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Thread: Amateur Radio

  1. #21
    Site Supporter
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    Fort Worth, TX
    Quote Originally Posted by Drang View Post
    I'm debating dropping a total of $500 or so and putting together a "pedestrian mobile" HF rig...
    I put my Yaesu FTM-100D into a Pelican case as a bug-out option. It'll run from a wall outlet, 12V socket or the LiFePo battery. Not really something I'd want to walk around with, but it'll run from the car seat or park bench easily enough.

    Thanks for the tip on the HF antenna... I'll pass that along.
    Looked like they were using a T-shape antenna for one of the rigs, strung up between two trees.
    The other rig was using the 1/2-wave antenna on top of the building.
    "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by RoyGBiv View Post
    Looked like they were using a T-shape antenna for one of the rigs, strung up between two trees.
    T-Shaped? Do you mean a center-fed dipole (has a "T" profile if high enough for the feedline to be vertical)?

    FWIW, the best field-day set up I had for my solar-powered QRP station was with a 120ft dipole up as high as I could get it into the trees, fed with ladderline, and tuned with an Emtech ZM-2 (wow, they've gone way up in price! I think I paid $40-$50 for my kit 10 years ago).

    I never got so far on 5watts and was able to cover all of the HF band up to 80m, though 80 was challenging to tune.

    Pics of my station:
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    Antenna:
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    Chris
    Last edited by mtnbkr; 06-26-2018 at 08:14 AM.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by mtnbkr View Post
    T-Shaped? Do you mean a center-fed dipole (has a "T" profile if high enough for the feedline to be vertical)?
    Yes...

    I'm just a Tech, with little interest beyond local EmCom. Please forgive the lack of proper terminology..

    The local "radio guys" are primarily retired military (mostly AF). Lots of experience from tube-days to digital.
    "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Constitution, Draft 1, 1776

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by RoyGBiv View Post
    Yes...

    I'm just a Tech, with little interest beyond local EmCom. Please forgive the lack of proper terminology..

    The local "radio guys" are primarily retired military (mostly AF). Lots of experience from tube-days to digital.
    No worries. There are so many different antenna designs, I thought maybe you were talking about one I hadn't heard of before. One could make a hobby out of building and testing all the various designs out there.

    Chris

  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by mtnbkr View Post
    What are you thinking of using? Most of the commercial HF rigs that would be pedestrian-mobile-capable are well over $500 unless you go with one of the Chinese imports (some of which seem to be pretty decent).Chris
    I've got an FT857 ("non-D"), and am thinking this setup: (857-SEB) 857 sprint / escort black texture with the appropriate battery, and either a PackTenna Antenna System or a Super Antenna.

    Quote Originally Posted by mtnbkr View Post
    No worries. There are so many different antenna designs, I thought maybe you were talking about one I hadn't heard of before. One could make a hobby out of building and testing all the various designs out there.
    Chris
    Fascinating topic, really. Guy in the club a few years ago made a dipole out of electric fence "tape"; quite good strength against strain, but it turns out if you roll it up the wires break.
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    In the Army we once built an LPA out of a bunch of unservicable elements for OE254 or 292 antennas; the threaded ends were crushed or broken, but they would still radiate...
    Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
    “It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
    Glenn Reynolds

  6. #26
    Revolvers Revolvers 1911s Stephanie B's Avatar
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    Mar 2014
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    East 860 by South 413
    I don’t know very much about amateur radio, but I have a friend whose pick up truck has only a few less antennas than a Soviet AGI


    Damn the iPhone Typos!
    If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.

  7. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Stephanie B View Post
    I don’t know very much about amateur radio, but I have a friend whose pick up truck has only a few less antennas than a Soviet AGI
    The technical term is "whacker."*

    Why I don't know, but I'm still trying to find out just what a "lid" is, and why I don't want to be one, and the derivation of the term "DC to daylight".



    *(Probably. Said friend may well have a use for all those transmitters and/or receivers, and make good use of them.)
    Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
    “It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
    Glenn Reynolds

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by RoyGBiv View Post
    I'm just a Tech, with little interest beyond local EmCom. Please forgive the lack of proper terminology..
    Apologies in advance if I come off like a scold or a "lid" or something, but in a Hurricane Maria-level event you may find yourself wishing you'd learned more...

    A roll-up J-Pole antenna will significantly increase your ability to "get out" on 2m/1,25m/.75cm -- you can buy or make one, cheap. (I purchased one of his, but you can easily make your own.)

    ARRL: Building Simple Antennas

    Wikihow: How to Build Several Easy Antennas for Amateur Radio

    DX Zone: Amateur Radio Antenna Projects : Ham radio antennas, home made ham radio antenna projects kits and drawings

    AC6V: Amateur Radio Antenna Projects

    Here are some other resources for all, for all kinds of reference documents: Ham Radio Programming Cheat Sheets

    Harris County, TX, has some awesome information on this site: Harris County ARES
    (Click on the Training" link.)

    RACES Resource Library
    Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
    “It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
    Glenn Reynolds

  9. #29
    New Member schüler's Avatar
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    Apr 2017
    Location
    TX
    I'm mostly into practical VHF simplex, HF NVIS, P25 and SDR receivers for mil air and Utility DX. SDR receivers and wideband waterfall displays are the heat. I'd like to get into VHF and HF data modes.

    At this point in life I have no interest in ragchew, contests or delicate wunder rigs.

  10. #30
    Zero interest in ragchewing.
    Contests are mostly of interest to me as practice for EmComm. Which is why I also have zero interest in "delicate" rigs of any sort.
    Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
    “It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
    Glenn Reynolds

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