WARNING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

Good evening tooters, computers and especially Rolly! (if you know know)

It is once again that time once again where I ramble about ham radio yes, yes I know.

Just like a dodgy fire alarm at 3am I will not stop.

So enough of the whimsical volley of pretexts for this entry!

Since my last post I have tunneled deep into the foxhole that is the war of technology (insert C++ joke here about blowing your leg off). The following week after the previous post, I hunted some more POTA and have over 20 contacts! Now I hear the experienced among hams "only 20?", yes only 20 so far. The reasoning is because every time I want to hop on HF I need to set up EVERYTHING! Because currently I do not have a permanent setup, do to many factors.

But they have been some GREAT POTA Contacts, mostly Flordia still oddly.

So with my growing confidence on HF I explored the frequencies! Did you know there is GLOBAL AM/FM channels?!?!

One of my current favorite websites is http://k3fef.com:8901

It's a Software Defined Radio

setup and ran by Amatures in Pennsylvania, any person can listen on any frequency!

There are international stations that do news commentary such as the BBC and There is also music on some as well!

I thought it was super cool to find HF stations that do news and music. It makes sense when you think about ww2, but it never really dawned on me, it was HF.

Quick very half-assed history lesson, when the Axis powers sadly captured and controlled country's during WW2. One of the few ways to hear global news (albeit a crime in fascist controlled country's) It allowed for spies and citizens of the free world to have hope in an o-so shitty time period. End bootleg history lesson, there are some cool conversation I hear on HF. Lots of people talking about radio equipment and old men talking of there glory days.

However, I stumbled upon 7.200Mhz, so for those whom are in fact not radio dorks. (and or have blissful foresight) 7.200Mhz is where people go to say some very unsavory things, and not always follow the FCC rules. Sometimes you hear old people talking about politics, and I'm not gonna lie, I get quiet the cackle hearing some peoples just straight off the crack-pipe induced takes. Plus side is the 4chan/call of duty lobby that is 7.200Mhz stays on there frequency and rarely if ever goes on any other to say outlandish and very racist things.

So after i finally mentally processed the things on 7.200Mhz, I did some research on EFHW, or End Fed Half Waves. Which is a very simple antenna which is highly popular for HF because of the simplicity and cheapness. It basically is a torrid wrapped with wire hooked up to a radio connector, It makes a simple transformer which balances the impedance of the feed line to the antenna. There's a lot of math and stuff to them, but I'm going to be real with you, I don't know piss about shit when it comes to transformers. Any who enough about Optimus Prime, The TLDR is EFHW has a lot of configurations like slopers, vertical, horizontal and inverted V. There are probably more setups, but those are the ones I remember reading about.

The way they work is very fascinating, so originally I picked the JPC-12 because I didn't need tuner which was mc-pricy and my cheap-ass didn't want to buy one. The JPC-12 doesn't need a tuner because it is a RESONANT antenna, meaning in laymen term when you put Radio Frequency though it, it RESONATES on a certain frequency. A lot of people said to get a EFHW for my first antenna, but I originally confused the EFHW for a random wire antenna. They look very similar, but the big difference is End Fed Half Waves are RESONANT and Random wire antennas are NOT, requiring a tuner.

So I said, I WANT ONE NOW THEY LOOK HECKIN SICK!

I bought one that did not come with the wire, and bought a nano VNA with it.

I read online that the VNA is good for tuning antennas and my JPC-12 is very difficult to get good SWR on 7Mhz. So it quickly arrived.

Today I channeled my inner caveman and got big rock and tie rope to rock and throw at tree. I used the rock and the rope to raise my EFHW to be a sloper. And I hooked up the NanoVNA, and over many hours of YouTube and trial and error I tuned my antenna to 14Mhz!

The biggest issue with the NanoVNA is currently there person between the chair in the keyboard (the writter). See I watched so many videos of people just hooking up there antenna and seeing an SWR chart and going yep were going to take off an inch to get it within range. And my egg head learned a lot about antennas today, So please bear with me as I explain the nuances of SWR.

Standing Wave Ratio is a measurement of impedance and efficiency. So high SWR is bad for your equipment, 3 SWR is not good and 1-1.5 is what is considered acceptable.

