Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Great choice with the D710. I'm in the market for a new antenna now. I knocked my magnetic mount off on the trail today and drug it for who knows how long. Once I clean the mud I can determine whether the base is still good to go and just screw a new antenna on or buy a whole new setup.

 

I have that same antenna, I love it.

 

So on my way to work today I decided to listen to the local chatter, for some reason my radio would stop receiving for a split second at 1 sec intervals. You could watch the s-meter jump from full signal to zero every second, and the reception dropping with it... but I'm talkin for a fraction of a second. No matter what frequency I tuned to it happened. I tried at least 10, I tuned to repeaters, local police, I live next to an airport so I even tried the air band, they all did it.

Then on my drive home I was gonna take a video of it happening... and of course, everything works and sounds great.

So my only question is... WTF? Any takers?

 

check antenna and

$43 pl259 USA made PL-259 improved double shielded rg-58u for firestik antenna K-8A 18-foot single cb/ham coax cable

pl259.

 

I removed the antenna and base... they both looked like the day I bought them, but I cleaned them with iso anyway just for shits. The NMO was tight and clean but I cleaned that too anyway.

I didn't check the 259, maybe I'll do that today.

Part that gets me is it operates 100% as it should now... I did nothing originally to fix it, god damn electronics.

 

Squelch

 

Double checked that as well... it was where I always leave it, on 1.

I think I'm gonna just call it gremlins and get over it lol

 

What kind of antenna connection is this? It's what's left over from my magnetic mount antenna I killed off-road last weekend and I'd like to find an antenna I can mount to it rather than throwing it away.

 

Not an expert but it looks like an NMO connection.

 

My nmo didn't look anything like that one...

mine looked more like this:



I think it's something else... no idea what though.

 

It might be a proprietary system. It's what's leftover from my MFJ-1724B. There was another piece threaded over this remaining portion with a much smaller threaded stud the antenna screwed into.

 

Now that I can see it on a computer and blow up the picture more, it's not an NMO mount. Also looks like it got beat up pretty good during the dragging. Even if you could get a replacement antenna it might not have the best connection.

 

Thanks for this idea on the A pillar mount. We don't have a driver side grab handle on the 3rd gens but the metal tabs are still behind the trim piece. I came up with this last night and think it came out pretty clean. Still waiting on my other Ram parts to come in. I think by far this is the best and most solid mounting point for phones/radios etc. because it doesn't get in the way of your view or any buttons, radio knobs, whatever.

 

not sure what radio you have but many models have a priority scan which will constantly switch over to your home channel or call channel to listen for transmissions. different radios use different terminology for this mode. Some scanners do it too.

 

Just checked the database. My callsign is KN4FNY!

 

Congrats man! Don't stop there, the world is only a few test questions away. 73's, William, N5WOI.

 

Hi everyone, I'm looking to get my first mobile vhf/uhf. I want aprs and dstars and am looking at the icom 4100 and the 5100. Is it worth the extra $100 for the 5100. I'm trying not to break the bank and still need a good antenna set up

 

Does the 5100 do APRS?

 

No.

 

I would suggest into looking at the Kenwood TM-D710G or the Yaesu FTM-400DXR instead of the Icom 5100A if you are looking for a APRS radio in that price range.
I have been looking at both of those models the last few weeks but can't decide on which one will best fit my needs, I even took a trip to my local HRO a few days ago for side by side comparisons. Unfortunately a 710G wasn't available on the bench to play with.