Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

please post reviews.

 

I will. Hopefully it will be here Saturday

 

@Kheiron has some work to do, hurry up with that training thing.

 

Your ham radio is not type excepted for FRS/GMRS and your ham license does not cover those bands. Will your ham antenna work? Yes but it's too long and your SWR will be way off. The ham radio output is also is too high but that probably will be all right because the radio will protest and cut back output power because of the high SWR until it cooks the finals.

 

Ain’t that the truth.

This training has been brutal AF.

 

I've got a Baofeng I've been playing with to get it set up for using APRS on my bike but having issues getting the HT settings right so it actually transmits. I have been enjoying toying with but decided to test APRSDroid on my phone without the radio to see how it works. I took a quick forest run and might adjust the settings a little more for sample rates.



I've looked at "real" APRS HT's but not too thrilled about the thought of using one of that cost on an Adventure Bike at this time so the experimentation continues.

 

Took some finagling when I was setting mine up, but I set the transmit delay to 1500 and it solved a lot of issues. Maybe give that a try.

 

I'll give that a try.

 

@Hemibee I assume you are using the Mobilinkd? Mine worked pretty well straight out of the box. I use a better antenna; tx and rx is much better, even on a knock-off Nagoya. I have the Luiton

$21 NA-771 15.6" Whip VHF/UHF (144/430Mhz) Antenna SMA-Female for BTECH and BaoFeng Radios

NA-771 from Amazon. Set power to high, bandwidth to wide, and volume about 1/3 to 1/4 down from max. That's all I think I had to do. Be sure to clip the ferrite on the audio line near the TNC.

Even then, not all your position reports will get out. Collisions happen, RFI happens, antenna can be blocked, etc. But one every ten minutes is what I read the APRS intentions were when this was all originally setup. I find SmartBeaconing is too PTT happy for everyday use.

 

@Joshuajayq Yes I'm using Mobilinkd tnc2. I'm questioning my current cable at this time, I'll move the ferrite closer to the TNC to try it there. I did up date the antenna, not sure what it is because the brand name was never very easy to read but I do know it's not a Luiton.

 

Are you receiving okay? Transmit just the issue?

 

It's both, I was thinking it was just transmit but I looked at the log again and realized I'm getting neither.

 

Simple but... make sure the plugs are pushed in all the way. Easy to have it one click out, especially the handheld side.

 

I've checked, double checked, and triple checked them.

 

I decided to go ahead and get a new handheld and use the Baofeng as I originally intended, as a backpack or back-up radio. I ordered a Yaesu FT-3DR for the bike and for truck use I will hook the MobilinkD TNC2 up to the V-71. Now I need to find a file for the Yaesu so I can print a mounting bracket/holder for the bike.

 

Curious... what cable are you using? I am using the Laird below on a Victory 4x4 hood mount, but worried I might have had water intrusion on the cable. Reception has dropped to basically nothing even on nearby repeaters.

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1154

 

Just some RG58 and an NMO mount. Nothing special.

 

Anyone have good ideas for using a single radio as both mobile and base station? If so, what do you have and how is it set up? I just passed my Technician exam today--I have a handheld and would like to keep new radio purchases to 1 for the foreseeable future. Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere.

 

Along similar lines I bought a nice HT (Yaesu FT 3D) and didn’t have the funds left for a mobile in my truck. My solution was mounting an antenna, running that to an HT specific amp under me seat then another run of coax to a BNC. When I get in the truck I pop off the HT antenna and pop on the BNC. 35 watts now and the external antenna for better Rx.

As far as base station type operating with my technician only I use a hotspot with my HT. My local repeater and club are easily reached with just the HT.

 

That is really cool. I have a FT-60R, which seems like plenty radio for my needs right now, at least until I get more experience. I had considered connecting a mobile antenna to it, but 5w didn't seem like enough. Didn't know you can run an amp. Mind telling me which amp you used?

As for the base, what a great idea. I just started reading a little about DMR today--sounds like I ought to learn more.