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Cool radio, I fondled it at the fest  any plans for an antenna?I still need to get some sort of VHF/UHF rig in the house. Right now i'm looking at ic-706mkiig's since it will be useful even if I get a ic-9700 or something cool down the road. I'm looking into building a tripod mounted satellite tracker for the next project. Besides getting my station from trash to decent level (Johnny gonna help me with that I hope)
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Aug 24, 2019 18:43
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Nabokoffin posted:Cool radio, I fondled it at the fest I have one! It's hard to see in the photo, but I have a 40m hamstick mounted on my balcony. So far I've been receiving CW and phone signals from up to a few states away which isn't half bad!
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Aug 25, 2019 02:15
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I've finally decided to get a ham radio license (hi Jonny  , the Z-Cast belatedly inspired me (I was the guy constantly complaining about being in a basement apartment in a valley, and I still am, so I'm just going to do handhelds for now)). I've run through both the Technician and General exam questions on hamstudy.org and I'm feeling pretty confident that I at least know where/how to study for my weak areas... except for questions related to antenna theory/design which I have pretty much no background in. Does anyone have any good, beginner-oriented (and preferably free  ) resources I could use to study up on antennas, at least to the level of proficiency needed for the General exam?
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Aug 25, 2019 17:39
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Before the exam, cram cram cram, don't worry too much about actually learning anything but maybe take notes for later. I remember the General having stuff about atmospheric layers and propagation that caught me up in particular. For after the exam, I've found the most useful stuff to be in books: - ARRL antenna book is pretty much the benchmark for antenna information. Worth checking if there's a library nearby that carries it. It doesn't change much between editions. - I really like Practical Antenna Handbook (Carr/Hippisley), it has things neatly divided into sections by antenna type and also includes gif information about actually hooking things up, grounding, diagnosis methods and tools. I actually like this one more than the ARRL antenna book. - I think there's also an ARRL "antennas for small spaces" that's supposed to be good? I've heard the catch is that "small spaces" is relative and just means anything that isn't traditionally measured in acres.
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Aug 25, 2019 20:16
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COOL CORN posted:I have one! It's hard to see in the photo, but I have a 40m hamstick mounted on my balcony. So far I've been receiving CW and phone signals from up to a few states away which isn't half bad! Those look pretty neat, I might grab one for a portable/camping kit. I'm also now on 40m's and all the other bands, although not very well. Put up the CHA-250b, its pretty conspicuous. I'm sure the neighbors hate it. Nice living in a place with no HOA though.  It's also coming down soon, It's not quite a safe distance away from a couple of electrical supplies to the neighbor's and our house. I think I'll put a Diamond X300A on the mast and also use it as a tie off for a long wire type deal to the tree in the back. If anyone wants to try some 40m SSB tonight or tomorrow let me know 
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Aug 28, 2019 00:12
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Nabokoffin posted:Those look pretty neat, I might grab one for a portable/camping kit. I'm also now on 40m's and all the other bands, although not very well. Put up the CHA-250b, its It's also coming down soon, It's not quite a safe distance away from a couple of electrical supplies to the neighbor's and our house. I think I'll put a Diamond X300A on the mast and also use it as a tie off for a long wire type deal to the tree in the back. Diamond X300 crew for lyfe
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Aug 28, 2019 16:10
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I should just run a rotating savings account to buy new icom rigs IC-705 to be announced this weekend  10 watts, hf+6+2m+70cm
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Aug 31, 2019 02:19
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Jonny 290 posted:I should just run a rotating savings account to buy new icom rigs What am I even looking at here?
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Aug 31, 2019 02:38
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mycomancy posted:What am I even looking at here? I believe you are looking at Icom's answer to the Elecraft KX3 transciever, a portable powerhouse of an HF radio https://elecraft.com/products/kx3-all-mode-160-6-m-transceiver 
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Aug 31, 2019 03:16
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mycomancy posted:What am I even looking at here? A non-cult version of an Elecraft KX-3 that already has all of the options.
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Aug 31, 2019 04:04
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Here's the PDF from Tokyo Ham Fair: https://icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/newsFile/IC-705_Tokyo_Hamfair.pdf And a translated page from Hamlife.jp: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hamlife.jp%2F2019%2F08%2F31%2Ficom-ic705-release%2F
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Aug 31, 2019 04:11
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Hm, so it's probably gonna cost about the same as a Yaesu FT-991A with 1/10th the wattage output?
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Aug 31, 2019 14:30
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And much smaller. The IC-705 is a portable boy, and it's going to sell like hell.
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Aug 31, 2019 14:40
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I thought the radios were intentionally large so you have room to repair them
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Aug 31, 2019 15:17
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Any word on price?
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Sep 1, 2019 12:51
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Got my outside antenna cabled in to my desk. Finally I can call this a shack of sorts, complete with beer and burrito
Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Sep 1, 2019 |
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Sep 1, 2019 22:19
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mycomancy posted:Hm, so it's probably gonna cost about the same as a Yaesu FT-991A with 1/10th the wattage output? Yeah, that's how qrp rigs work. you're paying for miniaturization and portability in place of PEP. Besides, think about hucking a 991 around on a backpacking trip with enough batteries to run it for more than five minutes at 100 watts. It's gross. People try, then they fail, and then they buy a purpose-built QRP rig. this isn't made to be a shack centerpiece, it's meant to live in a Jansport alongside a hunk of wire and a logbook for your day hike. Pimblor posted:Any word on price? My pessimistic guess, being a 7300+9700 koolaid drinker, is $1499. I've already heard rumblings that I might be high, though. If it comes in anywhere below 1200 bucks i'll be amazed. (my 9700 guess was $2500 and placed my preorder at $2099, HRO ended up knocking it down to 1899 because i prepaid on release day)
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Sep 2, 2019 02:44
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705 flyer translation is out https://twitter.com/JO1NLP/status/1168148315419987968 further thoughts: - rumors that theyre shooting for ~100k yen price. A thousand bucks would be an amazing deal. - Sounds like no internal tuner, which sucks, but I have a lil qrp tuner, i won't die. - compatibility with ID-51 and ID-31 batteries may cause me to buy into that ecosystem too - General coverage RX up through 2 meters means that it'll be your am and fm broadcast camp rig too, nice. Hopefully they're wise enough to stretch VHF RX through 162 mhz for NOAA weather, fatal flaw in the 817 in my opinion. - i'm buying the drat backpack for this one. I've been hunting for the 703 backpack for a year now and they are extremely expensive. Jonny 290 fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Sep 2, 2019 |
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Sep 2, 2019 23:23
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Jonny 290 posted:Hopefully they're wise enough to stretch VHF RX through 162 mhz for NOAA weather, fatal flaw in the 817 in my opinion.
