|
They sure ain't cheap, though. I guess for a grand or two you get quality.
|
#
?
Dec 7, 2012 06:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 17:58 |
|
|
I have a question about VOIP setups, (Echolink, IRLP etc.) I use both occasionally and want to setup my own IRLP node. I am a Canadian ham, do I need the Canadian Advanced license to own a node? Or is my Basic with Honors good enough? I can't get a straight answer.....
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2012 05:33
|
|
|
Has anyone been using a software defined radio? In particular, would it be possible to make something like a Raspberry Pi into a fully functional digital 2-way radio? I know as much as SDRs replace a lot of the radio specific hardware with programs that do the same thing but I don't understand what the limits are or what additions need to be make to a normal computer to have it function as a radio.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2012 18:34
|
|
|
Hummer Driving human being posted:Has anyone been using a software defined radio? In particular, would it be possible to make something like a Raspberry Pi into a fully functional digital 2-way radio? I know as much as SDRs replace a lot of the radio specific hardware with programs that do the same thing but I don't understand what the limits are or what additions need to be make to a normal computer to have it function as a radio. Processing power, pretty much. And Pis are ALMOST beefy enough to run a rtl2832 setup, but they are pretty much pinned to 100% the whole time. Maybe next revision, or perhaps there are some optimizations.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2012 18:52
|
|
|
Hummer Driving human being posted:Has anyone been using a software defined radio? In particular, would it be possible to make something like a Raspberry Pi into a fully functional digital 2-way radio? I know as much as SDRs replace a lot of the radio specific hardware with programs that do the same thing but I don't understand what the limits are or what additions need to be make to a normal computer to have it function as a radio. This has been going around lately, it's a cheap TV dongle that you can turn into an SDR: http://sdr.osmocom.org/trac/wiki/rtl-sdr I think one of the latest issues of QST covers it, too.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2012 19:09
|
|
|
manero posted:This has been going around lately, it's a cheap TV dongle that you can turn into an SDR: Is this receive only? Is there a transceiver in the same vein?
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2012 22:46
|
|
|
Hummer Driving human being posted:Is this receive only? Is there a transceiver in the same vein? Ah, I totally missed the "2-way" part. Not anything this cheap, I think.
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2012 22:54
|
|
|
manero posted:Ah, I totally missed the "2-way" part. Not anything this cheap, I think. Well maybe not necessarily in the $20-$30 range, but in the range of a typical mobile or base station radio. Is there SDR hardware out there that plays nice with Linux and can be taken advantage of by the community?
|
|
#
?
Dec 19, 2012 23:14
|
|
|
There is the Per Vices, I only know it from the Ars Technica article but it sounds like a very sophisticated solution for SDR, you could implemented all sorts of fancy communications hardware using that solution, including super high bandwidth spread spectrum stuff.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2012 00:55
|
|
|
I mean, there are Winradio rigs and stuff like that, but those don't save you _any_ money over a conventional rig. The line is blurring though, and within 5 years we won't have much technical reason why there should not just be black-box chassis with separate control surfaces of varying levels of complexity. You could buy the barebones 3-knob facebplate for 200 bucks, the nicer one with 8 knobs, two VFO dials and a little color LED for 400, or the big contest model with all the knobs and a fat 7" LCD for 2K or something. And, any of those heads could snap right up to a 1-watt HF SDR radio, the nicer 10-watt model, a ready-to-go 150W model, or a 10 watt 2m/70cm chassis, so on. Your functionality wouldn't change, just how deeply stuff is nested in menus, pretty much.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2012 01:15
|
|
|
SiB posted:I have a question about VOIP setups, (Echolink, IRLP etc.) I use both occasionally and want to setup my own IRLP node. I am a Canadian ham, do I need the Canadian Advanced license to own a node? Or is my Basic with Honors good enough? I can't get a straight answer..... Quoting myself here but if any Canadians are wondering, YES you do need advanced for VOIP, according to industry Canada's email that i received.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2012 04:39
|
|
|
Hey guys, I'm selling my Kenwood TH-D7(G) over in SAMart. Really nice HT that has a built-in TNC, I have the cable with it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 31, 2012 03:34
|
|
|
Manic 290 is on an upswing! I'm planning on building a remotely tuned L network for my 18 foot Hy-gain vertical. It has this dumb base loading coil normally with taps, but I am going to find a ~250pf varicap and a stepper motor and put an L network in a box. If my math is right it should have no problem tuning 10-17M continuously at less than 1:1.2 SWR with only one L value (meaning we don't need to switch coil sizes, just tune the cap). I think I can get it sorted for under $50 or so, depending on how much the cap is. I have a shack tuner, but this is a situation where a remote tuner is well worth the money If it works out well, I may try a 43 foot vertical - should be able to do 40-20 very well, and I don't care about 75 or 160.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2013 19:23
|
|
|
About a year ago I went to a local UK amateur radio club, and I'm not gonna lie I was a little creeped out. The guy I first met kept wiggling his stump, and the guy who offered the licence training/exam did it at his own house on the weekends and spoke with the kind of voice I'd expect a pedophile to use when grooming a child. I'm sure they're nice guys but I just had this whole... creeped out feeling. Is there a way I can get a licence without going to some guys house, but instead go to an exam hall a bit like my driving licence theory test? How did people even find out that amateur radio existed before the internet? I didn't know about it until I saw it mentioned in a computer video someplace.
