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kenwood is the pro audio brand and you will sound great and have to send your radio into a competent repair shop now and then, but its worth it. They hold value like crazy. That future tech dual bander with the TNC and everything is awesome. icom is gadget brand, they are often one of the first ones with a toy out. They have a scifi vibe and pretty good pedigree with commercial radios, so a lot of their stuff is well built. They lean towards boxy/'communications' audio out of the box though. Yaesu is unkillable, seriously if I have to beat somebody to death with something and then hit a repeater with it i'm grabbing a Yaesu VX170R or whatever. The FT1000 is still on my short list despite a dozen Icoms in the shack. Really it ends up being a ford/chevy/chrysler thing, with the added lock-in from picking one brand's mic cables and power cords and accessories.
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Jun 3, 2016 19:02
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I wouldn't use them for HF (Once you go FLEX you don't go back), but for mobile radios, Alinco mono-banders are growing on me. Super simple to operate without a manual, built like a brick poo poo house, have a very convenient 9 pin d-sub to access audio lines and PTT, good for 9600 kbps, and they actually use a REAL mic connector instead of a BS RJ-45.
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Jun 3, 2016 19:36
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They sound good, too. I had an old DR119 2m radio that I alternately used as radio and hammer for like 15 years. Now I've got a DR600T dual bander with crossband and all that stuff, pretty interesting. Radio is almost completely controllable via DTMF commands even when crossbanding. You can hop channels on either side, switch between VFO and memories, so on. Sadly their build quality seems to have gone down a bit but if you still like the styling, price is right
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Jun 3, 2016 19:49
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Jonny 290 posted:Yaesu is unkillable, seriously if I have to beat somebody to death with something and then hit a repeater with it i'm grabbing a Yaesu VX170R or whatever. That's actually a really big selling point for a very esoteric type of fox hunt.
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Jun 3, 2016 20:15
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hogmartin posted:That's actually a really big selling point for a very esoteric type of fox hunt. Foxhunt the most dangerous game.  I just grabbed both of these to celebrate getting my General, so legit antennas for the 817 will have to wait a little while.
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Jun 5, 2016 07:01
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If you want to listen you can get a $2.99 50 foot spool of speaker wire at the dollar tree and stretch that poo poo out. Don't TX but for listening it's totally fine
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Jun 5, 2016 07:29
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Ultimate Shrek Fan posted: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? Try these guys: https://www.coaxpublications.ca They publish the most widely used Canadian textbooks for amateur radio classes and have an online set of multiple choice questions. Can't remember if they are from the exam bank or not. I have an older version of the basic text and I think the current edition of the advanced text. I found both to be a good value.
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Jun 6, 2016 06:27
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Jonny 290 posted:If you want to listen you can get a $2.99 50 foot spool of speaker wire at the dollar tree and stretch that poo poo out. Don't TX but for listening it's totally fine I can listen fine already with my stupid SW setup at home, which is the silly version of 50ft of speaker wire. What I need is a couple of man-portable antennas for QRP 20 & 40 that I can chuck up into a tree and use to work data modes while sipping coffee on some godforsaken mountain. e: the local 2m folks are super helpful here, saying that all you need for antenna is to "throw 6ft of copper wire on the roof, load it up, and start talkin'" Totally Reasonable fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Jun 6, 2016 |
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Jun 6, 2016 07:21
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Totally Reasonable posted:I can listen fine already with my stupid SW setup at home, which is the silly version of 50ft of speaker wire. What I need is a couple of man-portable antennas for QRP 20 & 40 that I can chuck up into a tree and use to work data modes while sipping coffee on some godforsaken mountain.
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Jun 6, 2016 07:42
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Mandibular Fiasco posted:Try these guys: Thank you very much
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Jun 6, 2016 12:48
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Jonny 290 posted:If you want to listen you can get a $2.99 50 foot spool of speaker wire at the dollar tree and stretch that poo poo out. Don't TX but for listening it's totally fine Why not take the $3 speaker wire, split it in two, trim each length to 33 ft, save the other 17 ft, and make yourself dipoles for 40m (will also work on 15m) and 20m. Anything will work for 5w, even magnet wire. Terminate one end of the wire to the coax center conductor and the other to the shield. http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/tis/info/pdf/9106023.pdf
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Jun 6, 2016 18:37
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Is there any way I could repurpose an old CB antenna for 2m?
