Like a slap in the face!

I was trying to balance my checkbook over the weekend and was off by about $100 or something shy of 14 gallons of gas here in Southern California.

I made no subtraction mistakes in the check register and upon close examination found a direct deposit from the US Government (Social Security) in the exact amount of the discrepancy. 

I surmise it was a gift from "Donald" trying to buy my vote for the mid-terms. He should be embarrassed in the smallness of the gesture. But I guess that is what happens when you are a billionaire and like Marie Antoinette said let the peons eat cake.  

That paltry amount will fill up my gas tank once and if you want to do something meaningful dump the tariff BS. 

I hope every American understands it will take a generation to right the economic chaos caused by the events of the last two years. Vote your wallet in the upcoming mid-terms.

A quote to ponder...

I only hire the best and the brightest. Possibly four women didn't get the message.

Are you happy?

Happiness makes the day go better and engages the soul. How many Americans are really happy? Certainly, gas costs more, groceries cost more, the heat is almost unbearable, and we don't know if Iran will bomb California or the Cascadia sub-duction will suck the west coast into the ocean. Are these current issues conducive to happiness? That answer seems akin to brown shoes with a tuxedo. We all know where the blame rests and the mid-terms give us all a chance to vote our feelings. 

The Risk of Power.

 What happens when the faithful lose faith?

We don't know the result but now it is time to pop more popcorn as the interesting part of the plot is about to unfold.

Do You Still Believe Trump?

Sometimes you have to ask yourself the hard questions especially if you voted for Trump.

1.  Do you still believe in Trump?

It is a simple binary answer and needs no further explanation.

Chick Magnets

POTA, The new Chick Magnet (Dream Version)!

POTA, The new Chick Magnet (Reality Version)!

It is all about Contests and Operating.

(Images AI Generated ~ Copilot)

Really Over!

 Blog Content will not be deleted.

End of the Line.

Life is too short and the Blog of late has consumed a lot of my energy and time. But no more.

Thanks for riding along and hopefully we will all survive 2026.

I will leave the past posts on the blog for about two weeks and then all will be removed. 

Pat Boone, early in his career shared some advice given to him by Bing Crosby. The story goes Crosby said to Boone, Kid don't stay on too long. I have stayed on too long.

Them that know, survive.

Pete N6QW

The new face of the Ham Radio Operator

 

The Melding of Ham Radio & Social Media

A blog reader sent me this video, and I thought the proud, the few and the brave N6QW blog readers would like to see this. The "Glam Ham" is out here on the left coast and is the new face of a ham radio operator. 

She is an Extra and has some very nice higher end station equipment. This video is live streamed, and the call signs mentioned are DX calls and quite a following. I surmise she has a lot of stick time behind the mic as she mentions at one time being a commercial disc jockey. 

There did not appear to be any home-grown rigs in her shack and certainly in line with the very large majority of today's hams. But with certainty a good ambassador for our beloved hobby.

Them that know, survive. Tomorrow is Easter and I pray for the safety of our troops who are in harm's way.

73's

Pete N6QW

Consistent Performance with the new PNP CW Transmitter

Let me put in a context easily understood... You get dates with good looking YLs all the time not just one time with one good looking YL.

More data as I just took a look with the RBN at 6AM on April 3, transmitting on 7013 kHz. I was heard in the 400-to-900-mile range running 300 milliwatts. That tells me two things as the PNP CW transmitter can yield consistent contacts and the need for a solid design with appropriate harmonic filters. Low power out of ham band signals can be heard at great distances.

I have run QRP for many years but at the watt level not milliwatts. The solid acid test of course is real contacts not the RBN. But the Reverse Beacon Network is a strong indicator of performance especially if it is consistent. 

The two crystals (7030 and 7055 kHz) I have coming are frequencies considered as watering holes and lots of activity and so that should set us up for the real acid test. (I really splurged and paid $10 including shipping for the two rocks. I stole money from my grocery budget.)

