Zero-gravity CW paddles?
Ok, I confess, I’m a bit of a klutz when it comes to sending Morse Code. I started out, many years ago, with straight keys. I never got along with the typical flat knobs, I preferred “Navy Knobs” – the kind with a big round thing on top that you can really get a firm…
An Outside the Box look at the 48 inch base loaded vertical antenna
It’s not the smartest idea really is it? A quarter wavelength vertical whip for the 20 meter band should be around 5 meters (17ft) tall. Why build a vertically challenged whip that is less than a sixteenth of a wavelength long and expect it to work? And … with a QRP transceiver too! Yes, indeed…
TechTip #3 Radials and counterpoises
TechTips on Ham Radio Outside Outside the Box are occasional short posts on specific technical topics. But beware, along with regular posts here on this blog, the content is not a definitive technical treatise and should not be read as such. I write about my own opinions and experiences; your opinions and experiences may be…
A 5-Band, Lazy-L, Linear-Loaded, Ladder Line Antenna (aka the “5B6L”)
About a year ago I mentioned an antenna devised by Peter Waters G3OJV that used a 13 feet (4 m) vertical wire to create a multiband antenna. I used Peter’s idea to create “A Simple, Low Profile, Multiband Antenna for POTA”. The antenna was designed to work on 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m with…
TechTip #2 (revised): GTU hand capacitance
NB: This is a revised version of TechTips #2 with the addition of further details on how the issue of hand capacitance has been resolved. The problem: Hand capacitance makes it difficult to accurately adjust the GTU. The fix: Upon examination of my own GTU it was discovered that the layout had become too complex…
A short 2-band ladder line antenna for portable ops
Introducing the 2B2L antenna Wouldn’t it be nice to have a short, fairly efficient, rapidly deployable, low visual impact, vertical antenna that can be operated on both the 20 meter and 40 meter bands? The 2B2L (2 Band Linear Loaded) antenna comes very close to a perfect match for those specifications. The 2B2L is the…
A Simple Ladder Line Antenna for Portable Ops
For the last several weeks I have been experimenting with ideas for low impact field antennas that optimize stealth, rapid deployment and small footprint while maintaining efficiency. It’s a trade-off between size, portability and efficiency. The antenna that is very small, highly portable and very efficient hasn’t been invented yet – and never will be…
TechTip#1 – a continuous loop of cordage
This is the first in an occasional series of short posts here on Ham Radio Outside the Box. The purpose of these TechTips is to share useful techniques I have learned over the years. I hope you will find them helpful. TechTip#1 is an idea I picked up from a bushcraft video for creating a…
A road trip with the VP2E antenna … and wolves
My wife and I recently took a short early summer vacation in the Haliburton Highlands area of Ontario. The area is just south-west of Algonquin Park (Ontario’s first and by far the largest provincial park, most of which is accessible only by canoe with sometimes very long and challenging portages … and with a very…
What to do when the bands suck?
Solar cycle #25 has reached its peak and is on the decline again. We may still have a few years of good propagation left but I am planning ahead. During the last solar minimum I adapted by … forgive me … increasing my transmit power. This time around I hope to keep working QRP, but…
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