I am unsure how many of you have seen the "subtlety" of the nom de plume, "Charlie Baker."  Abbreviated that would be "CB".

Most have examined the repeated commonality in misspellings of words and Charlie's penchant for singling out replies of some posters on which to comment in "CB Speak."

Charlie, perhaps many legal amateur operators on 10 and 20 meters do not ask for a "break" because they cannot hear your weak, over-modulated, roger-beep signal?  Or they recognize you for the "lid" and twit you pretend to be.

While many of the CB crowd have decided to join our ranks, you have obviously been like a wolf amongst the fold for some time and take some pleasure in pushing "hot buttons."

So step forward, out of the shadows and admit your true identity.  We can all have a good laugh and move on.

I, for one, will no longer play this game for I have come to realize you are not the idiot CB'er you portray.

First check the SWR meter on a 50 ohm dummy load.  The meter may be out of calibration.  If you know another HAM have it checked on their rig.

You could have bad cables or connectors.  The small stuff, which is easily overlooked, is often the culprit.

My read on your posting is that your friend has a current ticket and is just looking to upgrade to an Extra.  Is this correct?

Perhaps you could advise him to just "step back" and take a breather.  Any activity that becomes too intense, for too long, causes one to become stressed.

Perhaps there is another motivation he is not voicing?  Given the current economy it could be he is under money pressures or feels guilty spending so much time focused on his hobby and less on his family.

In a gentle, but firm way, I would try to investigate his underlying reasoning in disposing of all his equipment.  If you two are close, he may reveal his true motivation.

Over the years I have known many handicapped HAM's and radio has been their method of reaching out to the world and meeting new people.

I have returned to the hobby after 25 years and rediscovered the "mystery" which brought me into this fold so many years ago.  To me, calling "CQ" is the electronic equivalent of a message in a bottle with no wait for a reply thru the Post Office.

To really fix a damp basement one needs to have a good foundation drain in place on the OUTSIDE of the cinder block wall.  The OUTSIDE needs a good application of a rubberized foundation sealer.

To prevent water vapor from penetrating the cinder block and appearing inside use ThoroCrete Sealer (Home Depot or Lowes)on the inside.  Scrub down the cinder block with TSP, rinse, and mix up a few pounds of the ThoroCrete in a plastic tub and apply to the cinder block with a tampico brush.

If you plan to finish the walls with 4 X 8 paneling apply 10 mil plastic sheeting to the cinder block with construction adhesive and then nail furring strips on 16 inch centers to the cinder block with masonry nails.

The continued use of a good dehumidifier will be essential.

This is exactly how I solved the mildew problem in my basement and it has worked well for 15 years.

i ast my buddy jeff but he dont no what that mean!

Oh my stars...something Jeff doesn't know?

For someone that has never even taken the test once, you talk a lot of trash.

Never smoke asbestos.....

I too live on a rural route and have had problems with misdirected mail.  But the best laugh was had when the local USPS office in our small town asked me to come pick up a package because the carrier could not get it in her car.

The package was a chrome plated replacement bumper from J.C Whitney for my Chevy S-10.  It was barely wrapped in kraft paper and had a mere twist on mailing tag with my address, yet it made it from Illinois to Northern Virginia unmolested and undamaged.

Had that problem with some touch base lamps from Sears.  As I recall, I put some ferrite cores on the lamp cords to attenuate the worst of the RF, but eventually just changed the lamp socket to a 3 way rotary selector.  The wife loved the lamps and I was not about to forgo the SB-1000 amp I had just restored.  Life is all about compromise.

Peace was once again restored to the QTH until I constructed my pneumatic tennis ball launcher for the wire antennas.  But she saw the logic in my argument that HAM radio and launching wire up into trees kept me out of the local bars.

Remember to point out the positives of HAM rdio...I am at home, not "bar hopping" (how long it has been since I used those two words together?), and making friends with folks in other countries that often hate the USA...we are "diplomats" of sorts.

W3DBB writes, "This thread's shaping up fine. It already contains the classic elements..."

This has been taken to new heights...it has evolved into a life form of its own.

and the beat goes on......

Jeff must be Charlie's alter ego.

You have been "broadcasting" on amateur frequencies without a valid license thus far...why stop now?

You and your buddy Jeff will go far.  Unfortunately, not FAR enough.

Do not renew your drivers license, either.  Just drive your vehicle.  Then allow you insurance to expire.  I am sure Jeff will go along with that.

How did your illegal excursion on 20 meters go?

Slow scan was done with a CRT of a longer phosphor persistence.

I've taken to scrapping TV sets for ferrite cores and coil slugs.  There are often good sand resistors in the 5 to 10 watt range.  The HV wire from the flyback to the CRT is useful if it isn't too short.

Part and parcel to the Peter Principle:  The confused mind always says NO

I'll be the dissenting voice, thus far, and offer my experience with the loop.  I have two - a vertical inverted delta and a horizontal.  Both are fed with homemade open wire feedline.  The vertical loop offers a better matching range for my Yaesu FC-102 tuner with 450 ohm feeder and the horizontal seems to prefer 600 ohm.  Both using remote 4:1 current baluns fed with coax about 10 feet outside the shack window.

Until earlier this year, I used no amplifier - just the 160 watt output of my FT-102 and made numerous contacts into Europe and South America.  The addition of the Heathkit SB-1000 has increased my ability to dine at the adult table.

The vertical loop favors N/S while the horizontal loop...?  Who knows.  Although the horizontal was the antenna I was using early one Sunday morning when I worked an Australian station.

For top band, a sloping vertical is not bad, if you can put down sufficient radials to limit ground losses.  I've used 160M loops with good success...albeit with a bit of difficulty with 40M because of the tuner.

You might also consider a fan dipole.

For your over-the-tree-top support lines consider nylon trimmer line, but only the round variety.  The square and Vee shapes are a bit aggressive on tree limbs when the tree sways and will damage or cut thru support branches in short order.

Pulleys and counterweights are unnecessary as the trimmer line is quiet "stretchy."

No need to do all this.  Just use some .095 round trimmer line over the crown of the tree support and tie it off on a wooden cleat screwed into the tree at a convenient height.

The trimmer line needs to be round, otherwise it will begin to saw into branches as the tree sways.

I've used this on several loop antennas and it works well.  Even loaded with ice.  The trimmer line stretches, but will return to something approximating the original cut length after the ice melts.  

I have assisted the ice removal by using an adjustable power supply into the open wire feedline and passing a few amps of current thru the loop to allow the wire to heat up a bit.  Of course, this will only work for a loop.

My horizontal, free floating 80M loop dropped in height about 50% and went right back up after the ice melted.

The trimmer line method has been in use here successfully, for several years.