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Alternatively, if you're just wanting more range on VHF/UHF save the money you'd spend on an amp, build a J-Pole antenna and prepare to be amazed.
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Apr 2, 2013 03:50
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About a year ago i tried to get involved in ham. Im currently stationed in El Paso, and there are 2 major clubs here. I emailed a few members in the first club and never got a response back. Tried the second club, after about 3 weeks i got an email inviting me to there next meeting. So i went to check it out, and they spent most of the time talking crap about the first club, and then a high pressure sales pitch to get me to join the club. I was a bit turned off by the politics of the feuding elmers. So i decided to put ham on the back burner until we move back to Tennessee. So i am a few months out from moving back to the Nashville area, and gonna be looking to get involved, licensed, and get my station up. Any goons in or around middle Tennessee that can point a rank pubbie in the right direction?
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Apr 2, 2013 04:03
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So today, I read a post by somebody claiming amateur radio is the last bastion of free, decentralized communication. I retorted that hams seem to mostly complain about their ailments and their Windows 95 problems (thanks to whoever picked this thread title btw), but it got me thinking about packet radio. Can anybody tell me a bit about the current state of packet radio BBSes? Hard to find real decent info online. It seems like you could set up something like a UUCP net, forward messages and such around when you're able to reach another station, and have the things you're interested automatically fetched to your computer so you don't have to try and interact with a BBS at 300 goddamn baud (as http://www.choisser.com/packet/ seems to indicate). Would that even be allowed by FCC regs, though?
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Apr 3, 2013 07:22
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SoundMonkey posted:So once I'm a money-haver, is there any reason I can't just run my HT through a linear amplifier and a decent antenna for some more reach Yeah, it sucks. You have to constantly unscrew adapters and antennas when you want to take your HT with you. The receiver will be better in a mobile radio and will have a better sounding microphone. A lower end mobile radio costs just as much if not less then a good FM VHF/UHF linear that has a decent duty cycle. This would be a different story if you already had an amp lying around, but I wouldn't buy one just for this purpose.
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Apr 3, 2013 19:29
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Went to my first meeting of the local club today, a fresh $20 in my pocket to become a member. This involved getting up at 7:30 and walking for 20 minutes in light rain. Show up at the flying club (where the radio club also holds its meetings), it's still raining, the gate's locked, I get on the radio to see if anyone's there and luckily a dude was about 2 minutes away. We get in, wait for 20 minutes, one other dude shows up, we wait a few more minutes, the actual club president never showed up (or responded on the radio) and we all hosed off after about a half hour. A+ would meet again. On the plus side I got protips about which repeater the cool kids hang out on. EDIT: On a lighter note, my neighbour saw my radio when I was sitting out on the back porch and apparently he has a "Yaesu somethingsomething" HT in his basement that he doesn't want because it's missing the battery (but still has the charger and everything), might go see if that's worthwhile, or at least if it's worthwhile to wade through his basement (which is pretty much SpiderCon 2013) to find it. SoundMonkey fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Apr 7, 2013 |
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Apr 7, 2013 01:35
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Well conditions are good right now thats for sure. Getting russia with 50w on 20m and lots of other contacts with my SGC 20w.
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Apr 7, 2013 04:36
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The prices of the Baogeng UV-5Rs have me spoiled. Is there a way to get into HF SSB for similarly low prices? The only cheap HF stuff I've found so far is all CW and I just don't have the time to learn Morse right now. Or in other words, what's the cheapest way I can get into HF voice that doesn't completely suck. I have no problem building kits or antennas of moderate complexity.
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Apr 8, 2013 03:46
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The Alinco DX-SR8 is the about the equivalent in HF radios, but you'd do MUCH better shopping used. It's not well-reviewed and still about $500 new.
