Any you ladies out there married to a nerd?
My wife is married to a big ole nerd.
I like Star Trek over Star Wars,
Dr. Pepper over everything drinkable.
I watch birds. I use ruby, the language.
It's rough sometimes being married to a guy like me because I am an amateur radio operator, extra class. I've been a ham for over 11 years now, and it keeps getting more and more fun. Sometimes, it's even useful. It's rough on her because she's had to put up with me talking about W3EDP antennas, loops, J-poles, SWR, QSO,QTH,QRP, QRO, QRN, QRM, and WPM. I've built many of the radios I use, so she's listened to me drone on about VFO's, Matching networks, Final amplifiers, and block diagrams.
I think solder has a good stink. 'Nuff said?
So yep, here's to my woman! I can't seem to put the X in front of the YL when I think about her...
Showing posts with label nerd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nerd. Show all posts
Monday, July 25, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
My Favorite Cheap HF Antenna, The W3EDP
The station, my "Killer Watt" SW-40, Emtech ZM-2 Tuner, and W3EDP antenna, ready to play!
There's a good bit of info on the interwebs about the W3EDP:
Here's what it looks like (kinda) - but the info's a little off.
Here's some good info, but no pictures
A slew of experiences from a popular ham radio forum
Another Blog article, looks like he may have done some modeling of the antenna too!
I call mine the improved W3EDP because of some theory that I learned about end fed antennas in general, and about the W3EDP in particular.
Some time ago, on QRP-L, there was a great post about the W3EDP By W6JJZ
It was epic in my understanding, especially this part:
To understand the W3EDP, instead conceive of the short side asI added the emphasis.
one side of a feedline that's been separated or pulled apart from
the other side of the feedline.
Now in your mind move the short side so that it's parallel to the
first 17 feet of the long side and anywhere from several inches
to a foot or so away. What you have is a section of feedline.
A W3EDP is an end-fed zep! Well, I guess you should say that a classic W3EDP is a pragmatic zep, because the matching section of line goes wherever you want, as a mislabeled "counterpoise."
To improve the design, I made a W3EDP antenna in Zepp formation. I took some 450 ohm ladder line (Wireman #553) and used it for the first part of the 85' wire, and all of the 17' wire, adjusting for velocity factor. Then I took 68' (85-17) of "Silky" antenna wire (Wireman #523) and attached it to one side of the ladder line. I put a red banana plug on the 'long' side, and a black one on the 'short' side.
The banana plugs, notice that I've added some string through the solid parts of the insulation for stress relief.
I used buttons for insulators.
you can see the button on the end, it's from old army surplus pants. They make the best insulators because they are durable, unobtrusively colored, and suitable for modification (you can make the holes bigger with a pocket knife)
When rolled up, the antenna is compact and easy to store
Ready to store.
in the box!
It goes anywhere!
That's my account of this wonderful antenna, I hope you can build one. I've used this one to talk to people all over the place. The silky wire means it bends well without kinking, you can also get good result with speakerwire, but using speakerwire means you will have to tear the wires apart. You could just make two at once, and give one to a friend!
HV FN ES 73!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Amateur Radio! Hobby, Adventure, Nerd Fun at it's Finest.
Hi!
I've had a lot of hobbies in my day. I mean that these are things that I enjoy doing just for the enjoyment of doing them. Two stand out in my mind especially, bird watching and ham radio.
Yeah I know, birdwatching makes me a nerd, and ham radio makes me a geek, but what can I say, I yam what I yam!
I want to talk some about amateur radio, especially in light of the current tsunami/earthquake/nuclear meltdown situation in Japan.
First watch this video:
About a contact hours after the tsunami. Here, you hear two radio operators talking about stuff, one in Japan, the other in America. The Japanese operator is glad to talk to someone. My point? When all other communication infrastructure degrades, amateur radio can get through! One of the reasons I became an amateur radio operator is because it can play such a vital communications role in times of emergency. It's also a lot of fun to build antennas, fix radios, build radios from scratch, talk to people all over the world, and just generally explore science.
