WA5RR Adventures in Ham Radio

     After a three-year hiatus from working some of the FM satellites, I have been itching to try again. When I worked them before, I used a home-brewed dual-band Yagi antenna which worked well. This time, I want to be able to sit at the home station and not have to worry about tracking the bird. So, I decided to try to build an 'eggbeater' antenna. I did buy an Arrow dual-band satellite antenna yesterday that I plan to take portable but these antennas might be an option as well.      I followed the excellent directions given by Jerry--K5OE on the site below: http://wb5rmg.somenet.net/k5oe/Eggbeater_2.html      After gathering everything on the materials list, I was ready to start. One of the scarcer items, should you want to follow the directions explicitly, is sourcing RG-62 cable which is 92-ohm coax. Other commonly found coax can be used in a pinch but it might make it difficult to tune. Thankfully, our local Walmart sells an automot...

     Although there isn't much activity on the UHF bands in this part of rural North Texas, I decided to go out to see what I could stir up. Although I thought I might cover four grids, I adjusted due to conditions and only went to two.      As I pulled into my first spot on I-44 Exit 1 in Oklahoma, I saw a sign of good luck. Opening the door and looking straight ahead, I found this nice gift on the ground!      The antenna and mast went up in about 15 minutes. I really seem to have an efficient system now for 'stop-and-shoot' operations. Antennas up top are Directive Systems 'rover special' beams for 1.25m and 70cm. Although excellent antennas, I worked a majority of my contacts on my vehicle mounted Larsen NMO2/70 vertical antenna using FM. Those gleaming antennas still looked gorgeous in the Red River valley sun!      My first contact on 70cm was with N5XTR who was seven miles away in EM04. He and I chatted a bit o...