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I got my first QSL card today. This is a pretty cool card. He has a picture of himself skydiving. I want to ask why I don't see an HT on him in the picture. I feel bad I don't have a card to send back, so I figure I'll write a hand written letter.
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Oct 1, 2010 02:21
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dv6speed posted:I got my first QSL card today. This is a pretty cool card. He has a picture of himself skydiving. I want to ask why I don't see an HT on him in the picture. I feel bad I don't have a card to send back, so I figure I'll write a hand written letter. A quick letter should be okay, but if you want QSL cards make your own!! Don't overpay some printer. All you need is something like Microsoft Publisher (comes with office usually), some 8x11 (Letter sized) 110lb card stock, and a printer. It also helps to have one of those paper cutters instead of scissors. I used to pay 50 bucks a batch for lovely generic 3 color printed QSL cards and got sick of it because I always moved before I used them all. Now I just DIY. I have a photo of my dog, my callsign and city/state on the front. All the info goes on the back - setup for USPS standard postcard formatting.
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Oct 1, 2010 13:52
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Stupid question, but how do you know where to mail the cards? Do you mail them to anyone you meet or just especially interesting people? Do you just look up their address on the FCC/QRZ database?
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Oct 1, 2010 14:34
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I've thought about printing my own QSL cars, but I guess I'm concerned about using an inkjet printer and having the ink run or something if the paper gets wet. That being said, I haven't made a color print out in years, so perhaps the photo printers don't do this. Another issue I have is that I don't have a color printer and would have to borrow one. I got 2 weeks to think about it until I get my new call sign. I also want to look into QSL bureaus. Speaking of moving and having to change address, I was talking to a local ham who says he likes to keep the address field blank, typically so if he is operating portable, he can write in the location he was actually at while operating. In other news, I've been invited to be net control operator 2 days a month on one of my local repeaters. QPZIL posted:Stupid question, but how do you know where to mail the cards? Do you mail them to anyone you meet or just especially interesting people? Do you just look up their address on the FCC/QRZ database? QSL cards are used to confirm a contact, typically on HF the bands, or maybe a DX contact on 2m simplex etc. To repeat myself, the QSL cards are only sent to people you've had QSO's with on the radio. In that case you just look up their call sign and send it to that address. If you get into QSL cards heavily, a "QSL Bureau" is supposed to be alot cheaper as far as mailing costs, etc. Now this is a gray area for me, as I know jack poo poo about contesting, but I think QSL cards can also be used as proof for Worked All States awards, etc.. In fact, I have a feeling this is why this guy sent me a card, because I'm in Delaware, and being a small state, you don't find that many of us on the air compared to other states. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 14:43 on Oct 1, 2010 |
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Oct 1, 2010 14:39
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dv6speed posted:To repeat myself, the QSL cards are only sent to people you've had QSO's with on the radio. There's one exception: You can also send QSL cards to people you've only heard on the radio. QSL cards often have a tick box for either 2-way QSO (regular contact) or SWL (short wave listening). Some regular short wave broadcast stations also appreciate QSL cards, and will reply with their own special cards and promotional items in the mail. (Check out the short wave thread.) I sent a regular post card with my location, signal report, etc. direct to a radio amateur in Serbia, and he sent me a QSL card back direct. That was very nice of him, since I hadn't counted on a reply and hadn't included return postage. Since many countries no longer mandate that you keep a radio log, it is still good practice to keep a log of all your contacts except maybe for the regular rag chew repeater talk - and the log makes it possible to confirm QSO's. My local radio club gets QSL cards from decades back, so it's good that we've kept the logs to verify the QSO. Sometimes you get a wrong QSL card for a contact that never took place (somebody trying to cheat in a contest), or simply because they got the call wrong.
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Oct 1, 2010 15:00
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Speaking of contesting... I think I want to try out 40m Worked All States. Where's the best place to find information on what I need to do this?
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Oct 1, 2010 15:33
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dv6speed posted:Speaking of contesting... I think I want to try out 40m Worked All States. Where's the best place to find information on what I need to do this?