I will stop posting on this subject in deference to those who do not do home grown radios. Guess this being a holiday weekend the bands will be choked with contests and POTA/SOTA crap. So maybe a good time to work on the T/R sequencer.

Them that know, survive. I had a near cardiac arrest experience yesterday when I bought 6 gallons of gas and that took two $20 bills. I have a 20-year-old car and get about 23 mpg. So that comes to 23 * 6 = 138 mile range. That means two weeks of visits to the cemetery to visit the XYL (60 miles) and a doctor visit on Monday (28 miles) and three trips for groceries, banking and miscellaneous (30 miles). That leaves me 20 miles for a buffer. Thank You, Donald Trump for starting a war!

73's

Pete N6QW

PNP CW QRP Rig now on 40M

 

The home-grown rig has been moved to 40M on 7013 kHz and gets 12 Volts PTP out of the W3NQN LPF. That is 360 milliwatts. At 7 AM my signal was heard in the 600-to-800-mile range. 

I have ordered "rocks" for 7030 and 7055 kHz. (The original MC1496 DCR was built for 40M.) The additional power output can be traced to the crystal itself and that the circuit components in the driver stage favor 40M versus 20M. The emitter bypass cap in the driver plays a big part in the frequency spread.

Them that know, survive. Of note do you believe only a couple of more weeks in the Iran war. Reminds me of when I went to Vietnam... like 10 years. Survival depends on trusting your gut and the actions you personally take.

73's

Pete N6QW

PNP Transistor CW Transmitter... SUCCESS!

Productive day yesterday as I came up with a good Colpitts type Oscillator circuit and with some more biasing adjustments we are getting 9.4 Volts PTP at the output side of the W3NQN Filter.

New oscillator board, the Amp and Keyer Board plus LPF 

Thus our 9.4 Volts PTP translates to (9.4^2) * 2.5 = 221 Milliwatts which is a good start (from 50 milliwatts). All Devices are 2N2905's and PNP.

[JIC... Vrms = 0.35355 * Vptp or Vrms = 0.35355 * 9.4 or 3.32337 Vrms. Vrms^2/50 = power in WATTS. 3.32337^2/50 = 0.220895763 Watts or 221 Milliwatts. Or using my short cut Vptp^2 * 2.5 = power output in milliwatts. QED]

221 Milliwatts @ 14.060 MHz. Clean Pattern

The next step is to see if it is heard on the Reverse Beacon Network. That should prove interesting. For a pair of Ears in the final lash up, I am going to use my MC1496 Direct Conversion Receiver. The sweet smell of success!

Imagine that... my 221 milliwatts heard by DX at 2523 Miles

With 221 Milliwatts I was heard out to 2500 Miles which is about 11.3 miles per milliwatt. Good Show OM.

This home-grown stuff can be real fun stuff and for me better than 5X9, Park 12345. This little project is a throwback to when hams were hams. I engineered this rig and not something the average ham today can do! That is OK as the ham radio tent is large and those that can home grow a rig is almost infinitesimal. So, the 1% is an aberration but still a part of the hobby.  We are a beacon to those who feel guilty they can only do contests, operate or watch you tube videos of YL's calling CQ POTA.

Time to think about integrating the Transmitter and DCR into a homogenous rig. The MC1496 DCR BTW has a PNP RF amplifier stage. I thought may be an Arduino to handle the switching. Sort of something old something new.

Them that know, survive. Will you survive?

73's

Pete N6QW

I turned on my soldering iron!

You ask why did you turn on the iron when ham radio is not about building things. It is all about contests, operating and watching You Tube Videos of YL's making POTA contacts.

Just because is my answer as I want to explore circuits that may be obscure or not very often used. It is like a technical challenge thing for me. Maybe the challenge for most hams today is staying awake during contests and operating.

But for me right now.... I want to revisit using PNP Transistors in a CW transmitter. Yes, Sony has identified that NPN transistors are better for their products. But unlike the ARRL and their proposed CSI grading system, PNP transistors can work in RF circuits without fear of getting flat feet, jock itch, dandruff, toe fungus or an STD. The key to this project is no cost and use what is in the junk box. Brent Crude today > $113 a barrel.

Firstly, I should mention I have a box of 100 Russian Germanium PNP transistors that I bought years ago at a cost of 20 cents each. These are good in the UHF range and found it can produce 0.8 Volts PTP at 14 MHz, in a crystal oscillator circuit. That my friend that is 1.6 milliwatts. So, it will need a big boost to put out at least 100 milliwatts (about 20dBm) or 18 dB gain from 1.6 milliwatts. We are using what we have in the junk box.

My first hurdle was a Google literature search for PNP Oscillator circuits and that turned up lots of sample circuits... all NPN which of course was not useful. The same type of results with Copilot. Then I thought about my library shelf. Forget EMRFD but struck Gold with the Transistor Radio Handbook by Stoner and Earnshaw. 

I went back to Copilot and said did you consider the Stoner/Earnshaw publication. Copilot's reply was Pete you struck Gold. It then spit out a circuit using either a 2N2907 or 2N3906. Of course, I want to use the Russian Germanium Transistor, so I have a starting place.

Back of Envelope Schematic... It Bombed!

Useless...

Here is an interesting story about the Russian Germanium Transistors. I had the scope on the output of a test circuit and pulled the crystal and found out I still had a scope trace. The built-in counter read 234 MHz. [kB=1] It was either self-oscillating or a parasitic oscillation. So indeed, in the UHF range.

PNP CW Transmitter

I had previously built a PNP Driver Stage that now looks like this.

I am still working on the oscillator circuit itself as I really want about 10 milliwatts from the oscillator stage as that would get me about 300 Milliwatts out of the Driver. Now we are cooking!

Looking through the junk box, I found an NPN Oscillator board and with a bit of jury rigging have it working with the Russian PNP Transistor and an earlier version PNP Driver using a 20M QRP Crystal. The Output was only 50 milliwatts. Thus, more work at boosting the output of the oscillator. 

Ultimately, I want it to work to develop several hundred milliwatts using PNP devices. We now have the Copilot suggested Colpitts topology and so we will begin building that circuit.

Well, that Colpitts circuit did not do as well as the junk box NPN adapted to PNP. I swapped out some bias resistors and with a bit of good luck now get 8.4 Volts PTP out of the Driver at 14.06 MHz and that translates to 176 Milliwatts. If I could get 9 Volts PTP that is 200 Milliwatts [9X9X2.5 = 202.5]. There is also a change in that now there are 2N2905's in all three sockets: Oscillator, Driver and Keying Transistor. 

At the Oscillator, with some resistance changes I now get 1.24 Volts PTP with the 2N2905. That is 3.84 Milliwatts. Thus, our Driver stage is producing 16.6 dB of gain. [10*log (176/3.84) = 16.6] LT Spice calculates the Driver stage gain at > 18dB.

I also earlier found a P MOSFET equivalent to the IRF510 and so a possible pair of "boots" for the basic PNP circuit. OTs know a pair of boots is an outboard amplifier for boosting your signal.

For me this is more fun than yelling CQ POTA, 5X9, Park 12345. But for the 99% majority of hams the 5X9, Park 12345 is the soup du jour.

Them that know, survive. Stay Tuned!

73's

Pete N6QW

So, how are you doing?

The answer to that question is of course it depends. If you are in the bottom 90% of Americans, the answer maybe not so well.

I asked Copilot to assess the effect of the Big Beautiful Bill of 2025 and given the tariffs, a war with Iran, and the employment situation how does it look for lower income and middle-income Americans.

It is the end of the month, and I can tell the disposable income is just not there. Thus, the question to Copilot and the response.

Final Verdict: Are lower‑ and middle‑income Americans losing?

Yes — when you combine:

• ✔️ Tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill (positive)

with

• ❌ Tariffs (negative)

• ❌ Inflation on essentials (negative)

• ❌ War‑driven energy spikes (negative)

• ❌ Rising unemployment (negative)

• ❌ Cuts to safety‑net programs (negative)

…the net effect is negative for both lower‑income and middle‑income households.

This is not a political interpretation — it is exactly what the distributional models show.

So, for the majority who voted for you know who, time to vote your wallet in the mid-terms.

Today you are faced with a tough choice of either putting 3 gallons of gas in your car or buying a $20 Pixie Transceiver.

Them that know, survive!

73's

Pete N6QW

The N6QW Blog Demographics

A YL Ham who went from no License to Extra Class in a short period of time has a very active You Tube channel with over 8K followers and over 50 videos in just a few months of 2026. To this YL ham, a tip of the cap and well done. Her videos individually get thousands of views.

Then I thought about my You Tube channel that has less than a third of her followers and has been around over 15 years and has 360 videos. The number of views has of late been tepid. I said to myself... self you must be doing something terribly wrong.

So, I asked Copilot to characterize the typical "look" of an N6QW Blog Viewer. Using data from You Tube and my Blog I fed that info into the AI input form,

One of the N6QW Blog Readers!*

The difference is quite clear as the stuff I do and the videos, I make are out of step with the majority of ham ops today. The YL's videos have frequently covered POTA and SOTA ops. Yet another piece of evidence that the ARRL has been successful in shifting the total focus of the hobby to contests and operating.

But our typical reader would know things that the YL would never know and that knowledge is a rich tapestry of thing past and lets explore some of those.

One of the co-founders of the ARRL was Hiram Percy Maxim, W1AW. Those of you who are NRA members (and those who may be affiliated with organized crime) genuflect and kiss the ring as W1AW also invented the silencer. His dad invented the Maxim Machine Gun. Those with a degree from MIT also genuflect... he got his ME Degree from MIT at age 17.

W1AW

Of import in this photo is that W1AW is wearing a pair of "cans" AKA headphones. Our blog reader would know about cans.

Often hams of old would end a QSO (contact) by saying I am going to QSY (change frequency) to a "cold 807". The 807 was a popular transmitting tube akin to an IRF510 on steroids. The photo below shows the similar appearance of an 807 to a beer bottle (before canned beer). Yes, he is going to have a cold beer.

807

When our blog reader says he has a box of rocks the reference is to Crystals that enable frequency agility. Rocks pre-date analog VFO's and Si5351's.

Other terms like "fire in the wire" (a healthy dose of RF into the antenna) or "my ears" (the station receiver when all stations were separates) will never be uttered by the YL in a POTA run. 

In fact, all the POTA information exchanged is 5X9 and Park Number 12345. We will never know she is sitting with her car trunk open running an expensive appliance box, a similarly expensive portable vertical antenna and collecting the information on a Apple IPad. There is an absence of cold 807's in sight

The current ARRL subliminal message with CSI, is that you cannot do contests and operating unless you have a CSI sticker on your radio.  I can never hope to achieve her numbers staying in the home-grown lane. I also wonder if W1AW, the old man himself, would approve of what the ARRL is doing today. Given how the ARRL came into being I suspect W1AW would disapprove and so should you.

Them that know, survive.

73's

Pete N6QW

* The AI generated the image and is just that. Any similarity to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

One Half the Peace Sign Salute to the ARRL CSI

 

Hermes Lite 2.0

Whether you like it or not, eventually you will be forced to have a CSI "stickered" appliance box in your shack. The Nerds from Newington likely will lobby the FCC to make CSI a regulation and law of the land. Time to dump your membership! This effort by the ARRL Lab will kill home grown radios and force you to dump anything other than CSI appliance boxes.

While that is the death knell for ugly construction and home-grown crystal filters there is much to be said for the Thetis Software and a reasonably priced commercial SDR transceiver. The Hermes Lite 2.0 costing about $500 in a finished form plus shipping coupled with the Thetis software is an eye-popping experience. I have one and the Thetis front end is superb. A microsecond with the Noise Reduction functionality will convince you.

