AT-1743
Used my AT-1743 Tactical Dipole this weekend. Learned that one has to be meticulous about slipping the antenna wire into the slots provided on the storage boards after choosing the desired frequency. After my initial set up, I thought I'd just play it safe and let my internal tuner look at the SWR, although theoretically, I should not have needed the internal ATU for the quasi tuned Dipole antenna. But low and behold, the SWR was through the roof. Turned out that one of the wires had slipped and unraveled itself out of the storage board, resulting in a non-tuned setup. After correction, I was able to reach CO and NY from AR with 30W on 20m.
Nice learning point, nice contacts = fun operating! And my XYL meanwhile enjoyed our picnic together, what could be better :)
My review of the AT-1743 at this time:
Plus: tuned Dipole antenna for any frequency
Minus: Weight... which is however due to the high quality wire, which is long enough for a tuned 2MHz Dipole, so is this really a minus? The reader may decide.
vy 73 de Marcus KD0JKM
