Portable antennas....dipole vs. vertical

[KG4CGC]

Portable: Shoot a wire way up into a tree and hope it comes out both hort and vert.
Feed with a manual tuner.
Profit.

[N1LAF]

Four sections of mast, with a mobile antenna mount modified for dipole use. When I went on vacation at coastal Maine, I set this up using my car bike rack as a base. I was talking to my friend in Connecticut on 40M with an S20 signal.



Note that the quick disconnect on lower left is isolated from the mast and mount. A second quick disconnect is mounted on the same plate, but pointing 180 degrees away. Coil of coax acts as RF choke. Note that the mobile mount is rotated 90 degrees. The hole pattern on the mount supports this.



Two mobile whips of the same band is used. At $10 - $20 a whip, this is affordable.

[N1LAF]

My not-so-portable antenna



Crosses three properties. The feedline center of the antenna is in one property near the corner where three properties meet. Strung between three tall oak trees, the antenna is high in the sky, and relatively free of tree branches, as seen by picture above. The blue line represent the ladder feed line.

[WØTKX]

I've used the "hamstick dipole" myself. Made mine out of PVC and simple stud mounts.

Works OK, but prefer the trees with wire when portable.

[W1GUH]

I've got a dipole mount and was all hot to try it untiil I realized something. A horizontal dipole, especially on the lower bands, is going to have a pretty high angle of radiation, while a vertical hamstick mounted on a car is going to have a lower (significantly?) angle of radiation. Given that, I had to wonder if I'd gain anything at all using the dipole mount. Seems that I'd be better off just leaving the antenna on the car if possible. If not possible, at least keep it vertical. This obviously depends on the particular application. Just may blow the $40 and have both set up as an A/B test.

Saw what may be an indication of this on FD. I was class 1C camped out in NW CT. A friend was with a group. I was using a hamstick on the car...he was using a low dipole. We were both on 80 CW.

Comparing notes the day after, he hadn't worked anyone outside of NE or NY, while I worked a lot of 4's...