With an outboard RF Sampler (about $100) you now have the Pure Signal Functionality of the Apache Labs radios. You can add a 100-watt amp and have something rivaling the ICOM and Yaesu SDR radios and still have some change in your pocket. I have a CCI AN762 amp and so I am there.

For us OT's, The HL2, Thetis and an Amp would be like having Bridget Bardot as a close friend... a really close friend with benefits.

Copilot explains...

Here’s a clean, high‑impact overview of the Hermes‑Lite 2.0 HF SDR transceiver, pulling together the most authoritative details from the latest sources. This gives you the essentials fast, then dives into the technical depth you appreciate.

⭐ Hermes‑Lite 2.0 — What It Is

The Hermes‑Lite 2.0 is a low‑cost, open‑hardware, open‑source HF SDR transceiver covering 130 kHz–30 MHz with 5 W output, built around the AD9866 modem chip and a Cyclone IV FPGA. It’s essentially a compact, Ethernet‑connected, ANAN‑style radio designed for experimenters and serious SDR operators.

📡 Core Technical Specs

• HF Coverage: 130 kHz → 30 MHz

• RF Output: 5 W QRP

• Architecture: Direct down/up‑conversion SDR

• Main ICs:

• AD9866 broadband modem

• Altera Cyclone IV FPGA (same family used in ANAN 7000)

• Interface: Gigabit Ethernet for low‑latency I/Q streaming

• Form Factor: Single‑board SDR (HL2+ variants add I/O features)

🧰 Operating Modes

• CW

• SSB

• AM

• FM

🔧 Advanced Capabilities

PureSignal / Adaptive Predistortion

• Full support for PureSignal, just like Apache Labs ANAN radios.

• Requires an RF sampler feeding back into the radio (typically via RF3).

• Thetis analyzes the sampled RF and applies real‑time linearization.

Upgradeable Gateware

• SparkSDR and other tools can load new FPGA gateware.

• Custom gateware required for HL2+ companion boards.

Open‑Source Everything

• Hardware, firmware, and software are fully open.

• Active community, group buys, and ongoing development.

🖥️ Compatible SDR Software

The Hermes‑Lite 2.0 speaks the OpenHPSDR protocol, so it works with:

• Thetis (most advanced UI + PureSignal control)

• PowerSDR

• SDR Console

• SparkSDR (also loads gateware)

• Quisk

• PiHPSDR

🧩 Optional Add‑Ons

Filter Board

• Required for proper TX harmonic suppression

• Includes RX high‑pass filter to reduce <2 MHz broadcast overload

I/O Board

• Relay control

• Antenna switching

• PA control

• Sampler input for PureSignal

Hermes‑Lite 2+ Companion Board

• Local mic jack

• Local headphone jack with sidetone

• Iambic keyer

• AH‑4 tuner interface

• Hardrock‑50 PA control

(From Makerfabs and community documentation.)

💡 Why Operators Love It

• ANAN‑like performance at a fraction of the cost

• Open‑source ecosystem encourages experimentation

• PureSignal support gives exceptionally clean transmit audio

• Gigabit Ethernet means low latency and high bandwidth

• Huge software flexibility across platforms

🧭 If you want, I can also help you with:

• A Hermes‑Lite 2.0 vs ANAN 7000/8000 comparison

• A step‑by‑step PureSignal setup for your HL2 + Thetis

• A POTA/SOTA‑optimized HL2 portable setup

• Choosing the right sampler, filter board, or PA

Just tell me where you want to go next.

To run the Pure Signal functionality, you must have the I/O Board installed (about $53) so order that too!

The RF Sampler (about $100) can be had from the Ukraine at this link.

You are stuck with CSI and so aside from flashing half the Peace Sign, you can get a radio that has Pure Signal functionality. The HL2 is a semi kit as you will have to install the boards in a case... but it is more like LEGOs and no soldering required.

