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haha this is awesome, the missouri QSO party (state specific contest, every county tries to talk to every other county) is all over 40 meters and I just heard W0W calling CQ such contact many points
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Apr 5, 2014 18:04
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Jonny 290 posted:such contact =/
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Apr 5, 2014 21:29
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no really im pissed off because people are contesting on 17 meters and STAY OFF THE WARC BANDS, JERKS theyre seriously for non contest purposes only
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Apr 6, 2014 00:27
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contesters seem to me to be the same type of ppl who take a leisurely activity like sailing and turn it into a high-stress no fun zone
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Apr 6, 2014 00:46
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man im really bummed, 40 meters is FULL of guys running the mississippi qso party, if your thing would have gone off yall could have worked me easy  and yeah contesters, idk. not my thing at all
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Apr 6, 2014 00:51
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ya im bummed it got cancelled it wouldve been my first time using a real radio
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Apr 6, 2014 00:55
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QST magazine, 1927: 
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Apr 7, 2014 03:30
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 hamradio as gently caress
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Apr 7, 2014 04:05
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Jonny 290 posted:QST magazine, 1927: xD
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Apr 7, 2014 04:53
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Jonny 290 posted:QST magazine, 1927: kupier belt bumpkin lol
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Apr 7, 2014 05:06
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plz tell me why im a dumb noob and this is a bad idea http://www.ebay.com/itm/291060974017 http://www.ebay.com/itm/160518460550 http://www.ebay.com/itm/320960462196 http://www.ebay.com/itm/170972230497 for use w/ my uv-5r and eventually something better. is there a better connector to use? for whatever reason apparently my vinatage suburban doesn't have an accessory hole in the firewall so smaller is better. any suggestions are welcome, esp for the antenna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siZffmO_HKM&t=130s e: quote:Great antenna's at Great Prices! Dont Mis out BUY Now seems legit e2: would this be better? http://www.ebay.com/itm/181071441936 PuTTY riot fucked around with this message at 05:28 on Apr 7, 2014 |
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Apr 7, 2014 05:15
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SMA connector is a great choice for medium power VHF and UHF as long as you don't need it waterproof and don't plan to disconnect it very often RG-58 isn't a great cable for UHF so if you really wanted the best performance it would be better to order the NMO mount with a cable just short enough to get inside the vehicle and then run something like LMR200 the rest of the way but then you'll probably make up for the loss in the cable by having a much better antenna at the other end another thing to consider is getting a shorter RG-316 cable or RG-174 cable to actually connect to the radio, it'll be easier to handle with a thin cable remember to put additional strain relief on the SMA connector that goes to the radio in any case, the normal crimp-on + tiny shrink tube solution most dealers use is inadequate for that kind of use -- had some fun playing with some beer-can sized capacitors (2x4700µF @ 250V) at work for a preliminary test, putting a piece of solder wire across the contactor terminals lead to a very satisfying bang and afterwards the contacts were welded by the current, i guess that's why they put that tab on the top so you can force it back open again
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Apr 7, 2014 14:03
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tab on the top?
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Apr 7, 2014 17:40
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 it doubles as an indicator
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Apr 7, 2014 17:57
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longview posted:
this does not appear to be a cap
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Apr 7, 2014 17:59
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it's a 2 NC+2 NO 24V contactor, perfect for switching between two supplies, but it's not designed to engage ~100A DC so when the contacts bounce (they bounce like crazy the first few ms) arcing will fuse the contacts shut until you manually disengage them if everything's working correctly then switching from 24 to 100V for the device under test won't cause any significant increase in current so everything works, if it doesn't then the smoke comes out
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Apr 7, 2014 18:03
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longview posted:it's a 2 NC+2 NO 24V contactor, perfect for switching between two supplies, but it's not designed to engage ~100A DC so when the contacts bounce (they bounce like crazy the first few ms) arcing will fuse the contacts shut until you manually disengage them Triggered by relay contacts. I was reading about a new relay that is being released (pcb mount, 5mm wide and can switch Real Loads at 120v) and they mention that it has a _minimum_ current for the switched contacts. Evidently the arcing is what generates the 'self cleaning action' of the contacts, and if you aren't flowing enough juice (100ma i think it was), you don't get enough contact spark to keep them shiny.