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Jun 6, 2016 19:16
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e.pilot posted:Is there any way I could repurpose an old CB antenna for 2m? You could cut the whip to 1/4 wavelength and make a ground plane.(Assuming it's a stainless whip and not fibreglass.)
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Jun 6, 2016 19:21
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AbsentMindedWelder posted:You could cut the whip to 1/4 wavelength and make a ground plane.(Assuming it's a stainless whip and not fibreglass.) It's stainless around 48" and has a fairly large coil, not sure how much impact that'd have on 2m frequencies.   e: poking around the internet, this probably isn't going to work very well e.pilot fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jun 6, 2016 |
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Jun 6, 2016 21:38
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Well if you shorted out the coil and cut it you might get somewhere, could just put it on a ground plane, get out the SWR meter, and start cutting until it works. Might have better luck matching it for 10m and buying a pre-made 2m antenna since they're usually dirt cheap though.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:21
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Totally Reasonable posted:I can listen fine already with my stupid SW setup at home, which is the silly version of 50ft of speaker wire. What I need is a couple of man-portable antennas for QRP 20 & 40 that I can chuck up into a tree and use to work data modes while sipping coffee on some godforsaken mountain. My immediate go-to would be an end fed half wave for 40m (will be an end fed full wave on 20 and work fine), or a couple of tree-hung inverted L's or something. uli2000 posted:Why not take the $3 speaker wire, split it in two, trim each length to 33 ft, save the other 17 ft, and make yourself dipoles for 40m (will also work on 15m) and 20m. Anything will work for 5w, even magnet wire. Terminate one end of the wire to the coax center conductor and the other to the shield. Definitely an option but feedline is still the huge cost. e.pilot posted:It's stainless around 48" and has a fairly large coil, not sure how much impact that'd have on 2m frequencies. I would say this is an excellent candidate for a 5/8 wave conversion, but you need to be able to trim the coil and that thing looks like it'd be a pain in the rear end to cut. If you can get the coil shorted, yeah, cut it to 19.5" from the base and start SWR checking.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:28
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e.pilot posted:It's stainless around 48" and has a fairly large coil, not sure how much impact that'd have on 2m frequencies. My gut feeling is that you'd probably run into a lot less hassle and frustration building yourself a copper pipe j-pole or buying a pre-made 2m. If I didn't have access to a SWR meter I wouldn't even try hacking an 11m antenna into a 2m but I also don't know your level of skill with that kind of thing.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:39
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This is my first foray in to radio stuff but I've been tinkering and building things my entire life. I don't use this antenna for CB stuff any more and if I ruin it in the process of modding it oh well. I'll see if I can shorten the coil, run a piece of string cut to the right length to figure out where to cut it.
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Jun 6, 2016 22:57
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Yeah i mean if you don't need it to last 1000 years or whatever, just an experiment, just wrap the coil in aluminum foil so it's shorted out and start snipping. 
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Jun 6, 2016 23:11
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http://www.csgnetwork.com/antennagpcalc.html I agree that it's probably better to use it for 10m or find a CB'er who wants it. Where are you installing this antenna, mobile, portable, or fixed station? Also, what is your budget?
