I thought I'd say hello to all the radio preppers.

Gil's YT channel is great, I've learned lots. Well done.

When I was a kid my friend and I both built 100mw voice transmitters for the AM band, hoping to talk between his house and mine. The 300 foot distance was just a bit too far. But it sparked an interest in both of us. He went on to be a DJ, then a station manager. I ended up being the corporate engineer for a handful of small stations.

Then I got into designing battery chargers. I worked for a couple of small companies...have you ever heard of DeWalt or Black and Decker?

Then I started designing electric cars. I converted three Smart cars (Mercedes) to fully electric.

Now I am retired and have lots of free time to sail and play radio. I've had my license for a few years and have lots to learn about antennas. My latest interest is in the end fed inverted V. Also, I'm learning morse code, but verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly. Yes, I struggle like a lot of people...has anyone ever learned the morse code without struggling?

I am looking forward to reading the posts on this website about everything ham radio.

I agree with Gil about using solar or muscle power to power our prepper radios. All of my radio systems have solar abilities, both home and in the field. Have not figured out the muscle generator yet, but I think a model airplane brushless motor with an Erector set gear box might be a good starting point. Yes, I still have an Erector set for things like that.

73

Alan

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

The radio is almost as small as the mic.

Hey, maybe they should put the mic element in the radio case, then there would be no mic, or cord, and it would be a lot smaller.

On second thought, forget that idea, real hams don't use walkie talkies :-)

Alan