Antennas enjoy a very prominent position amongst QRP'ers. Deservedly so. Any improvement you can make using a better antenna is exhibited in both directions, receiving and transmitting. Another aspect of antennas that often interests QRP'ers is portability, since so many of us backpack, or at least camp. I was fortunate a year or so ago, to pick up a really great portable antenna made by Collins: a Military 637T-1, new in its aluminum foil MIL wrapping. This is a 2-30MHz dipole, made for easy erection and dismantling.

The antenna consists of a very sturdy composite body with a built-in balun, and a pair of phosphor-bronze wire reels: one on each end. To put up the antenna, all you have to do is zero the dials outermost on each reel, and then reel out wire until the dial indicator-which is calibrated in MHz-displays your intended frequency of operation. Fasten it down with the built-in knurled knobs, and haul it up by the lanyard loop molded into the body. There is a 637T-1 model that covers a slightly reduced 3-30MHz range.

This small unit is one of the handiest instruments I own. It will fully identify just about any discrete semiconductor you could find. It tells you the type, the 'polarity' (PNP / NPN / N ch etc.) the pin IDs, the gain (for BJTs [Bipolar Junction Transistors]) and what voltage-at what current-it took to turn on the DUT (Device-Under-Test.)

The only negatives I can find are that it does not define zeners, and cannot tell you a DUT's maximum/breakdown voltage. Still... for QRP-types, that's rarely a problem anyway.

All in all, it's a VERY INFORMATIVE little unit in the $65 price class.