Matt ⁽⁶⁾

After probably about a decade of thinking about it, I finally got around to making a 9:1 UNUN to make a “random wire” antenna. I had the PDF from http://earchi.org/proj_homebrew.html for the 6-40M matchbox sitting on various computers for probably a decade. I built this around a…

WOOHOO. Just talked to someone in Slovenia with 5W from the new little rig that arrived this weekend. 58 signal report reveived… 5W SSB… 4724 miles…. 944 miles per watt.

Not too shabby for 5W output power… all but one contact at the very end was made using FT8. I setup on the deck and used temporary antennas. Started out with the hamsticks, but ended up going to the 40M EFHW.

Just had my first QSO on the uBITX! Got a 53 signal report from Buescher State Park, southeast of Austin, TX. 984 miles. I don’t know my exact power output, but the uBITX maxes out at 10W on 80M, on 20M I was probably at…

I spent a few hours this evening with my NanoVNA plugged into a DIY hamstick dipole mount on top of my 8-23′ painter poll. Several years ago I picked up pairs of hamsticks for 40, 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10 meters. The goal at…