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I checked into the local 2M net last night where it was announced a 10M SSB net was following. Since I just got my HF setup going (Icom 706MIIG, MFJ Tuner, 10 M vertical in attic with radials for ground) I would give it a try. The net was pretty small, only like 3 check-ins and all were local. What I found interesting was despite everyone being close (3-10 miles away) noone really had a strong signal. Even the closest check-in to me was only giving me S-4 at like 3 miles away. Everything is great with my setup, low 1.2'ish SWR with 100 watts out. They had the same signal from me, I figure that's just normal local loss on 10M. I think 6M is similar, great during openings but locally you're not going to get the same distance as 2M.
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Feb 15, 2011 18:39
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| # ? May 12, 2024 21:46 |
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I haven't checked in for a while -- grad school keeping me busy. I've been on the 2m repeaters locally and when I road trip, and am always listening. I've picked up CW pretty well, I can copy at 20wpm, but still just words, not whole phrases. I've also been really itching to get into HF, and my tax return is coming, so I have a dilemma hopefully y'all can resolve. There is an Icom 735 + PS + tuner on craigslist, in great condition, for like $475. I've inquired as to the age of the rig and if it has a keyer or any problems. It would save me so much money to get his deal, all I need is a mic. I can't wait to get on 40/20m...I've been listening on my G6 every day. The other road is to get a new rig, like the Icom 718 or the Yaesu FT-817ND...for like $630, and still need to get a PS. No way can I afford a tuner...I'll be using my super physicist powers instead. (Not to mention simulation my radiation pattern on my ghetto dipole) I'm thinking almost certainly the 718 over the 817. I emailed the dude with the older 735. If the rig is in good shape I'll drive the ~4hr round trip. If _anything_ is not working 100% though, I'm probably going to pass just based on the rig's age and lack of warranty. What do you all think I should do (to get on HF)? I can really only realistically spend like $750 for everything -- radio, PS, etc.
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Feb 16, 2011 01:21
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The 735 has a bad rep in reliability from what I can glean off the internet. No first hand experience. It looks like they released multiple versions to fix the bugs, and then just said "gently caress it" and replaced the 735 with the 7410. I could be completely wrong, though. The 817 and the 718 aren't really comparable, being that one is a desk radio and the other is a QRP backpacking rig. The 718 compares to the 450, which is a screaming deal right now. AES cleveland has a 450 AT for like $500 right now with a 1 year warranty.
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Feb 16, 2011 14:30
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I worked WAS and DXCC on an Icom 735, I still have it in fact. It's a good all-around rig. I mainly used it for SSB, RTTY and PSK but I did work some CW on it. There's really nothing wrong with 735's that I know of. They don't have many features but they will get you on HF at a good price. causticfluids, If you decide you don't want the one on craigslist let me know if you would be interested in mine and we can probably work something out over PM. I have an FT-950 now and the 735 is sitting in the closet. I have the stock power cable, mic and a copy of the manual (PDF and Hard Copy) Radio Nowhere posted:I checked into the local 2M net last night where it was announced a 10M SSB net was following. Since I just got my HF setup going (Icom 706MIIG, MFJ Tuner, 10 M vertical in attic with radials for ground) I would give it a try. The net was pretty small, only like 3 check-ins and all were local. What I found interesting was despite everyone being close (3-10 miles away) noone really had a strong signal. Even the closest check-in to me was only giving me S-4 at like 3 miles away. Everything is great with my setup, low 1.2'ish SWR with 100 watts out. They had the same signal from me, I figure that's just normal local loss on 10M. I think 6M is similar, great during openings but locally you're not going to get the same distance as 2M.
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Feb 16, 2011 17:34
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Dijkstra, sounds good, I'll let you know how things develop. I should have mentioned my problem was choosing between two differently purposed radios. I climb/hike/camp and it would be awesome so try for some QSOs in the woods. On the other hand, much more of my time is spent at home working and studying. I was looking through FT-817ND reviews and found this gem: 
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Feb 17, 2011 04:40
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Any of you around Northern Ohio have one of those hole saw bits designed for installing NMOs that I could borrow or use in your driveway/parking lot? I hear they make it a lot easier than using a normal 3/4" hole saw, but I'm kinda broke and would like to avoid spending twice as much on a single purpose bit compared to a multipurpose standard hole saw.
