I'm in the process of moving, and I'm glad to be past the hardest part - the packing up and cleaning up. I've never before had to pack up so much stuff in so little time. It highlighted that I'm not as organized as I should be. I know that in the future, I will have more stuff. I may also later be married and have kids. The time for me to change is now.

I realize that most hams and electronics hobbyists aren't that well organized and have too much stuff.  Still, I'm sure that there have to be a few anomalies out there.  Most hams consume lots of junk food, but I normally eat a very healthy and nutritious diet.  I'd like to be as good at keeping things organized as I am at eating a healthy diet.

I'd like to hear from those of you who have a reputation for being exceptionally well-organized, especially those of you who are considered neat-freaks. How do you do it? What makes you different from the slobs out there? When I hear about high income earners who have trouble making ends meet, I think "If only you didn't insist on gold-plating everything, you'd have millions by now!" When I hear about the proliferation of obesity, I think "If people would keep healthy food instead of junk food at home, they'd be so much thinner. Can't they realize that it would be so easy if they made eating healthy the path of least resistance?"

So what are the things that go on in the minds of the neat-freaks?

The only sure way I know of to stay organized is to have very little stuff. I ALWAYS had a neat locker in junior high and high school. I NEVER made any effort to keep it clean. About all I kept in my locker were my textbooks and coat while others made their lockers a home away from home. Because I didn't keep much else in my locker, I couldn't help but keep it clean. Of course, I can't keep such a bare-bones existence in everything for the rest of my life.

I will now try a few new things:
1. Keep a large garbage container (8 gallons, big enough for a paper grocery bag) and a second container (for recyclables, like PAPER) in each room. The only room where a small wastebasket is enough is the bathroom. I realize I need to streamline the process of getting rid of stuff, and having disposal containers in every room where I need one will help.  I MUST stop being the Hotel California of stuff.
2. At all times, keep a container dedicated to items for giving away. Then I'd give these things away on a regular basis to friends, other hams, Freecycle, etc.

For those of you who don't know, "Drake and Josh" is a Nickelodeon tween sitcom in the tradition of "Saved By The Bell".

I just saw the alien invasion episode.  Drake and Josh play a prank on their annoying little sister Meghan.  They convince her that aliens are invading Earth.  Meghan listens to the ham radio bands for their transmissions.  To take the prank further, Drake and Josh borrow ham radio equipment to make transmissions to convince Meghan that there are aliens coming.

I like the visibility ham radio had in this episode.  Unfortunately, the show made NO mention that Drake and Josh were transmitting illegally (no license, no ID, etc.).  I guess the moral of the story is to NEVER lend your ham radio transmitting equipment to nonhams, ESPECIALLY those with a reputation for pulling crazy stunts.

Thanks.  I see now that an elevated vertical antenna is a hybrid between a grounded monopole and a ground plane antenna.  I see now why an elevated vertical needs fewer radials than a ground-mounted vertical, as greater distance above the ground means that the radials have more influence, the lossy ground has less influence, and the air between the radials is nonconductive but also lossless (unlike the ground).

I understand that the ground plane antenna is a vertical dipole with horizontal or diagonal radials replacing the lower leg of the antenna.

I understand that the ground-mounted vertical antenna is a vertical dipole with a conductive ground plane as a replacement for the lower leg of the antenna.  An ideal ground-mounted vertical antenna is on a superconducting plane of infinite area.  Real ground has some loss, and ground radials are used to minimize the ground loss for the induced RF ground current flowing towards the feedpoint.

Is a vertical antenna with elevated radials a hybrid of the ground-mounted vertical and ground plane antenna?  If not, how does the elevated vertical antenna fit into this picture?  I get the impression that an elevated vertical antenna is a ground plane antenna that's too close to the ground to be called a ground plane antenna.

I've also heard that an elevated vertical antenna needs fewer radials than a ground-mounted antenna in order to attain the same level of efficiency.  Of course, there are others who say that this isn't always the case.  (I suspect that variations in ground conductivity make one better than the other.)

Why would an elevated vertical antenna need fewer radials in order to attain the same efficiency as a similar ground-mounted vertical antenna?  I know that ground is lossy, but isn't the air between elevated radials also lossy?  (Or am I wrong?)  How does raising an HF vertical antenna and its radials a few feet above the ground reduce the ground losses?  I understand the effect of ground for a ground-mounted vertical antenna (conductivity is everything) and for a ground plane antenna (none, assuming sufficient distance above ground) and for a vertical dipole antenna (ditto).

So how does an elevated vertical antenna work?

I was having a conversation yesterday with two other hams about ground vs. elevated radials for vertical antennas.  They are strong advocates of elevated radials over ground radials.  Their argument is that elevated radials are superior at minimizing ground resistance, even when the radials are nonresonant AND only a few feet above the ground (even on 80m and 160m).

Given the strong arguments on both sides of the debate, I'm sure that ground radials are better in some places and elevated radials are better in others.  (I suspect that this is related to ground conductivity.)

I understand that ground radials are for ground-mounted antennas and are used to provide low-resistance paths for the RF current flowing towards the feedpoint and coax shield.  I understand also that ground radials do not need to be resonant and get detuned by the ground anyway.  The perfect ground-mounted vertical setup is a vertical antenna mounted on an infinite superconducting plane.

The general wisdom for using elevated radials (as opposed to ground radials) is that you need two of them and that they should run in opposite directions from the antenna.

How important is it that elevated radials be resonant AND go in opposite directions?  If a perfect ground-mounted vertical setup is a vertical antenna mounted on an infinite superconducting plane, then what is a perfect elevated vertical antenna setup?  Is an elevated vertical antenna a 1/4 wavelength monopole antenna, a ground plane antenna, or a vertical dipole antenna?

