Ham Radio and Business Travel with John, N7PUG.
(Apartment Dweller Hints too!)
Contest Winners Mentioned in the Show!
John Pugliano, N7PUG, is a licensed amateur radio operator and frequent business traveler. In this episode, he shares how he takes advantage of his evenings away from home by bringing his HF gear to make contacts and provide entertainment. The episode covers topics such as what to pack and how to pack it for travel, best operating practices, positions, and even operating from a rental car or apartment building. Even if you don’t travel, there are many tips and tricks to learn from John’s experiences that can be applied to your own amateur radio operations.
Super Antenna Coil and Products
Also make sure you check out John’s Podcast ‘Wealthsteading’!
WINTER FIELD DAY!!! January 30-31 2016 make plans to participate now!
We’ll be back next time-73 Y’all!
K4CDN
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Hey Cale, great show topic. I’ve been using improvised antennas for years. You might check out the Strange Antenna Challenge every Memorial Day weekend. It’s a lot of fun.
Interesting show. I would suggest shortening the first 10 minutes. This has me looking to buy a used HF portable now and to really study CW so I can make contacts while business traveling. A much better use of my brain than the restaurant bar – instead I could hit a drive thru and get to high ground! I would just caution against using crazy antennas like a fold-up chair, guttering, a john boat, etc. Those kinds of things create harmonics – especially if there are loose rivets or screws or corrosion. We don’t see the harmonics as we don’t see the wind or air but the harmonics are there. A good condition guy wire and a tuner at the guy wire makes sense. A end-fed or off-center fed dipole or double-bazooka or other antenna with an expandable pole can be rolled up and makes a lot of sense… Anything else is arguably intentional interference. Likewise, with a significantly inefficient radiator a person could be calling CQ on top of others simply because they can’t hear them. I would urge my fellow hams to take a roll-up antenna like a off-center fed dipole or a ‘backpack’ vertical with a loading coil..
Also, I believe for a dipole, wire diameter is nearly insignificant (just needs to carry the current). It’s Yagi antennas where diameter effects bandwidth.
If you are looking for the Everything Hamradio podcast that Cale mentioned in this episode you can find it at http://www.everythinghamradio.com/podcast/