in the OP. The Chameleon is used portable, except for when the snow was on the ground early this year. I had no antennas up, and used it until I did.

I managed contacts with the MPAS, but a resonant antenna will beat it. It sets up fast, and has several configurations as you know.

 

[vagrant]

I purchased a used Chameleon loop for $200 and I like it, but it is terribly inefficient. I have made phone contacts with it using 5W and a Yaesu 817ND, but loops like that are very narrow and the 705 waterfall will not enjoy it whereas an 817ND would not mind. I would recommend a loop like that for sitting on a frequency and calling CQ...pssst you may be lonely. Still, if you tune and sit on a known watering hole used for digital modes, you may enjoy it for the quick deployment aspect. Also, one does not require a tree nearby in order to use it as well. (Keep reading)

I have a Buddipole and have made/used various configurations with it. It is not so bad, but again you tune it for a freq and sit there...like the loop. It will handle more watts, so calling CQ may not be so lonely if pushing more than 5W, but this is about QRP.

This brings me to a quick deployable single wire End Fed Half Wave antenna that takes up minimal space, has very little weight and works very well across most bands. I was not a fan of them as I purchased a pre-built version and it sucked. Then some cool guy on these forums advised about a 64' wire that uses a 49:1 transformer that was about the size of a Zippo lighter. One wonders who that guy was. Anyways, that darn little EFHW is beautifully resonant across a handful of bands from 40 to 10 meters. I purchased and planned on using two chalk line reels, but changed my plans just on that part. For the low cost to make this EFHW and transformer, you could cut two wires and leave one setup in the backyard to clip onto the transformer. You will need a 1:1 RF choke positioned a few feet from the radio on the coax to keep things happy.

Here's a post with photos of my results using that EFHW. I left the wire at 67' and fold it back a bit as needed.

 

[ScannerChef]

It sounds like maybe the EFHW deserves some investigation, thank you everyone!

 

[popnokick]

The ARRL is onboard with the recommendations for an End Fed Half Wave antenna - so much so that they sell a kit to make one -
https://www.arrl.org/shop/End-Fed-Half-Wave-Antenna-Kit-for-10-15-20-40-Meters/

 

[Firekite]

I settled on the resonant End Fed Half Wave for 40-10m and a home made version that will fit in your pocket. The transformer will handle up to 100w SSB and its about the size of a Zippo lighter. The 64ft of wire to resonant on 40-10m and about 40ft of sub miniature parachute cord wind up inside a plastic chalk like reel and the reel serves as your throw weight to get the wire up in trees, etc.

By any chance are there plans available somewhere for this setup?

 

[vagrant]

The post I linked to above is part of the thread. There are 49:1 transformer plans available on the Net as well that will handle more watts. I am going to pick up more parts to make two more of these. A buddy is testing for his license next month and he's smart enough to realize the antenna is the important bit. We'll make two more and I'm gifting one to another buddy who does not have the time to make it. This other buddy uses a Codan manpack and while it works with its 25W and vertical antenna, improvements can and should be made.

By any chance are there plans available somewhere for this setup?

 

[ScannerChef]

The ARRL is onboard with the recommendations for an End Fed Half Wave antenna - so much so that they sell a kit to make one -
ARRL :: Antennas :: End Fed Half Wave Antenna Kit for 10/15/20/40 Meters

That might be a good way to scrape the rust off my soldering skills, thanks!

 

[dimab]

I’ve been reading about this antenna and sounds like what you’re looking for -

The Buddistick PRO™ Portable Multi-Band Vertical Antenna

The Buddistick PRO™ Portable Multi-Band Vertical Antenna, Designed as a multi-band, portable antenna for 40m - 6m, the Buddistick PRO™ is an excellent performer with any transceiver up to 250 watts.

www.buddipole.com

 

[prcguy]

I had a buddipole and set it up as a buddistick ones. Got similar results to the dipole setup where it kind of worked 20m and up but below 20m it was grim.

I’ve been reading about this antenna and sounds like what you’re looking for -

The Buddistick PRO™ Portable Multi-Band Vertical Antenna

The Buddistick PRO™ Portable Multi-Band Vertical Antenna, Designed as a multi-band, portable antenna for 40m - 6m, the Buddistick PRO™ is an excellent performer with any transceiver up to 250 watts.

www.buddipole.com