Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

You will generally never see 50Ω measuring RF devices at DC. It sometimes happens if there's a resistor in the circuit but that's an exception. With antennas you will typically see either an open or short with multimeter, so it's one data point. You should never see coax with unterminated ends measure anything except open with DC, though.

What I mean by DC is 99.999999% of handheld multimeters (should be all, but I can't say for sure) put a DC voltage on the circuit then measuring current to find resistance (this is Ohm's Law). Impedance isn't resistance.

An impedance meter can do it but that's going to be a specialized piece of test equipment because the impedance is frequency dependent. That Larsen will present about 50Ω at 146MHz and 440MHz but at any other frequency it will be something else, hopefully very high impedance. So what you use and how you use will be more involved than just setting a DMM dial.

 

I understand what you are saying.

 

@joshuajayg - I should make the point that it's unlikely that a brand new Larsen is broken. In fact just about any brand new Laird, Comet, Diamond or other typical ham antenna is *probably* OK. A reputable company will check before it leaves the factory but it's also definitely not bad to check first. In this case a DMM can only validate good or bad if you know what to expect, though.

So if you (or anyone else) does not have a way to check impedance it's a good idea to at least start at low power and/or use a power or SWR meter before hitting it with high power. Your mobile radio at low power is going to have a fighting chance to protect itself from damage if you key up into a true open or short if you start low.

 

I have a friend in town with a nice antenna tuner. We were checking SWR but have already forgotten what the Larsen came in at.

The short circuit in my brain was that I was looking at continuity (not specific resistance or impedence) thinking that the polarity inside the antenna was reversed. But... "polarity" in an AC circuit is irrelevant too.

 

Raymond Pond in Maine. Compared with last year, it was a heatwave.

 

So I know some of you have a tablet in your truck for ham radio. My question is does anyone use a windows tablet ? Say a surface or surface pro? I’d like it for programming on the fly and for using some of the morepopular windows ham apps.

 

You’ll probably run into the same issue as IOS. Most apps are for Android with ham.

 

Bingo. I'd still keep the surface with you in case you want to program and ht

 

I have an 8" Dell running win8. I wanted to try APRSISCE32 in the car. Although I don't have high hopes I'd keep it. It seems awful to try and use while driving.

 

Anyone install a mount or bracket to hold a BaoFeng handheld in their 2016 Taco. If so can you show some pics or link to thread post

 

You check out the expedition essentials mount?

 

@PsyGrad the expedition ition essentials mount might be a bit steep for just a baofeng handheld.

I'd look into one of these

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-securely-mount-anything-to-your-dash.553442/

 

We also have this version but we are out of our Mic brackets until early march; Although I do have a few of the orig stainless ones laying around.

https://expeditionessentials.com/collections/frontpage/products/tacoma-track-mount

 

For a Baofeng just splurge on a colored rubberband.

 

Mine rode in my cup holder haha. I mean I had 13 others to spare.

 

Mine is thrown behind the rear seat somewhere.

 

Looking for suggestions..

Wouxun UV3D , APRSdroid and a Mobilnkd TNC 2.0 not showing on aprs.fi. The Wouxun seems to be sending and receiving packets. It's even showing up on my D710, and I'm able to send messages back and forth between the two radios.

 

You're probably too far from a digi to make it. My area barely has solid mobile coverage, and definitely is lacking coverage for portables into a rubber duck. You could add an igate to help?

You could double check your audio levels. Did you use the mobilinkd app to set levels?

Also, your local RF is the network. Not aprs.fi.