Category: Miscellaneous topics

3 Days, 3 Activations, 3 Antennas

My wife and I enjoyed a short early fall vacation to take advantage of a period of warm, sunny weather. I used the opportunity to attempt some POTA activations and compare the performance of three of my field antennas in challenging propagation conditions. I had several parks on my radar and too little time to … Continue reading 3 Days, 3 Activations, 3 Antennas →

QMX Ready to Go Pack – Lightweight and Secure for Outdoor Operating

QMX set at a comfortable angle for viewing screen Talentcell 3000mAh LiIon battery gently secured between two aluminum plates behind QMX I don't like to waste time setting up my equipment out in the Big Blue Sky Shack. It makes sense to configure everything ready to unpack and get on the air as quickly as … Continue reading QMX Ready to Go Pack – Lightweight and Secure for Outdoor Operating →

A Poor Ham’s Panadapter

I like to think of them as ham radio fish finders - those neat little waterfall displays on many modern radios. No tuning around listening for signals like in the "good old days", just click on a signal on the waterfall display, throw out your callsign and ya got 'em hooked. I live very close … Continue reading A Poor Ham’s Panadapter →

Random Wire Antennas – A Challenge to Common Knowledge

A random wire antenna's feedpoint impedance is 450 Ohms: True or False? It must be written on a stone tablet somewhere that an end-fed random wire antenna should be fed through a 9:1 impedance transformer. Common knowledge says a 9:1 transformer, in conjunction with a tuner will bring the impedance of a random wire antenna … Continue reading Random Wire Antennas – A Challenge to Common Knowledge →

David (QMX) versus Goliath (IC-705) – Let Battle Begin!

A fellow club member is the proud owner of an Icom IC-705 QRP transceiver. I am the proud owner of a QRP Labs QMX QRP transceiver. He spent CDN$2000 to buy his radio. I spent CDN$200 to buy my QMX (including factory assembly charge and shipping from Turkey). That's a 10:1 cost ratio! I challenged … Continue reading David (QMX) versus Goliath (IC-705) – Let Battle Begin! →

How Does the Speaker Wire “No Counterpoise Antenna” Work?

Fellow blogger Craig WB3GCK recently posted an account of his build of the speaker wire "No Counterpoise Antenna" and I was immediately intrigued. In fact I rushed out to the store and bought myself a couple of 50ft rolls of 18AWG speaker wire to experiment. After a couple of days of intense backyard wire whispering … Continue reading How Does the Speaker Wire “No Counterpoise Antenna” Work? →

Running the Amazing HamClock on the inovato Quadra HamPC

Ham radio and computers are inextricably linked these days. I don't carry a computer out into the Big Blue Sky Shack when I operate portable, but even there I have my phone and use it to access the POTA app and check propagation conditions. I could also log my QSOs directly into HAMRS, but I … Continue reading Running the Amazing HamClock on the inovato Quadra HamPC →

A 24ft Snake in my Back Yard – all lies and jest?

A snake in the grass! When singer/songwriter Paul Simon penned the lyrics to "The Boxer" in 1970 he may have anticipated my recent experiments with a particularly weird, unbelievable and incomprehensible antenna called "The Snake". A ham hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest The snake I wrestled for a couple of … Continue reading A 24ft Snake in my Back Yard – all lies and jest? →

The Best Reasons to Build a Go-Box

Those of us who like to operate our radios out in the Big Blue Sky Shack will understand two basic rules: 1. Don't leave home without something important 2. Time is of the essence Rule number 1 is obvious I suppose, but I learned it the hard way. On one occasion I drove nearly an … Continue reading The Best Reasons to Build a Go-Box →