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U.S. Barryl posted:Thanks to both of you for your advice. I figure it sounds like the best thing would be to tune a long wire, so I went ahead and ordered a tuner. I have an Icom IC-718 which automatically drives the AH-4 McRib mentioned. I found one on ebay for way cheap and in supposed "Mint-Like new" condition. It says it can tune any wire 23 feet and up, but would it tune a vertical like the buddistick? (https://www.buddipole.com) Also, from what I read, it says the ground is very important. So would you suggest grounding it to a pipe driven a couple feet into the ground? This is all a bit confusing, since I'm so new and trying to dive in head first. A longwire into a tuner is basically just a big-rear end vertical antenna (aka a monopole). Monopole antennas require a good ground plane (also referred to as an image plane or counterpoise) to function properly. Without getting into the ugly specifics of antenna theory, the antenna's ground plane essentially acts as the phantom other half of a dipole antenna (dipoles don't require any counterpoise). Without a good ground plane, antenna losses can be pretty big (20dB or more, depending). A common way of providing a good ground plane for your antenna is to run radials into the ground, which may or may not be possible depending on where you deploy your antenna. Admittedly my practical experience with antennas is severely limited by apartment living, so I'll defer to others like Jonny 290 as to the best way to actually provide a good ground plane for your antenna. edit: I realize that just mentioning "radials" might not be clear in and of itself, but this means to run conductive wires parallel to the ground, and outward in a circle (like the spokes of a bike wheel), with your antenna at the center. Jonny 290 posted a lot of pictures of his setup earlier, including at least one antenna with some radials attached. McRib Sandwich fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Jun 2, 2008 |
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Jun 2, 2008 22:52
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Epicenter posted:This is really interesting stuff. I'd like to get into it, but I think the route I want to take is building my own radio. I've got lots and lots of spare parts around and I suspect most all I'll need to buy is a VCO for the tuner and proper antenna, as I understand it. Could anyone recommend some good resources for plans/info on building a good reciever? A 2-second google search turned up this DIY guide to building an HF superhet receiver. If you're electronically-minded, I'm sure that'll get you started in the right direction. If you're just building an HF receiver, you might also want to look into some direct-conversion receiver designs too, as the overall design of that type is supposed to be less complex than that of a superhet. Unless you have really precise components, though, you may have to integrate a PLL to keep the receiver on frequency. I suspect this is less of an issue on the lower bands, though. McRib Sandwich fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Jun 3, 2008 |
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Jun 3, 2008 03:17
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Hu Fa Ted posted:Look into specific absorption rates (SAR) for 2M. 144 happens to be at the same SAR as the aqueous humor in yo' eye balls. I was exaggerating (slightly), but only to emphasize how dangerous 2M (VHF) is. Erm, gonna have to disagree with you on that one.. at least according to the General-class study guide I have in front of me, it's ~1270MHz where the eyes will resonate. Other resonant frequency fun facts: the adult human body: 35MHz if grounded, 70MHz if insulated the adult human head: 400MHz the baby human head: 700MHz Bzzzzzt! Dolemite posted:
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Jun 4, 2008 04:18
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backstage posted:Windows 95? You must be doing these guys a disservice. I just got my FT-60 in the mail and the first conversation I heard on the Nashville repeater was about Windows Vista. I swear, the last time I was on an interstate trip, it was nothing but Windows 95/98 tech support for 50 miles. It boggles the mind. If you don't believe me though, just take a look at the system requirements of the average piece of ham radio software out there 
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Jun 6, 2008 10:50
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backstage posted:Yeah, the QRZ forums are ridiculous, and eham too. Every thread turns into a code/no-code poo poo-sling or something worse. I'll have to check out hamsexy if I can ever get it to load. Seconding the love for the G4FON tutor. Just don't make my mistake and try to learn using the Farnsworth method, you really do hit a glass ceiling not too far above 5-7wpm. I'm trying to clean the slate and start over with the Koch method, but it's slow going. I actually have to un-learn the way I'm used to identifying the characters 
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Jun 7, 2008 01:20
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Jose Pointero posted:Sooooo, I wanna learn code. Or at least start trying to. What's the easiest way to learn it? I recall someone talking about different methods a few pages back. Care to elaborate? Sure thing. There are a couple schools of thought for learning Morse. The first, and the one I recommend against (from personal experience) is the Farnsworth method. This method gives you the characters at the speed you want to learn, but the spaces between characters are very large at first, and get smaller as you progress. The problem with this method is that with the long interval between characters, you tend to think about the dots and dashes instead of learning the overall sound of the character. So when you move from 5 to 15wpm, you have no time to think about what you heard; at that speed, the response has to be instinctive. Enter the Koch method. Koch has you learn Morse at both full character speed AND full word speed, the catch being that you start with only two letters. So a program will put out "M" and "K" at 20wpm for a few minutes and you just keep copying between them until you have instinctively learned the sound of each character. Once your copy accuracy on two letters is 95% or so, you add a new character, and so on. The fact that you are forced to learn the character sound instead of the dot/dash content is why Koch works so well. Almost everyone agrees that Koch is the superior method to learn, but back in the pre-computer days, technical limitations made it very hard to practice that method (the Koch theory itself dates back to around WWII, I think). Whew, wall of text. edit: as for trainers, I recommend the free Koch trainer by G4FON, where I stole a lot of the info in the above paragraphs from.
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Jun 17, 2008 11:39
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Hu Fa Ted posted:Your shack is far too neat for my tastes. The 817 is such an awesome radio... it's just perfect for any sort of portable excursion. Practically the closest you can ever come to having an all-mode HT. quote:Mobile I run a Icom 706MKIIG into a High Sierra Sidekick. I definitely need to pick your brain on this one. I bought a Sidekick some time ago as it was the best compromise for operating a single continuous-tuning HF antenna in my apartment... but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to properly connect (read: minimally gently caress up) the antenna motor leads to the radio. In my case I bought the RF Control external auto tuning package so that I could use the 7000's tune button to automatically tune the Sidekick to the right place without manual adjustment. I thought the Sidekick manual would come with installation tips, but sadly the documentation was only basic stuff about the antenna, even though I bought the install package from them. Anyway, I would love to see more pics of your mobile setup, specifically how you rigged the motor leads to your control box / radio. In other news, OP updated with (I think) all the new hams that have posted in here from page 8 onward. Added Dolemite's freshly-minted callsign to the list, too!
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Jun 17, 2008 12:13
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Hu Fa Ted posted:I didn't go for the "auto tune" box. Mostly because it doesn't auto tune poo poo! All it does is automatically put a low power carrier out. You still have to stare at the drat SWR meter and rock the buttons. I am going to throw together something with my Arduino to do automatic tuning. It's too dark out to take pics of the mount, but it's a standard trunk lid lip mount. Not terribly stable either. I should clarify my last statement a bit. I bought the sidekick, plus the 7000 Tune Control and the 7000 Screwdriver Control from the Better RF company. That combination of devices actually *does* allow you to tune screwdrivers just by pushing the tune button. You're 100% right that High Sierra's box actually doesn't do poo poo, though. quote:For a semi permanent / non-mobile installation realize you're going to need a set of ground radials for it. It's not a terribly efficient antenna *with* ground radials / good ground plane but it does work. I wasn't terribly interested in a 15' whip on a tuner that seems to be the alternative for mobile HF.  I was hoping I could get away without the radials, since this antenna is inside my apartment. The idea was that when I get a car (more like if, given gas prices), I could convert to mobile with the same antenna.Anyway, I bought this package, but the problem I'm having is that I can't figure how to best connect the bare wires in the "high sierra special coax" to the plug style that is installed on the antenna. As you can see from the pictures of the package, it did come with a pigtail with a ferrite bead that ends in bare wire, but just soldering bare wires together on a high-strain line like that integrated coax sounds like a horrible idea. It also came with a four small red tubes, about the size of the wires themselves, and I'm wondering if that has something to do with hooking them up. If I can snap a picture of one, I'll throw it up here. Did you end up buying the same package for mobile installation? Mostly what I could use is advice on how to not craptastically connect the motor leads to the other end, so pictures of that part of your setup would be great. I googled around for pictures of other Sidekick setups, but no one shows how they ran the wires to the antenna motor. Hell, I have half a mind to throw some powerpoles on that bitch and call it a day, but I think the wires are too small to crimp.
