EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => RF, Microwave, Ham Radio => Topic started by: xrunner on June 08, 2013, 12:52:11 am
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I have (or had, I think the license is expired now because I didn't renew it) a General Class license. I was big into morse code in junior high school, but lost interest over the years.
Ham radio used to be the ultimate electronics hobby. I mean it was the Big Time thing if you wanted to experiment with electronics. You really had to know your shit.
I realized the other day, I never, and I mean never, hear about a ham hobbyist on electronics forums. I'm sure they have their forums, but it seems to be a dying hobby. I don't know if computers are killing it or the internet, but something happened, for me anyway. I just didn't see the challenge in it at some point. Maybe it was that you could go buy the most elegantly engineered radios and given that, there was no more challenge to it. :(
Thoughts?
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I think it has a lot to do with how easy and cheap it is communicate internationally now. Before my day, it was actually difficult and/or expensive to communicate with people in other parts of the world. Now we do it every day, essentially for free.
That said I'm a (not very active) operator and have a fair bit of interest in applying more modern design to old ideas. Not modern design, but something more modern than we would have done in the 80s. APRS is a good example. Most of the TNCs out there are still based on 1980s analog demodulators. SDR is really interesting too, as are some of the crazy new digital modes.
Still lots going on :).
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Well, my father could not easily send messages from Czech Republic (middle Europe) to a guy from Australia in early 1980s.
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I think it has a lot to do with how easy and cheap it is communicate internationally now. Before my day, it was actually difficult and/or expensive to communicate with people in other parts of the world. Now we do it every day, essentially for free.
Yea I think you're right. Back in the day (I mean early 1970's) there was no way to talk to other countries, other than some sort of expensive international call or a letter. :P
Ham radio was a really neat way to do something many people simply couldn't do or even really understand how to do. I got tutored by a Ham operator and that how I got into electronincs. Shoot - I knew things that many grown-ups didn't have a clue about.
Even before that, I got into shortwave listening because I got kits from Radio Shack. I listened to WWV and foreign nations and thought I was doing things that nobody else could do.
I still have a JRC communications receiver - not made anymore but man it's a kick-ass receiver. But do I use it for anytning now? No.
It's the damn internet! :rant:
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I am a General class operator. Not qute as active as I was 2 years ago but when I am in the shop the radios are on and monitoring. There are serveral ham radio forums. qrz.com being the biggest. But it is not ham radio. I do agree that the internet and cell phones has took alot out of the hobby. But it is not dieing. Put up a decent antenna, listen to the bands. They are very active. I am talking about HF freqencies. Not VHF or UHF.
The only reason I am not as active is because of the shop. When I am in the shop I am working on HF rigs or amplifiers. Most power supplies in these are between 2 to 3KV. Not every body wants to work on these. Like the new breed of ham operators. Not that I have anything at all against them. It is just at one time most ham operators could repair thier on stuff. Now that the FCC has made becoming a ham op easier, there are folks in the hobby with no electronic back ground at all. So I started repairing more and more radio equipment for ham operators. So I am still enjoying the hobby.
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I am a General class operator. Not qute as active as I was 2 years ago but when I am in the shop the radios are on and monitoring. There are serveral ham radio forums. qrz.com being the biggest. But it is not ham radio. I do agree that the internet and cell phones has took alot out of the hobby. But it is not dieing. Put up a decent antenna, listen to the bands. They are very active. I am talking about HF freqencies. Not VHF or UHF.
Hey there!
I just dug up my paperwork. My license expired in 2012 but there is a two year grace period. I guess I'll register with the FCC tomorrow and renew it. It would be a shame to let it die, but I have no idea what I will do with it. Maybe when I lose interest in my model railroading hobby ... :-//
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Hey there!
Greetings
I just dug up my paperwork. My license expired in 2012 but there is a two year grace period. I guess I'll register with the FCC tomorrow and renew it. It would be a shame to let it die,
I agree, that would be ashame. Please renew. This hobby could use you. Believe me.
but I have no idea what I will do with it. Maybe when I lose interest in my model railroading hobby ... :-//
There are many things in had radio you may fine interesting. Several you are already doing.
Electronics
Computers
Google software defined radio (SDR). This is a radio you can build (or buy) that is controlled by your computer.
Other things of interest is space communications. Beaming your signal into space and repeating in back via OSCAR. Or communicating with the space station. Another is EME which is earth moon earth. Bouncing your signal off the moon.
Yes, there are still things ham radio can do that your cell phone cant lol.
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I agree, that would be ashame. Please renew. This hobby could use you. Believe me.
I will. I will create an account at the FCC tomorrow morning. If I do not explicitly say to this community that I have renewed my ham license tomorrow, please feel free to kick my online ass. ;)
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I attend several HAM fests every summer. Great place to find parts and used test equipment. Many of the swap meets are becoming loaded with used computer equipment but the larger ones around here have plenty of interest to just about anyone interested in electronics.
If you live in the US you can check the calendar here to find meets in your area: http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar (http://www.arrl.org/hamfests-and-conventions-calendar)
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There are many things in had radio you may fine interesting. Several you are already doing.
Electronics
Computers
Google software defined radio (SDR). This is a radio you can build (or buy) that is controlled by your computer.
Other things of interest is space communications. Beaming your signal into space and repeating in back via OSCAR. Or communicating with the space station. Another is EME which is earth moon earth. Bouncing your signal off the moon.
Yes, there are still things ham radio can do that your cell phone cant lol.
There are those who entered ham radio in the '60s and '70s to talk around the world. That's no longer as attractive with the internet. So the motivations for people entering it are probably narrower than they were. Still they definitely remain for the technically inclined. Also there are likely to be many hams here who have broader interests and/or don't necessarily have their callsign as a username.
When the internet replaced packet radio for sending messages a lot of hams hooked packet gear up to a GPS. The result is APRS - they're able to track cars and things via radio.
Amateurs who go hiking or mountaineering to remote areas are well out of mobile phone coverage. There are a lot of small voice, morse and data transmitters that are easily built to maintain communications.
Another growth area is the interface between microcontrollers and radio. Arduinos are used to control variable frequency oscillators. Raspberry Pi can be set up as a low powered transmitter.
There is a mode called WSPR where just milliwatts can span the world by transmitting data very slowly. The WSPR network can be monitored on the web. This is useful for testing antennas and propagation as you receive details of exact signal levels from around the world.
There is still significant morse activity on HF. However there is also now a worldwide system called the Reverse Beacon network comprised of receivers around the world. Put out a CQ call and even if noone comes back your signal may be captured and reported online. Again this provides useful data for antenna testing.
Like computing the real (and nominal) cost of radio gear has fallen. This applies for both commercial and home made gear. Construction is easier than it was. As an example, it is possible to build a basic HF SSB transceiver for under $100 in a few days. Eg Knobless Wonder: 7 MHz SSB txcvr with just 10 transistors/1 IC (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxDD2Qe1VX4#)
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I don't know if being able to "talk" via the Internet with people around the world is the major disincentive
for people who would otherwise be "Hams".
It does use up time which may otherwise be used for hobbies (not just Ham Radio).
On a winter's day,it is easier to sit back in bed with your laptop,(like I am at this moment) & argue with other old farts (OK,some of you are young farts! ;D) about Electronics,or Ham Radio ,or football,than it is to sit in your cold lab,Ham shack,or football stadium! ;D
I would definitely suggest joining QRZ.com,as they are a nice mob there.
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Another growth area is the interface between microcontrollers and radio. Arduinos are used to control variable frequency oscillators. Raspberry Pi can be set up as a low powered transmitter.
Nice info. But the above quote grabbed my attention. I recently got interested in Pic programming. You sound like you know a bit of older ham radio. Remember the old Swan 350 radios, also the Siltronics line they built. Those thing drift all over the place. This is where the Pic comes in handy. Remove the old VFO unit and replace with a small board. Program your frequency range and you end up with an old style radio with a modern touch. I also replace the old dial with a LCD display.
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I got me a cell phone. It's totally Star Trek.
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I tried to log into the ULS to renew. I didn't know I had any account at all, so when I filled out the registration, it told me I did have an account. I apparently already have a password but I have no idea what it is. I tried to reset my password.
It said I had to create a personal security question to reset it, because I didn't have a personal sec. question on file, and after I finished that form, it said the request was "assigned to an agent". It would take up to 3 business days. :(
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I got me a cell phone. It's totally Star Trek.
Yep, that helped kill it for younger people I bet. :-[
I remember a long time ago you could use a 2 meter radio to call a phone patch and talk to your wife and ask if she needed a gallon of milk on your way home. That was, for back then, totally friggin trick stuff.
Now it's a joke compared to what the simplest smart phone can do.
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Every Ham meeting I've ever gone to was basically a dick waving contest between geezers over who had the most expensive ready made gear.
Still thinking about getting my no-code tech license.
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Every Ham meeting I've ever gone to was basically a dick waving contest between geezers over who had the most expensive ready made gear.
Still thinking about getting my no-code tech license.
Agreed, why I do not participate in local clubs. Or 80 meters for the fact lol. You always have the same group of folks running the club reguards to who the president is.
My thought of a club is different than most. I am thinking do something that is ham radio related. In stead of meeting for a steak and a beer.
Anyway go for it. But dont stop at tech, get your general. HF can be fun. Although I was a tech for many years I enjoyed the world above 50 MHz with out the use of repeaters.
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I got me a cell phone. It's totally Star Trek.
Yep, that helped kill it for younger people I bet. :-[
I remember a long time ago you could use a 2 meter radio to call a phone patch and talk to your wife and ask if she needed a gallon of milk on your way home. That was, for back then, totally friggin trick stuff.
Now it's a joke compared to what the simplest smart phone can do.
Yea, but it's still the wireless.
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Probably the main reason younger people aren't into ham radio is that it isn't a cheap hobby.....but it's far from being dead.
http://www.arrl.org/radio-technology-topics (http://www.arrl.org/radio-technology-topics)
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QRP is simple and interesting, from the build aspect; it's highly mobile if the interest is there, but you need Morse-code to communicate.
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But aside from the license fees and the rig amateur radio is totally free to use, as long as you keep it clean and do not mind having it broadcast to all. Also works when all the fertiliser hits the ventilator and the phones and cellular signals are out for repair.
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Well as, a full A class here in the UK ,I can tell it's going strong, had mine since 1998,I still use morse code , when I feel the need, data , moon bounce HF , the full hog, ,it's a life time licence now, every 5 Years you have to let them know your still doing it and away you go for another 5 years all free, online. I believe it's easier now thank goodness for those taking it up, I don't think they do the 12wpm morse test any more, but I'll stand to be corrected on that.
Anyway I love the hobby, and speak to people all over the world daily.
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I got me a cell phone. It's totally Star Trek.
Yep, that helped kill it for younger people I bet. :-[
I remember a long time ago you could use a 2 meter radio to call a phone patch and talk to your wife and ask if she needed a gallon of milk on your way home. That was, for back then, totally friggin trick stuff.
Now it's a joke compared to what the simplest smart phone can do.
A smartphone is either a lousy computer,or a lousy cellphone---I haven't worked out which! ;D
Actually,your smartphone is just talking to the local cell tower.
Most of the other stuff is done by the millions of dollars worth of equipment in the International phone system.
We never had phone patch on repeaters in VK--what I remember from the time when I was very active on
2m FM was working a Ham on a Bulk Carrier coming into Port Hedland about 2000km away,on the Perth repeater,then going to Simplex & working him again.
Tropo ducting is great!
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Here is the enjoyment of ham radio just 2 minutes ago I spoke to a station in Portugal 6 metres FM 4 watts, and on my home made 6 metre transceiver, pure utter magic. :-+ :-+ :-+ :-+ :-+
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Here is the enjoyment of ham radio just 2 minutes ago I spoke to a station in Portugal 6 metres FM 4 watts, and on my home made 6 metre transceiver, pure utter magic. :-+ :-+ :-+ :-+ :-+
Sweet, got to love 6 meters. One of my favorite bands.
Here is a couple of pics on my old homebrew 6 meter rig.
It started out as a MFJ 6 meter rig. After a lot of modifications this is how it ended up.
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Here is the enjoyment of ham radio just 2 minutes ago I spoke to a station in Portugal 6 metres FM 4 watts, and on my home made 6 metre transceiver, pure utter magic. :-+ :-+ :-+ :-+ :-+
Sweet, got to love 6 meters. One of my favorite bands.
Here is a couple of pics on my old homebrew 6 meter rig.
It started out as a MFJ 6 meter rig. After a lot of modifications this is how it ended up.
Beautiful Radio lovely work there, My friend KG0ZZ Dave, is getting tempted by 6 Metres at last, mine started off as a burned out AKD, with many mods now,I've got a New Case from AKD, once it's all back inside I'll take a picture, my low is 4 watts, and high is 40 watts, I think the orginal is 1 and 4 not sure though.
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Beautiful Radio lovely work there, My friend KG0ZZ Dave, is getting tempted by 6 Metres at last, mine started off as a burned out AKD, with many mods now,I've got a New Case from AKD, once it's all back inside I'll take a picture, my low is 4 watts, and high is 40 watts, I think the orginal is 1 and 4 not sure though.
Thanks,
I threw that together over a couple of weeks when it was cold. I had bought the MFT9604 when 6 meters was hopping during the summer. I made a lot of contacts with it but it drifted bad and was clumbsey to operate. And frequency rejection was terrible. So before I decided to toss it in the pile I got to thinking.
The case was an old maco mobile cb splatter box amplifier. The VFO assembly I used was from an old tram diamond 10 cb external VFO unit. I picked up a digital frequency counter that was a programmable job made to use on 40 channel cb's. Had to re-wire the first digit from a 2 to a 5. Then it was just a simple reprogram to get it to match the VFO oscilator.
The MFJ board got a new filter scheme and mic circuit. Next was to change out the output section from 10 watts to 20 watts. I had a blast with this rig. It was some of the most fun I ever had on ham radio.
Good luck on the AKD. Sounds like a bit of fun also. Stay on your friend. Once bitten by the 6 meter bug nothing else matters :)
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I just dug up my paperwork. My license expired in 2012 but there is a two year grace period. I guess I'll register with the FCC tomorrow and renew it. It would be a shame to let it die, but I have no idea what I will do with it. Maybe when I lose interest in my model railroading hobby ... :-//
Even if you don't use it to talk to all those old farts, it's a cheap license to have that allows you to experiment with radio. You can also use it to launch high altitude balloons, which need a way of broadcasting the location. That's why I got my license.
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Even if you don't use it to talk to all those old farts, it's a cheap license to have that allows you to experiment with radio. You can also use it to launch high altitude balloons, which need a way of broadcasting the location. That's why I got my license.
Yea I'm trying to renew it. Need to hear from the FCC to get my site password, should be able to renew since it's not been two years since expiration.
We'll see what I can find to interest me after that. ;)
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License renewed! Now expires 6/2023. :)
Now what should I do - no equipment. :o
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License renewed! Now expires 6/2023. :)
Now what should I do - no equipment. :o
Sweet,
Now build something!
Oh, what class license you have?
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Oh, what class license you have?
General Class.
I'll probably start off boring, and get a 2m handheld, just to get my feet wet again. :)
After that, we'll see what happens.
But, I'm, glad I posted this now. The FCC was really pretty efficient in getting my password fixed up and then renewing the license. Took two days. Good job FCC! :-+
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You can get a 2m/70cm HT for under $40: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H4VT7A (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H4VT7A)
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You can get a 2m/70cm HT for under $40: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H4VT7A (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H4VT7A)
Wow! That's inexpensive and it gets fairly good reviews. How can they produce it for that price? I know don't ask right?
I'm going to look into that right now.
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I just ordered a BaoFeng UV-5R 136-174/400-480 MHz Dual-Band DTMF CTCSS DCS FM Ham Two Way Radio + programming cable + external mic for $58.
Shoot, for that price it's a no brainer. :-//
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If you need help with it there's an active Yahoo group for it.
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If you need help with it there's an active Yahoo group for it.
Thanks.
I also found this website when I was looking at whether to buy it - there's a whole lot of info there too -
http://www.miklor.com/ (http://www.miklor.com/)
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If you need help with it there's an active Yahoo group for it.
Well it arrived today. I must say, it's has a very high quality feel to it for the money. I'm receiving the local repeaters OK, but I need to use the Chirp software to set up the channels so I can try a contact this evening. :clap:
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Don't forget HF. The magic bands (10m, 20m, 40m, 80m and 160m) have had some decent propagation recently. Whenever I turn on my radio I never know what country I'll hear from next. DIY low power SSB radios are really fun to make and usually cheap. The kits here: http://ea3gcy.blogspot.com/ (http://ea3gcy.blogspot.com/) are superb. If you really want a cheap QRP radio the Bitx (http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/bitx.html (http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/bitx.html)) is also great. It's only about $5 worth of parts. I built a Bitx and I've been surprised by the performance. Antennas can be as simple as a length of wire. Congrats on the renewed licence and welcome back to Ham radio!
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You got the better antenna. I just connected it to an external one, and it is a lot better then. Mobile I have to be within 5km of the repeater to work it.
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You can get a 2m/70cm HT for under $40: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H4VT7A (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007H4VT7A)
Wow! That's inexpensive and it gets fairly good reviews. How can they produce it for that price? I know don't ask right?
I'm going to look into that right now.
Teardown please? I don't think there's much in it though... but RF is like voodoo to me.
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I'm not even a licensed operator, but I purchased a Yaesu VX-8DR handheld transceiver just for its receiver capacibilities and testing some of my own test gear. Plus I love electronics that are submersible and rugged!
Perhaps a bit overkill though :)
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License renewed! Now expires 6/2023. :)
Now what should I do - no equipment. :o
I'm a general as well, wa9sdj, its a great hobby.
If you have ~ $900 burning a whole in your pocket by an Elecraft KX3, I own one and it's a great HF rig.
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Don't forget HF.
Yea I know, I'll have to get more equipment as time goes on. When
I have a really nice communications receiver put away - JRC NRD-535, I'll have to get it out of the box.
Stock photo -
(http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/commrxvr/1535.jpg)
Congrats on the renewed license and welcome back to Ham radio!
Yea I'm glad I got off my a** and renewed it. Stupid to let it expire at all.
Teardown please? I don't think there's much in it though... but RF is like voodoo to me.
Already been done :) -
Baofeng UV-5R low TX modulation mods (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql2d2lRSs-4#ws)
You got the better antenna. I just connected it to an external one, and it is a lot better then. Mobile I have to be within 5km of the repeater to work it.
