Video

i bought a loop antenna that covers 10khz to 500mhz and i simple can make any wire works better than my loop, Im really impressed with the quality of this Loop Antenna

How about wire beam antennas. I have been wanting to put one up so that I can get Europe or Asia. They were being used before the yagi.

This video had been a pleasure and a help with my antenna tuning!😅

Not a Ham (Yet! 😉) but I've always been fascinated by the original mechanical ones whenever I came across them. At £3,000 a pop when I saw one priced up (Ad in the _Financial Times,_ early 90s) I knew they were always going to be out of my league though. 💸 Out of curiosity: Once set-up and connected/updated once, will these keep on going in „GeoChron simulation“ mode without any further internet connection? I have a strong preference for working offline as much as possible, and really don't like leaving boxes constantly connected if they don't have to be. 🔒👍

Hey David, has anyone ever told you that you look like Randy Bachman?

I’m actually trying to set up a phone patch for a commercial user. Basically it’s a summer camp that wants any calls they have to go through their 2 way radio system I set up. I was going to hook a phone patch to one of their base stations. I’m trying to find a phone patch that has inputs/outputs for “call received” and PTT so when they get a call it puts their base station on channel 1 then sends it through.

Great little video! Really helpful. Ta.

Very informative. Thank you. I am looking to doing bicycle touring, and I would like to listen to short wave in my tent at night. Fond memories as a boy 50 years ago listening to short wave on a Bakelite radio.

Thank you, Dave. N0QFT, Glen

Dave, I'm going to take exception to your advice on this one as copper brade is hydroscopic and will take on moisture outside causing it to deteriorate fairly quickly. The advice from Tim, K3LR at DX Engineering is to use #6 or larger stranded wire from the ground buss bar inside to the ground rod just outside of the shack.

🥸 Thanks Dave For Your Vast Wisdom On All Things Ham Related. 73 From Rick: KN6UTF 🥸

We used to use thermite to connect wire/wrapping to ground rods

I'm assuming a touch but a reason why lightning arresters might reduce noise is because antenna's tend to pick up a good amount of static electricity.

HUH ???

A different camera angle would serve you well. I got tired of noticing your nose hairs. LOL! Okay, enough of that... good job on explaining the differences. It is amazing to me how many hams who do not understand basic antenna principles. Not a criticism just an observation.

Thanks dave

pone el link gorditoooo

I love your videos Dave. I first discovered your channel when I was studying for my exams. 2 years later as a General license holder, I still find myself coming to your channel for advice. Thanks Dave. 73 de KQ4AYG

How do you spell “reference”?

Would love to have that roof. Bond it all together, mount a 41 foot Vertical in the middle and feed it with a good quality high power rated remote antenna tuner. BAMM

Yes on 20m you don't want power going straight up (and just heating the moon) but on 40 for nvis you want straight up power. For a 2 element Yagi you normally have the reflector 0.15 wavelength back (ie 6m on 40m)... If your 40m dipole is low at just 20' then with the ground acting as your reflector you effectively have a 2 element yagi pointing straight up so if you want local rag chewing on 40 then just 20' may be your optimum height.

Watching some of the back catalog prior to hanging a new antenna. I picked up some useful things. Thanks Dave. Hope you are doing well.

Dave is close but a little unspecific to the radio. The answer is to look in the Settings tab of Chirp (not familiar with RTSystems) and look under Menu->ExMenu->Display->Name and change it to on. Upload the config to the radio and restart the radio.

Cool video 👍

Great video and great advice.

I use RemoteTX and it worked wonderfully. It requires one of their supported radios and a simple raspberry PI. The service is about $70 annually and avoids the high price and setup issues of the MFJ. I use a Yaesu 991A and can remote through it via cell phone or laptop on HF/VHF/UHF

Dave, what is that flashing light thing on the lower right of the vid?

Hi Dave I've used a lot for your suggestions with inverted vees and vertical antennas and had success. Thank you. My next project is a 20m Delta loop vertical plane. I want to use 450 ohm window line. Should I use a 4:1 or 9:1 balun and a short run of coax to the auto tuner ldg 100 and the transiever is IC 7300. Your help is appreciated. 73!😊

How about loading it with a wolf river coil . That way, you can add and remove inductance depending on the band

Thank you, Dave. N0QFT

Gambrel --- like stereotypical barn roof -- multiangular slope

By far, the best radio crash course. Well done!

You’re really wrong on this one Dave.

Thank you, Dave. N0QFT

I'm a HAM myself, working with electronics, and now I finally got a nice, clear and simple explanation why 50 ohm... Thank you!

I am very interested in purchasing this antenna due to it's collapsible design. Their website shows nothing in stock. Do you have a resource where to buy the cobwebs?

Thanks Dave. Between you and Mike K8MRD I'm determined to learn what's up with hamsticks!

hi, is there a way to switch between an tx amplifier and a rx pre-amp on the same antenna triggered by the ptt?

Any thoughts or ideas on using bungee cords on the ends of the dipoles? I'm wondering if they are non-metal they may not affect tuning or become part of the antenna.

Being in VK we speak metric (these days). I'd say NVIS is good for 900km radius. Totally agree with the fact that it doesn't all go straight up. But I would take you to task on the best hieght above the ground. Any one that has modeling software can see that a dipole is 70 ohms when resonate (in freespace). When you lower this to the ground you see it interacts with the impedance. This "interaction" happens given the fact energy is reflected from the ground back up into the feilds. Ground as we all know isn't a perfect conductor so at some point how close do you come to the ground? When the ground it self starts to swallow up all your power. I'd say its 10% under the free space 1/4 wave for the operating frequency. Just enough to make the ground drop the radiation resistance to 50 ohms (if you want to feed it with coax). Then that's it. Obviously this doesnt work for multi band. But for single band or fixed frequency its the go. From what I can see in the modeling software you get a nice party balloon shape. 73's from VK2

I was a ham less than 2 years, and upgraded to Extra. More to not have to worry about the priviledge limits of General. Not gonna say for sure, but it is possible I overstepped on an occasion. Maybe. Possibly.

Just bought one battery is charging as we speak would I actually ,what can I actually hear on this radio

God Bless you Dave.

Going to the ARRL website and following the training class from FEMA so you understand the environment is very useful. Working with a team as David said is very important. But you also may find that your club never deploys or is used by the local EOC. Modern disaster management personnel really don't use amateur radio volunteers the way we think we will be used. For the most part, it does not occur to call Amateur Radio up even for communication outages (We had 911 communications out in 3 counties a few years ago and received no alert to activate the EOC) what was worse, our leaders thought it would be "inappropriate" to contact the EOC or deploy a Rep incase Amateur radio would be needed. Don't get me wrong, having people self-deploy to agencies without any plan is incorrect as Dave said, but Amateur Radio still has the problem of responders and agencies not knowing how to use our resources.

Use a roll pin to keep the positive and negative sides from decoupling, on the Anderson plugs.

Thanks for this. What if I can't find my printed license to get my FRN number? Is there a way to get it online?

The MFJ1234 is GARBAGE! I had one when first introduced. Nightmare to setup, buggy, and the software is all open source available free anyway. Mumble as an audio transport is iffy at best. Sold it for a $100 loss and informed buyer. Solution -Setup up a Rpi with NoMachine (free) and use SignalLink for interface. If you have newer radio with USB built-in you don't need SignalLink. NoMachine handles two-way audio transport that will need to be configured in software. I use NoMachine on all my office machines- rock solid and works.