#  What a difference a dipole makes

I simply cannot convey to you the importance of a good antenna
system. My first days as an amateur radio operator had been a huge
disappointment to me. My expectations of being able to connect to
local repeaters with ease and make contacts around the world using
Hubnet were shattered within the first 2 hours of getting my
call-sign.

From the ether in those frustrating hours a voice came and instructed
me how to build myself a basic dipole antenna[1]. I had to wait a
couple of days for some connectors to arrive but now that they have,
and the antenna is operable[2], things have changed significantly.

Today I made my first contact on simplex. I had set the frequency on
my HT to the 2m calling channel and had put a CQ call out but no
answer came. Then a strong voice came through calling CQ to which I
replied, half expecting not to be heard. To my surprise he asked me
to repeat my call-sign, which I proceeded to do in phonetics to make
it as clear as possible. Bob was his name, an 83 year old gentleman
that lives not far away. We had a great chat for about 30 minutes,
him explaining the gear he was using and how long he had been an
amateur and my doing likewise. He said there wasn't much traffic on
2m these days, which is what I have read pretty much everywhere, but
2m had seemed to work better for me. Maybe due to my terrain, or my
limited power, I'm not sure which but it has so far given me a better
experience. The local 2m repeater also seems to be more friendly to
my tinkering and connecting it to other systems, like Hubnet. I
managed to link the repeater into the Hubnet system and make a 
contact with another recently licensed amateur who's journey I had
been following from the sidelines by listening into Hubnet and his
contacts there. It was great to finally be a part of the
conversation, rather than just listening to it.

Thanks Paula!

[1](gopher://gopher.icu/0/phlog/Radio/Ham-Radio.md)
![2](gopher://gopher.icu/I/phlog/Radio/images/ghetto-antenna.jpg)