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Feb 17, 2011 06:09
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wolrah posted:Any of you around Northern Ohio have one of those hole saw bits designed for installing NMOs that I could borrow or use in your driveway/parking lot? I hear they make it a lot easier than using a normal 3/4" hole saw, but I'm kinda broke and would like to avoid spending twice as much on a single purpose bit compared to a multipurpose standard hole saw.
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Feb 17, 2011 06:20
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Dijkstra posted:How many radials does it have and how long are they? If there were a lot of buildings/hills in between you and your antenna is pretty low then local groundwave won't be very strong. I did 6 half-wavelength radials. It's about 3 stories up but then again so is everyone else's townhouse in our developement. I knew groundwave would be low but didn't realize how low. The net was an ARES net and I'm thinking 10 meters would be pretty useless all coms were in the same city. Even then 2M would be much more efficient and ubiquitous. To show I'm not completely knocking 10M I've made some awesome contacts across the country when sunspots were better. Talking to someone in Texas directly on FM is pretty cool.
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Feb 17, 2011 20:46
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I just picked up a IC-740 in mint shape for 300$ shipped. I also plan to go to a hamfest and try to pick up a 35A PS(Astron probably?), tuner, SWR Meter, and perhaps a G5RV. Whatever I can't pick up, I'll source on a myriad of forums. Anyone in MA out there able to help me put some stuff up in a tree? (Pulleys for the G5RV in my yard?)
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Feb 17, 2011 20:56
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Well, this is interesting.quote:But HR 607 uniquely provides for the reallocation of other spectrum for auction to commercial users, in order to offset the loss of revenue that would occur as the result of the allocation of the D-Block to Public Safety instead of commercial auction. HR 607 lists the paired bands of 420-440 MHz and 450-470 MHz among the bands to be reallocated for commercial auction within 10 years of its passage.
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Feb 18, 2011 11:52
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Part of me wants to be pissed about that, since it would make one of the bands of my HT useless and of course losing spectrum is annoying to any ham, but on the other hand literally the only time I've ever transmitted or heard anything within that band was just to see if I could hit the lone 70cm tower in the local repeater network. Basically I have not seen any notable utilization of this band, nor does it seem to be discussed too often online. It's generally the second band on dual-band 2M radios so a lot of people have the equipment, it just doesn't seem to be used. If this is the case in general and I'm not just living in a 70cm vortex here AND there is a legitimate need for this spectrum to be otherwise allocated, I personally will grumble about it but not really miss it. Of course feel free to show my assumptions wrong, I know they're based on limited experience. If this is more of a random spectrum grab, then of course let's mobilize the OFs at those letter writing campaigns they're so good at. Now since 450-470 are also listed, does this mean they'd be trying to stop people from using those millions of FRS/GMRS walkie-talkies out there? e: heh, just noticed that the three 70cm frequencies I have programmed in my HT are all in the 440-450 range, which seems to be excluded from this anyways. If I'm interpreting this correctly, even if it does go through my limited use of the band would be completely unaffected. e2: Completely unrelated, but it just popped in to my head. Since there hasn't been a functioning analog cellular telephone network in the USA for three years now (as of today), shouldn't there be no reason to continue the RX restrictions in 800MHz? wolrah fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Feb 18, 2011 |
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Feb 18, 2011 16:27
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I want to see the FCC run around smacking walkie-talkies out of little kids hands screaming "You can't use that!". The 440 repeater frequencies (440-450) are used a decent amount around here, not as much as 2M though. 430-440 is home to SSB only during contesting and some links between repeater systems. Have yet to hear anything between 420-430, all I know about that area is technically illegal close to Canada.
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Feb 18, 2011 19:15
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wolrah posted:Now since 450-470 are also listed, does this mean they'd be trying to stop people from using those millions of FRS/GMRS walkie-talkies out there? wolrah posted:e2: Completely unrelated, but it just popped in to my head. Since there hasn't been a functioning analog cellular telephone network in the USA for three years now (as of today), shouldn't there be no reason to continue the RX restrictions in 800MHz? Radio Nowhere posted:430-440 is home to SSB only during contesting and some links between repeater systems.
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Feb 18, 2011 22:21
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Okay, so I now own an Icom 551d with the FM board . If I do the ol "make one of those end fed dipoles and lay it on the ground outside of the apt building" what do you think?
