I learned a new word last Saturday: helicity. During my Skywarn advanced storm spotter training, Brian Koenecke of the National Weather Service here in Jackson MS taught participants about key elements of meteorology. The “helicity” of a turbulent flow of air—sort of like a bed spring gone awry—was one of the elements that NWS tracks in […]
Grounding…a heated floor in Mississippi?
Being on the 2nd floor, I was especially concerned about an RF ground. I read and re-read a lot of the current websites on RF grounds, saw folks call one another names, and figured I was going to be out of luck! To make it worse, the builder and electrical contractor had placed my electric […]
Shack layout
With the decision to put my office and shack on the second floor, we worked with the house plan designer on “what” it was I needed. Not having done this before, I’m sure that I would do it differently if there were a second time. But, here’s what happened. The layout on the left shows […]
Designing a new shack
This is something that numerous hams have had the chance to do. But, it’s never (ok, almost never) done in a vacuum. Using the latest marital equations….we chose a lot in what could be the worst neighborhood for amateur radio that I can realistically imagine. No trees. HOA with lots of folk with time on […]