Sometime ago, our good friends over at the Western Rifle Shooters Association had an article on "Anti-Materiel" shooting, and one of the commenters had in his post the necessity of "proven capability to construct field expedient antennaes (sic) and use a HF radio and get out long distance comms".
Well, me being a "Radio Guy", and a proud member of the Unorganized Militia Signal Corps, replied back words to the effect that although I didn't know much about that type of shooting, I was a fairly competent and experienced radio guy.
So, I promised to write something up and submit it to them.
I'm trying my best to write down the things I know work, their advantages and pitfalls, and keep it non-technical enough so that an average guy could implement it. I've got the outline, and some fleshed out sections, and I'll be presenting it here in sections, as well as sending the complete article over to the WRSA, over the next few weeks.
It's a simple matter to make an antenna, but getting one that radiates well, and is repeatable, and usable without a lot of technical knowledge, takes some thought, and is somewhat dependent on what type of radio you'll be using. There are a ton of excellent quality portable antennas on the market (and some real JUNK, too!), so I'll go over those, too, along with some easy, cheap, and reliable ones you can construct for next-to-nothing.
Hang in there, guys, and I'll get something up here over the weekend.
As they say in the broadcasting industry, "Stay Tuned"!
****** UPDATE ******
I've got the intro written, and I'm well along on the "Resources" section. If I get real ambitious on Sunday, I'll get the "Introduction" posted. One of my friends is going over it for me, and he'll give me some feedback on it.
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What I've Been Up To....
Started this post on Monday, then came down with a head cold, which is now progressing South. Feeling better, but still a bit woozy...... To...
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I'm gonna bookmark this post as it's something I've been frett'n over for a month or so. I recently upgraded to General and picked up an FT-817 but for lack of an HF antenna still have not crossed that line.
ReplyDeleteWaiting with baited breath!
Ditto what danno said...this should be good.
ReplyDeleteRight now it's outlined as a 10 part series of articles covering antenna basics, radio propagation basics, antenna construction form cheap materials, testing, and a resources guide.
ReplyDeleteIt's really nothing new, other than some simple things I've come up with over the years, but I don't think it's been presented outside of the Amateur Radio community.