KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Blog
As Labor Day winds down, yours truly will be securing the radio station news room and preparing for the coastal drive to the qth in Laupahoehoe. The weekend was busy, with the usual parades, holiday events, and the drag races at the Hilo Drag Strip. I'm the tower announcer for the races, an enjoyable diversion from the usual gloom and doom of the news cycle. When I get back to the shack, I'll finish the Novice Antenna Handbook by the late Lew McCoy. The book is a useful primer for those of us who want to erect simple, yet effective antennas at minimum cost. On my postage stamp sized rural lot, I've erected several of his proven designs. Currently, I'm using an under the house 40-meter loop (great for local nets) and a modified vertical, using one vertical element and one elevated counterpoise. The system is fed with 300-ohm twin lead through a 1:4 balun for 40 to 10 meter coverage. Nothing fancy, but it does work from my Central Pacific location.