Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

My local repeater is full of trash talk on the nets... From extreme political, off color jokes, and "we're not being racist, we're just from a different time" old white southern folk...

 

I only operate CW.

Never any trash QSO issues.

 

Sorry to hear that, We have a very active club W1MWV (Mt Washington Valley, look us up) DMR, UHF VHF Two repeaters at the top of Mt Washington very wide coverage NE into Canada the others are on Mt Cranmor in Conway NH. Frankly we do not put up with foolishness we had issues years ago and I just would shut the repeater down remote and listen to them on the input and turn it back on when they realized it was no longer working. My N3 call came from MD so I feel your pain but again we had a strong club but back then there was no issue.

 

Hi all new here, old ham. KAOJQE, general since 1981. Lost all my gear in a fire, used to be into early AMSAT stuff on 432/2M. I was a moderate CW guy, love HF in general.

Now I just have several Baofengs, a TenTec Omni VII for HF, and no HF antenna up anymore. I had to move, and have the worst HF antenna in the world, about 50 feet of CAT5 through a tuner, strung around the wall in a basement. Truly an underground antenna. I have made contacts on both coasts (barely).

 

All you need is a dipole, it doesn't even have to be far above level ground.... as long it sends and receives

 

Nothing compared to the local "notorious" 147.435 repeater in my area.. you can listen to some of the live feeds online. Also Google search for some history if you have time to waste

 

Yup, but no reasonable trees/structures nearby. I have a few sections of Rohn 20-G. I have a concrete buddy that is supposed to help me pour a base.

 

I've heard amateurs in their 80s talking on a 80m dipole just 5' off ground, not far contacts, but he's was on the air talking. was just laid on top of wooden fence

 

The way the 'basement shack' lies, I can't easily get feedline far enough away to get it off the ground at all. I was amazed the basement random wire works at all. All my contacts have been on 40 meters. Even the tuner can't appear to get it close enough to emit much RF. 20 meters kicks off my power supply with RF in the shack.

The Ten-Tec is a sort-of modern 100 watt rig. I could just turn down the drive and be more QRP, but there's lots of attenuation in a basement to the outside world.

 

Yaesu FT2900+ With 5/8 wave aft bed mount And a Handheld FT270+
KJ7MKY

 

@taco-99 what are your limitations on antennas? HOA? SO not liking the antennas?

 

Worked the world with a screw driver antenna on the back of my truck that is an option better than wire inside the house.

 

@BenMara The main problem now, is that we are preparing to move. We know where we will go next, will have my concrete pal hopefully pour a cube for a tower base there.

Also, at current time, I am no longer a climber (old, injuries, etc).

 

Need to call on you guys for some HAM expertise.

I am looking for an antenna cable with 2 specific cable ends, if one exists or can be made.

I have a NMO mount on top of a MESO 3rd brake light (https://mesocustoms.com/collections...rd-gen-3rd-brake-light?variant=21207507239025)

And I am upgrading to a GFC tent, which unfortunately will cover the entire 3rd brake light assembly (no clearance for antenna).

GFC makes this bracket (https://gofastcampers.com/products/machined-90-bracket) which is advertised as being made for a 3/8 NMO.

Basically what I want to do is find/make a cable that goes from one NMO (3rd brake light) and extend it a certain distance to the GFC machined bracket, where I will be able to mount my antenna.

I am not at a computer to upload a diagram/better pictures. Thanks in advance.

 

Will this work? You will need to have a standard nmo antenna cable to connect to it.
https://www.gigaparts.com/nmo-to-so...B_zk7C1F1-cCpKOjVxYUvUmXmi465VcxoC4EoQAvD_BwE

 

Kind of an odd way of doing it, less connections is always better. Why not just re route the antenna wire and not use that 3rd brake mount?

Either way just make sure the connections are sealed up tight. NMO is pretty good at sealing,

$43 pl259 USA made PL-259 improved double shielded rg-58u for firestik antenna K-8A 18-foot single cb/ham coax cable

pl259 not so much, it usually needs help.

 

I have seen this adapter which will screw onto the NMO (in my case, onto the 3rd brake light). However I would need the rest of the connection to eventually terminate into another NMO connector (in the GFC bracket).

 

I do not have my factory 3rd brake light anymore. It leaked, which was the reason for upgrading to the MESO. If I remove the current NMO antenna from the 3rd brake light, I will be left with a hole. Which would have defeated the purpose of replacing the leaky factory 3rd BL.

 

Gotcha, ok well maybe this is the piece you need? Not sure ive seen nmo to nmo style cables, but I'm sure an RF tech might be able to throw something together.

This will screw onto that adapter I linked, and has the NMO connection where it terminates.

https://www.gigaparts.com/diamond-a...CRfxPtXHkixChg0pXCmeF04m_4dtkxT0aAtObEALw_wcB

Its the shortest, pre terminated one I could find. It does have a mini uhf to pl259 adapter. So you would need an additional short jumper. Going with a 3/8 hole limits the options for a pre-terminated cable. Sorry if I'm not making sense, its past my bedtime! Good luck.

 

So this part (https://www.gigaparts.com/nmo-to-so-239-610-2406.html) screws onto my existing NMO above the 3rd brake light.

And this cable (https://www.gigaparts.com/diamond-antenna-c101nmo.html) looks like it would screw into the adapter above, then terminate into a new NMO where I could thread on my antenna base?

Could you tell me which connectors are on that cable? I would possibly need a shorter cable than 6’ so may have to go custom/one-off.