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So far only times I've used 146.52 is to take an already established QSO off the repeater and onto simplex. It seems like everyone in my area pretty much uses the repeaters exclusively.
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Aug 23, 2010 21:26
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I've decided that I'm tired of the S5+ buzz that my computer PSU is giving me on VHF and up, so I'm in the market for a replacement. Anyone have any suggestions for a minimum 700W PSU that doesn't put out any RFI?
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Aug 24, 2010 00:39
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Aug 24, 2010 04:17
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Jose Pointero posted:11 meter stuff That being said, most of the local CB operators in my area are biker type guys in their 50's leftover from the 70's CB craze. I've made friends with a number of them, since it's not everyday a young guy like me can shoot the poo poo with them. This has come in very useful to me on a number of occasions. In fact, that's how I'm getting a bucket truck over to my house to install my new antenna.
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Aug 24, 2010 04:57
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Aug 24, 2010 05:10
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Jose Pointero posted:It's hard to say really, but for what it's worth I have this one in my comp and haven't noticed any interference other than a slight increase in noise floor on the HF bands when it's on.
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Aug 24, 2010 05:21
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:44 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Aug 24, 2010 05:26
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Jose Pointero posted:11 meter stuff. You've inspired me to look into getting a CB radio. Great job, Jose. What are the good radios?
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Aug 24, 2010 05:27
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Aug 24, 2010 06:02
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Grilldos posted:You've inspired me to look into getting a CB radio. Great job, Jose. What are the good radios? Oh... and PLEASE DO NOT buy a Firestick, or I will hunt your rear end down. If it isn't a Wilson stainless steel whip you didn't buy the correct antenna.
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Aug 24, 2010 11:48
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IARU Region 1 SSB Field Day is coming up September 4th to 5th. I hope to make some DX contacts with the club station. As for CB, I've got a Midland Alan 42 Multi handheld and a magmount antenna. Never know when a trucker or offroader might want to chat a bit. I don't have a PMR 446 radio yet, but if I get one I think I'll make sure it has headset connections and vox. I think it'll be used more than the CB radio.
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Aug 24, 2010 14:10
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This thread has pushed me to find some old CB radios I have, and it's a ham thread! Over the years I've inherited 3 CB radios. One is an old Sears model from the 80's my dad had in his (then) new Cadillac. He took it out after a few months since he never used it and when he did have it on it was all hillbilly talk. He put it away, I found it some years later and kept it. Another radio I found and kept was my grandfathers, it's Sears too but looks older. Last find was at a ham-fest some years ago when I was in high school. I'm at work but I think it's a Maxon(?) brand handheld. Probably used it one and put it away with the rest. I'm on the edge of a medium city so I may try one of these radios out on a 10 meter whip and see what I get. Guess if it's interesting/entertaining enough I'll grab a dedicated 11 meter antenna and hook it up permanently.
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Aug 24, 2010 17:15
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Reading this thread has inspired me to get back on the air, primarily for PSK31. First step is an antenna, an indoor 20m dipole.  According to http://www.pskreporter.info/ I'm being heard across the US with 20 watts out. No actual QSO's yet though. Maybe in a couple weeks when the few sunspots we have rotate back around.
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Aug 24, 2010 17:35
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Eccles posted:According to http://www.pskreporter.info/ I'm being heard across the US with 20 watts out. No actual QSO's yet though. Maybe in a couple weeks when the few sunspots we have rotate back around. Yeah, my problem never seems to be getting heard, but getting people to respond. Annoying!
