Great antenna in a small package

I took the new Alpha Antenna 6-160 meter Multiband tactical system on my motorcycle with the Icom IC-7300 and a Bioenno LiFePO4 battery for some portable ops. Naturally, smaller is better and its 15″ length in the case disappeared in my pannier. I also took a cheapie lighting tripod due to its small folded dimensions.

Setup was a snap and the jaw mount worked well on the tripod. The black coated MilStick had bare metal at each junction for positive electrical connections and each section fit together tightly and perfectly yet slipped together easily. The Alpha Match unit is solid and heavy stainless steel and screwed easily into the mount with one counterpoise connector slipped on before attachment. The MilStick followed easily, I attached the PL-259 connector and raised the tripod to six feet height. I ran out the counterpoise and used the attached and included stake to fasten it into the ground. Do tie down your tripod on windy days as the antenna, thin as it is, does catch some breeze.

This took about five minute’s total. Once it had my rig operating I turned off the tuner and tested SWR. I got the following results during this one test. Mind you I could probably experiment with placement, height and counterpoise position but got SWRs as follows: 6=2.3, 10=1.6, 12=1.1, 15=2.3, 17=2.7, 20=1.7, 40=2.7 and 80=2.2. The internal tuner on the 7300 allows up to 3:1 and matched every band tuned to 1:1. I had my MFJ-939 antenna tuner with me as a backup but did not need to use it.

20-80 meters was good this day from Temecula, CA and my first two QSOs with Texas and Michigan received 59 reports. Local stations were booming in and I found the antenna worked for local and DX. One note, I was on a small hill facing west with higher hills to my east. That did not seem to make a difference and my signal got out well in every direction. I could not be happier with the performance or build quality.
KA6USA

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