[N7OQ]

Well Ken I have a AH-4 and have used it while camping and it works well I still use the AH-4 with my 706 while mobile I load a 102" whip and I have been very happy with it can tune 40 to 6 meters and parts of 80 even though that is a stretch for such a small antenna, but have talked on 80 with fair results. It works best on 40 and 20 because the other bands are just dead until we get some sun spots.

While camping I was string up wire antennas between trees and sometimes it is a pain to find 2 trees in the right spot and distance apart so I decite to buy a portable antenna. I bought a Buddipole, really well made but had problems with it when I first tried to use it. I was getting to much RF feed back and it was causing me to get weird SWR's and I was not getting the antenna tuned correctly. I bought a MFJ-269 antenna analyzer and discovered the feed back so I took half the coax and made a tight 6" loop and have not had a problem sense.They sell a balun for the antenna that will get rid of the feedback and some radios don't have a problem with it at all. I have worked a lot of stations sense and get good reports for portable operations.

There are a few cons with the Buddipole, one you have to move coil taps and adjust telescoping whips to change bands, two if it is raining the coils detune but a lot of Hams have installed various covers for the coils.

One of the things I have done is buy the longer whips for it and it gives you more band width I can use the whole band on 20 and up and it covers 160 khz's on 40 meters, and that is good for a shortened dipole. Another thing I plan to buy is a tripod to mount it so I can put anywhere in the campsite and get it away from the trailer. My trailer is fiberglass and RF will get into the computer interface and the antenna picks up all the noise that the trailer power converter puts out. By moving the antenna 20 feet away all those problems disappear. I should have bought the Buddipole deluxe sense it came with the tripod and rotating arm kit I will now spend more to get all that.

My friend W6KJ had a MH and he used Hamstick dipoles and he swears by them. One of the things I want to try is to put up the Buddipole without the coils using the long whips fully extended and use the AH-4 to tune it, then I don't have to worry about the coils getting wet and I don't have to move coil taps and whip adjustments. I need to find someone who has time to experiment and try the Buddipole with coils and then try it with the AH-4 and see if there is a difference in signal strength. I suggested this on the Buddipole forum and they balked at it, said it was defeating the purpose of the antenna others think it would just not work very well. Anyway it is on my list of things to do.

Sorry for the long winded post but hope some of it might be of some help.