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Sep 3, 2019 02:12
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wow time to dumpster this kx3 with no 2m lol
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Sep 3, 2019 03:16
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Pimblor posted:wow time to dumpster this kx3 with no 2m lol Yeah I am contemplating selling off mine too. I will probably wait and see what the hands-on reviews are like before I make that call. Not to say I haven’t loved my KX3 but it would be great to ditch the external waterfall and the LCD digit screen for something a little more compact.
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Sep 3, 2019 04:49
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Pimblor posted:wow time to dumpster this kx3 with no 2m lol i have 2m on mine 
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Sep 3, 2019 15:14
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Time to dumpster my kx3 without a waterfall lol
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Sep 3, 2019 15:29
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manero posted:Time to dumpster my kx3 without a waterfall lol why dont you have IQ out and into a 192 khz usb soundcard and set it up in whatever software you use? Its not very portable but it works.
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Sep 3, 2019 15:55
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Big Mackson posted:i have 2m on mine I didn’t see the point since the last time I looked it wouldn’t do tones. Maybe for transverter operation but moonbounce isn’t my thing. Plus I have an FT-817nd.
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Sep 3, 2019 16:08
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Big Mackson posted:why dont you have IQ out and into a 192 khz usb soundcard and set it up in whatever software you use? I do, I'm mainly makin' jokes. But lugging around all that junk and a laptop to a park kinda stinks.
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Sep 3, 2019 16:11
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manero posted:I do, I'm mainly makin' jokes. But lugging around all that junk and a laptop to a park kinda stinks. i was tempted to buy waterfall panadapter to kx3 but thatte price + import fees 
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Sep 3, 2019 16:36
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Big Mackson posted:i was tempted to buy waterfall panadapter to kx3 but thatte price + import fees Honestly I'd love to have the PX3 and the amp, but oh man that price. I could sell off my TS-590S and get the amp pretty easily, but there are a few things I wish the KX3 had, like manually-adjustable notch filter in SSB mode.
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Sep 3, 2019 16:40
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i had set up patch antenna + modded octagon lnb and external ref signal from a thunderbolt e when i discovered that thunderbolt requires 24v.  It was quite good at picking up gsm tho :/
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Sep 5, 2019 18:49
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Big Mackson posted:i had set up patch antenna + modded octagon lnb and external ref signal from a thunderbolt e when i discovered that thunderbolt requires 24v. Now i had to pick up a new biastee since it broke when i was gonna test things after getting a power supply to thunderbolt Why do everything conspire against me?
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Sep 6, 2019 14:56
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Passed my general exam  Also swung for extra since I was there anyway, and only missed it by 3 questions. I'll try again in a couple months!
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Sep 7, 2019 19:14
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Oh wow, congrats! I remember being able to get tech+general in one trip after studying for both. They offered the extra and I said sure for kicks. Ended up just returning the exam completely blank because I couldn't even understand most of the questions. Eventually came back and aced it about a year later, after 3-4 weeks studying whenever I had spare time
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Sep 7, 2019 22:25
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High five general buddy
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Sep 8, 2019 19:39
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Passed my tech + general yesterday! Now to F5 the ULS until my license shows up  (yes, I know it will take about a week)
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Sep 8, 2019 21:36
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Mr.Radar posted:Passed my tech + general yesterday! Now to F5 the ULS until my license shows up Grats, you can now look forward to spend all your money and end up homeless, but what a rig!
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Sep 8, 2019 21:42
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While reading through the WSJT wikipedia article, it suggested that FSK441 can be used on the 2m/70cm band to make contacts in excess of 1K miles, but I've yet to find any examples or tutorials for this. Other than CW, are there any non-voice modes that can readily get long distances in the VHF or UHF bands? I've got general but one of my buddies only has technician and we're about 250 miles apart. It'd be pretty sweet for us to be able to send messages even if it was slow and required a PC behind it.
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Sep 9, 2019 04:35
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Pretty sure they are referring to meteor scatter or moon bounce for those modes/bands. There may be some esoteric propagation mode for vhf and up that I'm not aware of (or forgot) but that sounds more 6m than 2m/70cm.
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Sep 9, 2019 12:21
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Yeah thats meteor scatter land. i run 6m scatter fairly regularly and have logged one 2m scatter contact to Texas from Denver but it took about a half hour to complete - my antenna's not very high. lots of fun though if you're into staring at a screen and sipping coffee and cranking out massive amounts of RF at 4 in the morning
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Sep 9, 2019 16:19
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Bummer. Thanks for the info.
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Sep 9, 2019 21:39
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Jonny 290 posted:lots of fun though if you're into staring at a screen and sipping coffee and cranking out massive amounts of RF at 4 in the morning Do...do some people NOT think that's fun?
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Sep 11, 2019 00:21
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