Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

max like $200

 

For 200 you might be able to roll a single band vhf radio. It might just be worth doing things quick and dirty while you save up for a dual band radio.

 

I'd go with a cheap Baofeng + mag mount antenna + external mic/speaker + 12v power adapter. All in, you are looking at roughly $60-$75. Cheap way to figure out if you're into it or not. Then you can spend $600+ on a standard mobile rig.

 

Don’t do the 12v adapter. A buddy up here had one and it kept putting alt noise in the mic

Your better off with the large battery

 

This is what I have done, Bought a

$19 UV-5R VHF/UHF Dual Band Radio 144-148MHz 420-450MHz Transceiver

UV-5R with a few accessories while I save for a better mobile unit. Lets me tx/rx in on nets and general talk while I save. Also lots of people put their mag mounts on book shelves in their house when they aren't in their truck to make a cheap fairly adequate base station to hit local repeaters.

 

Not sure if this has been discussed already, but for those interested in mobile APRS but primarily us Apple phones/tablets Mobilinkd who makes small battery powered TCNs built a V3 that works with Apple products recently. I've been waiting to see if somebody would develop apps to support it and aprs.fi updated their app so now you can use you iPhone or iPad

 

Thanks fellas. I'll still do my homework. But at least I have a base.

 

@Subway4X4

 

buy a mobile first. I use my mobile way more then any handheld. Your budget limits you to a single band mobile. I'd save a little more and look at the TM-V71A or FT-8900.

 

Good evening. I just finished the first phase of my Yaesu FT-7900 install and figured I would share a pic with the group

 

Looks good !

 

Thank you. I Still need to route wires better and mount the remote head unit. Just sitting in the cubby now.

 

What is your plan for mounting?

 

Thinking about one of these options...
1. Multi-mount (on top of the dashboard)
2. Customize the lower switch panel and cut it out to fit this remote
3. Fab up something so it sits just in front of the cubby where it is now. If I can do that, I am hoping that I could still use that cubby for other stuff.

But still open to suggestions

 

You and me think the same way.
1. I'm considering the multi-mount, but i don't love the idea of the radio being so visible.
2. I never thought about the lower switch panel, that would be awesome!
3. I tried to get a cell phone suction cup mount, but I couldn't find any that would stick to whatever that material is in the cubby. Right now, I've got a cup holder cell phone mount that uses magnets to hold the faceplate on and it seems to be working pretty well. I don't love giving up my cup holder, but I was going to give up the cubby and I've only got 1 of those, I've got 100 cup holders. Its also the PERFECT place to turn the knobs while driving (for me).

Right now I've just got the faceplate held by the cell phone mount to see how it feels. I keep hitting roadblocks when I try to do the full install, but my plan is to get at it first thing Saturday morning so I'll try to upload some pics this weekend.

 

I dont like the idea of it being visible either - so Choice No. 1 is probly out The only drawback with using the lower switch panel is that i am planning on adding several additional switches (still working that out) but not sure if there will be room. I would be interested in seeing what you come up with if you install yours over the weekend. - Thanks much.

I had one other idea - -fab up something completely custom - still working on that. when/if i do it, i will post pics.

btw, do you use the programming cable for the memories, etc.?

 

I have a TNC3 and the aprs.fi app. It currently pairs and works *mostly* with my iPhone. There's some latency or communication glitches such that the packets sometimes get truncated or malformed when transmitting. Paired with my Mac laptop the TNC3 is solid, though. Just seems to be some bugs on the phone side. I'm working on getting an Android terminal to see if it persists on APRSdroid, it may be a BLE issue but it's too soon to draw any conclusions.

FWIW, not a big fan of the aprs.fi app. It's not as complete as APRSdroid (doesn't do messaging). Its more I think suited for APRS-IS use, e.g. where you have cell coverage and can use the Internet. It works offline with just the TNC though just seems more like a port of the webpage over to an app rather than an APRS application built up from scratch.

 

Honestly you can get a used and abused Droid phone from your adult friend who has a kid for $30. Just to use it for APRS it works

 

That's the plan. But since it's a 12v radio, and I don't have a power supply (plan on running off car battery) I can't even set it up until I get it all installed, which is hopefully before lunch tomorrow.

 

I'm commandeering the one my wife is replacing. The screen flickers when you dim it too much but otherwise should suffice for the purpose. I'll eventually need to find something else since her doesn't accept SD cards and is only 16 GB, so it's usefulness for mapping is limited. The point is to use it in the truck eventually so I may end up with a 7" tablet or a 6" unactivated phone, but that can wait until something comes along.