4.5 months in Hawaii, thinking about a small HF Antenna, MFJ Loop, AlexLoop, homebrew

[KI6QPI]

For sure the full 100W, and he used a modified mobile mag mount whip on the roof of the vehicle. I remember him sending me photos of all that, but they were e-mail attachments and likely long discarded.

As I recall what he did was take a regular mobile whip on a mag mount, attach it to the center of the SUV roof, then add four wire radials to the base of that, just extending beyond the edge of the roof and continuing into the surrounding area, laying on the ground. The radials definitely helped, and of course were just ordinary wire. I worked Dave on a few bands from there, but I think mostly 17 meters (also 20 and 40, though, as I recall).

The "trick" was getting away from the hotels/condos etc. and getting out into a clear area away from noise sources. As soon as he did that, all worked well. It's certainly what I would try, too.

Dave probably has some photos of this archived, if you drop him an e-mail asking about it he might find them and send them to you.

I can see trying to work station from a beach chair out on some isolated section of beach. It sounds like the full 100 watts is important, it is only ~3000 miles to the main land. ;-)

[WB2WIK]

I can see trying to work station from a beach chair out on some isolated section of beach. It sounds like the full 100 watts is important, it is only ~3000 miles to the main land. ;-)

It's really only about 2500, but unless propagation's good, that's a long way. It's 5000 miles to Florida and 5500 miles to Maine from there.

I've never spent a lot of time operating there, but I know many who have and they almost all say there are times when propagation is so bad all you can work are other Hawaiians. I suspect when that happens most pack it in and play golf or something.

Problem with the beach chair setup is power and antenna. That's why a car or SUV or something is better: It can provide both power and antenna, and you can still be at the beach.

[G0GQK]

Do a google. There's a fella in Brazil who has a web page with lots of magnetic loops he's made, I would think he knows about loops, he's probably very loopy !

[NH7RO]

+1 more on getting away from the condo and going mobile/portable.

I don't have any experience with loops other than the Delta or HO VHF variety so I can't answer you there. I use a rotatable folded dipole atop a 35' piece of bamboo (yeah it grows to giant sizes over here!) for 20 meters and I love it---really quiet and tunes flat across the band.

If I were you (and assuming you'll have a bit of time to get out and operate) I'd build an inverted Vee with ropes on either end (and one attached to the center) ahead of time. When you get to Hawaii, drive somewhere where you find a quiet spot with some trees by a beach and toss the center rope into the tree, tie off the ends to a couple of lava rocks or whatever---and get on the air. You'll have a blast if the band(s) are open at all (and they are open more often than not, at least to somewhere).

Lots of DXCCs scattered all over the Pacific so if the band is dead to EU or Africa or even the mainland there might be a 5W or VK or T32 or JA or... to work otherwise!

Have fun and hope you work lots of DX when you get here. 10 and 17 are great places to hang out, so is 20m IMO. 73 de Jeff in Volcano, HI BK29

[KA5S]

Do a google. There's a fella in Brazil who has a web page with lots of magnetic loops he's made, I would think he knows about loops, he's probably very loopy !

That's Alex. PY1AHD. Here's his site : http://www.alexloop.com/. Really, he's showing how easy it is to build a loop antenna. I'm thinking about swapping the one-turn loop on his Alexloop for two turns of coax (the element IS coax, with PL-259's) for lower frequency, albeit more inefficient, coverage.

Cortland
KA5S

[KI6QPI]

What are the thoughts on mag mounting a screwdirver on the rental? I am thinking when I get back I can move that to a hitch mount on my truck. Maybe, I am a bit worried about having a big Steal Me sign on my car at home as well I live in a bad section of town.

[WB2WIK]

A screwdriver on a mag mount is something you could only use when "parked," as if you tried to drive with that on the roof it would fall off. Also the mag mounts don't couple all that well at HF and you might need to add some wire radials to make it effective.

The big (rather huge!) 4-magnet roof mounts that look like a letter "H" with a magnet in each corner are better, and possibly strong enough to drive around (as well as providing more coupling to the roof). If I wanted to use a "mag mount," I'd choose one of those big ones (4-magnet design).

The hitch mount is an invitation for vandalism and also not a great place to mount an HF antenna. "Everything works," but a way better choice is to mount the bottom of the screwdriver up higher, and to do so, most use a welded mount that CANNOT be removed without a cutting torch. You might check K0BG's website for more advice on HF mobile antenna installations.