One of the most important items for the Ham Shack is a bench to place all your Ham Radio Equipment on. I built my ham radio bench out of wood from an old book case I built quite a few years ago. I bought some 2x4s for the base and some 1/2 inch plywood. Then I took the book case and made kind of a hutch on top of it. I put some adjustable shelves and some shelves that don't move. It is basically made so the hutch could be removed if I ever have to move it.
There are all kinds of industrial benches that you can buy. I would also suggest going around to garage sales and look for old desks or anything that may work. Now if you are the handy type you could get some wooden project plans and build your own Ham Radio Bench. It really comes down to your own preference and budget. Either way the object is to make it sturdy and have fun with it. Here are some ideas below with benches and more.
Okay once again the Holidays are almost here, so now is the time to get your Christmas Lists Ready For Santa. Yes we all want to add all kinds of cool things to our Ham Shacks. Maybe your thinking of a Awesome Heil Microphone or Maybe an Awesome Ham Radio. The list can just go on and on. Sometimes I just want to get those items for home brewing some cool Ham Antenna. If you are looking in that direction check out my website at this link http://99webmaster.wixsite.com/the-antenna-farm .
I like to look around on ebay and amazon so I can check out all the cool stuff. It can be new or used Cool Ham Radio Equipment. Sometimes it can make it a little difficult to choose, but that's the fun of it. Plus it's getting colder outside, so putting up an antenna to test goes on hold. I like to take the time now to start planning on some kind of antenna project to have fun with. Hey maybe you might try putting a rotatable dipole antenna in your attic, that way you don't have to be outside freezing your hands and other items off. Believe me I have done that before and it was no fun. In fact I remember years ago putting up a half wave vertical antenna on a push up mast wall mounted to the side of my mothers house. It was cold, snowing and I was on the edge of the roof. Yes I was younger and stupid. So check out the ads below for some cool ham radio equipment to put on your Christmas List For Santa This Year.
Yes time is running out for building those homebrew ham antennas we all love to build. I was outside today with my daughter at the park while she was taking pictures of the awesome fall colors and it was darn cold when that wind would blow. So take advantage of the few warm days we may get unless you live in one of those nice warm places with nice beaches. Sorry I was just day dreaming. Just make sure to stay safe and be aware of any power lines over head.
The cold weather is coming and it will be time to stay inside where it's warm and keep those signals going. In other words Transmit Transmit and Transmit some more. Need a simple yet very well performing antenna ? Build a Moxon Ham Antenna. They are easily built out of pvc pipe for smaller arrays. If you want something a little larger try using crappie fiberglass fishing poles. They are fairly cheap and will last a good time.
Just remember to watch out for power lines and keep the antenna up and away from everyone.
So do you have a preference when it comes to swr antenna tuners. I have used both the manual and automatic swr antenna tuners. Both of mine were made by mfj and they both do a good job. I did find that what hams were saying at eham.net was actually true. The manual antenna tuner was hard on the fingers when adjusting. I also made a template so it was easy to tune my favorite frequencies. Now with the mfj 993b automatic antenna tuner I had the famous bad on off switch problem. After replacing it a number of times with a switch from mfj at no charge I finally installed a toggle switch and have not had a problem since. It does require taking the tuner apart and using a ohm meter to figure out what traces were shorted together. Also drilling a small hole in the lower right corner of the front case for the toggle switch.
Now my second choice or I would put it first if I could afford it would be a swr antenna tuner by palstar. I have looked at them in catalogs and on the internet and I do like them. They seem to be built very well and as most say like a tank. The next swr antenna tuner that I like are made by LDG and are pretty much all automatic. The only issue I have ever heard of is that they tend to be noisy when tuning, but that does not last long. If you are looking for something used or new check out Ebay for good deals.
My final and fifth choice would be the swr antenna tuner made by Ameritron. Ameritron had been around for awhile and makes some nice amplifiers. I have only seen the one tuner and it is a manual antenna tuner and does handle full legal limit for power. It does have bigger knobs so it should not be too hard on the fingers. I have found that they do get some decent reviews and are worth the money.
First of all I just wanted to say happy 4th of July to all my Ham Friends and to all my readers.