Yea I got it at the same time. I talked to one guy last night on 145.33 repeater, but he wasn't hearing me well enough to talk for very long. I told him he was the first ham I had talked to in 2o years, he was amazed.
I am in the process of finding the repeaters that I can get to and people can hear me well enough. There are a lot of repeaters in Fort Worth but even at 4W this little radio may not work well for many of them unless an external antenna is used.
I'm a general as well, wa9sdj, its a great hobby.
If you have ~ $900 burning a whole in your pocket by an Elecraft KX3, I own one and it's a great HF rig.
Never heard of them, I'll check their stuff out. :)
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Just a listener here but I enjoy cruising the bands and listening to what's going on in the rest of the world. I have noticed a drop in HAM traffic over the past few years.
Here's the Kenwood I use when I'm working at night. It's hooked up to a 75 foot long wire. It works pretty well.
(http://www.stevenjohnson.com/web-pics/kenwood-r20002.jpg)
I use to have a nice big old vintage tube Hallicrafters but I sold it as this one had a wider bandwidth and took up less space. I'll have to replace it one of these years. Dialing in a station on that old tube set gave me a feeling of satisfaction I don't get with the Kenwood for some reason. The digital receiver is easier to use and you can program in frequencies but it's just not as much fun.
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I almost got into ham back in the early 60s , but my folks handed me a Heathkit catalog just before sending me off the military boarding school - in 3rd grade .
Nobody there was a ham , so I forgot all about it , till about 8 yrs. ago when a friend was at our local coffee shop and had an HT , a hand-held 2m , 70cm .
I asked what he was doing and he mention it was a ham radio , next thing I know I'm off to classes & testing .
As far as the original question , there are many answers , 1st off SLJ you left and are part of the answer .
But like any other subject , there is never only one answer to almost any question .
Recently I saw a stat. that showed about 750,000 ham lic. in the US and more every weekend .
Another large % answer , I think , is that for again a lot of reasons , there are fewer technical / electrical minded out there .
With the miniaturization of gear , its a lot to tackel to make a kit & build your own rig these days .
So that is 3 combined reasons , less inclined young people , harder to build - and a company needs to sell many kits in order to exist .
And touched on earlier , almost anyone is more occupied these days [ even if its just sitting in front of the TV { not a TV in every room back in the 50s & 60s } and sitting infront of the computer screen .
I as a ham think there is no relationship to cells phones , that is a non-ham mind talking .
To me I get on the air and its an adventure , I never know who I may run into on air .
Its a searching for signals thing , a cell phone needs a number to call - no comparison at all , either in technology or mind-set .
To hams have ego stuff going on - when all else fails hams will save the world , attracts many .
Some of those do a good job of being ready , but it appears many are marginally prepared , most lacking in knowledge , training and gear .
With no-code lic. these days it makes it easier to get into the hobby with out any real technical knowledge , then they seem to get lost and drop out .
One the local 2m , 70cm repeaters , things are much slower also , it used to be you had to wait in line to get on many of them about 6-8 yrs. ago .
This seems to me is a good example of all of this , because this is where almost all new hams start and with so many out there it should be more crowded than ever but its not ?
Then there the economy or the lack of , like any hobby , its not cheap and can get very expensive vary fast .
Then there is propagation , with an 11+ yr. sun cycle [ and we are at an unusual low the last couple yrs. ] its harder to make contacts .
Related to something earlier above , tech. learning , at least from a hams perspective learning electronics at the component level and systems , the education is not there anymore .
I have to go back to about the 80s to find helpful books on learning .
I just picked up a copy of The Art of Electronics , by Horowitz & Hill , most sources were in the $100 + range , but I kept looking and found a good condition for about $14 including shipping :)
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Talked with a guy this morning for a while on a 2m repeater that seemed to be closer, still had a little noise on my signal according to him.
According to a repeater directory there are 24 (2m and 70 cm) repeaters within 10 miles of my location. I can hear pretty much all of them, because I can hear them send out IDs, but on most of them, I rarely hear anyone talking. There's maybe three that are somewhat busy, but the rest - nothing much at all. Seems like a lot of capability just sitting around out there.
But like any other subject , there is never only one answer to almost any question .
That's very true. When I was a kid there was only a few ways for the average person to communicate with people far away from you.
A. Long distance telephone or international phone call
B. Write a letter
Now, we have the internet and cell phones. It's no big deal - nothing at all - to communicate with anyone in the world in a matter of seconds. Cell phones provide instant text messaging.
Take my nephew. I gave him some N scale trains and track. Couldn't have cared less about it. Went right back to video games.
Gave him a little helicopter to fly. Couldn't have cared less about it. Went right back to video games. I took the helicopter home with me and I now play with it.
Now imagine if I gave him a shortwave radio. After a few hours you could call that a boat anchor if you wanted to.
Let's say I tried to get him interested in ham radio, I'd probably show him my 2m handheld and explain it. Then he'd probably say it's like a telephone, only with annoying beeps and static, and no kids to talk to, and no games built-in, and no camera, and no texting ... and WTF - you have to pass a test to even use it?
Ain't gonna happen.
Whereas I (we) had an appreciation of the challenge of communication, most kids these days don't have that appreciation or interest. It either works or it doesn't - there's' no understanding why it doesn't work. If it doesn't work you go to the store and replace it. If I told my nephew I could talk to a guy in France over a ham radio, he'd be totally unimpressed. So what - he can do the same thing on the computer faster and easier. Maybe that's why we liked it back then. It was a challenge that few other people wanted to do or could learn to do.
I dunno.
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Ham radio is ' going out in the world ' and meeting new people .
Your nephew cannot talk to that unknown person is france , he has to know him in advance - have his phone # etc.
With ham radio you could end up talking to and maybe become friends with anyone , wether its just a working stiff or an astronaut , famous whatever .
With the internet is close but there is a stand-off , it may not be as open as it use to be , for many reasons people tend to keep there selves anonymous these days , on the net almost know one gives you there name .
With a lic. you can look up and know who you talking to .
And then still get to know after talking over the air .
Something similar , if you haven't done either it may be difficult to imagine but like having a solar system and making your own power , with ham radio you are not part of another infrastructure , system or paying a fee , once you set up your shack your on your .
Repeaters are just one small part of all the aspects of ham radio .
When I travel there are a large number of people I have met on air that because ham radio , I have personal invites all over the world and I haven't even been there .
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Now, I'm going to be thinking like a young person does in the following reply, so remember that ... ;)
Ham radio is ' going out in the world ' and meeting new people .
That's true but ...
Your nephew cannot talk to that unknown person is france , he has to know him in advance - have his phone # etc.
^^^ That's not.
As in this forum, you can meet all sorts of new people and talk to them without knowing them in advance. To do it, all you have to do is "go out" and register on the forum and poof - you're meeting new people. See the flags of the members here? You are meeting new people from all over the world with a high reliability.
Take another example - Facebook. Once you are friends with several people you can start friending other friends and so on and so on, all without knowing them in advance. If they want to talk to you, they will, if not, they won't, just like ham radio.
Not to mention Skype, internet relay chat, blogs, twitter, email, etc, etc, etc - all not available when I was a kid. Like I said - you either made a long distance call or wrote a letter.
With ham radio you could end up talking to and maybe become friends with anyone , wether its just a working stiff or an astronaut , famous whatever .
With the internet is close but there is a stand-off , it may not be as open as it use to be , for many reasons people tend to keep there selves anonymous these days , on the net almost know one gives you there name .
Again - same thing as a forum. You can always exchange real names via PMs if you are so inclined. But due to the real threat of personal privacy (which wasn't as bad as it is now) it's a fact that people want to keep their privacy. The privacy on ham radio isn't nearly as much a concern because there isn't much of a record, unless you record the whole conversation (yea I know about rtty and so on). But there's just no "tracking" of your activities over the air. Once the RF is received by a receiver, the rest just goes on it's way to outer space - gone. Now take an email - there's a record of that and tracking of that.
With a lic. you can look up and know who you talking to .
And then still get to know after talking over the air .
Something similar , if you haven't done either it may be difficult to imagine but like having a solar system and making your own power , with ham radio you are not part of another infrastructure , system or paying a fee , once you set up your shack your on your .
Repeaters are just one small part of all the aspects of ham radio .
When I travel there are a large number of people I have met on air that because ham radio , I have personal invites all over the world and I haven't even been there .
All true, but your preaching to the choir. :) You have to think like the younger generation thinks to understand how they communicate. What they are used to and care about is instant reliable clear communications and virtual worlds (games). They're not into hit and miss contacts, static, or noise.
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Just a listener here but I enjoy cruising the bands and listening to what's going on in the rest of the world. I have noticed a drop in HAM traffic over the past few years.
Here's the Kenwood I use when I'm working at night. It's hooked up to a 75 foot long wire. It works pretty well.
(http://www.stevenjohnson.com/web-pics/kenwood-r20002.jpg)
Yea a Kenwood R-2000, I used to have one. :)
I used to spend hours listening to shortwave - all the major bands and everything in between. I always liked the mystery of the numbers stations too. 8)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station)
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I am in the process of finding the repeaters that I can get to and people can hear me well enough.
In case you don't already know: http://k5ehx.net/repeaters/qrepeater.php (http://k5ehx.net/repeaters/qrepeater.php) and http://www.repeaterbook.com/ (http://www.repeaterbook.com/)
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In case you don't already know: ...
I did, but thanks. :-+
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2/70cm has caused a lot of new hams to give up. Mainly because of contence of the 2 meter crowd. Now many repeaters sit quiet all the time. hardly no activity. A lot of this came about when the code no code debates began. I was once a repeater owner here in NC. I got tired of it and sold out. So now there are dozen's of local machines just sitting there with no funding. With out funding that means you can not get it repaired when an antenna or coax line goes bad. Most if not all tower owners require the climbers to be well insured now. And that is not cheap.
Move on to HF as soon as you can. String up some cheap wire antennas and you will have a blast.
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2/70cm has caused a lot of new hams to give up. Mainly because of contence of the 2 meter crowd. Now many repeaters sit quiet all the time. hardly no activity. A lot of this came about when the code no code debates began ...
I'm probably going to delete all the 440 MHz repeater channels from my radio. There's just no activity at all on them after a week of scanning. The most I've heard is some guys testing, working on a problem on one. But really - nothing else. NOTHING. The machines are operating, because I can key them up, but I never hear anyone carry on a conversation on them. :o
I checked in on a net this evening on a 2m repeater. I'm going to just leave the 2m repeaters in memory that I can get a good signal into with my 4W high power and delete the rest. But that will give me 4 or 5 to work through.
Move on to HF as soon as you can. String up some cheap wire antennas and you will have a blast.
I'm beginning to realize that you are a very, very wise man. :)
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I myself just recently joined the ham radio fraternity not but two years ago and love it already.
For me, it was a decision based on an old fascination with radios and a recent need for the ability to have emergency communications capacity from very remote locations (without paying for a satellite phone).
I never realized that the amateur radio scene would re-kindle my love of electronics nearly as much as it has and I've since hemorrhaged money (saving up all my over-time) for almost an entire year in order to set up my first home electronics lab (work in progress). Hell, I'm even taking on design projects now - fabbed PCBs and all - because of ham radio.
What a great hobby!
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What a great hobby!
Indeed. It also appears that HeathKit has reappeared, with an emphasis on Amateur Radio.
http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-faq.html (http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-faq.html)
I'm really hoping for quality kits in the near future.
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Indeed. It also appears that HeathKit has reappeared, with an emphasis on Amateur Radio.
http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-faq.html (http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-faq.html)
I'm really hoping for quality kits in the near future.
Zing! That came out of nowhere! I'm definitely interested in this development. Heathkits are what I used as a novice on CW, here's the receiver I used -
Heathkit HR-10B receiver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf-T0oMkNdM#)
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Zing! That came out of nowhere! I'm definitely interested in this development. Heathkits are what I used as a novice on CW, here's the receiver I used -
Heathkit HR-10B receiver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf-T0oMkNdM#)
Take the survey and you'll become an insider (gets you nothing but put on their mailing list):
http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-survey.html (http://www.heathkit.com/heathkit-survey.html)
Warning, it's a comprehensive survey and will take ~20 minutes or so. But they are asking the right questions and appear to be VERY serious.
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Q. So who are you guys?
A. More on this later.
Hopefully whoever bought the rights to the name after the assets were auctioned off will make a go of it. Right now it looks like they are trying to keep the name alive and protect what they have invested so far until they figure out what they are going to try to do with it.
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Q. So who are you guys?
A. More on this later.
Hopefully whoever bought the rights to the name after the assets were auctioned off will make a go of it. Right now it looks like they are trying to keep the name alive and protect what they have invested so far until they figure out what they are going to try to do with it.
I just hope it is for real. A site with no contacts and address bothers me. But I guess we will see in the near future. Although Heatkit will never be what it was years ago.
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I just hope it is for real. A site with no contacts and address bothers me. But I guess we will see in the near future. Although Heatkit will never be what it was years ago.
Yea we'll see. Surveys are OK and fine, but what matters is the kits they produce. If they are just starting up again, and have to engineer new, shall we say, modern kits, such as a market competitive ham transceiver, that's no small feat. Are these kits going to use SMT devices and thus expecting their customers to solder them? That's part of the choices they will have to make.
One of the questions they asked was about resurrecting some older classic kits. I'm not sure what they mean by that. Even though it might be quaint and all, I don't think that means receivers or transmitter with tubes. :-//
They must be referring to doing something like Chevy did with the Camaro - a new modern version of a classic kit. Anyway, I gave then my callsign and email, but I ain't gonna hold my breath waiting for new Heathkits.
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If they reproduced tube amps they might make a go of it but I'm betting anything newer will be cheaper from China fully assembled. On of the big attractions of the old kits was saving money.
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If they reproduced tube amps they might make a go of it but I'm betting anything newer will be cheaper from China fully assembled. On of the big attractions of the old kits was saving money.
I agree that they couldn't compete with China, not by a long shot. Personally, I hope they don't try. I believe there is a market for decent quality kits and people wouldn't mind paying for it. I doubt it's a market that will make billions, but I do believe there is enough to support a small group comfortably.
The big question to me is, what type of kits? Test gear such as power supplies, function generators etc, would be a given as those would have appeal to anyone involved in electronics. Since test gear doesn't have to be tiny thru hole kits would work great. But then what? Beats me.
SMD isn't kit friendly, even less so for beginners. But who wants a gizmo for their micro assembled with thru hole components? Micros are today's version of Ham radio. They're everywhere in our lives doing their magic so a large portion of electronic hobbyist gravitate to them, just as prior generations did to radio and their rf voodoo.
There just doesn't seem to be many places for thru hole kits but kits are no place for SMD.
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I asked some hams yesterday on the repeater if they had heard about Heathkit coming back. One guy said yes he had heard about it in CQ magazine, but he was less than impressed with Heathkit's claim of resurrection.
It was like "Meh. I'll believe it when I see good kits produced, till then, money talks bullsh*t walks". :)
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Hilarious video! :-DD
Truth revealed about ham radio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE7FrVY9T4#)
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Can't someone take one of those USB TV tuner cards that can be hacked into a spectrum analyser to monitor the bands of interest? Maybe you could setup an automatic broadcast service that tells people which bands are being used and which ones have been used in the recent past.
Ham radio is interesting to me but I suspect nobody really uses it anymore. There's a ham club in my city and I should probably take a look at that.
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Ham radio is interesting to me but I suspect nobody really uses it anymore. There's a ham club in my city and I should probably take a look at that.
2012 was/is an all time high here in the States.
"As 2012 came to a close, ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, had a good reason to cheer: The number of radio amateurs in the US reached an all-time high of almost 710,000. “2012 was definitely a banner year for the number of Amateur Radio operators here in the US,” she said. “It is amazing to see these new numbers and to know that Amateur Radio is experiencing such a healthy trend.”"
Source:
http://www.arrl.org/news/view/2012-marks-all-time-high-for-amateur-radio-licenses (http://www.arrl.org/news/view/2012-marks-all-time-high-for-amateur-radio-licenses)
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Can't someone take one of those USB TV tuner cards that can be hacked into a spectrum analyser to monitor the bands of interest? Maybe you could setup an automatic broadcast service that tells people which bands are being used and which ones have been used in the recent past.
That is already being done.
Called the DX cluster. It is done over the internet and works great. You can even see who is logging folks. As far as broadcasting on ham radio? Thats a no no and not permitted per FCC rules.
Ham radio is interesting to me but I suspect nobody really uses it anymore. There's a ham club in my city and I should probably take a look at that.
Sorry, but this is a statement that is false. No disrespect to you what so ever. But I have to wonder where folks get this infomation. I will say that the V/UHF bands are not as active as they were 10 years ago, but the HF spectrum is alive and well. Try getting on 20 meters (14MHz band) when it is open and throw out a "is the frequency in use". Hard to find a frequency clear to get on at times. The 80 meters is locked down by the "grey beards lol. Also CW (morse) is alive and well and on 40 meters the lower half is full of signals.
Yes, Ham radio is alive and well.
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Yesterday, during field day, I couldn't find a single spot that was not in use by at least three people on 20 and 40 meters. Field day is the day to listen to the ham bands. That's usually when there are the most people.
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Looking around at the new rigs being offered. Gah, They look too much like home stereo equipment.
(http://www.yaesu.com/ProductImages/FT-950_thumb.jpg)
Anyway, my next project since getting back into it is to mount a small 2m antenna on the roof somewhere. I just can't get out well enough in the house unless I stand in the right room. Outside it works fairly well, so I'm sure that even a small antenna will do the job. May go with a vent pipe mount. I found a good suggestion on how to get the wire up to the roof using this mounting place. Simply drill a small hole while inside the attic into the PVC pipe and fish the coax a few inches up to the roof opening from inside the pipe then seal it. :)
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Ha, I have that exact rig!
But yeah, getting that antenna out will really help, you can buy 1/2 decent stuff pretty reasonable.
I'm currently running the following, it's sitting on top of a 65' tower:
http://universal-radio.com/catalog/hamants/3503.html (http://universal-radio.com/catalog/hamants/3503.html)
All of my tower parts I've gotten next to free, just driving around looking for old TV antenna towers with nothing on them.
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Anyway, my next project since getting back into it is to mount a small 2m antenna on the roof somewhere. I just can't get out well enough in the house unless I stand in the right room.
