Installing Ground Rods the Easy Way

Impact Drill the Rod by KJ4FAJ and brother

Ground Rods… so easy a pre-teen can do it. Presented is a method learned from other hams on how to install a ground rod with minimal or no hammering. Using a watering can, even children can sink an 8 foot ground rod into the ground. All it takes is water and time.

Assateague Lighthouse Repeater Antenna?

There is nothing like going to the beach.

Seafood, sand in everything you own, beach strolls, a time with family away from the usual distractions of life.

What better to do at the beach than visit the local lighthouse… especially a big coastal light station like Assateague Lighthouse on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

Of course being a ham makes you notice things others miss with your “hammy eyes.”

Follow along in this picture tour of our visit to Assateague Lighthouse in 2007 and see the unusual thing we found within.

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Good Source of Crimp PL-259 for 0.4″ Coax Cables

A few years ago I installed lengths of LMR-400 Direct Burial coaxial cable in my back yard. I wanted good connectors for my investment. I seriously considered the superior N connectors, but my DX Engineering Coax Switch uses SO-239 connectors. While not the high quality choice, I succumbed to tradition and sought out suppliers for the PL-259.

Money was really no object since the connector is often the weak link in the system and deserves quality. I just made an investment in 240 feet of LMR-400 cable and wasn’t about to shortchange the connector.

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