On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 22:15:51 -0800, "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

My entry into HF has been a 10m sleeve dipole, discussed at length here
and still a work in progress. (The coax is out of the lower element, so
it's just a vertical dipole.) More about that below.

Today, at a local swap meet that features ham gear on the first
Saturday, I bought a little tuner for $5.00. It got my puny TS-120 onto 15
meters and I talked to a guy in Pennsylvania. Hot stuff! That was my first
QSO outside the local area, not counting IRLP. And this with an antenna
that's mounted only 18 inches above the ground.
{snip...}
This time, the tuner had no trouble getting a very low SWR. I tuned
around and heard a guy. I called him and he came right back. From Hawaii.
He said I had a solid signal, although I'm sure his five-element beam was
doing much of the work.

I've heard stories about unusual antennas, including the one about
"loading up the bedsprings" but I believe a ladder laying on the ground as
part of an antenna is a novelty.

You have my sympathy...
You have become infected with an advanced form of the Ham Radio Virus!

You will no longer be able to go to any store without seeing double.
Every thing on the shelves will have its intended purpose and some
"repurpose" involving antennas. Most of the time you will think no one
else considered such matters in the same light.

You will have visions of writing books like "One Hundred Ways to Load
a Ladder" or "Beach Umbrella Stealth Antennas".

Collecting bits and pieces of aluminum will present a storage problem.
One man's junk is another man's antenna parts.

The virus may become dormant from time to time but it will not go
away. There is no cure.

John Ferrell W8CCW