Official Colorado HAM and cheese thread

Nerd time! Finally going to start playing with DMR.

 

Nerd.

 

When you and @bot102 gonna retest?

 

After almost 9 months since I bought this radio, I have to say it's pretty cool to finally be up and running, listening to people say good morning and good evening to each all over the world. I got a little overwhelmed by programming the thing at first. Then after I got all the contacts and zones and channels figured out, I realized I cant hit a repeater from my apartment. But that's what makes DMR so cool. I can tune into conversations happening anywhere from anywhere I get internet with a hot spot. Pretty slick stuff. Completely different application for radio than what we do in our trucks.

 

Soon

 

I previously got my license to use radios for SAR as I was on the tech rescue team with the Sheriff's Office. But getting back to HAM radio use and installed a Yaesu FTM-400XDR a couple weeks ago. I'm in Fort Collins, and not familiar with the repeaters and frequencies in use over here. Plus I had it easy when I was on the tech team as one of the radio guys programmed my handheld with all the names, frequencies, etc. Any recommendations up here in NoCO to get me squared away, help program my radio and get me reintroduced to HAM?
Thanks,
Marc. KD0KPV

 

Check out the first post in this thread for some helpful links including a channel list you can use to program your radio if you want.

 

The horsetooth 2m is down I believe but the 70cm is active as rag chew up here it seems

 

https://www.hamconcolorado.com/

 

@johntoyota @bot102 @Red Baron
https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Pa...efvYpaoMebS6W-jIvozS0J_k8xL5EP7nsa2Of8ZSj7OnU

Here is a schedule of classes and test dates so you can plan to get your license

 

A week or so ago, I thought I saw a post here, or in the Colorado BS thread about an APRS presentation that was going on in Golden today. I put a reminder in my calendar, but now I can't find the post with the details. Anyone know WTF I'm talking about, and have a pointer to the OP?

 

Found it

 

Awesome, thanks! If only there were a way to search the text in an image, I would have found it

 

I won't be able to attend, but I'm curious about any devices/apps/resources that are discussed that you find interesting or helpful. If you could post some Cliffnotes that would be awesome.

 

Well, other than getting to bash around in the snow and meeting some local HAMs, that was disappointing. Kenwood and Yaesu radios that have APRS capability built in were recommended. Mostly just APRS 101. I probably could have googled "how does APRS work?", spent 2 hours reading the first page of links, and gotten a similar amount of info.
I'm a tech/computer geek, so maybe my expectations were too high.

 

That’s disappointing. I was hoping they would show stuff like APRS messaging, including sending SMS, maybe a comparison of dedicated TNCs like TinyTrak 4 or Mobilinkd.

 

Quick question for anyone running Chirp in Linux. Just purchased a

$70 BTECH UV-5X3 Tri-Band Radio: High-Power Amateur Handheld with USB-C Charging - VHF, 1.25M, UHF - Customizable Features - Comprehensive Accessory Bundle Included

BTECH UV-5X3 to replace my Yeasu HT that was removed from my truck when it was stolen. The .csv file that was posted in the beginning of this thread has rTone Freq and cTone Freq as headers. In my Chirp file it shows Tone and Tone Sql instead. Would these be the same or are they different? Looking through Chirp doc's can not confirm. I have a new Yeasu ftm-300 on order for a new mobile, using the UV-5X3 as a stop gap until it shows up. KE0EXT.

 

From what I understand, "tone" is used when you want to transmit a CTCSS tone in order to access a repeater. "Tone squelch" is used to transmit a CTCSS tone, as well as have the tone also used on the receive (repeater output) frequency as well. So basically setting tone only sets the CTCSS tone on transmit, whereas Tone Squelch uses that CTCSS tone on transmit and receive.

 

I have messaging on my Kenwood. It's basically a message to the smsgte (sms gateway) with @########## (# being the number to text to) with the message directly following. It gets an acknowledgement as soon as the gateway has it bouncing around


I always open the chirp file in excel and then edit it and reupload.... Easier to fix things like tone settings and such