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most of the foam in those coax cables is not closed cell. so it’ll eventually become water logged and never evaporate. will deff tear stuff up if you leave it like that. I did something similar by letting some coax rub against tree limbs and it was all torn up. right in the middle of a 100ft run too. so in the end I cut it and put new ends on it. but. now. I have two 40ft runs that are drat near useless for anything cause they are too short. go figure.
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Jul 19, 2023 03:48
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the forbidden lakris stang.
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Jul 19, 2023 14:21
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I was thinking of calibrating ic-910h so the sensitivity isnt so low but i did not have all the SSG's and whatnot so i shelved that idea. But now i just remembered that i had an IF tap installed so i calibrated for IF gain and now i actually have a decent signal strength(?) and there is no longer a lot of HF signals coming through lol (IF frequency is 10.85).
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Aug 9, 2023 16:11
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Not ham, but radio. I have a Wireless Set No.19 faceplate that I'm slowly populating with parts. The issue I have is with this one:  This is some kind of fancy geared shaft with two knobs that turn the frequency dial at different speeds. The problem is that the shaft broke off along with the fine tuning knob. I have an intact shaft to transplant the knobs to, but the screws holding the knobs to the broken shaft had both seized up. The bakelite is cracking along that line and I don't want to risk cracking the knob in half if I drill out the screw, do I have any other options?
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Aug 10, 2023 18:30
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I finally got off my butt and took the Technician Exam. Then they asked me if I wanted to take the General right then, but having not looked at any of the question pool ahead of time I missed it by 2. So I'll try that again in a month or two and it looks like Extra would also be easy if I just study for it?
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Sep 7, 2023 23:01
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study up on the complex impedance section, that's the one that wrecked me. if you can get a passing knowledge of that, the rest is just "yeah 000 to 025 is extra CW section" type stuff. you got this
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Sep 7, 2023 23:42
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Jonny 290 posted:study up on the complex impedance section, that's the one that wrecked me. That's the one that stops all forward progress whenever I think "I really should get my extra!"
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Sep 7, 2023 23:48
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See, i'm the opposite. I've been working on electronics and circuitry for years now. Complex impedance and antenna theory and amplifiers are things I know. What is the ERP of 150W blah -4db blah blah +7dbi etc and complex impedances are what I understand. Its stuff like "What is a zepp antenna" that I guess on.
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Sep 8, 2023 01:47
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M_Gargantua posted:Its stuff like "What is a zepp antenna" that I guess on. It's an antenna first used on Zeppelins, of course! Now who was saying this hobby is only for olds?
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Sep 8, 2023 02:04
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Also what is the obscure english word for getting a radio licence and then immediately wanting to go ham on building a radio tower in the middle of my rural forest. because uhhhh  (I do CAD for fun, i'm not actually going to build a 60ft tower... maybe)
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Sep 8, 2023 02:18
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M_Gargantua posted:Also what is the obscure english word for getting a radio licence and then immediately wanting to go ham on building a radio tower in the middle of my rural forest. There are probably like 400 tower sections in good state available to you second hand. We had a lot of silent keys the last 3 years, and I know at least down here, you can get pre-built tower sections for pennies to their value.
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Sep 8, 2023 03:52
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Stop no don't encourage this behavior
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Sep 8, 2023 04:11
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M_Gargantua posted:Stop no don't encourage this behavior Helping families that have absolutely no desire to have antenna towers in their yards get rid of them and put them to good use?
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Sep 8, 2023 04:14
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Well if its for a good cause 
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Sep 8, 2023 04:34
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If I had the land I would slap up a tower without a moment's notice gently caress what u heard
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Sep 8, 2023 14:27
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Going to hand build me a VLF transceiver so I can listen to submarine calls in the wild.
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Sep 8, 2023 14:51
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Serjeant Buzfuz posted:Going to hand build me a VLF transceiver so I can listen to submarine calls in the wild. Lmao unless you got kilometers of wire ready to rock I think you'll just be building a receiver.
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Sep 8, 2023 14:54
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It's fairly easy to build a magloop-based setup that you can use for very local real time communications. I once threw together two 1m diameter loop antennas, with a TDA2003 based oscillator (those things oscillate very happily as they are, let alone if you actually try and make them oscillate!) and i already had a range of about 50 meters with a receiver that was bad enough to not even be able to receive SAQ (in the Netherlands where their signal is pretty strong). I reckon i could build something that'll have a range of 1km or so with a 2x2m square magloop and a better receiver. But it's kinda not legal. I'd love to see an extra amateur frequency, for instance 17,0 and 17,4kHz (with 17,2, SAQ's fixed frequency, as a secondary allocation as to not interfere with their broadcasts) so the really ambitious hams in the Scandinavian countries could attempt a QSO with SAQ. If you're not going for real time communications but for very slow digital modes, you can use 8997Hz legally (cause it's below any radio frequency allocation). Check out https://sites.google.com/site/sub9khz/
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Sep 8, 2023 15:46
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also if anybody is serious about putting an antenna up high, check on the availability of telephone poles i've heard you can get a 60 footer for a grand or two, and with 25% buried (iirc the general recommendation) you get 45 feet of height and it'll last a couple decades np
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Sep 8, 2023 18:32
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mycomancy posted:Lmao unless you got kilometers of wire ready to rock I think you'll just be building a receiver. Gotta aim high buddy! Let's see what's the quarter wave length for 8900hz? 8 Km??
