Went to Belton, TX for the Ham Radio Expo held there twice a year. Big swapmeet and convention. Picked up a trunk-lip antenna mount for the car and a multiband antenna for HF — 80m through 2m. Cool thing about the antenna is that instead of using lossy traps to keep the antenna resonant for …
Category Archives: Amateur Radio
Confirmation
I feel like this is a milestone: I got my first QSL card! In the days before computerized logs and log matching services, amateur radio enthusiasts exchanged these postcards confirming contact. Older and more experienced hams have stacks of these from all over. This is the first in my own collection. I guess it’s time …
Surplus
Was just thinking about a guy I went to high school with. Boyd. He was a cool cat; we had mechanical drawing class together. Anyway, he was into model aircraft as a hobby. I was into model railroad. We bonded for a short few years, satellites to each other’s planet. Funny that I remember him …
Mobile Power Project: Ham Radio On the Go!
Intent: It seems minor, but installing the power cables for a ham radio in a car is a major project if you want it done right. After months of thoughts and tactics, I made good on my plan to install a 25 Amp circuit into my car to power my portable amateur radio equipment. I’ve …
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Backstop
I’ve heard of it being done, but I kinda secretly want to wire my radio and my antenna tuner to a softball backstop fence to see what kind of signal I can get out. I have no idea if I can match the impedance of a backstop, or if I will be able to deal …