hi danny,
another alternative you might enjoy is obtaining
one of the small, low power qrp cw transceivers
that are on the market today. you could take one
of these, a gel cell battery (or even a pack of
9 or 10 aa alkalines), a portable antenna (like
an end fed half wave wire), and a small tuner,
find a secluded spot under a tree on campus
somewhere, hang your antenna from a limb, and
make some qsos. i sure wish these had been
available when i was at university; they would
have been perfect!
many rigs of this type are available; here are a
few:
http://www.smallwonderlabs.com/http://www.fix.net/~jparker/wild.htmlhttp://www.tentec.com/Ttqrpcw.htmhttp://www.elecraft.com/http://www.mtechnologies.com/ohr/ohr100a.htmi have a couple of the ten-tec t-kits, a small
wonder labs sw40+, and small wonder labs rockmites
for 40 meters and 20 meters. i enjoy operating
them off batteries while on backpacking trips.
here are a couple very small tuners:
http://www.amqrp.org/kits/blt/index.htmlhttp://emtech.steadynet.com/zm2.shtmli have the emtech zm-2; it works great. i'm sure
the blt is nice, too.
i have no affiliation with any of these outfits;
i just thought having a setup like this would
liberate you somewhat from the antenna constraints
of a dorm room.
much more information about this type of setup is
at
http://ae5x.com73 es have fun!
scott nj0e