Everything you know about dipole (calculators) is wrong ...

Good topic, many silly comments , many good ones ?? WHY > what's the interest in the dipole? every single HAM had many many contacts with dipoles - true / false ? DX engineering @ scientific velocity , speed of light, atmospheric pressure, altitude, temperature -on on and on goes the list if you want to re invent the wheel - its possible, it will STILL do the same job?
DX,r - DIY homebrew, William Orr, Moxon , Uda on and on and on ..... BEST information is ARRL HANDBOOKS from many many years collecting -passed on from friends and fellow HAMS - -
(? / internet ) Who can post anything on the internet today ( HAMS ONLY ) ( NON HAMS ) ???
And what is their intention ? to learn US something LOL - no - to get many as possible views ! that's ALL.

AGREED - most concerned about NEW generation HAMS and false information , more concerned ABOUT good old HAM
technology information that's goes Silent

TEST YOU GENERAL knowledge .. .
WITHOUT please ...without GOOGLE ! JUST try once / BEFORE you look at my PAGE
Do YOU know the 1949W8JK?

YES - Share good old information please!
NO - Please read more AMATEUR RADIO literature - there are more excellent writings out there than you can ever imagine. much more than the internet avail.

73
GOD BLESS
GDX
LEON

Thank you ALL / reading and writing ! never stop ! sharing is CARING.
Thank you QRZ for schooling us Young and Old.

cheers now
18:50 z wx 32*
Okavango Delta
A25SL

 

What kind of radio operator should they be called? Since no matter how you cut it, they are licensed and operating radios.

 

How about "poor excuse for a" radio operator?

 

Think of cars and drivers. Some drivers are good mechanics most are noort. It also doesn't mean that drivers who can't fix their cars can't drive well or are unpleasant drivers.

Same with ham radio. Just because a ham can't build an antenna doesn't mean he can't operate well or is a bad ham.

The contrary holds true. Just because a ham can build radio from scratch doesn't mean he's pleasant on the air. Or on the forums for that matter.

 

Remember we're talking an HF dipole here - not the Arecibo dish.

 

It really doesn't matter what kind of antenna a person can't build. As long as he can turn on the radio and operate it enough to talk to somebody else following the spirit of the amateur's code, then he's a radio operator and a good one.

One may be able to build the arecibo dish with one hand tied behind his back and yet if he operates like a snob, he's still a 'poor excuse of a human being and a ham".

The powers that be have decided(by not making antenna building a part of the licensure exams) that you can be a radio operator without knowing how to build a dipole or an arecibo dish as a requirement. So we can cry and gnash our teeth but there we are.

 

Surely somewhere in the current exams there’s got to be a question about calculating a 1/2 wave antenna length.

 

Oh yah. I'm sure the theory of it should be part of a ham's knowledge but building it is another matter

 

You’re kidding, right? Three insulators, two pieces of wire and some feedline. I’ve seen 10 year old kids build them.

 

Nope. Still o reason to be nasty. I know a couple of ladies who are class A(extra class) who handle pileups and other stuff really well, They can't build sh*t. These girls don't even know which way a yagi should face but they can talk really well. they probabaly can't use a manual tuner. The're still hams. I'm not saying I approve but once again, there you are.

 

I would recommend you look at the Australian equivalent of the ARRL, the WIA and investigate the requirements to attain a Foundation License.

http://www.wia.org.au/licenses/foundation/trialexam/

This may cast some illumination onto the thread.....

 

I have been building antennas since 1978, no internet then.
I do not use the internet now to build any antennas, i use the good old fashion method, BOOKS i purchased over the years .
Always worked for me, and a good receiver does the job.

 

They don't build antennas today. They just turn on their computers. Myself, I asked questions from old timers then went out and built my own. OCF at home and 1/2 wave at weekender

 

Yep. As a new Novice ca 1970, I wanted to get on 15m. My dear mom scraped up $20 to buy a used Gotham 2-el yagi (mainly, it was just lengths of tubing and some hardware). The instructions talked about making something called a "Gamma Match" by stripping a few feet of jacket+shield from the end of the coaxial feedline. When that resulted in piŝŝ-poor performance, I read the only book I had (ARRL Handbook) about how Gamma Matches work. A bit o' rework later, and I was BMOC at 14yo.

 

Well Bryan you done very well, living over 700 ks from Perth we had no options but to make our own stuff.
Picture my first home made rotator and the tower with the quad was was built by me, even me in the picture.
I am nearly seventy now and still at it, i am lucky in my life i learned many different skills which have been a big plus.
Will never stop learning till the day i drop dead.