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Jose Pointero posted:Silly America, too. I haven't heard more than about 30 seconds of activity on our "big" repeater in this city since I moved in. And there's one club here with a crappy website, which I've emailed 2 leaders of in regard to me joining, without a response. What the hell? At this point I'm tempted to build my own repeater and start my own club, haha. Seriously I think you only need three people to get a club call. I might be in Dallas but sign me up.
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Feb 25, 2009 20:27
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There seem to be a lot of Dallas-based ham goons (hur), at least 3 of which in a ten mile radius. Throwing up our own repeater for shenanigans and tomfoolery sounds like a fun time.
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Feb 26, 2009 22:20
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Grilldos posted:There seem to be a lot of Dallas-based ham goons (hur), at least 3 of which in a ten mile radius. Throwing up our own repeater for shenanigans and tomfoolery sounds like a fun time. If you can afford the equipment and site, go ahead. Make sure to echolink it so some of us can join in on the fun.
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Feb 26, 2009 22:42
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Feb 27, 2009 05:27
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Jose Pointero posted:GoonARC In fact, I have an old UHF Motorola Micor repeater (late 1970s version, completely solid-state) sitting at home (note that "home" is almost all the way across the state of Texas from where I'm at currently). It came from my family's business, and with some know-how could be tuned into the 440 band (it's in the 460s currently). Hell, I even have the monstrous antenna that came off the tower it was attached to.  The antenna looks a lot like those two folded dipoles on the outermost mounts in that picture, except that it is two pieces that join together, and the top half is offset 90 degrees from the bottom (it's about 15 feet long, I'd guesstimate). From the top of a 500 foot tower in the plains of West Texas, we had 15 miles of portable coverage, and around 60 miles of mobile coverage. Anyway, if there's enough of an interest in it, I could probably be motivated to haul it to school with me and see if the local ham guys would help me get it tuned and setup on an EchoLink or IRLP conference node.
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Feb 27, 2009 08:43
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Jose Pointero posted:Oh and I got an HTX-202 last week and I gotta say, this is the best drat 2 meter HT I've ever used. It's rock solid, simple, has great TX and RX audio, and hits all our repeaters with 2 watts on a stock antenna from inside my house. So just a heads up if you see one going cheap somewhere, grab it. Not positive, but I thought the 202 was built by Icom for RS... That's what I read, anyway, and having had one, I can say it was as good as any of the Icom HTs I've owned. However, I've never owned an HT that performed better than my Icom T-81A did... I only used it on 2m/440 and it's the only radio that I regret selling (even if I DID sell it to get cash to put toward my FT-817).
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Feb 27, 2009 20:47
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 8, 2009 18:11
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Jose Pointero posted:Wow, it got quiet in here... The propagation is really poor. 
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Mar 8, 2009 18:14
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 8, 2009 18:22
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Jose Pointero posted:GoonARC That might actually prompt me to get my license.
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Mar 8, 2009 18:28
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Jose Pointero posted:And dude, you have a 440 repeater sitting in your house? Fire that bitch up! Ummm... no... but drat, that is a sad new meme...  Do you have a 440 repeater in your house? I am protected!Seriously though... where did you get that idea? T-81A = quad band HT from Icom... FT-817 = QRP HF from yaesu... The closest I ever came to having a repeater was when I had an FT-8900. I used the crossband repeater a lot when my wife would drag me to the mall to shop. I could set the VHF side up on the local IRLP repeater frequency, and use my little Alinco 440 HT from wherever I was hanging around. Made some great international QSOs that way... and Australian truckers are absolutely insane.
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Mar 9, 2009 19:36
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 9, 2009 21:28
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Jose Pointero posted:I was referring to TNLTRPB's post about having an old repeater from the family business sitting around. My post was poorly laid-out though, I was sleepy at the time HAH... that's ok... I read his post and didn't make the connection until you pointed it out... sigh... it's been a LONG day... and I currently hate hardware engineers...
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Mar 9, 2009 21:32
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 12, 2009 14:35
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Jose Pointero posted:Heads up, those of you who are looking for a starter HF rig for cheap: Good find. I'd grab it for myself, but my living locations are going to limit me primarily to mostly qrp cw and digi modes.
