Why not a large helium balloon attached to a spool of wire.  You could let
it out as far as you want and have a long wire vertical antenna for 160 even
if you wish.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Moore" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: portable hf antennas


> Thanks Tom,
> I took a quick look at the buddiploe, and it appears to be well
> constructed
> with many excellent reviews.  By the time you add the tripod and 16' mast
> you're up to around $350.  But if it's durable and easy to assemble, it
> could be a viable alternative for a lot of folks.  I guess the tricky part
> for us would be to place the coil taps in the correct spot.  Perhaps we
> could make a template for each band oout of hard plastic.  You would slip
> the template over the end of the coil, attach the clip at the proper spot
> on the coil and remove the template.  You could make separate templates
> for
> each band and mark them with braille or large numbers.
> Again, I'm not speaking from experience, jsut off the top of my head.
>
> Thanks again for the suggestions.
> Chris
>