Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

replace the coax ends, then the coax. look for changes.

 

Thanks! Question—this cable was made by antenna farm. Think I should order another or put one together myself? Or do you mean just replace the ends on this cable?

 

take the antenna off NMO mount, disconnect coax from radio. Use VOM see if there is short. If you can find someone that has one, use a merger. It shoots High Voltage to looks for leaks. Test the antenna on a different NMO mount?

 

Got it. Thanks a ton!

 

D

I just want to make sure... did you calibrate the VNA with the included calibration caps for the specific frequency range you are testing?

 

Yes, I calibrated with the three caps and set the range to 144-148 MHz.

 

Question for you guys.

I'm gearing up for a POTA setup. Got a Yaesu 891 inbound. Already have the antenna situation covered. My only thing left to sort is power.

I know BioEnno is all of the rage but I'm looking at something that operates as more of a dual purpose camp power & portable power setup.

Any thoughts on how long something like the Jackery 300W would last?

$259 Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 300, 293Wh Backup Lithium Battery, 110V/300W Pure Sine Wave AC Outlet, Solar Generator for Outdoors Camping Travel Hunting Blackout (Solar Panel Optional)

https://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Portable-Explorer-Generator-Optional/dp/B082TMBYR6

According to documentation it's a roughly 20.4Ah battery. So If I combine with a small 25A switching power supply I should get a few good hours operating time out of it, right? I'm thinking of only running between 50-75w portable.

Any thoughts?

 

You'll burn through a large portion of the battery capacity using the inverter to run a PS, both introduce inefficiencies. The power may also get pretty dirty if the inverter wave form is too square or pack voltage sags on xmit.

Those power packs are sub optimal for ham radio because they are stepped down from 21V (which is why they're so cheap). The cigarette plug is probably only 12v, not 13.8. The cigarette plug current is also limited by the step down circuitry. A cheap car battery with one solar panel would probably last longer.

 

Hi all, I'm kind of a newb when it comes to HAM. I've had my tech license for a couple years now but haven't really delved into the HAM world. I've got a cheap

$40 Baofeng UV-5R Ham Radio Long Range Handheld UV5R Dual Band 3800mAh Rechargeable Two Way Radio Walkie Talkies for Adults with Earpiece,Speaker Mic and Programming Cable Full Kit (Black-1Pack)

Baofeng UV-5R that I play around with occasionally, but I seldom find anyone else on any local repeaters. Other than tracking down a local HAM club, any advice on making new contacts?

Callsign - KM4-YAP

 

DMR

Wave of the future......

 

I echo what @golfindia said. There is no reason to run with a power supply. If you want something plug and play, look into the powerwerx stuff. The make battery boxes and they use bioenno batteries.

 

I just got done building this after realizing how easy the Powerwerx box was to make.

 

My DIY solution. 4S20P LiFePO4 32650

27lb, 110AH

 

@golfindia & @foy1der thanks guys.

 

I've had pretty much the same luck. When people say HAM is dead it seems to be because they have the same luck. I did find a local club that uses a couple of my local repeaters but it's the same people on all of the nets. The calling stations seem to be dead in my area, looking at repeaterbook and programming in random repeaters most of the time I get dead air except for an automated station identifier here and there.

What are you looking to achieve?

 

My advice is to go ahead and push to get your General license. Once you get on HF you will never be at a loss for people to talk to.

 

So a technician license is pretty much becoming worthless?

 

IMO it's only as useful as your local ham activity is. If the local repeaters and ham community aren't very active, you won't have really anyone to talk to. You can always use Echolink, Allstar, Fusion, etc. to access the digital hubs if that's your thing! Tech license gives you 6M and 10M privileges but right now both of those bands are dead most of the time.

With your General you get access to all of the HF bands and at any given point of the day, something is open to somewhere. It may be 2 states over, it may be open to Africa, but it's always something.

 

No, but analog repeaters are.

 

Nigerian princes, do they male contacts about problems there to and will reward you handsomely?