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Showing posts from October, 2017

The Clue by Four, 40 m band Helical Dipole Antenna

Not Enough Spots Thanks to the current low sun spot cycle, the 40 meter band arguably provides the best HF radio propagation.  The problem with this band, is that a half wave dipole wire antenna is 20 meters long.  If you string that from a mast or a tree, you may need 30 to 40 meters of space for the wire and ropes.  Most modern backyards are not that large. One solution is to upgrade to a Country Manor House, but for most radio amateurs, that would be too much lawn to mow.  On the other hand, fitting a 40 meter band dipole into the attic of a regular sized home or cottage, certainly seems impossible, but it is actually quite easy: Curl the dipole up into a helix! Clue Up On Helices The following NEC card stack defines a dipole made from two helices, wound around a 5 meter length of "Two by Four" lumber, for a 75% overall size reduction, which should fit into the attic of most homes. "Two by Four" lumber is actually 1.5 by 3.5 inches, or 38 by 89 mm in s

Socks Proxy Setup

RIP WPA2 I can never remember how to set up a Socks proxy to my Digital Ocean Droplet, so here is a simple little how-to guide. Using a secure proxy server to somewhere else in the wild wild world, to get through a local insecurity suddenly got added urgency, since the WiFi WPA2 protocol is now officially broken. Using a secure proxy in this way, will prevent local script kiddies from looking over your shoulder on a WiFi connection. The most fun you can have with your socks on! Note that the cheapest Digital Ocean Linux or BSD virtual server costs only $5 per month and that is all you need.  You don't even need to change or install anything on it, since it comes with sshd running by default.  So, just sign up for one, start using socks over ssh and relax. On the laptop: Add nameserver 8.8.8.8 to the top of /etc/resolv.conf Start the socks proxy: # killall ssh # ssh -fND 2222 -p 22 root@w.x.y.z Firefox: Open Menu Preferences, Advanced, Network, Settings