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Prince of Dicks posted:Are there any stores online anyone recommends or that I should avoid? I know in photography there are tons of places out of NYC that are masters of the bait and switch, is the ham radio retail world the same way or are they all pretty legit? Ham Radio Outlet, Amateur Electronic Supply, Gigaparts, and Universal Radio are all well-respected dealers in the US. I've personally ordered from HRO and AES and have had no problems with either company. If you do end up getting the 8R, keep in mind that it's still in high demand since it just hit the street a couple months ago, and dealers are having a hard time keeping them on the shelves.
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Mar 30, 2009 17:58
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Hey fellow hams, it's been an age since I've checked in on this thread, I haven't really even been around on the forums for a couple months now. Apologies to everyone that's added their callsign since then, I'll have to backtrack a few pages and see where we left off. Anyway, is anyone in here going to be operating a station for Field Day? If so, tell us your station callsign / gridsquare / station class, maybe we'll catch you on the air this weekend!
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Jun 27, 2009 01:01
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I finally posted a much-needed update to the list of hams in the OP, so those of you that have gotten your callsign or upgrade since page 18 or so, you should finally be listed. We're up to 69 hams in a little over a year since the thread was started, and 16 of those are new hams! By the way, if you don't see yourself listed in the OP but you'd like to be added, do let me know. There were a couple of you that posted in the thread where it was unclear if you just owned some ham gear for RXing or if you're actually a ham operator. If you're missing from the list, shoot me a line in reply or PM so I can add you.
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Jun 28, 2009 08:01
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Dolemite posted:Welp, That really sucks. Obviously the best course of action here is to buy a small adjacent lot next to the house you want, and immediately erect a massive ham radio tower to drive down property values in the area. Oh, and start causing massive RFI to all the TVs in the neighborhood.
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Jul 3, 2009 21:28
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So, we're moving out of this current apartment and renting a bigger apartment instead. This sucks. So much for a shack.
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Just updated the OP with the new check-ins on this page. I believe that puts us at over 70 operators in the thread now... I really never expected to see anywhere close to that number of callsigns in the OP. Thanks to all of you for stopping in to say hi!
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Jul 9, 2009 03:46
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nmfree posted:True, but in general it's considered appropriate to contact the VEs ahead of time so they can plan ahead for accommodations (large print tests, someone to read the questions/answers out loud) they might have to make, especially in light of the doctor's note clause in the rule. I'm not surprised they turned him away, and personally I don't think they did anything wrong-- what if there was no place they could go to administer an oral test? They couldn't just do that in the same room as the other test takers. Ditto this, any responsible VE team will make sure to specify in their public notice that disabilities will be accommodated, provided there is prior notice given so that they can know specifically what needs to be prepared for any examinee with special needs. Then again, if this was at some sort of event where they were expecting a large amount of people to take the test, perhaps they should've been prepared to accommodate at least some more common disabilities, like blindness / deafness. As a current VE, I feel for that team; it can be difficult for a small volunteer group to prepare for something like that without prior notice. Anyway, I hope that doesn't discourage your friend from getting his ticket, just make sure that the VE team is on the same page with him next time around and I'm sure it'll go smoothly.
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Aug 26, 2009 07:36
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IonClash posted:Yep, I've been using the same antenna and learned from the same video. I would recommend good sat tracking software as well. I've been using my vx-8r for this, and it's fantastic. For those of you lucky enough to own the VX-8R (or any other APRS-capable rig, for that matter), you might want to give a try to hitting the ISS's APRS digipeater sometime. With a 5-watt HT you'll be in the mud on low-angle passes, but if you wait for a high-elevation pass, you can get a couple packets through with enough tries, even on the stock rubber duck. All you need to change to beacon through the ISS is to make your digi path "ARISS" instead of the terrestrial "WIDE1-1, WIDE2-1"-style path. Remember also that the APRS digis in space don't use the standard 144.390 MHz that APRS uses on the ground; use 145.825 MHz instead. Since it's still APRS on VHF, for all but the highest passes you shouldn't need to compensate for Doppler shift — just leave the radio on 145.825 through the whole pass. It sounds kinda corny, but there's something almost magical about the first time you digipeat APRS through a satellite, especially when you log onto ariss.net / aprs.fi afterwards and see that your most recent over-the-air path came from the freaking International Space Station. It's definitely one of those "hell yeah" moments in ham radio. As for tracking satellite passes, http://amsat.org will calculate pass times and elevations of most currently-operational ham sats for you based on your lat/lon or your gridsquare; another awesome online sat tracker is N2YO, http://n2yo.com. If you want to read a bit more into the "how" of APRS over ISS, there is also a pretty resourceful presentation about it that you can check out here: http://www.fars.k6ya.org/docs/aprs_via_iss.pdf -- In other news, the OP is updated with new hams and thread checkins since late summer. The official tally at this point is 80 hams!
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Oct 30, 2009 09:32
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Well hey there friends, it's apparently been the better part of a year since I've checked into this thread... feelin kinda guilty about that. I'm updating the new checkins and new licenses for the OP as we speak, and then I've got about a dozen pages to catch up on. How's everyone doing? It's summer now, anyone finding that they can work sporadic E or tropo-ducting on the higher bands? I remember pulling in APRS beacons from several states away this time last year... it's pretty cool how APRS can double as a propagation beacon system like that, if you think about it!
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Jun 21, 2010 00:11
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Finally updated the OP with recent checkins. Man, you guys have been busy! It looks like the thread got some new life breathed into it when it moved to DIY, which is great. Anyway, at this point, we've officially had over 100 hams drop into the thread! There are definitely a few of you out there that sound like you're hams, but haven't mentioned it in your posts. If your name is missing from the OP, let me know!
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Jun 21, 2010 03:14
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 09:46 |
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Jose Pointero posted:
Perish the thought! I've just been busy as heck in the real world. I didn't even notice that Field Day passed by this year... oops. I haven't been on the air much lately, sorry to say. On another note, though, whoever ended up moving this into DIY made a great decision. It definitely seems like the thread is getting updated more frequently, which is always a good thing.
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Jun 30, 2010 01:06
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He's back! Where ya been man? Glad to see you're not an SK!