Its all Charlie's fault. Well, maybe not but lets blame him anyway. Charles and I were throwing around some ideas about NYC-ARES and how we could get the members to take their roles in emergency communications more seriously. The biggest complaint the members had was that the things they should be equipped with cost money which they don't have. If you ask ham radio operators whom know me they'll tell you I can be a bit of a radio snob. Definitely not a "Caned Ham" or an Extra Lite (although I am a No-Code Extra). Anyway this got me to thinking that maybe the members could build the things they need.

The thing that we are always banging on about is antennas. Many hams buy a hand held radio and then expect to be able to talk all over the place with perfect clarity whilst using the supplied antenna. Seasoned hams will tell you that the supplied antenna is much akin to a dummy load and that you should throw it out and fit a proper antenna. Enter my idea. What if we made an instructional video that demonstrated how to make a cheap antenna for use both at home and in an emergency situation. It should be cheap enough that you could keep one on the back of the car just in case you get the call to man a Red Cross shelter maybe. Homebrew Ham was born and Charlie mysteriously disappeared.

So far I have only made one video but I do plan on making others. The difficulty is finding something that is easy and cheap to make that can easily be demonstrated on camera. Click on the links below to download the videos in Windows Media format.

CuJPole otherwise know as a Copper J-Pole antenna (13.8MB)

Lets talk technical for a while. The video was shot using a Canon ZR10 MiniDV camcorder in natural sunlight. The mic's were a Sony 900MHz cordless mic for the on-camera bits and a Audio-Technica fist mike for the voice overs. It was edited in full DV quality over an IEEE1394 FireWire link on my PC using Adobe Premier 6.5. The music on the video is from a royalty free archive collection I bought on eBay I bought for $10.

The versions of the videos you see here on the web are really only suitable for personal use on your computer. If  you would like to show it to your club, radio class or even air it on your local Public Access channel then drop me a line telling me what format you want it on. I make a small charge of $5 plus postage to cover the cost of the media. I can do DVD, SVCD, VCD, VHS, Digital 8 and MiniDV any or all of which should be ok at the cable company.

Please be aware that the work appearing on this page is the copyright of KC2ENI (that's me in my American life) and is intended for personal use only. Written permission must be sought for public display or broadcast. It may not be reproduced onto other media for distribution without express written permission.

© & ® Mark A Phillips, G7LTT 1997-2004
This page was last updated Saturday, October 09, 2004 12:10:11 Eastern Daylight Time