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So keep digging through his post history until you can tell me whether he's using PL259's, Ns, or something else to the gear  If it's N, use this (an Aplha Delta ATT3G50U) or the Morgan M-302N which I can only find online here. There are cheaper alternatives, but with these at about $50 it's hard to justify going any lower. Add a $15 8 to 10 foot copper clad ground rod, appropriate cable clip for whatever diameter rod you get, and some thing to use as a ground wire. Solid core 8 wire (or larger) would be fine, 1/2" tinned copper braid is even better. Borrow/rent a rotary hammer to run the ground rod in (unless you live somewhere with sandy/easy to get through soil - then just use a sledge hammer). Your total job cost is under $100.
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Oct 13, 2013 14:02
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Is it possible to have an end fed 1/2wave dipole? What I was thinking is, if each leg was aluminium pipe, could you feed coax up the centre of the lower leg?
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Oct 13, 2013 15:36
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Crankit posted:Is it possible to have an end fed 1/2wave dipole? What I was thinking is, if each leg was aluminium pipe, could you feed coax up the centre of the lower leg? Pretty sure this would work, I think there's a bunch of designs like that in various ARRL antenna-books. The simplest actually involves using just the shield folded back to make the bottom leg. But you may want to consider making a normal half wave or J-pole instead, since the size will be about the same...
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Oct 13, 2013 19:55
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Motronic posted:What frequencies are you running? I can probably suggest a decent arrestor that won't cost $200, but that depends on what frequencies you are trying to pass. And how much power (if it's sub-300 you don't have to get into big bucks). 99.1, and I was looking at this: http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011754 (We're using N). EDIT: Well for everything except the antenna, which is using F, but that doesn't matter for the purposes of this. SoundMonkey fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Jun 25, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2013 20:43
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Crankit posted:Is it possible to have an end fed 1/2wave dipole? What I was thinking is, if each leg was aluminium pipe, could you feed coax up the centre of the lower leg? Here's a quick overview of how to make a wire based end fed half wave (efhwa) from the ever wonderful diana eng: http://makezine.com/2010/03/09/make-a-multiband-end-fed-half-wavel/ sadly, not much in the way of technical detail, but it's a good startpoint. I've got one I used to sling over trees and such when I had the 817. Makes me want one again.
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Oct 13, 2013 21:08
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SoundMonkey posted:99.1, and I was looking at this: I can't speak to that quality of that one in particular, but other Diamond stuff I've owned is usually somewhere between acceptable and "meh, good enough." You'll probably be just fine with that. Make sure you use butyl tape or other appropriate sealant around the connectors if this is going to live completely outside where it can get wet. Or add a bit to the project and throw it in a box (like an outdoor outlet box with a cover). Somebody fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Jun 25, 2017 |
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Oct 13, 2013 21:20
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A couple of guys at my club suggested going for the intermediate, but for that I have to make a thing. I was wondering what recommendations people ahd for kits? It seems like an HF thing might be nice but some kits seem as, or more, expensive than just buying a thing second hand, so is there anything that's useful (i.e I will keep using it after I make it) but also make economic sense to build?
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Oct 14, 2013 15:47
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How about a Softrock Ensemble SDR?
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Oct 14, 2013 15:51
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Totally Reasonable posted:How about a Softrock Ensemble SDR? Those are pretty cool if you're into digital or CW. They have very little power, so it's pretty tough to make use of without some manner of amp. This is definitely in the "you can buy something used for this money" price range, but the Genesis G11s look pretty awesome to me. They put out 10W, so it at least gives you a fighting chance and some more power to drive an amp with.
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Oct 14, 2013 16:11
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Breaking up the antenna chat to ask an odd question: Wouxun, Baofeng etc. all have 2m/70cm dual banders, but do they have any triple band ones that are 4m/2m/70cm? I'm interested in one, because in Finland we have a thing called "hobby VHF radio" (think business band) which works on ~68-72Mhz, and I was hoping I could find a HT that could transmit on that frequency and also have the usual 2m/70cm. Wouxun has dual band models that have 4m in them, but I can't figure out if there's any triple band ones. The spec sheets aren't the easiest thing to read.. [edit] Well I know what to buy if I need a mobile radio that can work on 10-4-2m and 70cm. CB AND HAM in one small package! 
