On Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:55:47 -0600, "Irv Finkleman"
wrote:

At least I'm on the air again, but because I gave
all my gear away I've had to jump from old tube rigs
into a QRP world with a teensy Yaesu Ft-817 that it
appears will take some time to learn to operate with
all its menus, settings, and such. I have to get new
glasses and perhaps a magnifier too.

Light reading on the FT-817:
http://www.ka7oei.com/ft817pg.shtml

The saving grace here is QRP with which I hope
to get into as little trouble as possible.

As soon as the neighbors find out that you're a ham radio operator,
several things will happen.
1. You will immediatly be blamed for all manner of electronic
failures. Kitchen appliances, computer crashes, and prematurely dead
batteries will all become your fault.
2. Neighbors will assume that you fix things for free. Training the
neighbors to pay for your time will be a challenge.
3. The phone will ring at 2AM asking if you're on the air and causing
reception problems with OTA TV, cable TV, satellite TV, etc.

I'm a pretty good tech, and have fixed up and modified
lots of stuff but now I'm going to have to do a lot of
learning in the wild world of wire antennas and grounds.

My theory is that if it doesn't work on paper, it's not going to work
when you build it. There are plenty of "standard" antennas that
usually work the first time (if you follow instructions). However,
you seem to be interested in designing your own. Therefore, I suggest
you download the demo version of EZNEC, or the free 4NEC2, and proceed
to model your prospective antenna system. When the computah says that
you're close, then it's time to build it. An MFJ269 or similar
antenna analyzer is handy for verifying your calculations.

Hint: One of my ham friends moved into a CC&R (covenants, conditions
and restrictions) infested condo farm. No antennas of any kind. The
condo council had at least one member that was certain that property
values would decline if a ham was allowed to operate from the condo
farm. So, I leaned a 20ft aluminum extension ladder against the house
and ran a wire to the radio. It worke quite well with a tuner. The
ladder was left leaning against the condo for a bit less than a year
before the condo council discovered the ruse. There was a short
debate. The council decided that since it had been in operation for a
year without any complaints or detrimental effects, it could stay.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558