Using the "little" folding antena hex at Steve's.

For the contest Steve very strongly suggested to bring the Folding antenna. Manufactured by Christian DL1ELU.  The antenna is frequent companion on Heidi's and my travels.  I've worked many valuable DX with it. It is a great performer (for Hex type beam), beats the vertical or dipole anytime.

 Starting to unfould the antenna.  There is only one way to do it... VERY CAREFULLY. Otherwise one will finish with tangled mess.

 Coming to successful conclusion.

 Carrying it to the right place.  It is amazingly light, however the Murphy will hook it on any available obstacle.

 Murphy's hook in action.  To clear please use swearword.

 Ready to mate it with the mast.

 Last adjustment... Just don't forget to screw the coax on. (don't lough - done it before).

 Using the drill to "realign" the fastening bolt.

SWR is good on all bands.

 Object d'art.... don't you think?

Not as high as Steve's "big toy".

Unfortunately we found that there was not enough of separation for not interfering with the other radio, despite the fact that we had the W3NQN filters, but used it sporadically mainly pointing to US.  It was very handy to instantly switch from other antenna to this instead of turning the big beam.

All photos taken by Steve VK3JA.

73
Patrick