Home-Brew Yagi Antenna Design Made Simple
Three simple easy-to-remember rules let you create home-workshop Yagi antennas that are at least 95% the equal of those that the highest-powered antenna engineer can design or that on-line calculators can create. Also included is a low-cost home-brew example.
Using Open-Wire Line in Forbidden Places
Simple revealing ham-level tests prove that open-wire transmission line can safely and efficiently be used in places where only coax is normally considered suitable, such as buried, on a metal roof or lying in a wet flower garden.
Handy Ham Heat Shrinking Hacks
In this useful look beyond beyond every-day heat shrink tubing, we look at several handy examples of readily available heat shrinking materials for ham home-brew projects. Examples include commercial heat shrink tape and how to cut and shrink thin strips of common drinking water bottles and one liter soda bottles.
Plastics and Adhesives for Ham Projects
Not all hardware store plastic materials and glues work well in an RF environment such as for building antennas. Learn the practical does and don'ts plus some interesting simple molecular chemistry.
Easy to Build Inexpensive "Snooper" Probe for Detecting and Solving Stray RF on Your Coax and in Your Shack
Includes a revealing little-known new view of baluns. You may be surprised to learn, in this inside look, that baluns don't only belong at the antenna.
Seeking the Optimum Magnetic Loop Antenna
Mag loops are very popular, but few are optimized for size, shape, performance, cost, building material or neighbor and HOA appeal. This presentation critically but briefly examines ALL the factors that make up an optimized mag loop, and also presents an example,a low-cost optimized PVC and foil tape loop for the largest majority of hams.
Inflatable Magnetic Loop Antenna for Mountain Toppers,
RVers and other Temporary and Portable Operations
High-efficiency experimental 10-40m fold-up, blow-up magnetic loop light enough to backpack to a mountain top, made from a mountain bike inner tube and electrically condutive fabric.
Ferrite Toroid Baluns for Dummies
Few hams have a clue of how to select a torroid and wind it to make a 1:1, 4:1 or 9:1 balun or unun. The well-know radio books all seem confusing. This presentation shows the three very easy steps to successful ferrite toroid design with very little math and a free on-line calculator.
6-meter Inverted Delta Skeleton Slot Antenna
From an Oct 2022 QST article on an easy-to-build, horizontally polarized, low noise, magic band vertical with azmiuth gain -- uheard of in a single vertical. It is made from 1/2 in. copper and PVC pipe, perfoms well ground mounted, has low-angle radiation for good DX and requires no-tuner. It is a mono-band version of the HF Double Inverted Delta Skeleton Slot Antenna below.
Skin Effect in Ham Radio -- A vital Basic Concept
A not commonly understood or appreciated topic in ham radio, yet skin effect has important practical implications for our hobby. In easy non-technical terms you'll learn how skin effect takes place and why a basic grasp of it can pay big dividends in better antenna performance.
Build a 10-meter Moxon Antenna
Great project for a new ham wanting to experience the coming peak of Sunspot Cycle 23. Also, for experienced hams -- easily extended to lower HF bands. Excellent for portable and field day operation.
Cavities and Duplexers
Hams are very familiar with FM voice repeaters. There are 35,000 of them in the US. But is a main component of an FM voice repeater, the duplexer, a mystery? If yout have ever built a repeater, is the duplexer "black magic?" Do you kow how it works? Do you know the steps to modify a surplus commercial model for ham use? This presentation gives a simple in-depth over view of this little understood topic. It also shows your how to download a free.pdf book covering this material in greater detail.
Why Should you buy a Remote Auto-Tuner?
Think that auto-tuner in your rig or that manual tuner next to it is the only tuner you'll ever need? Think again. Explore the insides of remote auto-tuners and why you may soon want to buy one.br>
What is the Difference Between a Trap and a Loading Coil
Surprisingly, many hams do not know. I also recently discovered that there is a mystery in this topic -- self-resonant traps, traps without a capacitor..
Design Your Own Coax Choke (Ugly) Balun
Home brew, so called "ugly" baluns, made inexpensively from ordinary coax, are hightly effective and easy to make. Here are the easy steps to designing your own.
2m Copper Tape and PVC Pipe Helical Antenna
Amazingly simple and inexpensive 2 Meter base station antenna
Ideal new ham's first home-brew antenna
Excellent radio club DIY meeting project
Double inverted Delta No-Radial All-Band HF Vertical
A lower noise, horizontally polarized vertical with the azimuth gain.
Less noticable but compaerble to a small beam on a tower and with electrically-steerable azimuth gain.
Excellent for Field Day and portable operation
Hide Your 2m/70cm Base-Station Antenna in a TV Satellite dish
Cut a slot antenna in the reflector of a TV satellite dish and neighbors and home owners associations won't notice it, and federal Law will prevent them from telling you to take it down.
Slot Antennas for Ham Radio
Live remote presentation version of my Amazon-Kindle e-book. Includes new material. Originally presented at the ARRL Pacificon Convention, San Francisco.
Hidden HF Attic Antenna from Inexpensive Cardboard Tube and Copper Tape
The loading coil for a concealed attic antenna need not be heavy and expensive to build. Here are two inexpensive designs. Details of an efficient 40-meter version only 25ft. long, less than 1/2 the length.<