World Wide Web Ham Page of W1KQ

The World Wide Web Ham Page

W1KQ

Jim Martin

Amateur Radio Operator

Previously Held Call Signs

Nov 1981 - Nov 1982

Nov 1982 - Jan 1984

Jan 1984 - Oct 1990

Jun 1989 - Jun 1990

Oct 1990 - Apr 2001 & Jun 2002 - Jun 2004

Apr 2001 - Jun 2002 & Jun 2004 - Feb 2007

Since 09 February 2007

Some of My Ham Radio Antennas

The Cushcraft (now Laird Technologies) X-9 has been at 40 feet on my tower since the end of August 2008.
My amplifier is rarely needed anymore on 20 meters and I can't wait for 15m and 10m to begin opening up.

The Cobra dipole has been up in my back yard up 70 feet since 2004. I'm sure there are many better dipoles
out there but this one has been my favorite since building it. I used 12AWG 3-Conductor ROMEX electrical
house wire (leaving the wire within the sheath), 450 Ohm Ladder Line, pieces of 1/4" Plexiglas for center and
end insulators,5/16" Dacron rope, and a 4:1 Balun (W9INN Box) to build my Cobra dipole. The Cobra dipole
antenna was designed by Ray Cook, W4JOH and was published in 73 magazine. The Cobra requires a good
roller inductor antenna transmatch for greatest flexibility especially when using an amplifier.

This is a pretty decent dipole!

From New England (Eastern Mass.) I worked Ducie on 100 watts with
a Kenwood TS-2000 and Clipperton with a Yaesu FT-1000D running 200 watts using my Cobra...

I also worked Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, and Ireland on 160m with this antenna.,

- W1KQ

It's very easy to build one too...

If you don't want to build a Cobra antenna yourself you can purchase a Cobra UltraLite Sr. or Jr.
at any Ham Radio Outlet store or directly from Joe, K1JEK. Just click the link below..
Please tell Joe that W1KQ sent you

Friendly Notes:

The plural word "Antennae" refers to bugs and not to RF radiators.

BALUN gets its name from BALanced to UNbalanced and is pronounced as such. It is not pronounced
BALLOON or BAL-UM or BALE-UN. Please don't blame me, I didn't make up the word.