Saturday, July 30, 2022
I(nflation), Pencil: What a Simple Pencil Can Teach Us about Energy Prices and Inflation | Benjamin R. Dierker
I(nflation), Pencil: What a Simple Pencil Can Teach Us about Energy Prices and Inflation | Benjamin R. Dierker: Yes, a small wooden pencil required millions of barrels of crude oil, billions of cubic feet of natural gas, thousands of tons of coal, and even nuclear fission to be brought into existence.
If You Want To Fix the Economy, Separate Money From the State - LewRockwell LewRockwell.com
If You Want To Fix the Economy, Separate Money From the State - LewRockwell LewRockwell.com: The average 21st century American politician doesn’t care about you and your family, or even the district he or she represents. As COVID Mania made crystal clear, their main concern is making sure they have the power to rule over you. Rarely do they wield this power to the benefit of constituents who elected them through the traditional democratic process (of course, there are exceptions, but these “noble politicians” are a tiny minority on the federal level). In order to achieve electoral success, politicians get in the good graces of elite, well-funded networks via Washington, Wall Street, and elsewhere. As … Continue reading →
Playing Chicken with the Fates …The Senate is scheduled to be in recess August 6 to September 6 for politicking back home. Maybe after that Senator Grassley will actually produce his whistleblowers in open session…. by James Howard Kunstler
Who is surprised that the US government’s war on the American people is not going any better than its sponsored war in Ukraine? The only thing the government is really good at is covering up its crimes, which mainly requires them to do nothing — don’t investigate anything, don’t furnish documents to anyone, don’t answer official letters, slow-walk every required action, and otherwise dodge, duck, deny, deflect, and dissemble.
Now, even that game-plan is falling apart. Some senior officials in the FBI turned whistleblower this week, perhaps desperate to preserve their self-respect, and finally cleared up one of the great mystifications of our time, namely: How is it that the Hunter Biden laptop, stuffed with incriminating memoranda of bribery, treason, and diverse felonies, and in the FBI’s possession for two-and-a-half years now, just sat gathering dust in some sub-sub-basement cubby-hole — while “Joe Biden,” the putative president (or, more likely, the enigmatic claque behind him) was allowed to carry out a demolition of America’s economy and culture?
The answer is one Brian Auten, FBI Senior Analyst, who engineered a scheme to label Hunter’s laptop “Russian disinformation,” which allowed FBI Director Christopher Wray to throw a switch that turned off any further inquiry in the matter beginning in August before the 2020 presidential election. In turn, other senior FBI officials had all the documents pertaining to the decision process on that matter locked up in a special file that would never see the light of day. Auten’s action led to the release of a letter signed by “fifty former intelligence officials” labeling the laptop as a Russian disinfo op — which became the basis for social media to conspire to censor any discussion of the laptop and its contents. And so it was that a political puppet deeply in the pay of foreign interests got shoehorned into the White House. Well, that and widespread election fraud.
Turns out that Agent Brian Auten was also involved in favorably vetting the Steele Dossier when it was used to justify FISA court warrants against figures in Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, part of the RussiaGate operation that disordered and disabled President Trump’s entire four-year term. Well now you know. Perhaps Special Counsel John Durham knows this, too. (If he didn’t before, he must now.) Eventually, Mr. Auten will have to answer for all this, maybe after the mid-term elections. We must imagine that he will implicate many other familiar figures in the process who were on-the-scene at the time, including Peter Strzok, Andrew McCabe, and James Comey, comfortably sitting on the sidelines lo these many years enjoying their book royalties and cable news salaries.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, says he will hold hearings about this. When? The Senate is scheduled to be in recess August 6 to September 6 for politicking back home. Maybe after that Senator Grassley will actually produce his whistleblowers in open session — unlike the 2019 first impeachment of Donald Trump, in which chief whistleblower CIA agent Eric Ciaramella, amazingly, never made an appearance. That will be refreshing.
It would also be nice to hear from FBI Director Wray. Did he approve of the decision to label Hunter’s laptop “disnformation?” Was he familiar with the contents of the laptop, the emails between Hunter and his business associates and agents of the CCP? Did Mr. Wray happen to examine any of the pornographic videos of orgies with Hunter’s stable of Russian whores plus the crack-smoking? Did Mr. Wray wonder whether equally bad or worse material was in the hands of Uncle Xi’s regime? Did it occur to Mr. Wray that all this might compromise “the Big Guy” in the Oval Office?