I built a simple (but not small) indoor 2m antenna with a length of wire and a scrap of wood trim. I can easily hit repeaters 10 miles away. I can also listen to ISS packets and the occassional ISS voice convo.
Details here: http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=24889 (http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=24889)
I just bolt it to my camera tripod.
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Funny video, xrunner. But it sounds like ham radio people are just like any other group of people. I was specifically thinking of Internet trolls, etc.
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I built a simple (but not small) indoor 2m antenna with a length of wire and a scrap of wood trim. I can easily hit repeaters 10 miles away. I can also listen to ISS packets and the occassional ISS voice convo.
Details here: http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=24889 (http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=24889)
I just bolt it to my camera tripod.
Thanks I'll have to try that, but right now I have no way to connect it to my HT. I need to order some adapters and coax so I can play with these ideas.
Funny video, xrunner. But it sounds like ham radio people are just like any other group of people.
Or test equipment freaks? :-/O
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I'm on HF almost every day. Most of the time I operate HF mobile these days, with all of the time I spend on the road with my day job.
Here's a video that was shot last weekend, showing me making a contact to NC from our local club's hamfest in NJ, using just 5 watts of RF power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTYHujmTuGg#ws (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTYHujmTuGg#ws)
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I'm on HF almost every day. Most of the time I operate HF mobile these days, with all of the time I spend on the road with my day job.
Here's a video that was shot last weekend, showing me making a contact to NC from our local club's hamfest in NJ, using just 5 watts of RF power.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=CTYHujmTuGg (http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=CTYHujmTuGg)
Nice contact.
Anyway I love your vids. And your projects. Anything you have to do with scopes are great. The RF sample and DEMOD circuit is great. I built 3 of them. One for each bench.
Keep making those great videos
Buddy / kc4umo
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I'm on HF almost every day. Most of the time I operate HF mobile these days, with all of the time I spend on the road with my day job.
Cool. I'll get there, I just gotta get the equipment.
I found the box that had all the QSL cards I got when I was a novice using CW back in '74 - '75. Lots of memories.
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My 2m antenna is a slightly shortened FM antenna, without the reflectors and directors, mounted on the roof and connected with 75R sat downlead. Inside a BNC to the HT works well enough.
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Hey dumb question - do people still send physical QSL cards or has the internet relegated that to history? :-\
If not I need to order some new ones.
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Hey dumb question - do people still send physical QSL cards or has the internet relegated that to history? :-\
If not I need to order some new ones.
Many still do, but some prefer electronic cause it's easier to search etc. I'd go ahead and get some, their cheap enough.
We should make our own EEVblog branded cards!
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Hey dumb question - do people still send physical QSL cards or has the internet relegated that to history? :-\
Both.
You can either send paper cards direct (postcard in the mail) or via a bureau. Local radio club or national society may include bureau membership making it cheaper to send and receive cards (although it is slower).
Electronic cards or confirmation of contacts can be done via Logbook of the World, eQSL or qrz.com
If you contact someone look up their QRZ profile which tells a bit about them (if they've filled it in) and how they like to QSL (if at all). It can also help finding things to talk about if you find a common interest they've mentioned there.
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Talked to the local morning crew on 146.84 from the top of my roof today. They said the signal was great. :)
I have some RG-8/U cable on order to run from my hobby room to the antenna I will mount on the vent. Did a little work up in the attic today but by 0900 it's already too hot to do any work in the attic.
We'll get there ...
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Got the dual-band VHF antenna mounted. I can't transmit yet because I don't have the PL-259 installed at the other end, but I used a test- lead to clip the other end to the HT antenna and the RX signal strength is way better now. :clap:
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Nice looking antenna. Is it clamped to the DWV stack?
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Nice looking antenna. Is it clamped to the DWV stack?
Yea, it's a clamp made specifically for a stack pipe. I also thought up a trick (which I later found other people used also) to run the coax up to the ant. You drill a small hole into the PVC pipe from inside the attic and simply run the line right up the pipe about 8 inches and presto - there it is out the top. I'm going to seal around the coax from inside the attic as soon as I get all the slack taken out the way I want it. I still need to trim about 20 ft. from the length where the coax will be terminated inside the house and instal a PL-259. Then I'll be in hog heaven.
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Have you tried it on 70cm? Probably works just as well as 2m.
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It used to be sitting up all night talking to people on the other side of the world for free was a big deal. Now, here we are.
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It used to be sitting up all night talking to people on the other side of the world for free was a big deal. Now, here we are.
Yep, it used to be something amazing, but I don't think young people today would consider it anything all that great. We've kinda got into that before in this thread. Of course I can't do that on 2m or 70 cm, but even using repeaters and HTs it's not anything better than what cell phones can do around town with less equipment (no mobile ant. or installation required). In fact it's LESS capable than a cell phone because I can't send pics, take pics or video, send texts, make calendar entries, use a calculator, play a game ... I suppose in some sense a ham HT would work in an emergency, provided the repeater had power of course.
If the repeater had no power an HT theoretically could talk to someone else - if anyone was listening that could do anything to help you. Right. :( If there was that kind of emergency, the answer back would probably be something like "We hear you and we'll get to you after we get the power back to the cell towers"
If I go on trips around town what do I make sure not to leave behind - my cell phone or my HT? There's you answer. ???
But, it's a hobby so I'll press on because I remember when it really was something few people could do any other way. Oh the memories.
Have you tried it on 70cm? Probably works just as well as 2m.
Only receiving. I should have the whole setup working by the end of the week.
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2 meters and 70cm can be fun. Even more fun on SSB. Back before Floyd took my stuff down in 1999 I was heavy into v/uhf. It was nothing to walk in the shack early morning and make a contact to Florida or New York. One advantage I guess for living on the east coast. I had built a quagi antenna. It is a cross between a Quad and a yagi. Antenna was around 13 foot. Was vhf on one side and uhf on the other. When I mounted it on the tower I used a hinge mount with a small actuator to switch from vertical to horizontal. The antenna boom was made from wood and coated. I sure miss that one.
Here is a couple of pics before mounting on tower.
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2 meters and 70cm can be fun. Even more fun on SSB. Back before Floyd took my stuff down in 1999 I was heavy into v/uhf. It was nothing to walk in the shack early morning and make a contact to Florida or New York.
Cool. I've shown one of my neighbors my antenna, but I can't mention it to the old man who lives right next to me. I was told by the neighbor that there was a ham who lived right on the other side of the old man (he was of course younger then) once and he was always claiming the ham was causing interference. Whether that was true or not then, he can easily conjure up a scenario where I would be the cause now. Let's just say you'd have to meet him to understand. :palm:
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Like old man Simpson on steroids........... I have met those neighbours before. Smile, be nice, listen attentively (or a good facsimile thereof) and agree with him. Then walk away before you give in to the urge to do something that will involve a spade and pickaxe and a 2m deep hole in a secluded spot.
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Like old man Simpson on steroids........... I have met those neighbours before. Smile, be nice, listen attentively (or a good facsimile thereof) and agree with him. Then walk away before you give in to the urge to do something that will involve a spade and pickaxe and a 2m deep hole in a secluded spot.
You know him too? :-DD
I got all my work done on the ant. install except for the final PL-259. I got the first one soldered on OK, but it really needed more thermal mass applied to get it soldered than I had available with the irons I own now. It just took too long and I don't want heat applied too long to the coax. I have an 80W iron coming in the mail, so I'm just going to tough it out and wait a few more days until I can use that.
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So does that groundplane antenna require grounding? You said the stack was PVC? I thought DWV stacks were always cast iron. I think PVC has a high temp expansion coefficent.
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So does that groundplane antenna require grounding? You said the stack was PVC? I thought DWV stacks were always cast iron. I think PVC has a high temp expansion coefficent.
Mine are PVC (built in 1970). I will have a true independent Earth ground where my equipment will be located. The room where my equipment is has a water faucet with copper tubing right outside the wall. I have attached a grounding wire to this copper and will be able to use that for my station. Any other suggestions are welcome though.
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I have several friends that have Ham radio licenses and they tried getting me to get one in the 90’s, but I never bothered to study. Just recently someone else tried getting me interested, so I’ve been reading a book and studying.
I’ve basically lost interest again. I’m getting pretty board with things like, “What type of control is being used for a repeater when the control operator is not present at a control point?” or “What type of control is being used when transmitting using a handheld radio?”
All I can think to myself is, “blah, blah, I couldn’t care less that it’s automatic and local control”. I think that’s what goes through most people’s heads and that’s why they don’t get it.
I can see that in the future that people will allow the FCC to sell the bands to the highest bidder. Just tell them they’ll get faster YouTube on their iPhone.
I wish I had interest, but it's going away very quickly. :(
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I will have a true independent Earth ground where my equipment will be located.
You don't want any grounding to be independent. There are lots of resources online regarding this, but make sure all station equipment is grounded to the same spot (don't daisy chain grounds) then out to a ground rod that is bonded to the mains ground, with the heaviest wire #6 or better wire.
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You don't want any grounding to be independent. There are lots of resources online regarding this, but make sure all station equipment is grounded to the same spot (don't daisy chain grounds) then out to a ground rod that is bonded to the mains ground, with the heaviest wire #6 or better wire.
All I mean is I have a ground wire for the equipment that isn't used for other things, but it's connected to the copper water pipes which is a very good ground.
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But is that mains ground connected as well?
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But is that mains ground connected as well?
Huh? Of course it is. All the copper is grounded.
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This guy outlines most of the important stuff:
http://www.w8ji.com/station_ground.htm (http://www.w8ji.com/station_ground.htm)
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This guy outlines most of the important stuff:
http://www.w8ji.com/station_ground.htm (http://www.w8ji.com/station_ground.htm)
Thanks for the link. Yea that guy has a setup way, way more complicated than mine. But yes my ground is the same as mains ground. I just measured the resistance from my ground wire to an outlet ground and it's 0.2 ohms. All I did was run a very good large gauge copper wire to the copper water pipe ground. It's not a different ground than the mains ground.
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I wish I had interest, but it's going away very quickly. :(
I wish I had some inspiration for you, but I have none. :(
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All I can think to myself is, “blah, blah, I couldn’t care less that it’s automatic and local control”. I think that’s what goes through most people’s heads and that’s why they don’t get it.
Most amateurs probably couldn't care less either, and probably forget that detail soon after passing (luckily there's no re-testing!).
The main things to know are operating basics and band limits to avoid going out of band.
Repeaters (to which that question pertains) is just a small aspect of ham radio and there's a lot more that may be of interest besides.
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Thanks for the link.
Sweet, at a couple hundred million volts the game changes! :scared:
Sounds like you're in good shape, you'll meet lots of good people locally on 2m.
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I got the final PL-259 soldered on. But I made the same mistake I've made time and again even though I've been in electronics my whole life - the first one I soldered on I forgot to put the stupid outside shell on the cable first.
:rant:
Idiot. So I had to cut it off and do it all over again.
I got the 80 w soldering iron in the mail but it turned out to be a total and complete piece of crap. In fact I considered it dangerous. When I plugged it into an outlet it went in with almost zero force. For some reason the size of the plug prongs was too small and barely made any contact with the outlet! I don't think I've ever seen that before in my whole life. It was just the crappiest piece of Chinese junk I've ever seen. Then when I tried to spread the prongs a bit to make contact - they simply cracked the plug housing. Into the trash it went.
I used the old Weller soldering gun again and got it done. But it does work now and I have a good signal.
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Chinese plugs are just shorter and narrower than the standard US plug by ~0.5mm.
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Chinese plugs are just shorter and narrower than the standard US plug by ~0.5mm.
But I don't live in China. :-//
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Chinese plugs are just shorter and narrower than the standard US plug by ~0.5mm.
But I don't live in China. :-//
That's the problem , if you did they would fit & you wouldn't have a problem :-DD
Actually I had the same problem, never bought wun hung lo plugs again, take it back.
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That's the problem , if you did they would fit & you wouldn't have a problem :-DD
Actually I had the same problem, never bought wun hung lo plugs again, take it back.
Ah you're right. It takes me a while to catch on. :palm:
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That's the problem , if you did they would fit & you wouldn't have a problem :-DD
Actually I had the same problem, never bought wun hung lo plugs again, take it back.
Ah you're right. It takes me a while to catch on. :palm:
I'm have fun to at the moment I have and old Heathkit IM2201 bench multimeter, so accurate it's unbelievable, try finding a power cord for the sucker is another thing, so I'm going to take the old USA socket out and fitting a UK one in it's place, I like this old Heathkit Bench meter, it came from Michigan , plus I have to put a UK 250v transformer in it to, on Batteries at the moment.
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It used to be sitting up all night talking to people on the other side of the world for free was a big deal. Now, here we are.
Yep, it used to be something amazing, but I don't think young people today would consider it anything all that great. We've kinda got into that before in this thread. Of course I can't do that on 2m or 70 cm, but even using repeaters and HTs it's not anything better than what cell phones can do around town with less equipment (no mobile ant. or installation required). In fact it's LESS capable than a cell phone because I can't send pics, take pics or video, send texts, make calendar entries, use a calculator, play a game ... I suppose in some sense a ham HT would work in an emergency, provided the repeater had power of course.
If the repeater had no power an HT theoretically could talk to someone else - if anyone was listening that could do anything to help you. Right. :( If there was that kind of emergency, the answer back would probably be something like "We hear you and we'll get to you after we get the power back to the cell towers"
If I go on trips around town what do I make sure not to leave behind - my cell phone or my HT? There's you answer. ???
But, it's a hobby so I'll press on because I remember when it really was something few people could do any other way. Oh the memories.
That's the point,it's a hobby!
For some reason,Ham Radio seems to be the only pastime that has to prove itself relevant in these times.
Yachting?----Every year,dozens of yachts compete in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race.
Why would you want to do this trip in a sailboat,when you could fly from Sydney to Hobart in a couple of hours?
Hunting?---You can buy meat at the Butcher!
Fishing?----You can buy fish at the Supermart!
Gardening?---You can buy flowers at the Florist & vegetables at the Supermart!
Archery?------Why not use a rifle?
Football? -----If all those blokes want the football so much,they can buy their own!
See,it sounds stupid for these other activities,so how is it a useful comment when used about Ham Radio?
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I've been accumulating radio equipment (receivers, transmitters and transceivers - mostly vintage tube) for the last ~15 years. I'm now at a point where my "shack" is constructed and organized to the extent that I can finally begin planning the final bit - working out and erecting the backyard antennas and sitting for my HAM license. My motivation is entirely centered around an interest in restoring, maintaining and working the old equipment, rather than using it as a substitute for modern methods of communication. It is quite irrelevant to me that I can communicate with others across the globe much more efficently via the internet! ::)
As for the HAM license, I have to say that to date I haven't even looked into what's involved to pass or made inquiries to the appropriate authority, save that my aim is to qualify for the "Advanced" certificate as that gets me onto 160m and 2200m.
So what is the most expedient course of action to get that out of the way? I'd really prefer NOT to join any kind of exclusive club for assistance (I have enough worldly experience at this stage of my life to know that is something to be avoided). Does being an employed, qualified "Electronics Technician" get me any up front credit? I don't think that there is anything much on the electrical theory side that I would have to learn, except perhaps for some theory on antenna operation, but I'd definitely need to read up on the rules and regulations.
Also, is there anyone out there experimenting with operation on 2200m or know of any good, authoritative HAM references/texts on the use of the band? There really isn't a great deal out there that I can find.
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I've been accumulating radio equipment (receivers, transmitters and transceivers - mostly vintage tube) for the last ~15 years. I'm now at a point where my "shack" is constructed and organized to the extent that I can finally begin planning the final bit - working out and erecting the backyard antennas and sitting for my HAM license. My motivation is entirely centered around an interest in restoring, maintaining and working the old equipment, rather than using it as a substitute for modern methods of communication. It is quite irrelevant to me that I can communicate with others across the globe much more efficently via the internet! ::)
As for the HAM license, I have to say that to date I haven't even looked into what's involved to pass or made inquiries to the appropriate authority, save that my aim is to qualify for the "Advanced" certificate as that gets me onto 160m and 2200m.
So what is the most expedient course of action to get that out of the way? I'd really prefer NOT to join any kind of exclusive club for assistance (I have enough worldly experience at this stage of my life to know that is something to be avoided). Does being an employed, qualified "Electronics Technician" get me any up front credit? I don't think that there is anything much on the electrical theory side that I would have to learn, except perhaps for some theory on antenna operation, but I'd definitely need to read up on the rules and regulations.
Also, is there anyone out there experimenting with operation on 2200m or know of any good, authoritative HAM references/texts on the use of the band? There really isn't a great deal out there that I can find.
Some advice I can give with antenna's, buy a good book written by a radio ham on wire antennas, this will save you a small fortune, I learned this from bitter experience, if you have a mast or tower, make sure you can put it up or down on your own, , learn how to make traps, for multiband operations. then the ham test, not sure if Morse code is still a requirement, if it is I found learning it easier in small and often pieces again from bitter experience, my fist attempt , left me thinking I'll never get this, then a fellow radio ham took me under his wing , 6 months and I took the 12 wpm test we had over here, I passed it at 20 wpm with ease :-+, so good luck hope it goes well, and I hope to speak to you some day soon.
Paul de M0BSW
ps Try getting a copy of a test sheet it will give an idea what you need to do for the test, I'm not a club person either I won't commit my time to any club.
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I've been accumulating radio equipment (receivers, transmitters and transceivers - mostly vintage tube) for the last ~15 years. I'm now at a point where my "shack" is constructed and organized to the extent that I can finally begin planning the final bit - working out and erecting the backyard antennas and sitting for my HAM license. My motivation is entirely centered around an interest in restoring, maintaining and working the old equipment, rather than using it as a substitute for modern methods of communication. It is quite irrelevant to me that I can communicate with others across the globe much more efficently via the internet! ::)
As for the HAM license, I have to say that to date I haven't even looked into what's involved to pass or made inquiries to the appropriate authority, save that my aim is to qualify for the "Advanced" certificate as that gets me onto 160m and 2200m.
So what is the most expedient course of action to get that out of the way? I'd really prefer NOT to join any kind of exclusive club for assistance (I have enough worldly experience at this stage of my life to know that is something to be avoided). Does being an employed, qualified "Electronics Technician" get me any up front credit? I don't think that there is anything much on the electrical theory side that I would have to learn, except perhaps for some theory on antenna operation, but I'd definitely need to read up on the rules and regulations.