So what is amateur ('ham') radio? Technically, it's a government mandated service regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. Here's the purpose as outlined in Part 97 of the FCC's rules and regulations:
Practically, it's a group of hobbyists dedicated to having fun building, fixing, and using radios to communicate with people both near and far. We stand ready to help establish communications with cut off groups of people, stand ready to accept and pass along messages of hope when disaster strikes close to us, and we like having a good time. A soldiers life is filled with long periods of boredom, followed by brief moments of terror. Hams find a way to not be bored while waiting for the terror.
Many amateur radio operators have become electrical engineers, computer scientists, and other 'nerd' skills. Many of us have done other things with our lives, we are janitors, preachers, broadcast journalists, doctors, policemen, firemen, soldiers, (shudder) lawyers, politicians. Hams come from all walks of life. Even Ted Nugent is a licensed amateur radio operator.
In today's world, it's hard to understand how something like amateur radio can still serve a purpose. Communication infrastructure is everywhere! We all have cellphones, internet access, text messaging, smart phones, satellite phones, anything! Much of this communication infrastructure is interdependent and fragile. With one hurricane/In 2004, my wife and I endured 3 hurricanes while living in Orlando. She was impressed with the fact that while our cellphones only worked every once and a while, I could communicate and get news via my hand-held ham radio. Or consider the case of Gary. I Guarantee you ham radio made a difference to Gary that day.
Ham radio makes a difference in the world today. It's present, whether you see it or not, in every natural, or man made disaster. If you would like to know more about how ham radio helps in emergencies, and find out what it takes to become a ham, visit The ARES page. If ham radio has helped you, or you have a story to share, post a comment! Tell it!
73, (how hams say 'best regards')
DE KG4GVL (DE means "this is", and KG4GVL is my ham radio call sign)
I've had a lot of hobbies in my day. I mean that these are things that I enjoy doing just for the enjoyment of doing them. Two stand out in my mind especially, bird watching and ham radio.
Yeah I know, birdwatching makes me a nerd, and ham radio makes me a geek, but what can I say, I yam what I yam!
I want to talk some about amateur radio, especially in light of the current tsunami/earthquake/nuclear meltdown situation in Japan.
First watch this video:
About a contact hours after the tsunami. Here, you hear two radio operators talking about stuff, one in Japan, the other in America. The Japanese operator is glad to talk to someone. My point? When all other communication infrastructure degrades, amateur radio can get through! One of the reasons I became an amateur radio operator is because it can play such a vital communications role in times of emergency. It's also a lot of fun to build antennas, fix radios, build radios from scratch, talk to people all over the world, and just generally explore science.
So what is amateur ('ham') radio? Technically, it's a government mandated service regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. Here's the purpose as outlined in Part 97 of the FCC's rules and regulations:
§97.1 Basis and purpose.-
The rules and regulations in this Part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:
(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.
(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communications and technical phases of the art.
(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.
(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.
Practically, it's a group of hobbyists dedicated to having fun building, fixing, and using radios to communicate with people both near and far. We stand ready to help establish communications with cut off groups of people, stand ready to accept and pass along messages of hope when disaster strikes close to us, and we like having a good time. A soldiers life is filled with long periods of boredom, followed by brief moments of terror. Hams find a way to not be bored while waiting for the terror.
Many amateur radio operators have become electrical engineers, computer scientists, and other 'nerd' skills. Many of us have done other things with our lives, we are janitors, preachers, broadcast journalists, doctors, policemen, firemen, soldiers, (shudder) lawyers, politicians. Hams come from all walks of life. Even Ted Nugent is a licensed amateur radio operator.
In today's world, it's hard to understand how something like amateur radio can still serve a purpose. Communication infrastructure is everywhere! We all have cellphones, internet access, text messaging, smart phones, satellite phones, anything! Much of this communication infrastructure is interdependent and fragile. With one hurricane/In 2004, my wife and I endured 3 hurricanes while living in Orlando. She was impressed with the fact that while our cellphones only worked every once and a while, I could communicate and get news via my hand-held ham radio. Or consider the case of Gary. I Guarantee you ham radio made a difference to Gary that day.
Ham radio makes a difference in the world today. It's present, whether you see it or not, in every natural, or man made disaster. If you would like to know more about how ham radio helps in emergencies, and find out what it takes to become a ham, visit The ARES page. If ham radio has helped you, or you have a story to share, post a comment! Tell it!
73, (how hams say 'best regards')
DE KG4GVL (DE means "this is", and KG4GVL is my ham radio call sign)
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