The current generation of HF portable radios offer great per-
formance on the HF bands—but to get the best out of them, an
efficient antenna is required. The Bandspringer is a multi-band
long-wire antenna. The length has been carefully chosen to en-
sure that it will work with the internal antenna tuners in port-
able radios such as the K1*, KX1, K2 and KX3. It will also
work well with the Elecraft T1 auto-tuner and the MFJ port-
able tuner. Note that the Bandspringer must be used with an
antenna tuner—it is not suitable for connection directly to an
FT817 or similar radio without a tuner.
The Bandspringer is available in two versions:
•
The
Bandspringer Midi
is guaranteed to work with any tuner on 40m, 30m and 20m.
It will work effectively with most tuners on all bands from 60-10m.
•
The
Bandspringer Maxi
covers 80/40/30/20m and will work with most tuners on the
other HF bands too. Note: this aerial may not be suitable for 60m.
How to choose? If you have a KX1or similar radio, the Midi is for you. It is optimised for
40m, 30m and 20m—just like your KX1! If your portable radio covers 80m, you may be
tempted by the Maxi but remember it’s twice as long as the Midi at over 80 feet (25m) which
can make it harder to use in some situations. Most external tuners will allow the Midi version
to be used on 80m, although the Maxi will give slightly better results.
The Bandspringer consists of two wire elements, both are made of high quality tinned copper wire, insulated
with a yellow PVC coating. This wire type has proved a good compromise between flexibility and perform-
ance. The yellow insulating jacket makes it easy to spot on most surfaces (not snow of course!) which makes
handling much easier. The elements for the Midi version are 42ft each and for the Maxi version are 82ft each.
The wire elements are supplied wound on a Wirewinder (2 Wirewinders with Maxi) to make deployment and
recovery in the field as easy as possible.
Each element is terminated in a good quality “Banana” plug. The radiating element has a braided nylon cord
extension to make it easy to use. The extension is firmly attached to the wire at one end and has a pegging loop
at the other end.
An adapter is provided with a BNC plug and banana sockets to allow the antenna to be connected to your radio
or tuner. We stock a BNC socket to UHF plug adapter which can be purchased separately if your equipment
has an SO239/UHF socket.
The Bandspringer is supplied with two high-quality aluminium alloy pegs and two insulators (see overleaf for
instructions)
The total weight for the Midi version is approximately 327gm (11.5 oz.). The Maxi version weighs 570gm
(1.25 pounds).
*
NOTE: The internal tuner on the K1 has a limited matching range on 80m and coverage of this band may not
be possible without using an external tuner
.
