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nmfree posted:Wouxun or Baofeng are the two super-cheap Chinese manufacturers; I don't know if they're actually sold in Canada but you could probably get one from the US pretty cheaply. Eh, I more meant "the cheap one that isn't a huge piece of poo poo and will let me listen to airplanes too because they're chatty as hell around here". Like whatever the current FT-60R is.
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Feb 27, 2013 07:59
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SoundMonkey posted:Eh, I more meant "the cheap one that isn't a huge piece of poo poo and will let me listen to airplanes too because they're chatty as hell around here". Maybe a Kenwood TH-F6A? I think you can get them for $299 USD now. They have wide range receive with AM and are tri-band (2m/220/440) Alinco also makes the DJ-V5TH, which is wideband Rx and probably $50-60 bucks cheaper, but won't have 220. EDIT- This Alinco is discontinued, nevermind. Dijkstra fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Feb 27, 2013 |
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Feb 27, 2013 18:19
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Dijkstra posted:Maybe a Kenwood TH-F6A? I think you can get them for $299 USD now. They have wide range receive with AM and are tri-band (2m/220/440) Actually is the FT-60R still decent? It's going for like $165 it looks like.
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Feb 27, 2013 19:23
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SoundMonkey posted:Actually is the FT-60R still decent? It's going for like $165 it looks like. Yeah it is I think, I didn't think it had AM but I looked to be sure and it does.
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Feb 27, 2013 20:26
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There's always the FT-817. It's not super-cheap, but it's not terribly expensive, and if you can put up an outdoor antenna the low power isn't that much of an obstacle. Of course, if you live in a concrete and steel high-rise like me you're going to have problems, but nothing's perfect.
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Feb 27, 2013 23:37
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One of the big advantages of the TH-F6A/F7E is that it actually has single sideband on it. Sure, you can't transmit on HF, but it suddenly becomes feasible to monitor HF while you trek around and don't have your HF station up. I'm actually a bit torn on whether that or the TH-D72 should be my first HT.
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Feb 28, 2013 00:14
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Vir posted:One of the big advantages of the TH-F6A/F7E is that it actually has single sideband on it. Sure, you can't transmit on HF, but it suddenly becomes feasible to monitor HF while you trek around and don't have your HF station up. I've had my F6A for a number of years and love it. Newer editions of the model come with a slightly higher-capacity battery too. It doesn't have all the fancy data/GPS features of the D72, but it's a great HT. Get this antenna to go with it and you're set: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4298
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Feb 28, 2013 00:20
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I've been trying to warm up on HF again. I've got a coax from my desk to back deck, which is about 10 feet above ground. Then I've attached a 16 foot painters pole to the deck rail with a 40meter inverted-V on top, stretched to opposite ends of the yard. It works pretty well and its easy to take down when not in use, but I'm getting bored on 40. I've got a tuner so I'm thinking about replacing the dipole with a G5RVjr, since it will fit in the same dimensions. However, I'm worried that the metal painters pole will cause issues, since the ladder line in the middle of the g5rv seems to be a radiating element. Any other ideas? I've got about 40 feet of space from the top of my pole to both end tie downs. I've also considered just sticking a homemade Buddipole on top of my painters pole mast, but I'm not sure whats a bigger compromise: the G5RV, or all the coils and coil-swapping I'd do with a Buddipole.
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Feb 28, 2013 00:44
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Yeah you don't want the ladder line near any metal poles. Ladder line when straight and in the clear does not radiate, but it will radiate if you unbalance it by putting it near metal. How about you just use the tuner with the dipole you have now? The ideal setup would be radio - coax - balanced tuner (or regular tuner with optional 4:1 balun) at the porch - ladder line - inverted V legs but if you keep the coax short radio - coax - tuner - coax - inverted V legs should work too. A good tuner will get a match, but the SWR on the feed line between the antenna and tuner will be high on some bands, and ladder line tolerates high SWR better than coax does. Somebody who knows more about antennas should feel free to correct me, and also suggest where the best place for a 1:1 balun should be in the second setup i sketched. On the radio side of the tuner? Vir fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Feb 28, 2013 |
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Feb 28, 2013 00:54
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Vir posted:Yeah you don't want the ladder line near any metal poles. Ladder line when straight and in the clear does not radiate, but it will radiate if you unbalance it by putting it near metal. The tuner is sitting under the radio, and the coax from there to outside is maybe 60 feet. Your second suggestion is basically just trying to tune a 40 meter dipole elsewhere? That doesn't sound ideal at all. Your first suggestion sounds a lot like the G5RV, with a 4:1 balun added.