It also would be edifying to hear from Mr. Wray’s boss, Attorney General Merrick Garland. During his 20 months on-the-job, has he ever inquired of his FBI what’s up with that Hunter Biden laptop? Was he acquainted with the contents? Half the country has seen the videos of Hunter cavorting naked in hotel rooms and lighting up the crystal meth, but not Mr. Garland? There’s rumored-to-be more depraved material on the laptop involving minors that even conscientious auditors outside of government have seen and deemed too atrocious to release. (Copies of Hunter’s hard-drive are in possession of many people outside government.)
I hope Senator Grassley also calls Lisa Monaco, the Deputy Attorney General, now at Mr. Garland’s right hand, who was formerly President Barack Obama’s White House Homeland Security Advisor — a fancy way of describing her role in weaponizing the apparatus of the security state against the Democratic Party’s political opponents. Lisa Monaco’s current role is the DOJ Fixer — the person who makes sure that federal law enforcement does nothing about the crimes carried out by Mr. Obama, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and many other now well-known names in the RussiaGate cosmos, as well as continuing to squelch any inquiry on the Biden family’s criminal operations.
All of this is going to blow open, of course, and all at the same time that two other big things blow up: 1) the realization that the government lied about everything in the Covid-19 story, including especially covering-up the harmful effects of their vaunted mRNA shots, and 2) deepening US economic chaos, including the implosion of markets, derivatives, banks, and the US dollar.
Some observers say that “Joe Biden” has nothing left except to shove the USA into a hot war. Kind of looks like he’s trying — sending US Special Forces to Ukraine’s border, and all. I don’t think he’ll dare cross that line, though. To me, it’s more likely that our government will summon, shall we say, a special sort of doctor from the Intel Community to administer a permanent sleeping med to the Big Guy. Did you see how bug-eyed he was on video the other day? Didn’t even blink for the longest time. Looks like he badly needs sleep… a big sleep… the biggest sleep there is. Wait for it.
Winlink VaraFM VaraHF Project by Julian OH8STN
Hello Operators
I recently started work on a long overdue Winlink project. The project is a gateway serving the Northern Gulf of Bothnia coastal region between Sweden and Finland.
Project plan
This document serves are a guide or reminder of the goals of the project. In the simplest terms, the project is designed to provide Winlink email access for amateur radio operators in the Northern Ostrobothnia (Gulf of Bothnia) coastal region. Gateway and radio-only access for emergency comunications and preparedness, in the event of a grid down infrastructure failure. The system will also (eventually) serve as a remotely deployed, self-contained fill-in Winlink email system operating on HF & VHF.
VHF
The first phase of the project is testing hardware compatibility and performance between the old but reliable Kenwood TMD700, Digirig audio and cat control interface and VaraFM. If/when performance is sorted out, this hardware will be used to fill-in the VHF Winlink gaps between FIN Oulu (my QTH), Hailuoto island, Raahe, Kemi, Tornio & SWE Kalix, Luleå, Piteå, Skellefteå with Winlink VaraFM. These towns are all over-the-horizon but salt water shots from my own QTH. Umeå, Kalajoki, Kokkola might be too ambitious, but we’ll give it a try.
Although both HF and VHF are the end goal, starting with VHF was chosen for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the equipment is already here! Secondly, I’ve recently come to the conclusion that our Winlink strategies must incorporate both VHF & HF for increased accessibility, throughput and security. VHF (50 or 144Mhz) as it provides local access at higher speed, using modest equipment (portable Operators perspective). HF as it has no infrastructure requirements, provides wider regional communications range and acts as a bridge between regions well beyond VHF coverage.
Pre-Testing – Repeaters in towns around the Northern Gulf of Bothnia region can already be accessed using the Kenwood TMD700 and tower mounted GP. APRS connections can also be made throughout the region. The antenna is at best “OK”, but will get the job done for now. There are two SSB electronics preamps in the system. One tower mounted, the other in the radio room. These preamplifiers make up for long coax losses, giving the humble D700 exceptionally good RX on VHF. This is a good starting point!