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Oct 2, 2010 01:55
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Any of you MO or IL HamGoons going to the Halloween Hamfest in Kirkwood, MO this year? It's about a 10 minute drive from my house, so I have no reason not to go.
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Oct 4, 2010 19:34
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I just picked up a Wouxun KV-UV2D yesterday. It's been really cool to play around with - it was my first time ever using a ham radio and I'm not even taking the tests 'til next weekend, so I could just listen, but I found a technology forum to listen to on a local repeater, and heard some guys chatting on another repeater, so I'm pretty proud of my first day   e- whoops, that's a picture of the KG-UVD1P, but they look exactly alike so it's whatever.
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Oct 4, 2010 19:44
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QPZIL posted:I just picked up a Wouxun KV-UV2D yesterday. It's been really cool to play around with - it was my first time ever using a ham radio and I'm not even taking the tests 'til next weekend, so I could just listen, but I found a technology forum to listen to on a local repeater, and heard some guys chatting on another repeater, so I'm pretty proud of my first day Good idea to get your listening in now and learn the local repeater etiquette so when you get your ticket you can jump in without pissing off the OFs. Good luck on your testing... Are you just going for Tech, or do you plan to hit the General and Extras while you're there?
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Oct 4, 2010 19:57
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BigHustle posted:Good idea to get your listening in now and learn the local repeater etiquette so when you get your ticket you can jump in without pissing off the OFs. I've got the tech stuff nailed down pretty good, so I've been studying off and on for the General - I figure while I'm paying for it, I might as well get the most bang for my buck and go for both.
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Oct 4, 2010 20:11
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QPZIL posted:I've got the tech stuff nailed down pretty good, so I've been studying off and on for the General - I figure while I'm paying for it, I might as well get the most bang for my buck and go for both. You should be good to go. I got both on my first shot after studying the Tech manual and cramming the practice tests for the General. If I can get myself focused, I'm going to try for the Extra at the Hamfest I linked above so I can get myself a vanity call. I told myself I wasn't going to spring for it until I maxed out my license.
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Oct 5, 2010 01:23
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dv6speed posted:I see you are in NJ... can you get on the BEARS network out of curiosity? I just discovered it myself a couple days ago when I was scanning the ham bands in VFO mode. Thanks for posting this! I can easily hit Manahawkin / Lakehurst where I am. And it looks like I'll still be able to hit the network when I move to MD in January! (Probably the one in Elkton). Yay!
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Oct 5, 2010 02:37
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tonynaia posted:Thanks for posting this! I can easily hit Manahawkin / Lakehurst where I am. And it looks like I'll still be able to hit the network when I move to MD in January! (Probably the one in Elkton). Yay!
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Oct 5, 2010 02:58
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Guys I found the coolest antenna mount ever. http://www.walcottcb.com/ts139ad-vice-grip-mount-p-266.html
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Oct 5, 2010 03:31
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That there is one of those "Why the gently caress did I not think about this and make millions of dollars already?" moments.
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Oct 5, 2010 04:53
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My radio has been collecting dust for months, so I'm selling it. If anyone's interested, it's an ft 817-ND over at the QRZ Swapthinger
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Oct 5, 2010 06:00
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AtomicMonsters posted:My radio has been collecting dust for months, so I'm selling it. If anyone's interested, it's an ft 817-ND over at the QRZ Swapthinger That's a shame, man. For anyone who's interested, I love my 817ND. It's about the size of an optical disk drive, has good sound, a great scanning range, and pretty decent battery life. There aren't too many better radios to have in a pinch.
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Oct 5, 2010 06:46
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TC the Giant posted:That's a shame, man. For anyone who's interested, I love my 817ND. It's about the size of an optical disk drive, has good sound, a great scanning range, and pretty decent battery life. There aren't too many better radios to have in a pinch. Yeah, it's a phenomenal radio, which is why I hate to see it go unused.
