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For digital modes, you want to adjust your PCs audio output low enough that you're not activating the radio's ALC. K7AGE did a nice video with an FT-817. He uses Digipan, but the guide should work similarly for fldigi or WSJT-X. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3CwHaX7t5M As far as SWR goes, most radios will do fine at 1.5 or lower. There's no harm in trying to get a perfect match, but for most people it's kind of a diminishing returns situation. You'll spend a lot of time fiddling with your tuner knobs, but you won't get any more power out if you're using coax. The reflected power is basically just being lost in the coax. I believe this story is slightly different with a very low-loss feeder such as open-wire line. Even with a 10:1 mismatch, I can still get >90W out with 100W input with 100ft of open wire. This calculator gives you a good idea of your SWR loss. http://www.qsl.net/co8tw/Coax_Calculator.htm Also, make sure you have a dummy load. Without a dummy, just make sure you send out your callsign. I usually spam "CALLSIGN CALLSIGN TEST TEST TEST CALLSIGN CALLSIGN" in fldigi even when I'm using a dummy load just in case I'm radiating. xergm fucked around with this message at 15:26 on May 25, 2018 |
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May 25, 2018 15:22
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Well the SWR meter on the 817 itself seems to have two settings: zero and YOU ARE GOING TO DIE so I should probably dig out the external one I've got lying around. I'll look into that video over lunch or tonight and see if I can follow along, thanks. I've had this rig for years and never managed to make a successful QSO. I wonder how many other hams are out there just firing overblown signals into the walls of their house and not getting anything back. The answer seems to be a lot, considering how many unanswered CQs I was hearing on 7.074 last night. Tons of FT8 traffic, even when it was still light out. I'm really eager to get this sorted so I can start collecting a couple myself.
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May 25, 2018 15:28
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I managed to contact people with an yaesu vx-1 today, i am finally a radio talker!
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May 25, 2018 15:39
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Michael Jackson posted:I managed to contact people with an yaesu vx-1 today, i am finally a radio talker! >Googles "Yaesu VX-1" drat that's a tiny radio!
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May 25, 2018 19:58
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i carry a vx3r with me everywhere, i mean everywhere, with a couple spare batteries. it's the most amazing 50 bucks i've ever spent on a ham rig (ebay deal cause the front case was broken; I emailed Yaesu and they sold me a new part for $2.50 plus priority mail)
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May 26, 2018 17:14
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I always have vx6r in my bag modded to tx any freq. even at full price it’s a drat good radio.
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May 26, 2018 17:24
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soy posted:I always have vx6r in my bag modded to tx any freq. even at full price it’s a drat good radio. Got any deets on this mod?
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May 26, 2018 18:12
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mycomancy posted:Got any deets on this mod? Just search for MARS/CAP mods for whatever radio. On yaesus it’s usually solder pads behind the battery that either need to be bridged or removed. Own-risk etc.
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May 26, 2018 18:30
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mycomancy posted:Got any deets on this mod? Yea you just remove thing behind battery and solder off a jumper. Pretty hard to dick that up. Took me 5 mins.
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May 26, 2018 19:25
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What's the benefit of doing that? Does it affect rx range or only tx?
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May 27, 2018 01:15
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Progressive JPEG posted:What's the benefit of doing that? Does it affect rx range or only tx? Transmitting outside of the ham bands where the radios can normally just receive.
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May 27, 2018 03:09
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I think some EU models of radios are even limited to only RX inside ham bands? It's potentially very useful to be able to transmit on e.g. 156.8 in an emergency since you're likely to get help instead of an earful about interrupting the local old-man diseases net. Back when public services used analog systems it could also conceivably be useful to quickly reprogram a ham rig to work on those frequencies. I know some hams who have lent their mobile rigs to police officers out in the field since they couldn't reach the repeaters with the 10W/low gain antenna combo police cars used back then.
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May 27, 2018 09:27
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Or you could, and this is probably not a popular opinion, not transmit on frequencies that belong to services that require type-accepted radios. Which is basically all of them except ham radio. Sure, anything goes in an emergency, but that doesn’t include when you aren’t the victim and are just working with emergency services as an ARES/RACES/etc volunteer. Or are a member of an emergency service and just want to carry one radio that can also do ham. If you are really concerned about emergencies, get yourself a personal locator beacon. They’ll get help to you basically anywhere on the planet as long as you can see at least a little of the sky when you activate it.
