Antennas

[-mjk-]

15m is my favorite band of all. I also used to do quite a bit of 10m FM. I worked the UK like a telephone back in the day.

As for the other stuff, no harm done and (I hope) our reputations are still intact, lol.

 

[skier]

Without qualifying what “our reputations” are, it’s hard to know whether I’d like them intact or not.

 

[-mjk-]

@skier said:

Without qualifying what “our reputations” are, it’s hard to know whether I’d like them intact or not.

That point deserves serious consideration.

 

[skier]

15m is my favorite band of all. I also used to do quite a bit of 10m FM. I worked the UK like a telephone back in the day.

Interesting! Around here, 10m is usually worked SSB and FM doesn't get used until 6m. I did check the ARRL band plan and FM is permitted in the upper portion of the 10m band. Even band plans are considered somewhat as "optional advice" by some Hams around here, though I've read more than once that the FCC prefers that Hams follow the plans, though it's not clear whether or not anything is enforced. I suspect that enforcement is limited unless many complaints are filed. Regardless, if I can get onto the 10m and 6m bands, I'd definitely try some contacts using FM. My current issue is to make or get an antenna for those bands.

 

[Arjan P]

@skier said: That point deserves serious consideration.

Well, you guys lost me when it was about Johnny's balls on the guys..

 

[skier]

Ha! Sorry about that; we're enjoying discussing a shared interest we have, but we don't mean to exclude anyone. Science and technology have become so specialized that each branch and twig has its own jargon. There's some overlap, but I have to admit that I, too, sometimes find myself looking up terms I've never seen before; and that's in fields I thought I knew. SHEESH! The stuff MJ and I have been discussing here is in our fields, yet, at least for me, there's some of it I've never have come across before and I'm definitely learning a lot from MJ's suggestions, positing, and ideas.

I have no doubt that your discussions in avionics would leave me similarly lost about Johnny's balls.... not that I want to find them...

 

[Arjan P]

@skier No need to apologize at all. I just read along here and a lot goes over my head, but that's okay. Just like to read the back and forth.

 

[-mjk-]

Don't ask me why, but the ball or oblong shaped guy wire insulators are called "johnny balls" lol.

 

[skier]

And the "dog bone" insulators don't really look like dog bones to me, either - maybe only a little.

https://www.amazon.com/MFJ-16C06-Glazed-Ceramic-Center-Insulator/dp/B07G5N6F2L

 

[-mjk-]

Right, and those aren't johnny balls because, the johnny ball is designed so the loops intersect, so if for some reason the ceramic disintegrates, the guys are still looped together and the tower won't fall.