KH6JRM's Amateur Radio Blog

Photos and comments on building an helical antenna for wifi

A wire yagi antenna model, easy to build, made using inverted vee elements and requiring just one support by ve3vn

Cannot find the inductors you need for an antenna, a tuner or amplifier ? Build your own it is easy! Article by W3JIP

W5GI Mystery Antenna is a multi-band wire antenna that performs exceptionally well even though it confounds antenna modeling software. This antenna covers 80 to 6 meters with low feed point impedance and will work with most radios, with or without an antenna tuner. It is approximately 100 feet long, can handle the legal limit, and is easy and inexpensive to […]

Build a space efficient trapped dipole antenna for 40-80-160 meter bands using RG-58 and PVC pipe by W8NX

I ran across this excellent "homebrewed" antenna video by Australian amateur radio operator Margaret (VK4MH) while I was searching for a replacement for my old Larsen 2 meter mobile antenna which has seen better days. The project appears to be a simple, basic design that can be made from readily available parts available at a home improvement or ha […]

A nice, simple, uncomplicated, and easy to understand tutorial on how to make a "Non-Resonant Random Wire" Antenna from Stan Gibiliso (W1GV). I've built a few of these non-resonant antennas of varying lengths, each using materials I found around the shack or at the nearest home improvement outlet. For the purpose of Stan's lesson, he chos […]

This is an excellent antenna tuner tutorial from Gaynell Larson (KK4WW) and Dave Larson (N4USA). Dave covers all the basics, including SWR, basic tuner design, and proper use of antenna tuners. This video is a useful addition to your Amateur Radio Library. While it's possible to make antennas that don't require some kind of system to match the ante […]

Graphene-Based Nano-Antennas May Enable Networks of Tiny Machines - Department of Electrical Engineering: "Graphene-Based Nano-Antennas May Enable Networks of Tiny MachinesNetworks of nanometer-scale machines offer exciting potential applications in medicine, industry, environmental protection and defense, but until now there’s been one very small probl […]

Pyramid nanoscale antennas beam light up and down: "Researchers from FOM Institute AMOLF and Philips Research have designed and fabricated a new type of nanoscale antenna. The new antennas look like pyramids, rather than the more commonly used straight pillars. The pyramid shape enhances the interference between the magnetic and electric fields of light […]

I’m always amazed at what’s on YouTube. Here are three YouTube videos that deal with CW that I’ve run across lately. Now, this is what I call “Communications!” From the sublime to the ridiculous: Tomorrow is Straight Key Night, so I thought this video would be appropriate: The post CW Videos: That’s Communication, fruit, Straight Key Night appeared first on […]

World War I Museum and amateur radio operators team up for marathon broadcast. Radio was emerging as new technology a century ago when World War I erupted across Europe. The events collided again this weekend at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. Dozens of amateur radio operators teamed with the National World War I Museum to operate […] The post Amateur r […]

One of the features in QST that I read every month is “75, 50, and 25 Years Ago in QST.” There really are some gems in old issues of QST, and now that all of these back issues are online, they are readily accessible—if you’re an ARRL member, anyway. Here are some articles that were published […] The post 75, 50, and 25 years ago in QST: a five-tube TX, a hal […]

A lament that I often hear is that many amateur radio operators either don’t seem to understand the importance of good operating practices or just don’t care about them. Just this morning, a reader sent me an e-mail saying, “I think there are too many hams out there that don’t how to call a station […] The post How do we promote better operating practices? a […]

I’ve caught the ARRL Centennial QSO Party bug, and for the last week or so, I’ve even gotten on and started calling “CQ CENT.” As an assistant section manager (ASM), I’m worth 35 points, so I’ve even generated a couple of pileups. As of this minute, my score is not quite 8,400 points, including the 135 […] The post Operating Notes: ARRL Centennial QSO Party […]

Over the past couple of weeks, two viewers of my YouTube channel have asked me if I thought a paddle or key was the best to learn on. So…I guess I’ll go ahead and enter the fray (or war zone) concerning this often asked question. First a qualifier. For those of you that follow my […]

Thanks to Bill (WX4AR) for leaving a comment on my YouTube series covering the building of the MFJ Cub stating that it may be a possibility the Cub was actually a mislabeled 40 meter version. That got me to thinking that I should try my frequency counter again. Previous to this, I was looking for […]

After putting off making a window pass through for my coax, today I bit the bullet and got ‘er done. Pretty much was an easy project requiring very little investment and time. Parts included a ¾ X 3 pine board cut to length to properly fit the window opening, a bit of one-sided PC board, […]