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Feb 18, 2011 23:56
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Partycat posted:Okay, so I now own an Icom 551d with the FM board .
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Feb 19, 2011 02:51
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Got nowhere to put it e: I'll take some pictures tomorrow because I've been bitching alot about this
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Feb 19, 2011 03:48
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So I recently moved into a house and now I want to set up an antenna (or even a few eventually) so I can listen. I want to listen to shortwave and the local repeaters here. I figured I'd ask here versus the shortwave thread because you all might know more about antenna building and connecting. My problem is that I need to run wire from inside the house to the outside where my antennas will sit. I can see where other cables like our phone lines, cable tv, etc. run in to the house. But, when I look around the house, I don't see the entry point at all! I've been trying to find it all afternoon. I can't really modify the house since we're renting it. So, I think I have to get creative. One idea I had is to use the house's land line phone jack as the connection between the radio on the inside and the antenna on the outside. When I looked at the various connections, I noticed that the phone line to the outside was already cut. So I assume we don't have land line service. It looks like the circuit is set up so we have the outside phone line (that's cut) running to some box GTE left behind. Then, a cable appears to leave the GTE box and run inside the house. So, could I potentially wire the antenna to the outside phone line? Then on the inside, make a cable that has a radio connector on one end and an RJ11 connector on the other and run that between the radio and phone jack? Basically using the land line connection to link the antenna and radio?
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Feb 19, 2011 22:28
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Dolemite posted:But, when I look around the house, I don't see the entry point at all! I've been trying to find it all afternoon. I can't really modify the house since we're renting it. So, I think I have to get creative.
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Feb 19, 2011 22:53
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I've had good luck with something like this, http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Flat-coaxial.jpg A short length of flat cable that can be shut in a window or a outside door. I've never seen any made with PL259 or BNC ends though so adapters are needed.
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Feb 19, 2011 23:19
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Just drill a hole and do a good job of it. Your landlord won't notice and, unlike any other solution, it will actually work.
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Feb 19, 2011 23:52
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On the way this week, an Arrow Antenna GP146. A 2m only 1/4 wave vertical with its own ground plane radials. This antenna will end up in the attic fed by the HTX-202. I'm going to order an Argent Data weather station that will directly feed the HTX-202. The nice thing about the AD weather station is that it outputs radio data and PTT natively, no need for a TNC. It also simultaneously outputs Peet Bros. format data for use with computer tracking software. The weather station, radio and antenna will be within feet of each other, but the computer is probably 30' away by wire. I don't think RS-232 will make it that far. After I get the RF portion fully operational, I think i'll end up using Coastal Chipworks' X-BEE based wireless RS-232 link. This is antithetical to me; I will always run a wire in preference to a wireless link. I just don't see a way to get a serial signal over that distance any other way. I still have a lot of work to do:
Skyssx fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Feb 20, 2011 |
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Feb 20, 2011 16:08
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Skyssx posted:This is antithetical to me; I will always run a wire in preference to a wireless link. I just don't see a way to get a serial signal over that distance any other way.
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Feb 20, 2011 22:37
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Skyssx posted:
They make devices for this for RS-232 anyways, UDS-10 from Lantronix should be cheap , if you can read in the data via telnet or something.
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Feb 21, 2011 02:42
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A couple of RS422 converters and you are good for a couple thousand feet.
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Feb 21, 2011 05:12
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nmfree posted:According to Wikipedia, the maximum practical length of RS-232 cables is 50 feet, but you can use special cables to extend that to 1000 feet. Read that. The designer had this to say: "I've run the serial cable about 100'. It works fine for the Peet Bros data at 2400 baud, but the configuration program uses a higher baud rate and it doesn't work at that distance, at least not with the cheap unshielded alarm wire I'm using." So, i'll figure something out. Keep in mind that while a fully compliant RS-232 device may be able to reach max distance, many devices nowadays do not meet the original spec. RS-232 was originally a wireline protocol and assumed commercial power. Portable devices are usually faking RS-232 and are operating at the bare minimum to connect at desktop distances.
