Creativity comes with practice

Foundations of Amateur Radio

I grew up with Lego, plastic blocks that you can put together in infinite variety. My oldest Lego kit hails from 1964, kit 324: House with Garage and it's still in pretty good nick today. It's missing the tree and the car and the garage door is broken and a few blocks have vanished, but putting it together the other day reminded me of the art of building.

Today I still play with Lego. In fact after a hiatus of several decades I pulled out my old boxes and started sorting my blocks. That lead to building the House and while I was at it, I managed to reconstruct my first Lego Technic kit, 850: Forklift, bringing with it a flood of memories.

Why the Lego?

It's been my source of inspiration for many decades. It has allowed me to imagine something and then go on to build it. Over the years I've learned that this is not a universal experience. I recall one friend who was gifted a huge Lego car, but had no idea that you were allowed to modify it and I blew his mind converting his four cylinder engine into a V6.

That same eye for the possibility exists in all of us. You need to look at things in a different light.

One of my friends likes to shop online, he also loves to roam through the local hardware store and I get regular photos of things that are useful. Last night I got a photo of a square washer. Plate of steel, galvanised, hole in the middle with the caption: I've got plans.

I took one look at it and knew that I too had plans for that washer, which is why thoughtfully he bought a couple for me too - I didn't even need to ask, it was obvious to us both.

The central hole is just the right size for an SO239, so clearly the washer is just right to act as an antenna base. You could weld it to a trailer, or drill some holes for radials, hang it from a tree, make a dipole from it, the sky is the limit and for only 76 cents, what's not to like.

I've been looking, like all my amateur friends do regularly, for a pole. I have a large 12m squidpole. It's very helpful to make into a vertical antenna. Use a bit of wire and you're good to go. It's a little floppy if you want to hold anything more substantial, like a horizontal dipole or an inverted V antenna.

So, back to the pole. I'm looking in my local hardware store for poles. Of course I could go with the Pine variety, but I'm not keen on carrying a 3.6m wooden pole on the roof of my car, or for that matter, several of them, so I've been looking for other solutions. Tent-poles, pretty cost-effective, strong if you can guy them and the load is vertical, there's painters poles, which will require some testing to see if you can combine several together and make a longer contraption.

The point is, I'm not seeing a painter's pole or a tent-pole when I'm looking, I'm seeing the ability to hold something up.

In the same way as when Calvin gets his hands on a large box and converts it into a Transmogrifier, I wander the isles of various shopping outlets looking for the possibilities that something might have, rather than the label written on the outside.

Doing this is second nature, and achieving it is a matter of practice.

The best advice I can give is to walk around with 'What-if' emblazoned on your brain.

What-if I could use this as an antenna, what-if I could use this as a battery-box, what-if this fits into my car, what-if this table is big enough for a field-day, what-if.

That same what-if attitude will stand you in good stead when you experiment with antennas. Don't be afraid of failing, the more you fail, the better you learn.

What-if isn't scary, it's in-built into this hobby of amateur radio.

I'm Onno VK6FLAB