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Apr 8, 2013 04:24
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nobody- posted:The prices of the Baogeng UV-5Rs have me spoiled. Is there a way to get into HF SSB for similarly low prices? The only cheap HF stuff I've found so far is all CW and I just don't have the time to learn Morse right now. If you are interested in SSB, first learn about lower-end solid-state 80s/90s rigs that aren't made anymore. Stuff like the Icom 725/735, Yaesu 747/757, Alinco DX70 or some older Kenwood models like maybe the 450. http://www.rigpix.com/ is good for this. Then search them out either at hamfests or places online like swap.qth.com or the QRZ/eHam classifieds. Most people stay away from used radio shopping on ebay these days as it's become a dumping ground for rigs with problems. You should eventually be able to find a decent 15-25 year old rig in the $250-$350 range this way. While you are shopping, learn how to build a simple wire loop. The most expensive thing you'll need will be a balun to change from window/ladder line to coax, or you could make one yourself. With a loop cut for 40 meters, some window line and a decent quality 4:1 current balun you should be able to operate on 40, 20, 15, and 10 without a tuner. Or if you have the space just put up dipoles for whatever bands you want. You could also build a doublet and use it on multiple bands, but you'll probably need a tuner. Alternatively, MFJ makes a few single-band QRP radios that run around $260 new. You could probably find one for maybe $150 used, but they are sort of rare. You will only be able to run about 10 watts which won't be much on SSB but you will still work plenty of other stations. You could buy one of these and build a cheap single-band dipole. Good luck, HF is a lot of fun. Magugu posted:About a year ago i tried to get involved in ham. Im currently stationed in El Paso, and there are 2 major clubs here. I emailed a few members in the first club and never got a response back. Tried the second club, after about 3 weeks i got an email inviting me to there next meeting. So i went to check it out, and they spent most of the time talking crap about the first club, and then a high pressure sales pitch to get me to join the club. I was a bit turned off by the politics of the feuding elmers. So i decided to put ham on the back burner until we move back to Tennessee. I'd try to find another club to be honest. Some clubs suck but others are very good, sounds like you picked a bad one in El Paso. Nashville should have at least one large, good one. Don't let one bad one turn you off, keep looking. Dijkstra fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Apr 8, 2013 |
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Apr 8, 2013 16:32
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nobody- posted:The prices of the Baogeng UV-5Rs have me spoiled. Is there a way to get into HF SSB for similarly low prices? The only cheap HF stuff I've found so far is all CW and I just don't have the time to learn Morse right now. You may want to revisit the idea of learning code. HF conditions haven't been that great lately, and unless you have some really kick rear end antennas and a linear don't plan on having a whole lot of fun on SSB these days. On the other hand you can make lots of awesome CW contacts with very simplistic equipment even in bad conditions. One thing you might look into is the myraid of inexpensive Software Defined Radio receiver solutions that have come out in the past year and a half. Transmitter's are easier to make then receivers, so if you are handy with building stuff you could always make a "twin" station using a cheap SDR receiver and homemade transmitter.
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Apr 8, 2013 17:55
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nobody- posted:The prices of the Baogeng UV-5Rs have me spoiled. Is there a way to get into HF SSB for similarly low prices? The only cheap HF stuff I've found so far is all CW and I just don't have the time to learn Morse right now. When I first got my 5R I was convinced it was going to be the biggest piece of poo poo in the world, but I'm actually really impressed. The keypad programming isn't even THAT bad in a using-it-til-the-cable-arrives sense. Spent half an hour last night talking to greybeards on the local repeater (I guess there's a net every Sunday, which you can only find out by accident, because their website is some geocities-level bullshit and they don't have dumb stuff like "a piece of paper with this on it" at the club). Its CTCSS-scanning abilities are pretty cool too, I brought home a lovely FRS radio we had lying around at work and the 5R found its ~super private~ CTCSS tone in about three seconds when it was transmitting.
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Apr 8, 2013 18:40
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The Chinese HF radios are just starting to show up, here's a CW and SSB qrp (5w). The 20watt version will be out in June/July. http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302&category_id=65
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Apr 8, 2013 22:15
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I use a couple of UV3Rs at work under the "someone wasn't paying attention when they rubber-stamped this garbage Part 95" loophole, but they do an awful job of decoding DCS codes. Sometimes, especially with quick responses from real Motorola radios, I see signal on the Baofeng screen, but it doesn't open squelch. The Baofengs also transmit an awful squelch tail to the Moto radios. Is the UV5R any better in those regards?
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Apr 8, 2013 22:19
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There are some single band QRP SSB kits out there too. Of course if you're going for QRP, you could just get one of the ubiquitous Yaesu FT-817 or Icom IC-703 second hand. As for CW, I use a self built CW interface and computer, so I do CW with flDigi. I do some code practice too, but I haven't gotten serious about it yet.