Most of my operations from home take place on HF or 6 meters. V/UHF weak signal work was a passion at one time. Today there is very little practical activity on 2 meters, so my local and regional comms requirements are met with NVIS on 160, 80, 60 & 40 meters, leaving the VHF/UHF equipment, mostly unused. Repurposing the for emcomm and preparedness scenarios seems like a pragmatic use of the gear.
Audio interface
VaraFM will be tested with the Digirig mobile, Kenwood TMD700 and a 1/4w dual band GP at 12m/40ft. I’m not sure how well the Digirig will work for maximum throughput, but we’ll give it a go. The fallback plan is one of the DRA boards from Masters comms.
VaraHF will also use a Digirig mobile and perhaps the unused Yaesu FT-817ND with PA500 60-watt amplifier (@ 20-30w). The Vertex VX-1210 is still an option although it doesn’t have CAT control. It is an incredibly energy efficient radio, but would limit HF to a single frequency. Perhaps 60 meters!?
Regarding a QRP rig and PA500. There is an upcoming PA500 firmware release allowing auto resume functionality after a power loss. This functionality will allow the amp to be remotely deployed or tower mounted, without the need to “turn it on” again manually after a power loss. Why the PA500? Keep in mind it has an autonomous antenna tuner built-in, requiring no user interaction for antenna tuning or band switching. It also has excellent filtering and a rediculously low current consumption. A bias T could provide the power from the shack. Alternatively, a tower mounted solar gen could be built, providing power on the tower itself.
Station power
Primary power comes from a 24ah LiFePO4 battery graciously supplied by Gigaparts. You can order this battery here http://oh8stn.net/24ah_lifepo4 . This isn’t the largest capacity battery one could deploy, but it is a great starting point. With such a small capacity battery, keeping current consumption to a minimum is critical. For this reason, I may start off using the second Icom IC-705 or Vertex VX-1210. instead of the 817ND. The 705 uses less than half the current draw of the 817ND on RX. The VX-1210 uses even less. Could using a 705 in this way could be a waste!? Perhaps one of the bare bones QRP rigs recently released. Anyway, it is not todays problem.
Charge controller could be a Genasun GV-8B Boost or Genasun GV10L controller or some other controller supporting both wind and solar. If a dual power source controller can be sourced, I’ll add a second wind turbine to the tower. If not, the Genasun with a couple of hundred watts of solar panels. Another option is the Victron 75/15 MPPT I’ve been testing. It has a bluetooth interface built-in making power/usage tracking much simpler.
Current consumption I know you’ve all heard it before. Rigs drawing more the a couple of hundred milliamps of current on RX are a complete no-go for an off-grid powered emcomm system. The Yaesu FT-891 or Icom IC-7300 would both have been good if not for the high current consumption on RX and low efficiency on TX. These losses make similar rigs impractical for applications where sipping energy rather gulping it down is required. It saddens me to say, there are no current QRO rigs with good enough efficiency, that they could be used for emcomm or preparedness!
The wind turbine supplied by Ham Radio Prep last year, will help supply supplemental and backup power for the Gateway/BBS.
Computing
For computing, a Larkbox Pro or Intel NUK mini computer to run the Winlink RMS software. I have good experience powering the Larkbox Pro from a solar gen. You can read about it here: https://oh8stn.org/blog/2021/01/27/chuwi-larkbox-pro-off-grid-power/
Although there is a USB-C connector for power, the Larkbox Pro actually runs off of ~12-14.x volts. Don’t be fooled by the connector!
Some mods for the Larkbox: Pro
- Add a couple of resistors in series with the fan to slow it down. This reduces noise.
- Drill the fan ventilation holes larger for better air flow. Then add a layer of porous cloth as a dust filter.
- Remove the heatsink and add thermal paste, then replace the heat sink.
- Disable Windows updates. Do them manually when/if you like.
- Use your multimeter to find the plus/minus leads on the fake USB-C cable, then add appropriate connectors for battery power.
HF
Once a reliable VHF system is up and running, a second radio (HF radio) will be added to the system. The HF radio will add Winlink access 60 & 30 meters. 60m for its day/night regional NVIS capabilities, 30m as it is usually open during day & night. 60m will be limited to 500hz connections, allowing operators to make use of the narrow filters in their rigs, for more reliable weak signal connections.