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Jun 18, 2008 04:52
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Epicenter posted:oooo. On a hunch, I hooked up the antenna jack to the TV-style coax jack on the wall. I wasn't sure if it went to a cable box or the huge TV antenna. Turns out it's the antenna-- and probably an amplifier boosting the signal. I'm hearing LOTS of stuff in Japanese now. A few pictures of your setup, if possible, would probably help us give you some pointers on setting up your rig / antennas. Also, NEVER, EVER transmit without being hooked up to an antenna that you're sure is appropriate for the band you're tuned to (or worse, transmitting without any antenna at all). Doing this will reflect power from your finals right back into them. If they're tubes, your tubes will get fried and need to be replaced. If they're transistors, well, just hope that they still make new ones of the type, or consider your radio TX bricked. Newer radios will try to dial back the power before you blow up your rig, but older radios have no such safeguard.
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Jun 18, 2008 14:12
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Epicenter posted:There is a giant heating unit on my ceiling. No idea if it'd be usable at all as an antenna. I doubt it because it's in a big (probably grounded) enclosure. The building seems extremely poor for radio reception; it's mostly cinderblock/cement, I think with iron rebar. Speaking of faraday cages, that wide-open computer chassis on your desk probably isn't doing you any favors with respect to RFI. If you can close it off, that might help you out some.
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Jun 19, 2008 09:30
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Hellooooo faraday cage.
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Jose Pointero posted:Are you sure there's no AM mode on that radio? I haven't been in the hobby for long, but every radio I've seen thus far has had AM. And if it really doesn't; then you're gonna be missing out on a lot of the non-ham stuff that makes SWL so interesting Not necessarily. The sidebands of most AM transmissions (excluding weird poo poo like VSB) are mirror images of each other, so the proper-side SSB receiver should catch most AM activity without much of a problem, just with more fine-tuning required. I've listened to shortwave AM broadcasts in SSB more than a couple times, because i found them to be more noise-resistant than AM mode.
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Jun 21, 2008 10:29
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TetsuoTW posted:Well, I'm now registered for this Saturday's US licensing test, one of 77 people testing in Taiwan's first ever such session, apparently. And I'm really amazed already at the ham community - I met a bunch of guys from the Chinese Taipei Amateur Radio League tonight, and they were awesome (hell, there was even a dude roughly my age there, which was a surprise), and I found out the the VE's handling Saturday's exam are all friends of the QSL manager (a Japanese guy) flying in from Japan on their own dime to help out. That is extremely awesome. Good luck on the tests! Given that it's going to be Field Day in the US, and because the session's so large, I wonder if they'll be bringing out some rigs to listen to the added activity on the bands... could be a fun time. quote:And so now that I'm set for this test, I have to ask - is the General exam much harder than Tech? I'm definitely sitting the Tech exam, but I figure since I don't know when the next session'll be, I might as well go for General at the same time, but since I've only got until Saturday and I haven't studied for that one, I don't really know. The General isn't a great deal harder than the Tech, and I know you've probably picked up a fair bit of knowledge about propagation and stuff from SWLing, so I would give it a shot. You might surprise yourself. Maybe look at a couple practice exams and see how you do, but not before you're confident that you can nail down the Tech exam, of course.
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Jun 24, 2008 14:54
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Looks like the thread's been stagnant a bit lately, so I'll throw out a question. How many of you guys are into scanning VHF/UHF? Stuff like commercial and public safety frequencies. I've been toying with the notion of getting a scanner down the line, since they're a lot better suited to the purpose than an HT or a multimode ham rig. Anyway, for those of you in the scanning arena, what's the hot gear these days? It looks like you can't beat the Uniden Bearcat BCD396T for portable trunk-tracking scanners... and for $500, I would hope so!  What's the difference between the desktop units and the handheld ones, feature-wise? Is there a desktop unit similar to the feature set of the 396T?P.S. anyone participating in Field Day this weekend? I'll probably be monitoring on and off, but I don't have any plans to actually set up anywhere with a club, mostly because no one's around here for the summer.
