After working on landscaping on Saturday (22 August) I decided that Sunday would be a "radio antenna day" because the branch that supported my ham radio HF (shortwave) antenna in the large Silver Maple located in my yard fell, taking the antenna and some rope with it.  I won't be able to put that antenna back up without the help of the tree service because there is a jumbled mess of branches higher up there.  To ensure that I'm able to communicate long distances, especially in emergency, my experiments begun.

Inspired by Nick (KG9E) I purchased a SuperAntennas MP-1 portable antenna.  The MP-1 instructions stated that the user should not put the antenna tripod on the ground, so my first task of the day was to figure out how to mount the antenna.  The camp box containing the "utility" type items held the answer....a two foot long aluminum tent stake.

I pounded the stake into the ground, ensuring that it was level, then I used the C-Clamp to fasten the Universal Mount to the tent stake, ensuring that the mounting stud was level.  Assembling the antenna took less than 10 minutes to set up, but a bit longer to tune.  I tuned the antenna using an MFJ-207 SWR Meter/Antenna Analyzer.  At first I was moving the sleeve too far, but found that if I used the paper that came with the antenna to get the sleeve close, I was able to move the sleeve up or down one wire at a time to obtain the best SWR match.  I was able to make a contact into Mississippi using 30W of power and the "stock" antenna!

Realizing that this antenna couldn't stay up all the time, I began to wonder how I could come up with a bit more of a permanent solution until the tree service came out.  I had removed the radio equipment from Beth's car because she wanted to trade it in, so I had the Diamond K400 mounts, the Yaesu ATAS-120a HF antenna, and a Diamond SG7900A VHF/UHF antenna all laying in the garage waiting to be used.  Upon inspecting the fence posts, I saw that they were an "i-beam" type and that the lip just might be thin enough for the K-400 mount to attach.  Sure enough, it attached just fine, and I was able to put the ATAS-120 antenna on it.  Tuning worked as expected, and I was on the air using that antenna.  The only downside is that the antenna is right under the power line feeding the house, so I experience a bit more noise than if I had it in another position in the yard.  The best thing about it though is that it is a temporary setup and it shows that I do have other options available to me when it comes to antennas.

One might ask themselves what I learned from all of my testing.  Well, I learned that antenna placement is important in determining what extra "noise" you'll have when receiving signals, that ground radials make a difference with any antenna in this type of setup, and that I will be able to communicate anywhere and anytime.

To see more pictures of my experiments, including my portable radio station in use at the time click here.