Antenna For fixed station the antenna could be something as simple of a horizontal dipole or off-center fed dipole for 60/30 meters or random wire endfed like the Chameleon EMCOMM2 QRP just in for testing. For extended field work, a full wave loop for 60 or 40 meters could be employed. The built-in antenna tuner on the PA500 makes these broadband options excellent rapid deployment combinations.
Field deployment
Once the entire system is up and running, it would be an added bonus to make this a self-contained, field deployable system. We have all read about the aftermaths of natural disasters wiping out critical infrastructure. Well Imagine a Winlink RMS with Starlink Portability service for internet access. Such a system could be deployed anywhere on the planet, where Starlink service is available. Emergency responders could be deployed strategically in key locations. They then connect over HF/VHF for email communications, weather forecasts, … within and/or out of the region.
Portable Power
For field deployment, there are already two PowerFilm FM16-6000 100 watt panels and a 20ah LiFePO4 base solar generator, dedicated for this purpose. These can be seem in the image above.
This is more of a concept atm. It is documented here to keep the idea fresh.
More about the concept
Operators deployed in urban areas don’t always have the luxury of big and efficient HF antennas for local or regional comms. We support these operators by making HF & VHF connections available. Imagine a handheld radio with whip antenna and a microsoft surface for fast winlink with VaraFM. Imagine using the radio-only functionality as a sort of cross band email gateway regardless of your modest backpack portable station. Primary function is supporting the portable or deployed operators who can’t carry a ton of extra comms gear.
Missing equipment
As always, these projects are dependent upon equipment. If you would like to donate some equipment, these are the major component still missing:
- Solar panels (fixed station)
- Charge controller
- Mini Computer or lightweight energy-efficient laptop
Support the blog and channel by shopping on ebay, at battery hookups or GigaParts. For GigaParts and Battery Hookup, use my callsign for a small discount.
- GigaParts: https://oh8stn.net/GigaParts
- Battery Hookup: https://oh8stn.net/batteryhookup
- eBay: https://oh8stn.net/ebay
If you’re a business looking to sponsor the project in part or in its entirety, please reach out.
This post is always a work in progress.
73
Julian oh8stn
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/c/oh8stn
TipJar: https://paypal.me/oh8stn/2usd
Thursday, July 28, 2022
The Promise of Pleasure or the Threat of Pain: Reflections on Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Future of Life on Earth - LewRockwell LewRockwell.com
The Promise of Pleasure or the Threat of Pain: Reflections on Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Future of Life on Earth - LewRockwell LewRockwell.com: “And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there’s always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there’s always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering.” – Aldous Huxley, Brave New World “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” – George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four Soon after the publication of George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, his publisher sent a copy of it to Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World. Orwell’s book describes a … Continue reading →
Everything You Need to Know about Federal Handouts for State and Local Governments by Dan Mitchell
Ideally, the federal government should be limited to the functions specified by the Founders in Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution.
If we are to have any hope of getting back to that system, it may require two practical steps.
- If Washington is operating a program, the first step
may be to replace it with block grants and let state and local governments decide how to spend the money. - If Washington is providing block grants, the second step may be to phase out that funding and let state and local governments figure out if they want to pick up the cost.
To elaborate, programs that are both funded by Washington and operated by Washington not only suffer from waste (common to all government activities), but also produce the inefficiency and stagnation common to a one-size-fits-all approach.
This is why welfare reform under Bill Clinton was a good idea.
Taxpayers saved some money because the block grant was capped. But the best outcome was that states then could use their flexibility to innovate and find approaches that actually helped poor people by encouraging employment and reducing dependency.
In an ideal world, however, there should not be block grants. State and local governments should decide not only how to operate welfare programs, but also how to finance them.
To understand the problems associated with block grants, let’s look at a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Authored by , it finds that pandemic grants were grotesquely inefficient.
We use an instrumental-variables estimator reliant on variation in congressional representation to analyze the effects of federal aid to state and local governments across all four major pieces of COVID-19 response legislation.