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May 28, 2018 02:16
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eddiewalker posted:Just search for MARS/CAP mods for whatever radio. On yaesus it’s usually solder pads behind the battery that either need to be bridged or removed. Own-risk etc. fordan posted:Or you could, and this is probably not a popular opinion, not transmit on frequencies that belong to services that require type-accepted radios. Which is basically all of them except ham radio. Sure, anything goes in an emergency, but that doesn’t include when you aren’t the victim and are just working with emergency services as an ARES/RACES/etc volunteer. Or are a member of an emergency service and just want to carry one radio that can also do ham. Basically to me as long as the person is using a good radio that transmits a clean signal and has it properly configured (including transmit power and antenna choice so you're not stepping on a much wider range than intended for that service) I don't see a reason for anyone to care whether they're holding an amateur HT or a blister-pack Motorola. Just like with speeding, don't be an idiot about it. Agreed about emergencies though. IMO most of those who justify unlocking their radios as an emergency measure are being dishonest about it and really just don't want to carry their FRS/GMRS unit as well.
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May 29, 2018 16:03
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Let's be real, the people with the technical know-how to mod their radios to TX out of band really aren't the people you have to worry about. If I wanted to cause havoc, I wouldn't risk screwing up a good, expensive radio with my shoddy soldering skills, I'd just order a cheap Chinese radio that will TX out of band straight out of the box. Baofengs are currently running ~$35 with prime on Amazon.
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May 29, 2018 17:22
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I don't see the problem with modding as long as you transmit legally. It's annoying as hell to have to own / carry /store / keep track of multiple radios when you have one that is capable of doing it all. Annoying and expensive. For example I know someone who saved probably hundreds of dollars jumpering his UHF/VHF ham to transmit on marine bands instead of buying and installing a second radio on his boat. He also saved space in a pretty tight cabin.
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May 29, 2018 17:44
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This is a pretty cool discone build with good instructions and cad available. https://bytechlab.com/2018/05/mostly-3d-printed-discone-antenna/
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May 29, 2018 20:31
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Hah, I just ordered the parts for that. Should have them done in a few days. [edit] Ordered, as in used https://www.3dhubs.com to have them printed.
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May 29, 2018 21:44
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Pham Nuwen posted:Can anybody recommend a vehicle bracket for my TM-241a? The radio is 5.5 inches wide. I'm going to have to play around with mounting locations, under dash might work but in a 05 ranger there's not a ton of space. Update: a NOS MB-201 bracket came up on ebay last week, I offered $25 and it showed up today. I'll be playing around with mounting points tonight if I get some time.
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May 29, 2018 23:39
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xergm posted:Let's be real, the people with the technical know-how to mod their radios to TX out of band really aren't the people you have to worry about. On my VX-7R you click a box in the third-party programming utility and send it a config file, then it's unlocked until you reset it or send a config file that re-locks it. If you want to make it permanent you remove a sticker from under the battery pack and remove a solder jumper, then factory reset. As I understand it, the radio sets the config bits that control based on the state of the jumpers when it first boots up. Basically zero technical knowledge required for the soft-unlock and the barest minimum of soldering ability for the hard-unlock, with no real risk to the equipment on the former and very little on the latter.
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May 30, 2018 01:22
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xergm posted:Let's be real, the people with the technical know-how to mod their radios to TX out of band really aren't the people you have to worry about. My brother ordered two BAOFENGS and i get one. 4W output instead of 1 woohoo
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Jun 1, 2018 17:47
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mycomancy posted:>Googles "Yaesu VX-1" The Alinco DJ-C5T would disagree. About the size of a stack of 8 or so credit cards. With such features as 300mw output and mosquito repeller listed as a feature!
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Jun 2, 2018 03:36
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uli2000 posted:The Alinco DJ-C5T would disagree. About the size of a stack of 8 or so credit cards. With such features as 300mw output and mosquito repeller listed as a feature! Oh neat! I may try to find a used one somewhere.