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Aug 24, 2010 20:51
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Aug 25, 2010 15:50
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My "amature extra" privileges showed up in the ULS today... the same day I got this Yaesu FT-747GX HF radio working. I'm supposed to go over someone's house tonight who is giving me an HF antenna tuner and CW straight key. Gunna get some dipoles put up soon and have fun! AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Aug 26, 2010 |
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Aug 26, 2010 01:03
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So this seems like as good a place as any to talk about this. I got my Tech license a few years ago as a requirement for a class. I enjoyed the class and I'm happy I have the license, but talking to a bunch of old geezers isn't my kind of thing, especially since I can barely understand people on the phone, let alone with all of noise in radio. Now what I'm really interested in is amateur radar, but that's a long way away. So in the meantime, I'd like to do stuff like PSK31 and WSPR, or maybe even make my own esoteric protocol using LDPCs for UWB communication or something. APRS is also cool. The other thing that interests me is software defined radio, like this, http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ that's linked in the OP. However, I can't find many decent resources for it online. I'm a physics/math major, not an EE, but I think I can figure it out given enough information. I have the basic concept, I believe: Sample the waveform from the antenna at twice the max frequency you want to listen to, take the FFT, and voila! Of course actually implementing that is quite a bit harder. Do you guys have any resources for that? I'd be fine with only receiving. Eventually I'd like to make something crazy, just not sure what.
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Aug 26, 2010 05:47
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ryanmfw posted:The other thing that interests me is software defined radio, like this, http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ that's linked in the OP. However, I can't find many decent resources for it online. I'm a physics/math major, not an EE, but I think I can figure it out given enough information. I have the basic concept, I believe: Sample the waveform from the antenna at twice the max frequency you want to listen to, take the FFT, and voila! Of course actually implementing that is quite a bit harder. Do you guys have any resources for that? I'd be fine with only receiving.
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Aug 26, 2010 06:04
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I'm interested in getting into PSK31, I'm looking to just listen and see whats out there until I get my general licence. I'm thinking about maybe setting up an automatic propagation station out of my house. What would be a good shortwave receiver to get and would work for this application?
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Aug 26, 2010 08:19
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Rev Quackers posted:I'm interested in getting into PSK31, I'm looking to just listen and see whats out there until I get my general licence. I'm thinking about maybe setting up an automatic propagation station out of my house. What would be a good shortwave receiver to get and would work for this application? PSK is a blast. Just about any radio that can receive upper sideband would work, as far as I know. Honestly if you just want to listen, all you have to do in most cases is stick a $20 computer mic up next to the radio's speaker, and download software that will decode PSK. Tune the radio to 14070khz or 7035khz and you should see some signals on the waterfall before long. When you get your ticket something like a SignaLink USB and the appropriate interface cable are all you would need to get started. You can also wire the radio up directly to your internal soundcard depending on your hardware, but it will take a bit of wiring. Dijkstra fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Aug 26, 2010 |
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Aug 26, 2010 11:31
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Rev Quackers posted:ok everyone who wants in on our Goon Ham Radio Club email me and i'll get the ball rolling. Any word?
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Aug 26, 2010 15:09
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fordan posted:Any word? I just moved this week to Merced for college so give me a few more days after I get the feel of my classes, I started this when I was in Fresno some of the paperwork and info is still there so I'll have everything put together Monday. SOrry for dragging my feet on this
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Aug 26, 2010 15:55
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I'm trying to get CWGET to work, but am having problems. Any general things I should try?
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Aug 26, 2010 21:18
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CWGet is kind of a mess, honestly. I'd recommend tagging it out for either fldigi or Digital Master 780, part of the Ham Radio Deluxe suite. Both of those have better interfaces and do a lot more than just CW.
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Aug 26, 2010 21:28
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I think I figured out what I want to do. My eventual goal would be a sort of phased array direction finding software defined receiver. The final result would be three receivers essentially, each connected to one antenna, which would be in a triangular formation. Each receiver would have an FPGA running an FFT on the waveform from the antenna, and attempt to detect "significant" signals. Once a signal was detected, the signal from each antenna would be autocorrelated with the others to determine the time lag, and hence the direction the signal is coming from. Obviously the first step would be to build one receiver. Does this sound neat, or kind of trite?
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Aug 26, 2010 22:01
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TC the Giant posted:I'd recommend tagging it out for either fldigi or Digital Master 780, part of the Ham Radio Deluxe suite. I tried downloading DM780 but it appears the download website is down right now.