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Jun 25, 2008 22:43
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blugu64 posted:The hamsexy guys I chatted with had some good things to say about it, though they also mentioned that it couldn't hold a candle to their $2k Motorola radios I'm sure you're just being facetious, but I seriously hope that someone wasn't actually suggesting that some sort of Motorola portable / land-mobile radio would make a better trunk-tracking scanner than, oh, I dunno, a TRUNK-TRACKING SCANNER? But then again I've never met the hamsexy crew.
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Jun 26, 2008 04:00
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I personally own
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Jonny 290 posted:Yep, they basically run six radios in their car, one for each service. It can get a little ridiculous. $500 Can't justify that at all right now. How does the "close call" feature work for homing in on nearby signals? That sounds like one of the nicest upsells to the unit, being able to pick out transmissions as they're happening in front of you.
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Jun 26, 2008 05:13
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So I thought the bands would be packed for Field Day, but in the limited time I've had to scan around, I haven't heard much of anything outside of the usual repeater activity. What gives? Are you guys hearing anything in your areas?
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Jun 29, 2008 19:11
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mwdan posted:Was this for the entire event, or just after your post? Since you posted after FD was over. Nah, I had checked on Saturday afternoon but was surprised not to hear anything. Even checked 2-meter SSB but I couldn't pull anything out. There were a lot of thunderstorms through this area, so I wouldn't be surprised if local activity had to cease, but I was expecting to hear at least a few voice QSOs on HF.
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Jun 30, 2008 18:16
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Wow, no posts in almost a week. Anyone been up to anything interesting in the world of ham radio lately? Maybe some public safety events over the holiday weekend?
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Jul 7, 2008 22:42
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Hey folks, I haven't been around in awhile due to the joys of trying to find / move into a new place, but I just wanted to duck in to say hi, and to congratulate all the newly-minted hams. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things once the rig is unpacked again and I'm settled in. Unfortunately, the move is to another apartment, and you all know how limiting that can be as far as antennas go. In the meantime though, I eagerly anticipate pictures of Jonny 290's setup after he gets finished setting up the new QTH to look like an antenna forest... make us proud! See you all a bit down the road.
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Aug 3, 2008 07:54
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Jose Pointero posted:MR77 Speaking from personal experience, this antenna's a winner. It's dirt simple to set up, relatively small, but gets the job done. I did a "permanent" install in my car by just running the base over to one side of the car's trunk, and then guiding the cable to the center console under the door trim. Given that I only had an HT at the time, that worked out pretty well; my only complaint was that the cable run was just a bit too short for comfort. Otherwise, this is probably the best low-profile-but-capable magmount out there for 2m/440. Real permanent installs probably call for something more, but if you don't want to mod your car just to get on the air, this is a great antenna. It'll take 70 watts too, which is more than enough for almost any VHF/UHF mobile. By the way Jose, did you end up installing that little lock washer? I figure it can only go on in one place, but boy does it ever make the antenna look stupid where the aerial meets the base...
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Aug 7, 2008 02:58
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backstage posted:Cool, thanks for the second recommendation. I just ordered one - it sounds like exactly what I want. Right now my only radio is an HT, too. Hmm, I hope it's not too late to mention it, but the MR77 comes in both UHF and SMA-style connectors. Since you're on an HT, I can only imagine you'd want the SMA (even if your HT is BNC-style, since the adaptor would be lighter from SMA to BNC).
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Aug 7, 2008 19:11
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sklnd posted:
I've got just the thing you need to make this problem go away, provided you find that the convenience is worth the price (and given how much a dead battery sucks, it probably is worth the price): http://www.powerwerx.com/product.asp?ProdID=34689&CtgID=
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Aug 25, 2008 03:51
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Ten days without a post? drat...  I DXed a tropo-ducted canadian FM station with a car stereo today, gave me a bit of hope that the bands are turning around. How about you guys? Any good QSOs lately? License upgrades?