It's not quite official yet, but I have a job offer in Fridley as an embedded electrical engineer.  So I'll be looking for a small house to rent.

What neighborhoods in the north Minneapolis area do you recommend?  More importantly, what neighborhoods should I avoid due to CC&Rs, flooding risk, or high crime?  Are there any particular neighborhoods with a high concentration of hams?

What are the local clubs and hamfests?

How bad is the traffic on Interstate 694 and Route 610 going over the Mississippi River?

For those of you who are also embedded electrical engineers, what parts of the Twin Cities areas have the most jobs?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the northwest and western suburbs (like Maple Grove, Plymouth, and Minnetonka) have the most jobs.  While this will be a great job at a great company, the day may come that I need to change jobs.

I have been to the Twin Cities region three times (once for the CSVHF Society conference, once for a Mandy Moore concert, and once for my job interview) since 2006, and I really like the area.  It reminds me of the Chicago area but with many small lakes (instead of one big one) and more embedded electrical engineering jobs (like those at the various medical device companies).

Why do so many of you insist on drilling ALL FOUR corner holes when you only need to secure the two opposite corners?  That sounds like unnecessary work to do EVERY TIME you need to install an SO-239 connector.

OK, I've thought of a solution.

Instead of drilling a 5/8 inch hole, I will only drill a 1/2 inch hole, mount the flange to the OUTSIDE of the chassis instead of the inside, use double-sided tape to keep the flange on the chassis, and then drill the two opposite corner holes.  The double-sided tape should work better than trying to shoehorn the single-sided tape on.  The 1/2 inch hole will fit the small side of the SO-239 but not the large threaded side, and that allows the flange to remain flush with the chassis and the chassis flush with the wood backing.

I'm not sure why I insisted on keeping the flange inside rather than outside the box other than the fact that MFJ, Timewave, and most other vendors of accessories mount the SO-239s with the flanges inside.  I'm now convinced that this is standard practice because people think it looks better, and these companies have the special, elaborate equipment and procedures to make sure it's done properly each time.

OK, I realize that I still haven't provided enough specifics.

Once I have drilled the 5/8-inch hole with the Unibit, it gets hard to position the SO-239 so that it holds still AND allows me to see where to drill.  I have the metal chassis on top of the wood.  The hole has been cut in the chassis, and there's a cone-shaped hole in the wood below.  

Now I'm supposed to put the SO-239 on top of the hole.  If the threaded part is on top, the SO-239 won't hold still.  Using tape to hold the SO-239 in place so I can drill through the holes isn't reliable enough, and there's too much play in the SO-239 anyway to guarantee that I have it properly placed.  This may work the majority of the time, but that's not good enough.

Putting the SO-239 under the chassis won't help, because I then cannot see the little holes on the side.

The manner in which I've been drilling holes for SO-239s is inferior, and I need to replace it pronto.

There's something I didn't make clear.

Getting the 5/8 inch hole drilled isn't the big issue, though I will consider getting that Greenlee punch.  

The issue is making sure that I get the holes aligned properly.  You see, once the 5/8 inch hole is drilled, there's too much "play" in things, and if the small holes are even slightly misaligned, the bolts won't fit.

I realize now that drilling the 5/8-inch hole right off the bat is the wrong approach.  The Unibit-created hole in the wood under the metal chassis doesn't leave enough room for the SO-239 to fit between the wood and metal, and taping the SO-239 to the metal isn't foolproof.  You might get it right 9 times out of 10, but there will be that one time that you screw it up like I just did.  Fortunately, I was able to drill one of the two holes bigger so that the second bolt would fit in.

What is your foolproof procedure for drilling the holes in an SO-239?

One more thing: A 75m Hamstick dipole, EVEN when properly adjusted for the frequency, has as much difficulty radiating as Jessica Simpson would have reading IEEE transactions.  Even an S-shaped full-sized dipole at the same height (7 feet in my case) is FAR SUPERIOR to the 75m Hamstick dipole.

I don't like lowband Hamstick dipoles, and I can't believe they're so popular.  A Hamstick dipole antenna for 75m/80m is not a single band antenna but a single FREQUENCY antenna.  The bandwidth is narrow (like a few kHz), and tuners don't work.  You have to keep adjusting the antenna to get it on the right frequency.  You can't just QSY willy-nilly, because that requires going back out to readjust the antenna.  Using a tuner does NOT help.  Adjusting the tuner to get the SWR down is EXTREMELY tricky (a hair trigger can mean the difference between an SWR of 1.5 and infinity), and the SWR will go back up again when you try to transmit.  The feedpoint reactance will be thousands of ohms, so it's impossible to tune.

A low full-sized 75/80m antenna, even in an S-shape and near metal structures is MUCH, MUCH more effective than a straight Hamstick at the same height and in the clear.

I recommend using a field strength meter.  If the field strength meter responds when placed near the coax during transmission but does not respond when placed farther away from the coax (but the same distance from the antenna), then you know that the coax is radiating.

You can buy a used field strength meter for a very cheap price (just a few dollars) in the tailgate part of most hamfests.  It's easy to verify that it's working - see if it responds to transmissions from an adjacent HT.

Is there a place on the web that lists all the major conferences and conventions taking place this year?  Last year, I enjoyed the 10-10 International convention in Omaha.  In 2006, I attended the Central States VHF Society conference near Mall of America.  Are there any other conferences/conventions in the Midwest (I live in Cedar Rapids, IA), Mid Atlantic (used to live in northern Virginia), Pacific Northwest (have a friend in Seattle), or southern California (my parents and siblings live in the San Diego area) worth attending?