Simple Antennas for the Amateur Radio Operator--a continuing series
ANOTHER EMERGENCY ANTENNA There are quite a few birds in my area that often use my antennas as perches or launching platforms for their flights. Normally, the smaller birds (finches, cardinals, and an occasional native bird like a honey creeper) don't create problems. However, a sizeable bird such as a pu'eo (Hawaiian Owl) can damage a dipole or even the bird itself. Such was the case yesterday when some kind of bird bumped into the 450-ohm twin lead feeding my 40-meter inverted vee. I cut out the damaged section of the feedline and decided to replace it temporarily with about 50 feet of RG-6 I had stored in the "junque" box. I didn't have the Drake MN-4 ATU handy at the time, since the MN-4 was being cleaned on the workbench (the kitchen table). So, I borrowed an idea from Dean, KH6B, and rigged up what he called a "James Bond" antenna--named after the famous fictional spy created by Ian Flemming. All I did was connect the coax to one end of