Random lengths of wire
Don’t worry. I didn’t get all crazy today, despite the possibilities. No, I was busy building a dream.
Or the kit version thereof. After thirty minutes of following instructions I downloaded from the net, my small bag of metal parts morphed into a new (portable) keyer paddle. Or paddles. Not sure if it should be pluralized. And after a few minutes of practice, I can confirm that the workmanship from American Morse is worth the purchase. And in case you’re wondering just what this means, here are the before and after shots.
The soldering section was so small a part of the process that I’m not going to bother with show and tell. Just take my word for it that no fingers were cooked during the day.
Inspiration begets activity, so during the mid afternoon I headed over to the local hardware store and purchased $5 worth of speaker wire. At home, I split the pair into three pieces of carefully measured antenna parts. OK, not so carefully measured. One piece of the 50′ length was cut into 17′ and 33′, more or less, and the other 50′ was left as is. After all, my intention is to use this with my antenna tuner and make some sort of resonant affair. Frequency yet to be determined…
Ham radio is perfect for playing with stuff that nobody else would even look at twice. So much potential from so little. I mean, on a good evening, I might be able to contact a total stranger on the other side of the globe, and NO CELLPHONE SERVICE will be required. Take that, society.
