Wow--I'm glad you told me that BEFORE I wasted time trying to make a whip out of copperclad antenna wire.  :-)  The brass will probably work OK for me, for now--it's easy to solder, which is helpful, and the vibration isn't much of an issue for me; I've got short whips due to my garage situation.

A couple of months ago I was on a long trip in my car, and heard a 9M6 working a medium-sized pileup.  That would have been a new one for me.  I tried for 10 or 15 minutes before the path faded, and never worked him.  I also heard a 5BA; I had never worked Cyprus from the car, so I spent 20 minutes waiting and trying when the conditions were best, and finally worked him.  But not the 9M6. 

I can PROMISE you, I'd have been glad to have an extra dB or two in both those situations.  I'm working right now on changing some stainless whips to brass or copper-clad, to try to scrape a bit more performance out of my mobile system.

That's why I've been playing with replacing my SS (Hustler stock) whips with brass rod, hoping for a tiny improvement there.  (You posted a link about the difference between SS and copper a week or two ago.) But right now I'm only active on 20 and 17, where I suppose the difference would be fairly small.

As the days get shorter, I really *should* set up a mobile 40m antenna, I suppose.  On my morning drive, 17 is usually completely dead, and 20 is pretty close to dead, at least from the car.  I sure wish the solar cycle would hurry up and give me some propagation!  :-)

I've read it, Alan, and about 80% of the rest of your website--there's so much info there I haven't seen it all yet.   But with Simon's question, and also a question on another forum that asked for a description of the cap hats I've built, I thought it was worth posting a link to one small datapoint and a photo.  (I wish I had mentioned on that page that the photo shows the resonator & whip tilted down horizontally to make the photo better, that in ordinary setup and operation they're straight vertical.)

It was reading your website's article on cap hats that made me decide to try them, for more efficiency from a given (and limited) length mobile antenna.   And I'm convinced they make a big difference.   (I agree my construction is lightweight and ugly, but it's all I need.)

What I NEED to re-read on your website are the pages about noise control and bonding; I'm having fun on 15m from home but can't use it from the car because of air-conditioner noise.

Central North Carolina, vertical antenna:  saw them spotted a few times but haven't actually heard them at all.  :-(

We were talking last week about how to figure how much a capacity hat might change an antenna's resonance; I got a couple of new RM-12 resonators on sale the other day and measured the difference with and without a cap hat, on a simple test rig.  Info and a very bad photo here:

http://www.duke.edu/~kuzen001/caphat1.htm

It's been a rule for years, not to discuss religion or politics on the radio, and it applies to online forums as well.   No matter how good peoples' intentions are, people WILL wind up being angry and upset about it.  I've seen political talk ruin several once-good mailing lists.  OP is RIGHT--let's talk about ham stuff, NOT politics! 

I used an SB-104A for most of my first 100 countries, and I had a WORLD of fun with that radio. :-)  (And it's now in the hands of another ham, still functioning.)  I'd suggest what I've used for most of my contacts: simple doublet antenna fed by twinlead, with a tuner.  Works great, easy and inexpensive to build.   Make it as high and as long as you can fit on your lot; if you can get two legs of 33 feet each, it'll work on 40m and higher.   Have fun with that 104!  :-)

I drive to work early in the mornings; 06:30 local, 10:30 GMT.  I often listen around 20m phone as I'm driving in.  Lately 20 has been pretty dead when I leave in the mornings, but I know the band is opening, as I'm driving along and tuning around, when I hear those guys on 14.250, and a few minutes later I'm hearing the SSTV guys around 14230. 

Take a look in the "Reviews" forum here on eHam--I'm pretty sure I've seen a lot of discussion of them. 

I got an FT897D a month ago; I really like the radio overall.  I'm using it mostly for portable use, either with my riding mower's battery or with a regular power supply and an extension cord.

Since I'm often using the radio outside, I'm mildly interested in buying the FNB-78 internal battery pack for this radio.  At $100, the battery pack is a bit expensive but not too bad.  But what I've read suggests that, in addition to the battery, I would also need the proprietary charger, another $100+, either from Yaesu or from W4RT.

Are there any other (cheaper) options for charging the FNB-78 packs?  Has anybody homebrewed a charger for the packs, or modified it so the battery pack is charged when the radio is connected to 13.8VDC? 

Thanks!  --ken ac4rd

One thing I'm sure of:  When the DX is working split, the guys who forget to hit the <split> button and call on the DX frequency--that's a little nuisance.  Not a big deal, most of 'em (like me) notice it soon.  But what IS a big annoyance is those guys who can't keep quiet, who just have to yell "UP, you lid!" at the guy.   The "frequency cops" are a lot more bother than the guys who make a little mistake and call as it's simplex.

A few years ago I placed a "WTB" ad on a well-known website with local classified ads; I got a BUNCH of would-be scammers, including several that said:

"I want to purchase your 'WTB Les Paul DC' please give me your final price and I will send a money order ..."

ROFL!   (I never got back to any of those people because I got busy with this nice Nigerian bank director who wants to give me a lot of money ...)   ;-)

I'm still irked that the ARRL still won't count my spark-gap QSOs separately from the CW QSOs.     ;-)

Simon, I recall the DXE people had a chart of some kind on their website, showing how to mix-and-match for a given design frequency.  But I've always just put the antenna together, measured to see where it was resonant, and then started modifying to get the resonance where I wanted it.   I've used an RM-10 on 15 meters, but not much--I've got bad noise on 15 and higher frequencies so I rarely operate on 15 from the car.   

I'm using an RM-12 on 17m, and an RM-15 on 20.  The RM-15 on 20meters required 38-40 inches (around 100 cm) of whip without a cap hat, and only around 9-10" (25cm) with a homemade cap hat.    I'd say, put it together and see where it's resonant!  Good luck!   --ken