What was your "prep," for today?

[PSYOP Soldier]

For me, it was getting in my LDB 4:1 unun balun which will allow me to make random wire HF antennas on the fly.....Great little unit, very easy to use as long as one knows basic antenna theory and some 14-16ga wire...

I plan to use this to connect my alinco hf rig, to my neighbors aluminum gutter system, turning it into an antenna...

http://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/spout.htm

see, where we live is in a suburban setting, larger planned community with an HOA or management firms and we have rules, one of them is no big permanent antennas, except for satellite or digital tv.....

in my quest to learn and get on air, i did some research into covert/stealth antennas, and found many examples of folks doing this to great effect.

I will drill hole into downspout, remove paint to bare metal, then attach a screw and approx 12" of 16ga, stranded, shielded wire to the antenna terminal of the balun, then run 20' of rg-58x from the so-239 connector to my ldg auto tuner, then a jumper to my hf rig and see what happens...The tuner will protect my rig as well...

Part of being an amateur radio operator is experimenting and learning, tinkering with various set ups and this one has been on my mind for some time.

the gutter layout is in inverted U, with two vertical sections, 20' connected to a horizontal run of approx 50', so i figure it will have more nvis properties....

I will update as i progress...

So, what have you done today/this week to prepare?