|
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2013 19:57
|
|
|
News reports, fiction, magazines, scouts, schools and university clubs, asking that neighbour with the huge-rear end antenna what it's for, or just tuning around on the shortwave radio. (In the past, AM was the voice mode of choice, and even standard shortwave radios would pick it up.) I think many middle-aged Norwegians know about amateur radio from the Fleksnes episode Radioten (which is much better than the original Hancock episode by the way.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sNdzf_U6zE I think it's actually good that you in the UK have to do some practical exercises to get your first license, instead of just a multiple choice test. Can't you just find a different club? http://www.rsgb.org/clubsandtraining/ Vir fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Jan 2, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 2, 2013 21:21
|
|
|
The Simpsons burn remains the most incisive-yet-true I've seen on the hobby. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJCPxOleEhk
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 00:48
|
|
|
Don't forget Tim Allen's character in whatever piece of poo poo vehicle he's in now has a license, too!  Crankit posted:The guy I first met kept wiggling his stump  or was he literally missing a hand or something that he kept waving around?Vir posted:or just tuning around on the shortwave radio. (In the past, AM was the voice mode of choice, and even standard shortwave radios would pick it up.)
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 00:55
|
|
|
Realistic Patrolman SW-60. That was my first hit. I'm still hunting for the exact replacement. Actually, I'd love to collect all of the Patrolman series from the 80s some day. This is the one I had. AM/FM/one shortwave/VHF low/high/UHF.  I only really want the ones in this style, they made at least four or five. My dad had one in a blue-and-gray scheme, with AM/FM/CB/3 shortwave bands. I would looooove to find one of those some day. E: the DX-60. That's the one. 
Jonny 290 fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Jan 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 01:41
|
|
|
.
Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Aug 28, 2019 |
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 02:49
|
|
|
Eh, this probably isn't the best place, but it's the best I could find (I think). I'm taking a trip to Japan with a buddy and I'd like a handheld radio which can operate in both countries. The frequencies I could find that would be "acceptable" were CB range. US I suppose is 26.965 - 27.405 AM/SSB and Japan's is 26.968 - 27.144 AM (no SSB) Maximum power 0.5W. Problem is that very slight difference in the frequences (.965 versus .968) and they all seem to just miss each other. So any handheld CB radio I could find would be out due to the preprogramming. So my lovely noob question is this: Is there a programmable radio I could get to transmit on CB? Or, is there another way that me and my buddy could chat and am I making this too complicated?
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 04:06
|
|
|
Jose Pointero posted:So drat true. If I have a computer in front of me when someone asks what the hell people talk about on ham radio I just play that clip. That is a really freakin' good HF radio and despite my Icomitis I would be sorely tempted to wave $200 under his nose right now at 9:30pm.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 04:26
|
|
|
KJ6PIL here, I have had my license for over a year now and haven't keyed my radio in once. Partly because I don't know if I'll come in clear to any of the repeaters with my handheld, and partly because I have nothing to say to the greybeards (or the female equivalent) who can talk for hours on end about the dilemma of having their 'rig' in a warm house, or out in the cold garage where they can smoke. Once I made the mistake of commenting to a client about the antenna on his car. He talked endlessly about radio stuff I had no idea about. He just seemed so happy to have some younger person listening to him about his hobby that I didn't have the heart to end the very one sided conversation. I feel like I need to find somebody who likes the hobby enough to bring somebody under their wing to show the ropes, but not so obsessed that I feel like I'm joining a suicide cult.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 05:42
|
|
|
CopperHound posted:KJ6PIL here, Nope. Your recourse is a bit of reading and forums for ~15 years, perhaps a recreational EE degree. Being on air now is awful, given the character of the average ham. You do learn a lot of "polite" ways to refer to the president's race, though. e: also a bunch of "post '12 food storage tips" on my local net.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 05:54
|
|
|
Okay, I have looked at the hamsexy site now and know exactly what you are referring to. CopperHound fucked around with this message at 07:12 on Jan 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 06:21
|
|
|
