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| Stealth portable antenna?; For hotell use | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 17:17 (820 Views) | |
| 21CT903 | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 17:17 Post #1 |
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I'm on a business trip at the moment, laying on the hotel bed not-watching the telly and feeling bored. As a thought experiment i started designing a light DX travel rig that would fit in my computer bag and use as much of my computer gear as possible. Is there a a higly portable antenna that could be used? Theres no way I could put up an 18' halfwave vertical, beside the fact that it wouldn't fit in my bag but possibly a 3-4' whip on a mag mount on the window sill, mayby somthing akin to those steel measure-tape whips, as we all used in the army, with a bottom coil. The PSU would be my DELL laptop PSU at 19.5V 3.34A so that sets the availible power, but 65W in would mean roughly 30W out wich would be ok. How hard would it be to build a SSB only radio in a small box, perhaps controlled by USB from my confuser to get rid of the switches and dials? Could be upper side band only to simplify things and a span of around 27,3-27,8MHz. I already carry a good headset in my bag so we'll use that instead of speaker and mike and just have a PTT-button on the radio. So what do you say, could this actually work or am I just wasting precious time that could have been used to watch a rerun of Bevery Hills Cop 2 instead? /A |
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| Scottydog | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 17:27 Post #2 |
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26 Charlie Tango 441
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I think it would be a whole lot easier to buy a good multimode handheld ![]() SD |
![]() http://www.sunderlandusedoil.co.uk 26CT441@charlietango.co.uk Member of H.A.R.C. (Houghton le Spring amateur radio club) Member of N.E.A.R.S (North East Amateur Radio Society) | |
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| Firetrap | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 17:41 Post #3 |
26CT100
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I have to agree! A handheld multimode with a 45 inch telescopic antenna would work well for your situation. |
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| 21CT903 | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 18:01 Post #4 |
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That is indeed a thought, it didn't even cross my mind that such a beast existed. I thought of a handheld as one of my old Zodiac P-5024 ![]() I found the Albrecht AE-2990 AFS from a local dealer. Perhaps a small amp to push the 12W SSB a bit further. All of a sudden this actually feels feasible. What about antenna? Is there a portable one that could be carried around in a laptop case if you want something better than a tele? |
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| Scottydog | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 18:16 Post #5 |
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26 Charlie Tango 441
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Sure you could carry a dipole wire that can be dangled out of a window,off a balcony,tied to a tree and would fit in your pocket! or just use the telescopic one with it,if your high up in a hotel then even better ![]() SD |
![]() http://www.sunderlandusedoil.co.uk 26CT441@charlietango.co.uk Member of H.A.R.C. (Houghton le Spring amateur radio club) Member of N.E.A.R.S (North East Amateur Radio Society) | |
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| MadMark1 | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 18:57 Post #6 |
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163 Charlie Tango 020
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I would also agree on the Multimode Handheld and using a external antenna such as the dipole mentioned. Also if you did go down the Small multimode route and you were going to use the laptop PSU, I dare say you may see 'smoke' followed by 'Crackles and pops' as the voltage from the laptop Psu is to high for a radio that normally likes to see 13.8 volts, Some will work upto about 15 volts dc. Quote- The PSU would be my DELL laptop PSU at 19.5V 3.34A so that sets the availible power, but 65W in would mean roughly 30W out wich would be ok. Mark |
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| 21CT903 | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 21:40 Post #7 |
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Well, Dell PSU where in the plans when I the plans included building a radio from scratch, I am well aware of the difficulties involved in putting the magic smoke back into electronic circuits. With handheld radio PSU will have to be something else, most likely batteries. A dipole is always possible but hardly convenient for hotelrooms, a coax sleeve dipole is a bit better. |
![]() QTH Växjö, Sweden Locator grid JO76IV | |
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| 21CT903 | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 21:44 Post #8 |
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What range could one realistically expect from a setup like this? Division 2?, 26?, 16?, 47, 20 or only 21? |
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| ChrisC | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 22:48 Post #9 |
26 Charlie Tango 437
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With propagation in your favour, nice and high up, low noise even a mobile antenna you could work the world. I'd personally carry a wire dipole but thats just my choice. |
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| VoG | Wednesday, 23. November 2011, 23:30 Post #10 |
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Another Old School trick for Hotel Room Aerials is the Slinky Spring (the metal one, not the plasic imitation obviously!). String a Slinky Dipole across the hotel balcony and "short" enough loops to get a decent match. Takes up no space in the suitcase and would give you 18ft of spring coiled over a six to eight foot hotel balcony. |
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| 21CT903 | Thursday, 24. November 2011, 06:26 Post #11 |
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Thats a great idea, now all I have to do is wait for Father Christmas
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![]() QTH Växjö, Sweden Locator grid JO76IV | |
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| Deleted User | Thursday, 24. November 2011, 17:00 Post #12 |
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Deleted User
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My friend Petr 329ET201 always on trips and holidays takes with him a AE201S handheld, external mike, 1/4 telescopic and runs with 25w from a motorbike battery and the last time i heard him he was in Crete. Two weeks made over 400 contacts into 44 divisions and was delighted. So seems the way ahead. On the Air And below is his station for you: 90/329et201 |
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