There's a fair bit about licensing on the WIA website - www.wia.org.au (http://www.wia.org.au) The Amateur FAQ is also good http://vkfaq.ampr.org/index.php (http://vkfaq.ampr.org/index.php)
http://www.wia.org.au/licenses/licensing/rpl/ (http://www.wia.org.au/licenses/licensing/rpl/) makes provision for recognition of prior learning eg tech quals. Although it might just be simpler/cheaper to sit the Advanced theory exam at the same time as doing regulations.
All you need to know about the regulations is in the amateur section of acma.gov.au
No need to join any club. Clubs often run exams but membership and course attendance are optional and exams available to all comers.
I don't know how good it is but the RSGB have a book on 2200m & 630m on special at the moment http://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Low_Frequency_43.html (http://www.rsgbshop.org/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Low_Frequency_43.html)
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Thanks! I particularly like the book reference. It's a pity136kHz isn't a legal HAM band in America; there would be a lot more literature on the topic if it was.
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That's the point,it's a hobby!
For some reason,Ham Radio seems to be the only pastime that has to prove itself relevant in these times.
Yachting?----Every year,dozens of yachts compete in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race.
Why would you want to do this trip in a sailboat,when you could fly from Sydney to Hobart in a couple of hours?
Hunting?---You can buy meat at the Butcher!...
See,it sounds stupid for these other activities,so how is it a useful comment when used about Ham Radio?
You're missing the whole point unfortunately. It is a hobby and doesn't have to justify itself as you said. It is, however, a matter of how interesting the hobby is to young people. For example fishing - there is no substitute for catching a real fish in the wild unless you go out and fish for one. Same thing for hunting. There is no modern "invention" that renders these hobbies irrelevant as far as fun goes. Going to a grocery store and buying a fish isn't an interesting or fun substitute for fishing for one yourself.
As far as Ham radio, there is an interesting and fun substitute for communicating with people from a handheld device. It's called a cell phone. There is an interesting and fun substitute for communicating with people all over the world without an HF rig and antenna. It's called the Internet and Skype. Those are the points you are missing.
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not sure if Morse code is still a requirement
No, not anymore. It's been dropped for an number of years now, AFAIK.
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Thanks! I particularly like the book reference. It's a pity136kHz isn't a legal HAM band in America; there would be a lot more literature on the topic if it was.
Although the Americans have a licence-free band at 160 - 190 kHz. They're limited to 1w and some of the techniques could be useful for 136 kHz. Search LowFER. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LowFER (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LowFER)
In the 1980s/1990s a few Australian amateurs got experimental licences for around 196 kHz. There were some articles published in Amateur Radio magazine (I think there's an index online somewhere).
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not sure if Morse code is still a requirement
No, not anymore. It's been dropped for an number of years now, AFAIK.
Oh good, I don't think it is a requirement over here in the UK anymore, may be wrong , it's been so long since I did it, for me it was the biggest obstacle, only determination pulled me through, and never used it since I passed.
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That's the point,it's a hobby!
For some reason,Ham Radio seems to be the only pastime that has to prove itself relevant in these times.
Yachting?----Every year,dozens of yachts compete in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race.
Why would you want to do this trip in a sailboat,when you could fly from Sydney to Hobart in a couple of hours?
Hunting?---You can buy meat at the Butcher!...
See,it sounds stupid for these other activities,so how is it a useful comment when used about Ham Radio?
You're missing the whole point unfortunately. It is a hobby and doesn't have to justify itself as you said. It is, however, a matter of how interesting the hobby is to young people. For example fishing - there is no substitute for catching a real fish in the wild unless you go out and fish for one. Same thing for hunting. There is no modern "invention" that renders these hobbies irrelevant as far as fun goes. Going to a grocery store and buying a fish isn't an interesting or fun substitute for fishing for one yourself.
As far as Ham radio, there is an interesting and fun substitute for communicating with people from a handheld device. It's called a cell phone. There is an interesting and fun substitute for communicating with people all over the world without an HF rig and antenna. It's called the Internet and Skype. Those are the points you are missing.
A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
We have had International Subscriber Dialling since the 1960s,so if I wanted to,& didn't mind the bills,I could have randomly rung people all over the world back then.
Skype is basically a way to get cheap phone calls using the Internet---interesting & fun?
The Internet itself,---yeah,you can have arguments on forums like this,watch videos,& all sorts of stuff,but these things should also distract people from all the other activities I referred to.
My question is still,why should Ham Radio have to prove its relevance?
Going online and letting millions of dollars worth of Commercial communications system make a contact for you isn't "an interesting or fun substitute" for making one yourself.
Interesting to "young people"?
Young people turn inexorably in to middle aged,& then,old people,whose interests may be very different.
I don't really see that much growth in Ham Radio coming from the really young,but more from the 40s & older group.
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For some reason,Ham Radio seems to be the only pastime that has to prove itself relevant in these times.
Heh. Those of us who still load (some of) our cameras with film often get asked similar questions ;)
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Heh. Those of us who still load (some of) our cameras with film often get asked similar questions ;)
You got me cornered there :)
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A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
No, it is significantly different compared to the thing on the wall. And I am not talking about the technology.
With the wall-thingy you actually don't call a person, you call a place and hope the desired person happens to be around. With a cell phone you call a person, not a place. To throw a buzzword around, that is a massive paradigm shift.
My question is still,why should Ham Radio have to prove its relevance?
Because hams claim they are relevant and superior. I have had countless events since my youth where hams tried to shove their alleged superiority in my face along the line of "move over, here comes the ham", "hams are the better persons", "only hams can do electronics" and whatnot. So put up or shut up.
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Personally I'm not a ham, but if I were charged with making it more interesting to Young People, I would play up the fact that it is the only long-distance communication method that one can use without
suckling at the teat of a corrupt, capitalist dictator-state use of third party services.
Many Young People have an interest in anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, collectivism etc. and some of them might be uncomfortable with their conversations being relayed through billions of dollars of equipment belonging to The Man. Granted, one needs to initially get a license from The Man, but once set up with the equipment (plus a generator and a stockpile of fuel) (and guns to defend them) one is well placed to ride out the fall of western civilization. At least, that's what I'd be telling Young People. There's even some truth in it which appeals to me even though I've long capitulated to the Establishment.
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English Ham here, still plenty of people to talk to.
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And here ,they should just get on with it, with this week off I'm loving the time on the radio.
Paul de M0BSW
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A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
No, it is significantly different compared to the thing on the wall. And I am not talking about the technology.
With the wall-thingy you actually don't call a person, you call a place and hope the desired person happens to be around. With a cell phone you call a person, not a place. To throw a buzzword around, that is a massive paradigm shift.
My question is still,why should Ham Radio have to prove its relevance?
Because hams claim they are relevant and superior. I have had countless events since my youth where hams tried to shove their alleged superiority in my face along the line of "move over, here comes the ham", "hams are the better persons", "only hams can do electronics" and whatnot. So put up or shut up.
Well I'm sorry you met such people , you won't get that with me, I only mention it when someone asks advice or I know I'm talking to another ham , then talk a bit of shop, I remember going to a rally, where this sales man was trying to impress me with some piece of gear, he never got to find out I am a licensed ham, in fact he very much put me off buying it. by saying things like, if you took your licence then you could use this, "oh" I said "how would I do that", my friend who stood there with me was laughing, as he is a Ofcom officer on interference and radio, he was laughing, because this idiot should have asked me if I was licensed first, then on asking I would have told him my call sign and all the Nov's I have. As for Electronics , I'm still learning, and have a lot more interest in it now I'm older.
So this is just to let you know, even people like me , come into contact with morons to , like the sales person.
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A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
No, it is significantly different compared to the thing on the wall. And I am not talking about the technology.
With the wall-thingy you actually don't call a person, you call a place and hope the desired person happens to be around. With a cell phone you call a person, not a place. To throw a buzzword around, that is a massive paradigm shift.
My question is still,why should Ham Radio have to prove its relevance?
Because hams claim they are relevant and superior. I have had countless events since my youth where hams tried to shove their alleged superiority in my face along the line of "move over, here comes the ham", "hams are the better persons", "only hams can do electronics" and whatnot. So put up or shut up.
Well I'm sorry you met such people , you won't get that with me, I only mention it when someone asks advice or I know I'm talking to another ham , then talk a bit of shop, I remember going to a rally, where this sales man was trying to impress me with some piece of gear, he never got to find out I am a licensed ham, in fact he very much put me off buying it. by saying things like, if you took your licence then you could use this, "oh" I said "how would I do that", my friend who stood there with me was laughing, as he is a Ofcom officer on interference and radio, he was laughing, because this idiot should have asked me if I was licensed first, then on asking I would have told him my call sign and all the Nov's I have. As for Electronics , I'm still learning, and have a lot more interest in it now I'm older.
So this is just to let you know, even people like me , come into contact with morons to , like the sales person.
Well I'm sorry you met such people , you won't get that with me, I only mention that I'm a sales man when...
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A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
No, it is significantly different compared to the thing on the wall. And I am not talking about the technology.
With the wall-thingy you actually don't call a person, you call a place and hope the desired person happens to be around. With a cell phone you call a person, not a place. To throw a buzzword around, that is a massive paradigm shift.
My question is still,why should Ham Radio have to prove its relevance?
Because hams claim they are relevant and superior. I have had countless events since my youth where hams tried to shove their alleged superiority in my face along the line of "move over, here comes the ham", "hams are the better persons", "only hams can do electronics" and whatnot. So put up or shut up.
Well I'm sorry you met such people , you won't get that with me, I only mention it when someone asks advice or I know I'm talking to another ham , then talk a bit of shop, I remember going to a rally, where this sales man was trying to impress me with some piece of gear, he never got to find out I am a licensed ham, in fact he very much put me off buying it. by saying things like, if you took your licence then you could use this, "oh" I said "how would I do that", my friend who stood there with me was laughing, as he is a Ofcom officer on interference and radio, he was laughing, because this idiot should have asked me if I was licensed first, then on asking I would have told him my call sign and all the Nov's I have. As for Electronics , I'm still learning, and have a lot more interest in it now I'm older.
So this is just to let you know, even people like me , come into contact with morons to , like the sales person.
Well I'm sorry you met such people , you won't get that with me, I only mention that I'm a sales man when...
Youre a saleman ,then defend your self, because I don't have a lot of time for salesmen, prove to me your worth.
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A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
Really? Really? You make me LOL.
(http://images.apple.com/support/assets/images/products/iphone/hero_iphone4-5_wide.png)
Skype is basically a way to get cheap phone calls using the Internet---interesting & fun?
Yea - considering it has video too. Yea it's interesting and fun. Again I LOL'ed at your post.
(http://www.videoconferencingsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Skype_video_screenshot.png)
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Many Young People have an interest in anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, collectivism etc. and some of them might be uncomfortable with their conversations being relayed through billions of dollars of equipment belonging to The Man. Granted, one needs to initially get a license from The Man, ...
Well if that's the case, then nobody's stopping them from just buying equipment and using it without a license. You don't have to prove you have a license to buy ham equipment.
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A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
Really? Really? You make me LOL.
(http://images.apple.com/support/assets/images/products/iphone/hero_iphone4-5_wide.png)Oh,sure,you can take pictures with a smartphone,use it as a half-arsed computer,& lots of other great stuff,but in the context I was referring to,it is a phone!
Why,with all those capabilities do people spend most of their time texting?
Kids sit about a metre apart & text each other---great DX!! ROFLMAO!
Actually.one thing about smartphones which is good,is that they have proper (if pretend) QWERTY keyboards,instead of the old "Ma Bell" keys,making it a lot easier to text.
Apart from that,they are oversized clunky things compared to the previous generation of cellphones.
Skype is basically a way to get cheap phone calls using the Internet---interesting & fun?
Yea - considering it has video too. Yea it's interesting and fun. Again I LOL'ed at your post.
(http://www.videoconferencingsystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Skype_video_screenshot.png)
Videophones are great,whether Skype or dedicated systems,but I have noticed over the years that people
enjoy the novelty for a while,then go back to ordinary phone calls.
It's nice to see Auntie's face when you talk to her,but is it worth the clunky interface,& Auntie's lack of skills as an on-air personality?
Many ex hams make the mistake of going with a 2m or dual band HT when they return to the fold.
The heyday of 2m & 70cm repeaters is gone,so it can be pretty boring.
There are a lot of other aspects,such as HF,digital,satellite coms,aircraft enhancement,& many others.
In front of me,as I write,is the July issue of "Amateur Radio " magazine which reports,& I quote, in part :
On May 23rd,Andreas DJ5AR & Jan PA3FXB succeeded in making contact on 23cm via reflection from the ISS.
Both stations used three metre dishes tracking the ISS with Andreas running 100 w,& Jan with 375w.
No repeaters or translators,just reflection!-----Try that with your smartphone! ;D
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A cellphone is a phone!--exactly like the old black Bakelite thing on the wall back in the day!
No, it is significantly different compared to the thing on the wall. And I am not talking about the technology.
With the wall-thingy you actually don't call a person, you call a place and hope the desired person happens to be around. With a cell phone you call a person, not a place. To throw a buzzword around, that is a massive paradigm shift.
I'll remember that,next time I get shunted off to Voicemail!
The "paradigm shift" is not relevant in the context of my comment---the key word is "random",so it wouldn't matter to me,who answered,or if nobody did.
Hams call "CQ" plenty of times without result.
My question is still,why should Ham Radio have to prove its relevance?
Because hams claim they are relevant and superior. I have had countless events since my youth where hams tried to shove their alleged superiority in my face along the line of "move over, here comes the ham", "hams are the better persons", "only hams can do electronics" and whatnot. So put up or shut up.
Agreed,some Hams are a pain in the bum!
This is how bigotry is created-------some people of a group upset you,& that means everybody of that group are the same.
On that basis,a reader of this forum,by reading postings from me & your goodself,could form the opinion that members of this forum are all self-opinionated old farts! ;D
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not sure if Morse code is still a requirement
No, not anymore. It's been dropped for an number of years now, AFAIK.
Oh good, I don't think it is a requirement over here in the UK anymore, may be wrong , it's been so long since I did it, for me it was the biggest obstacle, only determination pulled me through, and never used it since I passed.
Yes, I'm quite glad it is no longer required as that is one tedious thing I do not have to bother with to get my ticket. It is still something I'd like to learn though, one day, as I've got a half dozen Morse keys as a lot of my transmitters have CW facilities.
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So who else has one of these room heaters in their shack then?
http://www.users.on.net/~glenk/ctm2k/ctm2k.htm (http://www.users.on.net/~glenk/ctm2k/ctm2k.htm)
;D
With some modification I think it will be just the ticket for getting closer than most to that elusive 1W ERP legal limit on 2200m.
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So who else has one of these room heaters in their shack then?
http://www.users.on.net/~glenk/ctm2k/ctm2k.htm (http://www.users.on.net/~glenk/ctm2k/ctm2k.htm)
;D
With some modification I think it will be just the ticket for getting closer than most to that elusive 1W ERP legal limit on 2200m.
I wish
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So who else has one of these room heaters in their shack then?
That is truly awesome. :-+
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So who else has one of these room heaters in their shack then?
A friend of mine owns and operates a genuine Racal 1KW shortwave transmitter of roughly the same size. Uses three 4-250A tetrodes in parallel in the final, and covers 3-22 MHz or so. I once helped move it, and we had to dismantle the different parts, particularly the PSU, in order to do so. When the PSU 19" 'drawer' was fully assembled, it took four of us to lift it about 10 cm off the floor in order to place it on its slide-out rails. :phew:
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The old stuff for continuous duty, broadcast use, where reliability was important, was generally over engineered; big heavy, sometimes hugely over-rated transformers in the power supplies.
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Well, the excessive LC filtering of even the HT rail for the finals certainly didn't help with keeping the PSU weight down... :)
On the other hand, then it seems to me that some of the RF gear made for hams tend to be a bit on the ... 'flimsy' side, considering the claimed specs. Conversely, a healthy dose of over-engineering has been a proud tradition for decades among many hams, who scratch build their own gear. I am certainly not surprised that my friend has hung on to his Racal monster for this many years, as many among the experienced operators end up with building similar sized DIY contraptions.
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Dick Smith Electronics - Australian ham radio kit
My New Ham Radio. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvg42blWONA#ws)
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I've got the DSE 70m FM rig from back in the '80s.
I didn't build it,picked it up faulty ----fault was an o/c squelch pot.
It works quite well.
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If you watch the video just before that one, he really went to a bunch of trouble to get that rig!
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Well, the latest radio toy I have been obsessed with is my software defined radio setup. I just got an SDR dongle last week and since then I've been like a kid in a candy store. I'm running SDR# as the software. I also got a little wideband ant. and stuck it in the attic. I'm amazed at what this technology can do (it doesn't take much to entertain me anyway ;)).
Now, before I got the thing I was looking hard at new HF transceivers. I know some of the expensive ones have spectrum displays, but I really didn't want to spend all that money. Now I'm totally spoiled. It's just too valuable to see all the signals on either side of your freq, so I can't see operating with just a simple freq. readout. I'm going to research how to use the SDR together with a cheaper HF rig like the IC-7200.
Oh yea - I also ordered a Ham it Up up converter so I can use the dongle on the HF bands, should be here this week. That will really be fun. :)
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You might consider an Elecraft KX3, it's a SDR portable radio with IQ out, so you can use it with Quisk, the panadapter software on my YT channel. They have a 100 watt amp that is just about it hit (I have one pre-ordered), and a 2-Meter module in the works.
See here, this was done with my KX3:
http://youtu.be/WcmE7FVr9x4 (http://youtu.be/WcmE7FVr9x4)
The KX3 is an AWESOME rig and < $1000 with antenna tuner.
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Oh yea - I also ordered a Ham it Up up converter so I can use the dongle on the HF bands, should be here this week. That will really be fun. :)
I would be very interested in hearing how this goes. Practically all the wideband SDR chips I have seen, have fairly weak receivers (IMD, phase noise). As such I would expect IMD troubles if you pour all of shortwave into one at once, without filters and when using a halfway reasonable antenna.
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I would be very interested in hearing how this goes. Practically all the wideband SDR chips I have seen, have fairly weak receivers (IMD, phase noise). As such I would expect IMD troubles if you pour all of shortwave into one at once, without filters and when using a halfway reasonable antenna.
The new Funcube Dongle Pro+ (http://www.funcubedongle.com/?page_id=1073) is really good. 192kHz bandwith. I use it with SDR# and a lw ant.