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Feb 28, 2013 01:07
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A G5RV is just a dipole/doublet too - it just has a piece of ladder line that tries to make it easier to tune with a balanced tuner on some bands. If you leave the tuner in the shack, there's not really much advantage to having that length of ladder line. Just run the coax all the way to the antenna, and accept the losses. Some ferrites around the coax might help mitigate common mode radiation that would cause noise on reception and RF in the shack. If you had a bit more room, you could have aimed for a ZS6BKW, which is a computer modeled improvement to the G5RV that is truly a multiband antenna that will match 50 ohm coax, but it still needs a tuner on some bands. Even if you don't have room for it, read up on the ZS6BKW - it helps dispel some myths about what a G5RV is and is not. I'd look into if you can move the tuner to the porch and remote control it, or make a simple transmatch box there. If you can do that, we can start looking at using ladder line again. Or maybe if you could run ladder line all the way from your shack to the antenna. Could you do that, and use standoffs on the mast and/or have the ladder line leave the feed point at a right angle to the mast? Edit: This would be an ideal solution in terms of losses, but it has two disadvantages: It's harder to route ladder line than coax, and it's harder to have lightning protection on ladder line than on coax. Vir fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Feb 28, 2013 |
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Feb 28, 2013 01:16
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Im thinking I'll just leave the dipole outside for 40 and try this http://www.arrl.org/random-length-multiband-dipoles in my attic. The radio is right under my attic access and I've already got a 4:1 balun. 20 meters might be as low as I can go with my limited attic length, but that's fine. If anyone's shopping for ladder line, DXengineering drops all shipping charges if you add a foot of RG8X for $0.30 eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Feb 28, 2013 |
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Feb 28, 2013 02:20
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I use a fan dipole in my attic, 6m-30m, no tuner needed and works very well.
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Feb 28, 2013 05:34
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I considered that, but I also just put in 2 feet of blown insulation. Less tuning, less compressing insulation, less chance that I lose footing and put a hole through the ceiling: these all favor a simpler antenna.
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Feb 28, 2013 05:38
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Take what I said about a 4:1 balun with a grain of salt. It might be OK to connect the ladder line almost straight to the tuner, use a 9:1 balun, make a 1:1 ferrite choke, or trim the ladder line a bit. Even if the antenna is shorter than a 20 meter dipole, it could still work OK on the lower bands like 80. An HT rubber duck will work on 2 meter and 6 meters, after all, but of course the shorter the antenna is in terms of wave length, the less directional it will be, and less gain. If your antenna for example will easily match on 10, 20 and 40, but your tuner rejects it on 60 and 30, you could add some extra ladder line to the feed on those bands to nudge it into matching range. Vir fucked around with this message at 12:18 on Feb 28, 2013 |
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Feb 28, 2013 12:10
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I'd like to sell my F7E if anyone is interested? It's been modded to transmit out of band, which is of course very naughty. But shh. Battery isn't in the best condition but you can get aftermarket ones. It's quite an old radio but very nice and I have a few other antennas to go with it. PTT button is a bit flakey but if you're using it for monitoring this isn't a major issue  UK-based. Anyone? I'm not even sure what it's worth nowadays, eBay doesn't seem to have any for a comparison.
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Mar 1, 2013 10:50
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If I decided I'm sick of radio and wanted to sell my Kenwood TS-570S, what might be a fair price for it these days? It's in good shape and works.
