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Quote=/= edit  To prevent this from being the most shameful snipe, I recently got a yeasu ft710 and it's awesome. I also have full remote control of it via the attached computer and it's super fun. I can even turn it on and off via the PC. Walrusmaster fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Mar 2, 2023 |
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Mar 2, 2023 02:38
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Walrusmaster posted:Quote=/= edit I bought one for my pota adventures and mostly like it. I hate that I have to go into a menu to trigger the voice keyer and it won't auto repeat. Otherwise though it's nice not having the tangled mess of wires that is my kx3, px3, kxpa100 stack.
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Mar 2, 2023 15:12
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Crossbar posted:I bought one for my pota adventures and mostly like it. I hate that I have to go into a menu to trigger the voice keyer and it won't auto repeat. Otherwise though it's nice not having the tangled mess of wires that is my kx3, px3, kxpa100 stack. I can see how that would be annoying for POTA. Honestly, a lot of my POTA and SOTA activations are in CW partially because it was easier to get the CW keyer set up on my portable radio. Also because no one could hear me SSB on 5w.
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Mar 2, 2023 15:48
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Walrusmaster posted:I can see how that would be annoying for POTA. Honestly, a lot of my POTA and SOTA activations are in CW partially because it was easier to get the CW keyer set up on my portable radio. Also because no one could hear me SSB on 5w. CW certainly gives you a lot more bang for your buck. I tried to learn it and found I hated the whole process. I tend to do picnic table or stationary mobile 100w activations so ssb is working for me. The last hike-in pota I did at 5w went well though, even doing ssb. The bands being so good at this point in the cycle is helping a lot I'm sure. Crossbar fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Mar 2, 2023 |
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Mar 2, 2023 18:34
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Crossbar posted:CW certainly gives you a lot more bang for your buck. I tried to learn it and found I hated the whole process. I tend to do picnic table or stationary mobile 100w activations so ssb is working for me. The last hike-in pota I did at 5w went well though, even doing ssb. The bands being so good at this point in the cycle is helping a lot I'm sure. man, same. my real problem with CW is there's no letter/word separator. people say you get used to it but I've always bounced off the attempt before that happens. I mean, why haven't we pulled a quindar tones like thing and said "at the end of a letter transmit a dot 1 whole tone below your standard beep pitch" or something. I realize stuff isn't set up to do that right now, but it certainly could be.
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Mar 2, 2023 21:42
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 I finally have made QSO's on 6m! And i used a modified lovely discone antenna with a vswr around 2.2! I am gonna buy a good 6 meter antenna! LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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Mar 3, 2023 14:33
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tiaz posted:man, same. my real problem with CW is there's no letter/word separator. people say you get used to it but I've always bounced off the attempt before that happens. If you can't separate letters or words from each other, the person you're listening to is probably sticking the letters and words together. You could consider asking the person you're talking to, to use Farnsworth spacing - letter speed stays the same, time interval between letters gets bigger. That's fairly easy to do. Most morse trainers can also do Farnsworth spacing.
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Mar 3, 2023 20:48
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LimaBiker posted:If you can't separate letters or words from each other, the person you're listening to is probably sticking the letters and words together. This is definitely true. After completing the CW Ops academy I could receive at 25wpm, except if the sender wasn't spacing letters/words properly. The worst is inexperienced straight-key users, I still have a super hard time understanding them. They tend to use really inconsistent dit and dah lengths and it really messes me up. Farnsworth spacing is a super useful tool, especially when you're learning.
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Mar 3, 2023 22:18
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 Help! My waterfall plots are sideways! Adding a right-angle coax connector did not fix it. Non-ham ISM fun: Data transmission using chirp spread spectrum. This is a string of 2 ms up-chirps moving at 250 MHz/sec, spread out across the entire band. It's standard LoRa, but with each symbol transmitted on a different frequency. This makes it hard to detect, and very hard to jam. At practical distances, the signal will be below the noise floor. This LoRa+FHSS scheme was intended to be orthogonal to narrowband signals, and it's very amusing to me to see it so literally in the waterfall plot.
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Mar 14, 2023 06:21
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I got my General license a couple years back, but then had a kid and couldn't make contacts for poo poo out of my yard anyway so ended up getting rid of my ft891 and antenna a few months later. Just grabbed an SDRPlay RSPdx down at the Denver HRO last weekend and threw a cheap ML30 at the other end of the coax I still had running from my office to my yard and I think I just reawakened my inner radio nerd. I'd forgotten how much fun SWL is and I'm gonna have to start keeping an eye out for some cheap(ish) HF gear near me.