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The new Funcube Dongle Pro+ (http://www.funcubedongle.com/?page_id=1073) is really good. 192kHz bandwith. I use it with SDR# and a lw ant.
Unable to comment meaningfully on that. :-//
There appear to be zero schematics or detailed specifications available for the thing. They do mention using 19 bandpass filters, and talk a bit about the IM3 intercept point for the LNA, that is all I could easily find.
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There appear to be zero schematics or detailed specifications available for the thing. They do mention using 19 bandpass filters, and talk a bit about the IM3 intercept point for the LNA, that is all I could easily find.
Right, only some specs (http://www.funcubedongle.com/?page_id=1201) are on the website. (Unfortunately there is no test on the sherwood receiver list (http://www.sherweng.com/table.html).)
I don't hear much difference on weak signals in comparison with my Kenwood TS-590 (on the same antenna). :-//
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Right, only some specs (http://www.funcubedongle.com/?page_id=1201) are on the website. (Unfortunately there is no test on the sherwood receiver list (http://www.sherweng.com/table.html).)
I don't hear much difference on weak signals in comparison with my Kenwood TS-590 (on the same antenna). :-//
Well, it would be splendid if the SDRs have grown up a bit. :) I guess something like using a Si57x as LO, plus a good H-mode mixer, would get you far. However I am a bit curious about some of the claims mentioned on their homepage. If they know and have bothered to write about the +30 dBm OIP3 for the LNA, then why didn't they spend 10 seconds to tell us what the IIP3 is for the whole receiver? The OIP3 for the LNA is a worthless spec on its own, as it says absolutely nothing about the overall strong signal performance of the complete receiver.
The noise figure isn't that fantastic on VHF/UHF. That may be an excusable trade-off though, if they use a 'strong' LNA and have the mixer to match it.
Another weak point on some SDRs built from 'discrete' components, is the poor LO phase noise due to creating the mixer quadrature signals in logic families with relatively high jitter. No mentioning of this data point either. ;)
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Hi,
I started with a SDR setup a few weeks ago. I bought an Afedri SDR receiver http://www.afedri-sdr.com/ (http://www.afedri-sdr.com/) and it will feed 2000 khz of bandwidth via the Ethernet link to the SDR-Radio.com software.
Using it with a Wellbrook ALA1530 active loop antenna. http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/ (http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/)
I am still amazed at what I can hear. Also being able to visualise the bands is a massive help in understanding what is going on.
Got the bug and joined the local club. I have now taken and passed my foundation licence. Registered on the 15th of this month. M6OBL
I bought a KX3 as I did not want a massive setup taking over the space. But I can see a 100W amp in the future as I progress through the next two exams. I am interested in all of the data modes like PSK31.
Mark
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I've have my call now for about 7 years now, I would still be active but a friend.. or I should say was a friend stole my HT my yaesu VX-170 and I haven't replaced it yet still upset over all of that.
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Ha, that's not very nice of him. However, you can buy new ones for $59 bucks now:
http://universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/1008.html (http://universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/1008.html)
I don't own one, but have heard they are not all bad.
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I loved ham radio back in the day, I could not afford a black box so had to modify or build, that was the fun, them eureka moments when you got it working; I was lucky and had a couple of good mentors local to me.
Nowadays I don't get on much but do still have a station, I like old equipment and am currently rebuilding a KW Electronics 2000B model, they have history and were only based 7 miles from my house.
I still repair a lot of radios for people though, so it is still fairly strong as a hobby, for me its nostalgia now, not as much fun as it was, very rare you find people who are running built or modified equipment.
G7MNZ !
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I thought I would pop a picture up of my KW2000 :)
(http://media2.turbosport.co.uk/2011/5/20130819220824202191.JPG)
(http://media2.turbosport.co.uk/2011/5/20130819221080444152.JPG)
Isn't she a beauty ?
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I've have my call now for about 7 years now, I would still be active but a friend.. or I should say was a friend stole my HT my yaesu VX-170 and I haven't replaced it yet still upset over all of that.
That sucks. I see it's been discontinued, but the new replacement for that model, the Yaesu FT-270R is about $145, but it's a single band radio.
You can get a new Baofeng UV-5R - a dual band radio - for only $32. I own two of 'em now. :)
http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-136-174-400-480-Dual-Band/dp/B007H4VT7A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376947410&sr=8-1&keywords=baofeng+uv-5r (http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-136-174-400-480-Dual-Band/dp/B007H4VT7A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376947410&sr=8-1&keywords=baofeng+uv-5r)
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You can get a new Baofeng UV-5R - a dual band radio - for only $32. I own two of 'em now. :)
WOW, that is crazy cheap. I've heard rumors there are HF rigs in the works.
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Ha, I guess so, appears there is also newer model as well:
http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302 (http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302)
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WOW, that is crazy cheap.
Yep. That's why I got another one. The first cost me $42. I'm waiting to buy a mobile rig for my base station, and I was using my outdoor ant. with the UV-5R. I got tired of screwing and unscrewing the SMA connector from the main ant. to use the HT in other places with it's rubber ducky. The price of another Baofeng HT was just so crazy cheap I just went ahead and bought a second one to use as a carry-around.
I think the Chinese are out to crush the competition (the Big Three Japanese Companies - Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom). If I were them I'd be worried big time. Like the price I quoted before - $145 for a single band Yaseu HT. I can buy four Baofeng dual band HTs for that price! :o It's crazy! And they are very well made rigs, else I wouldn't have bought another one. I mean $32! How do they do it?
I've heard rumors there are HF rigs in the works.
Ha, I guess so, appears there is also newer model as well:
http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302 (http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302)
Look out Big Three! The Chinese are coming!
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Look out Big Three! The Chinese are coming!
I wouldn't start worrying until the Chinese manufacturers start to publish detailed specs, and same specs are verified by independent third parties (http://www.sherweng.com/table.html).
With ever increasing noise levels and crowded bands, actual real world receiver performance is a Very Big Deal(TM) to a lot of people.
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WOW, that is crazy cheap. I've heard rumors there are HF rigs in the works.
You mean the X1M (https://www.wimo.com/cgi-bin/verteiler.pl?url=x1m_qrp_transceiver_s.html)?
That's not the only one. There's also the planned FX-4 which will be sold through American company LNR. http://j28ro.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/lnr-fx4.html (http://j28ro.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/lnr-fx4.html)
They started with CW QRP gear, now they're getting into SSB QRP, next the'll be into larger home station rigs.
If it performs well enough and is reliable this one may answer the call for a very basic HF rig (although some will want a bit more power out): http://hamgear.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/hf-transceiver-for-under-400-kn-920/ (http://hamgear.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/hf-transceiver-for-under-400-kn-920/)
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HAM was nerver popular here in Norway, very few used it, like CB, only for truckers. Mostly due to the nature of the country, mostly hig montains and deep vallys..
So i think, the HAM was eaten and the radio went digital...
Have a digital day..
Erik
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Oh yea - I also ordered a Ham it Up up converter so I can use the dongle on the HF bands, should be here this week. That will really be fun. :)
I would be very interested in hearing how this goes. Practically all the wideband SDR chips I have seen, have fairly weak receivers (IMD, phase noise). As such I would expect IMD troubles if you pour all of shortwave into one at once, without filters and when using a halfway reasonable antenna.
Just got it in the mail. :clap: Will report on performance soon ...
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Here's some displays taken from the US AM broadcast band using a longwire ant.
First is 1270 AM which is also an AM HD station. You can clearly see the digital data on both sides on the carrier and sidebands.
Second one is the whole band using SDR#. Lots of stations there, but some of the lines are artifacts.
Tonight I want to see what it will do on shortwave. During the day this time of year it's mostly dead, however I could get WWV but it was weak.
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Looks good.
This was the 40m band a few minutes ago with the Afedri SDR box.
The hash in the middle at 7150KHz is from the wireless router.
Mark
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I have no idea what I'm doing
(http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/396/z5a4.jpg)
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Got some good results last night.
Ist we have the 49 meter SW broadcast band.
Next a very interesting one. I stumbled across a weird sweeping signal in the 12 MHz band. It would sweep across ~10 kHz several times and then move to a higher or lower freq. and do it again. Between the sweeps, it would sometimes send three "dits" at a single freq. Very strange. I followed that for a while. From what I could gather it was an OTH radar? Can't see that with a normal SW receiver!
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Managed to get a clean capture
(http://imageshack.us/a/img197/8513/a73x.jpg)
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Managed to get a clean capture
Nice - what setup were you using to get those pics?
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University of Twente NL webSDR with my mic pointed at the speakers, then FLDIGI to decode the fax.
I have a HackRF also but need to get an upconverter to use that. Any recommendations on antennas?
(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9920/j9f0.png)
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You should try Virtual Audio Cable (http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm (http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm)). This provides an internal loopback between a program's speaker output (i.e. WebSDR) and another program's input (the demodulating software you want to use).
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University of Twente NL webSDR with my mic pointed at the speakers, then FLDIGI to decode the fax.
I have a HackRF also but need to get an upconverter to use that. Any recommendations on antennas?
Not at this time. :) I'm just using a longwire at the moment.
You should try Virtual Audio Cable (http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm (http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm)). This provides an internal loopback between a program's speaker output (i.e. WebSDR) and another program's input (the demodulating software you want to use).
Yea thanks I did run across that. What I'm diving into now is a new little project relating to HDSDR and my JRC NRD-535D communications rx. I was viewing a YT video where a ham had an IC-7200 transceiver linked to HDSDR via a program called Omnirig.
Icom ic-7200 & HDSDR (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZyB8LlvLI4#)
http://www.dxatlas.com/omnirig/ (http://www.dxatlas.com/omnirig/)
What it does is link the two via serial ports so that if you tune the rig, it tunes HDSDR along with it, and vice-versa - if you tune HDSDR it tunes the rig. Pretty cool. So if you have a rig that Omnirig has an .ini file for you can use HDSDR as a panoramic viewer. Well it turns out that there was already an .ini file built for my NRD-535 :clap:
So seeing that I just couldn't resist setting that all up. What I'm doing today is resurrecting a PC I had in my closet to run with all these new radio toys. My main PC is just getting too cluttered with extra USB cables, serial cables and whatnot. I want to have a PC dedicated to the radio stuff and a monitor sitting right over the radio. So perhaps in the coming days I'll have some neat things running here. :-+
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I'm really getting back into the radio stuff again too. I tried out using WSPR (http://wsprnet.org/ (http://wsprnet.org/)) last night. A few transmissions using 1W @ 14MHz got me some pretty amazing distances (see attached map).
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I got the PC resurrected and my NRD-535 receiver to work with HDSDR. :) I had to dig down into a junk box to find an rs-232 cable (with 25 pin male end!) and a null modem adapter, but it's working. The proc is a dual-core with 4 G memory and Win 7/64 and it's working OK with HDSDR. It's pretty neat. Although due to a quirk in the way the old NRD-535 works, the control won't work in both directions at once with the Omnirig app, it does control the HDSDR when tuning and changing modes. So I can just tune along and the display follows perfectly.
It's really a nice thing to have. I don't even look at the radio now. I just tune along and watch for interesting signals instead of listening for them. The dongle is really sensitive too. I was going back and forth between the radio audio and the SDR audio trying to compare quality and more than once I had to look down to remind myself which device I was actually listening to. It's amazing that a small device that cost just $20 and some free software can compete with a $1,600 communications rx (in 1990 dollars)!
I have a small numeric keypad on order so I can set the keyboard aside. I really don't need the keyboard most of the time, but I can use the numeric keypad to enter frequencies and I can also set the Windoze password to a number too. That will free up desk space.
Cool!
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A 3.5 MHz direct conversion phasing SSB transceiver. 8 transistors, 1 IC no crystal filters.
Power output 1w. Contacts up to approx 400km so far.
Modified from SP5AHT and earlier Russian designs.
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A 3.5 MHz direct conversion phasing SSB transceiver. 8 transistors, 1 IC no crystal filters.
Power output 1w. Contacts up to approx 400km so far.
Modified from SP5AHT and earlier Russian designs.
Nice. Truly a rig in the spirit of ham radio.
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my NRD-535 receiver
You bastard! Love that receiver, :-+
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You bastard! Love that receiver, :-+
Yea it's sweet. Back in 1990 or so it was really one of the top of the line communications receivers.
It's still good but the SDR is really giving it a run for it's money. When I get a new HF rig next year perhaps, I can use the SDR for a panadapter and it will truly work in both directions, and the new rig will tune all the HF band from 100 kHz - 30 MHz, or even up to 50 MHz, so the old NRD-535 might be put back into it's box. I doubt I'll ever sell it though. I hope to get my nephew interested in radio but what with all the video games to compete with that dream is becoming more and more of a remote possibility. :(
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Although people have said that this sunspot cycle hasn't been so good, it still has its moments.
Yesterday was a prime example with 14 MHz Australia - Europe contacts while walking along the beach.
Six Europeans in six kilometres: 14 MHz pedestrian mobile DX (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShEaznYzoV4#)
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Although people have said that this sunspot cycle hasn't been so good, it still has its moments.
Yesterday was a prime example with 14 MHz Australia - Europe contacts while walking along the beach.
Loved the video - the beach, radio, ant. and all ... you have a rough life down there. Good shooting what with the lighting and the long shadows of yourself.
Did any of the beachcombers give you odd looks? 8)
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Did any of the beachcombers give you odd looks? 8)
A few did.
Plus the usual questions about tracking animals or looking for buried stuff.
Didn't get the 'talking to aliens' one this time though.
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There is a new site on Stackoverflow being formed to answer amateur radio questions in case anyone is interested:
http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/43029/amateur-radio?referrer=jJukkhB-e6HzijtvidqOGw2 (http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/43029/amateur-radio?referrer=jJukkhB-e6HzijtvidqOGw2)
WA1KLI
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Didn't get the 'talking to aliens' one this time though.
LOL.
Minor updates to my quest for an HF station.
Found a chimney mount strap system on Ebay that would fit my large chimney, so I ordered it today. At least I got that part coming. Still need a vertical ant. and a aluminium tube.
I want to use my SDR as a panadaptor with the rig I now seem to be centering on - the Icom IC-7200, but I need to protect the front end of the dongle while transmitting (even though it will have it's own ant.). The rig has a multi-pin output connector that has a pin that goes to 0V when transmitting, and to 8V (8V - Huh?) when receiving. I came up with a simple two-transistor (NPN) inverting solution to switch a 12V relay (well it would be connected to the rig's 13.8V P.S.) when the output at the pin is 0V and release it when the output is 8V. So I can use that to cut off the long wire ant. to the dongle when I transmit.
Still researching vertical antennas and how I'm going to run the coax to the chimney from my room ...
As you can tell, I don't want to order a radio and not be able to use it, I tend to get all my ducks in line first. :)
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I have an FT-950 that's collecting dust?
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I have an FT-950 that's collecting dust?
Why is it collecting dust?
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I now pretty much solely use my KX3 and HiQSDR these days. The receiver on the KX3 is second only to a $15,000 rig and the HiQ can sample 1Mhz of bandwidth in real-time!
It's a fine rig, just not portable like the KX3 and not a fancy SDR like the HiQ. I don't have it listed anywhere for sale, I'm quite reluctant to ever sell anything, but it is a good rig going to waste if I don't.
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It's a fine rig, just not portable like the KX3 and not a fancy SDR like the HiQ. I don't have it listed anywhere for sale, I'm quite reluctant to ever sell anything, but it is a good rig going to waste if I don't.
OK.
It's recently discontinued, but some new ones are still for sale. The new ones are listing for ~$1,400.
I assume you are wanting to sell it?
Do you know if it has a signal pin that I can use to control a relay as I stated above?
If you want to go to PMs for all this that's fine. :)
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It has amp controls, I'm sure you could scab on that output. Read it over, watch YT videos etc, if it's something you'd be interested in shoot me a PM.
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It has amp controls, I'm sure you could scab on that output. Read it over, watch YT videos etc, if it's something you'd be interested in shoot me a PM.
OK Dr., I'll be looking into the specs and such of the radio. Thanks!
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Where in the US are you? You're welcome to come and get it, test drive for a while, no strings...
I'm in Terre Haute IN.
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Where in the US are you? You're welcome to come and get it, test drive for a while, no strings...
Thanks for the offer.
I'm in Terre Haute IN.
I'm located in Ft. Worth, Texas - the land of Rick Perry, the failed Pres. candidate. :)
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So what's been happening in my ham shack?
I got a 30A power supply a couple of weeks ago - an Astron SS30M - for my station PS. I also got Powerpole connectors and a Rig Runner power distribution box.
And the exciting news is, I ordered a dual-band VHF/UHF radio about an hour ago - a Yaesu FT-8800R. What I want to do with it, besides the obvious, is to set up a one-way crossband repeater for several of the local repeaters so I can use my HT in the Man Cave, which is not in the same room as the Ham Shack.
I can hear them just fine in the Man Cave with an HT, but I can't always reliably get into them. So, I want to repeat with a higher power to the repeater, but listen to the repeater directly. Programming this setup should be a fun project to get me going on the radio.
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I became a ham in 2006/7? i don't remember, but i got into it to primary transmit video from the sky., i do still enjoy PSK31 work, but sadly, the hobby is diening, people who do get into it only get into it for "emergency" communication preparedness, not so much projects, i see hackerspaces/makerspaces getting all the attention now, and I am glad this will help spark interest in young minds back into electronics. Ham radio needs to bring back the "Kits" , i fixed a 100watt TPL PA , and loved fixing it. it would be neat to get a kit radio and put it together, and get the source code for the Processor, and understand how it works. I am still very active in Digital work ( NXDN ) which is pretty cool technology, far better then DSTAR..., and the people running the gear are much friendlier, and not so closed minded when it comes to ideas..
-Ki4SwY
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Ham radio needs to bring back the "Kits" ...
Yea, I started out building Heathkits in the '70s. I'd love to build more Heathkit Ham gear. They seem to be implying they will be making more kits, but I filled out the survey about 6 months ago and never heard diddly-squat from the supposed "newsletter" they said would be sent out.
http://www.heathkit.com/ (http://www.heathkit.com/)
I hope they didn't sell the mailing list with my email address. :(
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Ham radio needs to bring back the "Kits" , i fixed a 100watt TPL PA , and loved fixing it. it would be neat to get a kit radio and put it together, and get the source code for the Processor, and understand how it works.
While Heathkit is gone, there's probably more transceiver kits now than ever before and they cost far less compared to normal wages than the Heathkits ever did.
