AmateurRadio.com

I just received a phone call from the service department at Waters and Stanton who had just received the faulty helical antenna I returned to them.

I was asked: “What frequency did you use it on? It looks as if it as been used to transmit at high power on the wrong frequency.”

Do they imagine that it would be possible to overheat an antenna in such a way as to melt the connector without having any effect on the antenna itself, leaving the connector impossible to attach to a socket? You would think perhaps the fact that the antenna was untrimmed and the top cap not placed in position would give the game away that I hadn’t even used it.

In fairness, they did then agree that it must have been a manufacturing fault and they would send a replacement. But I was left feeling that I had been taken for an idiot. They didn’t even have the grace to apologize to me for the inconvenience of receiving a faulty product.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Here's a web animation clip of Bob and Jane, two virtual amateur radio operators.  Jane is suffering from ARRL Derangement Syndrome.  Bob tries to set Jane straight, but doesn't have much luck.



Several of the lines in this animation are paraphrased from actual web forum postings.  Any resemblances to radio amateurs alive or deceased is strictly intentional.
Anthony Good, K3NG, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Pennsylvania, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Welcome to Handiham World!

A volunteer summer

Will Tice, KC0LJL, does some soldering.

And speaking of volunteers, Bob Garwood, W0BV, has a first draft of the Summer Handiham World print edition ready. Bob is an experienced newsletter editor, and knows how to cut my sometimes too-long articles down to size. Look for the print edition (with a giving envelope) to show up later this summer.

Handiham volunteers Lyle Koehler, K0LR, and Eliot Ricciardelli, KE0N, will be working with me on the W0ZSW Remote Base HF station. We expected to work on the project soon after radio camp, and several important pieces of the project are now in place. We have completed our office move and have configured the office and ham shack space at Camp Courage. We have drilled holes through the concrete walls for feedlines, and our antenna team of Dave Glas, W0OXB, and John Harvard, KC0UHY, have installed an excellent 300 foot center-fed dipole fed with 450 Ohm open wire line and a current balun. The parts were donated by the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, and a tuner was donated by Eliot, KE0N.

We are so grateful for the time and talent that all of our volunteers share with us. Thank you!

For Handiham World, I’m…

Patrick Tice
[email protected]

Pat Tice, WA0TDA, is the manager of HANDI-HAM and a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

Welcome to Handiham World!

A volunteer summer

Will Tice, KC0LJL, does some soldering.

And speaking of volunteers, Bob Garwood, W0BV, has a first draft of the Summer Handiham World print edition ready. Bob is an experienced newsletter editor, and knows how to cut my sometimes too-long articles down to size. Look for the print edition (with a giving envelope) to show up later this summer.

Handiham volunteers Lyle Koehler, K0LR, and Eliot Ricciardelli, KE0N, will be working with me on the W0ZSW Remote Base HF station. We expected to work on the project soon after radio camp, and several important pieces of the project are now in place. We have completed our office move and have configured the office and ham shack space at Camp Courage. We have drilled holes through the concrete walls for feedlines, and our antenna team of Dave Glas, W0OXB, and John Harvard, KC0UHY, have installed an excellent 300 foot center-fed dipole fed with 450 Ohm open wire line and a current balun. The parts were donated by the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association, and a tuner was donated by Eliot, KE0N.

We are so grateful for the time and talent that all of our volunteers share with us. Thank you!

For Handiham World, I’m…

Patrick Tice
[email protected]

Pat Tice, WA0TDA, is the manager of HANDI-HAM and a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

I think something must be broken in Blogger. Two people posted comments today, one each to the two postings I made. I know this because I received an emailed copy of the comments. Neither of the comments are showing up in the blog. In the Blogger dashboard, one of the posts shows “1 comment” but when I click on that link I can’t see it.

So, Paul and S.o.a.l., don’t be offended. I didn’t delete your comments.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

I just took a look at the excellent 70MHz website.

United Arab Emirates have granted permission for 70MHz activity, as a secondary service. 70.000 to 70.500 may be used, with 100W.

In the Chatterbox section, David, G4ASR reports activity yesterday from CU4/DL3GCS and D44TD.

Four metres gets ever more interesting!

Tim Kirby, G4VXE, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Oxfordshire, England. Contact him at [email protected].

No, this isn’t a post that was meant to go in my other blog One Foot in the Grave. But I just cannot believe the amount of bad luck I have ordering radio goods from suppliers.

A few months ago I wrote about what a difference it made to the effectiveness of helical “rubber duck” VHF antennas if they were tuned precisely to 145MHz and I described how I had tried to lower the resonant frequency of some helical antennas I already had that were too high in frequency.

A few days ago I discovered that Waters and Stanton sell a tunable VHF rubber duck with BNC socket that can be trimmed to frequency by the user. As I have decided to switch completely to BNC antennas on my hand helds I needed another so I decided to order one.

It came this morning, but when I tried to fit it to the BNC adapter on my antenna analyzer in order to start trimming it, it wouldn’t go. When I examined the BNC closely I saw that the insulation had melted and deformed, presumably during the process of applying heat shrink tubing. So it is completely useless! You would have thought an “ISO 9001 Registered Firm” would have heard of quality control, wouldn’t you?

I have written Waters and Stanton a snotty email containing a copy of the photograph asking if they would send me a replacement. Since I have no desire to incur additional expense sending the faulty one back I have also asked how they will reimburse me for the postage.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].