My Grandfather’s Straight Key
My grandfather , James Edward Talbot, flew seaplanes in the navy during World War II. He joined in 1941 and flew out of Mustin Field. He could fly any of the...
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Reducing HF Noise
After my success using a ground plane, I discovered two other things which have further reduced my noise floor by 2 S-units. Firstly, I connected a 1:1 balun...
Using A Ground Plane with a Magnetic Loop
I love magnetic loops. They work well as an indoor antenna for an apartment. They have some interesting properties, and some little things to learn. I recent...
My Alpha Antenna Adventure
I had an interesting adventure with Alpha Antenna, and I wanted to recount it here. To summarize, they gave five star customer service to get a blind ham on ...
My First QRP DX
Some time ago I worked my first DX contact with a long distance station. I forgot to reduce power from 15 Watts to 5 Watts, so it didn’t count as true QRP, d...
A Party during the Pandemic
Ham radio has provided a lot of joy during the pandemic. Firstly, I had the strangest Easter I have ever had, though not the worst. Our family could not have...
My First DX
I worked my first DX during the ARRL Inter DX CW contest in February. DX means a long distance station. CW stands for Continuous Wave, Morse Code. I didn’t...
QRP for Apartments
I run a QRP (low power) station from my Philadelphia condo. They do not allow outdoor antennas, so I use a magnetic loop. It sits on a tripod by my window. I...
A Ham Radio New Year
Two ham radio events happened to me over New Year’s Day. I set a new record for distance, and I won a certificate in a contest without trying.