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Sep 24, 2008 01:09
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cvisors posted:Well the IC-703 was a success, using just ten watts, we managed to work Japan from south eastern Australia, using PSK31 on 20 metres. Nice job! I'm glad someone's able to get around the world in the midst of all this crappy propagation recently...
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Sep 29, 2008 19:10
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Eep, it's been quite awhile since I've been back in this thread, hasn't it? Chalk it up to STILL not getting the desktop rig unpacked, I suppose. Congrats to cvisors on picking up her ticket, and to anyone else I've probably missed since i last checked in here. Looks like the first post is in dire need of an update, so I'll do that soon too, promise. Three-Phase and others, I'll make sure to add you to the list of operators while I'm doing that. In other news, I finally got off my rear end a couple weeks ago and completed the ARRL/VEC open-book review to become an accredited volunteer examiner, so with any luck, I'll be receiving those credentials soon! If anyone else is interested in becoming a volunteer examiner (in this case for the ARRL), it's pretty simple. All you need to do is read the VE manual and complete an open-book review of the manual, and mail/fax it to the ARRL along with the application form and proof of your amateur credentials. The only "catch" is that to be a VE, you need to be at least a General-class amateur; to administer General- or Extra-level exams you must be an Extra. Either way, it's a great thing to have if you're at all interested in helping others get into the hobby. Here's the link to the VE manual page: http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/vemanual/index.html One more thing, while I'm contemplating a first-post makeover, does anyone have any suggestions for material you'd like to see added to (or removed from) it? Let me know.
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Oct 18, 2008 22:22
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Whew, first post updated. We're up to 48 hams in this thread, and 7 new to the service since the thread started!
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Oct 18, 2008 23:32
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quote:MeLikeyTacos (23 hours ago) +1 Reply | Spam Well-played, goon...
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Oct 25, 2008 22:42
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Updated the OP last night to add the recent thread check-ins / upgrades. We've officially passed 50 hams! So, how's everyone doing? Three new members in my local club passed their Tech exams this past weekend, with another couple upgrading!  Fresh meat is always cause for celebration...
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Nov 10, 2008 21:03
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wolrah posted:Just got back from taking the test. Passed Tech, missed General by two. Having done no studying except a few runs through the AA9PW practice test I'm pretty happy with that. I'll be checking the FCC daily until I see my name pop up. Congratulations! Make sure to let us know when your call shows up in the ULS database so I can post it in the OP (unless you'd prefer not, of course). ReD_DaWn posted:Yea thats what I thought, hopefully over winter break and the summer I can get into packet and decoding weather satellites. I just need to figure out a good way to install my 2m mobile in my car. Remember that because it's one of the submersible Yaesus, you'll need the CT-91 breakout cable to connect the HT to a TNC, unless you find one that was designed specifically to mate with that (annoying) 7R jack. Other than that, it's dirt simple once you have the adapter.
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Nov 17, 2008 05:36
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wow... this may be one of the most WTF incidents I've ever seen in ham radio: Amateur Radio Bomb in Aylesbury
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Nov 23, 2008 01:41
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Sniep posted:Wow - This thread doesn't move very much, does it?! Congrats! Let us know when your call gets posted 
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Nov 23, 2008 01:42
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Congrats on getting your (physical) ticket! That said, I would blur out my personal information in that photo if I were you... but hey, it's a free country. Good timing on your part too, I'm updating the OP as we speak to reflect your new call, as well as Sniep's successful exams.
