Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

So I went to a ham meet with one of the largest clubs in my area. No luck on free radios. But a guy there is selling his icom (coincidentally he “upgraded”to the yaseu 400) its the icom 2730a. He said if I wanted it he’d give me his comet antenna and the radio and help me install for 200.00 I can get the radio new from gigaparts for 241.00 but the antenna is about another 50 ish. I don’t know if that’s such a good deal. But I’m still researching the icom.

 

Maybe not a screaming deal considering new they're like you say is down to as cheap as $240 at the moment. But it's fair deal for a solid dual band radio that a couple of years ago was more like $400. You'd be getting a radio infinitely better than just about any Chinese one. I'd probably go for it.

 

Also the ham community seems to think they can charge new prices for used gear, so it's actually surprising he's giving ANY sort of deal.

 

This is not at all true. It does full duplex any time you want. Vhf/vhf, vhf/uhf, uhf/uhf.

 

I can confirm this. My v71a does full duplex as you have noted.

 

ITS OFFICIAL out of 5 people testing I was the only one to pass. I officially have my technician license. I took the general and missed 1 more than allowed so I opted not to retake it (another fee) but it gives me a general idea of what I needed to study more to get that one and will go back in a month and get my general

 

Awesome! I haven't really considered taking the general. Currently waiting outside the library for it to open so I can test.

 

Good luck man. It felt intimidating once it was in front of me. But I went through answered every thing I 100% knew then went back. FWIW everything I 100% knew I had already got 30/35.my final on the technician was 34/35

 

Well it may only be my TM-V71 that can't TX and RX on the same band at the same time then or perhaps the TM-D710 is different. Mine mutes the receiver during transmit when both sides are set to use the same band.

It can full duplex on different bands (e.g. cross band repeat). By extension if I'm using UHF on A side it does not mute when the B side transmits on VHF.

That would be when a TNC engaged PTT to TX an APRS packet, at that point the UHF reception does not mute. I could not push the mic PTT at that point but that would interrupt the APRS TX. But I can still hear UHF.

If I was listening to a VHF station on A side while the TNC engages PTT on B side the conversion I hear mutes, though. So it cannot do a full duplex VHF->VHF like a true same band repeater.

There's no way for a radio to simultaneous transmit and receive on the same band into the same antenna without notch (or band pass) filters and in the case of VHF our spectrum being small it requires a very sharp cavity filter. It'll blow out the receiver.

A test you could do is set both sides to 144.390 and transmit a packet. If the radio could do full duplex VHF->VHF then you should hear the packet on the other side. Not even a repeater can do that. They have to use frequencies at least 600 KHz apart on VHF because even a big cavity filter has its limits.

And easier test is to set the A-side to a VHF station with the squelch open, so you hear white noise. Then transmit a packet (presumably doing APRS on 144.390) on the B-side. The radio goes silent. Repeat this with A-side set to a UHF station with the squelch open. The radio does not go silent, you hear the white noise even though the radio control momentarily changed to the B-side.

We may be confusing terms. The radio can receive simultaneously on two bands and those may be any combination of VHF and UHF. That's not duplexing, which means transmitting and receiving at the same time. Your phone works that way. Meaning you hear the other person in your ear all the time even when you're talking.

 

I just went straight down the list. 32/35. Good enough is good enough as I say. Haha.

 

Awesome man congrats!!!

 

Is there a list on here that has all the call signs collaborated ?

 

So the ham selling me his icom decided he’d rather hold on to it so I’m out of that deal. So back to the drawing board.

I could someone comment on the 8900 vs the 400xdr? I talked to a lady at gigaparts and I was upfront with them about cost. They said if I need quad band go for 8900 if I don’t have any intentions of operating in the 6 and 10 meters then stick with the 400xdr. They also said they have had a lot of recent returns on the Kenwood and even though it’s more expensive and she should sell me on that one. She would still recommend the cheaper yaseu.

this is the feature list I absolutely want. The rest are just bonuses

based off importance
Remote mounting,
Dual band for 2m and 75cm
Dual vfo
X band repeat For when I’m out of the truck
And a simple interface so I’m not having to go through tons of settings while I’m driving.

Again this is if money was no option which of those would you pick.

 

ive never been fan of quad band, 2/70 yes.. for years i ran a IC v8000 but think they discontinued them. currently run a FTM-350ar but those are GONE for sure..

 

The general opens a ton more usage options. I got mine and I'm happy to have it. I first toyed around on a few outings on other people's HF rigs but never had the time to get my own setup. It doesn't make sense for my current situation. But again, so happy to have it as I did it all in one shot.

 

TM-D710G

The only reason to consider the ftm-400 is if you have healthy YSF use in your area. IMHO, the TM-D710G is a more solid rig.

 

I am still new this but I searched yaesu repeaters in TN there’s about 4 within 30 miles of me. 60 total for the whole state.

total repeaters in the whole state = 422 over 150 are in my area alone

the ftm 400 will still work for all those other repeaters. But what you’re saying is the full capabilities won’t correct ?

 

The FTM-400 will work with any analog repeater and any YSF repeater. The TM-D710G will only work with analog repeaters. Myself and many others like the way APRS is implemented in the TM-D710G much better. It's difficult to put into words.

 

You're so polite.

Haha one's a tool a fine piece of equipment.


The other one sounds really good. As long as your buddies have similar radios

 

Anyone contesting this weekend? Camping on 40