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Apr 8, 2013 23:38
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I took my Technician and General License tests the day after the FCC ratified the document eliminating Morse requirements. Of course, it was four days before it was officially released to the public, and a couple months later before it went into effect. Looking back, I honestly don't remember how I managed to squeeze in enough practice to pass the Morse portion of the test. Now I'm back to learning, as well as unlearning some bad habits. I suppose most depends on your learning style and goals, as well as free time, but there's a pretty steep learning curve to get into Morse, from what I can see so far. I still have to get a better antenna in place for listening before I'd even feel comfortable attempting my first contact. While I would expect most on the air to be pretty patient with a complete newb, I'm still a little bit  about having to ask for a bunch of repeats.Lots of practice. As often as possible. Getting closer. Getting closer.
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Apr 9, 2013 04:11
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:I took my Technician and General License tests the day after the FCC ratified the document eliminating Morse requirements. Of course, it was four days before it was officially released to the public, and a couple months later before it went into effect. Looking back, I honestly don't remember how I managed to squeeze in enough practice to pass the Morse portion of the test. http://www.g4fon.net/ Download the morse trainer. This program is fantastic and will let you learn a few characters at a time, adding them until you have everything. Try to learn the characters at least at 13-15wpm or so. Doing this will help you build your speed later on. This program will let you space the characters out so your overall speed is still slow. Also, once you get a straight key and are ready to practice on air, get a SKCC number and hang out around the SKCC frequencies. There are literally hundreds of old timers who will be more than happy to work you and repeat as many times as you need them to. Here is a list of official SKCC morse Elmers. Good luck!
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Apr 9, 2013 14:45
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nobody- posted:The prices of the Baogeng UV-5Rs have me spoiled. Is there a way to get into HF SSB for similarly low prices? The only cheap HF stuff I've found so far is all CW and I just don't have the time to learn Morse right now. I found a nice a FT-747GX with a brand new rotary encoder for nearly nothing, 100W SSB, CW, AM and optional FM, but the rotary encoder is usually hosed and it's nearly impossible to source new ones so that's something to watch out for on that model. Expect to do a bit of repair on radios of that vintage though, even if its mostly cleaning connectors and dry solder joints.
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Apr 9, 2013 21:42
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Dijkstra posted:Just a couple of tips: Try to learn it this time using the koch method...Try to learn the characters at least at 13-15wpm or so. I honestly don't remember what I did before for my learning before the license test; having passed on the first attempt, it must have worked. I guess I was probably studying around 12cwpm at the time, because I seem to recall the test being 5-8wpm natural. This time I'm definitely doing a per-character method a la Koch; it looks like I started off at 23-26cwpm/16-18wpm Farnsworth and do most of my practice these days starting at 24/16. I have made it a bit more difficult for myself than some of the training software, however --- I use aa9pw sometimes at work --- as my software is variable-length letter groups (nominal 3-6) at variable frequencies (700-800Hz). One thing that seems to help enormously is 'shifting gears' when you get tired. Doing five groups gets old after a while, and frustrating when you start missing things, but some trainers are very limited in their variation and configuration. At home I can switch over to doing shorter, higher-speed groups, and focus on very specific groups of letters where I'm having difficulty. For those I tend to do 24/20 repeatedly until I get every character in the string. Some nights I listen to the silly morse trainer on my handheld (5-letter groups) at 24wpm natural while falling asleep.  I also listen to a QSO every now and then (those are harder, so I tend to drop to 24/12 right now  ) and have a name+address+city+state+zip+phone generator and can practice partial pieces on that (hoping to prepare for radiograms; yes, it uses AA and BT prosigns). Just fired up a piece of software this past weekend to listen to the tones, so my keying practice gives a little bit better feedback now than me convincing myself it "sounded right" (inter-letter versus inter-word spacing is tough).Current severe limitation (that I see) is listening to live Morse on air (given the aforementioned antennae stuff); working on that. P ACT CE PRAC ICE PRACTICE.
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Apr 10, 2013 04:52
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Holy cow, the UV5R is like, almost a real radio. When it first came out, I'd just bought several 3R's and the 5r looked like a bigger, uglier sibling, so I assumed it had all the same dumb quirks (slow menus, useless dual-watch, two-step volume change, no alpha labels) The 5R in its newer, more attractive casing is totally usable but closer to disposable-price than the Wouxun. I'm still debating selling my Yaesu VX7R before the last of the old-timers discover chinese knock-offs.
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Apr 11, 2013 19:08
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eddiewalker posted:Holy cow, the UV5R is like, almost a real radio. When it first came out, I'd just bought several 3R's and the 5r looked like a bigger, uglier sibling, so I assumed it had all the same dumb quirks (slow menus, useless dual-watch, two-step volume change, no alpha labels) Also I've heard some people say that changing the squelch level setting doesn't actually do anything, but in fact, it does. On mine at least. The other greybeard at the 'meeting' the other day had a similarly-featured Wouxun, and it certainly was nicer, but not three-times-the-price nicer.