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Nov 25, 2008 09:46
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Sniep posted: quote:Sniep, from the radio UNDerground in california checking in...... KI6UND! Got my call sign in ULS tonight! I'll add it now
McRib Sandwich fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Nov 28, 2008 |
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Nov 25, 2008 10:03
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TNLTRPB posted:I got that information from here, but I can't make any claims about it. I only have VHF equipment and therefore haven't needed to learn the "standard" 70cm frequencies. Sniep is right that 446.000 MHz is the 70cm calling frequency (for FM voice). 432.100 MHz is in fact another calling frequency — for CW transmissions. A lot of the lower part of the US 70cm amateur allocation gets used for other modes like CW, SSB and even amateur fast-scan TV, which is why a number of FM-only HTs don't bother enabling transmit in the lower part of that allocation. Most HTs can easily be freebanded into that range though, should you need to access it for some reason. Also sup fellow hams, it's been awhile since I've popped into the thread. How's everyone's holiday season going?
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Dec 24, 2008 12:19
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TNLTRPB posted:I figured you'd have moved by now. At any rate, I think you'll enjoy it in the city to which you're headed. Hey, good idea about the IRC channel, I'll go ahead and add that in now. As for ham radio, propagation seems to be pretty bad, and no one wants to do a drat thing related to roofs or antennas while winter's going on, so I haven't been up to much at all. Just looking forward to warmer weather for now...
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Jan 25, 2009 05:19
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cvisors posted:well a crazy weekend, and a day i'm so happy i had all my radio gear. Wow, that's terrible. Glad to hear that you and yours are safe, that's obviously the most important thing by far. Events like this, where being able to hear public safety frequency chatter can advise and potentially save lives, is why I wish there weren't more municipalities (in the US at least) going to trunked, or even trunked + encrypted radio. Trunking I can sort of understand, since it at least makes more efficient use of existing spectrum, but encrypted traffic seems totally unnecessary except for maybe special tactical police units. Gnomad posted:If you listen at the beginning of a session, you'll hear that one station is calling another station, although everyone can tune in and recieve it is still one station working another. It wouldn't be legal to say "KL5A sending Robot 80" without having a particular station on the other end. That would be broadcasting. You still have to CQ if there isn't a net already or call a break if you want to join in and send. I feel like there may be a little more leniency for FSTV than that, if one of the largest local repeater clubs around here can get away with a straight-up broadcast of the Amateur Radio Newsline every week with utter impunity. Has anyone else ever heard that aired on their local repeaters before? It boggles the mind that people are cool with tying up a repeater with ham radio "news" for several tens of minutes... there's no way it qualifies as anything other than broadcasting to my mind, it's a pre-recorded program and it's certainly not intended to be two-way communications. Yet all the repeater jockeys around here seem to love it. I guess that's what happens when you're running Windows 95 and have no way to actually download and play a podcast... /rant
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Feb 9, 2009 11:45
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nmfree posted:It's perfectly legal to do this in the US. This is the rule that allows the ARRL to broadcast bulletins over HF every day, as well. That's a pretty darn vague definition, don't you think? I mean, what's stopping every other ham out there from drawing up their own "bulletins" (aka news shows, effectively) and running them? I always took that rule to apply more to general announcements, not so much prerecorded and redistributed news items. I don't really even have it in for Amateur Radio Newsline or anything, I actually read them on QRZ occasionally. It just doesn't strike me that the program reasonably falls within the intent of what transmissions that bulletin clause is supposed to be used for.
