My coax cable was stolen by locals, so I soldered a coax connector onto a length of fibre optic cable so I could connect it to the centre junction of my inverted horse-shoe HF antenna. I didn't have another connector for the other end, so I soldered that end of the cable directly into the RF plug on the radio. I set up the antenna underneath some power lines, in order to increase the signal strength, because I know there will be some loss through my modified cable.

Now, for some reason, I can't get comms! To increase the signal even more, I connected the battery terminals on the radio to a bank of car batteries with alligator clips, but still no luck.

I'm beginning to think it is the other end, or maybe a sporadic E that someone "spiked" my drink with on the weekend.

The name suits you buddy!Thanks for nothing....