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Jun 7, 2016 01:08
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fixed and cheap
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Jun 7, 2016 02:16
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Vertical dipole using whatever wire and coax you happen to have, and literally just tape it to a board, or the side of your house, or something. Edit: Taping to a window works well too. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Jun 7, 2016 |
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Jun 7, 2016 02:31
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e.pilot posted:fixed and cheap I have a no-name dual band magmount with a busted magnet if you want it, plus the PL-259 to SMA female adapter for the Baofengs if I can find it. As an antenna it works fine, just don't stick it on a car or anything you don't want to scratch. You can stick it on a cookie sheet for a half-assed ground plane but oddly enough I always got better results without it. http://smile.amazon.com/Magnetic-Mobile-Antenna-Radio-Meter/dp/B002L0BXIK
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Jun 7, 2016 02:48
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finally after - moving again - buying a busted used radio - spent hours loving with signalink to no avail - had busted radio professionally repaired and sold at a loss to another ham - signing up and getting LotW configured - messing with a ladder-line fed dipole with poor results - buying a new radio plus automatic tuner - sorting out antenna probz and getting acceptable SWR - messing with dxkeeper and winwarbler had a great couple of hours of PSK31 and SSB contacts tonight with hams from French Polynesia, Russia, Cuba, Canada and a few others getting to this point took a little bit of my soul but hey  new radio was icom 7200 that had the "bad" made in china HM-36 microphone, but by some weird stroke of luck busted used radio was icom 746 and I happened to keep the "good" made in Japan HM-36 microphone from it. johnnyonetime fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Jun 7, 2016 |
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Jun 7, 2016 05:10
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hogmartin posted:I have a no-name dual band magmount with a busted magnet if you want it, plus the PL-259 to SMA female adapter for the Baofengs if I can find it. How much do you want for it?
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Jun 7, 2016 06:04
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What went bad in the 746, might I ask? Was it that IC151 that died or whatever?
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Jun 7, 2016 06:06
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Jonny 290 posted:What went bad in the 746, might I ask? Was it that IC151 that died or whatever? I believe so, it was two expensive components that were replaced that were killing the TX on the unit. Ended up being $400 or so which is crazy since I bought the thing for $700. I actually contacted the guy I bought it from and he agreed to pay for $200 worth of the repairs. Just goes to show there are a lot of good people in the ham community. So a net loss of $200 when it was all said and done, I think I gave the invoice to the next guy to show the 746 had a clean bill of health. but I bought a Icom 7200 to replace it and has made for a great main radio plus perfect to take mobile out in the mountains
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Jun 7, 2016 06:15
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Right on, yeah probably it. I won't lie i'm a bit biased against the 7200 as I kind of think they were catering to the prepper crew by designing such a 'mil inspired' radio? But hey, if it's a good rig, i'm willing to overlook that all day
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Jun 7, 2016 06:18
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e.pilot posted:How much do you want for it? Just shipping from Michigan.
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Jun 7, 2016 11:38
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Jonny 290 posted:Right on, yeah probably it. Yeah I'm not crazy about it as I was really looking at the Yaesu FT-991. The Yaesu was stretching my budget thin already without a tuner and the 7200 was like $200 off the day I went into HRO to buy. But it checks off all my boxes and has worked really well. Has the built in USB so I have one cable for digital modes / cat control and two additional cables to the tuner, real easy to pack and go. I powered it off my Jeep battery last weekend camping, threw a wire antenna in the trees and it worked the Alabama QSO party no problem.
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Jun 7, 2016 22:14
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  Magmount (1/4 wave @2m, 5/8 wave @70cm). The magnet is cracked but there's electrical tape on the bottom. It's not going to fall apart and the surface is smooth and flat, but don't put it on your car. PL-259 to SMA female pigtail (for your Baofeng). There's a removable male to male SMA adapter on the end so you can use it if you decide to get a Yaesu HT. PL-259 to BNC adapter in case you want to use it with a police scanner or something. PM me your zip code and I'll see what shipping comes to, if you're interested.
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Jun 7, 2016 22:55
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What in the world is this mode? Right between CB channels 3 and 4 - very strange, video instead of audio clip since the waterfall on my 1200 is actually really interesting to see the composition of this.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJqrM4VAi3Y A beacon of some sort? E: Here's a link to several minutes of it direct line recorded, in case anyone wants to pick at it: https://sniep.net/26.994.00.wav Sniep fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jun 11, 2016 |
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Jun 10, 2016 22:45
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Some nearby radio control maybe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB_usage_in_the_United_States#Remote_control
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Jun 11, 2016 19:53
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Radio Nowhere posted:Some nearby radio control maybe? Radio control going 24/7 though? Far too intermittent bursts of data to be an RC car, and too consistent to be something that someone is doing; I cant imagine that it's anything manned. And it's strong enough that Jonny290 and I both copy it clear as day despite being on other sides of Denver metro.. (Jonny290 first hit the signal spinning the dial.)