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Apr 7, 2014 18:06
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that's neat, i had a hard time finding a good way to switch this current that didn't involve a lot of hand-soldering parts, all the automotive relays were spade connectors or socketed so i'd have to spend a bunch of time making wiring compared to a very sturdy contactor with screw connections of course doing that shorting experiment a few times will definitely damage the contactor so i fully expect to have to discard it afterwards, ordered a few spares just in case -- i just need to have something that works and is fast to build (time = money) 2x4700µF at 100V is pretty scary to have on your desk, the quick discharge resistor i used (obviously have some permanently installed bleeder resistors across the terminals) started smoking before half the charge was gone in RF news i ordered a couple of shielded reed relays to try to build a T/R switch with decent insertion loss, worked out a neat solution to control the switching by changing the bias voltage to signal T/R state, uses a few transistors and linear regulators, no real logic needed
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Apr 7, 2014 18:13
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Oh nice, whats the deetz on those relays? Might fit into some projects around here, still need to get that bandpass filter built. And I still have a pending project to build a remote tuner for the 20-10 vertical,mount it in a NEMA box bolted to the outside of the truck or something to minimize losses. I've been having a bitch of a time trying to get a decent 70cm antenna on the cheap but finally may have built a clean basic one. That Lindenblad didn't tune right and by the time I had it closer, the mounting jank I whipped up crapped out and it fell apart, so I have to rebuild. Anyways, current concept is a vertical dipole, but shortened, and using short inductive stubs (just 90 bends of the elements) to make up the negative reactance. It's actually working pretty well and I have a nice 1.5 SWR band from 437 to 450 (gotta get those 70cm repeater inputs!) Built it all on a strip of cutting board (yes, the white cutting boards you can buy at Dollar General make for *great* insulators) with attention paid to SHORT LEADS. I wanted to get a handle on the stray inductance, and based on my MMANA vs reality comparisons, still have some (only need 25mm stub length compared to 35mm modeled), but it's starting to line up. Couple more tuning rounds and then I'm going to solder/silicone it up, will take a pic.
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Apr 7, 2014 18:33
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just a preliminary surge-immunity test on a power supply circuit, normally a TVS is used to suppress spikes and small surges but this is a new spec with high voltage high current surges and the TVS will literally explode if it's exposed to that kind of energy several times a minute, so just need to check that my design will handle that without conducting excess current and not overheating (so got the thermal camera out too) i figured out a while ago that i'm rubbish at antenna building, the best i ever did as a GP and later a coax colinear stack for 70cm, my hope is we can get a network analyzer at work so i can check the impedance directly and use that to design stuff (also useful to check filters for impedance vs. admittance, output impedance etc.), 70 cm antennas a pretty tiny in the first place, why do you want it so small? one time i helped build a 80m delta loop (loving huge) and the balun was built in a junction box screwed to half a cutting board, it worked really well too
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Apr 7, 2014 18:44
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WWV's doing a 25 mhz experiment, back on the air for a limited time (24h right now) the story is cool too quote:Resurrecting the long-dormant standard time outlet operated by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) was Matt Deutch, N0RGT, the Lead Electrical Engineer at WWV. It all came about after Dean Lewis, W9WGV, lamented the loss of the 25 MHz signal in an e-mail to Deutch, who surprised him by subsequently putting the signal back on the air on April 4 for about 3-1/2 hours. literally the best customer service given by a government entity in the past 50 years
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Apr 8, 2014 00:14
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the 2.4 ghz explosion has led to a lot of gear that could be interesting for 13cm http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Spectrian-SCPA1063W-RF-Amplifier-2-3-2-4-GHz-180W-/221393255035?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Amplifiers&hash=item338c10fa7b http://www.ebay.com/itm/5W-2-4GHz-W...=item35ce418587 i mean, i strongly doubt they have intricate output filtering that would need to be slid down or anything a 2.4ghz FM repeater would be pretty hilarious
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Apr 9, 2014 04:14
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2.4ghz ssb 
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Apr 9, 2014 06:17
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finally had a legit reason to play with the thermal camera, when looking at a pulsed load into a transistor i could actually see the heat in the transistor move into the heatsink between pulses like a heartbeat 
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Apr 9, 2014 14:01
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longview posted:finally had a legit reason to play with the thermal camera, when looking at a pulsed load into a transistor i could actually see the heat in the transistor move into the heatsink between pulses like a heartbeat can i borrow it to find the mice living in my walls? also just pulled trigger on dis guy cause nmo on the truck is gonna be a lil while away and they can't seem to hear me well on the 2m repeater thats further away  decided against the comically long NA-771, i think a paper clip would be better than the stock rubber ducky
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Apr 9, 2014 19:34
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nice, that should sort you out nicely for now. i keep forgetting to snap pics of my 70cm dipole, it's super boring and simple but has some better construction practices than i normally use so its alright. ill get those up tonight
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Apr 9, 2014 19:35
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yeah, and its cheap enough that i dont have to run it by the wife lol e: yeah plz do i rly enjoy all the pics itt theyre inspiring
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Apr 9, 2014 19:36
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question for all you radio fellows. once i get my licence i'm going to be living around here, well 200km east of that but you get the idea i'll have access to 240v but only off a solar inverter (8kw I think) what radio poo poo should i get to use out there? basically there are no repeaters or ham poo poo within 500+km so what am i looking at in terms of bands to operate on and antennas+tranceivers? Kontour fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Apr 10, 2014 |
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Apr 10, 2014 03:12
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wow holy poo poo that is remote ok give me a bit, i gotta chew on this one. budget?
