Simple Antennas for the Hawaii Amateur Radio Operator--a continuing series
Do you remember your first amateur radio antenna? I certainly do. It was ugly, fed by cheap RG-58 coax, and connected to my first rig, the Heathkit HW-101. I called it a dipole only because each side of the Budwig connector had 33-feet of 20-gauge wire attached. The ends of this homebrew skyhook were attached to two trees about 35-feet high in the back yard of the teachers' cottage near the Honokaa High School. That was 36 years ago--a time long gone except for my memory of many contacts as a novice and techncian class operator. I surely had fun with this crude antenna. It was home made and it was my own. Now jump forward to 2012. I've been a general, advanced, and extra class ham since those glory days 3 1/2 decades ago. I've gone through many rigs (most of them second-hand and well-used) and several types of antennas. Yet, I still haven't lost the excitement of those novice class days. For me, designing and erecting a...