Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

Hmm....I do have several ammo cans and a TYT 8800 lying around....

 

Does the Ft-8900 allow you to listen to police and fire frequencies? I understand it allows rx on aviation bands. Looking st the different frequencies online confuses me

 

Yes and no!

You will be able to listen to about 95% of PD and FD. Some are also in a range you would be able to TX if you had the PL tone. Now, as some PDs are updating their radio equipment, they are starting to add encryption, making it impossible to listen to them by any legal means. But only a few major cities have done that and people are sueing them, so you won't see the mass switch to encryption until the courts determine if it's legal or not.... in like ten years.

 

Also some PD's use trunking systems that can be monitored but only if you have a trunking scanner. I don't think the 8900 can track trunking.

 

Wahoo - after a full 10 business days of waiting my call sign finally popped up on the FCC site.

Got my comet antenna mounted up yesterday and ran the coax up to my BaoFeng - will run this for a little bit while saving/deciding on a full mobile set up.

KM6HTE

 

Got the filler plate and mic clip from Shapeways today. Took about 5 minute to put it in. Still need to mount the radio (FTM-400XDR) and control head just waiting on the mount from Hondo Garage to come in. More to follow once all the pieces parts come in.

 

Good to know! Thanks for the response.

What's trunking?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunked_radio_system

easier to list it this way.

most fire departments don't use trunking systems but many medium to large police departments do. Gives them a slightly more efficient use of limited radio frequencies.

 

Nice! Welcome to the ham hobby!

KM6HEO

 

You can look up "project 25" or "p25" radio to understand trunking systems also. Pretty crazy stuff.

 

Thanks fellas. I think I'm sold on that radio. Now I need to figure out what type of antenna to use. That Diamond CR-8900 quad band antenna doesn't look very forgiving for off road use

 

Any particular reason why you are going with the 8900? Do you have your general or extra license?

 

I want to be able to listen to airplanes and have a detachable face plate. I looked at the TYT 9800, but figured it would be my luck that I'd get a faulty unit. Might as well get the good one I think

 

right on, I was gonna try to talk you into the ft8800, but just looked them up and they are no longer in production, and they are expensive now. They used to be cheaper than the 8900 and was based off the same platform and only a dual band. I still have my 8800 and love it. But nevermind now!

Just heads up, the 8800/8900's audio is terrible. A cheap external mic will fix that easy.

 

I had looked into the 8800, but then realized they no longer make them. I'm struggling trying to find an antenna to get now. That Diamond antenna made specifically for the 8900 doesn't look very off-road friendly. I'd probably be peeved if a tree snaps a $100 antenna

 

Here's my current set up

Panavise mount to hold the BoaFeng F9V2+

BAMF tailgate mount

Comet SS-680SBNMO antenna

Got a adapter cord to connect the BoaFeng to the comet antenna off Amazon

Coax sneaks in at upper corner of the tailight then drops down to the frame and runs along the existing wiring harness

Too many cords for my preference but works for now

 

I run a relatively cheap antenna, browning br-150 on my roof and then i keep a dual band browning behind my seat. If i ever need to hop on UHF, or cross band repeat, i just swap them out. The dual, tri, quad band antennas, aren't very flexible, and when offroading its a problem. although the br150 is just a vhf antenna, it is very flexible and ive come up on some low laying branches going fast thinking im going to rip this one off, but so far, it has been hanging it there.

 

So could I get a dual band for 2M and 70cm and then have a quad band to use when camping or when on the pavement? I take it they would use the same coax?

 

You can absolutely do that. You can run all the same coax line. Typically, coax line choice is more critical for VHF/UHF compared to HF. You could also put in an inline coax switch. That way, you could run a dual band (VHF/UHF) antenna on one line, and another dual band antenna (HF-29mhz-50mhz).
https://www.gigaparts.com/mfj-1702.html?gclid=COSi0cLK69ECFYW1wAodU8QJdQ

 

That's a great idea, but I have no idea where I would put that switch. What do most people do for off road friendly antennas? Is 70cm or 2m the band you use for communicating radio to radio, just like you would a CB or walkie talkie?