Okay so what has everybody been doing ? Have you started your summer antenna building projects. Maybe you are looking forward to going to the local hamfest in your area. I know around this time is when I got my General License in 2010. So maybe you are studying for your next license.
Well whatever you are doing I hope you are enjoying hamming it up and keep dxing. You know if you have time on your hands and want something to do, why not start a blog with blogger, weebly or wix.com . They are all free and you can create some interesting websites. Yes you can share what you know and who knows it may just help someone out.
Well have a happy 4th of july and stay safe. 73s from Dan KC2YTI
Fathers Day is almost here, so it's time to pick out that gift to give to Dad to put in his Ham Shack. It could be almost anything you could think of. I know in my Ham Shack I have all kinds of things that my children have given me over the years. They have even wrapped up some of their old toys and given them to me. No matter what the gift is it's special, because it comes from the heart.
I would suggest something that fits into the ham radios theme. If that's the case then you can use any of the searches on the page. You can also click the banner below and find that special gift for Fathers Day.
I remember when I was trying to decide on what swr power meter I wanted in my ham shack. It was a tough choice, because I have always liked the single needle type of meter. Well for my Ham Shack I did not see too many types I was interested in. What I did was check out all my ham radio catalogs and looked into what interested me. I then went on youtube and looked for as many videos as I could fined. My third step was to go to eham.net and look at all the reviews on the various swr power meters. Today I would add a fourth step and that would be to check out amazon.com and read the reviews on whatever swr power meter your interested in. So here are the four steps below.
Check The Ham Radio Catalogs
Check Youtube for videos on various swr power meters
Check Eham.net for Reviews Good and Bad
Check Amazon for Reviews on what ever swr power meter you like
So today you will find the Cross Needle, Single Needle and LCD Display style. There are some that have triple, dual meters and a combination of cross needle as well as a lcd readout. The other styles are smaller swr power meters for mobile use, medium size for your ham shack and then the very large swr power. My MFJ Cross Needle is one of the very large meters and it does a good job. I do also like the MFJ Extremely Large Single Needle Power Swr Meters. When buying a swr power meter make sure of the accuracy. You always want to make sure you are getting a good reading. There is no sense in damaging you expensive ham radio.
The weather is getting better and summer is almost here. Yes it is time to start homebrewing some kind of a ham antenna. It does not matter whether it is a moxon, quad or dipole antenna. The one main tool you should have is a good swr analyzer. You will find that it is an invaluable tool for your ham shack. During the building process it will come in quite handy.
Mfj and Rig Xpert are probably two of the most popular swr analyzers out there. You can buy new with Amazon or Used with Ebay. Of course you can also find new items at Ebay as well. My best advise is to check out Eham.net for reviews on all swr analyzer and check out the seller for good or bad reviews. This way you will get the best deal and not a boat anchor.
RF Explorer Network Analyzer Advanced: VSWR measurement by RFExplorer
There are plenty of other excellent videos out there that are newer and may give a better look at newer swr analyzers. You can also use the Amazon search below or the Ebay search at the side of the posts.
Click On The Picture To Check Out This Ameritron Amplifier
Yes it's time to spend some of that wonderful income tax money. Well if that's the case why not spend it on some equipment for your ham shack. One idea may be on a nice amplifier in the used category from Ebay. There are some very good deals as long as you check the sellers feedback for negative responses and also look for a high percentage rating. My other advise is check out the fine print in the write up for things like no returns or any problems the equipment may have unless you are going to repair it.
I have seen quite a few nice heathkit amps, drake and amertiron amplifiers. There are also the homemade amps, but remember they are not authorized by the fcc. If you are interested in looking for a used amp just click on the link Ham Radio Amps At Ebay . Now if you are just looking for a new transceiver you can click on the link here...Ham Radio Transceivers At Ebay . You can also search by using the link and searching ebay for anything. Sometimes I find myself browsing all the interesting ham radio gear at ebay for the fun of it.
