Simple antennas for the Hawaii Island Amateur Radio Operator, a continuing series
East Hawaii begins to dry out After nearly two weeks of rain, East Hawaii skies are clearing. Although the island is about 60 percent below normal rainfall, this rainy period seemed longer than it really was. Most of the days were highlighted with heavy showers, flooding, and occasional lightning. Evenings were mostly wet with scattered thundershowers and lightning--not really an ideal time to be on the radio. Despite the heavy rains, the modest antenna "farm" in the back yard escaped damage. The verticals were nested near ground level on cinder blocks 1-foot high, just enough to escape the run off. The only antenna pressed into service was the 40-meter under the house loop. Since the sun was mostly absent during this period of storms, the solar cells didn't do much to charge my batteries. So, I generally stayed off the air and kept things out of harm's way. Radio time was spent in maintenance and repair of my aging rigs (Swan 100-MX, Kenwood-520, and the t