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Aug 27, 2010 03:55
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ryanmfw posted:I think I figured out what I want to do. There might be some privacy and security concerns though, just like for APRS. Even if amateurs are not supposed to obfuscate their communications, perhaps some might not appreciate being shown publicly as being away from home; with APRS, being tracked is voluntary. I'd certainly be interested in reading about your efforts. What kinds of frequencies are you going to be working on? I'd imagine that triangulating a groundwave VHF signal would be a lot easier than having to take into account atmospheric conditions, skip, tropos, etc. on HF. By the way, if you're interested in amateur astronomy, I think you'll be interested in ALLBIN, an amateur very long baseline interferometer composed of antennas from all over the world connected through the Internet and synchronized with GPS. They use pretty expensive antennas, but just reading about the project is interesting too. http://www.eracnet.org/workshop/allbin.htm A smaller scale "solo" project is shown here: http://www.umich.edu/~lowbrows/reflections/2007/jabshier.1.html Vir fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Aug 27, 2010 |
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Aug 27, 2010 14:12
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Vir posted:Well, to me it sounds interesting, but it's also something that's already being done by the government to both detect pirate radio broadcasts and triangulate marine VHF signals. I don't know if there's a triangulation network available for the use of the general public. A website where you could go in and get positions for transmissions in a web interface would be cool. This is essentially one of the things I was thinking of doing. I became interested in this after seeing the WebSDR website in the OP anyway. quote:There might be some privacy and security concerns though, just like for APRS. Even if amateurs are not supposed to obfuscate their communications, perhaps some might not appreciate being shown publicly as being away from home; with APRS, being tracked is voluntary. I'd certainly be interested in reading about your efforts. Well, I was actually considering using this for WSPRnet. Pick up a signal and measure the heading, to see if it's along the great circle to the grid spot of the transmitter. It might be wholly useless but maybe it'd lead to something interesting. A determination of where Es clouds are? quote:What kinds of frequencies are you going to be working on? I'd imagine that triangulating a groundwave VHF signal would be a lot easier than having to take into account atmospheric conditions, skip, tropos, etc. on HF. VHF would be easier for me just because of the smaller antenna. I'm a little space constrained right now.... My landlord is into CB I believe so maybe he'd be understanding of this but I doubt it. Since I'm planning on doing a direct acquisition SDR though, I might as well cover as many bands as I can. I'd need a very wide bandwidth antenna though... Anyone heard about fractal antennas for ham radio? quote:By the way, if you're interested in amateur astronomy, I think you'll be interested in ALLBIN, an amateur very long baseline interferometer composed of antennas from all over the world connected through the Internet and synchronized with GPS. They use pretty expensive antennas, but just reading about the project is interesting too. That is really interesting. Sadly I don't think I can put a dish in my backyard but I'll definitely have to read more about it when I get back from class. I'll try to write more about my plans then too.
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Aug 27, 2010 15:26
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Zuph posted:What are the ultra cheap options in HF radios? I am not at all opposed to used equipment.
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Aug 28, 2010 05:13
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So, space constraints will probably make an antenna array direction finding radio unfeasible. Since what I'm really interested in is radar anyway, I've decided to move to building a passive radar*. However, I still have to design, build and test a receiver for that purpose. Since passive radar is quite complicated, my first step will be instead to build a wideband station detecting radio. With the parts I've ordered so far, specifically the 550 MSPS ADC, I can receive at up to 275 MHz with an RF sampling radio. No IF for me! Of course, processing even 50 MSPS will probably be a challenge, which is what I'm trying to figure out how to do. I don't have the budget to buy fancy $1000 DSPs or FPGAs. I'm trying to use as many free sample parts as possible. So I guess my plan is to have a DSP running some n-bin FFT over the samples, then picking out the top 10 or so highest frequency coefficients in the FFT. Pass the samples to ten other DSPs with bandpass FIRs set to those frequencies and see what's there. I'd like to do this with FGPAs actually but I don't have much experience with them. While I'd like to learn, this project is already getting pretty crazy. *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_radar
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Aug 28, 2010 19:11
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As of today, my first basic Ham Shack is basically complete minus antennas.
