RangerJ

Cool! Hope it works well for you.

That’ll give you a unbalanced dipole. I’d not expect much.

I don’t know; give it a shot. It’s cheap enough.

Thanks for the kind words!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Good story!

I got it at my local building supply store. @ $35 if I recall correctly.

Pretty much. I use it on my boat cover and a strong wind will eventually loosen it up some. But all you have to do is give ir a yank and it's tight again.

I doubt it; pulling the cord tight puts quite a bit of stress on the block.

I got it at my nearby home improvement center.

My motivation to become a ham was a big Sears Silvertone three band transistor radio, that I used to listen to hams using AM. I often think I may never have gotten into it if they were on SSB, which I couldn’t receive.

Sounds like my kind of place.

No, just the heavy stuff settles to the bottom.

Yes; it really holds tight.Experiment with a scrap of wood and the cord you plan to use to get the hole right.

That's great! I appreciate the comment.

Good point. I should have done that even though the switch and receptical are grounded to the box through their frames. You can't have too good of a ground.One of my most favorite things to do is improvise; I may someday have a dust collection system but you can bet it will have started life as something else.

Very interesting!

I was kidding. See, in step 2 (titled 'Automatic ?'), I say, "I confess only automatic in the sense that when the switch is turned on, current automatically flows." Thanks for the comment.

No it's not the saw switch turning things off and on, it's the switch in the metal box, which is easily capable of carrying the combined current (or else, the circuit breaker would blow as they are the same current rating.)I agree, a schematic would have been better, however as this circuit is merely a receptical being turned off and on by a single pole switch, it didn't occur to me. Maybe I'll add one.

I wish.

I wish.

Thats right...the hooks merely make it easy to attatch it to a grommet on a tarp or something.

Good idea - I need to neaten some wires up.

Thanks

The antenna cable comes up from under the seat; I use a zip tie to keep it out of the seat track. The power cable you can see - that goes to a cigarette lighter plug in the rear of the console. The rig is only five watts or I would have run a heavier power cord to the fuse block. The microphone is shown next to the rig, which would work.I have it running to a mic bracket held under a gizmo on my dashboard (another Instructable: https://www.instructables.com/A-Place-for-Every...)Thanks for the inquiry.

You hit on what I had planned to do originally, except the scrap of PVC I had was too small to hold the plug and recepticle. That's what I would do - drill and keyhole - a hole in each end.Thanks for the comment and for putting a little thought into it.

There is only 8" of cable on my leaf blower; there's not enough to tie a flat overhand bend to join the cables. A simple overhand knot around the blower cable tends to bend the plug pins if yanked.For joining two shorter extension cords, I often use a knot (the F. O. bend), too.

Good idea, and I use it, but with a slight variation on my 100' cord. (I hope I'm not repeating somebody.)What I do is lay the cord out in three runs instesd of two: down, back, down. Use a piece of tape to mark the thirds.Now you have a plug on one end and a recrpticle on the end of an extension cord you can use for a quick, temporary job.

BTW, I am still using my pants stretcher, after nearly a year. I always use it with jeans, and have resurrected some dress pants, too.

Once the bolts are installed, you use a drill bit to strip the head; a do it yourself security bolt.

Nope ☺ the other end is locked in the vehicle.

Wish I'd thought of that. Thanks.

I didn't realize when I published this Instructable that Dustin Rogers had published a similar one. Sorry about that, but mine is different. He was right about using a safety pin to reinforce the waistband button.

outstanding!

Really great idea.

Good idea -- beats wrapping it around a piece of PVC pipe.