Busy, busy, busy...
First, my older daughter got married in May. That took up all of my spare time for a couple weeks. And then it was a business trip, and helping my younger daughter with her 4-H projects... and the bands have just been really noisy. I haven't made an HF contact since May 23rd. Granted, I've only spent a total of about 30 minutes trying.
My older daughter got her Tech license about 3 weeks ago; I gave her a cheap handheld as a reward. She and I have been having fun seeing which antennas work better and how far we can push the range on our little radios.
My Next Antenna
I decided to pick up a W4KGH End Fed Matchbox Antenna from eBay. I thought about building one, but after pricing out the various parts I decided to just buy the kit (and a couple toroids for RF chokes):
I also picked up 50 feet of RG8X (with PL259s on each end) from Amazon. I love Amazon; I ordered the coax at 5:30 p.m. and it was at the house by 11 a.m. the next day.
I wound 8 turns of the coax through the toroid and tie-wrapped it all up. Then, having picked out two trees in the yard, and having read an article on hanging antennas in the trees, I set out with a bow and arrow and (as it turns out) an oversupply of confidence. That story warrants its own post, so that's next.
73, K9MJA
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