Thursday PM: With the prospect of a stormy weekend I left work early and headed to St Andrews State Park. There is a spot facing Grand Lagoon that has a picnic table. I picked that spot to locate the Bravo 7K. I had a good run of contacts on 17 SSB. I was running 100 watts with the Icom 7100. I had DX including France Italy and Columbia and NM, TX and AZ state side. This was followed by a run on three Maryland stations and West Virginia. These four were on a line directly across the Lagoon. Was that the salt water effect? I had many good reports.
Saturday PM: I initially set up the Bravo 7K on 10 meters to try to contact Eddie ZS6BNE. He was getting RBN spots in the USA. We gave it a good try but no joy. Well as long as the Bravo 7K was setup in the front yard I took advantage of the opening on 10 meters. I also chose to use the KX3 at 8 watts. Here are my contacts.
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| St Andrews State Park next to Grand Lagoon The Bravo 7K is set for 17 meters. |
W1AW/7 28.038 Idaho
KP3DX 28.410 PR
NP3RE 28.450 PR
LW9DHR 28.020 Argentina
CX2DA 28.495 Uruguay
PU5DUD 28.505 Renato Brazil
LU7DH 28.510
CX8DS 27.533 Oscar my rpt 56/57
LU5AQU 28.346
That was fun! I was getting S5 up to S9 reports and really no struggle to get through. I think the low angle of 20 degrees was in my favor for DX.
A few things I like about the Bravo 7K:
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| My front yard. The Bravo 7K is set for 10 meters. |
A few things I like about the Bravo 7K:
- It breaks down to fit in a bag about 3 feet long.
- There is no tuner required as the SWR is under 2 to 1 for 40 through 10. It is broadband.
- I can use it for QRP or QRO.
- It is self supporting as the tripod is included. I got the leg extensions for the tripod. I don't need any poles.
- The tripod legs adjust for uneven ground.
- You set it for the desired band but you do not have to do any tweaking or tuning after that.
- It is kind of visually appealing
- I am having good luck with contacts including DX
Of course, I do have to acknowledge that it weighs about 12 lbs. It does take about 10 minutes to setup. It takes about 3 minutes to change bands. By its design it is not a NVIS antenna.
I am very pleased with this antenna. You may know I am pleased with many antennas. I also like the AlexLoop, various end fed wires and yes the dipole. The fun is picking the one for your portable situation and operating goals. I definitely want to do more testing of the Bravo 7K on the beach and bay side. There are a number of articles on the salt water effect for vertical antennas. The salt water can bring the take off angle from twenty degrees to almost zero degrees. See N6BT.com Perhaps I can take advantage of the salt water effect to work Eddie ZS6BNE and other DX RaDAR operators.