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Mar 2, 2013 05:10
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The Muffinlord posted:There's always the FT-817. It's not super-cheap, but it's not terribly expensive, and if you can put up an outdoor antenna the low power isn't that much of an obstacle. Of course, if you live in a concrete and steel high-rise like me you're going to have problems, but nothing's perfect. I've used my 817 to talk to half of the world with just a piece of speaker wire dangling 6ft off the ground outside. I love that little radio. When something that runs on batteries lets you communicate with someone in Russia from the USA, it's pretty impressive.
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Mar 2, 2013 05:35
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It's a good radio, but reception depends on a lot of factors. I live in a really built-up area, in a building made of concrete and rebar, and even though I get decent RX considering, I can't really TX strong enough to break through.
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Mar 2, 2013 17:57
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It's been a while since I've posted so I hope all is well. I am looking for a volunteer to be the trustee for AG0ON. I'm hoping to get this done by the end of March. If not, I will probably have to cancel it. I am looking into in starting a D-Star machine that I will be the trustee of. Oh by the way, I'm running a Flex 3000 now... I love it. Now I just need to learn CW because SSB is sucking rear end lately (at least during the times of day I'm available to operate) and keyboard digital modes while I still love running them, are starting to bore me to some extent.
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Mar 5, 2013 20:33
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Does anyone know a good resource for learning about antennas? I'm trying to study for the Tech/General exams and, while I get most electrical stuff and have learned the FCC stuff, I don't really understand antennas. I could memorize the answers of course, but I would much rather actually learn something if I am going to put in the time.
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Mar 6, 2013 23:04
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Borrow the ARRL Antenna Book in the library. I like this site, which is split into small sections that you can navigate between: http://www.antenna-theory.com/ You can start with the fundamentals and math, or you can start with the antenna types. The ARRL links to this Navy course on propagation, antennas and feed lines: NAVEDTRA 14092 It seems quite relevant, but some of the material is navy specific (most amateurs probably won't be communicating with submarines).
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Mar 7, 2013 11:26
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Woop, goin' for my Basic+Enhanced next week (or whatever they call it when you score above 80% on the Basic in Canada). I've met my self-imposed study goal of consistently scoring 85%+ on the practice tests while drunk, so I think I'll do pretty well.
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Mar 8, 2013 02:36
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"Basic with Honors" for 80% and above. That's what I have, and probably won't go higher, we can do whatever we want with this pretty much. Good luck!
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Mar 8, 2013 05:48
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Can I get a stupid check on my idea? My magmount sucks, but I still like my car too much to drill holes. (I like the car so much, I even use 3M clearbra film under the magmount.) It's a Mazda6 with a roof-mounted vertical antenna for the stereo. I don't mind losing commercial radio, so I pulled down the headliner a little and found a snap-on connector to the antenna mount. I also unscrewed the stock whip and was left with a female hole with common-looking threads on the roof. What if I solder or otherwise connect a coax to the antenna mount under my headliner, then either find a longer whip I can cut to tune, or fashion an adapter to get a UHF/VHF whip into the hole on my roof? The only problem I can foresee is maybe the little antenna mounting platform would present an impedance mismatch, but I'm not really sure.
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Mar 9, 2013 00:35
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I'm telling you, man up, drill a 3/4" hole for a NMO mount, and I can guarantee that you will love your car even more. Automobiles are depreciating assets as it is, their value is dropping anyway by you driving it and age. Not drilling holes to maintain value is ludicrous, unless you are one of those idiots who get's a new car every 11 months. As far as your specific idea goes, it may very well work, you really won't know until you try it. Would I do it myself? Not a chance.
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Mar 9, 2013 01:34
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I've been considering drilling, really. I also think having two whips on the roof, one vertical, one at a 45 degree, would look silly. Automotive vanity.
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Mar 9, 2013 01:38
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I got two verticles and the stock antenna at the angle on my Honda (and an 800Mhz little guy on the trunk). Looks kind of bad-rear end actually. The side benefit is it's very easy to find the car in a big parking lot.