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Mar 14, 2023 15:55
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Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:I got my General license a couple years back, but then had a kid and couldn't make contacts for poo poo out of my yard anyway so ended up getting rid of my ft891 and antenna a few months later. For HF, if you're willing to build your own (and you're interested in computer-assisted digital modes or morse code) QRP-Labs makes an excellent digital kit, along with a couple of great morse code kits. If you're after something more fully-featured and less build-it-yourself I had great luck with the Xiegu G90 for years. I'm selling mine now since I upgraded, but it does an awful lot for the price and I used it all over the place, from my house to the peak of a 2 hour hike.
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Mar 14, 2023 16:17
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Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:I got my General license a couple years back, but then had a kid and couldn't make contacts for poo poo out of my yard anyway so ended up getting rid of my ft891 and antenna a few months later. very cool. do you live in the area? i dont hit the transmit button much these days but i'm always down to hang. Next hamfest around is the LARCfest on 01 April. Usually a pretty good swapmeet.
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Mar 14, 2023 16:22
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Jonny 290 posted:very cool. do you live in the area? i dont hit the transmit button much these days but i'm always down to hang. Next hamfest around is the LARCfest on 01 April. Usually a pretty good swapmeet. How serendipitous. I'm walking distance to the fairgrounds. Walrusmaster posted:For HF, if you're willing to build your own (and you're interested in computer-assisted digital modes or morse code) QRP-Labs makes an excellent digital kit, along with a couple of great morse code kits. Yeah, it seems like there's a ton of room to tinker in the QRP arena, and it would give me an excuse to buckle down and learn CW. Sir Bobert Fishbone fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Mar 14, 2023 |
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Mar 14, 2023 16:26
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Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:How serendipitous. I'm walking distance to the fairgrounds. For CW I learned through CW Academy and enjoyed it. It's free (though time-consuming) and I got up to 25wpm. I also enjoy the Morse Mania app for less time-intensive stuff. Make sure you set the speed at 20WPM+, otherwise people tend to count dits and dahs rather than hearing the sound of a whole letter.
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Mar 14, 2023 16:37
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I bought a diamond v2000 and i learned that it is very much tuned at upper band of 6m and adjusting the largest radial does not do much. So many have noticed it that there is a radial kit you can buy (and i have ordered it) to fix it. I really should have a "workshop" like in the video games i play so i can make things myself. I am wondering if any of you have a workshop and if it is worth investing in tools in the long run.
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Mar 18, 2023 19:42
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what do you mean by 'workshop'? i have a workbench in the garage, and a desk inside. a soldering iron, a soldering mat, a nanovna, etc. if i need a tool i buy it. i've never needed a signal generator or an oscilloscope so i don't have them. building a workshop is kinda silly - buy what you need as you need it. then at every point, you have what you need or are saving up to buy the next thing you need. plan your projects to only need one tool at a time.
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Mar 19, 2023 22:55
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Or just buy things that you might never need but could potentially need...I'm pretty sure one of these days I'll use that uhhhh stuff.
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Mar 20, 2023 03:46
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The best work shops grow organically. But the start is always a nice workbench with plenty of outlets, a soldering iron and some fine diagonal cutters. I bought a big ex-Philips Natlab (physics lab) work bench at the age of 16, and i'm 31 now. One of the best things i ever got. I can't imagine life without a proper work space.
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Mar 20, 2023 10:46
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LimaBiker posted:The best work shops grow organically. But the start is always a nice workbench with plenty of outlets, a soldering iron and some fine diagonal cutters. i think soldering iron and a place to work on things are what i will do first. There are so many things i need to solder (grounding points/coax shield/plugs/switches).
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Mar 22, 2023 13:37
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Oh yeah - and a 3rd hand.
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Mar 22, 2023 17:24
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i bought a $30 chinese iron then i bought another $30 chinese iron when that died and then a $50 chinese iron then i spent $100 on a Weller and it's been running for years learn from my mistakes
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Mar 22, 2023 20:31
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Jonny 290 posted:i bought a $30 chinese iron I did almost the exact same thing, and can concur, the cheap soldering irons don't last and my Weller has been rock-solid. Much nicer to use and much better temperature control as well.
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Mar 23, 2023 02:44
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I have an rx arps station I want to add tx to. I can't quite figure out the power supply, I could use some help brainstorming. So I have a buried 2,500 foot long cable I send 48vdc+data to some remote cameras, and an arps rx station. My limitation is voltage drop in the cable. I am wondering if I can trickle charge a battery at 10 - 12 watts, then use a the battery to source peak current during tx. Is there some sensible topology to do ~48VDC nominal (10 -12 watts max) -> possibly many steps -> 12v battery -> 2m radio? Solar chargers don't seem to fit the bill, playing around with an mppt on the bench it seems it just draws more and more current till the power supply screams and falls over. Searching for "12VDC DC UPS" starts returning in the ballpark results (mainly DC input charging) but doesn't quite fit the bill.
