Presenter: Steve Hudson, AA4BW
Steve Hudson, AA4BW, has been a ham for close to six decades. He began peppering the ionosphere with RF in 1968 as WN4JXO, and he has been an active ham ever since. Steve is fond of CW, particularly QRP CW, but you’ll find him on SSB too. He has enjoyed QRP operation across the US and also in the western Pacific and in Europe. He also enjoys playing with antennas as well as homebrewing HF QRP gear. In recent years he’s discovered the fun of “Parks on the Air,” adding yet another dimension to his enjoyment of hamming.
Steve especially enjoys sharing the excitement of hamming with others. He has led forums and seminars for ham clubs across the United States as well as in Europe.
When not hamming, Steve is an award-winning travel and outdoor writer and enjoys hiking and fly fishing. He also plays a bit of bass guitar. He and his wife Trisha live in Canton, Ga., north of Atlanta.
Forum Description: Hams spend much time and effort fishing for signals with wire and metal tubing. But what if you add fishing poles to the mix? Can fishing poles help you catch more signals?
Maybe so! In this practical and idea-filled presentation, we’ll explore several ways of utilizing telescopic fishing poles to construct practical antennas for HF, particularly when portable antennas are the primary objective.
Here’s what we’ll look at:
- Why telescoping fishing poles?
- What kind of poles work best?
- Where to get the poles
- How to support or mount telescoping fishing poles, and how to attach antennas to ’em
- Application examples (a bunch of ’em, with real-life examples for you to check out in person)
- So bring your notebook and your imagination. And get ready for some great ideas to help you take your own antenna building adventures to a whole new level — with telescoping fishing poles!
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