Ham Radio High Jinx

I have been much more active in ham radio the last couple of years. My activity has been accelerating this last year in particular. I have purchased a quad band radio that has allowed me to branch out and start communicating on 6 meters as well as 2 meters and 70 centimeters. I haven’t got an adequate antenna to use the 10 meter capability of my radio though. I don’t have a place to mount one on my vehicle if I did have one. 10 meter antennas are longer and more massive than the shorter wave antennas like 6 meters and shorter.

I live in a two bedroom apartment on the ground floor. I have not figured out a way to put up an antenna indoors. Consequently, my vehicle is my radio shack. That is a major reason why I haven’t ventured into HF activity (that’s 10 meters and longer). I am building a little low power (5 watt) radio that will transmit CW (Morse code) on 40 meters. When I say building what I should say is that I am carrying around the kit of parts in my pocket. I need to carve out some time and start assembling it.

When I have built it, I should be able to put up a simple antenna and get on the air. That is, if I learn to send and receive Morse code. To that end, I have been attending a class every Friday night and practicing as often as possible in between. I am beginning to be able to copy code if I listen to it over and over. I expect to start getting a lot better at it soon. I’d like to have my little 40 meter Pixie (the radio I was talking about) built by then. I have a little over a month before the class is over. I am drawing the line in the sand here and publicly stating that I intend to have it built and tested by the end of the CW class.