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Sep 8, 2023 19:39
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Well i've got 120ft old growth trees to deal with, so I think if I ever do put one up it will have to be more than a telephone pole. If I ever do get offered a bunch of nearly free tower sections. But this will be a multi year things because my idea right now is just to do passive reception and route it to a web gui. I'll figure out more to do eventually.
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Sep 8, 2023 20:43
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you can get low freqs with a much smaller antenna if you build a matching network biggest issue is ground losses really
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Sep 8, 2023 20:47
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Jonny 290 posted:also if anybody is serious about putting an antenna up high, check on the availability of telephone poles It's about the girth.
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Sep 9, 2023 00:36
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trying to get g-5500 to communicate with kr-600 but the rotor only goes one way. to make things complicated kr-600 uses terminal 2-7 and 7 is connected to 3 somehow? while g-5500 have separate circuits for terminals 1-3 and 4-6. why cant it just be number x go to number x???  also the socket on kr-500 was switched out for a mil standard socket so the 7 pin rotator plug i ordered didnt fit. had to order a new socket. thats the price for using equipment made and used by old dead radio amateurs i guess. Big Mackson fucked around with this message at 13:30 on Sep 9, 2023 |
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Sep 9, 2023 13:22
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I'd like to run a random (well, semi-random) wire out my condo window to try and get back on HF, but there's trees right outside the window and pretty much anywhere I route it, it would be at risk of touching leaves or branches. Would this mess with the antenna too badly, and is it a fire hazard at 100W?
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Sep 22, 2023 19:29
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Try it.Though 100w is a lot for a random wire, and it comes with interference risk. Whether it's a fire risk or not depends completely on the band. If it happens to be a half wave antenna, the high voltage point will be near or at the feed point, and that's generally where you can deal with the voltages. At the point where current is high but voltage is low, there'll be no fire risk and the least amount of influence by branches. If for some reason that high voltage point is shifted towards the spot where you have branches (for instance if you end load the wire with some kind of extra capacitance - that's not something people typically do for a random wire but it might just help you extend the usable frequency range down), you can have arcing in other locations. A healthy tree won't be bothered by that, but dry leafs and wood could theoretically be ignited by it. As for the influence - just do it. A poo poo antenna is better than none at all. Consider running the wire in a thick walled RF transparent plastic pipe if you're very worried about the arcing risk. You can also just try it out on a day that the tree's wet. Intentionally push a branch against the wire, see if you get arcing or steam. It'll detune your antenna but most modern rigs are protected against weird SWRs LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Sep 22, 2023 |
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Sep 22, 2023 19:41
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Hey all. Been studying for Technician for a bit and have been passing my practice exams. Looking to take the test soon, but it looks like it will have to be virtual. I see a tremendous number of exams listed every day on HamStudy, is there any reason to believe that any of them are, I don't know, not totally legitimate? Or anything I should know before a virtual exam?
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Sep 26, 2023 02:51
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i've always (sample size of two, once for tech and once for general) just grabbed a random exam and it's been perfectly legit. how hardcore they are with the "show me your work area" stuff will vary, but i've never had the impression that anyone was willfully allowing cheating or anything like that. tbh that'd be pretty weird, i cant really imagine someone paying actual money for cheating, and i have trouble imagining a whole group of proctors being buyable for $20 or similar. like, sure, if somebody wanted to drop $5k they probably could, but....why?
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Sep 26, 2023 02:58
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pretty legit. A lot of clubs moved over to zoom meeting style testing during the pandemic and never went back. Turns out its very convenient for everyone and they like it.
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Sep 26, 2023 03:30
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I got my general in one go using a random test session found on HamStudy around the start of the pandemic. Totally legit.
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Sep 26, 2023 05:04
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Thanks everyone. Signed up for a test last night, took it today, and passed my Tech. Excited to move up to General next!
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Sep 27, 2023 18:47
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BONESAWWWWWW posted:Thanks everyone. Signed up for a test last night, took it today, and passed my Tech. Excited to move up to General next! General is just Tech 2: More Tech The difficulty doesn't go up until Extra, so if you passed tech, just study and take the general soon while the material is still fresh in your mind.
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Sep 27, 2023 21:12
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Reading this i am glad i just had to get 1 exam for everything all at once. Top US ham grade better than generic class Norway ham.
