Fred, KT5X – AKA WS0TA, recently put together this document with a lot of antenna ideas (and what led him there). I’ve used information Fred shared with me to make the antenna traps for my tri-band EFHW antenna (I really gotta write about that sometime!). Fred asked me to post this PDF so he can share this info for anyone that might need it.
One of the particularly intriguing (to me) ideas in this PDF is the “beam” antenna on page 4. Enjoy!
Back in January of this year (2019), QRPGuys announced a new kit: the EZ-WSPR Pi, based on a public-domain circuit by HA7DCD. TAPR also has a fully-assembled surface-mount version. Both are “simply” a combo LPF (low-pass filter) and BPF (band-pass filter) with a buffer (and amplifier) for the clock output of the Raspberry Pi, which is what creates the WSPR signal.
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When I started my amateur radio life as KK6VSI in August of 2015, I wish I could have had the information I’m about to lay out here. Of course, most of the equipment didn’t yet exist. So another way of looking at it is that my entry into amateur radio was perfectly timed for a modern Golden Age of Ham Radio. Part of this Golden Age means you can get a QRP Labs QCX or BITX40, and a QRPGuys Antenna, plus a few other components, and you’re on the air! Stick with me here, and we’ll get to the details.
Even though I’m in the middle of figuring out the build of a shortened end-fed half-wave antenna, an improvement on my current EFHW setup, I’d had my eyes on various vertical antenna solutions for a while, even though they’re not as efficient as a full-size antenna. Recently, QRPGuys released a new vertical antenna kit for portable ops, and I couldn’t resist trying it out.