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Welcoming a new ham!
I am so proud of my friend, passing his Tech exam on the first sitting! Welcome to the hobby, my friend!
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More Antenna Analysis
At a recent first aid event, the event organizers had provided us with some HTs to use for coordinating medical care as needed. Unfortunately, some of their radio techs hadn’t been able to come to the event, so they were flying a bit blind and were encountering some issues with their setup. I had my…
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Bringing On New Hams
I’ve had a few elmers during my time as a ham. One of them gave me a self-study guide for the Novice exam, including cassette tapes to study for the code portion. I was the youngest that those VEs had ever passed when I took the exam that night. My mother was so proud. I’ve…
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New Roll-Up J-Pole
So, now that I have a VNA, and I could see just how terribly my original version of this antenna was, I decided it was time to make a new one. I started following these directions from WD4R, aiming for resonance around 146MHz, right in the middle of the 2m band. However, once the antenna…
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NanoVNA
I decided to pick up a VNA to supplement/replace my existing SWR meter. My eyes aren’t what they used to be, and figuring out exactly where those two little meter lines crossed was getting pretty difficult. The NanoVNA is an awesome little device, I’ve got to say. Connecting it to my laptop and running NanoVNA-Saver…
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Mobile Install
Since I have a new car, I figured it was about time to get a radio installed in it. It wasn’t all smooth sailing though. Mobile installs offer some unique challenges, and this was no exception. Luckily I had some fellow hams to help! Projects like this always go more smoothly when done with friends.…
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HT Day
I’ve got some downtime today, so I’m working on setting up my HT. This involved some hardware and some software upgrades.
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Ham Bucket List
I’m looking at picking up this hobby again after (another) long break. I’ve looked back over my notes from many years ago, and I found a list of things I wanted to accomplish with this hobby.
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3-Beam Yagi Tape Measure Antenna
Here are my notes on creating a 3-beam Yagi antenna for 2m out of a tape measure and some PVC pipe.
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Slim-Jim 2m Antenna
Here are my notes on creating a “Slim-Jim” 2m modified J-pole antenna out of TV antenna line.