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M3IIG listening through... I've only done a foundation license in the UK, and don't have any interest in doing anything higher than that due to my lack of electronics skills. I take my HT out with me when I go walking among our plentiful (but small) mountains with a local repeater and the calling frequency programmed in. Always handy if you get in trouble. I mostly do a lot of scanning and SWL with my gear, though, and very rarely transmit. Anyone else in the UK want to wake up and post?
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Apr 17, 2008 13:43
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Just wanted to pimp my HT. Kenwood F7E. Known as an F6A in America with slightly different bands (ie, has 1.25 meter which doesn't exist over here for amateurs in the UK.) It's a great little radio and I stuck a new UHF SMA antenna on it and I love it. I also have a stupidly long telescopic for SWL and low-band VHF stuff, and also a loop longwire that I use for really long wavelength stuff that I built myself. It's literally a 1 meter length of 50ohm coax with a plug on the end, then the 20 meter loop of wire is soldered from the centre core, then back to the shielding. If you disconnect the shielding end, you can really hear the difference, the interference goes up. The good thing about the loop is that I can disconnect one end, and string it wherever I like, wind it around something to make an antenna for a certain frequency, etc. Crude but effective.
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Apr 18, 2008 11:10
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happy purring catfish posted:The F6A has a very dedicated following here in the States. I never could get the hang of the menu, as it has a very different feel from my Yaesu, but apparently a great many people have an easier time navigating it. Yeah, I pick up lots of awesome stuff on HF from around the continent. Sadly the HAM usage on UHF is all but dead, and on VHF it's sporadic. If I'm going to be honest, I passed my licence exam because I thought it'd be cool, bought the radio, and have transmitted like twice in three years. But I do take it whenever I go adventuring in the mountains because it may well come in handy. I mostly use it for scanning, but it's nice to be able to transmit if needed.
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Apr 19, 2008 18:40
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Global688 posted:I do get to work with more stuff but thats more or less EHF and SHF which doesnt interest your hammys. You'd be surprised, there are quite a few people that use the amateur bands up in the gigahertz. Granted, the range is poo poo, but still.. Also, second LF info request 
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Apr 20, 2008 13:52
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There's a VLF submarine station near me, HMS Inskip it used to be called, but nowadays they have a new government agency that handles that, so it's called DCSA Inskip (this is North-West England) I saw some nice sites that talk about scanning VLF stuff, and they have some nice plots of the waveforms and whatnot.
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Apr 25, 2008 11:03
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McRib Sandwich posted:P.S. PROTIP: With an HT + mag-mount on your car, you can listen to fast food drive-thru window conversations while you're in the line. Drunk/stoned people at 2am = unlimited entertainment. You probably won't even need the mag-mount, a rubber duck antenna that came with the HT is more than sufficient.
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Apr 28, 2008 16:25
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McRib Sandwich posted:Not when the drive-thru speakerbox transmits on 30 MHz. Why there are 10-meter channels set aside for business use is completely beyond me. Oh, yeah, that is kind of stupid. Although, that's range dependent. If you're really close to it it wouldn't be that much of a problem.
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Apr 29, 2008 13:25
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In a similar vein, old cordless telephones operating on 31MHz or so are lots of fun Might be UK only, though.
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Apr 30, 2008 15:56
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Just scan from 240-270 FM and see what happens. Occasionally you'll get military out on manoeuvres, and sometimes pirates piggy backing off the birds. Or, do what I do, and wait till there's a shuttle mission on. Then you'll get lots of wonderful stations endlessly radiochecking as per the examples here: http://uhf-satcom.com/sounds/ Rescue birds and ground stations in the US and Europe (TAL sites) are heard. Lots more info here: http://uhf-satcom.com/uhf/
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May 6, 2008 00:27
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I wonder if they're allowed to use Marine Band on shore like that. I mean, sure, you have shore facilities such as ports and terminals and the coastguards using it, but anyone else? They'd be unlicensed, surely, right? I wouldn't think they'd really like people yapping on CH16 in case of emergencies. Were people moving to a free channel after initial contact or just treating it like a party line?
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May 15, 2008 23:24
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The hole being that you aren't allowed to use amateur frequencies for broadcast?
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Jun 9, 2008 16:47
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You COULD do it as a net. Would kinda be loopholeish, but it would work. Maybe.
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Jun 9, 2008 19:25
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ick pik posted:KC9FBI checking in here. Is that a vanity callsign or luck of the draw?
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Jun 18, 2008 13:37
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They very rarely listen to the airwaves because they are so busy. Any contacts are usually prearranged through NASA PAO. I haven't received the amateur stations, but I have received space-to-ground comms from the Russian Segment on something like 130 MHz.
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Aug 29, 2008 02:51
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I'm not sure how much harmonisation there is between countries, with regards to bandplans, so it might not be an idea to try and pick a frequency. Besides, it's not really good operating practice, is it? I would suggest using the standard calling frequencies and just using CQ GOON.
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Feb 8, 2009 23:04
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They do the same thing in the UK with the RSGB news.
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Feb 9, 2009 22:11
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And don't get me started on people who insist you use morse...
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Feb 10, 2009 11:29
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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? For reference, I'm in Summit County, Ohio, outside of Akron. As mentioned, those are almost certainly pagers at that frequency. You should get hold of the bandplans and then you'll be able to look quickly.
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Apr 21, 2009 16:40
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Crash Bandicoot posted:(like thehustler, who once threatened to sell my backpack Eh? Refresh my memory?
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May 9, 2009 18:25
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Crash Bandicoot posted:Blackpool goonmeet, I left a bunch of stuff at your house. I didn't collect it so you threatened to put it all on eBay, you big meanie Ohhh! What year was that? And didn't someone pick up your bag? Or something like that.
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May 9, 2009 18:48
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I've managed to open my local repeater from 25 miles away (tone bursting) with my stock antenna on my Kenwood F7E over 5 Watts. I know that's not really the same as chatting and having readable speech, but at the time I was really quite chuffed.
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Sep 4, 2009 10:04
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Phuzion posted:Antenna story That is loving awesome. I wonder how much better you'd get with an antenna that was tuned to 440 at that height?
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Apr 13, 2010 09:49
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Anyone in the UK wanna buy a Kenwood F7E and an assortment of antennas and also a protective case? £125 for the lot, there's an SMA to BNC adapter, a telescopic antenna for shortwave and two 70cm/2m antennas.
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May 13, 2010 11:56
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Found my Kenwood F7e in a drawer at home. Took it into work and scanned across the bands with my best rubber duck antenna attached. Net result: sweet gently caress all. Everything's on digital now on VHF/UHF, or pushing data over IP to cellular data terminal things. I proclaim the hobby dead (at least in the UK) - obviously there'll be stuff still on the amateur bands but I couldn't really devote the time to checking. Sad  Anyone in the UK want to buy my unit? It's modded to transmit out of band too!
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Jan 17, 2013 15:27
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Jonny 290 posted:Woo, congratulations! Been a while since I did my foundation, but I'm fairly sure there are one or two bands that are off-limits, but they may be experimental bands. Also you don't get to do RAYNET or anything but lollll
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Feb 14, 2013 10:36
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I'd like to sell my F7E if anyone is interested? It's been modded to transmit out of band, which is of course very naughty. But shh. Battery isn't in the best condition but you can get aftermarket ones. It's quite an old radio but very nice and I have a few other antennas to go with it. PTT button is a bit flakey but if you're using it for monitoring this isn't a major issue UK-based. Anyone? I'm not even sure what it's worth nowadays, eBay doesn't seem to have any for a comparison.
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Mar 1, 2013 10:50
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Video on BBC News Magazine today from a local club near me in Chorley, North West UK http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24917880
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Nov 13, 2013 12:24
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I’ve just bought a pixie kit and I’m having fun building it. I was wondering if the supplied transistors, an S8050 and S9018 would be the best NPN transistors to use? Would I get any better performance with a 2N2222 or something? I know I have to think about frequencies as well. I’m looking to improve the power output but fully appreciate that I can’t achieve miracles. thehustler fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Dec 13, 2019 |
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Dec 13, 2019 21:34
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Also, I love that on page 1 of this thread I complained that I’m not doing electronics and that it’s holding me back but now I’m designing PCBs. I’m trying to make a kind of “Megapixie” with everyone’s good mods in. Edit: oh. Well I thought it was page 1 thehustler fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Dec 14, 2019 |
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Dec 13, 2019 21:40
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Apologies for the 101 question, but I'm trying to find, very simply, the difference between an FM transmitter circuit and an AM transmitter circuit, but everything looks the same and there's less examples than you'd think. Literally just looking for oscillator, mic, mixer, antenna kinda thing. Is it the way the transistors are linked that determines the kind of modulation performed? My breadboard circuits don't work also - I am very sad. I know they are poo poo for RF for but basic hobby 30meter range stuff it should be ok. I have no real analysing tools other than a multimeter Reluctant to move to protoboard until I have something tested and working.
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May 14, 2020 11:56
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longview posted:Do you have any examples of what circuits you're looking at? Ooh. That’s interesting. I assumed it was the layout of the circuit that did it. Stuff like this: https://www.buildcircuit.com/simple-steps-for-making-fm-transmitter/
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May 14, 2020 14:24
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I think I’ll have to. I do have an SDR so can check the bands fairly easily. I’ve got some QRP designs to study too, still hoping to make an upgraded Pixie PCB but would love to get the basics down first. I thought I knew them but apparently not.
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May 14, 2020 19:21
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I totally understand what those signals are, just not how to get them out of the mixer transistor, one or the other.
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May 14, 2020 21:31
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NOW we’re getting there. Thanks guys, that gives me a good start on understanding this. Edit: welcome to the foundation club! ^
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May 15, 2020 10:53
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Just saw this on Reddit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glmwTb9NP5w
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Jun 2, 2020 15:36
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Half an hour calling CQ from a decently-open park in Edinburgh has convinced me that analogue VHF/UHF is dead over here. Everyone up here is all DMR and it doesn’t interest me at all, so I won’t be buying any kit for it. Anyone else despairing in the U.K. at all? Did I get back into all of this at the worst time? Last year I did SOTA and there are some local folk listening for that, but that’s few and far between. Maybe 4:30pm on a work day is the worst day to try, I could try one evening I guess.
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Jun 19, 2020 17:28
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Good job it’s summer! I’ll head out Sunday evening and see what happens. Edit: To be fair the DMR repeaters up here are busy at all times of the day thehustler fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Jun 19, 2020 |
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Jun 19, 2020 18:47
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GB3PR, but yep. Can’t hit that unless I go up on one of Edinburgh’s hills. GB3FF in Kelty isn’t bad but is offline right now. They were putting it back up but lockdown hit. You get a lot of mobile trucker and delivery driver types on Scottish 2M repeaters I’ve noticed. But apart from SOTA there’s no simplex at all really.
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Jun 20, 2020 08:26
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Horse Clocks posted:With the UK dropping the requirement to do an in-person practical, I took the opportunity and I got my my UK foundation license the other week Welcome! I’m a foundation too but the RSGB have now said they’ll do intermediate level exams too so I’m highly considering it. I don’t have much practical experience, basically none on HF. Maybe in the future but I’m primarily wanting to do this so I can put my own gear on the air, which foundations can’t do. I can reliably-ish pass test exams from some app but the current RSGB 2019 mock papers did kick my arse a bit. Where are you located?
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Aug 1, 2020 11:56
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I bought a portapack by accident instead of a hackrf  Just selected the wrong drop down on AliExpress. Absolutely livid. Anyone in the U.K. want one at cost? :-/
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Aug 10, 2020 20:08
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