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Mar 12, 2009 15:44
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I talked to some of the OF ham's on the repeater today. They said that if it is in good shape, that's a drat fine radio for anyone who was curious. I'm considering it more and more, but I'm still thinking I should get something with DSP.
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Mar 13, 2009 05:47
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 13, 2009 21:08
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Jose Pointero posted:There was an even better starter rig posted today for $100 more: I've got an FT-101B with a couple of accessories I'm getting ready to sell to fund an FT-857D...
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Mar 13, 2009 22:45
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Jose Pointero posted:Anyway, I'm not sure but I think me and TNLTRPB made the first goon QSO last night. We had a nice chat on a local 2M repeater as he was driving through town. I forgot to ask if he had stairs in his shack... I'll be coming back through on either late Saturday or Sunday afternoon/evening, so perhaps we can chat again. As far as the repeater goes, provided that it's not going to be raining like crazy over the weekend, I'll be taking it down to school with me to let the local guys there tune it to a ham frequency pair. We're working on getting tower space on a 600' tower at the moment. Assuming all goes well, I hope to have it on echolink/IRLP by the end of the summer.
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Mar 14, 2009 04:06
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mas posted:I've got an FT-101B with a couple of accessories I'm getting ready to sell to fund an FT-857D... Now posted on QRZ forums http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=196649
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Mar 14, 2009 19:37
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I haven't read through this whole thread so I apologise if what i'm about to ask has been covered, but is there still any packet radio activity among the community? I won't bore you with the reasons why, but I got into Amateur Radio even though I'm deaf, mostly out of an interest in electronics, and packet radio was pretty much my thing. I was wondering if there was any point in renewing my licence, dusting off my old equipment and getting back into the hobby, though to be honest it's been 14 odd years and i've pretty much forgotten everything I learnt by now. I was only a UK Novice B, although I operated under my club's full licence most of the time.
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Mar 16, 2009 02:49
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Crazedscot posted:I haven't read through this whole thread so I apologise if what i'm about to ask has been covered, but is there still any packet radio activity among the community?
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Mar 16, 2009 03:18
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nmfree posted:Packet specifically? Well, not necessarily packet specifically, anything I can get involved in would be great. PSK31 sounds interesting, i'll have to look into that.
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Mar 16, 2009 03:35
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Crazedscot posted:Well, not necessarily packet specifically, anything I can get involved in would be great. PSK31 sounds interesting, i'll have to look into that.
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Mar 16, 2009 03:57
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Guy in my club is selling this: http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/FT890.html He want's $450 for it. Should I consider this guy? Includes: Built in antenna tuner Yaesu hand microphone MH-1 Power cord User manual and schematics Original box He did say it seems to be only putting out 50watts on 10m, but the rest are 100watts. It also was modified into a freebander (broadcast on everything). Goons should I go for it?
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Mar 16, 2009 21:09
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 16, 2009 21:33
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HFX posted:He did say it seems to be only putting out 50watts on 10m, but the rest are 100watts. It also was modified into a freebander (broadcast on everything). I'd say absolutely not, unless you already have an HF radio and just want to toss money into another one randomly. Especially on one that's been modified somehow by someone and now only puts out half power on at least one band. Just personal experience. The first HF rig I bought when I first got my general ticket was an old Yaesu that never worked. It was probably even worse off than this one may end up being. You could key it on any HF band other than 10m and get 80 watts out, switch to 10m, get 100 watts out, and back to any other HF band and the output would drop to 20 watts. It fluctuated all over the place, and the modzzz that had been done to the poor thing turned it, basically, into a 100 - 150 watt CB radio. I handed it off to one of the old hams in my club, the kind of guy who worked in electronics (building and designing) his whole life, and all he could get out of it was 70 watts on HF after fixing the mods... Not saying that you'll experience the same thing, but I paid 350 for that radio, and it was absolutely useless. I ended up selling it for 100 bucks to another ham who wanted it for parts  For 450, even 350, there's no way I'd touch that thing. 200 bucks maybe... MAYBE, but unless you know what's been done to it, and you are good enough with electronics to do it yourself and inspect what was done, it's not worth the hassle. For 450, you can get a very good used HF rig that hasn't been hosed with and possibly screwed up.
