Simple Ham Radio Antennas

A nice weekend construction project from Dave Tadlock (KD0ZZ).The 10 meter band is one of my favorite hangouts. You never know when propagation will smile on you and reward you with a nice DX contact. Although Dave's antenna is not a "ground plane" antenna in the purist sense (a ground plane is always elevated to decouple the radials from the actual ground and, thereby, reduce ground loses), the antenna is well designed and will give you many hours of fun on a band which exhibits both HF and VHF characteristics. You could also modify a standard CB (11 meter) stainless steel whip (102 inches/259.08 cm), add four elevated radials, and raise the bottom of the whip to a height of 16 to 20-feet/4.87-6.09 meters above ground level. Good results can be obtained with Dave's or my somewhat cruder project. The idea is to build your own antenna and experiment. Have fun! For the latest Amateur Radio news and events, please check out the blog sidebars. These news feeds a

Part one of a two-part series on HF propagation. Although I've been unable to find Tyler's (N7TFP) second chapter of the series, the first video is more than adequate in explaining the basic theory behind HF propagation. This tutorial is well-produced, easy to understand, and informative. This video would make great supplementary study material for those taking a Technician Class Amateur Radio Course. Perhaps, someone has found the second part of the series...I surely hope so, because the first video is especially well done. For the latest in Amateur Radio news and events, please check out the blog sidebars. These news feeds are updated daily. You can follow our blog community with a free email subscription or by tapping into the blog RSS feed. You can find more Amateur Radio happenings by visiting my news site at http://kh6jrm.net. Thanks for joining us today! Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).

A very simple, stealth antenna that produces good results without being seen by nosey neighbors. Basically, Tony has built a 3-band vertical with all elements connected to a single SO-239 connector and a radial ground system. Tony's antenna resembles a vertical fan dipole, with the radial system supplying the "missing half" of the antenna. I've built several antennas following Tony's basic design. They all work very well and no one in the neighborhood knows the antennas are there. Of course, there are tradeoffs. This antenna won't bust a pileup or get you 59+ reports all the time. But it does work. And, sometimes that's all you need to get on the air without being noticed by the HOA/CC&R "police." Good luck! For the latest Amateur Radio news and events, please check out the blog sidebars. These news feeds are updated daily. For more Amateur Radio news, please visit my news site at http://kh6jrm.net. Thanks for joining us today!

How About a New 12 Volt Automotive Connector? - The K0NR Radio Site : How About a New 12 Volt Automotive Connector? Posted on 2 December 2014 by K0NR — 3 Comments ↓ Standard power connections are a great thing. A while back, I wrote about how the micro-USB connector became the standard power/data connector for mobile phones. (Well, that is unless you own an iPhone .) The good news is that we do have a standard power connector for 12 VDC in automobiles. The bad news is that it is an ugly behemoth derived from — can you believe it? — a cigarette lighter . For some background and history, see the Wikipedia article.The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) even has a standard that describes this power connector (SAE J563). Alan K0BG correctly warns us to “never, ever use existing vehicle wiring to power any amateur radio gear” including the 12 volt accessory plug. (I always follow this advice, except in the cases when I don’t.) I also found this piece by Bill W8LV on eham.net that

SocialHams.Net: another place for hams to hang out - KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog : SocialHams.Net: another place for hams to hang out december 1, 2014 by dan kb6nu. This morning, I got an e-mail from Andreas , OE8APR. He’s the guy behind SocialHams.Net, a new social networking site for amateur radio operators. According to OE8APR, you can “You can meet people; chat online; check our top rated, featured items; read about popular topics; wish someone special on his/her birthday; match your interests; and even take advantage of our elaborate people search option.” SocialHams.Net includes several apps that you can use to make your amateur�radio operating more enjoyable: DX Cluster. This�tool, which Andreas claims is the�first HTML5 web socket based DXCluster client, allows you to monitor DX spots and spot DX stations that you hear on the air. Logbook . The�logbook allows you �to add, edit, organize and sort their contacts all in one convenient location. APRS Map.�The APRS featu

NASA opens Cube Quest Challenge for largest-ever prize of $5 million . How would you like to win a share of $5 million? You can if you join a team entered in the NASA CubeSatQuest Challenge. The purpose of the challenge is "to develop new technology that will advance the state of the art of CubeSats and demonstrate their capabilities as viable deep space explorers." For details, visit http://www.nasa.gov/cubequest. This is a golden opportunity to advance the cause of space exploration while at the same time solidifying  your financial future. Good luck! For the latest in Amateur Radio news and events, please checkout the blog sidebars. These news feeds are updated daily. You can follow our blog community with a free email subscription or by tapping into the blog RSS feed . Until next time, Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).

