Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

how easy is it to plug in something into VFO with the keypad? The radio is so new to the market that there's not a whole lot of info on it.

 

I'll be talking to Murph by 11am....because HRO opens at 10. Haha.

No kidding. I looked myself and found nothin except one guy on a forum who went to a showing and said it is extremely intuitive...I'm assuming for people who are used to programing DMR haha

 

You're talking to a guy who has never programmed a DMR radio before. But, I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out. lol

 

Depending upon the local band plan, there are approximately 75-ish repeater frequency pairs in the 2m band. I live in Ohio, so I followed their band plan and programmed every pair into one bank and i scan that bank. If the scan lands on a signal, then i use tone scan to scan for the PL tone. Most of the time a repeater will output the same PL as the input. Once the PL is found, I can talk on the repeater.

Ohio uses 20 khz channel spacing from 145.110 to 145.490 and 15 khz spacing from 146.610 to 147.390. 5 khz of FM deviation requires a 25 khz channel widths. So outside Ohio, the scan still works. It will stop on a signal, it just won't necessarily be exactly on the correct frequency. I just need to twiddle the VFO a bit if the channel spacing are different in that particular area.

I also monitor 144.39 with my receive guarded with PL 100.0. By guarding the receive with PL 100.0, you won't hear every other FSK packet on the APRS channel. This is the APRS voice alert setting. If an APRS packet breaks squelch by sending PL 100.0, then that station should (in theory) be listening with their receiver guarded by PL 100.0. You also know that station is in simplex range. If you are decoding APRS, then you also know their call sign, but it's not necessary to have a TNC or decode any APRS for this to work. call them by saying your call sign + "calling voice alert." if they answer, immediately arrange to move to a different channel for a QSO. DO NOT RAGCHEW ON 144.39. I've made far more contacts this way then hailing on 146.52.

 

I didn't know this...Why is that?

Why do you have two different mounts? I'm glad to hear you have no SWR issues with the lower mount though. That's promising for what I want to do.

Thank you for explaining this!

 

@MonkeyProof

Programming for the Alinco is kinda odd. It was much easier to program it using the software and then setup a extra non used digital and analog channel to add in a repeater later manually.

I also had an issue with the USB drivers not wanting to work on a windows vista machine. Went to a friends house with windows 10 running on a MacBook and it ran fine. It is nice that it writes the code plug to memory on the radio before writing to the radio so you don’t brick it. Also don’t know if it is just because we were running windows on a Mac or not but when the radio would reset after loading the code plug the MacBook would restart. Could just be a bug with it being so new right now. Looks like it’s only been out about 10 days. I also like the mic settings on it. It has normal, indoor, outdoor and mic enhance. Really has a lot of features and I think I’ll really enjoy it.

 

Also this came in today.



Hoping to get it all in by early next week. Still have to get a NMO Mount for the roof and order the antenna.

Also can you believe they slapped a label on the factory box and shipped it like that. Didn’t even have tape over the little flap that holds the cover on it.

 

That is exactly how the seller through Amazon shipped my D710 to me..

 

This said it was fulfilled by Amazon. I highly doubt it because they would have boxed it. Return address was Ham City on it.

 

Hey Tom

Are you running a external speaker on your D710? If so which one are you running and how is the sound?

 

this guy right here.. the S100

$20 Cobra HG S100 - Dynamic External CB Speaker, Sound, Rugged Design , Black

https://www.amazon.com/Cobra-HG-S500-Highgear-Speaker/dp/B00006JPEZ?th=1

Had since 2003 with my first ever CB radio I bought at a truck stop on the outskirts of Augusta, GA. while I was stationed at Gordon, memories right there!! Sounds alright, not to much treble and just right with the bass so it's not mumbled.

edit: get's nice and loud and can be heard at a good distance away from the cab

 

Any chance you know what the resistance on that speaker is? I’ve been looking for an external speaker for my 710 and it specifies to use one with 8ohm resistance.

 

quick search of the google says it's 8ohms..

 

I just thought about needing one for the install Tuesday. Ugh.

I have a Motorola I might try to install temporarily until I can get something else. This would be a good time for Radio Shack to still be around needing a 1/8" mono plug. Kinda sucks not having anything around here anymore to pick up electronics supplies at. May need to road trip to a truck stop to see if they have one of those you have or something similar.

Btw, How's Jaz doing?

 

Appreciate it. Your gogglefu must be better than mine.

 

Got her in and running.

 

What mount using for head unit?

 

Lido Mount LM-300

 

For what it's worth "Fulfilled by Amazon" usually means that they are just the ones that handle the [ order-invoice-billing ] function. The product in these cases usually ships straight from the seller as opposed to an Amazon warehouse.

Funky packing technique regardless.

 

Yeah, everything I’ve ever ordered from them that said that came straight from Amazon was the reason I questioned it. Never had a fulfilled my Amazon come from a seller. To me means that their stock is in the amazon warehouse and Amazon handles it.