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Jun 11, 2016 20:25
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My current theory is that we're getting ground wave from telemetry at the Suncor refinery, which is just about smack dab right between us. Going to try to decode it first and if no joy, we're gonna foxhunt this thing down. Just for science.
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Jun 11, 2016 20:35
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I've got something similar at 27.300, seems to transmit every few minutes. Modulation sounded similar, some kind of moderately slow FSK signal. There's a hospital a few miles away so I've been assuming it's some kind of pager system but never bothered looking into it.
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Jun 11, 2016 21:26
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I got a pretty good deal on an SDR. $50 for one of these: Unfortunately I have no clue how to use it! It doesn't have a tuner, but it might be decent for direct sampling, or I might be able to hook it up to my new radio:  my two main concerns are that 1. it's obviously not supported by any of the mainstream SDR software and 2. how do I hook up my radio's IF to this thing? it's got both I and Q inputs and I'm not quite sure how that works. any advice is appreciated since I am far outside of my paygrade using devices that I only half understand and don't really have any business owning.
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Jun 13, 2016 23:05
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You'll need your radio's service manual so you can locate the IF to tap into. You will also need to make a custom circuit to split the I and Q channels out of the IF signal into your SDR device. No support for mainstream software... As far as I can tell your only option is to roll up your sleeves and start coding some C++ to make it work with GNU Radio. If you don't do coding then your best bet is to buy a SDR that is supported.
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Jun 13, 2016 23:15
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Whats the name of the rig you got beside the radio in the second pic?
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Jun 13, 2016 23:28
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AbsentMindedWelder posted:You'll need your radio's service manual so you can locate the IF to tap into. You will also need to make a custom circuit to split the I and Q channels out of the IF signal into your SDR device. fortunately, Government Radio to the rescue:  AbsentMindedWelder posted:You will also need to make a custom circuit to split the I and Q channels out of the IF signal into your SDR device. that's the other thing - by "make a custom circuit" do you mean a phase shifter, or what? When and if I get a copy of the SDK, I might be able to just use one ADC; the card has two and it can interleave them using some kind of proprietary technology that runs on its FPGA. 400 MSPS seems like it'd be enough for a 21.4 mhz IF, no? Ultimate Shrek Fan posted:Whats the name of the rig you got beside the radio in the second pic? The whole rackmount unit is a Watkins-Johnson WJ-9040. The equipment frame provides power, communication, and a 50 mhz TCXO which can be locked to a more accurate 1 or 5 mhz site frequency reference. The thing on the left is an SDU100 Spectrum Display Unit (aka a panadapter); it accepts an IF from the receiver and displays signals as peaks. You can use it to see signals as you tune around, or to zoom in on a signal. If it's FM, you can zoom in enough to see the frequencies modulating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDxc_LXVWn4 The receiver on the right is a WJ-8628-4 VHF/UHF Master Acquisition Receiver. It covers 20-512 mhz, or to 1100 mhz with the frequency expander option; mine doesn't have the FE option or (annoyingly) the SSB option, so it only does AM/FM/CW/"pulse". It can also control a handoff receiver; if I could find them, I could fit HF and VLF receiver modules in place of the SDU100 covering 1.5-30 mhz and 200 hz-1.5 mhz. It's all computer controlled; the I/O module has an NSC-800 CPU at 4.9 mhz (basically an enhanced Z80). No idea how the receiver itself works, as the only manual is on a CD some guy's selling that costs $19.99 on eBay. The I/O module supports control via GPIB, RS-232 (it has a very basic command line; I may end up hooking my terminal to it), or a proprietary WJ interface over BNC. Pretty fancy stuff for 1984.
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Jun 14, 2016 01:31
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