Foundations of Amateur Radio

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ...

Posted: 21 Jan 2017 09:00 AM PST


Foundations of Amateur Radio Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I look
at an antenna and marvel at what it implies. A simple piece of conducting
material made into some particular shape and size that harnesses the radio
spectrum. I find it fascinating that this can and does exist and my
fascination translates into a thing of beauty. I recall being on a camping
trip and being introduced by a friend to an antenna that was strung between
two trees in the middle of the bush. For some reason that escapes me we
needed to lower the antenna and I got to have a look at the feed-point.
Let me describe this to you. Picture a ceramic fence insulator. The two
legs of the wire dipole are each fed through the insulator at a 90 degree
offset, in just the same way as you would install it into an electric
fence. Looped around this is a piece of RG213 coax which is soldered onto
each leg of the dipole, shield to one side, centre to the other. No
traditional balun, but there is a piece of wire wrapped around the coax,
holding it all together and I have no doubt that it acts as some form of
choke. This thing looks absolutely horrible. It's weathered, it's rough,
it's nasty, has spider-webs and other little critters living in the
insulator, the soldering is quick and dirty, the shield is roughly attached
to one of the legs. If you've been in the Australian Bush and visited a
farm there you'll know exactly how rough and ready this antenna is. I seem
to recall that its proud owner (Hi Kim) put it up temporarily in a hurry to
get on air one day, a decade or so ago. So, what of this ugly mess? It
was the best antenna I've used in a long while. It allowed me to make my
first QRP contact across the length of Australia into New Zealand. It
allowed me to contact the 7130 DX net for the first time and we talked to a
globe circumnavigating sailor on this antenna. So, as ugly as this thing
is to look at, from an antenna perspective, it's the most beautiful thing
I've seen in a while. Now, you need to know something. I saw this antenna
nearly four years ago. I have photos of it. Every now and then I go back to
those photos and marvel at it. In our hobby we have people from all
different walks of life. It's been pointed out on more than one occasion
that as a community, the single piece of glue we have is our Amateur
License. Of course some of us have more in common than just that, but it
would be smart to remember that every member of our community has a
different view on aesthetics, a different perspective on what is good and
what is bad. I recall coming into a new radio club, I had been an Amateur
for less than a month, and bringing along my shiny new Yaesu FT-857d, I was
so proud of my acquisition. It was everything I liked in a radio. I'd
bought it with hard-earned cash and I was chuffed to show it off. One of
the first comments I received was: "Well that's an ugly radio!". Suffice to
say that I was unimpressed with that assertion. Their perspective was based
on their love of the FT-897, which has a different shape, one that didn't
particularly appeal to me. Since that experience I've attempted to subject
myself to many different radios. It's become apparent to me that everyone
has a different thing they like about their radio. For one it's the layout,
for the other the filters, another likes the colour, the price, the number
of buttons, the history, its power consumption, the brand, the whatever.
Each to their own. I'm pretty sure that I'm also biased. I recall at least
two instances where friends of mine purchased a radio that I would not have
considered since they lacked a particular feature that I felt was
essential. I'm not sure I was gracious in my assessment of their new
purchase, but I hope to make amends. In some workplaces there are policies
of tolerance in place. There is an assumption that people are going to be
together in the same place for long stretches of time with different
cultures, different outlooks, needs and...
This posting includes a media file:
http://podcasts.itmaze.com.au/founda...teur-radio.mp3