Amateur Radio

[schüler]

Boy I know what you mean by the OM stuff. Going to attend my first Winter Field Day with them. Good thing I have other plans and people for the time and place.

Find a cable/frequency attenuation chart and choose the right feedline for your distance and environment. HF is relatively forgiving, UHF is revealing on cable attenuation.

I normally use Times Microwave LMR-400 (stationary/permanent) or LMR-400 UltraFlex (portable) cable for every serious operation run outdoor, above ground. Interesting to see hams spend a chunk of change on gear but skimp on $100 more for the right feedline for the job. Remember that attenuation works both ways - lossy on both transmit and received signals.

BuryFlex is also an option, better for harsh use or wet locations.

Sent from my VS835 using Tapatalk

[2xAGM114]

This is part of the reason I enjoy HRCC, K6ARK and HR 2.0 shows so much. It's ham radio for guys my age and not my grandparents. There seems to be an element of that OM group that believes if you didn't pass the 5 WPM novice code in the 70s and build a Heathkit crystal when you were 10, you're not worth their time or help. It's also part of the reason I believe ARRL is flailing trying to redefine itself for this generation of hams. Radios are flying off the shelves in the wake of COVID, Amazon and the like can't keep them in stock, and yet ARRL's membership per capita is the lowest it's ever been.

Chris, to answer your question it's about 30 feet from the back for the garage out to the lawn area where I would put an antenna. I'm looking seriously at a IC-7300 and a DX Commander classic vertical. I don't think a permanent dipole will fly with the neighbors.

BuryFlex sounds interesting. We're in a wet/icy environment for most of the winter.

[mtnbkr]

This is part of the reason I enjoy HRCC, K6ARK and HR 2.0 shows so much. It's ham radio for guys my age and not my grandparents. There seems to be an element of that OM group that believes if you didn't pass the 5 WPM novice code in the 70s and build a Heathkit crystal when you were 10, you're not worth their time or help. It's also part of the reason I believe ARRL is flailing trying to redefine itself for this generation of hams. Radios are flying off the shelves in the wake of COVID, Amazon and the like can't keep them in stock, and yet ARRL's membership per capita is the lowest it's ever been.

I like those shows too, though HR2.0's "reviews" can be a bit lacking. I prefer K6ARK's build and operation videos. BTW, I have attempted his micro 9:1 unun antenna (the entire unun being built onto a BNC-female connector for use with a radio like the KX2). I got almost to the end and developed a fatal flaw. I need to try it again some day.

To be honest, amateur radio and OMs on the Internet are not what they are "in real life". I got my Tech when code was still a requirement to upgrade beyond that, then upgraded to General right after the code requirement was dropped. Ergo I'm the worst of the no-code hams. No OM I've met in person gave two shits about that, only that I was interested in radio and used good operating and technical practices.

The biggest problem with the ARRL is that they bet everything on the emcomm aspect of the hobby and keep beating the "when all else fails" drum. Both are outdated in today's communication reality. The focus should shift to the science, technology, and engineering elements of the hobby and why RF is so damn magical and cool.

Chris, to answer your question it's about 30 feet from the back for the garage out to the lawn area where I would put an antenna. I'm looking seriously at a IC-7300 and a DX Commander classic vertical. I don't think a permanent dipole will fly with the neighbors.

BuryFlex sounds interesting. We're in a wet/icy environment for most of the winter.

For the couple years I had a station at home (station was a Yaesu FT-817nd, Hustler 4BTV vertical for HF, and a homebrew groundplane antenna for local 2m repeater), I had a single 50' run of LMR-400 that ran from my station down to my basement, out of the house to the far corner of the back yard (townhouse, small yard). The coax was run inside the privacy fence between us and our neighbor, so no need to bury it. On HF, that was overkill. For VHF/UHF the losses were acceptable for that length run and what I intended to do on those bands from home, about 1.5dB.

The 7300 is a good radio. There's a reason Icom sold a ton of them. If I ever have another home station and wanted to run QRO, I would probably get one of those and never look back.

I don't have any hands-on with that antenna, but it seems to get good reviews. Callum is engaged and provides good support.

