yophotoman's diy projects
| Project Articles (Random Order) |
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| About Yophotoman | .................. | pg 1 |
| DIY Sailboat | .................. | pg 2 |
| DIY Rowboat | .................. | pg 3 |
| DIY Backyard Shed | .................. | pg 4 |
| DIY Shed Interior | .................. | pg 5 |
| Amateur Radio | .................. | pg 6 |
| Radio Antennas | .................. | pg 7 |
| VHF-UHF Mobile | .................. | pg 8 |
| Btech Radios | .................. | pg 9 |
| Xiegu HF G90 | .................. | pg 10 |
| DIY Computers | .................. | pg 11 |
| Video Projects | .................. | pg 12 |
| My Cameras | .................. | pg 13 |
| Christian Author | .................. | pg 14 |
| Writers Guild | .................. | pg 15 |
| FL Gardening | .................. | pg 16 |
| Five More Projects | .................. | pg 17 |
| Essays Downloads | .................. | pg 18 |
| Backyard Chickens | .................. | pg 19 |
| Locator Map | .................. | pg 20 |
| GMRS Radio | .................. | pg 21 |
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Text me at 727-480-8897 or email to yophotoman@gmail.com Donation Link in Support of Yophotoman's Future Projects This can be a one time donation or a monthly payment, any small amount, invoiced under my business name "Kratos Websites." |
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Antennas is about the only component an amateur can build from scratch. I've probably built 15 before I got smart to my location and equipment abilities. Eventually I purchased a commercial VHF-UHF, dual band. I built several that were ... well pretty dumb. My first was wires supported with wooden dowels. I even made one out of wire coat hangers. Eventually, I built more conventional antennas out of wires supported at their ends. Live and learn ...
I made a number of VHF antennas which didn't seem to work. I couldn't contact the local repeaters. I kept making new ones thinking it was my antennas. I even bought a more powerful radio, than a hand held. BUT, instead of antenna or radio, my problem was my location! There was a ridge, blocking my signal, between my location (QTH) and the repeater antenna. My elevation above sea level was 38 ft. The ridge was 82 ft and the repeaters were at 30-50 ft above sea level on the other side. Clearly, the ridge was soaking up my signal.
My only solutions were either to raise up the antenna or find a repeater on my side of the ridge. I did both. But the best height I could get was the top of my antenna even with the top of the ridge. Illustrated using the app "Elevation." (right) I did find a repeater on my side of the ridge, but it was maintained and used by a club of only 12 members, which limited my ability to contact very many stations. That detered my interest in VHF-UHF. Need to upgrade my license.
NVIS antenna is one that is errected fairly low to the ground, ie, less than a 60 ft high. This was my first antenna after upgrading my license to 'General.' The radiation pattern is about a circle around the feed point, with half the power radiated mostly vertical. Then the signal is bounced back from the ionoshper in a circle, not too far from its origin point. Mine is an off center fed dipole about 57 feet long, mounted on two lengths of conduit supported by a chain link fence. My range is normally about 500 miles. But with the right conditions, I've reached over 1,200 miles!
My portable antenna idea was to use the hitch receiver on my SUV to support the center pole of an inverted 'V' dipole antenna. The dipole is dual band, 40 and 20 meters. That is accomplished, not by coils in the middle of the legs but by a plug in connection. That allows the legs to either be short for 20 meters or long for 40 meters.