There's nothing cheaper than making a homemade RF probe for your own voltmeter; a simple diode and a 0.1uF disc capacitor. Your voltmeter will show peak RF voltage, minus the diode's voltage drop, but that can be converted to RMS volts by multiplying by 0.707.  GL

Actually, six meters is considered to be VHF since it is above the HF cutoff of 30 MHz.

Bob Heil specializes in ham gear; David Clark specializes in aviation stuff. That having been said, many hams have used or are using Clark headsets with their ham equipment, and probably with good personal reasons. I can see where they could come in handy at contest stations or during Field Day, but I find them somewhat uncomfortable for casual use in the shack. Heck, I didn't care for them that much when I was flying--but that's me. Your results may vary. GL

A couple of ideas. First, ham helpers are Elmers, not Ernies. Second, look to the electronics courses at your local colleges and vocational schools, and talk with the counselors or, better yet, the instructors, and tell them what you are interested in and ask their recommendations.

Your local library may have several books on electronics projects. If not, go online to the ARRL.org bookstore and get a Communications Handbook. It will cover virtually everything you need to know about radio communications and construction techniques, and includes building projects that include transmitters, receivers, power supplies, antennas, test equipment, etc. Theory is included, too, as are operating procedures, safety considerations, component datasheets, etc. It's well worth the money, and even an older handbook will teach you a lot. Of course, the bookstore has many other great theory and construction books as well.

There are some good online sources, too. Google around for "online electronics course, "online communications course," etc. The Navy has a really good one online. You might also find some useful information in some of the YouTube videos (and some not-so-useful information as well). Another good source for construction ideas, although not necessarily ham radio, are the Make Magazine blog at makezine.com, and the do-it-yourself projects at www.instructables.com

One great online source for beginners is the "Elmers 101" course, which teaches the theory and construction of the nice, and inexpensive, SW40 CW transceiver. Take a look at the lessons at http://www.qsl.net/kf4trd/faq.html to see what it covers. You will also find a lot of good construction technique, projects to work on, and other tidbits from the the QRP Amateur Radio Club International and its quarterly magazine. See the web site at http://www.qrparci.org/

Finally, use one of the online ham search programs that allows searching by city or zip code (e.g. ARRL's http://www.arrl.org/advanced-call-sign-search), then call some of the hams who are listed, and find out if there's a place they like to meet, or a club they are members of. I found 18 listings for your town alone, but a nearby larger town might have a larger listing. One of them might want to volunteer to be your Elmer, or put you in touch with someone who will.

Once, when it was raining hard, someone asked Will Rogers if he thought it would ever stop. He replied, "It always has before." I'm virtually certain the forums will open up soon...

Yes, upgrade.  You never know when you'll have the opportunity to pick up an HF rig, or even operate a Field Day station. What if an affordable rig shows up in a yard sale next month? It would be nice to use all its capabilities, not just its 10m SSB, wouldn't it?

From its web site, "ICM custom quartz crystals typically have frequency ranges of 32.768 KHz to 200 MHz. If your application requires higher frequencies, please contact our crystal engineers at 1-800-725-1426."

www.icmfg.com

They tell us that leaded gasoline (tetraethyl lead) would ruin catalytic converters in cars--the lead contaminates the platinum in them. Could you have gotten a little solder splatter onto your iron's catalytic element?  Just a thought....

I, too, had a Portasol, but when it developed a leak in its butane tank, I replaced it with a Radio Shack model. The page at http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=butane%20soldering&origkw=butane+soldering&sr=1 shows that even Weller has butane irons on the market, and your luck with their catalytic heating elements might be somewhat better. GL

There are apparently 60 or so there in Helotes. Try using the callsign lookup at www.arrl.org, and enter W5GMT, or even a dummy call sign. Either it will find it or not, but it will give you a chance to search for call signs in any city or zip code area. My quick search showed 68 entries for Helotes, but I'm sure some are duplicates, some have moved, and some are now inactive. GL

Yeah, I kinda thought so. But it was fun to see how wide a million inches was, vs. a millionth of an inch.

Put a 50Ω non-inductive dummy resistor on the antenna end of the coax and report what kind of SWR you see. If the coax and connectors are alright, it should be 1:1. If not, then I'd suspect a bad connector fitting.

Another thing, really lossy cable can 'improve" SWR a lot, but doesn't do anything to help get the signal to the antenna.  Is your SWR equally poor across the band with your new cable, or does it seem to be better at one end rather than the other?  If it's the latter, then you may want to retrim the antenna.  GL

Crystal aging could be causing the problem, but a few kc's is a lot!

Depending on where you live, a local truck stop might host a competent CB repair shop. But before using it, I would ask several truckers for their impressions and ratings on the work done there. Then keep your fingers crossed.

"It's supposed to penetrate an opening of 1,000,000"."  Heck, Dallas, Texas, would penetrate an opening of 1,000,000"!

Auto parts stores have several penetrating lubricants that should work for you. I've had good results using "PB Fabulous Blaster" to unstick stuck parts.

Actually, if it gets cold enough, you might begin to see superconductivity!