There is absolutely nothing wrong in experimenting with antennas just for the fun of it. I've done it and enjoyed it, but I didn't learn much from it. The fault comes in pretending that experimenting without understanding is better than, or at least equivalent to, actually spending the effort to understand what you're doing. Trying something ... anything ... is fun, but too many hams seem to want to use it to justify ignorance. All of those people you mention may not have had the Antenna Book, but they did have the writings of each other and I guarantee that they used them ... which is exactly what the Antenna Book is since it was written by other hams who took the trouble to understand what they were doing so that you at least had the opportunity to do so as well. Nobody says that you have to take advantage of that, but it does mean that you're just choosing the fun of playing with stuff you don't understand very well ... like somebody who just mixes different chemicals to see what happens. And yes, I've done that as well.
Dave AB7E On 1/3/2021 3:39 PM, Joseph Shuman via Elecraft wrote:
I simply like the challenge of making contacts with antennas, in the opinion of the more learned, “that won’t work.” I have been told to “Read the antenna book” because my experiments are “illogical.” I guess I have to delete the contact I made using a chicken wire antenna? Let’s all remember that Maxwell, Marconi, Hertz, Popov, Bose, Hughes and Fr. Roberto Landell de Moura did not have the internet or the Antenna Book. They had each other.
______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