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Feb 24, 2011 00:01
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Radio Nowhere posted:I've had good luck with something like this, Impedance matching 
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Feb 24, 2011 00:43
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UPS truck came. That is a pretty small antenna to stick on a mast. And that is a pretty large antenna to stick on a HT. 1/4 wave 2m Arrow ground plane antenna. Assembled it and stuck it in the attic. I'm going to hang it with some nylon cord from the ridge pole. We're maybe two weeks from a fully armed and operational weather station.
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Feb 24, 2011 02:31
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I finally got around to taking some pictures of my mobile radio setup. I bought a Yaesu 7900 and Cobra 29 LXLE to install, but due to the type of vehicle I drive, had a hard time figuring out what the best mounting solution was. I drive cargo/work type van, which has a removable engine cover inside the cab. I had to do some engine maintenance and remove the cover anyway, so while I had it off I bolted a piece of plywood to it:  That piece of plywood provides me a clean slate to mount all sorts of cool poo poo. Furthermore, it makes adding or changing equipment relatively easy. This is a beater work type vehicle so I'm leaving the plywood bare. If this were a nicer vehicle the wood could always be upholstered. The power cable goes directly to the battery with a 20 amp inline fuse just inches from the battery. Each radio then has it's own inline fuse. I added a few extra inches to the main power supply cable. Next time I have to remove the engine cover, I will cut it and add in a connector. The aluminum project box at the bottom serves as a junction box to solder all the power wires together. While I was at it, I added a standard cigar type 12V power outlet capable of 10 amps with a panel mount fuse right next to it. The wires enter the box through rubber grommets on the bottom. The internal speakers on both radios suck. The Vertex MLS-100 external speakers sound awesome, even going down the highway with lots of road and engine noise. The antennas are the standard Larsen dual bander and a Wilson 1000 both of which are permanently mounted to my nice huge steel roof. I plan to move the Yaesu microphone mount a little bit to the left and add a bracket just to the right of it so I have a place to clip my HT to. I'm also going to add some plastic loom material around the coax cables to protect them. Overall, I'm very pleased with the setup.  Edit: Bonus picture of the battery and main fuse. I ended up having to replace my clamps so I could get all the wires to play nicely together. 
AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Feb 25, 2011 |
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Feb 25, 2011 15:08
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I'm working the rtty contest tonight... anyone want to take a break and chat on HF somewheres? -- going home had enough rtty Partycat fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Feb 27, 2011 |
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Feb 27, 2011 00:34
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Here is a pretty well produced report from a hamfest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbqH_oDTJYI
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Mar 2, 2011 23:08
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Well the computer I had hosting the Echolink node died it looks like. Can anyone else host it? I won't be able to for the time being.
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Mar 3, 2011 15:57
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Give me a few days and I'll put one up, assuming I can get this spare PC to work.
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Mar 3, 2011 19:01
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Passed the canadian basic exam w/ 89%... That will get me HF privleges! Time to go toy shoping.
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Mar 4, 2011 06:52
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Pixelboy posted:Passed the canadian basic exam w/ 89%... Congratulations! What toys you looking at?
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Mar 4, 2011 08:27
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AbsentMindedWelder posted:Congratulations! What toys you looking at? I'm secretly trying to figure out how to run an IC-718 in my current rental house. I'll watch for deals on ebay on anything, though.
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Mar 4, 2011 10:14
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Pixelboy posted:Probably an Icom dual band handheld... not Dstar though. I'll be getting a D-Star mobile here shortly. I'm still deciding which one.
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Mar 4, 2011 15:59
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AbsentMindedWelder posted:If you are going used on ebay, keep an eye on the d star stuff there... it can go cheap from what I am told. Theer *are* Dstar repeaters in my area. Although... nonsense like this link gives me pause when thinking about using Dstar: http://www.dstardb.com/Privacy.php
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Mar 4, 2011 23:38
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What a loving douchebag. Especially the bit about his neighbor.
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Mar 5, 2011 06:10
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iostream.h posted:What a loving douchebag. Especially the bit about his neighbor.
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Mar 5, 2011 06:21
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| # ? May 12, 2024 21:46 |
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Because of that guy, apparently, the ircddb people have made internet visibility an opt-in feature. Also he's not correct that Germany is banning Scientology - they're just keeping them under surveillance as a totalitarian anti-democratic organization and denying Scientologists government jobs, which is entirely justified given the cult's ongoing history of infiltration, wire tapping and theft using both paid agents and their own members.
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Mar 5, 2011 09:40
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