 Edit: Wishlist:
AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Aug 29, 2010 |
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Aug 29, 2010 03:27
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Anyone have any practical experience with these? Seems like an interesting concept (frequency-hopping spread spectrum in the 900 MHz ISM band using TDMA digital voice). Obviously it's not intended for long-range stuff, but given how lovely the FRS/GMRS bands are at any sort of public event these days, those might be useful. What intrigues me about it is the difficulty demodulating the signal if you don't have the right "channel" code (with 2^30 possibilities). I use P25 with DES-OFB encryption on almost a daily basis, so a (reasonably) secure radio for $50 seems pretty cool.
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Aug 29, 2010 05:19
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No, haven't used those. I've used MotoTalk on a couple of my old iDEN handsets which runs in the 900MHz ISM band. The range is better than FRS, that's for sure, but it is still crap with buildings and floors. Who knows how/if this is any better. 146.520 is home of the morning ragchew with a few guys, and, following that, silence the entire rest of the time. I finally picked up and installed a 2 meter mobile rig today, so I have more than 5W of power to answer back on simplex. Now if I get better than a quarter wave antenna, I can pick up some of the linked repeaters, like the WB2JPQ (IRLP 9050) system. There is a repeater nearby with IRLP that I can axxs too, perhaps we should get a reflector up or something as part of our goon club.
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Aug 30, 2010 00:42
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Just to kind of bump the thread... I'm trading my trusty old FT-60R and some cash to local ham in exchange for a Kenwood TH-F6A with 2 battery packs, desktop charger, car lighter adapter, programming cable, AA backup battery pack, speaker mic, and both the standard and Diamond SRH320A antennas. I'll be coming out far ahead on the deal, since I've been looking for something to use in the car with an external window mount until I can afford a mobile rig and the CLA will keep me from having to bring the thing in for charging all the time.
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Sep 2, 2010 19:06
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So if I wanted to make a dipole and try to get my first QSO on HF using SSB or AM, what band(s) are currently active and a good place to start?
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Sep 2, 2010 20:27
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20 meters during the day, 40 at night.
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Sep 2, 2010 20:42
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I'm all ready for (Region 1) Field Day. It's also great that points are given for publicity, because I heard radio amateurs from two different clubs on the regional radio news today being interviewed about Field Day. It also looks like the weather is going to be nice. Our location this year will be at a mountain cabin, and we'll be operating out of a tent and a truck, and will be bringing a nice big generator. Also it's nice to have a cabin to dry your clothes and make food in. For any of you hams in Canada, the US, or other places who don't have Field Day on the same day, this is still a great opportunity to collect contacts with areas in Europe or Africa which might be a bit quiet for the rest of the year. (FD contacts count towards DXCC, grid collection, and all that jazz, right?) Vir fucked around with this message at 12:37 on Sep 3, 2010 |
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Sep 3, 2010 12:29
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Vir posted:(FD contacts count towards DXCC, grid collection, and all that jazz, right?)
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Sep 3, 2010 19:46
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dv6speed posted:So if I wanted to make a dipole and try to get my first QSO on HF using SSB or AM, what band(s) are currently active and a good place to start? What nmfree said, but don't get discouraged if you can't hear anything on the band. The sun isn't very active now and the band will be dead more often than not.
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Sep 4, 2010 03:32
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I put up a 40 meter dipole today. I had to use a guy wire to support the center insulator, which I made out of an SO-239 and some plexiglass. I brought the coax into my room on the 2nd floor, and tied the dipole and guy wire off at the attic window. The other ends are in a tree.  I successfully made my first HF QSO using LSB on 40m with that antenna, talked to Knoxville, TN from Wilmington, DE.  I want to move this dipole up much higher in the air, between two trees. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Sep 6, 2010 |
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Sep 5, 2010 21:36
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