JointHorse fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Oct 14, 2013 |
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Oct 14, 2013 16:35
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I doubt there's any triple band mobiles that do 4m, the only triple band ones I saw only had 220 MHz, and like 1W output at that. If you can find one and have around $2000 to spend you can get a AN/PRC-152 or PRC-148 though they'll do 30-512 MHz continuous all mode. E: although, Yaesu does make triple bands with 6m, you could check if those support modding for expanded range
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Oct 14, 2013 17:26
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Motronic posted:Those are pretty cool if you're into digital or CW. They have very little power, so it's pretty tough to make use of without some manner of amp. I like both your ideas, but I have to build some of it in front of a guy, and then I think demonstrate it working, I'll check whether they're happy with an SDR. Are there other options like an SWR meter or antenna analyzer that I could make? JointHorse posted:Breaking up the antenna chat to ask an odd question: Icom do a 6m/2m/70cm that can be modded to tx on 4m but I understand the power output on 4m is very low, the 950 you linked doesn't seem to cover 4m though only 6m. Personally I'd like to see a 6m/4m handheld, since 2m/70cm is very common and available cheaply.
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Oct 14, 2013 17:32
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Yea, I don't have high hopes of finding something, as 4m is rather new band and it'll take time for radios to come out. But check this out: http://www.wouxun.com/Two-Way-Radio/walkie_talkie_KG-669E.htm If you look at the frequency range, it does seem to cover 4m and 2m/70cm. But there's no mention if it can actually access all those frequencies, or is it locked down to certain range once it leaves the factory. And hell if I can find any solid info on google :p
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Oct 14, 2013 18:52
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JointHorse posted:Yea, I don't have high hopes of finding something, as 4m is rather new band and it'll take time for radios to come out. Thought the whole controversy about the Wouxun radios was that the software could unlock it to transmit anywhere, not just the ham bands...
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Oct 14, 2013 18:56
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Crankit posted:I like both your ideas, but I have to build some of it in front of a guy, and then I think demonstrate it working, I'll check whether they're happy with an SDR. Are there other options like an SWR meter or antenna analyzer that I could make? Oh yeah, there's lots of kits for stuff like that out there. Take a look around http://www.foxdelta.com/ and http://www.youkits.com/
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Oct 14, 2013 19:54
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fordan posted:Thought the whole controversy about the Wouxun radios was that the software could unlock it to transmit anywhere, not just the ham bands... There are business and public service bands bordering both the 2m and 70cm ham bands. Most Chinese HTs can be soft-unlocked to transmit on those. Beyond that, to get entirely separate bands, hardware filters become the issue. Without those filters, the radios would transmit harmonics all over the place. Example, the 5w baofengs can be unlocked to the 1.25meter band in software, but the hardware filtering knocks the output to a few mW.
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Oct 14, 2013 20:17
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JointHorse posted:Yea, I don't have high hopes of finding something, as 4m is rather new band and it'll take time for radios to come out. IIRC the different editions have different hardware for 4m operation, when you actually try to buy it you'll see what bands are available, usually 4m/2m and 2m/70cm with some having 1.2m as well. Explanation based roughly on the KG-UV6D schematic so may not be super applicable to all radios: These radios basically have two sets of filters and two sets of output stages to handle the two bands, it's not feasible to meet requirements for harmonics etc. without putting the 2m and 4m on separate filters since they're harmonics of each other. That leaves no room for 70cm. I don't know how they do tri-band in the japanese radios but I suspect they have a more advanced solution for filtering or they just build a third output filter.
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Oct 15, 2013 06:14
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longview posted:E: although, Yaesu does make triple bands with 6m, you could check if those support modding for expanded range I don't know if the output is actually useful, but my soft-unlocked VX-7R happily keys up at 70 MHz. It picks up a constant static that goes about half way across the meter though, so I have no idea if its RX is even useful there.
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Oct 16, 2013 01:43
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So my first HF rig turned up today, Yaesu FT-450AT only 4 years old. Went out and got a generic 13.8v PSU for it since where I live doesn't have anything decent and hopefully tonight i'll be able to jump on 80m
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Oct 16, 2013 02:31
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Beccara posted:So my first HF rig turned up today, Yaesu FT-450AT only 4 years old. Went out and got a generic 13.8v PSU for it since where I live doesn't have anything decent and hopefully tonight i'll be able to jump on 80m That's a good solid rig. What do you have for an antenna?
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Oct 16, 2013 13:56
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wolrah posted:I don't know if the output is actually useful, but my soft-unlocked VX-7R happily keys up at 70 MHz. It picks up a constant static that goes about half way across the meter though, so I have no idea if its RX is even useful there. The funny thing is the Wouxun radios are entirely programmable from any frequency range between .0125 and 999 MHz, but when keyed at a frequency far away from normal it'll only transmit on for example 70.000 despite being tuned for 74, and 120.something for the 90-120 range, 220.something for 1.2m. I like the Wouxun approach a lot more than the Icom approach of being all or nothing with desoldering diodes to mod it though.