I have had my HL2 for about 5 years and actually the bonus benefit is its use a piece of test equipment. Many a time I was able to evaluate a conventional home-grown rig to look at the spectrum and check for any spurs and best of all to see if I really was 30 Hertz low.

Them that know, Survive and I just flashed half the Peace Sign to the ARRL.

73's

Pete N6QW

Build, Test, Enjoy, Ignore the ARRL

Something for the notebook. In the course of things, displaying 1/2 the Peace Sign to the ARRL CSI.

Them that know, survive.

73's

Pete N6QW

Who is in Charge?

We live in the era of poor service. Count how many times a week where you have an expectation of service (and paying dearly for same) only to experience the short shrift. 

I want to share an example of such an event. Income Tax time and this year I had a good news bad news story. The good news no Federal Tax as I had made provisions for such but on the state income tax, I did owe a small amount to the State of California. My accountant filed my taxes electronically.

You have options for paying the State Tax and if you use a Credit Card there is a hefty fee. I chose to use a check (no fee) but did send the payment via the USPS Priority Mail so I would have tracking of the receipt. That fee was $12. 

It took eight days to travel from Newbury Park to Sacramento a distance of maybe 450 miles. If I had sent the tax return via Priority Mail on April 8, 2026, I would have been delinquent. In another instance a Priority Mail letter to Florida took over a week. Who is in charge?

We might ask the same question about the Iran war as it appears that certain actions taking place may have been influenced by a TV Host's comments or individuals leading a podcast. Who is in charge?

I am a fan of WWII action movies, and one obscure movie has a radio twist. That movie is the American Guerilla in the Philippines staring Tyrone Power. In the movie Power is an Ensign and an Officer on a PT Boat who has his boat literally shot out from in under him on December 8, 1941. He ends up in Cebu and gets pressed into service setting up a guerilla radio network. It was so cool to see the building of a radio transmitting station all from scrap parts. Luckily there was no ARRL rep standing around complaining about not having a clean signal. No question Power was in charge.

The real answer is we are in charge and we can accept or reject what is currently happening. Old what is his name needs to hear from us if we do not agree with his policies as that is the foundation of democracy. In a few short months we will also get a chance to clean offices of those who represent us who are not doing their job and giving us the short shrift. Time for us to be in charge and clean house.

Them that know, survive.

73's

Pete N6QW

More Breaking News about the ARRL CSI

Some have asked why the Brouhaha about the Clean Signal Initiative being touted by the ARRL. That is a genuine question that needs a full investigation. 

One current argument: this is no big deal as it only affects commercial equipment. What are you smoking as in time this opens the door to ALL equipment including kits and home-grown radios. 

There is no such thing as compartments and so it is a big deal. It also suggests that in the future the only compliance will be SDR based radios with pre-distortion algorithms. Read a significant incremental cost to appliance boxes driven not by the FCC but by the ARRL Laboratory.

The ARRL is a business, and businesses must survive to stay in business. This survival always causes a shift in the internal Mission Statement versus that which is the openly suggested Mission Statement.

From Copilot...

🎯 Official ARRL Mission Statement

“To advance the art, science, and enjoyment of Amateur Radio.”

This is the long‑standing, formally published mission statement used across ARRL sections and official documents.

🆕 Updated Mission Language (2024 Board Discussion)

ARRL leadership recently highlighted a refined version emphasizing youth and future growth:

“ARRL’s mission is to promote and protect the art, science, and enjoyment of amateur radio, and to develop the next generation of radio amateurs.”

This updated phrasing appears in ARRL Board communications and reflects strategic priorities but does not replace the classic mission statement in all official materials.

Now the problem is just how does one execute that; well, we certainly know the demonstration of emphasizing youth and future growth: From no license to no class Extra Class in 45 minutes. No technical expertise required which seems to violate the original Mission Statement about advancing the art and science of the hobby.

The ARRL is a business, and you have to make it viable and that comes from revenue generation. At the current dues rate, all you routinely get is a digital copy of QST, and that likely is a negative impact to the revenue stream. The primary source of revenue has to be the advertising base.