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Apr 11, 2023 21:30
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yeah just get an adjustable buck converter for the far end, set its output to the float voltage you want the battery at, done. that way you dont have to do math for different voltage drops for different current draws, as long as it's above the buck converter's floor voltage you're fine. thats a real long cable tho.
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Apr 11, 2023 21:37
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So I am looking for a constant voltage constant current supply? Like a LM2596S you can find on amazon, but if I can find one that has 48 volt input tolerance. If I were to do bulk lead acid, voltage set to to 14.7v and current 0.8A? I guess I got wrapped up in the whole multi-stage charging ICs that TI or linear offer. If a simple solution works why are these other options relevant. also yes a loooong wire. biggest problem ive been having is lightning. Trying a new design with gas discharge tubes from littelfuse, we will see.
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Apr 11, 2023 22:05
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something like this should do just fine https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BMVX9MS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AFW951J7877QL&psc=1
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Apr 11, 2023 22:08
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Maybe I am back around to confused. If I connect a halfway charged battery, won't that then draw more current than 10w?
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Apr 11, 2023 22:20
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oh. yeah it will. they have slightly nicer ones with a max current setting you can adjust too
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Apr 11, 2023 22:33
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Hot Take Zone: is it possible to use a metal chimney pipe as a vertical element or a ground element of an antenna configuration, possibly in addition to a radiative element actually configured as such?
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Apr 12, 2023 08:17
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horse_ebookmarklet posted:Maybe I am back around to confused. Look at current limiting circuits. 10w is pretty low though. I'd really suggest going the solar route. Get a 100w panel or something to keep the battery charged.
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Apr 12, 2023 08:37
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Paul MaudDib posted:Hot Take Zone: is it possible to use a metal chimney pipe as a vertical element or a ground element of an antenna configuration, possibly in addition to a radiative element actually configured as such? Of course. There was a guy on some forum who lived in Texas and was working Argentina and South Africa on his apartment complex rain gutter. He just had a big tuner. Depending on the exact size and placement you can get away with it too. If this chimney is going through your house inside of a plywood box like many are it may cause some......interactions.....with things inside.
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Apr 12, 2023 14:29
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There may as well be an amateur radio equivalent of Rule 34. If it's electrically conductive, someone has used it as an antenna.
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Apr 13, 2023 20:42
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wolrah posted:There may as well be an amateur radio equivalent of Rule 34. If it's electrically conductive, someone has used it as an antenna. Rule 73
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Apr 13, 2023 20:48
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Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:Rule 73
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Apr 13, 2023 21:02
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wolrah posted:There may as well be an amateur radio equivalent of Rule 34. If it's electrically conductive, someone has used it as an antenna. we got a 30 foot rolloff dumpster in our driveway back at the house for a month, and i hammered a copper pipe in the ground, attached a coax shield to it, and ran the center conductor to a bolt on the side of the container. Tuned up really well on 40 and 20, and "antenna here is a dumpster" makes for a great qso conversation topic.
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Apr 13, 2023 21:12
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Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:Rule 73
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Apr 13, 2023 22:57
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Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:Rule 73
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Apr 14, 2023 01:51
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Sir Bobert Fishbone posted:Rule 73
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Apr 14, 2023 01:55
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Jonny 290 posted:yeah just get an adjustable buck converter for the far end, set its output to the float voltage you want the battery at, done. that way you dont have to do math for different voltage drops for different current draws, as long as it's above the buck converter's floor voltage you're fine. thats a real long cable tho. Word of warning though: that sounds like a long rear end cable. Buck converters have negative input impedance, if the sum of the buck input impedance and the cable impedance starts to approach zero then oscillations are likely. Can be fixed by inserting a large decoupling capacitor in series with a resistor that has similar resistance to the negative impedance load to cancel it out.
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Apr 14, 2023 07:00
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Motronic posted:Of course. There was a guy on some forum who lived in Texas and was working Argentina and South Africa on his apartment complex rain gutter. He just had a big tuner. My house is a ranch box that lays at roughly a SSE azimuth on the long side, let’s say heading 150. I’d like more like a heading 210 or 240 azimuth. 180-240 would be great. Any line or pole based or any antenna configurations that would be easy?
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Apr 15, 2023 07:05
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