Hi agn, Kamikaze:
Very well summarized! When I was abt 13 or so, my parents bought me a pair of GE 100 mW Part 15 h/t's that were crystallized for CB channels, 14 and 20. (27.2050 MHz or Ch. 20 was the local ragchew freq back then,.circa 1975.) I gave one to my best friend down the block and we enjoyed relatively QRM-free comms most night. When I started to hear stations farther away, I wanted to increase my range.
After a little research, I ended up constructing a 1/2L dipole made from some spare 16 gauge speaker wire and some store bought RF-58AU "type" coax with center/end insulators. I think the entire "project" cost me about $12 +/- along with some quick and dirty soldering lessons from Dad. Well, I replaced the h/t's telescopic whip with the coax fed dipole hung in a tree and the band literally came alive! There is an inherent sense of achievement in making something that performs better than its commercial counterpart cheaply. I suppose that is where I was heading with this thread - hihi. Don't get me wrong, feel free to leave a top-of-the-line M2 under my Christmas tree. ;-)
As always, take care es...
Vy73 de Bert
WA2SI
P.S. That old h/t also transmitted MCW. Legal on 27 MHz using a Part 15 device. So that's when the "bug" first hit me - hihi.
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