Crankit posted:How did people even find out that amateur radio existed before the internet? I didn't know about it until I saw it mentioned in a computer video someplace.  + Totally Reasonable posted:Nope. Your recourse is a bit of reading and forums for ~15 years, perhaps a recreational EE degree. Being on air now is awful, given the character of the average ham. As someone who enjoys shooting the last thing I need is to listen to more of those gently caress's stupid BS. I have 0 interest listening to the local repeaters and if I ever sit down and actually get a ticket I'm shooting straight for General right off the bat. Being limited to code on anything "fun" outside of a tiny chunk of 10M seems almost pointless. Code was still mandatory when I first got interested in ham radio and when I looked into it a decade later there weren't a lot of online resources around yet. Things have finally gotten to the point where a guy can study and practice online. Plus with all the WebSDRs you can get actual listening experience. It finally seems viable to learn this stuff online and skip out on dealing with "Elmers." Funnily enough, in the shooting world, we call those outdated wastes of oxygen "Fudds." The OP is going on 5 years old at this point, windows 95 isn't a requirement, and we've got things like Android/Iphone apps to interface with SDRs and Echolink; maybe the hobby won't die out with the greybeards afterall. Things like PSK, SSTV and DX nets are what're drawing me back to ham radio again. I spent far too many hours DX'ing as a teen, sometimes picking up FM stations 130-150+ miles away (drive distance, during decent parts of the solar cycle). 'been listening to an aussie dx net on 14183 on http://websdr.comms.net.au:8901/ at 0515z (daily) and the idea of coordinated DX'ing seems pretty awesome. Point-and-click SDR waterfalls? Hell yeah, sign me up. The first time I hit upon an group of active PSK frequencies was certainly an eye opener; a dozen conversations being held at the same time in such a tight band? Neat-o. SSTV: the thrill of watching scrambled softcore porn broadcast in analog over ham frequencies. If a nipple on youtube is worth 1,000 on youporn then a nipple on sstv is worth 1,000,000. Enjoy my  gallery of catches using the awesome JO32KF WebSDR. The whole thing is rather pointless but I take pleasure knowing some guy from the Ukraine is sending me pictures of topless women over the radio to a sheet of copper in the Netherlands, processed by a FPGA, turned into audio and piped into a sound card, hooked into a web interface the world can use, routed by Virtual Audio Cables into a decoder and finally saved as a JPG then uploaded to Imgur.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 13:05
|
|
|
That's a good post right there. Keep it up.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 15:07
|
|
|
nmfree posted:Is this some kind of Britishism for He was missing most of a leg, and in a wheelchair, but he had the trouser leg rolled up so you could see the tip probably an inch or two above the knee, and it was moving. Always moving. I didn't ask and assumed it was beetus.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 16:04
|
|
|
Before you give up on finding local socially adjusted hams- listen to some UHF machines. I mainly chase DX (up to 206) and work CW now but we have a pretty good group of people that hang around on 220. There's a linked 220 repeater system that covers all of the area and the normal bitching is kept to a minimum. Most people talk about stuff like hydro/solar power, homesteading, growing food and crap like that (we're mostly out in the country.) A bunch of the folks are pretty handy with that stuff so I've learned quite a bit lately. We all get together a do a 4A field day on the farm of a local ham. It's a good group. The irony is that before I moved here, I never got on VHF/UHF either because of all of the normal bullshit that goes along with it. The only reason I found these guys because I just wanted to get a 2m rig on the air one day in case I needed it. I picked out a close machine, announced my call and had a guy come back to me who welcomed me to the area and invited me to an ARES breakfast. He also told me about the 220 system. I met most of the guys who hang around on 220 and before I knew it I was doing things like going shooting with them, raising tri-banders and cutting up free firewood. I guess my point is that don't give up seeking out "normal" hams, try the repeaters on the fringes of your area if you are in a bigger city. Try a different club if there is more than one. Listen to UHF repeaters (especially 220.) A lot of guys who are tired of dealing with bullshit from clubs, OFs and committees will setup machines on 220. There are people out there who get tired of the poo poo too and do something about it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 17:42
|
|
|
10 meters was open this afternoon, and apparently my antenna is directly broadside to St Helena Island: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helena Got a 5/5 signal report from ZD7FT. 6800 miles, my 4th QSO and 1st DX. Amazing 
|
|
#
?
Jan 5, 2013 22:23
|
|
|
I'm about 5600 miles away, but I worked Saint Helena witt 5 watts SSB and a dipole on 17 meters this summer - yet I'm still missing both Jan Mayen and Iceland even though they're much closer. The ionosphere is amazing. I'm about to set up my digital/CW station again though, so that might help in the DX department.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2013 02:30
|
|
|
I just ordered an Elecraft KX2 can't wait to hook up my bug!
