I got a new radio, and found that it has the short belt clip that isn't long enough to fit over the belts I wear. So I moved the longer KBH-10 clip (that I had upgraded years ago) from my TH-F6A onto

I came across this published article today on comparative performance of antennas for handheld transceivers. http://ak3q.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/HT-Antenna-Testing.pdf I was extremely impressed

This news might be of interest to those of you concerned with emergency communications. From the Winlink site: https://winlink.org/content/citadel_rumble_communications_drill_west_coast - Jef Citadel

#emcomm

It occurs to me that in regard to emergency preparedness, it could be valuable (and fun) to create a compendium of SOTA activations covering all peaks in Placer-Nevada-El Dorado counties. Describing n

Orion - I've been to the top of Genoa Peak a couple times for repeater issues. I can say people won't need to be "in the area" since it can see well past 100 miles in all directions! - Jef

We have a new job just now posted for a journey-level experienced radio technician/analyst. Full details at https://www.jobapscloud.com/Placer/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=2019&R2=15716&R3=02 Please pass thi

Brian makes good comments and the paper he linked makes good sense. Here's another paper, by Cebik, with even more detail. If you digest this, you'll have a very good understanding. http://the-eye.eu/

#elmer

Coax and ladder line will both radiate if used the wrong way. The main advantage of ladder line is its much lower loss, which can very useful with the range of SWR that goes with broadband antennas. A

#elmer

Alan - Your full wave loop ought to do a good job for NVIS on 160, being at just about the lower limit for effective height at 1/8 wavelength. Then at 80 meters it should be good in all directions, bu

#elmer

I've had a couple people from this list contact me directly, asking how I can say that SWR and resonance have nothing to do with the efficiency of an antenna, when they hear almost everybody in the ha

#elmer

Yup. The 1-1/4 wavelength doublet is often known as a double-extended zepp. It's my favorite antenna for camping with HF, and the one I used at the last Boy Scout JOTA. But it is long. Since each leg

Alan - You're welcome. I hope it helps a little in getting people to look at actual science and engineering in favor of all this anecdotal "evidence." And I sincerely appreciate his trying the experim

It's nice to see someone taking the time to make measurements, but there are several serious inaccuracies in this article. Too bad the testing was not carried out as scientifically as that other recen

I went ahead and bought the 1-meter version with BNC connector to attach to a pack. [Thanks, Gary, for the Amazon link.] I will use a short jumper with BNC to SMA to attach that to the portable radio.

Gary - I would agree that as shown it's unwieldy and likely to cause damage. But mounted on a pack above a hiker's head: As Tony might say, "It would be Gurrrrreat!" ;-) It should work well, and flex

Jim - Nice comparison, and nicely done. My compromise antenna has been the Nagoya 773 dual band, but I have noticed that my 5W UHF portable, with it's six-inch antenna seems to do better... That, and

Jim - I'm pretty sure that "PL-258" refers to the UHF barrel connector. (Double-female union, if that appeals to you...) Personally, and professionally, I use N-connectors for just about everything--U

Thanks Gary. Taken as intended. - Jef

#forsale

The radio is already taken. (Thanks Gary KC3PO.) I'm picking it up this weekend. ;-) - Jef

#forsale

Gary - Thank you very much for sharing this. I too have great respect for Bruce Parens' efforts to move Amateur Radio forward along several fronts: high performance free and open digital voice, an unl

#satellites