Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

How many Extra's here? I spent the day studying to upgrade.

 

Just do it..

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ham-amature-radio-call-sign-directory.574179/

 

Usually not a problem, I think a lot do it, it's relatively clean power. But, it will void the warranties on almost all switch panels (the auxbeam style ones, not a rocker switch style), so I would avoid it.

Still just tech, debating about it. Should have before they made it $$$. I use HTs and that's about it, so it would have just been for giggles, and maybe a cooler call sign but now, with my current use case, I don't know that it's worth it.

 

Been meaning to upgrade for a little while now. I want to venture into the clearer portions of the bands. 80m/75m is packed with nets, almost no space left in the general portion.

 

I'm one. Good luck on the test. If I can pass it, so can you.

 

I need to get working on it soon...before they change the questions next year!

Good luck!

 

Yeah, I want a 1x2.

 

W6TOM posted on the QRP-Labs groups.io page about using HF Pager from their truck and posted a couple photos:




So I thought, why not? I already have my bugcatcher mounted on some wood, I'll strap it down and toss the radials in the bed...



So I fired up my QCX-Mini while outside the hangar at work, called CQ for a couple minutes, and got a station in California on 20m with maybe 4w of output. We had a nice chat, he was 70w from a IC-7300. I had him 59, he had me 53. It isn't great, but it works.



If I'm out of VHF APRS range, this is a good setup for HF APRS. I have the QRP-Labs QDX, and a Raspberry Pi. With JS8 and the M0IAX tools, you can automatically send your APRS position over JS8 every ten minutes. Easy peasy.

Joshua

 

I am looking for threads on installation locations.

I had gotten a KF-1000G Plus for GMRS. I have been looking at the best locations for installation. Detachable faceplate, so easier to mount. This spurred my interest in Amateur Radio, so I bought a few raffle tickets at the Houston Hamfest. I won an FTM-300DR. Yippee! Gateway drug!

So now I need to get busy and get my license (I have my FRN number, one of the few legal GMRS), but time to dust off the cobwebs and get a license. I had my 2nd Class Radio Telephone from 1980; amazing how much comes back when looking at the questions.

So now I get to figure out where to mount two radios, two face plates, and mics in the 3rd generation. RSI Smart Cap (metal) on the truck bed, I have a couple of Solar Panels but need to look at distance and best radiation patterns.

I'm starting to think of a 2/3 rear seat delete. Most of the back seat is taken up by my DZ75 Cooler; it's big with Fridge/Freezer. Battle Born and Redarc resides inside the bed, so clean, isolated power for radios.

 

Congrats on winning the FT300!

There's a thread dedicated to cb/ham radio installs:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/clean-vhf-cb-radio-installs.415584/

 

When scheduling the exam to upgrade to General they said it was free to take a run at Extra. I went for it and got both, you can totally do it. Don't leave bands on the table, just do it once and have it forever.

 

When was this? I know it's not free anymore "in general" (no pun intended) but I don't know if the exams are all free and you only pay for the registration to the FCC, or if you have to pay for each exam either way.

I would have to look for General/Extra, but for tech I had a flashcards app with the entire question pool and it was awesome. Some stuff I didn't even fully comprehend at the time but I knew the answer was "moon in front of sun" or whatever the situation was. Passed based on memory for some of those questions.

 

That's exactly how I passed the exams. I tried my best to understand it all but sometimes it was just memorizing the answer. About it being free, I paid for the General and they said I could give the Extra a try if it was in the same session. It's like you pay for the testing session more than the test itself. This was maybe 4 years ago?

 

I freely admit that I memorized the answers to the advanced and extra tests. Advanced was tough, I had to retake it more than once. I'm a biologist, not an EE.

 

I'm one of the few who likes to know the material but I am also the one my ham friends come to with questions. When I mention ham radio to friends, I just refer to myself as a super nerd.

I took the general test 6 months after the tech. I made a personal commitment not to get extra until I learned morse and I'm there now, even playing CW while mobile. So it is time.

I find it silly or frustrating when an extra asks things like, "why can't I use my rig's internal tuner when I run an amp?" I wouldn't expect a tech or new general to know but an extra? It is nice when the operator's knowledge reflects the class of license. But I can't do anything about it so I just try to help by educating gently and not be that old kermudgeon that told me, "I'm offended some KJ7 snot nosed brat would tell me anything."

Test all at once, test slow, whatever, but always be willing to learn.

Joshua

 

Yeah, so that was pre-FCC costs. That's the cost for the admin of having a test, and it all goes to ARRL or something like that.

https://hamradioprep.com/license-cost/

Sounds like maybe you can do the same thing nowadays, show up and the VEs might just say "yeah take both, if you pass the higher one we'll submit that one"

 

I need to review the questions but isn't the internal tuner adjusting the antenna SWR, hence it needs to connect to an antenna, not an amp (which is then connected to the antenna).

I did start reading up on testing, and caught the paragraph where "test passed before 1987 gives you third element credit." No clue what the third element means, but will find out.

"Dip the Plates, Peak the Grids" still sticks in my mind forty years later. Meanwhile, my mind is still working on where to mount the radios.

I did order at KrackenSDR. It would be interesting to foxhunt in canyons. A lost kid transmitting on a GRMS doesn't know where he is, so you can triangulate and find him. The catch is if you don't have cell service, it's hard to use "what three words" for your location. Much easier to text a friend, Let's go grab a hamburger to meet me at the airport. https://what3words.com/ideally.tinting.wisely

 

I call myself Advanced Lite.

 

That is accurate enough. An antenna tuner matches the impedance at the feedline to 50 ohms so your transceiver does not get any reflected power and can output full power. When you use an amplifier, your transceiver is already seeing 50 ohms (or close to it) at the input of the amplifier but now the output of the amplifier is seeing the feedline impedance that may not be 50 ohms. So you need a tuner between the antenna system and the amplifier otherwise your amplifier's "finals" are seeing the mismatched load.

 

I've been having some trouble with my radio and hoping to get some advice. The radio is a Kenwood TM-V71A that I bought from HRO in 2016, and I have it connected to a Diamond NR770HNMOB antenna. I mostly use it just for trail comms when traveling with family that also have amateur radio licenses. On a recent camping trip I noticed that I couldn't pick up my brother's transmission from a few miles away but my dad, with the exact same radio and antenna, could. My brother also mentioned that my transmissions were not as clear as my dad's.

I got out my multimeter and tested the antenna wire, I have good continuity from tip to tip and ring to ring and none across them.

My dad suggested that maybe the difference could be that his antenna bracket is screwed into his fender and thus better grounded while mine is attached to a powder-coated roof rack and not. From what I have read this antenna is radial-less and doesn't need a ground plane, but does there need to be a separate ground from the bracket to the frame?

The only other difference between my setup and my dad's is that he has the radio connected directly to the battery but I have it connected to a fuse block, could that cause an issue like this?

I previously had issues with an nmo mount on a ditch light bracket coming apart and I transmitted basically without an antenna for several minutes before we found out, could that have caused damage to the radio itself that would affect reception AND transmission? Is it possible to repair any such damage?

I'm not sure if it's possible to break an antenna other than bending/snapping it but I could try swapping it with my dad's to see if that helps anything. Didn't think of trying this while on the trip.

Last thing, I have read about testing with an SWR meter does anyone have suggestions for a tester under $50? Not sure if any of the cheap Amazon options can be trusted.