Chris

[JohnO]

I'm looking for some advice on what's good/new in the HT market. I haven't been on the air for years now. Last HT was an ICOM 02AT I have somewhere but the batteries are shot. Recently renewed my ticket. The talk on forums and podcasts about emergency communications and SHTF talk got me thinking it might be good to have a Xmitter. I have an older Kenwood Tri-Band (2M, 220 & 440) mobile rig in a shoe box in my garage. I've had a few vehicles since I had it installed and am not planning on installing now.

Are there any Handhelds (2M or multi-band) that offer any interesting features that might peak my interest beyond just the ability of conversing with a bunch of stodgy rag chewers? I have a few buddies who got their tickets recently but if I wanted to talk to them I could just call them on their phones. See my dilemma? Another thing that got me interested is my frequent hiking and some areas I've been in with poor to no cell coverage. I see things offered like APRS, D-Star, GPS ... I'm trying to determine if there is a decent reason to get a HT where I won't just stick it in a drawer somewhere. BTW I have no interest in buying a cheap spurious emission machine like a Baofang.

[mtnbkr]

I'm looking for some advice on what's good/new in the HT market. I haven't been on the air for years now. Last HT was an ICOM 02AT I have somewhere but the batteries are shot. Recently renewed my ticket. The talk on forums and podcasts about emergency communications and SHTF talk got me thinking it might be good to have a Xmitter. I have an older Kenwood Tri-Band (2M, 220 & 440) mobile rig in a shoe box in my garage. I've had a few vehicles since I had it installed and am not planning on installing now.

Are there any Handhelds (2M or multi-band) that offer any interesting features that might peak my interest beyond just the ability of conversing with a bunch of stodgy rag chewers? I have a few buddies who got their tickets recently but if I wanted to talk to them I could just call them on their phones. See my dilemma? Another thing that got me interested is my frequent hiking and some areas I've been in with poor to no cell coverage. I see things offered like APRS, D-Star, GPS ... I'm trying to determine if there is a decent reason to get a HT where I won't just stick it in a drawer somewhere. BTW I have no interest in buying a cheap spurious emission machine like a Baofang.

Do you want to get into digital modes (DMR, CFM, or DStar)? If not, then a good basic dual-bander like the Yaesu FT-60 is your best bet. It has what is probably the best analog receiver of any HT currently available and is pretty inexpensive ($160 or so). The lower-priced Yaesus that use the same chip as the Boafengs, but with better QC, perform well, but I'd just get an FT-60 and AA battery pack and never look back.

If you're interested in digital modes, what's being used in your area or by friends? That will probably dictate which one you should try. Regardless of which one you choose, you can always get a hotspot to run at home and connect you to the world, but once the RF hits the hotspot, you're essentially using VOIP.

The recently discontinued Kenwood TH-D74A has some interesting features and the ability to receive SSB if you want to listen in on HF SSB transmissions. It's pretty expensive if you can find it though ($800ish I think).

Some radios have TNCs (the kenwood mentioned above, some Yaesus, etc) which would allow you to muck about with APRS and such. Rather than getting a new radio, I have a Mobilinkd TNC3 on the way that will let me do the same thing.

There are also amateur satellites and the ISS (both voice and packet/APRS), which can be fun.

For me, SOTA has been a major invigoration of amateur radio. For that, a good 2m HT and improved antenna (roll-up j-pole in a tree, half-wave whip on the radio, etc) let you reach far from a summit and do something other than ragchew with old farts. It would combine your hiking and radio hobbies (as it does with mine). The nice thing about SOTA is that it allows you to hone your emergency comms and station set up as you'd have to do in the field if you were on the move. There are SOTA summits in CT.

ETA: Have you considered something like Yaesu's FT-818? It's not too large for backpack carry and gives you access to 160m-70cm. If you're just a Tech, you can use 6m-70cm, but gain SSB, AM, as well as the FM you'd have with an HT. I think Techs have some rights on 10m as well. Then, if you upgrade to general, you're set for HF privs. It'll run on AA batteries, an internal rechargeable, or external power. Lots of flexibility there.

Chris

[peterb]

Do you want to get into digital modes (DMR, CFM, or DStar)? If not, then a good basic dual-bander like the Yaesu FT-60 is your best bet. It has what is probably the best analog receiver of any HT currently available and is pretty inexpensive ($160 or so). The lower-priced Yaesus that use the same chip as the Boafengs, but with better QC, perform well, but I'd just get an FT-60 and AA battery pack and never look back.

For me, SOTA has been a major invigoration of amateur radio. For that, a good 2m HT and improved antenna (roll-up j-pole in a tree, half-wave whip on the radio, etc) let you reach far from a summit and do something other than ragchew with old farts. It would combine your hiking and radio hobbies (as it does with mine). The nice thing about SOTA is that it allows you to hone your emergency comms and station set up as you'd have to do in the field if you were on the move. There are SOTA summits in CT.

Yup. I just learned about SOTA(might have been here) and ordered an FT-60 and one of these: https://n9taxlabs.com/shop/ols/produ...-16-foot-cable

I got my Tech roughly 30 years ago when we were using 2m HTs for hang gliding communications. Dabbled on and off over the years but nothing for a while. SOTA seems like a fun way to add radio to something I already enjoy.

[mtnbkr]

Yup. I just learned about SOTA(might have been here) and ordered an FT-60 and one of these: https://n9taxlabs.com/shop/ols/produ...-16-foot-cable

I got my Tech roughly 30 years ago when we were using 2m HTs for hang gliding communications. Dabbled on and off over the years but nothing for a while. SOTA seems like a fun way to add radio to something I already enjoy.

I've been licensed for 15 years but only learned about SOTA in 2020 (pandemic lockdowns and bad weather at the start got me back into radio after not doing much for several years). I wish I had known about SOTA sooner because a lot of my mountain haunts are recognized summits!

BTW, find a way to get that antenna up as high as you can, it makes a huge difference. I use a fishing sinker on the end of a 30' length of fly fishing line (left over from when I replaced mine). I used to use a slingshot to get it up and over a high branch, but I found I can normally get it high enough without the slingshot by using the same techniques arborists use to get their lines over high branches. When I'm working SOTA on 5w 2m FM, not only do I get out as far as 60-odd miles, I get excellent signal reports. I've had a few folks think I'm using a high powered mobile rig.

FWIW, side-by-side testing shows a roll-up antenna way up in a tree will outperform a handheld yagi at ground level even though the latter is more directional.

Also, this antenna works great if you don't have a tree to hang your antenna from. I found out about it at Bob Witte's site. He learned about it from other SOTA activators.

Chris

[JohnO]

Thanks for the replies. I got into Ham Radio in college when I saw a friend make a phone call with his HT. This was before bag phones and I thought it was ultra-cool. Two weeks later I was at the FCC building in NYC sitting for the Technicians Test (5 WPM Morse at the time too.).

My on the air time was 99.9% with my buddies from school in our local club. After college we all went our separate ways and my interest dwindled. Eventually my license lapsed. I later retested and came back as an Extra. I ran the Tri -Band Kenwood mobile rig in the car for a couple years. I had a Austin Metropolitan tri-band antenna mounted right in the center of the roof. Radio was mounted under the driver's seat, control head in the dash. I had a tri-plexer and a external speaker mounted behind my head. It all sits in a Merrell boot box in the garage.

[Guerrero]

@JohnO I just picked up a Yaesu FT-70, because I too wanted something better than a BaoFeng, and the -70 allows me to try out some of the digital stuff.

[peterb]

Inspired by this thread, I went for a quick hike this afternoon up to a local viewing spot that's on the SOTA list. No response on 146.520 simplex, which didn't surprise me -- I hadn't told anyone I was going. So I tried the 2m repeater on the peak shown -- 11 miles away -- and had a brief conversation with a gentleman who said I was clean and clear. Good to know! I was using a 5w handheld with one of these: https://signalstuff.com/product/supe...tick-sma-male/



It would've been fun to see what other repeaters I could hit, but it was in the teens with a breeze and I wasn't dressed to be still. I'll be more organized next time.