Parks On the Air Nolte State Park - Smokin' Activation
This activation was a first for me. I had been playing with the Shark HF 20m Hamstick type antenna. It has been a struggle to get the SWR down into a usable range, I prefer to get them down under 1.5:1. Using a mag mount, I just didn't feel like I was getting a good ground to the vehicle. So I switched to a stake hole mount. That seemed to do the trick. These antennas are a little bit of a pain to trim down the whip. Prior to switching to the new mount I had used my angle grinder to trim the whip. Once I switched mounts, I pulled a new whip out of the package but decided not to trim it down. Sure I know, I had read the instructions and knew better than to let the whip enter the loading coil area of the antenna. But did I still do it? Yup, sure did. What's the worst thing that could happen, a little heat? LOL! I'm certain that we all make those mistakes every once in a while. This one however ende...