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Oct 5, 2010 14:57
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In a pinch you probably would like more than just 5 watts of power, but with a good antenna, it's apparently amazing how far you can reach with an FT-817, depending on conditions. It's also pretty hard to beat for its combination of size and versatility. - Use its VHF/UHF part to hit repeaters and satellites. At about 1 Kg, it's not something you casually keep on your belt, but if you've got a backpack or small shoulder bag with you, it fits down there. - Combine it with an Elecraft T1 or LDG Z-817 tuner and just pack a long wire as your HF antenna - or just tune up random pieces of metal - with science! - Connect a straight key or iambic paddle and send CW; install an optional 300 Hz or 500 Hz CW filter to make listening more comfortable. - Send digimode with an eeePC or PDA, or just any old laptop. (Even the later model Palm models had an undocumented microphone input, which means there are audio interfaces for it.) You might want the extra stability crystal for this. - Get or build an amplifier for it. Apparently, one problem here is that amplifiers which amplify low-power radios over 50 watts aren't approved by the FCC. I suppose the fact that CB'ers and pirates could get their hands on them is part of the reason. There are some similar amps which are FCC approved though, like this 45 watt one: http://www.tokyohypower.com/hl-45b.html For those of us in other countries, something like this might be available: http://www.thp.co.jp/english/hl_100bdx_e.html Both of these come with an FT-817(ND) cable for automatic band switching and fast keying; other radios just get fast keying. You can even use it without any sort of control cable, but then it'll only key after sensing the RF from the radio, which is slower. Yeah you could just buy a higher power radio, but that the option exists is pretty cool. Self-build might also be good, as long as one remembers to install filters against unwanted harmonics. So yeah, a basic FT-817ND will probably be my first radio when I've gotten my license, and then I'll upgrade it or get a new radio depending on what I like to do. It reminds me a bit of buying a low model Amiga computer like the A500 back in the day. You would probably get more power by buying a big box model like the A3000, but you would just gradually upgrade the A500 until it was faster (and cost more) than the A3000.  As for battery life, how much operating do you get out of the internal rechargeable battery? I hear some QRP'ers complain that the FT-817 eats batteries, but maybe that's compared to a HT, a dedicated super-efficient CW radio, or a simple short wave radio? As for the audio, I hear the FM broadcast reception is good, but how well does the noise blanker and filtering capabilities work on SSB? On Field Day I was happy to be able to filter out the interference from nearby stations or harmonics. Vir fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Oct 5, 2010 |
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Oct 5, 2010 16:43
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Anyone do anything homebrew? I made a pixie2 earlier this year but I'm thinking about trying to make something more serious to use as an HF radio. Maybe a softrock ensemble rxtx or a BITX or something. I'm wanting to get a 40m dipole or something up before the weather turns sour but I don't know if I'm going to or not.
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Oct 8, 2010 21:24
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Vir posted:As for battery life, how much operating do you get out of the internal rechargeable battery? I hear some QRP'ers complain that the FT-817 eats batteries, but maybe that's compared to a HT, a dedicated super-efficient CW radio, or a simple short wave radio? I get about three or four hours of battery life. When it drops low, I charge it. It'll charge overnight and be good as new the next day. My little Grundig G6 lasts forever, but it's got a lot less going on under the hood. Simpler electronics take less juice. I don't have a SSB filter installed, but I can hear people just fine if I tune it right. I'm usually listening for digimodes and weird crap, so those don't always come in crystal clear, but if I were right on top of the station, what would be the fun in that? Reception is fine, and might even surprise you.
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Oct 8, 2010 21:44
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Nullsmack posted:Anyone do anything homebrew? I'd also like to try a solid state QRP CW transciever, but it'll be a while till I start traveling/hiking to remote areas. Maybe one day I'll try homebrew AM or SSB, but I don't know if I desire to build that complex circuitry. Edit: Also, I am very interested in building a vacuum-tube linear amplifier. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Oct 8, 2010 |
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Oct 8, 2010 21:45
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Nullsmack posted:Anyone do anything homebrew? I made a pixie2 earlier this year but I'm thinking about trying to make something more serious to use as an HF radio. Maybe a softrock ensemble rxtx or a BITX or something. I'm wanting to get a 40m dipole or something up before the weather turns sour but I don't know if I'm going to or not. I'm thinking about ordering a Small Wonder Labs Retro-75 5w AM transmitter. I'd like to find a 6m transceiver kit to build, but all I can find for 6m is receivers.
