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AbsentMindedWelder posted:. Even Yaesu's fusion repeater is a piece of poo poo... if you open up a fusion repeater all you see are 2 FTM-400's and a control board. You can't run the 2m unit on high power without blowing up the finals. I'm left with the impression they slapped something together as fast as possible to keep up with the Marketing dept. Supposedly the earlier moto dmr repeaters were like this too. I agree on the point of cobbling poo poo together. For all the people that piss on dmr because 'its not for hams' they sure rushed to support busted as digital because it says yaesu on it.
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May 21, 2016 13:26
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Jonny 290 posted:
The TS-480 is getting down there a bit and it is p sweet. If you can get the crystal filters in it, it works fa tasic for digi, and even ssb cut narrow during contesting. Totally seems to wreck my friends TS-2000 on field day. They all bought them because of the all mode 2/440 which gets used never.
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May 21, 2016 13:35
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APRS and D-STAR both makes the new Kenwood HT really interesting to me, with Bluetooth being icing on the cake. Hope it does well enough for them to release a mobile version.
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May 21, 2016 13:51
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fordan posted:APRS and D-STAR both makes the new Kenwood HT really interesting to me, with Bluetooth being icing on the cake. Hope it does well enough for them to release a mobile version. Speaking of Bluetooth, is that a solved problem? I'd love to be able to check in to nets while cooking a food or something like I do with the phone but I never looked into BT interfaces for the radio. e: for UHF/VHF repeaters you could easily use the up/down buttons and hold the activate button for transmit I guess. Does that exist?
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May 21, 2016 14:17
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hogmartin posted:Speaking of Bluetooth, is that a solved problem? I'd love to be able to check in to nets while cooking a food or something like I do with the phone but I never looked into BT interfaces for the radio. Vox
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May 21, 2016 21:13
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fordan posted:APRS and D-STAR both makes the new Kenwood HT really interesting to me, with Bluetooth being icing on the cake. Hope it does well enough for them to release a mobile version. They had me at APRS & D-Star; 220 is a major bonus. Adding in bluetooth is making it like getting an extra present at Christmas! The only thing I'm not wanting to see now is the price.
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May 22, 2016 06:22
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I got a quick question for Canadian hambeasts. The practice exam links in the OP are, in typical Canadian Government fashion, are broken, are there any other good practice resources available?
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May 22, 2016 22:12
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uapyro posted:They had me at APRS & D-Star; 220 is a major bonus. Adding in bluetooth is making it like getting an extra present at Christmas! The only thing I'm not wanting to see now is the price. Yeah that looks pretty good, I like that they apparently have decided not to launch their own basically-the-same-but-incompatible digital mode like Yaesu did but instead just implemented something with existing infrastructure. I don't mind the look, not too unlike a modern professional radio really.
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May 23, 2016 18:31
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hogmartin posted:If they discontinue the 857 for that then agreed, it is a horrible mistake. Topping out at 6M makes it very much not an 857 replacement. While I'll not personally miss 2m/440, I just wonder why with as hard as they are going on System Fusion why they wouldn't support 2m/440 with Fusion in this. This could have been the radio that pushed Fusion ahead.
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May 24, 2016 05:28
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Didn't expect to take this today, but: 
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May 26, 2016 03:57
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Congratulations
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May 27, 2016 19:06
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uapyro posted:They had me at APRS & D-Star; 220 is a major bonus. Adding in bluetooth is making it like getting an extra present at Christmas! The only thing I'm not wanting to see now is the price. What I heard from people who were at Dayton Kenwood wasn't saying much as nothing is final yet, but pricing would be between $500-700. Thats a bit too rich for my blood.
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May 28, 2016 03:18
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I'm looking at a first HF QRP rig, and I'm kinda torn between the FT817ND and KX2. Is there something about one or the other that would make one stand out better for things like SOTA activations and general data mode QRP stuff? Also, one of my local 2m repeater networks has been jammed for about 3 hours because someone's HT or mobile is sitting there with the PTT engaged, accidentally rebroadcasting a lovely local sports station. This ham life is exciting.
