The other day, on my way home from work, I followed a Volvo sedan. It wasn't a new model, probably 5-8 years old. The reason it caught my attention was it had 8 antennae mounted on it (I counted several times because it seemed so bizarre). It had two on the hood, 3 on the roof, one on the trunk, one on the rear bumper and one on the driver's side wheel well. Stops to count on fingers to make sure it equals 8. Some of them were obviously homemade and very long (I'd guess 4 or more feet long).
As I was pondering what having 8 antennae meant, I noticed that in the back window a HAM radio call sign done up with number/letter decals stuck on a piece of wood. Alrighty then, there's an antenna for the regular radio, one for a CB, one for a scanner, and uh, five for HAM radio output/input. Just how many of those things can a person operate while driving down the road?
Maybe the family HAM radio expert can shed some light on this?
S/he probably has a multi-band transceiver, with an antenna for each frequency band. Another possibility is that s/he operates on only two bands, but has separate antennae for transmitting and receiving (this didn't used to be unusual, but I wouldn't think it would be very popular today.) The length of the antenna must be cut to the appropriate length in order to transmit/receive efficiently; so, if one operates on different bands, they may need different antennae. (Switching from one antenna to another should take nothing more than turning a knob!) The most effecient antenna is a length that is a multiple of 1/4 of the wavelength being transmitted/received. (Probably, if it's a guy, he just thinks antennae are coool!)
Yore Ham Mamma
P.S. Someone has been signing my call to comments s/he is leaving on public forums. The latest that I have seen was posted approximately one year after I got my original call back (issued in 1955 and re-issued in 2001). I can actually remember this call without thinking, something that I never accomplished with the two intervening calls that were issued to me!
P.P.S. Too bad you weren't around to see the antenna that I had strung across my room in college. I operated on 10-meters, so the antenna wasn't very long and I suspended it at either end by attaching to a curtain rod with velvet ribbon!! Thank your lucky stars for ham radio. Without it, you wouldn't exist, since your dad and I met "on the air".
Posted by: Cop Car | November 26, 2004 at 12:52 PM
See, I knew that you could make sense out of this for me!
Posted by: bogie | November 27, 2004 at 06:42 AM
Maybe I saw this guy on the road. He'd be a couple of hours away from his usual haunts, but that's not unusual in NH.
Posted by: bogie | December 04, 2004 at 06:41 AM
Sorry to say I wasn't in the neighborhood, Bogie. But Cop Car is probably right. Depending upon the color of the Volvo (was it gold in color?), I probably know the fellow it belongs to. He has capabilities to transmit and receive "from DC to Daylight", and roams around New Hampshire on a regular basis.
Posted by: DCE | December 05, 2004 at 04:37 PM
I thought it was a white car, but it was dusk so it might have been another light color.
Posted by: bogie | December 06, 2004 at 04:18 AM