As we prepare for field and an increase in portable field operations, prepper readiness and picnic table contesting I took several antenna designs up to Signal Hill for deployment.

I use my trusty PackTenna 1:1 and 4:1 baluns, Buddipole Coax and various telescopic poles and tripods to pull this off.

20M 2 Element Beam

The 2 Element beam offers gain and signal improvement but takes the longest to set up. I ended up using trees as support and several hundred feet of paracord (50′ for each end) to deploy. You need to try to at least get this up 16 feet or higher off the ground and keep everything in the same plane. Arrrgggghhhhhhhh  its a headache to install but results did show some signal improvement. I will try a tripod based parking lot set up at one point.

20M Phased Vertical

The classic end fire design lends itself to signal improvements as seen on the FSM readings of the radiation pattern. This one actually could be also rotated as needed. I ended up using tripods and telescopic poles to deploy. I was up and testing in about 30 minutes. I am looking at a 40M version once I get my 32 foot poles for field day. Those K6 and KH6 multipliers are key.

20m Triangle Antenna

Basically a Delta loop that offers gain and low noise. I was pleased with the results but you do need a tall tree to hoist it up. It offers horizontal polarization with a high take off angle. I plan to corner feed it next time as it will offer a low take off angle which is better for DX. This antenna needs a 4:1 Balun.

I ran the Icom 7000 using a Lipo battery as this radio isnt too happy off a gel cell. The radio is not a qrp friendly radio due to drawing 7 amps for 10 watts output and about 1.3 A on receive. It really wants to see 13.8V. The Lipo did well and I will leave this radio at home next time and use something else. The radio having the vhf/uhf band is a bonus and handy but may be better suited for a gobox with a psu or a voltage booster. I have tried a small buck booster and it works but it was limited to a few amps before I burned it up.