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Oct 8, 2010 21:53
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TC the Giant posted:I get about three or four hours of battery life. When it drops low, I charge it. It'll charge overnight and be good as new the next day. My little Grundig G6 lasts forever, but it's got a lot less going on under the hood. Simpler electronics take less juice.  Do you use your G6 for any Ham stuff? Maybe if you were in a location where you didn't have a solar panel and lots of batteries at hand you could plug the antenna into the G6 to listen for contacts, and then switch over to the 817 when you hear someone you want to work?TC the Giant posted:I don't have a SSB filter installed, but I can hear people just fine if I tune it right. I'm usually listening for digimodes and weird crap, so those don't always come in crystal clear, but if I were right on top of the station, what would be the fun in that? Reception is fine, and might even surprise you.
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Oct 9, 2010 01:46
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Just got back from the exam. Aced the tech part  ...bombed the general part  Oh well, one is better than none!
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Oct 9, 2010 14:56
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QPZIL posted:Just got back from the exam. Aced the tech part At least you can get on the air in a limited fashion. I think I got the FT-101 fixed. I've got to hang a dipole and see if my tinkering worked.
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Oct 9, 2010 17:23
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QPZIL posted:Just got back from the exam. Aced the tech part
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Oct 9, 2010 17:36
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Vir posted:Yeah that's what I figured - more blue smoke to keep warm. I use the g6 pretty sparingly nowadays. Last time was really only to check that my digimodes were decodable. Might start bringing it on trips where I can't bring a full ham setup, though.
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Oct 9, 2010 17:51
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Oct 10, 2010 05:48
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Jose Pointero posted:I picked up a TS-130S just to play around with and see what kinda reception I can get. But I need a connector to hook up power to it. I've seen these before but I forgot what it's called, and I don't know where I could buy one either... Looks like the keyed tamiya-like but stacked connectors used on PC power supplies to feed the CPU directly and video cards, etc. Don't know where I'd look for a non-OEM replacement, though.
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Oct 10, 2010 06:13
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Oct 10, 2010 06:27
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Jose Pointero posted:I'm thinking about just opening it up and soldering a couple wires internally to feed it with. Why they hell does it need a funky 6 pin power connector for plain-rear end 12VDC +/- ? Looking up the specs on the unit and the power supply which feeds it, I don't know if it will be any help because I haven't really dug into the schematic, but, the other pins seem to be wired somehow differently (When fed from the AC PSU) though the manual says you can use two pins of it to supply just 12v from a battery. http://www.n6wk.com/kenwood/PS-30%20Manual.pdf ^ PSU manual with schematic which shows how the pin configuration is fed http://www.radioamateur.eu/schemi/TS130SE_user.pdf ^ Rig manual which gives diagram saying you can bypass 4 of the pins and just give it 12v from a battery.
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Oct 10, 2010 07:23
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Kenwood!
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Jose Pointero posted:I picked up a TS-130S just to play around with and see what kinda reception I can get. But I need a connector to hook up power to it. I've seen these before but I forgot what it's called, and I don't know where I could buy one either... Not 100% sure but this looks like it. Look for item "DC-HF-Cord" $20. http://www.qsradio.com/DCpower.htm
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Oct 10, 2010 09:11
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Oct 10, 2010 09:21
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If you want to hear what a stupid crazy pileup for a DXpedition sounds like, tune your radio to 14209-14214 right now. The Netherlands Antilles gained semi-independence and split up into several DX entities today (from 2) and every swinging dick on the planet is trying to work them on the first day.
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Oct 10, 2010 13:51
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Jose Pointero, If you haven't opened your wallet already for that cable, check out Mouser Electronics, they may be able to supply you a connector that can fit much cheaper.
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Oct 10, 2010 14:49
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Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Aug 28, 2019 |
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Oct 10, 2010 19:13
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I am the luckiest son of a bitch in this thread. I just got a Yaesu 857, used, but in drat good condition, DONATED to me. 
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Oct 10, 2010 23:56
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I hate you... I'm stuck in a dorm room, with no money to spend on a rig because of college. I've been itching badly to get on the air ever since I passed the Extra last April. What's the story behind the donation?
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Oct 11, 2010 04:05
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