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May 28, 2016 05:29
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My local repeater gives three strikes on the 3 minute timeout, then it triggers some kind of script to change the PL tone and a computerized voice announces the new tone. It's slick as hell.
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May 28, 2016 05:56
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Your repeater must be both popular and populated by douches.
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May 28, 2016 06:37
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Speaking of QRP, when people use those little CW kits in a sardine tin that run off a coin battery, how the hell do they know what frequency they're on?
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May 28, 2016 12:05
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I think a lot of those are more or less crystal controlled fixed frequency so you might have 7.05 MHz +- whatever tuning range the BFO has.
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May 28, 2016 12:21
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uli2000 posted:What I heard from people who were at Dayton Kenwood wasn't saying much as nothing is final yet, but pricing would be between $500-700. Thats a bit too rich for my blood. I paid $399 for my ID51A+; I've already been looking at 1.25M radios, so if I hadn't already gotten the ICOM radio, that'd be the winner for me. The price range seems about right for the features
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May 28, 2016 17:56
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Totally Reasonable posted:I'm looking at a first HF QRP rig, and I'm kinda torn between the FT817ND and KX2. Is there something about one or the other that would make one stand out better for things like SOTA activations and general data mode QRP stuff? If you can't do 20 wpm CW in a crowded band on a windy mountaintop, you do not need a KX2. However, they are built really well and there is a ...... eh lets say devoted community that will help you out a lot. The 817 is less fancy and doesn't have cute things like little paddles on the side and awesome CW filtering. However it does add 2m and 70cm coverage which is VERY AWESOME on a mountaintop. Plus, five watts is enough to get going on all the satellites we have up now, so if you want to dabble with that, they're a great fit. It can always live on your shelf scanning repeaters or 6m when you're not on a hilltop. eddiewalker posted:My local repeater gives three strikes on the 3 minute timeout, then it triggers some kind of script to change the PL tone and a computerized voice announces the new tone. It's slick as hell. this is amazing and holy poo poo how does anyone put up with it. It took one of the local repeater networks three months to switch tones once. hogmartin posted:Speaking of QRP, when people use those little CW kits in a sardine tin that run off a coin battery, how the hell do they know what frequency they're on? they're crystal controlled, generally there is a VXO control where they add a little circuitry to wiggle it a total of 5 or 10 KHz up or down. Sometimes the TX frequency follows, sometimes it doesn't and it only tunes RX. This is difficult because a lot of hams have forgotten the very common operating practice of calling CQ, then tuning around. back when everybody was on crystal TX this is how you had to do it - long rear end CQ and then you'd tune around to see if anybody was within 10khz replying.
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May 28, 2016 21:10
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Jonny 290 posted:this is amazing and holy poo poo how does anyone put up with it. It took one of the local repeater networks three months to switch tones once. I'd probably quit using the repeater the first time it did this because I don't even remember how to change the tone manually on MAH BAOFENG
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May 29, 2016 04:02
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Pham Nuwen posted:I'd probably quit using the repeater the first time it did this because I don't even remember how to change the tone manually on MAH BAOFENG It's actually easier to change just about anything on MAH BOEUFNUG than on my VX6-R. I wouldn't even know where to start with the Yaesu unless I had the manual right there. Chirp4lyfe.
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May 29, 2016 11:58
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 The point behind PL tones is to prevent interference between repeaters using the same frequency; randomly changing your tone seems contrary to that.
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May 29, 2016 14:23
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fordan posted:
How else do you deal with the guy who got his PTT wedged between the seats of his truck?
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May 29, 2016 17:14
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eddiewalker posted:How else do you deal with the guy who got his PTT wedged between the seats of his truck? Time for a radio club foxhunt!