The way you get good SWR, is first if its a RESONANT antenna to be the correct radiator length (the part of the antenna that shoots out the Radio Frequency) and having a good ground plane. Now radio is a little bit wacky because ground plane can mean LITERALLY the dirt your antenna is in, or what they call RADIALS. RADIALS are the other half of a radiator, for the people in the audience that know a little about electronics. The Radiator is alot like a LIVE wire and RADIALS are the neutral, allowing for higher efficiency and lower SWR. The better the return path the less wasted power which means better signal!

So my first test with the NanoVNA was my Diamond whip antenna on my Handheld, the measurements were all over the place. Then i realized 2 VERY important things,.

#1 do not touch the radial or the antenna when trying to read the SWR. By Touching the antenna you BECOME the antenna which makes the meter, look like a slot machine.

#2 you should have it oriented in the direction it is going to be operated in.

After realizing these 2 things, i quickly realized how well it works!

After my little experiment with the whip antenna, I was confident enough to make my 20meter wire for my EFHW. I slowly cut away at the wire going back and forth getting closer and closer to the 14.200Mhz I was aiming for. Alas, after about a half an hour of running back and forth, my antenna was tuned up! I set up my radio and reached a STATION IN CALIFORNIA!!! This feeling is very addicting, taking parts and piece and putting them together and getting great results is pure bliss!

So gleefully I finished playing with my new antenna, then quickly put everything away because the weather was soon getting upsetty at my success. Narrowly avoiding the rain, I wanted to revisit my 2meter flower pot antenna. My little exercise earlier today made me understand how an antenna functions, and I felt my flower pot antenna did not work well because I didn't understand how antennas work when I built it.

So I found a great write-up

https://hamradiodx.net/easy-to-build-2-meter-146-mhz-vertical-antenna/

And followed it pretty closely, I was confused by it saying to adjust the bottom length and the top length towards the end of guide for tuning. I think looking back on it, I overthought it way too much. In reality, they just want you to shorten the radiator until its within range. By making the radiator smaller you're making the lower portion smaller as-well.

So after I assembled and tuned it, I got an SWR of 1.020 on 145Mhz.

Which was close enough for me to 146Mhz which was my target.

I grabbed my HT and shoved it in the ground to make it vertical, and I heard people talking from a town. I HAVE NEVER HEARD TALK, I keyed up 100 of times previously trying to see if anybody actually uses the repeater and nothing but static in reply.

I was like WOW, that's weird?!?

So for continuity’s sake, I'm a part of a club of hams whom repeater is 2 citys' away and listen to the net weekly on Saturday. I have many times tried to key up, but the closest I've ever gotten from net control is "I heard a ker-chunk but no voice". I honestly thought I simply lived too far away to partake in the net, a few hams kept saying "it should be possible". And about 2 weeks after getting my tech license I followed a YouTube video on building a 2-meter flower pot antenna. My reasoning at the time was "I don't need an antenna analyzer if I just follow the guys measurements" OH HOW NAIVE I WAS. And up until this point I honestly thought where I live was just a sinkhole for radio signals, it would also have helped if on my first try at a flower pot antenna I had a radial and used 50ohm wire instead of 75 ohm wire. But I digress and hooked up my HT to the antenna, and keyed up the 2 towns away repeater. First saying "Testing $Callsign", I heard on my radio a delayed breaking of squelch after my transmission which gave me hope. No beep back but I learned that the repeater doesn't beep at all regardless the previous week. I then thought, I might as well try CQ!

So i went in probably the most demotivated tone I've ever done "cq cq calling cq, this is $callsign"

And i get a reply?!?!?!

A fellow chimes back and says i got 3/4 of your call, and you please repeat it?

My inner monologue began to explode

I legit out loud said "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!", the last 3-4 months I have tried everything to hit this repeater but have never reached it from my house!

I quickly responded, just floored that I hit it!

we had a short conversation and exchanged calls, regrettably I did not write his call down, and he seemed like a really nice guy! It finds out he lives 3 HOURS AWAY?!?!?!

I just gleefully and most likely cringe, started pacing and celebrating. A woman going on a walk passed my house and just gave me looks like I was utterly deranged. But she probably didn't understand this triumph (insert still alive from portal 2)

I'm now writing this just surprised sitting here, that this is reality.

Like i spent $30 on a whip antenna for my HT, and it was out preformed by legit random parts I had lying around. who would have thought 50ohm coax, 1inch PVC pipe and electrical tape would best a $30 antenna?!?! Which I'm not gonna lie is BASED as fuck, the fact my homemade antenna works better than an off shelf is enthralling to build more antennas!

Till next time 73!