Recent content by W4LKR

Bill, thanks for the link. That's a really interesting design. An opening night like that would have made my day for sure. Do you have any insight on the field intensity issue with rigging up an antenna in your attic? At that wavelength the near field will envelope the whole house. I've...

I've been studying the ARRL Antenna Book. Maybe a 20m dipole in my attic is what I need to start with. There's plenty of room for it up there. The info on RF safety is a little vague in this area. According to this calculator the zone around a dipole operating on 14MHz and 100w in which I'm...

Ok, the attached PDF is a fairly accurate sketch of my available space from bird's eye view. The tree in my backyard isn't to exact scale but its pretty close. The branches are starting to touch my facia and I've been meaning to trim it back for months. I'm not even sure what I can get away...

Yep, that's the one I saw in an ad in the latest QST magazine. I have a dumb newbie question - I'm assuming you have to manually change something on the antenna itself if you want to switch bands, say from 40 to 80? The product description says 40 and 80 are both tunable from the ground but I...

That's right, no powerlines running through the neighborhood. Unfortunately I do not own the woods behind my house. It's a huge nature preserve owned by the county. I'd be in big trouble if I strung wires back there. Update on my dipole situation - my eyeballing the available space was way...

I realize this is the question I probably should have asked: In your experience, what features are must-haves for a beginner to get started DXing? Which filter(s) do you use the most and which one(s) do you consider a must-have, or would have killed your fun if you didn't have them? This...

Thanks, I do have enough room in my backyard to string up a dipole for 80 meters and I assumed it would be fairly inexpensive. Why twin lead instead of coax?

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm sitting for the General exam very soon in case anyone was concerned. I came across the TS-480SAT and its by far my favorite mobile HF of those I've seen. I've given some serious thought to splurging for this radio. It would be a stretch for me but I...

I was hoping to stay under $1,000 for radio + antenna + cabling. I already have power supply. I'm open to a newer radio its just so overwhelming at the beginner level. I noticed this radio early on for being one of the most affordable brand new radios available right now, but again I'm...

I'm new to ham radio and looking to buy a modest HF base unit for DXing. Just curious if anyone has any advice or feedback if I'm choosing between two used Kenwood units on ebay: TS-690S and TS-450S Both have many 5/5 reviews on Eham. In fact, that's true for a lot of the models I've found...

Thanks again to Moleculo who explained via PM that a half-folded dipole can be used for the driven element and provide some matching in lieu of a gamma match. That explains why all the patterns shown in the PDF article I linked (and all of the dula-band yagis I've seen online with no gamma...

After a lot of digging and studying diagrams I now understand the gamma match. Last question - what device do I need to tune the gamma match? Directional watt meter? Can you recommend one that will be adequate to tune a wide range of antennas so I can keep using it as I grow into HF?

Thanks Mike. The 2m is a 3-element and the 70cm is six-element. I'm using the patterns laid out in this article. I'll if I can order a copy of that book from Amazon. I had hoped there might be a good online article but I haven't one that's on a beginner level yet.

I'm a beginner building a portable dual-band Yagi for 2m/70cm to work the satellites with a handheld radio, similar to the one Arrow sells. I've read several articles and how-to guides, some of which say to install a gamma match and others do not. I'm getting the impression the gamma match is...

Thanks that's a good point. Now I'm leaning towards ordering some 3/16" aluminum rod or tube from onlinemetals.com for all elements. Another question popped up after I watched some how-to videos on building more substantial yagis for permanent setups. The resonance of the feedline is...