Got this great tip from Larry KG4ZAR:

Every ham seems to have a HT or two in their shack and sooner or later they find the rubber duck antenna loose.

Most times it’s the locking ring/nut on the chassis mount that’s worked loose. If you use one of the improved 1/4 wave aftermarket antennas, this becomes a more frequent problem.

Trying to tighten up this ring (especially on one of the Chinese radios) usually means grabbing a pair of needle nose pliers and making a mess of things, along with pinching your fingers when the pliers slip off the ring.

A much simpler way to tighten these rings is to purchase a cheap set of “snap ring pliers.” A set of these pliers (with various interchangeable tips) are under $10 at Harbor Freight and you’ll find many other uses once you own a set.

Stories you’ll find in our October, 2016 issue:

LnR’s New LD-11: A Very Red, QRP, All-Mode, All-Band Transceiver
By Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL

LnR Precision, Inc., is a North Carolina-based company that specializes in antennas, straight-keys, and QRP transceivers. Earlier this year, when the company announced their latest QRP transceiver, the LD-11, Thomas Witherspoon was especially intrigued. The new LD-11 supports 160-10 meter operation with all modes (SSB, CW, CW-R, Digi, AM and FM). Find out why Thomas says its performance-for-price-point puts it in a market with some heavy-hitters like the venerable Yaesu FT-817ND, the Elecraft KX3, and the new Elecraft KX2.

The Slow Creep of Scanner Encryption
By Chris Parris

Those within the radio communications industry have been actively marketing the ability to encrypt the latest generations of business and personal radio communications fairly inexpensively. This trend follows one that has been on a steady march for years in the public safety communications industry, and it affects many more people than just scanner listeners. But why is this happening? Federal Wavelengths columnist, Chris Parris, takes a look at what encryption is, who is using it and how it affects all of us in the radio monitoring hobby.

Monitoring Russia’s Northern Fleet
By Tony Roper

In its current form, the Northern Fleet is still the largest in the Russian navy, consisting of approximately 80 warships, half of which are submarines, as well as this number again in service ships, tugs and icebreakers. Longtime military monitor, Tony Roper, shows us how he monitors the activities of this fleet through Morse code transmissions directly from the ships as well as using Web-based tools, such as Google Earth, and webcams to physically see the ships in action.

GMRS –The ‘Other’ Citizens Band – Part 2
By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

GMRS is a fun and useful aspect of Part 95 communications, seemingly as far removed from Class D CB as you can possibly get. And, while GMRS can be enjoyed without repeaters, having a well-placed and performing machine in your area makes it even more so. In this installment, Cory explains the hardware needed to set up such a repeater; how to start a local GMRS club, what the likely costs of will be, and he takes a looks a some successful GMRS clubs in different parts of the US.

The Hams Behind the Fender Guitar Legend
By Richard Fisher KI6SN

Gary Gray W6DOE’s Uncle Leo became a ham in about 1931 or ’32. “I’m not sure he ever renewed his license,” Gary told Richard Fisher in an interview. “He was most likely on the air using CW . . . There wasn’t much phone back then. He did a lot of electronic work as a ham.” One of the things Leo Fender, who held the first W6DOE call, recounted to Gary was how he started a career in audio by building amplifiers for public address systems. The rest, as they say, is musical history. With meticulous attention to musical and electronic detail, the Fender guitar and amplifier legend was born.

Scanning America
By Dan Veenaman
Howard County, Indiana and Monitoring Airborne TETRA

Federal Wavelengths
By Chris Parris
Scanning Smaller Federal Agencies

Utility Planet
By Hugh Stegman NV6H
US DGPS: Bad News and Good News

Digital HF: Intercept and Analyze
By Mike Chace-Ortiz AB1TZ/G6DHU
Getting Started with Digital GPS Decoding

HF Utility Logs
By Mike Chace-Ortiz and Hugh Stegman

Digitally Speaking
By Cory Sickles WA3UVV
Still in the Box? Put it on the Air!

