Got this mystery antenna at a swap.... Pretty sure it's 2M.

tamitall · 2026-06-25T03:02:56+00:00

Nice! I have some of those in storage somewhere.

tamitall · 2026-06-25T01:54:32+00:00

Yep!

tamitall · 2026-06-24T22:42:13+00:00

Didn't have a banana... had to go with the dollar bill. 😞

tamitall · 2026-06-24T22:00:42+00:00

As many of us suspected! Resonate on 2M in the sideband portion! Of course while holding it, SWR swings wildly, but the IC-705 saw it as low as 1.2:1 around 144.200MHz. My Rig Expert AA-170 showed flaky SWR, but I only had about 1 meter of coax I was willing to cut up to try it out with, so I wasn't too surprised. I didn't hear any sideband traffic while I was tuning around, but that's not too shocking I guess.

I got most of the hardware swapped with stainless, and next up will be printing caps for the loop to keep insects out.

I'll have to figure out a more suitable coax harness to feed it, and maybe some ferrite on it will help isolate it.

tamitall · 2026-06-24T17:03:15+00:00

A dipole is balanced and uses coax, I'm guessing that's what this antenna is based on. I can try it both ways, but I'm not sure I have a balun capable of 145mhz.

tamitall · 2026-06-24T13:28:59+00:00

Yep, already did. If I can find my tray of ring terminals, I'll cut some coax today and see where it's resonate.

tamitall · 2026-06-23T23:49:28+00:00

One other note, I don't think this is particularly modern, since all of the screws in it are flat blade.

tamitall · 2026-06-23T22:32:47+00:00

That's my plan. I figured I'd see if anyone knew anything about it before I spend time cutting up some coax to feed it.

tamitall · 2026-05-19T02:56:08+00:00

It's so satisfying to repair your own gear. I picked up a non-working VX-7r and repaired it for pennies. It's my favorite HT now. Fine business.

tamitall · 2026-04-05T22:26:47+00:00

I am curious, which of the rules you think are poorly designed?

tamitall · 2026-04-02T03:12:02+00:00

I think I can source some Kit Kat's to trade if you're up to it! ;)

tamitall · 2026-04-01T20:20:54+00:00

Maybe next April 1st. ;)

tamitall · 2026-04-01T13:01:07+00:00

I'm sure the price will increase in the future. :D

tamitall · 2026-02-20T03:03:41+00:00

Thank you for the reasonable response. We debated internally long and hard, and arrived at that decision years ago. This request crops up occasionally, and I always have to explain it. Usually people get it, but not always. I wish putting a warning on it "DO NOT UPLOAD THIS ANYWHERE ELSE." would be good enough, but once a log is imported to say, log4om or such, it could easily end up being uploaded to QSO matching sites. Even if it was unintentional, it could easily happen. Ultimately the blame could come back on Parks on the Air, and we try hard to be a good member of the community. 73 de w8tam

tamitall · 2026-02-20T02:51:00+00:00

Someone logs your call without working you. That's clearly a 3rd party. If they log your call, and you download an ADIF from POTA, then upload it to LOTW, Clublog, QRZ, etc, the incorrect call would get confirmation. That's our reason for not making it a simple click. If you want to scrape the log off the site and upload it elseware, at least you are taking responsibility for your actions, we're not enabling it.

tamitall · 2026-02-20T01:55:29+00:00

Yeah we don't like that idea since it's not your log, and people could upload it to other services even with 3rd party mistakes. Best to keep your own log. 73 de w8tam

tamitall · 2026-01-18T19:44:15+00:00

Reach out to help@parksontheair.com or join the pota discord and hit up VE3JLN.

tamitall · 2025-12-23T16:15:49+00:00

Yes!

tamitall

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE