A little about me

One of my favorite parts of this hobby is having the ability to repair, modify, and make your own equipment.  And my favorite is antennas.  From the day I got my ticket, I have immersed myself in antenna theory, and I haven't even scratched the surface yet.  There is sooo much to learn, and I will never know all I truly need to know, but I'm at a point where I am comfortable to experiment with existing concepts and to put my own twist on a few things.  Anytime I set out to make my own widget, I tend to look at many, many different widgets, take all the things I like about each widget, and make my own widget with all of those things that I like incorporated into what my ideal widget should be.

A lot of what you will see on my site is antenna and antenna related projects.  For those projects that I have documented, I will make available PDF's of a "how-to" so you can take on a project of your own. My other favorite DIY projects include building batteries, particularly LiFePO4 batteries.

When it comes to antennas, there are two things that have really grabbed my attention and have led me to try to build the most effective version that I can; loading coils for portable vertical antennas, and magnetic loop antennas.  

Magnetic loops are simply fascinating to me!!  I have compared my loops to my trusty 40m EFHW, and 9 times out of 10 the mag loop will hang the wire every time.  That I can get that level of performance (stateside and DX) out of an antenna that is narrower than my own wingspan just boggles my mind.  Especially when you consider my mag loop that performs decently well on 40 meters is slightly over 3' in diameter, yet my EFHW wire is just over 66' long.  Or a 20 meter dipole that is almost 33', compared again to my sub-3 foot loop.  

Loading coils.....  It all started when I bought a Wolf River Coils SOTA Special (www.wolfrivercoils.com) to use for Parks on the Air (POTA) activations.  This is a very simple to use portable vertical that is tunable from 40 to 10 meters without the need for a matching network.  While it performed well, I there was some things I didn't like about it, so I set out to make something that had all the attributes I liked.  The result is what has been budded the "BNC Coil".  Several of the POTA activators have made their own coils and have had great success while using them on activations.  

That makes me very happy!  And it's what this web site will be all about; helping you find your ideal widget,  help guide you as you go through the process of designing your widget, sourcing parts, tuning it for the best efficiency possible, and making your portable outings more fun and successful.

73,

Bob

W0BNC