And building from scratch isn't too hard either, provided there's local hamfests or swapmeets that will get some hard to get bits.
Try this list of kit suppliers for starters: http://www.w0ch.net/kits/kits.htm (http://www.w0ch.net/kits/kits.htm)
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I'm still active, mostly in CW and PSK31 in all HF bands but the 160m... :o
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I got my technician class license a few years back in order to experiment with telemetry for high power rocketry. I think there are still a lot of HAMS out there doing work in specialized areas (and probably working at big telecomm companies.) But, perhaps not as many old school guys chatting away on the lower bands.
Wayne
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It seems to be getting more popular again in the UK and a lot more activity on the 4M (70meg) band
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Ham radio needs to bring back the "Kits" ...
Yea, I started out building Heathkits in the '70s. I'd love to build more Heathkit Ham gear. They seem to be implying they will be making more kits, but I filled out the survey about 6 months ago and never heard diddly-squat from the supposed "newsletter" they said would be sent out.
http://www.heathkit.com/ (http://www.heathkit.com/)
I hope they didn't sell the mailing list with my email address. :(
I was really hoping to hear something from them. My father built their kits when he was getting into electronics and my first scope was Heathkit. Their survey really seemed like they would cater to hams and maybe even offer classic and updated kits. Then again Heathkit has attempted to start again multiple times.
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Good News -
Since being encouraged to not let my license expire (many thanks to the prodding form members who responded in this thread :)) I had renewed it and bought a cheap Baofeng UV-5R HT to get started again. Well, tomorrow I have a new radio arriving which will give me the needed power and capability to improve my VHF/UHF operating capabilities.
Pics to come ... :clap:
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Good News -
Since being encouraged to not let my license expire (many thanks to the prodding form members who responded in this thread :)) I had renewed it and bought a cheap Baofeng UV-5R HT to get started again. Well, tomorrow I have a new radio arriving which will give me the needed power and capability to improve my VHF/UHF operating capabilities.
Pics to come ... :clap:
Good news indeed! It's such an ideal playing ground for experimenters and sometimes just a nice way to rag chew on a long drive! 73's KD5WXB
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I got a tech no code license back in the 90s. I keep it current because I doubt I could pass the test. I did it while in high school. My brain could retain more things back then. I borrowed gear in the early days. Back then pre cell phone I was set with use of the auto patch. Even joined a local club. Everyone was 40yrs plus older than me. Was still a good time.
I mostly use it for FPV rigs on my RC crafts today. I also the state of California still offers free vanity plates for ham call signs. Problem is now if I tic anyone off in traffic they can just google my license plate and come get me... Either that is a motivation to limit road rage or I need to change that. I could get a PO box perhaps.
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Here it is folks - the magnificent Yaesu FT-8800!
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-alWqgnf6bFc/UlaK7uJbnlI/AAAAAAAAAZE/5ayn-Tb2TeI/s640/ft8800_unbox.jpg)
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That is the same rig I use as a base in my shack. I have the main unit in a junction box at the bottom of the tower, then a 350' custom cable ran into the house for the remote head, works great!
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I have used Yaesu for my handy-talkies, but I've always had Kenwood or iCom for a mobile/base. Let us know how the interface is! Sexy looking front panel. :-+
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I have a 7800R in the truck along with an icom 5061 nxdn rig.
I have a ic-910h in the house along with an icom 6121? nxdn rig.
I have a ic-7000 & kenwood hf-450at i pull out for field day.
i run an fr6000 nxdn repeater with tx/rx cavities at the house on the ww nxdn network.
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Rig is working great!
I did run into some bugs in the free software I use to program it, but that isn't the radio's fault -
http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home (http://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home)
I also found out that my Chinese Pistachio tree was blocking the signal from a certain UHF repeater to an amazing degree, nearly cutting off the signal from time to time. I did some tree trimming and it fixed that problem.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZWXkgZVrqMY/Ulh2xS0dmAI/AAAAAAAAAZw/QlC5XBKbhuk/s640/ft8800_powered.jpg)
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Made a little plexiglass shield cover thingy for my Ham It Up up-converter. Turned out kinda neat.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-RfV4XVV_WPU/Umw_okjF4CI/AAAAAAAAAbA/d1M_etIC-ko/s640/hamit_1.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-uI83YLT-XZo/Umw_qhDmd8I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/ha5Zi8sShSg/s640/hamit_2.jpg)
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I have been a ham for 14 years and hold an Amateur Extra class license. I am the member of a very active club that would rather have presentations on ham radio and electronics then a 'who has a bigger dick' contest. I am the club's VE Liaison and since I have taken over the position almost 3 years ago and having testing every month-which a lot of people said it wouldn't work- I am proud to say that we have only had 1 test session where we had no candidates. We offer open testing before our monthly club meeting. I am part of the repeater team that takes care of our primary repeater and I do my best to be an "Elmer" to new hams to help them grow in the hobby. I believe the hobby is far from dead. There is so many different aspects to the hobby from talking on 2 meter repeaters to building equipment to play on 10 GHz and above. I truly feel that if you can't find something interesting in ham radio, it is you own fault. I always tell the new hams that now you have a license to learn and to try as many different aspects of the hobby as time and money permit. When you find your niche, run with it. My only regret is getting involved so late in life (licensed at 43).
Tom, NW0LF
Daytona Beach Amateur Radio Association
WWW.DBARA.org (http://WWW.DBARA.org)
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Well I wasn't looking hard at the Yaesu FT-450 as my HF rig, but I ran across a local ham that had one for sale with an included LDG YT-450 ant. tuner all for for $650, and I couldn't pass it up. He just used it as his patio radio and wanted to cut back on equipment. It has a known problem that was common with these rigs, whereas the key jack seems to have been a bad design, and thus the one in the trig is in need of replacing. I called Yeasu parts and they only cost $1.60 ea., so I ordered two and they are on the way as we speak. I'll replace the headphone jack too as it's the same crummy design. :o
I've been cleaning it up a bit and I'll need to disassemble the front panel to replace the jacks -
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yHbBddlAJAY/UnVOIgzOxXI/AAAAAAAAAcA/u97y_LL9REs/s640/FT-450.jpg)
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That is a great compact full 100 watt rig, perfect for the lab bench!
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That is a great compact full 100 watt rig, perfect for the lab bench!
And speaking of the bench :-/O here we have the front panel sans the crappy jacks, waiting for the new ones to arrive! :clap:
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-iPVQweGxF5Q/UnbgXE_30fI/AAAAAAAAAcU/xeZO4KhJSZM/s640/450_jacks_1.jpg)
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Got a new toy today - A Comet CAA-500 Ant. Analyzer.
(http://www.dxstore.com/images/caa-500.jpg)
I cut a test dipole for 52 MHz in the middle of the 6 meter band (9 feet / 4.5 feet/side) and connected it to a center insulator I made. The insulator is made of PVC pipe and has an SO-239 with some wires running internally to the ant. connection terminals. Ideally the dipole should have resonated at 52 MHz. The analyzer showed it resonated at 50.4 MHz.
468 / 50.4 = 9.29 feet.
.29' * 12 = 3.4"
The antenna looked 3.4 " longer than it should have been. The reason was the wires inside the insulator made the difference, which makes sense. So I'll have to account for those lengths when making the final antenna.
I'm very impressed with this instrument now. :-+
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ogU-SzeBEEg/UoampLod6BI/AAAAAAAAAd4/z5_WfE1rYCg/s640/6meter_test_ant.jpg)
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Here's the ham station as it exists currently. At the bottom you see the FT-450 I was working on earlier, and on top of it an LDG ant. tuner. To the right a Yeasu FT-8800 VHF/UHF rig. Above that, the SWR meter and an up-converter for the SDR dongle. On the display you can see the 40m ham band and it's tuned to the same freq. as the radio below. I only have a 6m dipole connected to the FT-450 at the moment. I'm still gathering materials to be able to mount the multi-band dipole ant. I will order later.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q_eZbYjlzis/Uo4cGAtM8nI/AAAAAAAAAeY/AO4ulQOE5NM/s640/ham%2520station.jpg)
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Made a little plexiglass shield cover thingy for my Ham It Up up-converter. Turned out kinda neat.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-RfV4XVV_WPU/Umw_okjF4CI/AAAAAAAAAbA/d1M_etIC-ko/s640/hamit_1.jpg)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-uI83YLT-XZo/Umw_qhDmd8I/AAAAAAAAAbQ/ha5Zi8sShSg/s640/hamit_2.jpg)
How do you like that upconverter?
I've had one sitting on my bench for longer than I'd like to admit and keep meaning to get it up and running. I really dig that plexi cover for it too!
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How do you like that upconverter?
I've had one sitting on my bench for longer than I'd like to admit and keep meaning to get it up and running. I really dig that plexi cover for it too!
It works well. It shifts all frequencies up by 125 MHz. You just enter an offset into your SDR program. I use HDSDR and I set it to input on upconverter. The offset you will use will be something like -124999600 because the crystal is not exactly 125 MHz. :)
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Well, I had put up a little 10 m dipole and was just getting into making some contacts on SSB. I had made my first new contact on the band yesterday to a guy in Washington state. OK. But this morning I made a contact with EA8AM - a guy in the Canary Islands. That was quite a surprise. I guess I made a decent antenna. :)
He doesn't do electronic QSLing so I need to figure out how to mail a SASE to him, and what type of postage to include. I have no idea about that. If anyone knows please let me know.
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How do you like that upconverter?
I've had one sitting on my bench for longer than I'd like to admit and keep meaning to get it up and running. I really dig that plexi cover for it too!
It works well. It shifts all frequencies up by 125 MHz. You just enter an offset into your SDR program. I use HDSDR and I set it to input on upconverter. The offset you will use will be something like -124999600 because the crystal is not exactly 125 MHz. :)
I think I bought this up-converter without first realizing the immense size of antenna needed for these low frequencies!
As I'm renting my current residence, I'm basically limited to desktop-sized antennas only. One day I hope to get this setup up and running.
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I think I bought this up-converter without first realizing the immense size of antenna needed for these low frequencies!
As I'm renting my current residence, I'm basically limited to desktop-sized antennas only.
Not so fast! If it's a house (or even an apt.) you should be able to get into the attic. Just run a wire ant. up there - that's exactly what my SDR is using. There should be an access panel somewhere so you can get up there. Just punch a small hole in the ceiling in the room you are in and feed it up. Just be careful in the attic so you don't bust the sheetrock! :)
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I think I bought this up-converter without first realizing the immense size of antenna needed for these low frequencies!
As I'm renting my current residence, I'm basically limited to desktop-sized antennas only. One day I hope to get this setup up and running.
Search for "active antenna". Basically a short whip E-field antenna with a simple FET impedance converter. Cheap to make. Very small.
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I think I bought this up-converter without first realizing the immense size of antenna needed for these low frequencies!
You can also feed a small wire out the window (small enough you can just close the window on it), to a tree, tuck it under the siding etc.
If you have aluminum guttering, clip a wire to it and use it as a receive only. Depending on your situation might work great, might pick up a shit-ton of noise, but worth a try.
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Speaking of indoor antennas, I've been working on a magnetic loop antenna for the 10-20 meter ham bands. It also goes all the way down to 40 meters, but the efficiency drops substantially (at least according to calculations).
-Diameter of ~75cm
-20-500pF 7.5kV variable vacuum capacitor (if I recall correctly)
-Gamma matched
If I shut down all the electronic devices nearby the antenna, it works quite well considering it is indoors. I was listening to someone from as far as Australia on the 15m band last sunday and this morning I heard hams from Kuwait and Israel on the 40m band. I did my first QSO from indoors with that thing on sunday as well, to Belgium on 15 meters. Not sure if it's a good idea to be pumping out 50 watts right next to all my lab equipment and computers with that thing, though...
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Did anyone else get in on the 10 meter contest this weekend? I wasn't interested in competing but I did manage to make a lot of contacts to new places.
As well as the smattering of states I got some new countries added to my list - France, Canada, Nicaragua, Poland, Germany, Chile, and Cape Verde. Not bad for a temporary 10 meter dipole which is mounted too low to begin with. :)
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^ ^ ^
Was on from a local pier and heard USA stations on 10m quite well (eg towards the end of the video) but didn't work any. Though some good contacts were made on 20m.
Morning long path QRP DX from Mornington, Australia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9lQKneH28M#)
The following morning was spent bouncing VHF signals off planes
Aircraft enhancement 144 MHz SSB activity from Olivers Hill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWbzveak-ug#)
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FT-450 screen mod
The FT-450 comes with a whiteish display. In the older models you could get to a menu that would change the color, but you can't do so in the later ones. I don't like the white display, so I ordered some different colored cellophane sheets off Ebay. The color I decided to go with was the amber color, like many other types of display look like. I simply dissassembled the radio and cut pieces to fit over the display. To get it to look right I needed to add two pieces - one on top of the other. The result was very satisfying and very pleasing to look at. You cannot tell at all that the display isn't that way by design. :)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZxiptMK-vKk/UrmgRhmzSvI/AAAAAAAAAjM/Fq4pWk2ITpE/s640/ft450_color1.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-zwoRGYeQK5E/UrmgUCwsGfI/AAAAAAAAAjU/8LVQXDK31X0/s640/ft450_color2.jpg)
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The good results with aircraft enhancement gave an incentive to build a better, higher gain but still portable anenna. The one below is made from old TV antenna bits and is 4 elements on 144 MHz.
Building a 144 MHz 4 element yagi - Part 1 (construction) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqi62wDe-uM#)
With the antenna still under construction there was no time to visit the hill when most planes were midway and activity was greatest. And it was raining. So clutching it and radio I ran down to the bay and at least heard some VK1s (approx 500km distant) from near sea level.
Building a 144 MHz 4 element yagi - Part 2 (on air) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYNpDTKURfY#)
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Dear xrunner
Great to see you return to the bands.
For me amateur radio gives me areas in which to experiment with my electronics (not my day job).
I have found the microwave areas of great interest, in the HF bands the commercial gear is better than you can build (almost always)
but past 1200MHz the commercial gear stops pretty quickly.
There are lots of microwave kits for local oscillators, mixers, power amps at reasonable prices e.g. down-east microwave (USA), Kuhne (Germany) and mini kits here in VK land however the test gear gets v expensive though.
Areas that I have been experimenting with include 10GHZ 3W transverter, a 5GHz 2W transverter and am now building an EME setup for 1.2GHz 150W, 3m dish and low noise pre-amp with circular polarising feedhorn, it will take me a year or so (not much spare time with young family) but I am enjoying the challenges as they arise, currently building a microprocessor controlled linear 30V 16A power supply for the power amp.
Kind regards Rob Culver VK5RC
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The good results with aircraft enhancement gave an incentive to build a better, higher gain but still portable anenna. The one below is made from old TV antenna bits and is 4 elements on 144 MHz.
Good videos, I subscribed to your channel. We need to try to hook up on one of the bands someday and make a contact. Currently I'm on 10 & 17 meters. :)
Dear xrunner
Great to see you return to the bands.
Hey thanks! I'm really having a blast, even though my two antennas are not in the ideal location yet. I'll post a pic of my small antenna farm this week. When I get a proper antenna setup over my house - look out!
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I think the digital modes will expand a lot more in the future, I started using PSK31/63 on HF earlier this year and I am using the radios a lot more now via digi modes than in the past 20 years that i have been licensed. Managed a 3500 mile QSO using only 35w yesterday to the United Arab Emirates on 10m so its just a case of waiting for the good RF conditions :)
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my old warm Collins Radio, listening SSB :)
http://www.wellenkino.de/video/51j4.mp4 (http://www.wellenkino.de/video/51j4.mp4)
greetings
Martin
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I've often wonder what will happen to our wonderful hobby, in say even 50 Years time ...
Some of the locals think that there won't be any tests in ten years - you'll just pay up and get a license. :palm:
Managed a 3500 mile QSO using only 35w yesterday to the United Arab Emirates on 10m so its just a case of waiting for the good RF conditions :)
Cool! :-+
my old warm Collins Radio, listening SSB :)
NIce - I love the old radios especially in the Winter. :)
Here's the antenna farm, poor as it is at the moment. A homemade center insulator out of PVC fittings, and 17 m dipole on top and ten meter below. I used my antenna tuner to get the things tuned, as there is some interaction between the two dipoles so it's a little tricky. However, poor as it is at the moment down between two houses, I managed to get some decent contacts in the Canary Islands and Europe, Chile etc. I can't wait to get a proper antenna up above my roofline when the weather gets warmer.
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N64tbXA9rEU/Ury5W3U2I3I/AAAAAAAAAjw/2nLlhmssCU8/s640/antenna_farm.jpg)
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you have seen the old scopes beside the radio,
when one of them is powered up, there is no winter :)
A triple nickel (Tek 555) eat 1kW to feed its 117 tubes, here are two of them,
and a very lot of the Classic Tek Line, alle are pretty restored and full working.
It`s always enjoy to read some comments in the guestbook of my http://www.wellenkino.de (http://www.wellenkino.de)
greetings
Martin
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A triple nickel (Tek 555) eat 1kW to feed its 117 tubes,
Oh my - were there really 117 tubes in that thing! :phew:
What a power hog!
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when it`s fittet with 2 pcs of CA Plugins, yes :)
Triple Nickel, http://www.wellenkino.de/555 (http://www.wellenkino.de/555)
this scopes are also fine to make a glowing christmas picture.
(http://www.wellenkino.de/555/555-3.jpg)
greetings
Martin
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this scopes are also fine to make a glowing christmas picture.
Good Grief.
Too bad SMD wasn't around back then - it could have done double duty as a reflow oven. ^-^
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Amateur radio has evolved a lot and has been just as stuck in many areas. A great example is the US and their VHF frequency allocations: Many hams complain about the fact that the VHF bands are too crowded and it's hard to get a coordinated frequency pair for their repeaters. At the same time, the US still uses stone-aged channel spacing and FM bandwidth. Even though that has practical reasons (commercial WFM gear available for cheap), it's laziness and being scared to get out of one's comfort zone that does prevent prevents progress. 70 cm or as the Americans say "440" is still not used a whole lot in rural areas.
In contrast, great new digital modes have been implemented in amateur radio. M-ary PSK-modes are fascinating more people than ever. According to the ARRL, there are more licencees in the US than there have ever been. How many of those are "out of the box" operators and how many actually know anything at all about electronics wasn't mentioned in those stats, however.
