In a week, I take my Tech exam and foresee no problems passing since I've been studying for several weeks.  I already have a radio, a Kenwood TS-940-S, but I'm having serious issues choosing an antenna.  At the present, I don't have funds for a tower, rotor and beam antenna, so I'm looking at multi-band (80m-10m) vertical antennas.  All that see advertised benefit greatly from radials, and for me, that's a problem.  My man cave is located next to my garage at the side of my lot.  There is no room to run radials underground, and overhead is out of the question too.  I did see in one review that someone used their chain link fence for a radial.  Is this a viable solution?  I have chain link around 3/4 of my property, which is a lot measuring 147' by 100'.  This would make life a lot simpler if it works well.

Any response is appreciated and antenna recommendations are welcome too!  




BTW Moderators: I was even confused where to post this - in antennas, seeking help from Elmers, or the newbie section, so if it needs to be moved, please do so!

How would a mixer help a receiver? No doubt outboard equalizers work out well...,for people selling outboard equalizers.

My Flex-5000a has a built-in 3-band or a 10-band equalizer. I use the 3-band one which I keep slightly peaked in the middle... which does... almost nothing,  I work SSB and CW.

US. Postal money order is just as good. I have used them lately for transactions. Fill out. keep stub an send other part to the person. wait till get item purchased then toss the stub as other half reached destination and got product in return and no wondering where it got lost at in the process.

Just my 2 cents 

Is it me, or does there just seem to be more and more dead beat buyers responding to postings on these swap board forums?
You know the type.  They want your item, tell you they will send you the funds and you never hear back or they just keep jacking you around for days/weeks....
My most recent experience (two in the past 3 months now) and I don't post that much stuff for sale, usually an excess item or something I bought and never really should have purchased to start with, but I recently posted a radio for sale and this KF5OFW contacts me and asks if I still have it as it is "exactly" what he is looking for.  I respond yes, still have it and he comes back with I will take it, and will be back in town on the weekend.  I said okay, I will hold it for you till then.

Well, you know the rest of the story.  I have to send "prompting" emails to find out what is going on.  First it is "won't be back in town until the weekend", then when prompted again, some mechanical problem (undefined), then when prompted again, Monday (18 Feb) is a holiday (yeah for Fed workers, banks, etc., but not for you??), then I can have my nephew pay you and you can drop it off with him, etc. etc. etc.etc.

This crap really gets old.  I offered to drive to his house,drop it off and pick up the funds.  No answer.  I offer for him to just mal me a USPS money order and will get it to his house, no answer, I asked about well, what do you want to do.  No answer.

All the whil,e I already know this individual lakcs integrity and honesty.  He isn't planning o paying up, could be someone hi jacked his call and email?  Who knows.  Either way, I gave him more then enough opportunties to honor his verbal contract.  Nadad.

But I seem to see more and more of this mentality.  

Don't forget to thank the business community (in particular the big box retailers) and consumers (who shop at big box retailers) while you are at it.

But I sympathize, it's difficult to consistently buy U.S. made goods, no matter how much one tries.

Can I ask why your against drilling/punching? Its really the best way to get a good mount and ground connection. If your worried about resale value, I had a hole punched in the exact center of my last car roof. At trade in time, I lowered the roof lining, removed the mount, put a wad of 'fastglass' glass fibre matt and resin over the hole from the inside, filled the hole with filler, sanded, primed and resprayed, using matching 'touch up spray cans. It was un-noticable by the dealer, and structurally sound. A paintshop/body shop will do that for you. Its really invisible if done right.

The best advice i can give if your just nervous of doing it is to learn how to correctly remove/lower the roof lining (watch out for side curtain airbags!), as the big worry is accidentally drilling through that, and that will reduce the resale value! If you can move that out the way, you'll soon see its just another sheet of metal to put a hole in.

No, they don't hear any better.  It seems however, that anyone who drops $5K or more on a new radio does develop a more vivid imagination and they report hearing things that they can't hear on their old rig.    

        It's not uncommon for new boards or parts to take months to arrive from Japan, plus actual repair time. He shouldn't be penalized for a defective rig. The problem needed to be fixed NOW.   

I contacted Yaesu repair, told them what I heard, hoping I could make a reset or something to stop the problem, this is right out of the box, brand new, what a disappointment. The tech said it needs to be returned I made arrangements and sent it back. Intially I asked for my money back

I am sorry to hear about your radio. I do think you are being unreasonable asking for a new radio from the get go. You should give Yaesu a chance to rectify your problem brfore demanding another radio. If you buy a new car and you have a problem, do you bring it into the service center and demand a new automobile without giving them a chance to fix it? If they can't fix the problem, then I think your claim for a new radio is justified. Sorry, just my opinion.