I've used sandpaper then soldered and not had any problems.  Using some liquid electronic solder flux would be even better.  I get mine from Fry's.

Vinegar or vinegar with a little table salt will brighten copper right up.  As mentioned before very good rinsing is necessary afterwards.

Bill

I get a 'page not found" error message.

Apparently the domain name is valid but the website is not mounted on the server, hence nothing appears.

Bill

they are located on the bottom.

Bill

I use an HP inkjet printer and glossy photo paper.  MS PowerPoint is easy for me to use due to familiarity, but MS Publisher (included in the MS Office Suite) is designed specifically for doing layouts.

Anything you do to create a personalized QSL card will be appreciated that much more by the recipients.

73, Bill

Good luck on the exam!

I see it's useless to offer and Resistance to the puns here.

Since the corrosion is from an *alkaline* battery, you need to use an acid to clean it.  The reverse of what you do with a car battery.  

Brush away the corrosion products you can physically.  Then use a swab and some vinegar.  You'll get some vigorous foaming!  Remove the debris and repeat until the terminal is clean.  Rinse with water or alcohol.  I recommend a spritz of contact cleaner with corrosion inhibitor like Deoxit or Deoxit Gold.

73, Bill

I have seen military "man portable" radio systems that took four strong men to lift @ 70lbs apiece.  Thats a very loosely defined term.   I'll bet someone will turn up something from QST from the late teens or early twenties.

73, bill

I was at an electronics show a couple years ago and was shown a device to detect hidden cameras.   One version was for executives and would fit into the thickness of a binder cover, with only a small indicator light.   The detector was designed to listen for the raster scan rate of the camera CCD.  Apparently they almost all use the same technology and rate.  Clever idea.

I thought his sending was a bit choppy!

Insertion loss at HF should be fairly minimal, maybe .5 dB or less.  Neither the manual or product data sheet specify insertion loss.

You will probably experience much higher losses in the transmission line to the antenna than from using the tuner (any tuner).  If you are doing weak signal work, you will gain the most improvement by switching to N connectors and putting up the best coax, probably the LMR series.

To get the real numbers, do your own measurements.  Find a buddy with a Time domain reflectometer, or possibly a network analyzer.  You will be able to see the difference in swapping out components.

73, Bill

The short answer is no.

Unless you are running microwave frequencies and/or extremely high power, their is no proven danger.  A few years ago the FCC set some arbitrary limits as a precaution.  The ARRL has some good examples of typical situations that will show how to stay within FCC standards.

Don't worry, get on the air.

Yes, VHF generally has a longer absolute range than UHF.  

You didn't ask but... If you go to use your HT with a car mounted antenna, a 1/4 wave antenna can be better for use in mountainous terrain because it has a higher take-off angle than either a 1/2 or 5/8 wave.  This is useful when you are down in a valley and the repeater is on a mountaintop.

73, Bill

http://www.k7mem.150m.com/Electronic_Notebook/attenuators/h_pad.html

Here is an online calculator for an H-pad attenuator.  It also gives you the values for common resistors to use.   For the T-pad ckt, which has half the parts, click on Attenuators at the left sidebar.

I've seen designs in QST  over the years for attenuators, and I suspect the ARRL Handbook has a design for one two.  Selectable attenuators that is.

Don't be afraid to build it!

73, Bill

The question, and curiosity, is in your mind.   Give it a spin.  It costs you nothing.  You might love it. In any case you will have a greater appreciation and connection with ham radio and its history.  The greatest pleasure in ham radio is experimenting and trying new things.

73,  Bill