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Jun 2, 2018 03:43
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those little alincos are neat, but honestly, the vx3r has so much more functionality that I literally recommend one to anybody that wants to play radio at all. it is the highest radio fun per cubic inch you can buy. that being said, i really want the tarted up icom version, the p7a  hard to find
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Jun 2, 2018 04:11
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Jonny 290 posted:that being said, i really want the tarted up icom version, the p7a 
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Jun 2, 2018 04:15
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Triple nickel if they really wanted to get some hate mail
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Jun 2, 2018 04:15
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Jonny 290 posted:Triple nickel if they really wanted to get some hate mail Triple nickel?
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Jun 2, 2018 14:27
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Pimblor posted:Triple nickel? 27.555 MHz, a popular bootlegger/pirate freq. Tune on other sides of the CB band when it's open. You'll hear all kinds of poo poo. Lots of Spanish chatter below 27, down to 26.5 or so. 27.385 is channel 38, and "legit" CB ops run lower sideband there. But yeah, above 405, you'll hear the real characters.
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Jun 2, 2018 18:09
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Speaking of which what is 146.415 up to ? Is it still KE6RRI or W6NUT or what I miss listening to the stream and hearing hours of “grim glim gnim bim bim”
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Jun 3, 2018 00:17
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So thanks to a recommendation itt i got a used TS-450SAT for a pretty good price. Set it up today. My first HF rig! I strung up a ghetto rear end 20m vertical and was receiving pretty nicely from northern ireland, italy, slovenia, also alabama, texas, louisiana. There definitely seems to be a NE/SW bias (I'm in PA). Anyway I didn't make any contacts because my antenna sucks so far but it was cool as hell anyway and this was my first time even trying HF in maybe 6 years, and previously it was on a nice club station. Looking forward to building a better antenna and making some contacts.
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Jun 3, 2018 00:31
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uli2000 posted:The Alinco DJ-C5T would disagree. About the size of a stack of 8 or so credit cards. With such features as 300mw output and mosquito repeller listed as a feature! God drat you, now I just bid on one. It's all your fault.
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Jun 3, 2018 01:25
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alnilam posted:So thanks to a recommendation itt i got a used TS-450SAT for a pretty good price. Set it up today. My first HF rig! I strung up a ghetto rear end 20m vertical and was receiving pretty nicely from northern ireland, italy, slovenia, also alabama, texas, louisiana. There definitely seems to be a NE/SW bias (I'm in PA). 450's really nice. It'll serve you for as long as you want to run it, and then you will sell it for no more than $50 less than what you paid. 20 is the big band of course, but if you want to stretch your operating out several hours into the evening, throw up a 40 meter wire. That band holds well until past midnight if people are on. If I was stuck with a single band radio forever, i'd pick a 40 meter rig. The noon regional net has like 250 checkins a day, and I can hear almost every one on my doublet at 30 feet.
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Jun 3, 2018 02:06
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I bought the newer brother the TS-480SAT and would highly recommend it or it’s kin for usability and reliability . Crystal filters also highly recommended.
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Jun 4, 2018 22:17
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So i bought a bike and i'm really thinking about that goofy rear end Yaesu motorcycle rig. I mean, if i ever needed a justification, it's right here
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Jun 5, 2018 02:53
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You can jury rig a lot of various HT headsets inside a motorcycle helmet as long as they have a nice finger mounted PTT
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Jun 5, 2018 02:56
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Yeah. Really I should get a wired helmet and do up an adapter cable, then i can use whatever
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Jun 5, 2018 03:11
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I was gonna put up a wire from my house wall to a tree besides the parking lot but the leader for HOA said no because it would look too much like Africa.
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Jun 5, 2018 20:54
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Michael Jackson posted:the leader for HOA said no because it would look too much like Africa. Put up your wire and make them litigate it down. gently caress racists.
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Jun 10, 2018 01:13
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Also, aren't HOAs very limited on pursuing antennas since they fall under the FCC's jurisdiction?
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Jun 10, 2018 05:37
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IOwnCalculus posted:Also, aren't HOAs very limited on pursuing antennas since they fall under the FCC's jurisdiction? Tell that to HOAs and a lot of things.
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Jun 10, 2018 06:50
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