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2013 05:35
|
|
|
manero posted:10 meters was open this afternoon, and apparently my antenna is directly broadside to St Helena Island: Uh oh, be careful you don't get hooked on DX. It will cause you to wake up at strange hours of the night, learn all kinds of geographical minutiae and make your neighbors think you're stranger than they already do. ETA: That's actually remarkable that your first DXCC worked was ZD7... While it's not "rare" it isn't activated much and isn't common by any stretch. Most people's first DX is Italy or Brasil or something along those lines. Congrats. Dijkstra fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Jan 7, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2013 19:05
|
|
|
Playing around with my RTL-SDR receiver I picked up the weirdest thing, a narrowband FM transmission at 123.593 MHz which appeared to be the soundtrack from the movie "Christmas with the Kranks" I picked up some unreadable AM airplane chatter on a frequency nearby (not a tower frequency) at the same time.
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2013 18:23
|
|
|
Maybe the RTLSDR units get a bit weird in the 120MHz range, or just coincidentally the fun effects of harmonics just end up bringing things there, because I was scanning through and found 107.3 FM somewhere in the 120s recently. It's the strongest FM station my receiver picks up by far (one of two where the HD sidebands are visible without playing with the waterfall contrast) I'm sure that has some effect. On that topic, what's a good indoor antenna for use with these things? If it's a commercial model something natively offered with a BNC connector would be nice just to minimize the necessary adapters (mine's one of the units with the Belling-Lee connector that apparently only has adapters for F or BNC), but I've built a few WiFi antennas in the past and don't mind homebrewing something. Right now I'm just using the included 6" magnetic unit which I've stuck to a license plate I have hanging on my wall. My local ham shop doesn't stock anything for this connector so I'm waiting on an Amazon order with both the F and BNC adapters.
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2013 19:15
|
|
|
I suspect it was a mirror frequency, my guess: wireless rear speakers in a surround system broadcasting somewhere below the commercial FM band, or some kind of unlicensed transmission. If I'd thought about it then I would have looked at a lower frequency. I'm using a UT-108 antenna since it fits the magnetic base that came with my radio, it seems to pick up most of what I'm expecting to hear, including broadcast FM, air-band and GSM signals. Another weird thing is there's a 440.550 MHz station broadcasting a 1 Hz square wave that sounds like a heart beat in AM. I should probably start looking into demodulating the packet radio systems on the air, a lot of industrial sites in range have UHF digital links that are probably running some common packet radio protocol.
|
|
#
?
Jan 8, 2013 22:13
|
|
|
.
Jose Pointero fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Aug 28, 2019 |
|
|
#
?
Jan 9, 2013 19:45
|
|
|
Any goons part of a club in the Montreal area?
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2013 07:17
|
|
|
Took a year, but the trees finally shook free of my 10/20/30/40m fan dipole. Spent all day yesterday untangling wire and rope from dry vines and limbs. Then I just hung the bare balun from the fence and left the coax connected since its buried across the lawn. I put it up before I'd ever even listened to HF, so I wanted close to an all-bander, but I haven't bothered turning on a radio since last April. Maybe I'll string up a simpler 20m diople and stick to psk31.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2013 15:52
|
|
|
Holy poo poo. So I'd saved up a bunch of cash from unloading crap I didn't need/want/use anymore and decided it was time to splurge on a new Icom IC-7000 with a Tarheel antenna and all the associated crap (rigblaster, auto-tuner, etc). End up at HRO putting my package together and mentioned 'hey you guys had a Yaesu FT-1000D listed for $750, what's wrong with it? Apparently someone had bought it from them to be shipped overseas and it never arrived at the location. Time passes and it arrives BACK at HRO looking like someone dropped it off a table, a few bent knobs, case is crushed on top, heat sink is askew, looks bad. Apparently it won't turn on when it was plugged in the magic smoke was released. We dicker around back and forth over my items, I'm haggling for discounts (cash and no sales tax) and I start inching towards the radio and after a bit of negotiation we settled on $500 for it along with all my other poo poo. Got in and have been piddling with assembling my mobile station but it got cold and dark so I came in, pulled the cover and saw where it was contacting part of the power supply. Replaced the fuse, plugged in an antenna and have been happily scrolling around the bands for the last 30 minutes. Works like a charm, just needs some TLC. drat. Edit: Holy gently caress, it's got EVERY option including a full compliment of filters installed as best I can tell after a cursory inspection. iostream.h fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Jan 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2013 23:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 17:58 |
|
|
Anyone got any info on the buddistick? I'm looking for a cheap portable antenna I can throw up in my small backyard in my appartment complex. Can't really leave up an antenna so was thinking this antenna. Anyone have any thoughts?
|
|
#
?
Jan 14, 2013 05:02
|
|