Through September 2021, we estimate that the federal government allocated $855,000 for each state or local government job-year preserved. Our baseline confidence interval allows us to rule out estimates of less than $433,000. Our estimates of effects on aggregate income and output are centered on zero and imply modest if any spillover effects onto the broader economy.
Needless to say, it’s absurd to spend $433,000-$855,000 to save a job that pays an average of $100,000. Or less.
On net, that’s going to reduce total employment when you count the private-sector jobs that are foregone because politicians are diverting so much money from the economy’s productive sector.
And if you want to know how much money was diverted specifically for state and local governments, Figure 3 shows both Trump’s pandemic boondoggle in 2020 and Biden’s pandemic boondoggle in 2021.
In a column for the Foundation for Economic Education, Peter Jacobsen discusses the new study.
The authors find that federal aid to state and local governments to save jobs was incredibly ineffective. In fact, this program was even more inefficient than the notoriously inefficient Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). …The PPP was estimated to have cost somewhere from $169,000 to $258,000 per job each year.
This program to save state and local government jobs cost in the range of $433,000 to $855,000 per job each year. This is as much as 5x more waste! …So how did the government spend more than $800,000 per job to save jobs which normally pay five figures? …a business engaging in an ineffective and wasteful policy like this would make a loss on each worker and go out of business. …government is particularly prone to generating these wasteful jobs. …Without a mechanism like profit and loss to evaluate the value of alternative options, we are left with a policy which spends nearly a million dollars to preserve a single job with a salary less than one tenth of that.
I’ll conclude with the should-be-obvious observation that politicians don’t actually care about net job creation. They care about buying votes with other people’s money.
So the state and local bureaucrats who directly benefited (by keeping their over-compensated jobs) presumably will remember and reward the politicians who supported for the boondoggles.
P.S. The rest of us also should care – and oppose spendthrift politicians, but most of us don’t pay enough attention to recognize the “unseen.”
Celaya Benchmark KI7EMX's Submitted by KI7EMX
Summit:
Voice Cellular Coverage:
Don't knowData Cellular Coverage:
Good, very usableCellular Provider:
AT&TAPRS Coverage:
Don't knowThis was the first activation of Celaya Benchmark. The summit is very non-descript, extremely exposed but close to a drive-up activation. The last 2 miles is a lightly used overgrown road, but certainly comfortable in a small 4-wheel drive (Subaru Outback/Crosstrek). I would NOT recommend a Prius attempt this last section of road. If driving in a low clearance sedan, you could park at the intersection described below (42.02146, -114.94743) and hike the last 2 miles. The elevation gain is less than 400 feet to the summit.
There is a USGS marker at the summit but is appears to be slightly lower than the high point. Regardless, this is where I set up and activated. It was my first time deploying a sunshade that I jerry-rigged from a cheap Walmart tent rain fly. It worked like a charm. Activating on a mid-week morning was a risk, but I was able to work chasers on both 20 and 40 meters.
Directions: Head west from Hwy 93 onto Three Creek Road out of Rogerson, ID. This is also called Jarbidge Road. There are two ways to get to the approach, the first is to head south on Monument Springs Road (42.21270, -114.78683). This is where you leave the pavement and head south on a well graded dirt/gravel road for approximately 18.1 miles. Both Gaia and USGS maps do not accurately indicate the summit access road where you need to turn north. The actual intersection is located at 42.02146, -114.94743.
The second way to this intersection is a shorter dirt road (14 miles) but a longer drive overall if coming from Hwy 93. Continue on Three Creek Road/Jarbidge Road and turn east at 42.11494, -115.02895.
Coming from either direction you arrive at the intersection (42.02146, -114.94743) and head north. There is one cattle gate that you’ll need to move out of the way and put back once through. This is an easy 2-mile drive. I parked the JEEP at 42.04798, -114.93826 and walked the ¼-mile to the summit.
Pictures:
A Great Homebrew Vertical Antenna by Steve (KM4FLF/VA3FLF)
Last spring, I was going through my many boxes of ham “stuff” looking for items to sell at our club tail gate sale. I came across a couple of Hustler SM Series Resonators (20 /40 Meters) that I had acquired. I am not sure where I obtained them, but I decided they were keepers. That decision turned out to be the first step in a year long process that has given me an awesome homebrew vertical antenna.
