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 …
Tag Archives: radio
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 …
First QSO, First DX
So today was a crap day, but what happened when I left work and raised my antenna was a soothing balm that made everything alright. The good news is that today I made my very first HF contact (called a QSO) on the 20-meter band with my good radio. That’s a first. Also, on the …