During a cross-country driving trip, we have been stopping to do Parks on the Air (POTA) activations at a number of state and national parks. At some locations it has seemed best to me to keep a very low profile, so that I do not distract others who are enjoying the area. For optimum stealth, I choose to use my Elecraft KX2 with its companion AX1 antenna. The setup shown in the next picture comes from an activation in a parking lot at the Mount Rushmore National Monument. I found I could clamp the AX1 to the base of the VHF/UHF mobile antenna on the fender of my truck, run the counterpoise wire over the hood and toss the remainder directly under the truck, and run the feedline in through the driver's side window. I was uncertain about the effectiveness of this setup for three reasons:
- The AX1 (a base-loaded 4 ft whip) starts as a compromised antenna system
- Having the whip parallel to and separated by only 2 inches from the mobile whip could have unpredictable effects
- Running the counterpoise wire mostly under the truck would also have uncertain effects
- Mt Rushmore QTH
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What would you expect from this antenna setup?
The next picture shows the QSO map from the activation. It took less than 30 minutes to log 11 contacts.
- Mt Rushmore QSO Map
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Based on this success, I decided to use the same setup during an activation in Yellowstone National Park. All went well for the first contact, then a large recreational vehicle (RV) pulled in to the next parking space. You can see it in the next picture. The RV was longer than my truck, and despite the perspective seen in the picture, it was actually higher than the top of the AX1 antenna.
- Old Faithful QTH
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What would you expect from this antenna setup?
The next picture shows the QSO map from the activation. It took 40 minutes after the first unobstructed contact to get 10 more contacts for a total of 11. This was not as quick, but persistence paid off.
- Old Faithful QSO Map
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I will say that I was surprised at my success with this configuration. A couple more pieces of might be useful. First, all contacts were made on the 20m band running CW mode at 5 watts. Second, solar conditions were good for both activations. I am definitely interested in your thoughts.
