Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Switching my Coax companies from DXE to Messi from Italy. But $$$

 

Ben would you know anything about this? I can't find an assembly diagram for a Comet CP-5M. I'm assuming it's mechanical because a few site say it's able to be shortened. I was going to just by a new PL-259 but that's when I thought it was RG8 and not 3.5D-QEFV.

This weekend I'm just going to go for gold anyways and try to break it down, but any information would be helpful.

 

Sorry i have never used those types of mounts. Only thing Id be worried about is that thin coax to regular size coax. But if you recoax it to regular size go for it.

 

I spent like 20 minutes google searching what the heck this Zumi thing does, and at this point I'm afraid to ask. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm getting flagged at work for googling "c4labs"

 

It's a hot spot for digital networks. Let's me get on using the internet. The device is just a screen that let's me see what " channel ' I'm on, the callsign of the person talking, and the signal quality .

 

Thats super annoying. How much thicker is this stuff then rg-58? Rg-223 is thicker then rg-58 because of the double shield. You can still make rg-58 crimp connectors work. Just strip back more outer jacket, crimp the shield leaving some shield exposed and cover that with thick wall shrink tube. Looks pro, and does not have a SWR bump.

 

I can't find specs on it at all. This is all I have to work with. But they claim it's intended to be shortened with what's provided, so it might just be a hands on experiment.



"There is no 'RG' equivalent to 3.5D-QEFV. RG-58 connectors will not fit the 3.5D-QEFV coax, the Comet coax has a larger outside diameter and a larger central core and has about 30 percent less loss than RG-58. All of the coax cables produced by Comet use the Comet (Japanese) low loss coax. Mick Stwertnik - NCG Company"

 

If you've been eyeballing a Yeasu FTM-400XDR they are on sale at GigaParts for $395

https://www.gigaparts.com/yaesu-ftm-400xd-50w-2m-70cm-mobile.html

 

Nice catch!

I was thinking of getting Kenwood v71a (soon), but this sale puts it in similar price range.... damn!

 

Is there a tri-band version like the Yeasu above?

 

So i maybe moving to Kuwait for a job. 11 months to get it all tax free. A friend suggested i look into DMR and this vid came up
https://youtu.be/TuEpFJbXNq4

I may go this route, wish it was echo link on a HT.
Dont get me wrong, i enjoy V/Uhf. But HF is where my Heart is, esp 80m DX. But i dont know where the facility is going to house me. So i will be taking my KX3 at least. I would take my SOTA 20m vertical but its too long to fit into luggage.

 

I'm looking for a switch blank with a keystone jack in it. Is there such an animal out there for sale?

 

Yup. One sec

 

@forty2 3D printed some: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ecause-the-thing-i-wanted-didnt-exist.415922/
https://www.shapeways.com/product/22APYPH5F/short-toyota-switch-blank-with-keystone

 

https://www.shapeways.com/product/2...-switch-blank-with-keystone?optionId=62496829

 

Thanks!!!

 

No prob. Fits great too. Btw the little key stone I linked is for the row in the center dash.

 

DMR is great there are quite a few popular radios and hotspots to choose from. Shark RF OpenSpot and OpenSpot 2 are good they work pretty much out of the box with minimal setup. They do need to be plugged into a router or Wifi bridge since they don't have wifi built in

There is a less expensive JumboSpot and other similar variants that you can buy a kit and put it together. They are on the Raspberry Pi platform but it doesn't take a linux guru to make it work. This has it's own Wifi adapter so no other components needed you can use wifi, or set your phone to be a wifi hotspot. You can also buy a microUSB to ethernet adapter cable if your situation requires you to plug it into the network.

For a DMR radio I have the MD-2017, it's an OK radio and there are some quality issues but I've had no problems. Right now I'm eyeballing the Anytone AT-D868UV. If you have any questions, just ask.

 

But i feel so limited on DMR, Dstar, Ect.. Wish there was EchoLink that didnt use a phone or computer... Just an HT and dongle.

 

You can get close. It's do-able with a raspberry pi and HT. I can find the link for you if you haven't seen it yet.