About

By day I'm a student and an engineer in the telecom industry, which means radio follows me from work into the shack and back again. I also love programming - it ties in naturally with the SDR work and the antenna modelling, and it's become a second language alongside RF. I'm happy on any band and in any mode, but my heart is in VHF, UHF, and the QO-100 narrowband and wideband transponders. My biggest passions are EME - bouncing signals off the Moon - antennas, and chasing DX.

Honestly, ham radio defined my life and the path I took. It shaped what I chose to study, the work I do, and the way I think about problems. What started as curiosity about distant voices on a receiver turned into a career direction and a community I can't imagine being without.

I love the classic feel of SSB and use it most of the time, but I'm a strong supporter of digital modes of every kind, especially for weak-signal and negative-SNR work where there's no other way to complete the contact. FT8 has been a constant for me. My EME transmit station is still under construction; for that work I lean on JT65 and Q65 on the receive side while the TX side comes together.

I'm a member of the YO3KEX / YP1EX radio club - DX Explorers (also on Facebook). The club community is a huge part of why I enjoy this hobby. I do most of my HF operating from the club station, and I spend a lot of that time trying to learn everything I can while also helping newer operators find their footing. Passing on what I've picked up is as rewarding as making the contacts.

I'm a big fan of software-defined radio. I started where a lot of people do - with a cheap RTL-SDR dongle - and these days I work a lot with an Ettus USRP, a bladeRF, and an ADALM-PLUTO. They've become central to how I experiment, especially for weak-signal and EME receive.

My HF rig at home is a Yaesu FT-897D, but most of my operating happens at the club on the FT-991A. Between the two, plus the SDRs, I've got enough to keep experimenting for a long time.

There's a lot of antenna advice out there that boils down to “trust me, it works.” I wanted somewhere to do the opposite - show the model, the numbers, the patterns, and the NEC file, so anyone can open it up, check my work, change it, and build their own version.

Every design here started as a model in 4NEC2. The gain, impedance, SWR, and radiation patterns come straight from that simulation, then get checked against the built antenna. If something is a compromise - a portable design, a tight-space build, a wideband trade-off - the page says so. The articles cover the theory I think actually matters in practice, kept clear enough for a newcomer and correct enough for someone who knows the math.

The other reason is simpler: I learned almost everything I know from people who took the time to write things down and share them - club members, old forum threads, scattered PDFs, and the occasional brilliant blog post. This site is my way of paying that back. If a single design or article saves someone a wasted weekend or a ruined length of aluminium, it's done its job.

It's also a living notebook for me. Documenting a build forces me to understand it properly - to explain why a choke goes here, why the boom has to be non-conductive, why the SWR looks the way it does. Writing it down for someone else is the best way I know to check that I actually understand it myself. Everything here is a work in progress, and it'll keep growing as I build, test, and learn more.

Questions, corrections, or want to compare notes on a build, an EME schedule, or QO-100? I'm always happy to hear from other operators - whether you're a seasoned DXer or someone who just passed their licence exam and is staring at their first antenna project.

If you spot a mistake on the site, please tell me. I'd much rather fix an error than leave it sitting there misleading someone. Found one of these designs useful, or built your own version with a twist? I'd genuinely love to hear how it turned out. And if you're local to the YO3 area and want to get into the hobby, reach out to the club - the door is open.

Need a hand with an antenna design, want something explained, or just want to bounce ideas around? Don't hesitate to ask. Help on antenna designs and explanations, and feedback of any kind, is always a pleasure to give and to receive - same as a good contact report at the end of a QSO.

Hope to catch you on the bands. 73 de YO3ANV.