Simple Ham Radio Antennas

How will you keep your amateur radio station alive and active during this time of economic distress?  Even a cursory reading of the business media indicates that "experts" believe the nation's economy is battered and won't really be in decent shape for more years.  The reality is the U.S. economy is broken.  So, how do you keep everything afloat, assuming you are still working?  I can only speak for myself, so take everything I say with the proverbial "grain of salt".  I've had to live with a budget for many years and know how difficult it is to have necessities with so many "nice to have" temptations around us every day.  Once I take care of my immediate family needs and the usual run of bills, I can turn my attention to my favority hobby.  I've had to put off purchases, repair the older rigs, and build a lot of my antennas when it would have been a lot easier to plunk down the plastic and worry about the cost later.  This f

Just a quick note from the radio ranch in Laupahoehoe. While I was waiting for the soldering iron to warm up for one of my antenna experiments, I came across an interesting weblog called "The Economic Collapse", dated 12 July 2010.  The ariticle gave several tips for coping with the continuing economic recession that has turned this country into one of the world's largest debtor nations.  The article argued that most of us know that economic disintegration is around the corner and that we must take steps to prepare for shortages, reduced incomes, and act responsibly with our financial resources.  Although I don't agree with the generally gloomy stance of the piece, I feel we ignore the trend at our peril.  Don't spend what you don't have and get out of debt if you can.  Pretty good advice.  In future articles, I will outline what I'm doing to avoid the debt trap and remain free of unnecessary financial burdens.  I will also explain what I

The Homebrew vertical "antenna farm" is doing well at the Laupahoehoe QTH.  The most recent project is a nearly out of sight vertical helix that works well on 40 and 15 meters.  I had a 10' piece of schedule 40 PVC pipe under the house which I pressed into service this week for an easy-up antenna.  I wound 66' of number 22-gauge hook- up wire around the mast in a helix configuation and topped it off with an 18" stinger for some top loading.  A 3' to 6' capacity hat would probably be more helpful in raising antenna efficiency, but I opted in favor of the single wire on top.  I strung out eight 10' foot radials and attached the creation to some RG-6 I had on hand.  I fed this into the Drake MN-4 ATU.  The Drake handled the mismatch and the Swan 100 MX seemed happy with the arrangement.  The bandwidth is quite narrow, but retuning is no problem.  This antenna might be of interest to those of you bothered by nosey neighbors or for those ne

Happy 4th of July to everyone. How about a simple, almost free antenna for your back yard?  This antenna is not original, but it does a pretty decent job on 40 m through 10 m with a an ATU or plays well on 40/15 m with ordinary coax.  While I was cleaning up an old MFJ 33'fiberglass mast in the back yard, I attached a 33' piece of #14 gauge wire to the fully extended mast, cut 6, 33' of old #22 gauge wire for radials, and attached the wires to an old Budwig connector.  I ran some RG-8 I had in the shack to my Drake MN-4.  A 3'\ piece of RG-8 ran from the MN-4 to the Swan 100 MX. Nothing fancy.  But I had fun running some contacts on 40- meters.  Fifteen meters was a bit dead early this morning, so I won't try that band until later today.  Even with 10-15 watts out, I had a lot of fun getting some cw done on the lower 25 kHz of 40 meters.  I just did this on a whim and had fun in the process. I hope you have a good and safe holiday. 73 de KH6JRM.

Because of work requirements, I was unable to participate in this year's ARRL Field Day.  From what I could deduce in casual listening, Hawaii Island Amateurs had fun from several locations, ranging from the Kamehameha Schools Hawaii Campus to the stunningly beautiful Laupahoehoe Point State Park.  In the past, I've participated in the Laupahoehoe Beach Park operation, since it's only 3 miles from the qth.  Dean Manley, KH6B, usually runs battery power with an array of verticals and sterba curtain arrays cut for 10 and 15 meters.  His verticals do pretty well so close to the ocean.  Speaking of antennas, the 26 June installment of the eham.net website has an interesting EMT vertical by Marcos Antonio Veloz Burgos, HI8MVW.  I've used variations on this theme several times, and like Marcos, I've used RG-6 TV cable for the feedline.  Results are quite good on 20, 15, and 10 meters.  Give this design a try and see what you can do.  Meanwhile, enjoy the r

The news cycle is winding down at KKBG-FM/ KHLO-AM for the workweek.  Only half-days on Saturday and Sunday remain on the horizon. The break will give me plenty of time to work on my spartan "antenna farm" at the Laupahoehoe qth.  With my tropical climate and salt air, there is always something to do for the skyhooks.  Be- sides, the work gives me a break from the rather dismal series of events that is making everyday life more difficult than it should be.  I just finished an excellent article on the eham.net website by Phil Chambley, K4DPK, entitled "Your First Dipole."  Phil's article is a basic tutorial on an antenna that has served me well in the past. You can expand his idea into a "fan" dipole and get some added coverage for very little money. I may even string up one of his simple dipoles as an inverted vee and see what I can do.  My yard won't permit a fully extended dipole, hence my pref- erence for verticals and low slu

Things are winding down at the KKBG-FM/KHLO news room after a peaceful weekend news cycle.  I use that term loosely, considering the various crises the world is facing. I'll leave the value judgements to those polically inclinded. All I do is report the news.  Once the Sunday shift is done and the story outlines for Monday prepared, I can return to the home shack for some casual operating before dinner and a good night's sleep.  I've finished some minor repairs to the 20-meter vertical dipole and the under the house 40-meter loop.  Both antennas are working well, propagation notwith- standing.  Just for a few laughs, I hooked up the loop to one of my homebrew crystal sets.  Pretty good results.  I was able to recieve all three Hilo AM stations with ease.  The Hilo stations are roughly 30 miles away from the commercial station I call "home" most of the time.  The 20-meter vertical dipole works for these crystal sets, too.  Crystal sets are fun to mak