Mount Evelyn DX Report: HAND-CARRIED QRP ANTENNAS

Book Review

HAND-CARRIED QRP ANTENNAS
Simple antennas and accessories to operate from almost anywhere

by Peter Parker VK3YE

Review by Rob Wagner VK3BVW

This handy and inexpensive little e-book is well worth the small investment for the many amateur radio operators and shortwave listeners who enjoy DXing in the great outdoors! Indeed, with radio operators increasingly finding themselves under a variety of antenna restrictions from their local homeowner association (HOA), there are also plenty of antenna designs that would also work well in difficult situations at the home QTH.

Peter Parker VK3YE is a long-time ham operator with tons of experience in built-it-yourself gear and antennas; skills developed over many years of trial-and-error. He is a prolific author of books on QRP and portable operations, and his somewhat quirky YouTube videos are very popular amongst radio enthusiasts.

In Hand-Carried QRP Antennas, Peter emphasises that the antenna is a significant element in the success of portable operations. A poorly designed antenna will result in not hearing or being heard by other stations. The focus is on simple and easily packed antennas for deployment in portable or outdoor locations. The author continually stresses the need for portable antennas and accessories to be light for transportation purposes and easily handled by one operator.

But the actual antenna is just one aspect of hearing and being heard. You still have to somehow get the wire up in the air. So poles and supporting structures are discussed here. Light-weight accessories (e.g. tuners etc.) and even basic test gear are also considered important parts of the QRP DXpedition.

TYPES OF PORTABLE ANTENNAS
Peter has gone to considerable trouble and research detailing the many HF and VHF/UHF antennas he has trialled over the years, including their advantages and challenges. Covered in this book is the typical centre-fed horizontal design, along with its many variations of folded, multi/fan, link, loaded and trap dipoles. There is a good discussion on the advantages of tuned feeder dipoles as well. Also mentioned are the off-centre fed antennas and end-fed wires with counterpoise and loading coils.

The author points out that vertical wire antennas are well worth considering, especially for restricted space locations such as hotel balconies or courtyards. Here he includes quarter/half-wave verticals, loaded and trap verticals, and vertical dipoles.

I was pleased to see the inclusion of a discussion on large loop antennas, as I have personally found that these are a proven low noise alternative in less than ideal noisy locations.....providing you have the space to erect them. Covered here are four and three-sided loops and compact transmitting loops.

And just because you are temporarily located outdoors doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider multi-element gain antennas, too. Peter discusses the half-square, bobtail, and bi-square antennas, as well as phased verticals, vertical and horizontal wire beams, plus vee-beams and rhombics. He even includes a short list of antennas to avoid when planning your next field trip or DXpedition.

BUILDING ANTENNAS
Another part of the book includes some fabulous building tips, including an extensive list of useful materials for that next antenna project. Here, Peter Parker proves to be the master of cheap antenna construction! He humorously reflects on some of his early youth spent at rubbish tips, taking apart radios and TVs and building electronic projects that mostly did not work. Since those days, he has spent decades building gear, designing gear and experimenting with gear. So he is well-qualified and experienced to write on the many ways to construct antennas and accessories with a tight budget in mind! This is one of the most useful sections of the book for the thrifty ham and SWL. He also has some great ideas for supporting your temporary antenna….including using a kite or weather balloon!

FEEDING AND MATCHING THE ANTENNA
There is a discussion on types of feedlines, baluns, couplers, plus the inclusion of circuits for some coupler building projects. Another section includes very basic test equipment and accessory projects that will be of interest to the QRP ham. Although this will be of little use to shortwave listeners, it is useful reading for those SWLers who may be interested in taking their skills further if they later choose to sit for their amateur radio licence.

PLUS……
The latter part of the book offers some excellent ideas for portable HF and VHF antenna projects. Many of these would also work well at home locations where compromise antennas need to be considered because of space restrictions, local laws, or lack of supporting structures. The book concludes with “Ten Tips for QRP Success”.

IN SUMMARY
I really enjoyed this book! It is full of practical ideas and suggestions, along with plenty of possibilities that you may not have considered in the past. I bought the Kindle e-Book version. Some of the included photos appeared to be of a rather low resolution - I am not sure if that was an issue at Peter’s end or image compression that Amazon Kindle employs to lower the size of the downloaded file. However, the antenna and circuit diagrams were very crisp, clear and easy to read. There is also a paperback edition available.

Available as a Kindle edition at Amazon U.S. and in a paperback edition. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

UPDATE: In 2020, Peter released the second book in this series: More Hand-carried QRP antennas: Simple antennas and accessories to operate from almost anywhere. Check it out!

POSTSCRIPT
Make sure you spend time checking out Peter’s website as well. There is a multitude of receiving and transmitting projects, many YouTube videos on various electronic projects and tutorials, tips on how to get the most out of amateur radio, and much, much more! Go to www.vk3ye.com

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW