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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Amateur radio: Not much going on, other than the motherfucking satellite

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

McRib Sandwich posted:

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

There's still some very popular software out there that is still best run on Windows 3.1!!

Not to mention the large amount of software that is still DOS based!

# ¿ Jun 6, 2008 20:21

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 02:47

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

There's a really good thread going over at eHam right now, for those who haven't seen it. It's titled "Endless Fun in This Hobby", and for once, everyone is getting along talking about how much they like being a ham and what they still want to learn/do before they die.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2008 07:49

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Welp, it looks like the FCC isn't as juvenile as I am, and granted my vanity call application. :shobon:

:shobon:

Goodbye KC9GJC, hello K9CUF.

edit: Spell it backwards.

nmfree fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Jun 14, 2008

# ¿ Jun 14, 2008 21:17

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Snapshot posted:

What's the name of that connector by the manual, the one that's a red plug into a white one? I need a few of those, and I've been having a hell of a time finding them.

I think this is what you're looking for.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2008 20:14

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Dolemite posted:

I couldn't find anything else that was in the General class bands.

Everyone's getting ready for Field Day next weekend, so I'm not surprised there weren't many people on.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2008 09:26

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jonny 290 posted:

The bands will be jam-packed top to bottom. Don't worry about not getting any love in your segment.

This. Seriously, Jonny 290 and I are probably going to be the only two hams in the country that won't be participating in Field Day this year. (I have a wedding next weekend and will be away from home the whole time.)

Jonny 290 posted:

Question: We have chainlink fence surrounding our back yard. If I erect an HF vertical with buried radials, will the fence hurt? Do I want to investigate elevated radials?

I don't think that the fence would be a big deal, unless it's right next to the fence. I don't know if this would work, but I would try having buried radials and the vertical on 10' of pipe (or something) to get it at least over the fence and possibly up over the house as much as I could.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2008 19:14

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

NYIslander posted:

Well, I just got General here at The Last HOPE but only got 19/50 for Extra so I'm good for HF now so what would be good as a portable ham radio? I see Icom and Kenwood around here but I just would want a second opinion.

Portable as in H/T or as in the Icom IC-703 or Yaesu FT-817?

# ¿ Jul 21, 2008 05:00

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Hartman posted:

Yeah, the waiting sucks. I'm re-searching the FCC site about every other hour today. I am getting a bunch of stuff around the house done to waste time between searches.

FYI the page only gets updated once a day, in the afternoon IIRC.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2008 03:09

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Hartman posted:

Wahoo! I just got my callsign! I'm KJ4FMG!

Now, is the VX-7R a good starter HT?

I think there's at least two people in this thread who have that and they like them.

I was looking at them today, now that I sold my broken FT-100, but I think I'm going to get another HF radio, probably an FT-817 or IC-703.

edit: and congratulations!

# ¿ Jul 30, 2008 02:25

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

TetsuoTW posted:

Speaking of Yaesu HTs, is there any way to get an adapter for the bloody screw-in headset socket on a 6R?

The CT-91 Mic adapter is what you're looking for; the 4-conductor plug is actually sort of standard for some PDAs, so you might be able to find something cheaper (than $13) that will work, but IDK if the screw part would get in the way.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2008 06:26

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jose Pointero posted:

Is PSK popular on 30 meter? I thought most people used it on 40 and 20.

30M is pretty much nothing but PSK31 and CW, from what I've heard on the air.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2008 02:13

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

mwdan posted:

Fixed that for you. That's the only thing allowed on 30m at all.

CW is allowed on all Amateur allocations in the United States.

edit: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/allocate.html

edit 2: except for 60 Meters, of course.

nmfree fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Aug 18, 2008

# ¿ Aug 18, 2008 05:55

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jose Pointero posted:

And all summer I've been hearing activity on 10 meter in my car and occasionally joining in; but this past couple weeks I've been listening for beacons and CQ'ing almost every day and there's just nothing there. Get off your rear end, freakin' Sun!

That was almost all Sporadic E activity that you were hearing this year; from what I could tell this year was pretty good Es-wise. The Propnet people ran a study this summer (since their network is almost tailor-made to track these things), and if you look around you should be able to find some of their results (if that sort of thing interests you).

# ¿ Sep 9, 2008 04:43

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Someone on the local repeater (NE Wiscosnin) reported talking to somewhere in Pennsylvania the other day :unsmith:

:unsmith:

# ¿ Sep 24, 2008 02:11

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jose Pointero posted:

I have had several conversations with truck drivers who have those jacked-up 10 meter radios though. They tell me "usually the hams get pissed off when they hear us up here" and I say "well they're not loving listening anyway, so who gives a poo poo".

Ugh, the least you could do is tell them to get back below 28 MHz, where they belong. I don't care if people freeband, just keep that crap off the ham bands.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2008 20:58

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jonny 290 posted:

I still have about 3000 feet of fence wire, so I'm thinking about splurging for a balun and some ladder line and putting up a full wave 80 meter loop around my back yard. I have trees to string it from and can probably get it about 30 feet up which won't be too bad.

Loop as in vertical loop or as in rhombic?

# ¿ Oct 5, 2008 21:49

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jose Pointero posted:

There is a counterpoise wire running off of there, but you can't really see it in this pic.

You can see it in this close-up shot, though. It's just 16' 6" of 16 gauge stranded speaker wire hose-clamped onto the coax connector. It then runs down the tree.

I'm sorry for having to constantly be a know-it-all, but I gotta ask: What's the counterpoise for? The End-Fedz website calls their antennas "1/2 wave dipoles", which are naturally balanced designs, and don't need a counterpoise. v :shobon:

:shobon:

v

Jose Pointero posted:

Then it goes about 4 inches into the ground at the base of the tree, and runs off to the left.

Are you planning on leaving the tywraps on the tree? Besides being not good for the tree, tywraps have a habit of disintegrating kind of quickly if they're not outdoor rated. (UV light breaks the plastic down really easily.)

Jose Pointero posted:

I tell ya what, I'm used to having about S5-S8 of noise when using HF. After hooking all this up, I turned on my radio, tuned to 20 meter, and I was reading S1! I was thinking "that can't be right, I probably messed this thing up somewhere". But then I started tuning around the band, and I am getting BOOMING signals from all over the US and South America. I used to only be able to hear about 3 or 4 conversations in the band at any given time...but now I can hear that the band is packed! Conversations everywhere, and PSK-31 is coming in strong and plentiful.

That's awesome! I wish I could get some wire up in the clear, there's tons of noise where I live

.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2008 19:23

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jonny 290 posted:

Par End feds are not dipoles. These are end fed half wave antennas. Instead of feeding at the current max, you feed at the voltage max (the end). Current max is in the middle still, and these antennas can and will use the coax feedline as the counterpoise.

See, this is what I didn't quite understand. Because the manufacturer (incorrectly) calls them dipoles, and because I didn't see a good picture of the antenna last night (and I'm :saddowns:

:saddowns:

), I thought that they were like a wire version of an A99, where one half of the antenna is coaxial, with the feed running down the center and actually feeding a true dipole in the middle.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2008 02:54

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

The Jizzer posted:

Can anyone give me a ballpark estimate of what it's worth?

(Full description - HTX-242 2-meter VHF Transceiver, 45 watts, Catalog #19-1126)

Less than/ around US $50, from a quick look around at eHam and eBay.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2008 02:24

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

McRib Sandwich posted:

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...

I don't remember if I posted this in the thread yet and :effort:

:effort:

, but I got the ARRL Extra Class Manual in the mail last week (with my copy of Passport 2009)... so much math :sigh:

:sigh:

, don't know if I'll ever remember all of the formulas.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2008 00:50

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Here's something out of left-center field: if you watch the show Storm Chasers on Discovery, the driver of the TIV/TIV2 is a ham! (He only gives his call in his sig, but it's an interesting post nonetheless.)

# ¿ Nov 12, 2008 12:04

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Also, did anyone here take part in the FMT? I'm pissed because I originally misread the date to be tomorrow, but it was tonight and I had dart league.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2008 11:55

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Thought I'd pass along this tidbit for anyone who's interested:

quote:

HAM-MAG is a french HAM magazine born in september 2008. Convinient, free, quick informations and weekly issues made this success. In two months, we have about 3,000 subscribers all over the world for the french version.

Now we have a new challenge.

To make this magazine in English version.

But this is your magazine and we need you! Send us all informations, as DX, homebrew, technical, meetings, etc. To share informations is our goal.

The subscription is free and every week, you'll receive your issue in your Email, without ads or pop-up. You have just to click on "subscrition". And it's totally FREE !

73's Vincent - F5SLD

http://ham.france.free.fr/crbst_17.html

TNLTRPB posted:

I have several friends with the 7R radios, and they haven't had any trouble out of them. Its ability to cover so wide of a frequency range makes it a decent radio for what it costs.

The wideband coverage (in radios in general) is a double-edged sword, I've found; the wide-open front end necessary can also cause a bunch of intermod, if the rest of the radio isn't designed carefully.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2008 23:32

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

McRib Sandwich posted:

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

angrytaxman posted:

It is strange though that such blatant broadcasting is allowed on a weekly basis. It's not even like we really have a round table about what we just heard after each show.

quote:

�97.111 Authorized transmissions.

(b) In addition to one-way transmissions specifically authorized elsewhere in this Part, an amateur station may transmit the following types of one-way communications:

(1) Brief transmissions necessary to make adjustments to the station;

(2) Brief transmissions necessary to establishing two-way communications with other stations;

(3) Telecommand;

(4) Transmissions necessary to providing emergency communications;

(5) Transmissions necessary to assisting persons learning, or improving proficiency in, the international Morse code;

(6) Transmissions necessary to disseminate information bulletins;

(7) Transmissions of telemetry.

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.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2009 00:36

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Crazedscot posted:

I haven't read through this whole thread so I apologise if what i'm about to ask has been covered, but is there still any packet radio activity among the community?

Packet specifically? There's some, but not a whole lot. However, now that many hams have embraced Windows 95 and computers, there is a ton of activity on RTTY and PSK31. It's gotten to the point where some DXpeditions will bring a laptop along specifically to work RTTY (and for electronic logging). On weekends here in the Midwest US I can sometimes hear literally dozens of concurrent QSOs on 20 meters. PSK31 is neat, too, because a lot of people only use 5-10 watts and can work lots of DX with a simple dipole/doublet.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2009 03:18

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Crazedscot posted:

Well, not necessarily packet specifically, anything I can get involved in would be great. PSK31 sounds interesting, i'll have to look into that.

The ARRL's PSK31 page is a decent starting place, and a good piece of software to play around with is Ham Radio Deluxe if you still have a radio; the Digital Master part of the software package is their multimode digital reader/interface.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2009 03:57

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

McRib Sandwich posted:

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

Heh, that's all they were talking about? That's pretty tame for 14.275. (Of course, I like to listen to the Possum retards on 3938 at night, so v :shobon:

:shobon:

v )

McRib Sandwich posted:

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?

Trying to figure out why my magnetic loop has an infinite SWR... :sigh:

:sigh:

# ¿ Mar 27, 2009 19:38

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

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?

Several people in the thread have VX-7R/VX-8Rs, and IIRC they seem to like them quite a bit. Actually, all the HTs you list are good, they all have good reviews over at eHam.

Personally, I'd only think about getting the D-Star if there's a repeater or a group of people already using it on 2M/70cm in your area; most D-Star activity is on 23cm (1200 MHz), which both of those HTs don't cover.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2009 00:22

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Prince of Dicks posted:

What exactly is D-Star? The guy at the local radio shop explained it to me but I've forgotten; it sounded like something that could grow in the future though.

It's basically a digital radio mode that can carry voice, data, or both, depending on the bandwidth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-STAR

# ¿ Mar 29, 2009 02:52

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

invision posted:

Heres a question: I'm a USAF Radio Maintainer, which means I get to play with cool poo poo like and . I'm not sure if being a radio tech in the military gives me any "Advantage" in getting my ham license, and it would be cool if someone could clear that up for me. [i.e. since i can clearly use a radio, do i get to skip the test and have them just hand me a license? etc etc]

You still have to take the tests, but with your background the electronics/theory stuff will be a piece of cake. All you'll probably have to learn is the rules/operating practices material, which is pretty easy anyway.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2009 22:37

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Phuzion posted:

Question though. When I put the Icom into scan mode, it stops at a few frequencies on the .00 mark, with some weird noise. For example, it stops at 152.00 every time it goes around. Any idea what it's picking up?

Paging systems of various types, mostly. For instance, the hospitals here still use VHF-based voice/data paging in and around their buildings.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2009 03:50

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Phuzion posted:

Just took my Technician test yesterday, passed with flying colors. I'm waiting for myself to show up in the ULS database now. Just curious, my CSCE has a misspelling of my first name, (first name is Christopher, and mine says Christophe, no R at the end). Is it the 605 form that I filled out that the FCC gets my name from, or the CSCE?

I'm sure that the VEs in the thread will correct me, but as far as I know they'll use whatever you put on Form 605.

# ¿ May 7, 2009 07:03

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Crash Bandicoot posted:

Not strictly ham related, but I figure some of you UK goons (like thehustler, who once threatened to sell my backpack ) can help me out here.

I have the opportunity to get my Grandad's old scanner.

The shortwave and scanner thread is over here -> http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2506872

# ¿ May 8, 2009 03:25

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

MullardEL34 posted:

I can't wait until the conditions on 10m really open up.

This is as good as 10M is going to be for a few years, since we're at the bottom of the solar cycle but at the top of the sporadic E season. If you don't already you may want to have your dipole broadside to North/South to take advantage of the propagation to the Southern Hemisphere. If you're interested in learning more about Es I'd suggest reading the paper put together by the Propnet people.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2009 08:34

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

TNLTRPB posted:

Why would you even own a VHF/UHF radio without a PL encoder? :psyduck:

Satellites
APRS
Packet
Simplex ragchewing/ monitoring 146.52
Digital Modes over FM

While it's true that everyone's first radio should have tones installed, there are plenty of uses for radios that don't have them installed.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2009 02:01

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Goob posted:

What kind of antenna setup do you guys run? I finally got a Yaesu FT-897. For VHF, I was thinking about building a cheap J-pole out of wire or copper pipe. For HF, I'm probably going to throw up a dipole of some sort.

I know i've posted this before, but this looks like a good design. (gonna have to break out the soldering torch one of these days...)

# ¿ Aug 6, 2009 18:21

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Nullsmack posted:

Can anyone help me build a WA5VJB "cheap-yagi" for 2-meters operation?

What do you need help with? The article is here, if that's what you're looking for.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2009 07:29

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Radnor posted:

Wow, seriously? That's ridiculous of them. Sounds like they were just being lazy about it. Examiners are required to accommodate people who have physical disabilities. From 97.509 (j)

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.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2009 22:07

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

causticfluids posted:

If I just get 144/440, that would pretty much mean spending 600+ dollars later for a HF transceiver.

Honestly, I think the best bang/buck these days comes from the all-in-one radios like the IC-706 and the FT-857 (especially used), since they're all-band and all-mode. While it's true that they're "Jack of all trades, master of none", I think that it's more useful when starting out to have something that can get your feet wet in as many aspects of the hobby as possible.

That's just my opinion, though, there's really no right or wrong answer; you should do whatever you want.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2009 23:46

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 02:47

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Itachi posted:

Alright, so I'm probably about to come into possession of a) A Kenwood TM-201A and a b) Kenwood TR-2600A, slightly before I get my actual license.

... Should I just kill myself now, or are these actually worth a drat?

They look alright, that mobile will need a tone board to work repeaters, but otherwise they look like solid beginner radios.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2009 21:35

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