AdmiralCochrane

To learn what (radio) traffic exists in your neighborhood. It is common courtesy not to interrupt other's transmissions. If you know when and on what frequency there is traffic you can avoid being a problem. One may also learn about nets that otherwise are not published where you could be a welcome addition. Another thing that one may learn is whether there are grandfathered commercial users in your neighborhood on frequencies you will want to avoid ...

no

Simply the physics of the length of the wire and whether it is connected in a loop. No other magic.

The EMP from a lightning strike in my yard damaged some stuff at my house a few years ago. I had all my antennae disconnected, but the EMP was received on the wires between my power supply and my HF radio - a conductive loop. The end of the loop was the incoming power filter board on my HF radio, everything on that board was fried, but to be clear: the power was picked up and entered the radio via the wires between the radio and the power supply. Since repairing the radio, I now not only disconnect the antennae when I am not using the radio, I also disconnect the power supply. Anderson Power Pole plugs plugged into a Rig Runner power strip. Another piece of equipment that was damaged and caused a dead short on one circuit breaker circuit was an old florescent light ballast. Before the strike the ballast was weak and I had the tubes out of the fixture, but the magnetic pulse was enough to short it dead. As in the Carrington Event, loops collect the pulse. The longer the loop, the more energy can be collected. Shorter loops just won't collect as much energy, it's one of the laws of physics.

I am reasonably happy with my 578

I've installed my radio in my soft top JK, but got the wrong spare tire antenna mount also when I stretched out my coax, it wasn't long enough. The antenna is one that I had success with on another vehicle, so I'm excited to be setting up the Jeep.

There are countries through the world where listening to other than official government transmissions is illegal; thankfully, the US is not one of them. You may listen to anything out there if you are not a spy. Technically "transmit" once you get your license. "Broadcast" is something different.

There is another problem with using AI as a reference ... it has been known to lie.

I agree MD gun laws are stupid, but not sure if your description or understanding of gun laws in MD is accurate. Since you travel out of state often, the mag restriction basically is nothing to you. You may bring them in from other states, you just cannot buy them in MD. The MD AR barrel profile restriction only applies to .223 & 5.56, other calibers can legally have any profile; if that much of a barrel profile difference neuters an AR for you, I'm not sure how you are able to carry a rifle that shoots 6.5 Grendel

The article does have a lot of factual and practical information

My use of nanoVNA has always given results of SWR less than 1.5:1

Bob was one of my heros. RIP

I read your reply correctly on the first try

It's ham lower case. Amateur radio has more facets than most people can begin to imagine. My advice is to study for both Tech and General, it's not that much of a workload to bump up to General. #1 look for your local ham club, ask if you can go to a meeting and look at the club's equipment. Talk to members. #2 purchase a SDR radio and start listening before you buy any equipment.

6 year olds. Kids that can read above grade level can pass the test.

Deacdes ago I discovered by accident that my 11 meter equipment propagated best across my ground plane. Physical heights of the vehicle sections did not seem to affect the signal strength as much as placement relative to the ground plane. This was determined with a signal strength meter. In layman's terms, propagation in all directions was optimized when the antenna was centered on the vehicles. Propagation straight foreward was best when centered on the rear of the vehicles. When placed on a rear corner, the strongest signal was observed foreward to the opposite corner.

The tech test is so easy that not wanting it shows unwillingness to apply any effort. For the average American, it is probably no more difficult than your state's driver's license written exam.

Criticism accepted. The limitations of text communication, it is hard to convey emphasis and tone.

Depends on what the defintion of is is.

I always liked code like this famous open text telegraph message between generals in India during one of the colonial uprisings: "Peccavi in Deum", literally "I have committed and offense against God". The encrypted message was the siege of the city of Sindha was complete. Watching Cal Ripken Sr give encoded hand sign messages to base runners was always fun. He mixed the real message with jibberish. Sometimes the play-by-play commentators would know a coach's signals, but pre-arrainged changes could throw everyone off. I recall one humorous comment about Cal Sr's signing "It's in there somewhere, but I have no idea what it is"

There is no "if"; a taller antenna always helps. Antenna height means more than power output in almost all radio communication.

antenna polarization synchronization, or lack thereof, can decrease range

LOL Marc, the 1:1 should have been the clue.

She is OK if you need it read to you. I look it up for myself.

On a nice high angle pass I have no trouble hearing the ISS with a regular HT. I do compensate for doppler and I do try to keep antenna polarization in mind. I encourage everyone to give it a try.