First half of 2026

It’s July 4. Half of 2026 is over. I haven’t done as much as I had planned with radio… you know… life gets in the way.

Back in April, after a short illness, we had a death in the family. This has meant that we have spent more time away from home, taking care of things, than we previously would have thought. Between family obligations, and work, I’ve barely touched my radios since April. The few times that I have were only for a few minutes each, and it was typically just something quick, like a POTA contact. Something quick to get my radio fix!!

With things now settling into a routine, I wanted to start participating in the local 2m nets again. BUT, I wanted to actually get my 2m antenna mounted first. For the last year, I’ve had a very temporary mast consisting of 2 pieces of top rail, with my antenna mounted on the end, and propped up against the side of my house. I’ve been worried about it blowing over, but it didn’t happen. I also have a Winegard Gable End mount in my basement that I’ve had for 10+ years. I was originally going to use it to put up my TV antenna, but I opted for a different solution. The mount doesn’t come with a mast, so I used a single piece of top rail. This puts the bottom of my antenna about 35′ in the air.

This mount is SOLID once it’s up. I originally had my doubts, but once it was bolted to the eaves, and the mast was secured, any doubts I had disappeared. I’ve included a link below to the same mount that I purchased. It’s an Amazon link, and I will make a buck or 2 from your purchase if you use it. My antenna now sits about 10′-12′ higher than it was before I mounted it. The difference is noticeable at the radio. Reception is a little better on some of the repeaters that were on the ragged edge of my territory, and I’m even able to hit a couple of repeaters now that I could only hear before. It hasn’t taken me long to figure out that regardless of your radio, or your antenna, height is probably the single biggest factor in how well your reception and transmissions will be.

I plan to move my TV antenna to the same mast now that it’s up. I’m not sure how well my 2m and TV antennas will work together on the same mast, but I’ve read a couple of posts that said as long as they’re a few feet apart, they will be fine. I’ll post again later and let you know.

I also got my off center fed dipole back up in the air, which I took down many weeks ago while my grandkids were visiting. I’m glad my 2m radio is back up because HF has been pretty bad. I just got my G90 back in December, so this is my first summer trying to work HF. I’ve heard of the ‘summer doldrums’ and that propagation can be bad, but I really didn’t know what to expect. 10m has been almost completely dead, although I was able to make a few contacts today for the first time since early April. 12m and 17m have been silent. I made a single 15m contact today, and a few 20m. 20m is busy, as usual, but there’s a lot of noise. I’ll be trying out new things to improve my reception throughout the summer.

In the last 2 weeks, I’ve been to 2 more funerals. One for a family friend, and one for a co-worker. Both were in their early 70’s and retired firefighters, both were victims of cancer, and both illnesses progressed relatively quickly. I think I’m moving into an age where funerals become more frequent and common, and I don’t like it. As a Christian, I understand that death is a part of life, and I know that I will see both of these men again, but that fact still doesn’t make funerals any more enjoyable to attend. Funerals always remind me to enjoy life though. King Solomon says in Ecclesiastes (9:7) to “eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has approved of what you do”. It’s Independence Day today. I’m going to go enjoy the freedoms that we still have, along with some grilled meats and cold drinks and most importantly, I’m going to enjoy the time that I can spend with my youngest son and my bride. I hope you have an enjoyable July 4th holiday also.