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Mar 9, 2013 01:46
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Yeah, three antennas off the trunk makes it really easy to find my car too. edit: also, the constant twanging when you drive in to a parking garage (if you have anything ~10m or longer) begins to be funny after a bit. On the flip side, if your garage has an uncovered lamp in the path of the antenna it really sucks. My CB antenna is in the middle and my garage has an unprotected light dead center. If I back in and it catches the opener just right I'm cleaning light bulb shards off my roof. wolrah fucked around with this message at 07:45 on Mar 9, 2013 |
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Mar 9, 2013 04:24
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clayburn posted:Does anyone know a good resource for learning about antennas? I'm trying to study for the Tech/General exams and, while I get most electrical stuff and have learned the FCC stuff, I don't really understand antennas. I could memorize the answers of course, but I would much rather actually learn something if I am going to put in the time.
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Mar 9, 2013 05:40
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wolrah posted:Yeah, three antennas off the trunk makes it really easy to find my car too. Just to clarify, my two verticles, a 220mhz diamond, and 2m/70cm larsen, are on the roof. The shorty 800mhz is on the trunk for the scanner to listen to my state's public safety trunking system. I'll take some pics, as soon as I get an SD card for my phone.
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Mar 9, 2013 07:50
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I say drill an NMO. I'm a hypocrite about this, and have mags for my e36, but it's only because I'm not really in buy-three-more-NMO-mounts financial shape right now, and honestly don't mobile too much these days. You can always plug it later with one of the professional-looking plugs they sell for this purpose, they look fine. Nobody's going to knock money off your resale value for a clean, rust-free, well centered hole that's been properly plugged.
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Mar 9, 2013 20:18
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I've been interested in amateur radio for a really long time and have finally found time to study and test for my Technician, which should happen later this week. I'm not sure where to go when I'm looking at equipment to get started with. I don't have anywhere permanent to set up, so something mobile? A friend of mine is going to sell me his old ICOM IC-V8, which would be fun for hiking/dirt biking, but I'd like to get into something more. I've got a little bit of experience with radios (mil), so what I was thinking was something that I could use in my vehicle or throw in a backpack and hike up a mountain. How do amateur radios handle batteries? Any suggestions would be great!
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Mar 10, 2013 06:34
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Taking my Basic (+Honors hopefully) tonight, and... shockingly, it's at the local flying club. I'm guessing there's a huge crossover between greybeards with radios and greybeards with Cessna 172s. The other dude taking the test was e-mailing me asking if I had the textbook or study guides or anything, I felt sorta bad telling him that I just googled around a bit and did a bunch of practice tests and was usually drunk while doing so. I think this person may care a lot more than me (and probably already has some giant-rear end radio sitting at home waiting for a license). Is Echolink a Canada thing as well? It may be a while before I can afford to actually get even a little handheld radio.
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Mar 13, 2013 18:48
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I'm fairly certain Echolink is world wide, for the most part. Stations are sorted by region/country in the program IIRC.
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Mar 13, 2013 19:00
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A lot of pilots like to use APRS in their planes. I helped a local glider club with getting their basic tickets. Echolink is all over, i prefer IRLP though, you can use APRS maps to find local IRLP nodes. Or if you have an iPhone or whatever install the IRLP-me app. I use my $90 Wouxun ht for IRLP, cheap and nice quality, ill never drop $500 on an HT.
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Mar 13, 2013 19:36
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Also for anybody who got licensed in Canada, how long did it take from the greybeard telling you that you passed to actually getting a thing in the mail?
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Mar 13, 2013 19:54
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5 or 6 weeks until my call sign showed up on the industry Canada website, then another few weeks until I had the certificate. I went on the air after I seen it on the website. Do you have your 3 callsigns picked out? When you pass the test and fill out the application you need to choose 3 call signs, put them in the order you want them. You will get the first available one. Go here to search and see whats available (and you must choose 3 letter callsigns not 2 sorry)>>> http://apc-cap.ic.gc.ca/pls/apc_anon/query_avail_cs$callsign.actionquery SiB fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Mar 14, 2013 |
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Mar 14, 2013 03:18
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Woo, 92%. Greybeard is doing the paperwork now.
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Mar 14, 2013 04:06
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SoundMonkey posted:Woo, 92%. Greybeard is doing the paperwork now. Score!! Great job! Now that I think of it, it may have been 3 - 4 weeks not 5 - 6.... cant remember.
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Mar 14, 2013 04:32
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