learning curve

In my 47 years of operating amateur radio, I have yet to find a ham radio operator who isn’t interested in antennas. Recently at a doctor’s a-p pointment, a health worker overheard me talking about ham radio and after introducing himself, he immediately told me about his antenna farm. It was great meeting him and hearing about his skyhooks (antennas). It seems antennas are always THE go-to subject amongst hams. If you haven’t noticed, hams love to chat about antennas. Sometimes, antennas can even spark, lively, fun-filled debates.

I’m here to tell you national politics isn’t the only polarizing issue. Antenna design can be polarized (direction of electrical flow). Antennas can be horizontally or vertically polarized. Most polarized antennas are directional (signal concentrated in one direction) by design, but many are omnidirectional (radiate in all directions). There are other polarizations, but we’ll save that topic for a later