Simple Ham Radio Antennas

Mother Nature has put a damper on this weekend's Drag Race at the Hilo Drag Strip...a wet track means no fast cars.  As a former racer, the heavy clouds were a disappointment, but safety outweighs other concerns. So, it's back to the QTH after I make my media reports to the newspapers and various racing websites.  I enjoy my "other" self at the race track--I don't race anymore, but I manage to keep my hand in by serving as the tower annoucer.  This is something that complements my job as a news director.  Nothing solid here...just a welcome es- cape from the real world.  In many ways, my artificial world on the weekends gives me a chance to relax and reduce the stress.  Amateur Radio serves a similar function. Of course, all of this changes when a natural or man-made emergency converts many hams to on-call communicators for various public service agencies  All told, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Fun and public service are united by Amateu

Well, after a few glitches and computer operator problems, the blog is up and running again.  I took a brief break to work on a few workplace projects while whatever was causing my blog to redirect to some weird sites passed through.  I suppose my inattention to detail had a lot to do with this. Multi- tasking can be a problem sometimes.  Between all of this, I did manage to work some nice cw on 40 meters, restring the vertical on my new Jackite fiber- glass mast (nice piece of work), and generally re- laxed at the rig.  The news department at the radio station has been a busy place with a tsunami warning last month (we did get a few small waves in Hilo Bay), a few moderate earthquakes in the Puna District, and drought induced brushfires in the Waikoloa area.  Big Island Amateurs were available for each of these situ- ations, and provided timely tidal information during the 27 February tsunami warning.  All told, we have been busy.  Our relationship with the public se