Another thing that I have witnessed in several amateur radio clubs is, that some of the old amateur radio operators are flat out scared about the technological development. They're so scared that their knowledge may become obsolete that they invest a great amount of time in making sure the youngsters don't learn anything, instead of educating themselves in more contemporary technological aspects. And I understand that this is just human. But that doesn't mean it's good. Do you remember a few decades back when all magazines where saying how SMD is just killing homebrewing? A decade later they showed how to use tools intended for through whole being used for SMD as workaround. Nowadays, we know SMD is no problem at all if we just have the right tools.
And that's so very typical in many areas. First, we say it's bad. Then we refuse to buy the right tools and do a dirty patch-around. And lastly, we accept the progress and equip ourselves with the right tools. I think this kind of behavior shows most in Amateur Radio and electronics. Just think the same would have been the case when screws where invented: "Screws require specialized tools. However, if you own a hammer, there is a workaround..."
Someone pointed out the lack of commercially available gear for the microwave bands. I have been thinking offering an out of the box 1.2 GHz, 2.4 GHz, 5.7 GHz or 10 GHz 'allmode' transceiver. But there's a lot of things keeping me from doing it. When Icom designed a commercial product for 220 MHz and 900 MHz, people in the 220 MHz and 900 MHz community actually got upset. They didn't want people, who didn't have to build their own radios, on 'their' frequencies.
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Made a little circuit to cut off the antenna from my up-converter/SDR dongle when I transmit. It's pretty simple being a single transistor and relay, but does the job. It uses a signal line from the FT-450 out of the linear jack which is merely goes to a open collector transistor in the rig.
I don't think the power level will damage the up converter, but it does look like I just detected the EMP from a nuclear bomb on the computer screen when I transmit.
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when it`s fittet with 2 pcs of CA Plugins, yes :)
Triple Nickel, http://www.wellenkino.de/555 (http://www.wellenkino.de/555)
this scopes are also fine to make a glowing christmas picture.
(http://www.wellenkino.de/555/555-3.jpg)
greetings
Martin
Beauty! :-+
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Aldi currently have a whole heap of different kites on special for $6 ea. They work fine as kites but I thought I'd try seeing how they work to support a 20m long wire antenna. The on air results (on 7 MHz) are below (apologies for terrible video - hands full).
Cheap kites and wire antennas - Part 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el4urBboXxg#)
I tried box and delta kites. However on recommendation I later bought a trapezoid kite (basically a triangle prism with wings). This had the most pull on the string of any kites and would be the one to try if launching heavier stuff eg video cameras/transmitters etc.
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Our little ham club Gippsland gate radio and electronics club in Victoria Australia is pretty strong, we have 35-40 full-time members.
Personally I had my foundation call for 18 months then upgraded to a standard call about 4 months ago, I am really enjoying it. I used a digital mode called winlink while away camping that allowed me to have email contact with my wife while away.
ggrec.org.au (http://ggrec.org.au)
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I also have one of these old Tektronix-Scopes (561A Mainframe) unfortunately with a 800MHz analog sampling plug-in. Rather useless nowadays (and comfort-wise gruesome).
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This guy makes some really clean homebrew radios. Very clean construction techniques.
My Homebuilt 40/20 Meter Band Prototype Receiver Modular. W1DN, Lee Snook (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJsQaZjacRg#ws)
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This guy makes some really clean homebrew radios. Very clean construction techniques.
Holy Jesus that's a clean construction style!
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Very nice indeed. love it when some one builds something so clean.
Something I been wanting to do in ham radio is to get on AM. So I been buying up every Yaesu FT-101's I can get. Love those radios. Two of them have the AM filter mod installed.
But this is not I really want for AM. So a few years ago I bought 2 Heathkit Apache TX-1's. Plan was to use one for parts to repair the other. These rigs were built in or around the 1956 era. Still have yet to find the matching reciever. Mohalk RX-1. Things weigh somewhere around 80 plus pounds so shipping has been the issue. Hope to find the reciever local.
I have both Apache's on the operating table now. So going to start the restore of these.
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Something I been wanting to do in ham radio is to get on AM.
AM is very rare on HF. It's more common in the USA than in Europe and other places of the world though. It's a great mode of operation though. I personally love the clean 'warm' sound of classic tube radios in AM. I rarely operate in AM but that's solely due to the lack of people to talk to.
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AM is very rare on HF. It's more common in the USA than in Europe and other places of the world though. It's a great mode of operation though. I personally love the clean 'warm' sound of classic tube radios in AM. I rarely operate in AM but that's solely due to the lack of people to talk to.
I hear quite a bit of folks around here on AM. 40 meters around 7.285 MHz.
I dare not to key up and say anything at all with my current stations. These guys are diehard AMer's.
Why I want to get the scratchy apache up and running.
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The other day I heard AMers from the State's on 14 & 21 MHz.
Locally here in Australia there is significant activity on 7.125 MHz. And locally in Melbourne on 1.825 MHz.
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Most are operating here on AM, mostly USB and LSB AM as the signal propagation is better. Some regularly talk with others half way across the country. FM is mostly local chat, often some use a FM link one way and AM the other way to fox those lstening in. Some of the OM use it like a telephone, as it is cheaper than a call.
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Most are operating here on AM, mostly USB and LSB AM as the signal propagation is better. Some regularly talk with others half way across the country. FM is mostly local chat, often some use a FM link one way and AM the other way to fox those lstening in. Some of the OM use it like a telephone, as it is cheaper than a call.
Smarty pants. While what you say is (though arguably) correct, no average amateur radio operator associates AM with LSB or USB. When we say AM we mean classic AM with both sidebands and carrier. Obviously. And the signal propagation isn't better for LSB and USB, the power efficiency is better.
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Just contacted W1AW on 17m operating from N. Carolina. :clap:
Anyway, some local hams and I are using the DVB dongles as SDR radio receivers. What they are marketed for is as a TV receiver for your computer. Since the antenna is basically a piece of junk as far as using it for ham applications, I just cut it off and put an SMA connector on the cable so the cable can be used to connect the dongle to a ham-it-up up converter (the other end has the required MCX connector that fit the dongle ant. connection).
Well two of the guys gave me their antennas to put SMA connectors on, and I thought it would be interesting to see how the assemblers in China did their work inside the base. It wasn't pretty.
They didn't even bother to clip the braid off, and any of the little wires could touch the antenna and short it to ground, thus ruining even the minimal effectiveness of the things. :palm:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GE0SkKhEvdQ/UsnolLCtuFI/AAAAAAAAAls/dDyW5BSTglM/s400/100pcs-portable-digital-freeview-5dbi-antenna.jpg)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AYNyuyh-_c4/Usnl_xNDcXI/AAAAAAAAAlc/rq3bkhlz_Yg/s640/useless_ant.jpg)
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They didn't even bother to clip the braid off, and any of the little wires could touch the antenna and short it to ground, thus ruining even the minimal effectiveness of the things. :palm:
Wow. Just wow.
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We experimented with one today too.
Because a Radio-Transmitter is on the building next to us, 2m was not really receivable... we build this very... erm... "ham-like" filter today:
(http://abload.de/thumb/2014-01-0514.51.25qbkgu.jpg) (http://abload.de/image.php?img=2014-01-0514.51.25qbkgu.jpg)
Quick and (very) dirty, but it worked.
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We experimented with one today too.
Because a Radio-Transmitter is on the building next to us, 2m was not really receivable... we build this very... erm... "ham-like" filter today:
Quick and (very) dirty, but it worked.
Cool. Boy that web page has some pretty ... interesting ads to look at. 8)
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Boy that web page has some pretty ... interesting ads to look at. 8)
Ads? (http://adblockplus.org)
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Just contacted W1AW on 17m operating from N. Carolina. :clap:
Anyway, some local hams and I are using the DVB dongles as SDR radio receivers. What they are marketed for is as a TV receiver for your computer. Since the antenna is basically a piece of junk as far as using it for ham applications, I just cut it off and put an SMA connector on the cable so the cable can be used to connect the dongle to a ham-it-up up converter (the other end has the required MCX connector that fit the dongle ant. connection).
Well two of the guys gave me their antennas to put SMA connectors on, and I thought it would be interesting to see how the assemblers in China did their work inside the base. It wasn't pretty.
They didn't even bother to clip the braid off, and any of the little wires could touch the antenna and short it to ground, thus ruining even the minimal effectiveness of the things. :palm:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GE0SkKhEvdQ/UsnolLCtuFI/AAAAAAAAAls/dDyW5BSTglM/s400/100pcs-portable-digital-freeview-5dbi-antenna.jpg)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AYNyuyh-_c4/Usnl_xNDcXI/AAAAAAAAAlc/rq3bkhlz_Yg/s640/useless_ant.jpg)
What's the difference between that and having an antenna ground? One of Marconi's contributions.
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What's the difference between that and having an antenna ground? One of Marconi's contributions.
I do not understand your question. Please re-phrase.
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Ads? I didn't see ads, just boobies :-/O
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What's the difference between that and having an antenna ground? One of Marconi's contributions.
I do not understand your question. Please re-phrase.
Having the antenna grounded was an improvement that Marconi came up with. The ground makes the Earth a capacitor. So having the signal grounded means that energy is stored. This goes into the radio through a matching transformer. Improved signal strength.
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Having the antenna grounded was an improvement that Marconi came up with. The ground makes the Earth a capacitor. So having the signal grounded means that energy is stored. This goes into the radio through a matching transformer. Improved signal strength.
Please show us the source of this information?
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Having the antenna grounded was an improvement that Marconi came up with. The ground makes the Earth a capacitor. So having the signal grounded means that energy is stored. This goes into the radio through a matching transformer. Improved signal strength.
Maybe I misunderstand you, but a short in the foot of the antenna will cause a maximum of mismatch and therefore make it impossible to get energy in or out of the antenna because more or less everything is reflected.
Do you maybe mean using the ground as counterweight?
PS: I'm sorry, if there were disturbing or whatever irritating ads on this Homepage. I use this hoster for several years now (and have therefore my pictures "under control") and never really looked at the ads, and now I'm using adblock to be able to use the internet at all.
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DL8RI, did you mean counterpoise instead of counterweight? Counterpoises allow, correct me if I am wrong, capacitive coupling to the earth, which I believe creates a massive ground plane and will give the signal a lower angle of take off which is good for DX contacts. When using unbalanced line (coax) everyone seems to call the shielding the ground side. The shield shorted to the conductor in coax, will provide an infinite swr to the radio and either cause the radio to cut back power or damage the radio. Don't worry about the boobies, I may be married but I am not yet dead :-DD. Xrunner, I caught him on 20 meters also. Do you know if he is doing a QSL card? If so, I would love to get one from him.
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Xrunner, I caught him on 20 meters also. Do you know if he is doing a QSL card? If so, I would love to get one from him.
Yep - 100% QSL, send s.a.s.e. :)
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On high frequency stuff UHF VHF you don't need a huge counterpoise, you only need a metal surface a quarter wave length in size or bigger, I use a baking tray with an SO239 on it for VHF (2 meter) in the field. Also the counterpoise doesn't have to be earth a dipole is a balanced antenna with one side being the counterpoise to the other, the dipole ideally should be at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground.
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X, is that to his personal call or to W1AW? I am thinking his personal call.
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X, is that to his personal call or to W1AW? I am thinking his personal call.
I would think to W1AW, that's where I sent my QSL when I contacted W100AW. The station today was W1AW / 4 operating from N. Carolina.
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Hidden, I agree on the VHF thing. I wasn't talking about a dipole, I was talking about an HF vertical. I guess I should have provided more info on my thoughts. Just like you are talking about the 1/4 wave ground plane for the 2 meter vertical antenna. For the field, I have a 5/4 wave vertical encased in PVC. I shamelessly copied someone else's design and made my own modification as to the method of connection to the coax. ;D It mounts on a portable PVC mast system I made up and works great. It gets used for field day and for special events communications.
Thanks, X, I will send to W1AW. Live long and prosper with DX :-+
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DL8RI, did you mean counterpoise instead of counterweight? Counterpoises allow, correct me if I am wrong, capacitive coupling to the earth, which I believe creates a massive ground plane and will give the signal a lower angle of take off which is good for DX contacts. When using unbalanced line (coax) everyone seems to call the shielding the ground side. The shield shorted to the conductor in coax, will provide an infinite swr to the radio and either cause the radio to cut back power or damage the radio. Don't worry about the boobies, I may be married but I am not yet dead :-DD. Xrunner, I caught him on 20 meters also. Do you know if he is doing a QSL card? If so, I would love to get one from him.
Yes, that it's the correct expression. I should have looked it up before posting.
In German it means Gegengewicht, gegen= counter, gewicht = weight. Non-native strikes again.
As for the ads, if it only are some Boobs that's ok, I think. I thought it was one of the more 'advanced' stuff ;)
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On high frequency stuff UHF VHF you don't need a huge counterpoise, you only need a metal surface a quarter wave length in size or bigger, I use a baking tray with an SO239 on it for VHF (2 meter) in the field. Also the counterpoise doesn't have to be earth a dipole is a balanced antenna with one side being the counterpoise to the other, the dipole ideally should be at least 1/2 wavelength above the ground.
That's cool. This is why I think some people still like radio. It's almost like magic. Techno/magician. So what you do is you lower the impedance of the antenna right?
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LNA for HF upconverters by 9A4QV
Another local ham got one of this guy's products - LNA for All - that starts effective operation at ~28 MHz. He's got another product now called LNA for HF that you put in front of your HF upconverter used with PC SDRs. Here's a link -
The final concept deliver 19-20dB of the gain through the range from 150khz up to 30MHz.
http://lna4hf.blogspot.com/ (http://lna4hf.blogspot.com/)
I ordered it yesterday and I will report on how well it works. I want to be able to see the modulation of some of the low level transmissions that I can hear on my FT-450 but cannot see on the SDR's waterfall display. The weird thing is, he asks for payment after you get the device. Wow! :o
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LiKvWLpgohg/UoqB-JhWPUI/AAAAAAAACCM/glQ9i4S5vIY/s320/DSC03342+(Large).JPG)
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Getting to be too many wires involving the sdr stuff, so I'm going to try to combine the up converter and the sdr dongle onto one assembly to reduce the wires needed as far as powering them goes. Both boards have to be connected to the PC to get power, but the up converter doesn't transmit USB data. The sdr dongle has to be connected to the PC because it has to xmit data back, so I want to snatch 5V from it's board and power the up converter from it. I hooked both of them to a lab supply and found that the dongle draws ~110 mA, and the up converter only draws ~ 10 mA. The PC USB port should provide up to 500 mA. Stay tuned.
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Well here's the result. It sure cuts down on the clutter.
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Well here's the result. It sure cuts down on the clutter.
Thats looks really good xrunner, nice work
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As far as homebrew transceivers go, I suspect that VU2ESE's Minima will be the one that finally brings multiband HF gear within the construction capabilities of the masses.
http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/minima.html (http://www.phonestack.com/farhan/minima.html)
MINIMA - A Compact, General Coverage HF QRP Transceiver 0-30MHz rx & tx, by ASHHAR FARHAN VU2ESE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cRXQiNgH8w#)
And, if anyone's wondering, it does contain an Arduino.
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It looks very good.
It could have the speaker build in.
Nuno
CT2IRY
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Got the LNA for HF from Croatia yesterday but didn't have a chance to play with it. I hope to put it in-line today and see what happens.
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My latest HF latest magnetic loop for 7 MHz. Handles 100 watts yet requires no expensive variable capacitor. Suitable for unit or apartment dwellers.
100 watt 7 MHz magnetic loop for units and apartments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv_RnLpZ9gw#ws)
73, Peter VK3YE
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What happened with that Heathkit free radio contest? Did they ever deliver or was it just vaporware? This 'stealth mode' thing is weirding me out.
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What happened with that Heathkit free radio contest? Did they ever deliver or was it just vaporware? This 'stealth mode' thing is weirding me out.
Most people I've talked to think nothing's going to come out of Heathkit. :--
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My latest HF latest magnetic loop for 7 MHz. Handles 100 watts yet requires no expensive variable capacitor. Suitable for unit or apartment dwellers.
73, Peter VK3YE
Good project Peter, enjoy your channel.
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Few fresh graduates in electronics engineering, computer systems engineering, electrical engineering or any engineering for that matter have heard of ham radio. No Asian born (except Japanese) engineers I have met could tell me what ham radio is.
I told an ex-colleague from Eastern Europe about ham radio was and he laughed saying it is simply a waste of time unless you can make money out of it. This was the same "engineer" struggled to understand how a bipolar transistor worked. He saw electronics as a way to make money, nothing else.
Most people do not know what ham radio is. And most of those who think they do, think it is CB radio.
The education system is sadly lacking in here and abroad, creating a whole generation of ignorant people. The emphasis is on education to get a job, not education to learn. They miss out on real science, electronics, history and geography. Their grammar is often appalling. The teachers simply do not understand teaching them about ham radio can plant a seed that can change their life.
Now we are in the days for equal rights and women's lib, there were very few female ham radio operators in Australia. Why? Those who are are usually wives of hams. I never did work out why women as a group have failed to be interested in electronics. There is nothing "male" about electronics, and yet the majority of women simply are not interested in electronics, let alone ham radio. Why is this so? It is a question feminists simply cannot or will not answer.
Of course you will hear the argument ham radio is redundant due to mobile phones. Those who say this simply have no idea what ham radio is.
I think long term, ham radio will die unless there is a cultural paradigm shift amongst populations, and governments learn to promote ham radio rather than swiping parts of our spectrum to make money, and charging us punitive license fees.
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Most people do not know what ham radio is. And most of those who think they do, think it is CB radio.
Heh - don't get me going ...
I may have said this before, but most young people today have no clue about radio and it's history or true understanding of what - it - is.
Two cases - both true.
I was telling a lady just last week that I was back into ham radio - she had no clue. I mean she didn't mean she didn't understand it - she never even heard of it.
Two young people live across the street from me - have two very young girls. was talking to them about things several weeks ago and said I was into ham radio.
Never heard of it.
Then like the fool I am I tried to explain "Well it's a license to transmit here and there on the shortwave bands ..."
I was met with dumbfounded looks.
You mean you don't know what shortwave radio is? :palm:
Is all this due to cell phones and the internet? Seems like a good explanation, but it may be too simplistic an explanation. Something is very wrong here. Very wrong.
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Most people do not know what ham radio is. And most of those who think they do, think it is CB radio.