From the ARRL Executive Committee Meeting Minutes of November 5, 2025, the official membership is:

🟦 1. ARRL’s Official Public Figure

• “More than 160,000 members”

This is the number published on ARRL’s own website and membership pages. This is the figure ARRL uses for public-facing materials.

At 160,000 members the dues would be about $9.44M and at 130,240 members that number is $7.68M and that folks equate to about a 19% drop in membership revenue. Ouch... no wonder they are trying to give away licenses

If this is true, there is about a 30,000 member disconnect from the published to the internal executive committee report and at say dues of $59 a year that would suggest a $1.8M decline in revenue. The Far East Radio Manufacturers certainly must have their hair on fire as that also represent 19% less readers fondling the pages of QST in search of a radio they don't need. 

So, from a business perspective you have to sell more advertising to offset those who have dumped the ARRL. [That number will likely decline further in 2026 as more members dump the ARRL as $59 is a couple of days groceries.]

So how to generate the shortfall differential. Advertisers is the likely place. So, if the ARRL Lab creates a new transmit standard where all the Far East Manufacturers would have to participate... The one hand washes the other with the manufacturers paying more for the adverts BUT can charge more for the product so they can have the sticker. This also is a boon for the manufacturers who might not spend the R&D for CSI now have an excuse to charge more and actually do it. No matter how you slice it just like the Trump Tariffs... you pay for it.

Yes, this is a brain fart conspiracy theory but no different than a plan to invade Greenland and Cuba. It is just business and mathematics. You don't have to believe me but certainly what is theorized has a certain charm to it. It is all about a Lab Grade SDR in every ham shack as that must be the ARRL View with CSI.

 Them that know, survive.

73's

Pete N6QW

Prepper #2 ~ The Antenna

OK Preppers, The Most Critical Piece = The Antenna! Tattoo that on a significant part of your anatomy. Your radio no matter how expensive has to have a good antenna for maximum performance.

Think about it as you are trying to get on the air where ostensibly there is no power, the world is in turmoil, the regular antenna systems are on the ground, and the 5th Horseman of the Apocalypse is here. [The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse are from the Bible. The Fifth Horseman is suggested as the Orange Horse and represents a person simultaneously declaring Marshall Law and President for Life.]

But your very 1st problem is getting on the air and determining a "how bad is it" status. That act requires having an antenna in place. The very first question regarding an antenna should be who the contact matrix is. Local communications likely would have greater import over some inane (stupid) ARRL QSO or DX party. 

Some antennas like the NVIS (Near Vertical Incident Skywave) ones are quite good for local communications out to 200 to 400 miles. The Linear Loaded Dipole is another option. But structures to support dipoles simply are not there and a NVIS may be a problem. Whereas a Vertical Antenna mounted on a camera tripod with an elevated ground plane, opens the range up with low angle radiation. Simplicity, and ease of deployment by a single person rank high on the desirability list.

For the long-haul communications, an elevated Vertical delivers the low angle radiation. The antenna shown below is a folding manpack antenna 285 CM (9.35 Feet) and folds into sections no longer than 12 Inches.

About $45 at Bozos

My Vertical setup includes a tapped base loading coil that on one end mounts on short camera tripod and the whip connects to the other end of the coil. Three wires each 32 feet long connect to the ground side of the coax and form a counterpoise. A "T Match" antenna tuner at the radio perks up the system. BTW the interface to the Tripod was the Jeep Wrangler Bumper Mount I fabricated on my Milling Machine. It has the 3-24 Fitting built in.

Going back to the NVIS, there are telescoping masts that would offset the lack of vertical structures, but these can be expensive. See the 46' DX Engineering pole.

 DXE-TFK46-HD ($300)

There are of course many other possibilities such a loading a rain gutter. But as I explained to a brand-new Extra recently who couldn't load his rain gutter... It has to be a metal gutter not plastic. That is what happens when there is only 45 Minutes between no license and an Extra Class.

Them that know, survive.

73's

Pete N6QW