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Mar 16, 2009 22:29
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bladernr posted:For 450, you can get a very good used HF rig that hasn't been hosed with and possibly screwed up. Or he could buy mine that's never been screwed up and works perfectly on all bands. Now with a lower price! (see link above)
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Mar 16, 2009 22:49
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I recently grabbed the repeater and hauled it to school with me. For the moment, it's being stored out at the local fire station because it's too big to put anywhere else. Here's some pictures of it and the antenna that goes with it (all are click for big):        
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Mar 17, 2009 21:42
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 17, 2009 22:13
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After playing around listening on a VX-5, I've decided to pick up a Yaesu VX-6R and I'll take the test as soon as they're testing around here (which isn't as often as would be convenient). I'll be using it while in the backcountry a lot, and I suspect it'll be a good way to pass time on roadtrips and such. I've wanted to get a license since I was 10 years old and I just never got around to it.
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Mar 18, 2009 02:14
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Hypnolobster posted:After playing around listening on a VX-5, I've decided to pick up a Yaesu VX-6R and I'll take the test as soon as they're testing around here (which isn't as often as would be convenient). Go for the VX-7R. It was only a 20 dollar difference when I got mine last month. You get a 4band radio (if in the US) or a tri band else where plus it has dual receive. The 6m antenna extension doesn't give you a great signal, but you can quickly rectify that just by making a dipole. HFX fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Mar 18, 2009 |
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Mar 18, 2009 03:37
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I've been recommended to buy radios from here, http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0777.html and they seem to think it's only 3 bands, but wikipedia and such say it's quad band, or am I just misunderstanding something? I can't seem to find anywhere selling them that says it's quad band.
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Mar 18, 2009 04:02
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Hypnolobster posted:I've been recommended to buy radios from here, The VX-7r is quad band if you are in the US. 5watts on 6m, 2m, 73cm. 0.5watts on 1.25m. The 0.5 watts isn't all that awesome, but it will work ~6-7 miles around the repeater. 222(1.25m) and 440(73cm) both tend to be quieter around me then 2m for noise floors. Some of the nets around here link all their different band repeaters together, and 440 or 222 will often get me a clearer signal then 2m. I regularly use a repeater that is 60 miles north of me using 2.5 watts and 5 watts through a j-pole on 2m. I'm going to try again next net on 1 watt just to see if I can. The other benefit of the 7r is of course the dual receive which allows you to monitor 2 frequencies at once. Great for satellites or rag chewing on the one while listening for another contact on another frequency. I do see the price is a little bit wider then when I got mine. HFX fucked around with this message at 06:26 on Mar 18, 2009 |
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Mar 18, 2009 06:23
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Does anyone have a recomendation for a cheap 20amp 13.8volt power supply? How about source for 50ohm coax and connectors?
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Mar 19, 2009 03:24
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jeremiah johnson posted:Does anyone have a recomendation for a cheap 20amp 13.8volt power supply? I'd like to say how cheap are we talking? Fry's probably has one and radio shack has 25 amp for $60-70. They are switching and so noise may be a problem. What frequency are you planning to use the coax at? You can find many online. Just search for the right RG numbers: RG-8 (and its many versions) and RG-58 (okay for short runs). You'll not want to scrimp on cables if you are doing VHF or above. Connectors: Fry's.
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Mar 19, 2009 04:46
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I'd like as cheap a power supply as I can get without taking too to big of a risk of it bursting into flames or frying my radio. Part of what I'm planning to use the coax for is this http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html so what ever would be best for that (solid dielectric). I don't live near any Fry's so does the advise on connectors still stand with shipping and all?
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Mar 20, 2009 03:03
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jeremiah johnson posted:I'd like as cheap a power supply as I can get without taking too to big of a risk of it bursting into flames or frying my radio. Eh, if you have to get shipping because you don't have a good outlet of radio equipment near you I would say look online. As for the coax, you'll want a more flexible one, rg-8 should be okay, but rg-8a and rg-8u will be getting pretty stiff for that application. HFX fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Mar 20, 2009 |
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Mar 20, 2009 03:13
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After a few anxious days, I've finally been issued my tech call -- KE5ZYN. All you Dallas-based hams prepare to get earblasted.
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Mar 20, 2009 04:46
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Mar 20, 2009 05:34
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