I've been using an Eagle One vertical on my 25' Airstream for about five years now, and I've had great success with it. The Eagle One is reasonably inexpensive as portable antennas go. It's very portable in its collapsed configuration (about four feet long overall), and it's quick and easy to deploy. From start to finish I can be on the air in about 20 minutes. I have the antenna mounted in a two inch receiver hitch that I added to the back of the trailer. I mount my bicycle rack there when we're going down the road, and then swap it out for the antenna mount once we set up camp. I have not found the need to use ground radials of any kind. The steel chassis and aluminum fuselage of our Airstream seem to provide an efficient counterpoise. So far the Eagle One has proven to be quite durable. As I mentioned earlier, I've had it for about five years. While working out in Grand Teton Park in Wyoming, I left it up for four entire summers (only four months out there), but it weathered many storms as well as the radically changing temperatures associated with the climate at 7000 feet above sea level. This past summer during the passage of Hurricane Matthew the Eagle One withstood tropical storm force winds without damage. It bowed over like a fly rod in the gusts, but it stood back up straight when the winds subsided.
As can be seen in one attached image, I feed the Eagle One at its base with an Icom AH-4 automatic tuner which instantly tunes the antenna anywhere from 10 to 80 meters. (Please note: What you see connecting the top lug on the tuner to the base of the antenna is not coax. That is 600v Marine High Voltage wire. There is no shielding, only a center conductor and dielectric insulation.) I've received excellent signal reports on all bands. Some have said that at times I sound better portable than I do at my home station which kinda ticks me off, but it does speak well for the portable setup. Before investing in the AH-4, I tried an LDG IT-100 which is LDG's Icom dedicated portable auto-tuner. The IDG worked reasonably well, and it is a little less expensive than the AH-4, but it would not tune the Eagle One on 80 meters for love nor money until I added 30' or so of light wire to the top, turning the antenna into an inverted "L". That configuration seemed to work on 80m, but it forced me to stand up a telescoping painter's pole to support the other end of the additional wire, making the overall installation more complicated and more time consuming to set up. I highly recommend the AH-4. It's an excellent little tuner and works very well with the Eagle One. It does however, limit you to 125 watts PEP, and it will only work with Icom transceivers.
The Eagle One is a highly versatile antenna and can be deployed on a number of mounting systems, including a free standing tripod. It is inexpensive, lightweight, compact when collapsed and very durable. I highly recommend it to all of my land cruising friends.
Well, that's about it from here. If anyone has any questions about my portable station, please don't hesitate to give me a call. We're good in the WRCC Roster and on QRZ.
You may also respond to blogs by clicking on comments. Look for more photos on the Gallery page.
73.. Ridge N3JUY
As can be seen in one attached image, I feed the Eagle One at its base with an Icom AH-4 automatic tuner which instantly tunes the antenna anywhere from 10 to 80 meters. (Please note: What you see connecting the top lug on the tuner to the base of the antenna is not coax. That is 600v Marine High Voltage wire. There is no shielding, only a center conductor and dielectric insulation.) I've received excellent signal reports on all bands. Some have said that at times I sound better portable than I do at my home station which kinda ticks me off, but it does speak well for the portable setup. Before investing in the AH-4, I tried an LDG IT-100 which is LDG's Icom dedicated portable auto-tuner. The IDG worked reasonably well, and it is a little less expensive than the AH-4, but it would not tune the Eagle One on 80 meters for love nor money until I added 30' or so of light wire to the top, turning the antenna into an inverted "L". That configuration seemed to work on 80m, but it forced me to stand up a telescoping painter's pole to support the other end of the additional wire, making the overall installation more complicated and more time consuming to set up. I highly recommend the AH-4. It's an excellent little tuner and works very well with the Eagle One. It does however, limit you to 125 watts PEP, and it will only work with Icom transceivers.
The Eagle One is a highly versatile antenna and can be deployed on a number of mounting systems, including a free standing tripod. It is inexpensive, lightweight, compact when collapsed and very durable. I highly recommend it to all of my land cruising friends.
Well, that's about it from here. If anyone has any questions about my portable station, please don't hesitate to give me a call. We're good in the WRCC Roster and on QRZ.
You may also respond to blogs by clicking on comments. Look for more photos on the Gallery page.
73.. Ridge N3JUY