You Made My Day AK4LP

I was testing a 20 meter dipole with an Electronics USA MK-67 BNC center insulator and 25 feet of RG 174. The dipole was supported by crappie poles in the front yard. The rig is the KX3 at 5 watts. So does the new antenna work? Well good enough, as I had a short but sweet QSL with Bob AK4LP in Forest VA. The cool thing was he was on a Youkits HB-1B and an Alexloop. The only thing that could be better would be Alexloop on both ends. I have both a HB-1B and and Alexloop as well. That was a good QRP to QRP QSO! Then I was lucky to work SM7ZDI Vic in Sweden. He had the patience to pull me out.

I have setup a shade for the KX3 as you can see below. I can handle sunburn but I am uncomfortable about the sun heating the black case of the KX3. The 20 meter dipole is a light weight option to pack and I guess the loss is not too bad with RG174. I checked with an online calculator and the loss is about .8 watt at 14 MHz and 1.5 SWR.

Here are some Reverse Beacon Spots for 20 meter dipole at about 18 feet high at 5 watts and 25 ft of RG174 feedline.

de	dx	freq	cq/dx	snr	speed	time
KQ8M	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	3 dB	13 wpm	2213z 23 Sep
KM3T	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	16 dB	13 wpm	2213z 23 Sep
DL1EMY	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	11 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
AA4VV	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	34 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
K8ND	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	11 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
W3OA	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	30 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
K1TTT	N4KGL	14057.6	CQ	15 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
VE2WU	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	23 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
WZ7I	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	20 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
WA7LNW	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	7 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
W3LPL	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	5 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
K3MM	N4KGL	14057.5	CQ	22 dB	13 wpm	2212z 23 Sep
DL1EMY	N4KGL	14057.0	CQ	8 dB	14 wpm	2112z 23 Sep