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Sep 28, 2023 14:48
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I fired up my standard, stock RTL-SDR with the kit dipole antenna today and figured out how to receive/decode FT8. Almost right away I caught an interaction between someone in Spain and someone in Montana. So cool... I wish I had a real antenna now, but I'm not sure where I'd put one of the monsters it appears you need for proper HF.
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Sep 30, 2023 01:54
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BONESAWWWWWW posted:I fired up my standard, stock RTL-SDR with the kit dipole antenna today and figured out how to receive/decode FT8. Almost right away I caught an interaction between someone in Spain and someone in Montana. So cool... I wish I had a real antenna now, but I'm not sure where I'd put one of the monsters it appears you need for proper HF. You can get away with a lot less than you'd think especially for low power digimodes. Don't be fooled by old timers talking about how much antenna they need to shout down others on 80 meters.
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Sep 30, 2023 02:08
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Motronic posted:You can get away with a lot less than you'd think especially for low power digimodes. Don't be fooled by old timers talking about how much antenna they need to shout down others on 80 meters. When I had my HF rig I was using a little 12' vertical in my back yard and regularly made contacts halfway across the globe. It was really cool.
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Sep 30, 2023 02:21
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I live in an area of Canada that gets pounded by hurricanes of increasing strength a couple times a year. I have a decent emergency kit put together, including two Running Snail Emergency Radios, a water rotation system so we always have ~36L on hand, flashlights, etc, however some online sources suggest having a CB Radio. Are they worth it? If so, what do I need for something that will spend 99% of its life packed in a closet? The Uniden PRO501HH seems like a decent, cheap option. Is that the way to go?
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Sep 30, 2023 13:07
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First, establish who you want to contact. How far away are they? Will they be listening? What do you want to contact them for - will they be able to get you what you want? Whatever you decide, be aware that the first thing you need to do when you want to get into emergency communications, is to organize. Just screaming 'help' into your microphone and hoping for the best... Well, you can be lucky if people on CB still listen to CH19 in emergency situations, but i honestly have no clue what people do on CB when it comes to emergency stuff. ARES (for ham radio operators) has a big focus on the organisation stuff that you need in emergencies. In short: handheld CB radios with their stock antenna are only usable for local communications within a handful of kilometers. If you only want to talk to friends on the other side of town, it's useful. Otherwise not. However, if that's your goal, you might already be able to do that with PMR446 UHF handhelds with 0,5w of power that are much lighter and more energy efficient. If you connect the handheld CB you are considering to a proper antenna, you can expect a range of 45km with legal power over flat terrain. However, a proper antenna is either 2,5m long with a bunch of radials hanging under it, or 5,5m long with no radials to speak of. Or a dipole with a total length of about 5m. If you are willing to go the illegal route, a 25w amplifier and a good quality car mounted antenna will also get you about that range. In my country no one gives one single gently caress about what you do on CB power wise, but my country isn't your country so proceed at your own risk. CB is better over rough/hilly terrain than VHF and UHF. Good range with CB equipment means long antennas that will snap off in a hurricane - so you need to make an expendable wire antenna to listen out for other people in emergencies, while keeping your good antenna inside to deploy when you need it. Pre-tune it, mark all the tuning positions so you can easily set it up again. By now you might realize that CB stuff can be cumbersome. But it's the only long range option for license-free communication. Now, if you want to get your ham license, you can literally get the same flat terrain range with a handheld and a whip antenna that you stick out of your house's attic window or whatever. A basic 144mhz half wave vertical can go dozens of kilometers, which means you can probably access a repeater and cover even more area. In the mountains, you'll need to resort to longer wavelengths again to bounce your signal off of the ionosphere. Which means large antennas, though with modern digital text modes you can already do a LOT with just a magloop of 1 or 2m diameter. But in the end, it's all about what you want exactly. If you want the emergency services to come and help you, a satellite phone or one of those satellite text message things might be more what you're looking for. If you want to just stay in touch and talk to people while power's down and everything's hosed, radio might be a good option. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Sep 30, 2023 |
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Sep 30, 2023 17:39
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I had a CB in my Jeep for a while, and the only things I ever heard while driving around were:
If you want to actually maybe get help when something bad happens, get a ham license and a 2m handheld. Whenever there's any sort of weather event, radio operators rush (well, to the extent a ham operator can rush) to offer their services to bemused local emergency services. You will absolutely make a ham's year if you ask him to bring you some bottled water or a case of SPAM during a storm.
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Sep 30, 2023 17:54
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If canada is anything like the US in regards to FRS radios or a similar service one would be better served with one of those. There will be a lot more people on them and listening than ham radio bands at any given time. And if this really is something where you're concerned the real answer looks a lot more like a sat phone or PLB. The only reason I still own a CB is for picking up material at quarries. The loader operators have them in the loaders so you can talk to them instead of trying to figure things out with hand signals or them getting out of the cab, which they do not really want to do.
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Sep 30, 2023 17:57
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