[TowerTalk] Choke on feed point of dipole

[Jim Brown]

On 1/14/2026 4:43 PM, Jim Lux wrote:
> Too bad that V pol is such a pain to work with - HFTA with vertical pol would be a useful tool

Indeed it would. After moving from Chicago to Santa Cruz 20 years ago, I 
got to know Dean Straw. He was an excellent contester, and was taking a 
turn as President of the Northern California Contest Club, which I had 
joined.

I'm guessing it was about 2008 when I asked if he might do that. He 
responded that, thanks to his recent Parkinson's diagnosis, he no longer 
felt able to do it.

Now, reading that Brian had started it all, perhaps he might take it on. 
When I moved here, I'd just gotten back on the air a few years earlier, 
so was out of touch with developments in ham radio. Garry Shapiro, NI6T, 
caught me up, telling me about Brian's excellent antenna modeling 
software and  how he'd gotten screwed. Sadly, Garry is another friend 
who's been deep into Parkinson's for a while.

73, Jim K9YC