Okay so what kind of amplifier do you prefer ? Do you like the older tube style amp or do you like the solid state amplifier. I can remember way back in the 70s when people bought the tube amps and they used lots of voltage and current. I remember one fellow would start transmitting and his lights would flicker in the house. Then they came out with solid state amps and things got smaller. They also did not run quite as hot as the tubes and seemed more efficient. Plus they fit very well in a mobile situation.
Right now it seems as though Kenwood Transceivers are one hot radio that is searched on the internet. I have my Kenwood TS-2000 and I love it. I have no problem receiving or transmitting with it into my G5RV Dipole Antenna at about 35 feet off the ground at the peak. I am thinking about maybe building a moxon antenna to go with it this summer. I may make it a multiband antenna. I also have my six meter quad antenna to put together this summer as well. I don't want to make anything to permanent as we are thinking of moving in the next few years to a house with more property.
Now there is nothing wrong with going with a used ham radio from ebay. There are quite a few different choices to make if you are thinking used. Just make sure to read all the fine print and check out the sellers reviews.So if you are thinking of a used ham radio click the link below. Kenwood Ham Radios At EBAY
Are you trying to think of a simple ham antenna to build ? Why not try out a simple J Pole Antenna. You can design it for many different bands. In fact here is an excellent website with all kinds of information and a calculator. Here is a link to that website http://www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html . There are plenty of other websites on the internet where you can find helpful information. Just remember as you go higher in frequency the bigger the antenna will get. So the size going from 6 meters to 40 meters will be bigger in size and a little more expensive to build.
Generally you can build the J-Pole Antenna out of copper tubing. It is easily attainable at your local hardware store. My advise is to go to lowes or home depot. I would make sure you have a good soldering iron or a small butane torch, because you will be doing some sweat soldering, which is different from soldering a component on a motherboard. You can always build the J-Pole Antenna out of Aluminum Tubing, which you can buy from dx engineering or off of Amazon.com.
If you are looking for good videos I would just do a search on youtube for J-Pole Antennas and you will find all kinds of videos that will give a better picture of what the antenna is like, how it functions and how to build one. It is a fairly easy antenna to build and may give some good results. I would indefinably suggest checking out this website at http://www.buxcomm.com/jpoles4ever.htm for some excellent information on J-Pole Antennas.
Okay the Winter is here and it's cold outside. It's too cold to go out and work on a new antenna, but that does not mean you can't be planning on one for the warmer weather. So get out your pencil and paper and start using your imagination. Maybe a simple dipole antenna or an off center fed dipole antenna. Either way they make a nice antenna each with their own characteristics. Hey there are even some yagi beam antenna designs I have seen with copper wire. Maybe you can get one of these going and show it off at your next local Ham Fest.
Speaking of Ham Fests I wonder why we don't plan a Ham Fest in the winter months, but inside a large building. I know in my area they had one at the local college and it had quite a big indoor space. Well that's just a thought to pass around and have some fun. Why not have a Ham Fest with all Hams showing off small antenna arrays that they have built. Maybe even some Ham Radios that they have cleaned up and brought back to life. The thoughts just can go on and on. If you have any comments be sure to leave them. You know we all need something to do in the cold weather.
Okay so back to adding items to your Ham Shack. Have you checked out Ebay for some awesome new and used Ham Radios and Equipment. There always seem to be an abundance of awesome older ham radios that would look good in the ham shack. Besides the Ham Radios there are always various swr meters, microphones, swr analyzers and many other items that come in handy. Another item to add would be some Ham Radio Manuals for advancing to your next Ham Radio License. Bundle up stay warm and study for the General or Extra License today.
I remember when I was trying to decide on what swr power meter I wanted in my ham shack. It was a tough choice, because I have always liked the single needle type of meter. Well for my Ham Shack I did not see too many types I was interested in. What I did was check out all my ham radio catalogs and looked into what interested me. I then went on youtube and looked for as many videos as I could fined. My third step was to go to eham.net and look at all the reviews on the various swr power meters. Today I would add a fourth step and that would be to check out amazon.com and read the reviews on whatever swr power meter your interested in. So here are the four steps below.
. Now if you are just looking for a new transceiver you can click on the link here...Ham Radio Transceivers At Ebay
All Kinds Of Ham Radio Transceivers At EBAY
