Smoke & Mirrors: Tales from the RF Underworld

Start Here — Editor’s Picks

All Dispatches

• 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.