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Apr 11, 2013 21:31
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Finally going to pull the trigger on a radio. I'm looking at this: http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=107724 because I've had a few greybeards recommend Wouxun to me before. But I don't see how many watts it broadcasts at, am I being dumb or something? The other radio I'm looking at is this: http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=109575 it's cheaper, but I'm really not sure why. I would be very grateful if someone could drop some knowledge on me.
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Apr 12, 2013 02:35
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I am not a book posted:Finally going to pull the trigger on a radio. I'm looking at this: http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=107724 because I've had a few greybeards recommend Wouxun to me before. But I don't see how many watts it broadcasts at, am I being dumb or something? Pretty sure they're both 5 watts (or "4/1"), the second one is the radio I have (well, I have the 5RC, but same poo poo), and it's cheaper because it's lacking a few features but is otherwise actually an awesome radio. The Wouxun is probably better but I love the hell out of my 5R, especially for the price. The greybeards haven't quite gotten on the Baofeng train yet (the 5R). EDIT: Actually other than probably a slightly better user interface and easier programming, the Wouxun doesn't seem to have all that many more features.
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Apr 12, 2013 06:33
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SoundMonkey posted:Pretty sure they're both 5 watts (or "4/1"), the second one is the radio I have (well, I have the 5RC, but same poo poo), and it's cheaper because it's lacking a few features but is otherwise actually an awesome radio. The Wouxun is probably better but I love the hell out of my 5R, especially for the price. The greybeards haven't quite gotten on the Baofeng train yet (the 5R). I was talking to a professor from my university days who offered to lend me his Baofeng for a week, but I think that's the one I'm going to get regardless
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Apr 12, 2013 14:38
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I am not a book posted:I was talking to a professor from my university days who offered to lend me his Baofeng for a week, but I think that's the one I'm going to get regardless The newest version is Prime-eligible on Amazon for the same price as the slow-boat sites.
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Apr 12, 2013 15:23
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eddiewalker posted:The newest version is Prime-eligible on Amazon for the same price as the slow-boat sites. Note that you really really really intensely need the programming cable. Unless you only want to work like one repeater and/or kill yourself trying to program it from the keypad. Luckily they're cheap as hell.
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Apr 12, 2013 20:55
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SoundMonkey posted:Note that you really really really intensely need the programming cable. Why?
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Apr 12, 2013 21:39
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The Chinese don't lay out the radio's menu settings in the same logical manner most of the Japanese radios do. Also, the English translation of the manual takes a bit of time to figure out for most people. That being said, I program ALL my radios with software. It's the only way to go. You get alot more value out of the radio as there will be more settings you will experiment with and you will be willing to add alot more memories then you normally would. Quick changes to the scan list... there's no reason NOT to program your radio with software.
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Apr 13, 2013 02:42
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How bad are we talking compared to say, setting the memories on a VX-7R? I'm the kind of guy who hacks on router firmware because he's bored, but the closest I've been to success at that without the help of VX7 Commander was inadvertently overwriting one of my CB RX presets with a DC-area repeater. This thing is so bad from a software standpoint that I have trouble imagining anything worse. Agreed entirely though that computer software makes any radio better. At least until we see a HT that not only has but can make use of a smartphone-class display.
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Apr 13, 2013 02:54
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So how screwed am I for programming my radio of I use linux?
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Apr 13, 2013 03:05
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I've owned Yaesu 7900, 857, FT60, and the VX-6. Dunno what the VX-7 is like but all those radios have been easy to program and set memories by hand with only a few minutes of reading the manual. I do not own one of the Chinese radios. However, other hams who have purchased them have handed them to me saying I can't figure you out how to do X. They hand me the manual and I attempt to read about how to solve X. I have yet to be able to do it in a few minutes. It is so poorly written, and has a non-logical approach to operation of the radio, that I would have to sit down and read the entire manual several times and play with the radio a couple hours to understand it. After those experiences, I've decided that the extra $50-100 is worth it to me to have what I consider a quality product that is relatively easy to operate and has a good manual written in well written English with easy to understand concepts that can be absorbed in a few minutes. That being said, I have a buddy, who is not savvy in anything electronic or computers. He had a steep learning curve, but he got it and loves the radio. He uses 2m and 220mhz and rarely ever touches 70cm, so the Wouxon 2m/1.25m radio is perfect for him. As far as programming software, I always use RT systems products. They work very well for me. I like how I can easily import/export CSV between it and my spreadsheet software. I keep a list that I can copy and paste data from, organize it in a spreadsheet first, then export to CSV and import to RT systems. Works outstandingly for me. If you are a linux guy, like myself, you are still going to need a windows box around as much as I hate to say if it you really want to do certain things in ham radio.