After doing a little research I found the resonators and accessories at most of the online ham dealers. They are used primarily as mobile and marine antennas. I had seen where a ham had used these on a ground stake as a portable antenna as well. I ordered a Hustler MO1 mast which is 54 inches tall and thought I would attempt to make a portable POTA antenna.
I had a couple of small aluminum plates that I drilled out a few holes. I cut out a notch to put a SO-239 Stud Mount on the plate as my antenna base. I now had a ground plate, connector, and antenna with resonator. By putting a stake in the bottom of the plate, I was able to get the antenna to stand up. The Hustler resonators have a hex screw for tuning that can be loosened. The antenna can be adjusted for resonance by lengthening or shortening the radiator length. After adjusting the radiator my SWR was still horrible on the two bands.
I had some 14-gauge wire laying around and attached it to the plate using carriage bolts and nuts for my ground radials. I didn’t think about the length of the wires at this point but went with three or four lines around 20 to 30 ft. I was able to use my vertical a few times with moderate success. My SWR on 20 and 40 Meters was around 2:0 to 1 at best. It was bulky and very delicate. Sometimes screwing in or unscrewing the MO1 the SO239 would slide off the edge of the aluminum plate. I put away my contraption for the winter and decided to move on to something else.
In April of this year, I wanted to revisit my project. I identified a few issues that needed to be improved. The main issues with the antenna were bulkiness, took too long to set up, and really had poor performance. I attacked the SO239 problem by drilling out a 5/8 inch hole in the center of the aluminum plate and centered the SO239 mount there. I used an elbow PL259 connector so I could feed the coax under the ground plate insuring the insulator is in the correct position. The shield becomes the ground and then isolates the center connector.
I put some more thought into the ground radials. I needed to find a balance of effectiveness and time it takes to set up the antenna. The rule of thumb is more radials the better until one reaches a certain threshold. I opted to go with four radials, ¼ wavelength for 40 Meters, which I used 32 feet and 6 inches. I assembled PowerPole connectors to the ends of the wire and onto the radials which I made from speaker wire. I found that speaker wire was very flexible and easy to deploy and recover. The PowerPole connectors make the antenna very quick and easy to deploy.
I opted for a shorter carriage bold in the meantime and used four 3 1//2 inch bolts for the feet. I have an open slot for a tent stake if I need more stability in high winds. I purchased Hustler resonators for 10, 15, 30, and 80 Meters. This affords me a full suite of the HF bands. There are two models of resonators. The RM Series is rated for 400 watts. The RMS Series are more expensive. They are rated for 1 KW and have a wider bandwidth. Since I usually work digital or CW, I opted for the RM Series.
Performance
My resonators are tuned for the lower ends of each band staying near the digital portions. My SWR on 40 Meters generally runs 1:2 to 1, and all the other bands do not exceed 1:4 to 1. On 40 Meters the antenna is a bit narrow with SWR above 2:0 to 1 at 7.20 MHz.
The speaker wire is very flexible and combined with the PowerPole connectors, makes deployment quick and easy. I am able to deploy the antenna in five to seven minutes. I still have the military mindset of shoot, move and communicate. I get a kick out of seeing how fast I can get on the air at a new POTA activation.
I always take my 20 and 40 Meter resonators and occasionally will take my 30 Meter. As you can see from the photograph (above), the antenna package can be carried in a backpack with the longest item being the MO1. I will add that Hustler makes the MO2 mast that folds over at 27 inches. I have not found that necessary for travel.
The PSK Reporter shot is from last POTA activation at Fort Erie National Historic Site. I was using an IC-705 running 5 watts. I was spotted into Hawaii and Europe. I made 21 QSO’s using PSK, FT8 and a couple of SSB on 20 Meters.
This has become my go to antenna. I usually bring my Buddystick Pro and PAR 20/40 End Fed along to my POTA activations. I have not deployed those antennas in the last few activations because I find my Homebrew Vertical easier to setup and it gives me great performance.
I have a couple more things I would like to do to improve my antenna. My next priority is to make some type of hinge system for the feet. This would allow the base to be more compact and easier to carry. This is a work in progress but I am pleased with how my homebrew has performed. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.
Thanks,
Steve Riddle
VA3FLF/KM4FLF