ELK Antenna anybody?
Hello fans,
here is your fellow webmaster coming for some piece of advice.
I live a very confined space in New York City (forget about the heavy beams I left back in Southern Europe) so I have to rely entirely on portable equipment. And for portable I mean bicycle, not even car.
Today at 1900 EST I was over the East River with all my gear when NA1SS popped up on voice. It has been a while since my first voice contact but you know... the excitement stays always the same so I gave it more than a good try. I could not make it and I know you can imagine the frustration.
So now I am trying to figure out if there might be something wrong, starting from the Antenna. So my question is: can anybody share their experiences with the ELK Antenna?
It seems pretty sensitive, but I would like to ear some first had impressions anyways.
Thanks a lot
Alain
P.S.
I already know the Arrow works fantastic
Elk log periodic - GREAT for satellite/ISS work
Hi Alain!
For almost 2 years, I have used the Elk antenna exclusively for my satellite and ISS work, after a couple of years with the Arrow Yagi. I prefer it now, and keep my Arrow Yagi stored in its carry bag. When I travel now, I take an Elk as my antenna (it gets checked for air travel) for my portable satellite station (I carry the radios and most accessories in an old laptop bag). I've logged over 4100 satellite QSOs using Elk antennas in that time, including a week-long road trip through western Canada followed by a quick weekend trip to Mexico during July 2010. More recently, on 4 September, I logged my first ISS voice QSO with the Elk antenna. My other ISS QSOs were back in 2005-2006 using an IC-T7H HT; first with a telescoping whip on the HT, then two others with the Arrow Yagi.
The only problem I ever encountered with the Elk was purely a user issue the first time I tried it to work the AO-27 satellite. I had not realized the coax feedpoint is at the front end of the antenna, unlike with Yagis. I had the coax feedpoint near me, meaning I was transmitting into myself and the ground instead of out to space. Once I rectified that, I've been very happy with the Elk. I made my own handle, since at the time these antennas did not come with the PVC handle as they do now.
I have some videos of my satellite operating with the Elk antenna on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/va7ewk
If you have additional questions, please feel free to e-mail me directly. 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/