Ham Radio-The Light Bulb Antenna
Many years ago, radio amateurs would use an incandescent light bulb for a dummy load or to "tune" their homebrew antennas. Could you use an ordinary light bulb for an emergency antenna? According to Kevin Loughin (KB9RLW), an often times "silly experiment" like this usually works in some fashion. Kevin shows how he fabricated this unusual antenna and got some surprising results. Another antenna experimenter, Jim (W6LG), went a step further and made a light bulb dipole antenna which worked fairly well using the FT-8 digital protocol. While I don't recommend this type of antenna, it will work in an emergency situation. Maybe that's all you'll need to establish contact with another radio amateur. ----- Thanks for joining us today. Aloha es 73 de Russ Roberts (KH6JRM).