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Apr 13, 2013 04:06
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AbsentMindedWelder posted:I've owned Yaesu 7900, 857, FT60, and the VX-6. Dunno what the VX-7 is like but all those radios have been easy to program and set memories by hand with only a few minutes of reading the manual.  What's up good Yaesu buddy? I have an FT857D and VX6R, and I find the interfaces and menus to be very easy to use. They tend to aim for a very powerful, but dense interface, but that style doesn't work for a lot of people (who complain about it a great deal online, I've found). I download and read the manuals before deciding these things, if at all possible; it's a good way to get a sense for the usability of the radio.
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Apr 13, 2013 04:42
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For six bucks or so, using CHIRP, you can program all your favorite repeaters in a few minutes instead of several days of swearing at the keypad.
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Apr 13, 2013 04:42
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Opinions on towers: I think I'm going to bite the bullet and throw up 40-60' of tower soon, I'm torn on antenna options however. I realize of course that optimal performance will be a yagi of some sort, HOWEVER at 40' I'll be slightly above most of the trees around my residence but I'm in a bit of a hollow in a very hilly area although there are no hills DIRECTLY adjacent to me. I'm ALSO not beholden to any particular band, I don't hang out on any particular band, I enjoy DX and ragchew, I'm not much of a contester (not ever, really, although I enjoy the 'fun' ones like the Lighthouse QSO party week and so on) so I'd prefer to be able to flip around at will. So, should I stack a few multi-band yagi or should I just throw up something like a Butternut HF-9V and a 2m vert?
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Apr 13, 2013 05:05
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PhantomOfTheCopier posted:
Edit: Both the Icom's and the Flex are "easy" to use assuming RTFM. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 05:30 on Apr 13, 2013 |
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Apr 13, 2013 05:27
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I am not a book posted:So how screwed am I for programming my radio of I use linux? Are you some kind of geek? This is a ham radio thread. (Chirp runs on linux)
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Apr 13, 2013 07:22
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So I was going to set up doing a UK Foundation Licence test, I've practiced the theory test on that test website, but I understand there's some radio operation test, what does that consist of, and what do I need to know to pass it? Does anyone have experience of programming a Uniden UBC3500xlt? It seems confusing as gently caress.
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Apr 13, 2013 08:19
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eddiewalker posted:Are you some kind of geek? This is a ham radio thread. (Chirp runs on linux) Well, chirp says that it supports the UV-5R, but when I select "Baofeng" in the vendor field, the only option that it gives is the UV-3R. Somewhat frustrating, but that's life. Guess I'll have to figure out how to program it by hand. edit: Dumb question: am I going to hurt anything by broadcasting with a rubber duck antenna while I'm in my car? I'm trying to figure out what the range of a repeater is. I am not a book fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Apr 14, 2013 |
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Apr 14, 2013 00:06
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I am not a book posted:Well, chirp says that it supports the UV-5R, but when I select "Baofeng" in the vendor field, the only option that it gives is the UV-3R. Somewhat frustrating, but that's life. Guess I'll have to figure out how to program it by hand. The UV5R works in Chirp nightlies. http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/UV5R-CHIRP.html You're not going to hurt anything using an HT in a car, but its also not going to work very well at all.
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Apr 14, 2013 03:18
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eddiewalker posted:The UV5R works in Chirp nightlies. http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/UV5R-CHIRP.html It really depends - I've activated the local repeater at 1 watt from inside a huge concrete building at work before. Or at least enough for it to meepmoop me back its callsign.
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Apr 14, 2013 11:14
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It depends? Maybe it depends on whether your car is made of metal. Signal will be diminished, especially transmitting. I can kerchunk a repeater across town from an HT in my basement, but I wouldn't call that a range check, which is what the guy was asking about. Getting the antenna outside will help a lot. Maybe look at a small mag mount like the little $12 MFJ 1721, which has base not much larger than a Hershey Kiss. eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Apr 14, 2013 |
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Apr 14, 2013 11:57
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