Case Studies

In this section I present a series of cases studies that explore different portable antenna configurations. This list is an initial start, and I plan to add aditional studies over time.  A link is provided to the articles.

In all cases my 'reference' antenna for the studies is a broadband ground mounted vertical antenna with ground radials.  I choose this antenna system because it produces an omni-directional antenna pattern and it allows for directional gains in the 'test' antennas to be observed in the results. In most cases I choose a broadband ground mounted vertical antenna system because they are designed to operate across many HF bands with little to no interaction with the antenna system during operation outside of re-tuning when changing bands. These systems usually include a broadband transformer at the base with ground radials. Though they may not be the most efficient antenna systems, they are by far the easiest to deploy and operate. 

Case Studies

1. Whip Antenna Comparison Study - With the advent of portable and handheld QRP transceivers a short whip antenna has become popular. This study looks at the relative gain of a 45" whip antenna (found on the Elecraft KH1 and the AX1 antenna).

2. EFRW Antenna Study - For ultimate portability a simple end-fed random wire antenna is perfectly suited for SOTA operations. This study looks at the relative gain of the Tufteln 4:1 EFRW antenna.

3. Vertical + Sloper Wire Study - Vertical antennas can be enhanced by adding a sloper wire off the top of the antenna to give NVIS operation on lower bands and directional gain on upper bands. For SOTA, this simple addition offers extreme flexibility in portable operation. This study compares the relative gain of the Chameleon MPAS Lite system with a 17'vertical and a sloper wire.

4. Elevated vs Ground mounted Vertical Study - In this study the elevated POTA Performer antenna system is compared to the Chameleon MPAS Lite system. Elevated antennas and radials offer a significant efficinecy improvement over ground mounted system. This study will quantify that improvement in terms of relative gain. In addition the AI Gemini engine is used to also predict the antenna performance and the resukts compared to the WSPR study.