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Oct 16, 2013 15:55
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Motronic posted:That's a good solid rig. What do you have for an antenna? This one: http://chameleonantenna.com/CHA%20EMCOMM%20II/CHA%20EMCOMM%20II.html So far it's pretty good, Figured out where my S9 noise on 40/80m was coming from too (Stupid USB charger wall wart)
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Oct 17, 2013 23:55
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Wow.....uhm.....that's a $115 G5RV Jr. Welp, at least you're on the air.
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Oct 18, 2013 00:59
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longview posted:Pretty sure this would work, I think there's a bunch of designs like that in various ARRL antenna-books. The simplest actually involves using just the shield folded back to make the bottom leg. I forgot to reply and ask about this, a J pole or slimjim is 3/4 lambda , but the bottom 1/4 is for matching right? Does that all have to be vertical or can the matching section be horizontal? Does a 2m J/Slimjim also work for 70cm or should I use a seperate antenna for that?
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Oct 20, 2013 21:10
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Crankit posted:I forgot to reply and ask about this, a J pole or slimjim is 3/4 lambda , but the bottom 1/4 is for matching right? Does that all have to be vertical or can the matching section be horizontal? Does a 2m J/Slimjim also work for 70cm or should I use a seperate antenna for that? I think the J-pole is 1/2 wave, and there's a 1/4 wave in parallel to match it. Slim-Jim works in a slightly different way I think... I suspect the placement of the matching stub is critical so it may not work with a horizontal one, but I don't really know. If the stub isn't radiating but only acting as as stub it shouldn't matter where you put it really. What I do know is it doesn't work on 70cm unless you build one of the dual-band versions, which is basically making two antennas on top of each other. There's an eBay seller who claims his Slim-Jim is dual band but my SWR meter disagrees. If you want a dual band it's easier to just buy a R770 mobile whip or one of the X-nnn antennas from Diamond, they're end fed half waves on 2m and 2x5/8 on 70cm and work really well in my experience. -- Question for the thread: I need to route a coax bit or two through a door and drilling is not an option. So far I'm using a sacrificial bit of RG-316 to go through the door but I think the performance is degrading, and it's sort of flattened already. I'm ordering some RG-402 to try to wedge that in, hopefully the semi rigid cable will deform less and I can route it better into the corners, but I'm open to suggestions for super thin slightly rugged coax to use here...
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Oct 21, 2013 21:14
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The N9TAX roll-up dual band slimjim works well. I don't think he's released any dimensional measurements, but he's not charging much more than someone would pay for just the parts without quantity discounts.
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Oct 21, 2013 21:19
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longview posted:Question for the thread: I need to route a coax bit or two through a door and drilling is not an option. I hear this very often, and I always have to ask: WHY? If this is a rental or something, filling a properly drilled hole is both cheap and easy and can be done in a way that no one will every know it was there to begin with. You don't even need to be particularly handy to patch a 1/2" hole through drywall or a wood door frame.
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Oct 21, 2013 22:46
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Motronic posted:I hear this very often, and I always have to ask: WHY? I'm renting a brand new apartment and if I start drilling holes in doors it'll stand out like a sore thumb when I move out (I don't have the amazing carpenter skills to do things like that and have it look nice). I also don't know how long I'll stay here either, so doing a permanent install isn't really in the cards for me. I do agree that it's far better to permanently mount stuff, but there are a lot of cases where drilling holes just isn't feasible/worth the effort and goodwill from the owner. If I was the owner, gently caress it, I'd be running LMR400 out to that antenna, and that antenna would be at least 2-3 antennas. longview fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Oct 22, 2013 |
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Oct 22, 2013 06:12
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This may sound strange, but now that I'm out of uni and have a real job, I now have the $$$ and time to pursue the poo poo I've always wanted to. Apart from DX competing, talking to people, and bouncing signals off the moon, what else can I do as a Ham?
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Oct 23, 2013 22:02
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GiveUpNed posted:This may sound strange, but now that I'm out of uni and have a real job, I now have the $$$ and time to pursue the poo poo I've always wanted to. Find out what the absolute most reliable type of lawnmower is. At least on my local repeater. Seriously though it's all great fun just finding new ways to communicate with people and stuff.
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Oct 24, 2013 03:24
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SpoopyMonkey posted:Find out what the absolute most reliable type of lawnmower is. Ok... but if I'm going to spend coin, I want to do cool poo poo I can't otherwise. Talking to people is nice and all, but what else can I do.
