Smoke & Mirrors: Tales from the RF Underworld

Start Here — Editor’s Picks

All Dispatches

• You Won’t Believe How Light Weight and Efficient This Coax Is (!) It’s like comparing apples to coax — the title promises miracles, but the numbers tell another story. We dig past the hype to see just how “lightweight” and “efficient” this wonder cable really is. Now let’s see if it walks the walk.
• The Etsy QRO Miracle: Five Ferrites to Rule Them All Think five tiny clamp-on ferrites can handle your 10 kW station? Sure—if your goal is toasty coax and warm feelings. RF Guru takes apart the so-called “Etsy QRO Miracle” and shows what real high-power chokes actually look like.
• The Gospel According to Professor Wattson – Part II Professor Wattson survived storms of impedance dogma, SWR heresies and the matching-network schism of ’09—but now he faces a fiercer foe: the proofreader. In his world, an author’s signature isn’t a courtesy—it’s a warranty of infallibility. He writes for “the 90%” and keeps reality strictly within exam-syllabus bounds, because as he puts it: “if a reader skips the paragraph, the paragraph has failed.” Welcome to his universe—where the draft remains untouched, conceptually unmeasured, and proudly unedited.
• The Cult of the 4:1 Balun Why everyone obsesses over the 4:1 balun — and why they shouldn’t. In the world of HF antennas and ladder-line, the mantra “always use a 4:1 balun” gets repeated so often it feels like gospel. But in reality, what your system needs first is balance and a solid choke—not just a fixed ratio box. This page explores when a 4:1 makes sense, when it doesn’t, and what to do instead.
• The Gospel According to Professor Wattson Meet Professor Wattson – veteran radio-operator, columnist, and champion of “readability over rigor.” For decades he’s turned complex RF topics into breezy narratives that feel less like engineering and more like a good story. In this witty essay you’ll find his take on the “vanishing signal,” the longevity of radio wisdom, and the art of elegant error. He doesn’t just inform – he entertains. And he reminds us that while the ionosphere doesn’t care how nicely you explain it, your readers might.
• Homo Ignoramicus Technicus Meet a curious breed of radio amateur — the kind who proudly owns a shiny transceiver yet can’t tell a coax cable’s input from its output. They purchase gear, hook it up to something vaguely wire-shaped, and when it fails, they declare: “It must be broken.” No diagnostics, no measurement, no technical curiosity — just apps, Bluetooth tuners, and blind trust in YouTube gurus.
• Over the Limit: Because Who Doesn’t Love a Smoldering PA? Some hams treat the volume knob like a magic wand: if 1 kW doesn’t get them through, then surely 10 kW, 20 kW, or even 25 kW will. The reality? That extra firepower rarely buys you more QSOs — it just buys you fried hardware, annoyed neighbors, and a visit from the regulator.
• The Legend of the HAREC Who Thought Antennas Die When Grounded Every club has one: freshly minted license, confidence turned up to eleven, and a misconception glaring so loudly it could disrupt the local QRM. You introduce “open antennas,” and they cock their head, brow furrowed, because to them it’s all science fiction: “Open antenna? You mean… not grounded? Isn’t that just asking for disaster?”
• RG-58: The Spaghetti Cable of the Past Remember when RG-58 was the “go-to” coax in every ham shack? That was fine back when disco ruled the airwaves. But it’s 2025 now — and what used to be radio’s workhorse has aged into a limp bowl of RF spaghetti. What follows is a tongue-in-cheek look at why this once-beloved cable now belongs in the pasta aisle, not in your feedline.
• COAX VS. GARDENHOSE: WHY SOME HAMS STILL WATER THEIR SIGNALS” Ham coax myths roasted: from “chokes are snake oil” to treating coax like a gardenhose. Why your feedline leaks RF like a busted sprinkler.
• Field Day 2025: How to Burn Operators, Fry Radios, and Call It “Fun” A scorched-earth roast of Field Day chaos: overkill tuners, choke deniers, bleeder neglect, and logging disasters—because survival shouldn’t mean crispy operators.
• SWR Derangement Syndrome A satirical roast of SWR obsession in ham radio. Symptoms, diagnosis, and cures for “SWR Derangement Syndrome”—why 1:1 isn’t holy and folklore misleads.
• The 10 Worst Ham Radio Antennas of All Time A sarcastic countdown of the 10 worst ham radio antennas ever — from broomsticks to dummy loads — and why you’ve probably tried a few.
• Half the Hassle, Same Low Angle: Why Two Half-Squares Beat a Four-Square Why wrestle with a complex four-square when two simple half-squares give the same low-angle DX, with less hassle, fewer failures, and more fun.
• The Magical Mystery Wire: Confessions of the End-Fed Believers The EFHW revival, the 49:1 fairy dust, and why “1:1 everywhere” can still mean “ERP nowhere.”
• Reciproke or Go Broke: Why Your "Universal" Antenna Belongs in a Museum Retiring the one-size-fits-none radiator to a museum of optimistic brochures and dashed hopes.
• NECtasy and the Myth of the Perfect Polar Plot Polar plots so clean you can eat off them—until weather, height, soil, and coax say hello.
• The Cult of Reciprocity™ – CMR is a Conspiracy, RDF is Elitism and Patterns are Truth A playful heresy against “it’s the same on RX and TX”—in the real world, the environment votes.
• Still Listening Linear on NVIS? You propably like QSB? If you enjoy QSB rollercoasters, keep it linear. Otherwise, pattern control is your friend.
• A Vertical Follows the Propagation with it's built-in GPS A mock infomercial for the self-aiming miracle stick that magically knows where DX is tonight.
• The Modern RF Engineer and the Ohmic Oracle Where resistance is futile, impedance is destiny, and the multimeter is a crystal ball.
• The Cult of the Mirrored Bifilar Choke: Where Symmetry Goes to Die Because nothing says “balance” like copying the mistake twice and calling it symmetry.
• The Sacred Copper Rod: A Love Letter to the Most Useless Piece of Metal in Your Shack A romantic ode to the rod that solves nothing yet appears in every guru’s “ultimate fix.”
• The Common Mode Conundrum: When Physics Meets Folklore Folklore says ignore CMC; physics says enjoy RFI, skewed patterns, and a fried LNA.
• HamRadio: The Faith-Based Wireless Religion A tongue-in-cheek sermon on testimonies, miracles, and the sacred SWR screenshot.
• The Sacred Faraday Blanket of Saint QRMbert Wrap it around your router and behold: thou shalt smite QRM (or at least feel warmer).
• Resonance Is Bliss: The Cult of the Perfect Match When “1.0:1” becomes a lifestyle brand and efficiency quietly slips out the back door.
• Noise is the New DX – The Urban Operator’s Guide to Misguided RX If your S-meter reads 9+ all day, congratulations—you’re hearing everything except signals.
• When Your Antenna’s “Wideband” Isn’t Wide Anything Portable dreams meet physics: wideband claims, narrow outcomes, and the hungry camper logbook.
• Height Is Might — Until Your Noise Floor Is King Yes, height helps—until your feedline becomes a noise antenna and the neighborhood joins the QSO.