Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Went to the candy store yesterday, just to compare the Kenwood and Yaesu. Ended up walking out with a 8800r and ext speaker. They had RT Systems with cable on sale for $38, but I ordered a programming cable from Amazon for $20.

Mounting the whole thing took me two hours and I was making contacts. I am using my comet mag mount that is for my HT, just need to check the ohm rating. Will upgrade antennas soon, need to decide what I want and exactly how I want to mount it. Plus, saving up a few more dollars first.

 

K5NWZ here, Brand new Tacoma owner. Radio FT8800R goes in this week....

 

I'm reporting you to the ham police.

 

On what charges?

 

You might want to ditch the CB antenna and use one that is resonant on your ham radio freqs. it will be a lot easier on your new radio's finials.

 

Are you referring to my photos? I have a 5/8 wave antenna on my rig for my ham, and a Firestik for my CB. They work totally fine together, but I rarely have them both on at the same time.

 

My 2meter 5/8 antenna is only 49" tall..yours is 12 feet. Maybe you have something else like a 20meter antenna

 

Mine is 8 feet, it's 49" from the middle of the thing. The lower portion may be just go to give more height?

I really don't know much about antennas. Just had the guy at HRO recommend it because he can reach 50 miles simplex with it through LA/OC.

 

Hey guys, I have a question.Is it necessary to ground the bracket that the antenna mounts to?

 

Yes.

 

Cool thanks Anthony. How do the guys that run the magnetic mount get away without grounding, or am I missing something?

 

Magnets are conductive. Therefore, when you "stick" them to the roof, they are in contact with a giant ground.... The entire cab. Although its a painted surface, the magnet creates enough contact for a solid ground point. If you super glued or drilled the magnet mount antenna into the bed of the truck, it would not be grounded. Get it?

 

I get it, I just didn't realize it would work through the paint, that's all.

 

How dare you Chris... haha hope to see you at a meet soon!

 

I guess I would have to see that thing. The only antenna that is ground independent is a 1/2 wave and at 2 meters that's a little over 39" However a 1/2 wave would be about 1000 ohms at the feed point and it would require a matching coil so in the end you would end up with some thing along the lines of a 5/8's wave antenna. I can tell you that you are not going to gain much putting it 8' higher other then a lot of problems hitting trees and overpasses. You would get better results with it mounted lower to take advantage of the truck ground plane. If the lower part is just a hollow tube with coax inside it would work but again there will be virtually no improvement now on the top of a 40' tower yes that would help.

 

I bet my roof mounted 19" 1/4 wave performs better then that 8' foot long bed rail mounted antenna does

 

Well, I know my 8900 antenna sucks. Just spent over an hour trying to get anyone to give me a frickin' radio check to no avail. Couldn't even get Ryan when 4 feet away. Grrrrrr..... has to be user error.

 

You can transmit 4 ft away without even having an antenna connected at all. Had to be user error. Maybe you had a TX lock on or where transmitting on the wrong band

 

It worked for you and me, Anthony, but it hasn't worked all day. I'll delve into the manual and check out the TX lock - thanks for the advice!

 

Transmitting without a antenna is the perfect way to join the blown finals club... wow