While this excellent tutorial by N7TFP is aimed at newly licensed General and Amateur Extra Class licensees, it contains valuable refresher material for those of us who've been out of the hobby for a while and need to catch up on some basic principles. Much of the tutorial is spent on explaining the differences between VHF and HF operations, including propagation, antennas, frequencies, and modes available for the new General and Amateur Extra Class license holders. The discussion centers around two popular amateur HF bands--80 and 20 meters. The conversation and discussion of these bands is brief, but unhurried. This would be a nice video for "elmers" (mentors) helping newly licensed amateurs get on the air. For the latest in Amateur Radio news and events, please check out the blog sidebars. These news feeds are updated daily. Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM).

Most of the " rubber duckie" antennas that come with 2 meter handheld transceivers leave a lot to be desired. You can get better performance out of your HT by either buying a commercially-made telescoping 1/2 wave or 5/8 wave metal rod antenna or by simply adding the missing half of the antenna by attaching a " tiger tail" counterpoise wire to the base of your stock "rubber duckie" antenna. This video does a fairly good job of describing how to make an inexpensive "tiger tail" that helps your "rubbie duckie" antenna perform better. I made one of these "tiger tails" for my old Kenwood TH-21A HT. When I'm in Hilo, Hawaii , I can now reach all East Hawaii repeaters with the low power setting (.1 of a watt) on the old Kenwood HT. I soldered a ring connector to a 19-inch/48.26 cm length of #22 AWG hookup wire and attached the ring to the base of the screw-in "rubber duckie" antenna. With the "tiger

A curiously fascinating "shoot out" between a 135-ft/41.15 meters OCF dipole antenna mounted 40-ft/12.19 meters above ground versus a 31-ft/9.45 meters halfwave vertical sitting on an apartment deck. The empirical "test" of Tony's (W1ZMB) OCF dipole and Stan's (WB2LQF) halfwave vertical shows that the simple vertical halfwave antenna performs almost as well as the OCF. The halfwave vertical has a few advantages over its fully extended OCF dipole cousin: It has a high feed point impedance which makes it efficient; it's simple to build and relatively inexpensive to assemble; it's versatile for both home and portable use; it doesn't require a ground radial system; and it can be used in a variety of configurations--sloper, inverted "L", or horizontal. All you need is a 31 ft/9.45 meters telescoping fiberglass pole (Jackite or MFJ), a homebrewed 9:1 balun, enough wire for a half wavelength vertical at your favorite frequency, a convenien

Sometimes, simple is best. In the case of amateur radio antennas , an easily constructed dipole or inverted v antenna will get you on the air quickly at minimal cost. Dave Turlock 's video is a basic, well-explained tutorial on how dipoles and inverted v antennas work. Dave covers construction techniques, mounting of the antenna, and tuning of this simple, yet effective antenna. For monoband use, use a good grade of 50 ohm coaxial cable for your feedline. If you wish multi-band capability, use 300 ohm TV twin lead or 450 ohm ladder line for the feedline. This type of feeder must be used with a balanced antenna tuner or fed into a 4:1 balun and then connected to your antenna transmatch ("tuner") with a short piece of 50 ohm coaxial cable. Either way, your new dipole should be mounted as high as you can without endangering your safety. My last inverted v was designed for 40 through 10 meters by cutting the radiating segments to my lowest preferred frequency (7.

I admit it. I tend to procrastinate too much these days, always delaying a simple project because something else gets in the way. But not today. I've been looking for a simple, inexpensive hand-held 2 meter/70 cm yagi satellite antenna for working the SO-50 and other FM radio satellites. With the number of microsats, Cubesats, and edu-sats in orbit these days, there is no excuse for not building your own antenna for these "birds". Most modern handhelds can be used to contact these satellites with a decent antenna. So, following some of the advice given by Dave Tadlock in this video, I decided to collect the necessary materials for this ultra simple antenna. Fortunately, I had most of the materials at the QTH and was lucky enough to have a neighborhood True Value store not far from my home. The antenna works quite well when I can time the passes correctly. At times, my arm gets a bit tired, but that issue can be solved with a camera tripod or some other device