Amateur Radio Station WD8RIF

The KX3 covers all bands 160m through 6m. It would be very challenging (or, more likely, impossible) to find a single easy-to-deploy field antenna that works well on all of these bands. Fortunately, I am primarily interested in operating on the bands 80m through 10m while in the field, making the task of finding a single field-deployable antenna that's small enough to pack easily much more manageable.

Currently, for 10m-80m, I carry a 28½' end-fed wire and three 17' counterpoise wires which I hang as a vertical and connect to the KX3 through a homebrew 4:1 unun (links: 1 | 2) or an Elecraft BL-1 4:1 balun. (I initially used a BNC-to-dual-banana-socket adapter instead of an unun or a balun but there were some occasions during my National Parks on the Air activations in 2016 when the KX3/KXAT3 wouldn't tune the antenna on one band or another.)

For better performance on 80m, I've tested a 58' (source) end-fed wire several times as a sloper, as an inverted-L, and as an inverted-vee. The first time, with the low-hanging 58' wire fed through a BNC-to-dual-banana-socket adapter, the KXAT3 tuned the antenna well on 80m only when the (then) 28' wire and two of the shorter wires were connected as a counterpoise. The second test, performed during a POTA activation of Dillon State Park (link), with the 58' wire sloping up to the top of a 33' fiberglass mast and fed through an Elecraft 4:1 balun, with a 28½' counterpoise wire lying directly under the sloper and a 17' counterpoise wire running in the opposite direction, the KXAT3 easily found good matches on all the bands tested: 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m, and 80m. Subsequent tests at POTA activations of Zaleski State Forest (link), Vinton Furnace State Forest (link), and Wayne National Forest (link) demonstrated that while the 58' wire sloper/inverted-L/inverted-vee through a 4:1 balun tunes easily on all bands of interest, the antenna doesn't operate as well on 20m and 40m as the 28½' end-fed wire vertical with three radials. QSOs were significantly harder to make at Wayne National Forest with the 58' wire than at nearby Burr Oak State Park (link) on the same afternoon with the 28½' wire vertical with three radials. (Note to self: N7RR reports that a 58' radiator with one 13.1' counterpoise loads on all bands 80m-6m on his KX3 with KXAT.)

For 10m-80m, I've tested a 42' W3EDP Jr. antenna (link). During my initial test, with the antenna connected through a 4:1 balun, my KXAT3 found a good match for all bands 10m-40m but didn't find a match on 80m.

To hang wire antennas in trees, I carry a length (~66') of very small parachute cord in a camping-style clothesline reel; I typically spool the line fully out of the reel, tie the free end to a half-full disposable water-bottle, and lob the bottle over a tree-branch or, if the tree is small, over the whole tree. I also carry a 100-yard spool of dental floss and a couple of large fishing weights to use in a similar fashion. Note to self: Consider painting the fishing weights highway-safety orange.

For my 2016 National Parks on the Air activations, I carried an MFJ-1910 33' fiberglass telescoping mast, a re-purposed roof-top tripod, stakes, and a hammer in a canvas military-surplus antenna-bag. I quickly found that erecting this mast assembly to support the 28½' end-fed wire is usually quicker and easier than throwing a line over a branch—and it works when there isn't a tree or branch available. This mast isn't tall enough to support the entire W3EDP Jr. as a vertical but can support it in an L, inverted-L or inverted-V configuration. I now also have a 31' Jackite fiberglass telescoping mast and a home-made drive-on support base for use when my station will be in or very near the car.

Descriptions of field-deployable antennas I've used with the larger K2 Travel Kit are located here. Any of the antennas that worked well with the K2 Travel Kit should work well with the smaller Enhanced KX3 Travel Kit but may need to be carried externally.