What have I learned in the two years after obtaining my amateur radio license?

Respect physics

• Amateur radio can involve dangerous amounts of voltage. Radiator assemblies be must out of reach of pets, children, and power lines.
• Cordage under tension involves dangerous amounts of energy. Do not place fleshy bits in bites of rope under tension.
• Ground radiators are trip hazards.

People (me!) are dumb

• Anything suspended below head height must be high vis and/or reflective.
• Anderson powerpole connectors are great.
  • They stay put, but wont kill you and knock all your expensive gear off the table when you manage to trip over a wire.
  • Can be keyed to prevent mating non compatible connections.

Everything Breaks

• If something can break, it will. Take extras when operating in the field.
• All lines under tension need back stays in case of primary load failure. Untangling 50’ of line from a tree canopy is hours of not fun.

Keep it simple

• A 17ft whip, some coax, and some ground radials goes a long way for top of HF.
• Balanced dipoles are way less trouble than offset or end fed.
• When anchoring using trees, 6’ of shock cord is much more effective than pulley and weights.
• Fingertip to fingertip in span is a great measurement for cutting leader lines and utility loops.

Wire

• Copper clad aluminum, while lighter, and cheaper, should be avoided due to fragility.
• All ground plane / radial elements are insulated stranded copper.
• Stranded insulated copper is much easier to handle, while copper clad steel is much lighter.

Cordage

Safety factor of 10:1 on all tensioned lines.

There are two main types of line that I have found useful:

• Braided

  • Nylon or Polyester / Dacron. Typically in #18 or #24 weight, 150-250lb test.
  • Larger braid (3/16”), poly is used as arborist throw line. >600lb test.
  • Poly has great strength, but does not handle abrasion well.

• Kermantle / Para-cord

  • Nylon core bundle and external tightly woven sheath. 550lb test.
  • Less abrasion on tree bark, and seems to hold up better than poly.
  • Good for a general usage cordage, both in anchors and back stays.
  • Available in high viz + reflective.

Twisted should be avoided, as it gets unruly under under load.

Handling

• Label everything!
• Figure 8 over forearm for long runs.
• Figure 8 over hand for short runs.
• Wire antennas can be stowed on 3d printer filament spools, or roadie wrapped.