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Oct 24, 2013 03:42
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GiveUpNed posted:Ok... but if I'm going to spend coin, I want to do cool poo poo I can't otherwise. Talking to people is nice and all, but what else can I do. SatCom? Moon Bounce? Play with digital modes, like set up a Packet BBS? What are you interested in doing is the real question.
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Oct 24, 2013 04:30
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GiveUpNed posted:This may sound strange, but now that I'm out of uni and have a real job, I now have the $$$ and time to pursue the poo poo I've always wanted to. Where else can you build a complete information transmission system from pre-modem stages to antenna and use it to communicate to folks around the world? Where else can you play with things, break them or learn why they're crap and rebuild them so they're better and you can get better range... The question isn't what can I do - that's too broad, it's what can I learn that will fascinate me, and that's always got an invaluable outcome. For example - I got into my current job directly from ham radio - my original degree was Mech Eng, but I got bored half way through a control systems PHd when I notice that I was more interested in optimising sensor communications than the sensors output. Fast forward a few years, I'm a qualified EE working in telecoms integration, specialising in trunked radio, satcom, multinode wifi installations and microwave links. I now spend more time teaching folks about how radios & antennas work than I do 'playing' with radios, but that's equally as rewarding for me!
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Oct 24, 2013 11:40
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josiahgould posted:SatCom? Moon Bounce? Play with digital modes, like set up a Packet BBS? What are you interested in doing is the real question. I'm not quite sure! TBH, I've always been interested in wifi and seeing how far away I can connect to a hotspot. Apart from that, talking to people is great, and I've always been interested in things such as morse code and seeing what digital modes have to offer.
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Oct 24, 2013 12:11
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Amateur radio is such a wide ranging hobby. It can range from stamp collecting (from SWL/QSL cards) to building your own electronics, to emcomm, to mountain climbing, to radio astronomy. Some guys get so down into electronics, software, or SWL'ing that they rarely even get on the air and operate themselves. It's all good. Sure there's a few people who get so carried away with their particular niche that they get angry about anyone who does not [build their own radios/use CW/hate Obama/use tube gear/contest/DX], but they're just the crazy uncles of our hobby. Grounding/lightning protection talk: I mentioned that Motorola standard to SpoopyMonkey earlier because he's dealing with a wonky situation, and the Motorola standard has a lot of practical examples for installations in both ideal and non-ideal retrofits. For the more usual amateur situation, there's shorter articles with good advice: http://www.arrl.org/lightning-protection SpoopyMonkey posted:I'll try to get some pics next time I'm there for a better idea of what's going on. Motronic posted:But yeah, bottom line you really need to rework the entrance. Sure, you could just keep it going through the window after the lightning arrestor, but now seems like a good chance to clean that up. Vir fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Oct 25, 2013 |
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Oct 25, 2013 20:57
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Vir posted:Amateur radio is such a wide ranging hobby. It can range from stamp collecting (from SWL/QSL cards) to building your own electronics, to emcomm, to mountain climbing, to radio astronomy. Some guys get so down into electronics, software, or SWL'ing that they rarely even get on the air and operate themselves. It's all good. Sure there's a few people who get so carried away with their particular niche that they get angry about anyone who does not [build their own radios/use CW/hate Obama/use tube gear/contest/DX], but they're just the crazy uncles of our hobby. Great, I'm excited to get cracking. The test seems to be easy, and I'll be writing the test as soon as I have time off from work.
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Oct 27, 2013 00:36
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Vir posted:non-ideal retrofits ...I might petition the board of directors to make this the station's official motto.
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Oct 27, 2013 12:52
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I assume you've all seen this? http://www.nautel.com/support/technical-resources/rf-toolkit/radio-coverage-tool/ Free signup, I've been using it to model coverage for the broadcast-FM station here, but the dude who mentioned it to me said the method it uses is valid for a gigantic frequency range. Its elevation and terrain data seem to be quite accurate. To the point where it could identify a 1-city-block gap in our coverage to within fifty feet. Could be useful for VHF and UHF at least. EDIT: drat, the free accounts seem to be restricted to the broadcast FM band. Still, you can get SOMEWHAT close to VHF... SoundMonkey fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Oct 29, 2013 |
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Oct 29, 2013 08:42
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I'm having a real hard time getting the courage to punch holes in my brand new house. Help. Two or three RG8s.
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Nov 4, 2013 21:03
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SiB posted:I'm having a real hard time getting the courage to punch holes in my brand new house. Help. Just do it! Nothing a little expanding spray-foam or silicone sealant can't fix. Otherwise drill some holes in a 2x4 cut to length and use it as a window passthrough, with a couple of those female-to-female coax connectors. I think a 5/8" hole is just the right size.
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Nov 4, 2013 21:24
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