I consider myself to be a recent ham. While I have had my license for nearly three years now, I simply have not done much with it. I used the HandiHam audio lecture series to study for both my tech

It sounds to me like you are doing what you can afford. I can barely afford what I have. It's all VHF and UHF band radios. Some of it is because of my budget, some of it is because I prefer 6m

Yes, you are right. I live on a fixed income and simply can not afford HF. I live on a farm with my parents. They are up in age and just can not keep up with the work load. Space is not an issue for a

Good advice was given. The best advice I can give is about the same, do what you can with what you have and can afford. I think most of us live with that situation. However, if you do have an

You're not alone in the affordability issue..I have an Icom T7h HT that does well on my local repeater and is used mostly for Sunday Night Net and Skywarn, and an older Yaesu 2 meter/70 cm. mobile

I tried HF but I could not get it to work. I was given an old Kenwood TS120S, a 43 feet long end fed wire antenna, and a 9:1 balun. The end fed 43 feet long wire is 450 ohms and the 9:1 balun gives me

So, to be clear you are grounding one side of the balanced side of the balun. Not the shield of the coax or unbalanced side of the balun. In other words, you are trying to use a balun like an unun.

I don’t have an answer to your question, but as a new Ham the biggest area of “mystery” for me is also antennas. I have a new rig (Icom 7300) and this antenna

Hi Paul; Couple of questions--What bands are you trying and having no success on? Some bands right now are quite inactive and you may not hear much. Secondly, is your antenna up in the clear, away

Alright lets see here. A ham installed the antenna for me. Long story short....it was the ham that gave me my exam. I have since moved. He drove to my house on the way to a business trip. He provided

I'm just throwing this out there, but the very first thing I would do is to get rid of the fence wire to the waterpipe, get a ground rod and some #10 copper wire, and get a decent ground on the

Thanks. A close up of the "balun" showing make or models would help determine if this is a balun or an unun. If it is an unun, one end should go to the wire antenna, the other would normally go to a

William Bauer, I would recommend starting with some of the ARRL books on antennas. One of the most basic antennas to start with is a classic dipole. This is the basis of many other antennas and will

There are no markings on the balun. I remember the ham telling me that the balun and antenna were made by a long ago defunct company out of Lynchburg, VA. Some long gone electronics company. I forget

I can’t really set up a dipole antenna due to HOA regulations. They are the main reason I purchased the CHAMELEON ANTENNA Portable HF Antennas EMCOMM-II <

I'll add my 2-cents worth. First, you need to be sure you can hear anything. Is the receiver working? Bypass the balun and plug that antenna wire (or some other random length of wire) directly into

I think the best advice I can give you to address this problem, and also to help you avoid getting frustrated with the hobby, is to suggest that you find a local ham who can help you "learn the

If I may add, I don’t hear a lot of activities on the band either, and I would call myself lucky to have less than S3 noise levels. Others recommended to listen to 20m or 40, or 80m in the evening.

Paul, I just want to second the advice about joining a local ham club. Since you're on a farm, maybe there isn't one close to you, but you'd be surprised what the right group of hams will do for you

Knowing your Call sign might help us help you as you might be in my community and I could come help you in person But since you do not post your call sign I have no idea Join a Local amateur Radio