Tag: Antennas

20m Band – The Long and the Short of it

Another recent POTA activation turned out to be a useful learning experience for me. It was a moderately cold February day. The temperature had dipped to -20degC overnight, but by afternoon it had risen to a relatively balmy -7degC. It was also the occasion of the Polar Bear QRP Ops February Polar Bear Moonlight Madness … Continue reading 20m Band – The Long and the Short of it →

A Directional Antenna With Just One Straight Wire – Crazy?

Being called crazy is a compliment to my ears. It means I am doing something different, something unusual. I strive to be "crazy" every day. It is only by doing crazy stuff that we innovate and discover new ideas and new ways of doing things. Today I decided to do two crazy things. First, I … Continue reading A Directional Antenna With Just One Straight Wire – Crazy? →

I Fell Off the QRP Wagon and Regretted It Already

Only use enough power to make the contact. That's the advice often given to hams. How much is enough? One way to find out is to get on the air and start making waves. Or, I thought, check the propagation numbers, evaluate the site elevation and make a turkey-brained guess about how much power I … Continue reading I Fell Off the QRP Wagon and Regretted It Already →

A Magic Ground Mobile Antenna

Let me start by confessing; I don't operate HF mobile. So my "mobile" HF antenna is only suitable for stationary "shack-in-a-truck" operations. Driving requires my full attention ... and so does CW operation! I mount one of my two portable vertical antennas on a short aluminum pole which in turn is mounted on the hitch … Continue reading A Magic Ground Mobile Antenna →

Pairing the PFR-3 with an EFHW Antenna

My previous outing with my trusty old Hendricks PFR-3 portable field radio (see QRP on Deck) was with a Random Wire antenna. The big advantage of the random wire is that it is non-resonant on any band and can be tuned on any band. I prefer to use resonant antennas that can be paired with … Continue reading Pairing the PFR-3 with an EFHW Antenna →

How to find out if your common mode current choke really works

What is common mode current? It is the current that flows along the outer surface of your coax shield from your antenna back towards your radio. It can cause SWR problems, erratic behaviour of radio equipment and even RF shocks when you touch metal parts of your rig. A coax cable has three conductors! Due … Continue reading How to find out if your common mode current choke really works →

Flirting with Radiation at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park

The first of November 2022 was an unusually warm day in Southern Ontario so the urge to go and activate a new-to-me park was irresistible. Wasaga Beach Provincial Park (POTA entity VE-0426) is about a one hour drive from my home in Owen Sound but it's a very pleasant drive along the south shore of … Continue reading Flirting with Radiation at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park →

How to Design and Build a Field Expedient End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna for 20m, 40m and 80m

Field expedient antennas differ from home-based, permanent antennas. At a home QTH there is often plenty of room to install a larger, higher antenna. In the home shack, the radio is often capable of putting out a much more powerful signal than a field radio. Out in the field, for example at a campsite, space … Continue reading How to Design and Build a Field Expedient End-Fed Half-Wave Antenna for 20m, 40m and 80m →