Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, 1 a.m. — I just shut the rig off a little bit ago after listening to some guys talking on 75 meters. I just tired of listening to the one-upmanship between a couple of stubborn hams.
One of the disadvantages of going through life believing you are always right is when you run into someone cut from the same cloth. The rest of the fellows on this particular frequency were left out of the discussion as these two know-it-alls locked horns over the best wire antenna. One said all he needed was a dipole at a decent height.
The know-it-all said he needed to run one of his specially made double bazooka antennas. The other guy said no, he didn’t like double bazookas and would stick with wire fed with coax or twin lead. No, no, the other man said, you don’t understand — my antennas aren’t like anything you’ve ever used before, and they’re not like any double bazooka antenna you might have built (my question was if his antenna is such a radical departure, is it still a double bazooka? Isn’t the fact you name a dipole a dipole mean it is going to have a defined set of characteristics.
But Mr. Know It All persisted. This antenna is so great that he has broadcast stations begging him to use one. The more he talked, the deeper a hole he dug. Now I don’t mind someone who is really a believer in his (or her) antenna, but this guy went overboard, implying that he wasn’t a “real ham” who knew what he was talking about if he didn’t use his antenna design. At that, I pulled the switch. I wouldn’t use one of his antennas if he gave it to me. The two were still going at it as the lights dimmed on the FT-2000.
Sheesh!
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