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Apr 10, 2014 03:34
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Kontour posted:question for all you radio fellows. bounce everything off the moon
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Apr 10, 2014 03:43
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atomicthumbs posted:bounce everything off the moon
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Apr 10, 2014 03:50
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Kontour posted:question for all you radio fellows. i like how in maps view the park is green then you click the satellite button and... lol.
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Apr 10, 2014 04:02
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atomicthumbs posted:bounce everything off the moon I like this idea, communicating with the outside world solely through signals bounced off the motherfucking moon would own. Jonny 290 posted:budget? Lets start with under $1000 if you can I actually lived in the national park on that map, and we had phone lines that I assume were directional mw pointed at towers....somewhere, all solar powered, i can get pics next time i'm out there if anyone is interested. i could also join this but its not really aimed at hams
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Apr 10, 2014 04:05
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PuTTY riot posted:i like how in maps view the park is green then you click the satellite button and... lol. straya bithc
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Apr 10, 2014 04:14
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oh gosh, thousand bucks, yeah lets see i dont know exactly how desolate it is, if there are a few other hams around you may want a 2 meter radio or something, but your main game here is gonna be HF. 40 through 10 meters, matter of fact. you should be able to get anywhere in the hemisphere on 15 or 20 meters right now if your propagation is like ours, and 40 is rock solid all day and night long for mid and short distance. you do not care about 75 meters. if its anything like it is up here, its just old men and the antennas are huge and noise levels high. ebay.com.au appears to suck balls and i cant find many radios to recommend on there. for context an icom 735 or kenwood 440 is worth ~350-400 bucks here, i would recommend something in that tier, between 300 and 500 bucks. anything cheaper is an old time bomb and/or a tech special, anything above that has bells and whistles you're paying for that you dont need. an icom 706 might also be a possibility, they can get down around 400 USD here sometimes. you need 100 watts, all band coverage, and a good antenna thats up off the ground a bit. if i threw a grand at this project, and sorry if i under/overestimate prices i'm not too up on the exchange rate: $500 radio $100-150 antenna tuner - adds flexibility with modest stations $100 worth of coax cable (you dont want crap, and you may want 2 or even 3 antennas) $50 spool of 14 gauge insulated THHN wire for antennas, as much as you can get $50 power supply - should be able to get a 13.8v 20 to 30 amp switching psu off the internet $50-100 incidentals - antenna rope, fuses, insulators, electrical tape, hookup wire, adapters, connectors - this category can expand to fit the budget allocated if you are not careful tell me what you think the situation would be about getting an antenna off the ground? elevation is huge and getting your dipole or whatever 10-15 meters off the ground is going to really help
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Apr 10, 2014 04:35
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Jonny 290 posted:i dont know exactly how desolate it is, if there are a few other hams around you may want a 2 meter radio or something, but your main game here is gonna be HF. Jonny 290 posted:tell me what you think the situation would be about getting an antenna off the ground? elevation is huge and getting your dipole or whatever 10-15 meters off the ground is going to really help i can probably string it up in a tree, if i can find a decent river gum i can get 10-15m no worries issues is gonna be running coax from tree to somewhere i can get power i also have a 15 ton 4wd truck with a 500w inverter on board that i can park pretty much wherever (on top of nearest hill etc.), would it be worth looking at running a kind of pseudo portable rig (antenna on the roof, base radio running off inverter etc.) also thanks for the help jonny you rule at this poo poo Kontour fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Apr 10, 2014 |
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Apr 10, 2014 04:46
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don't run off the inverter just run straight 12V from the battery
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Apr 10, 2014 04:54
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PuTTY riot posted:don't run off the inverter just run straight 12V from the battery good point, i am dumb ~bespoke clean power~
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Apr 10, 2014 04:55
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thats what i'm doing though for slightly diff reasons. because we're moving from white picket fence suburban homeowners to renters, im not going to be able to have a ham station set up in whatever tiny house or apt we get thats worth a poo poo. i've done a decade with compromise antennas before, they suck and are frustrating and it makes it not fun. so i figured what i'd do is build a kick rear end portable station around my truck and and just drag it out on the weekends - drive up to a mountaintop and camp for a weekend and play radio. pack up, come home, good to go. i was going to mention in my first reply, if you can budget wisely and find deals, you might have enough cash left over to squeeze in a deep-cycle battery (i have been quoted $55 USD refurbished and warrantied for this by local independent battery shops) and a solar panel and cheapo charge regulator. keep that in sun (do you have good sun there? ) most of the time and you'll have plenty of free juice for a few contacts and several hours of listening a dayif you get a battery setup, even if you don't get solar, you can skimp a whole lot on the mains power supply, as your radio can now draw 20 amps from the big rear end battery and you can just keep the battery topped up with like a 1-2 amp 13.8VDC wall adapter or an old battery charger or whatever you can find. if you want to actually wire it up to the truck, just get a battery isolator and bolt that fucker in, good to go, no bullshit needed
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Apr 10, 2014 05:02
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Jonny 290 posted:local independent battery shops this is A Thing?
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Apr 10, 2014 05:06
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