Counterpoises and End-Fed Half Wave antennas. Sigh. The magic forest of hidden fairies and other fancy tales. To start, I want to mention one allegory that might help explain what is happening in the antenna system. It is my “old” guitar string story. Imagine the radiating wire (sometimes the Chinese call it the “vibrator”) to […]
Author: Leon Admin
ZR6N
Which software can I use with my Xiegu G90?
A reader recently asked: “What is the best software and the best OS to operate digi modes with g90” Well, to each guy his own, but I will say the following: I use almost any software, and often times run it on Windows and sometimes run it on Linux on the raspberry pi. They all […]
Which wire size is right for my Balun, Unun or Transformer?
A reader was asking to buy different colours of teflon coated wire to make a balun. This is my practical answer. Thank you for asking about teflon wire to make a balun. I’m sharing my response on a Radio-Shop page for other users to read too. I don’t stock teflon wire for baluns, and more […]
60m newsletter 2024/4/10 by Joe Pater W8GEX
The mysterious or magical band, 60 meters (5MHz), is still providing great entertainment and here is the latest newsletter from Joe Pater W8GEX. He mentions, for example, Jarvis N5J: Will be on in August; TY5C Benin is now active on 60m until the 14th; CB0ZW Juan Fernandez: Thanks to Hal W8HC and team for the […]
FA tester instructions
User Manual Theo Bresler ZS6TVB September 2020 Release No. Date Revision Description 1.0 2020-09-09 Initial Document 1.1 2020-09-09 Red Dots on Jumper images for clarity 1.2 2020-09-10 Corrections and optimisation by Chris R. Burger ZS6EZ […]
Q80 add-on for Q40 End Fed Halfwave Antenna
HOW TO OPERATE THE “Q-40”or 40m EndFed Antenna ON 80 METRES A loading coil must be added to a 40m to operate on 80M. The overall length of the 80-10M version of this antenna is about 23 metres. See details below: The nominal inductance of the loading coil is 110 μH to cover the 80m […]
QNC Article from Port Elizabeth
There is a lovely article from Ulrich Ann ZR2A in their club newsletter https://wp.me/aazowd-4jT https://wp.me/aazowd-4jT
Grounding Systems in the Ham Shack – Paradigms, Facts and Fallacies
A while ago, Tim Ellison wrote about “Grounding Systems in the Ham Shack – Paradigms, Facts and Fallacies” with content provided by: Jose I. Calderon, DU1ANV – Makiling Amateur Radio Society. Member: Philippine Amateur Radio Association (PARA). I strongly recommend that you read the full article here. He goes through a case-by-case discussion in easy […]
Interference in the Shack (West Rand Club 10/4/21)
The West Rand Amateur Radio Club hosted a talk by Leon Uys ZR6N at 10:30am on Saturday 10 April 2021, titled “5 Quick & Easy Things You Can Do Today To Reduce Noise In Your Shack (and a few you shouldn’t)”. The published agenda covered three main parts: Part 1: The Environment In Which We […]
SWR Meters Make You Stupid
I recently published a short article in the member magazine of a local radio amateur club about how unimportant the VSWR (Standing Wave Ratio) is relative to the power that your station puts out, yet how much the average Ham frets about it. While doing my research I came across this humerous dissertation on the […]