Simple Ham Radio Antennas

One of the joys of being semi-retired, is the ability to attend a few more face-to-face meetings with your amateur radio friends.  Such was the case today, Thursday, 28 August 2014. My xyl had a substitute teaching assignment today, while I didn't.  That gave me some time to go shopping, do the laundry, take care of a few commercials for this weekend's Labor Day Drag Races (I'm the tower announcer and report back to several Hilo radio stations with race results), and meet up with a few ham friends who gather daily at the Hilo Jack In The Box Restaurant. The meetings are quite informal, with most of the discussion centered around antennas, homebrew projects, and various communications issues.  Despite having 37 years of amateur radio experience "under my belt," I always find something new and interesting at these meetings. One of the things that has always bothered me is the amount of misunderstanding surrounding antennas, both homebrewed and commercial.  It