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Feb 10, 2009 07:20
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Hummer Driving human being posted:I took and passed my Technician exam yesterday. I don't have a radio and live in an apartment complex. What should I do? Congrats on getting your ticket! As far as radios are concerned, the first radio you get is going to depend on what you want to do with ham radio. Most people here usually end up buying a handheld as their first radio. Handhelds will TX at about 5 watts on anywhere from 1-4 ham bands in the VHF/UHF allocations, which primarily makes them useful for local communication. Short range point-to-point, talking on repeaters, things like that. Most of the units sold today also have a significantly larger receive range, so (depending on the model) you can listen to aircraft AM band, VHF/UHF public safety, marine band, etc. The primary advantage of the portables is portability (duh). I use mine several times a year at public events like marathons and races, where safety communications are often provided on a volunteer basis by hams. If you want to talk to the world, you can still do that on a portable that's linked through an internet repeater system. Most hams, though, are still using good old HF frequencies, for which you'll need a desktop or mobile HF rig (and much bigger antennas). The features on modern HF rigs are frankly too numerous to mention here, your best bet is reading all the eham.net rig reviews, QST reviews, and the radio manuals themselves. Any modern HF rig that's worth its salt will be all-mode, meaning it can do CW, LSB/USB, AM, FM, and digital modes. Most will put out 100 watts, some will have antenna tuners or power supplies built-in. Read everything you can and ask lots of questions, you'll be very well-informed at the end of the day. That was a lot of words, so how about a few quick recommendations. If it were me buying right now, easily the best HT for the price is the Yaesu FT-60R. It's a VHF/UHF rig with solid performance and a respectable amount of features for an exceptional price. I also like the Yaesu VX-7R, which used to be Yaesu's top of the line radio but just got supplanted by the new VX-8R. That means the 7R is getting cheaper, but it still has a metric fuckton of features, including 500kHz - 900MHz receive, and dual simultaneous receivers. For desktop / mobile HF, there are tons of options, really too many to make blanket recommendations for. Icom, Yaesu, and Kenwood are the big manufacturers, with others like Elecraft and Ten-Tec also making very good HF radios. If you just want One Radio, i.e. a single unit that will cover all modes and bands, look at the Yaesu FT-857, FT-897, Icom IC-706MkIIG, IC-7000, and Kenwood TS-2000, in ascending order of price. All those rigs are HF/VHF/UHF all-mode, with varying amounts of bells and whistles. Anyway, just keep asking questions as they come up, the hams in this thread will be more than happy to help you get your first rig! McRib Sandwich fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Feb 17, 2009 |
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Feb 17, 2009 16:24
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Man, it would be nice if I could tune around on the ham bands without immediately hearing some stereotypical poo poo... but of course I catch a QSO on 14.275 USB between two guys talking about the number of guns they have, and how one of them enjoys taking part in some CQB airsoft-sounding BS HAM RADIO Anyway, I should get serious about getting on the air this spring. I'd love to try some digital modes sometime down the line. What are all you HF nerds up to?
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Mar 27, 2009 15:04
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 12:18 |
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Prince of Dicks posted:I'm studying for my tech license and from what I've read in this thread it looks like just about all the HTs from Icom and Yaesu are pretty good? I'm leaning toward getting the VX-8R as my first radio, or the Icom IC-91A/IC-91AD (not sure if I should spring for the D-Star), and the Icom IC-92AD. Anyone have an experience with any of them? Like nmfree said, D-Star is sort of a non-starter if you're not in an area where it's already being used on the frequencies that those HTs can talk on, so definitely keep that in mind. There's a D-Star repeater in my area, but I suspect it's in the 23cm band, and I have no idea how many people use it. It's probably RACES- / ARES-geared, anyway. Right now, I don't think D-Star is worth paying more for an HT with the capability. As for the rigs you mentioned. The VX-8R is packed to the gills with features, and has a price to match that. Initial reviews of the radio have been pretty favorable. If you want 80% of the features in a slightly older radio, the 7R still gives you four TX bands, dual simultaneous receive, waterproofing, and super-wide receive coverage for a lower price. What you get in the 8R for the extra cost is the ability to do APRS (GPS speaker-mic not included), bluetooth headsets, and some other bells and whistles. I own the 7R and I really like it. I've played with the 8R and it seems like another solid Yaesu radio. I'm also a big fan of the simplicity of the FT-60R, and its rock-bottom price doesn't hurt at all. The Icom T7H is a comparable rig to the 60R, and is a staple in a lot of radio clubs. Both are cheap, durable, and get the job done. The bottom line: If you're a gadget nerd, look at any of the Yaesu 6R, 7R, 8R models and also the Kenwood TH-F6A. I'd recommend comparable Icom radios if I knew their product lines better, but I don't. If you want a great no-nonsense dual-band HT, look at the Yaesu FT-60R and the Icom T7H (bearing in mind that the T7H "Sport" edition doesn't come with a rechargeable battery, it's BYOB).
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Mar 29, 2009 12:11
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