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May 30, 2016 04:39
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Well you wait or delink that node and go to another freq? If you change the PL you're still presuming that between you and the site's receiver that you're going to have enough power for capture over them, and PL decode. In that case you just talk over him anyways. The repeater will never actually drop in this case and should time out. I've had mine get wedged once or twice in my old vehicle. The radio itself has a transmit timeout, but that didn't stop there being multiple clowns trying to key over me saying "open mic!" as though I would hear that somehow. I suppose I could run full duplex with two radios and V/U but I would have to have "DorkXplorer" airbrushed on the side of my car if I do that.
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May 30, 2016 18:57
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Repeaters over here don't even use tone squelch for the most part except some of the newer 70cm installations, I'd guess over 90% of VHF repeaters in the country still respond to 1750 tones with no PL tone and work off a super sensitive noise squelch when they're active. What usually happens is someone opens a repeater, which then picks up whatever interference it can from co-site equipment and stays open until it times out. Unless it's pulsed noise, then it stays open until someone closes it manually. There's this really weird thing where I talk to repeater managers and ask why they don't at least set the repeaters to send PL tones when it has a valid signal, and they mumble something nonsensical about humming and people using 40 year old radios. I just want to use tone squelch when I have a radio on my desk at work, why is this so hard.
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May 30, 2016 20:17
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Well there is a hum if you are listening to it from a base station or something with clear audio. No one should care. We basically coordinate PL and forced it on a while back. Told the olds with antiques (or myself with old radios) to go use them on 146.52 or get an external encoder.
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May 30, 2016 22:03
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i built some lovely PL encoders out of Arduino Pro Minis and a DDS lookup table. Super clean sines with a single stage RC filter. Everybody told me it couldn't be done because tolerance of the ceramic resonator for the clock; turns out while they aren't consistent, they are not very temperature sensitive. I just individually tuend them and tweaked my divider number in the DDS code until a freq counter read dead on. It's not too tough and you can add whatever goofy switching logic your 1982 kenwood uses to select PLs.
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May 30, 2016 23:38
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I just have a mp3 somewhere of all the PL tones at the same time, which you can mix into your audio. Gets the job tone but boy will you hear them complain about the hum.
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May 31, 2016 03:08
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Link that poo poo.
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May 31, 2016 16:00
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Partycat posted:Well there is a hum if you are listening to it from a base station or something with clear audio. No one should care. Sorry you're kind of hard to read with that hum, maybe turn off your charger? 
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May 31, 2016 16:55
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Now that college is in my rear view mirror it's time to hunker down and finally get my HAM license. e: I also only have a Baofeng UV-5RA, what's a better reasonably affordable handheld to get? e.pilot fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Jun 3, 2016 |
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Jun 3, 2016 03:40
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e.pilot posted:Now that college is in my rear view mirror it's time to hunker down and finally get my HAM license. I used the Gordon West books to study for Technician and General and took the AA9PW practice tests until I could consistently break 95% before I took the exams. I probably studied harder than I needed to but the GW books are a good blend of covering the questions and teaching the theory. The Baofeng HTs are pretty solid for the price, honestly. It should help you get an idea of what's going on in your area so you can start to think about what else you want. Google for "(your city) repeater" to see what's around, then program those frequencies and see if you catch anyone on the air; that'll give you an idea of what kind of traffic happens when and where. If you're within a few miles of a well-trafficked repeater with a few active nets, you can probably get by for a while with a magmount car antenna and a trucker-type external mic just using the Baofeng. In general, a good antenna in a good location will make a crap radio work better than a good radio with a crap antenna in a lousy place. Once you get your license, chat a bit with people in the area and see what they do and with what equipment. Another thing to pick up is a programming cable (Amazon sells them for your model) and the free Chirp software that will let you program your presets and the radio settings in a spreadsheet-type interface on the computer and then just blast the settings over to your radio. It saves you from having to poke through the interface and some of the Baofengs have squelch settings that are tricky and not available through the radio's menus. http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/ is the missing manual for your radio. When you decide to move on up, I like the Yaesu VX-6R for a handheld, but they make much cheaper ones (especially single-band, if all your area traffic is 2M) so you could get a decent one for maybe $125. On the other hand, if you find you really like radio, it might be better to stick with the Baofeng for a while and hold on to the buck and a quarter and put it into something that can do HF when you upgrade your license. Once you get into HF, stuff gets expensive logarithmically. hogmartin fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Jun 3, 2016 |
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Jun 3, 2016 04:18
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I just got a Yaesu FTA-750L for flying and am really happy with it. I'd like to upgrade to a Yaesu HAM radio when the time comes, glad to see they're one of the affordable ones.