VHF and Above
By Joe Lynch N6CL
Earth-Moon-Earth Communications

Amateur Radio Insights
By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z
Radio Fun with an Uncooperative Ionosphere

Radio 101
By Ken Reitz KS4ZR
Obsessing about Awards and School Club Roundup

Radio Propagation
By Tomas Hood NW7US
Space Weather: Interfering with Global Positioning Satellites

The World of Shortwave Listening
By Andrew Yoder
Halloween Shortwave Pirates and Global Pirate Weekend

The Shortwave Listener
By Fred Waterer
Listening to Shortwave and Internet Radio

Maritime Monitoring
By Ron Walsh VE3GO
Stormy WX and an End to Some DGPS

The Longwave Zone
By Kevin O’Hern Carey WB2QMY
WSPRs on the Band

Adventures in Radio Restoration
By Rich Post KB8TAD
The Triple-Conversion Puzzle: Hammarlund HQ-180A

Antenna Connections
By Dan Farber AC0LW
Tools of the Trade: Antenna Work Essentials

Radio Horizons
New Digital Radio Mondiale Receiver

The Spectrum Monitor is available in PDF format which can be read on any desktop, laptop, iPad®, Kindle® Fire, or other device capable of opening a PDF file. Annual subscription is $24. Individual monthly issues are available for $3 each.

The smell of autumn is in the air today. It’s beautiful and warm. Judy and I take a bicycle ride along the Pemigewasset River. I work Africa, Ukraine, Croatia and Spain.

We ride down along Needle Shop Brook and turn north along the river. There are fallen apples and brown leaves on the road. It feels and smells like fall. But it’s warm and still. A perfect day for a bike ride.

We ride about a half mile north and I see what I think is a piece of metal across the trail. I swerve quickly to avoid it, and realize it’s a snake! It slithers away into the grass. It’s a Northern Water Snake soaking up the warm, fall sunshine.

We ride perhaps 3 miles and I start looking for a place to set up the KX3. There is a sunny field to the west with some large maple trees nearby. Judy goes into the field and I throw a 30 foot wire over the branch of a huge maple.

I start out on 20 meters at the low end of the band. EO25U is calling CQ. We exchange quick 599s. This is Ukraine… a special event celebrating 25 years of independence. I tune up the band and quickly work AN400R… another special event… this time in Spain celebrating the life of Cervantes, the famous Spanish author of Don Quixote.

The photo below is my view while operating.

I switch to 17 meters. It’s active and right away I work 9A50CMB. This is the MARJAN Radio Club call in Croatia. Miki gives me a 559, and I tune up the band a little. Here is TZ4AM working stations. He answers me on the first call and gives me a 559. I didn’t know this station is in Mali, central Africa. I find out later when I look it up at home. Wow… the first time I’ve actually worked Timbuktu!

Now I pack up and head south to where we left the car.

These days are way too short. In just a few weeks New Hampshire Fish and Game will release pheasant in this area for hunters. Not an ideal spot for bike rides or radio.

By the end of this week my website pa2bx.nl will go down. The reason is simple: I will relinquish my Dutch call and no longer be PA2BX. The Dutch government started asking 31 Euros per year for maintaining a database with my call in it, while it used to be free. Not being stingy here. I know they also use the 31 Euros for other things that are beneficial for Dutch hams. But for me it’s just a little too expensive for something I use maybe once every 5 years. 31 Euros is a week’s worth of groceries in Taiwan and I have two big mouths to feed. I can re-apply for a new Dutch call any time, so nothing is lost.

Luckily my web provider is so cheap that I’m going to keep them and from the beginning of October you are welcome at BX2ABT.com (B–X to Any Bloody Thing). I’m testing a new CMS at the moment and it looks like the new site is going to be nicer and easier to maintain than before.

In other news: I broke with my QSL manager, which made me decide to stop with QSLing altogether. I make only a few QSOs nowadays and lost interest in QSL cards a bit (call it a mid-life crisis thing). I still have a stack of cards from my Longtan QTH, but once they run out I won’t have new ones printed. If you still need one of my cards, my address is on the BX2ABT HamQTH.com entry.