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Jun 3, 2016 06:22
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I read the ARRL ham radio licence guide books and took practice tests online to gauge how ready I was. I passed my tech no problem, but had not prepared at all for the general and failed that. I read the ARRL license book for General and was very confident, however the night before somewhere online I found a study guide that took the question pool and removed all the incorrect answers. I read over the one for extra once and went to bed. Passed the General and Extra in one sitting the next day. I later swung around and actually read the Extra book.
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Jun 3, 2016 11:35
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I'm still studying on-and-off for my General, but I saw this and thought it was interesting: http://hackaday.com/2016/06/02/the-minima-is-an-all-band-hf-transceiver-for-under-100/ Anyone have an experience/luck building an HF transciever from scratch? My soldering skills aren't the greatest but I'm getting better. This looks a little bit above me though.
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Jun 3, 2016 15:28
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You don't build transceivers/transmitters/receivers to save money. You build them because you want a project and to learn about radio circuits. Transmitters are much easier then receivers. The chances of you building a multiband receiver that has any appreciable amount of selectivity and sensitivity compared to a commercial product is slim to none.
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Jun 3, 2016 16:06
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Not to mention you need about $1000-2000 of test gear and tools to spend $1700 to build an HF radio that is on par with a $300 Icom 735 or Kenwood 830 from the hamfest. If you want to dig deep, learn repair. Ham rigs are well-documented, with service manuals available for just about every mode. I've fixed a few now and it's great fun and I've made a couple friends giving away shined-up 2m hamfest rigs.
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Jun 3, 2016 16:32
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e.pilot posted:I just got a Yaesu FTA-750L for flying and am really happy with it. I'd like to upgrade to a Yaesu HAM radio when the time comes, glad to see they're one of the affordable ones. One of, but not the only. I think the other big 3 for HTs and mobiles are Kenwood, Alinco, and ICOM. I can't speak to the quality or value of any of those. I do try to stick with Yaesu because I've had nothing but good experiences with them, I can use the same programming cables between them (for the HTs, the mobiles use another type), and it's easier to move from one to another since they use a roughly common UI 'dialect'. OTOH it looks like their aviation radios have a very distinct UI from the ham stuff and the programming cable is mini-USB, not TRS so don't feel that you're locked in to Yaesu or anything. Once you get your license, knock around the repeaters for a while to get a feel for the features you want, then ask around for advice on radios that have those features. Also remember about the antennas; I'd rather have a Baofeng with a magmount in the windowsill than a fancy big name HT with a rubber duck on the couch. e: Another advantage of chatting around on the repeaters before buying another radio is that a lot of the nets and clubs will have a Saturday morning meet-up at a Denny's or something. Ask for HT recommendations during one of the nets and I'm sure a few of them would love to bring theirs in to show off. You can grab some breakfast, ask questions, and look over radios before you buy one. hogmartin fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Jun 3, 2016 |
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Jun 3, 2016 18:30
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I like Kenwood's interfacing on their radios. I have an icom ht as well I find intuitive and easy to use. I don't like icom on mobile or hf for their interface. Yaesu similarly, imo, not great with the learning curve. Once you have learned one, I suppose, this matters less.
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Jun 3, 2016 18:51
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