Heh - don't get me going ...
I may have said this before, but most young people today have no clue about radio and it's history or true understanding of what - it - is.
Two cases - both true.
I was telling a lady just last week that I was back into ham radio - she had no clue. I mean she didn't mean she didn't understand it - she never even heard of it.
Two young people live across the street from me - have two very young girls. was talking to them about things several weeks ago and said I was into ham radio.
Never heard of it.
Then like the fool I am I tried to explain "Well it's a license to transmit here and there on the shortwave bands ..."
I was met with dumbfounded looks.
You mean you don't know what shortwave radio is? :palm:
Is all this due to cell phones and the internet? Seems like a good explanation, but it may be too simplistic an explanation. Something is very wrong here. Very wrong.
I agree with you and my ham radio club works hard every year to change this. We have an active program bringing ham radio into the schools in our county. We have about 6 schools so far. In 2012, we assisted the Burns Science and Technology charter school in Oak Hill, Florida to make a contact with the ISS, something we very proud to have had a part in. Even though we have plenty of Old F(lorida) A(mateur) R(adio) T(echnology) S(pecialists) in the club, we do have a fair number of younger people, including boys and girls under the age of 18 (the whole family are hams). We also have members that do weekly portable ops so the public, if they choose, can stop by and see what ham radio is about. We try to get ham radio out to the public eye and the youth as much as we can because we want to reverse the misconceptions and stereotypes about ham radio and show young people how cool the hobby can be.
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Most people do not know what ham radio is. And most of those who think they do, think it is CB radio.
I agree with you and my ham radio club works hard every year to change this. We have an active program bringing ham radio into the schools in our county. We have about 6 schools so far. In 2012, we assisted the Burns Science and Technology charter school in Oak Hill, Florida to make a contact with the ISS, something we very proud to have had a part in. Even though we have plenty of Old F(lorida) A(mateur) R(adio) T(echnology) S(pecialists) in the club, we do have a fair number of younger people, including boys and girls under the age of 18 (the whole family are hams). We also have members that do weekly portable ops so the public, if they choose, can stop by and see what ham radio is about. We try to get ham radio out to the public eye and the youth as much as we can because we want to reverse the misconceptions and stereotypes about ham radio and show young people how cool the hobby can be.
That is excellent. I have been involved with JOTA and at least the kids have had some experience of ham radio.
Some countries seem to have a lot more ignorant people than others about ham radio, possibly due to the scourge of communism, poverty or cultural reasons.
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I've done a couple of JOTA events. It is a lot of fun and the scouts like it also, especially when the hams put together a program for ham radio badges ;D
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There is no better confirmation that a new antenna works than people on the other side of the world disbelieving your signal's strength and that you're running just a few watts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pORkKmdlRWo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pORkKmdlRWo)
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Pretty good that antenna you have. Just proves a good ground is a necessity.
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Here's another (same location/similar delta loop) showing the strong signals of G7OEM pedestrian mobile 15 000 km away and the readable signal from OP7M in Belgium with 5w.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RgrJNKZ34U (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RgrJNKZ34U)
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Done a few months back and broadcast on national TV. Brenton VK2MEV operating portable.
Brenton: Ham Radio on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/80318863)
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Had a lot of fun some weeks ago operating portable from somewhere a bit higher than I'm used to:
Operating portable from a tower (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzBNuYOezmc#ws)
Need to try it again when the weather gets better.
-Tuomas, OH2EIE
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I've been a ham for 55 years my latest project is a 2 meter KW amplifier.
To be used on 2 meter moon bounce.
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I have noticed many people drift out and drift back in to ham radio, like a sine wave. At the moment I have passed the negative trough and am back heading towards positive territory.
At my peak between 1990 and 2006, I ran a home brew 8 element HF LPDA up a 60 foot tower, emailed people on packet radio before most people even knew what email was, built up and ran Melbourne's major IRLP node 6340, did SSTV and a host of other stuff.
Today I barely use a microphone. Too busy. But that might change in the coming months.
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Here in Melbourne, we are plagued with EMI thanks to the following (spot the common theme)...
[
The government is letting non-compliant EMI radiating rubbish into Australia, mostly via eBay.
The government is not clamping down on sources of EMI on HF bands. Its a case of "tell someone who cares".
The government allowed dodgy companies like Dick Smith to flog EMI-promoting crap like 100% acrylic PC cases.
The government allowed dodgy companies like Dick Smith to sell transmitters and power amplifiers to unlicensed people.
The government demonstrated no concern over crappy cable terminations plaguing the HF bands.
The government sold off (for $$$$) spectrum to paging companies on 148 Mhz and above, creating awful interference to approved ham radio receivers below 148MHz. The government making money and supporting commercial interests was above that of the welfare of the ham community.
The government got rid of almost all their radio inspectors.
The government continues to charge all Australian ham radio operators about $75 per year to keep their licences. This is a cash grab, based upon the government's dark history of charging expensive CB licenses ("regulating" CB) and then axing them because the cost of administration of the CB licenses was higher than their income from the licenses. In other words, they proved they were doing nothing more than stealing money off CB'ers. Not a source of EMI, but a source of anger.
]
So, if when I get back into ham radio I will likely have to resort to an Software Defined Radio because of all the interference the government has encouraged through poor decisions and inaction.
If politicians were all ham radio operators rather than lawyers and charlatans, EMI would not be an issue.
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This home made transmitter may be the cause of some amusement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYpvU80nyvM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYpvU80nyvM)
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Hey all! 8)
Been gone for a while, busy with ham radio! I got a brand new Yaesu FTdx-3000 and it's a killer transceiver. I've got a total of 130 countries worked and 94 confirmations towards a DXCC right now. With luck the other 6 confirmations are in the mail!
Also got into JT65 too. A little strange but it has the capability to do DX when no other modes can hack it.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lp-CTYeUkU8/U17wK5PQ4XI/AAAAAAAAAwM/LFVTLg96XPM/w704-h528-no/ftdx3000.jpg)
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Hey all! 8)
Been gone for a while, busy with ham radio! I got a brand new Yaesu FTdx-3000 and it's a killer transceiver. I've got a total of 130 countries worked and 94 confirmations towards a DXCC right now. With luck the other 6 confirmations are in the mail!
Also got into JT65 too. A little strange but it has the capability to do DX when no other modes can hack it.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lp-CTYeUkU8/U17wK5PQ4XI/AAAAAAAAAwM/LFVTLg96XPM/w704-h528-no/ftdx3000.jpg)
$2500 :o
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$2500 :o
Nope - less ... :clap:
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Hey all! 8)
Been gone for a while, busy with ham radio! I got a brand new Yaesu FTdx-3000 and it's a killer transceiver. I've got a total of 130 countries worked and 94 confirmations towards a DXCC right now. With luck the other 6 confirmations are in the mail!
<snip>
Cool! I use one of these too (my call is G0LRD), although mine's never had the microphone plugged in! I use only CW and digital modes. JT65 is fun, but I find JT9 even more impressive in terms of working DX on a 'dead' band.
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Cool! I use one of these too (my call is G0LRD), although mine's never had the microphone plugged in! I use only CW and digital modes. JT65 is fun, but I find JT9 even more impressive in terms of working DX on a 'dead' band.
Neat.
As of today I have worked 132 countries and have 106 confirmations if I put together LoTW and paper cards - enough for a DXCC award. I'm mostly doing JT65 now because the propagation is just not good these days. Due to this activity - I have 49 states confirmed - just missing Arkansas. Hello Arkansas ... anyone do ham radio in Arkansas? :o
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Since this is the only ham radio thread on this forum, I figured I'd post a link to my latest video regarding the quick checkout of the Softrock Ensemble II SDR receiver kit I just finished assembling. If you watch in YouTube and look a the notes, you'll see links to other videos related to this (and similar projects), including a nifty way to wind toroid inductors, etc.
Anyway, here's the video showing the initial "road test" of the Softrock Ensemble II SDR Receiver:
Completed Softrock Ensemble II SDR Receiver kit | On air checkout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRTdaKNSJYk#ws)
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Since this is the only ham radio thread on this forum, I figured I'd post a link to my latest video regarding the quick checkout of the Softrock Ensemble II SDR receiver kit I just finished assembling. If you watch in YouTube and look a the notes, you'll see links to other videos related to this (and similar projects), including a nifty way to wind toroid inductors, etc.
Anyway, here's the video showing the initial "road test" of the Softrock Ensemble II SDR Receiver:
Completed Softrock Ensemble II SDR Receiver kit | On air checkout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRTdaKNSJYk#ws)
Very cool. I just ordered one on impulse. I suspect I will have tons of trouble locating and installing the software on my new Toshiba Win8.1 laptop? What software are you using and any link for software help if I need it?
Thanks
WA6TKD
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Since this is the only ham radio thread on this forum, I figured I'd post a link to my latest video regarding the quick checkout of the Softrock Ensemble II SDR receiver kit I just finished assembling. If you watch in YouTube and look a the notes, you'll see links to other videos related to this (and similar projects), including a nifty way to wind toroid inductors, etc.
Anyway, here's the video showing the initial "road test" of the Softrock Ensemble II SDR Receiver:
Completed Softrock Ensemble II SDR Receiver kit | On air checkout (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRTdaKNSJYk#ws)
Very cool. I just ordered one on impulse. I suspect I will have tons of trouble locating and installing the software on my new Toshiba Win8.1 laptop? What software are you using and any link for software help if I need it?
Thanks
WA6TKD
You shouldn't have any trouble. You'll need the low level USB driver, the Si570 configuration software and dll, and an SDR program of your choice, such as HDSDR or WinSDR. All info can be found easily on these pages...
http://fivedash.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=6 (http://fivedash.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=6)
http://www.wb5rvz.org/ensemble_rx_ii/ (http://www.wb5rvz.org/ensemble_rx_ii/)
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To keep the thread going, a look at ham gear over 20 years of Dick Smith catalogues 1981 - 2001.
Looking back, the price people paid for single band rigs for quiet bands like 6m and 23cm was incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7md4JvDkMs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7md4JvDkMs)
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I am sad I missed out on stuff like that, it's fun picturing being up late at night (well, I do that anyways), sweeping for radio signals, maybe picking up an SSTV signal or something, it would have been neat.
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To keep the thread going, a look at ham gear over 20 years of Dick Smith catalogues 1981 - 2001.
Looking back, the price people paid for single band rigs for quiet bands like 6m and 23cm was incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7md4JvDkMs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7md4JvDkMs)
But then again,Peter,there were a lot of "Z" calls around who were stuck on VHF.
There was a lot of VHF activity in Perth (on 2m FM mainly),but still a hard core of 6m folks,& a few looking at 70cm & 23cm.
I remember when they "chucked us Z calls a bone" with 10m FM.
Icom sold a few IC575As out of that---bought one at the last HamFest.
Still a great little 6m/10m transceiver!
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I am sad I missed out on stuff like that, it's fun picturing being up late at night (well, I do that anyways), sweeping for radio signals, maybe picking up an SSTV signal or something, it would have been neat.
There is still a lot of activity,especially on 20 & 40m.
SSTV is fairly easy to resolve with a PC & some free software off the Internet.
You need a reasonable HF receiver,but luckily,there are some simpler designs which work nearly as well as the most expensive ones..
Peter,(VK3YE) has designed quite a few of these.
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A 40 year design, but to me it's still amazing that just 4 milliwatts is needed to detect, demodulate and amplify weak signals from thousands of km away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJehuHHaOv8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJehuHHaOv8)
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Portable Software Defined Transceiver
http://hackaday.io/project/1538-PortableSDR (http://hackaday.io/project/1538-PortableSDR)
"The entire design is Open Source. The electronics are designed and laid out to be easy to understand and tinker with. In addition to source code, schematics, board layout and parts lists, articles and videos describing the theory of the design are being created."
Looks an exciting project
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I'm much newer to ham radio than you crufty bunch of long-beards for sure.. but I love it :)
Wish there was more people discovering the hobby!
:-+
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"crufty bunch of long-beards"
Looks in the mirror.
Ummmmm, OK ;D
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Thought I would put these photos up for a bit of fun.
I am about to have a go at EME, 160W out, 1296MHz, Semi PORTABLE!!! (the only place I can use it is in my driveway; bugger)
Home brew LINEAR 30V 15A PSU. Arduino for OV protection and display
W6PQL power Amp, with MiniKits (VK5EME) sequencer , again Arduino for display (hell I can program those little buggers so why change)
Icom 910 with OCXO.
G4DDK Pre-Amp, 0.27dB NF 37dB gain.
WE4MA super feedhorn, used 7" stainless steel flue pipe, ~20dB return loss, 10dB isolation between ports, so both Tx and Rx relays.
4m f/d 0.38, el cheapo satellite dish.
Moves welded to an engine stand (with extension tubes) to widen base, actuators to move Azimuth ~100 degrees and elevation 0-90 degrees.
Am about to start sun noise testing to fine tune position of feed horn.
My wife, daughters and friends think I am a bit crazy, well maybe……..but no beard yet.
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"crufty bunch of long-beards"
Looks in the mirror.
Ummmmm, OK ;D
Not longbeard. I keep a short goatee, but definitely grey, so I guess I am a greybeard |O :-DD. Older in age but young in ham radio-I was licensed in 1999. My radios are somewhat vintage, just like me. Kenwood TS-940SAT and 850SAT HF rigs. These are late 80's to early 90's vintage. They're in better shape than I am. I love the Kenwood audio, both transmit and receive.
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Well when the cell towers and Internet fails in a disaster, Ham radio will still make the trip.
I have been active on ham radio for over 30 years when I got my first call G6JVS in the UK, I now also hold the call KB1UIF for the USA. I have never lost interest in ham radio because there is always some new mode and technology around the corner to keep my interest peaked. My latest interest is SDR or software defined radio. For as little as $10 you can get a DVB-T dongle on ebay and with free driver and control software have a radio that will receive from around 24MHz to 1800MHz with no gaps. With some modifications from approx 100Hz. This device can also provide you with a cheap spectrum analyzer. Check out RTL Dongles and SDR# software, you might be interested.
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When all else fails, ham radio works. Been an amateur since 1977 as a novice and now an extra. Earned all my tickets when code was required. It is alot easier to "earn" a ticket than it was. The Q &A study guides make it really easy. Lots of new are "appliance" operators, but most get up to snuff on techie skills. Ham radio is still valid.
73
WD4DUI
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Well when the cell towers and Internet fails in a disaster, Ham radio will still make the trip.
We've seen that a few years ago when the power grid failed along Canada-US border. All cell towers and broadcast stations were dead within 3 hours after their backup power ran out. The only source of information that remained was a local Ham radio guy sitting in a room on top of TV tower in Toronto with a handheld and a box of AA batteries. He periodically gave updates on VHF/UHF ham bands. I had a mobile ICOM radio installed in my car so I listened and stayed informed.
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Well when the cell towers and Internet fails in a disaster, Ham radio will still make the trip.
We've seen that a few years ago when the power grid failed along Canada-US border. All cell towers and broadcast stations were dead within 3 hours after their backup power ran out. The only source of information that remained was a local Ham radio guy sitting in a room on top of TV tower in Toronto with a handheld and a box of AA batteries. He periodically gave updates on VHF/UHF ham bands. I had a mobile ICOM radio installed in my car so I listened and stayed informed.
A Broadcast station should be able to run for more than a day on its diesel--how come 3 hours?
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A Broadcast station should be able to run for more than a day on its diesel--how come 3 hours?
Because not every broadcast station is operated by people with emergency operations or even community service as a priority.
Because cell sites are managed by "appliance operators" who don't maintain their backup power equipment as a cost-cutting measure.
Because support technicians are so short-staffed they can barely keep up repairing/replacing broken gear, much less preventive maintenance.
And because "backup power" for cell sites is for temporary failure of a random site. 3 hours lets them send out a truck with a generator trailer and plug it in while they order repair parts. But that is only for random, single-site failures. The cell system is NOT designed to operate in a major, widespread failure.
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Damn all to do with community service,Richard,if it is a Commercial Station,no transmission means you don't make any money.
With a Govt station,there is a Statutory requirement to stay on the air.
Standby power systems are highly reliable,& don't need a lot of routine maintenance.
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Damn all to do with community service,Richard,if it is a Commercial Station,no transmission means you don't make any money.
With a Govt station,there is a Statutory requirement to stay on the air.
Yes, it used to be that way here in the US. But the FCC doesn't much care about broadcast operations anymore. They are taking 100s of MHz away from broadcast and auctioning it off to land-mobile (i.e. cell, wireless data, etc.) for billions of dollars.
Standby power systems are highly reliable,& don't need a lot of routine maintenance.
Ha! I was just having breakfast at a hotel with a guy who works for a company that sells and maintains emergency power equipment. He had an unending string of horror stories of operators who couldn't care less about backup equipment except when a failure brought it to their attention.
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Happened across the road from me. The government building was supposed to have 24 hours of backup power from a massive genset complex. However they forgot to renew the maintenance contract on the units, and along with that did not budget for diesel fuel for them. For about 2 years whenever the power failed there was a loud klaxon that ran for an hour until the battery died to warn of generator failure. After 2 years the battery died, so it ran for 10 seconds. After another 5 years they got new generators........... Any bets as to what will happen after 5 years of no maintenance, and when the huge tank of fuel runs out.
The military however doers have procedures and maintenance for the critical load standby power, the base I used to be at had 5 gensets running 1 unit for 24.5 hours before starting the next one and cycling through the set with mains power, so that it could switch over instantly when mains failed. On mains fail 2 would immediately come on line to share the load with the single unit running at overload for 30 seconds till it had a second supply. As these ran ATC and other critical systems like RADAR and a cold boot took around 2 hours you could never have a power failure. Maintenance was done on a monthly basis of filter and oil changes, over 3 days so as to only have 2 out of service at a time. The RADAR had a hot standby as well for immediate use. The fuel tanks were distributed as well, and the whole lot was buried underground in an armoured bunker. Fuel storage was "adequate", and at a pinch you could run it on jet fuel as well.
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In high-value, ultra-critical applications, one of the solutions is a rotary converter which conditions utility power under normal conditions, and provides instant energy from the flywheel in case of an interruption. Then if the interruption is more than a minute or two, the engine kicks in and keeps the rotary running as long as the fuel tanks last and you can schedule additional fuel deliveries. We have several of these providing power to the critical circuits (computer centers and essential production equipment).
http://youtu.be/jZjgx4BADf8?t=1m43s (http://youtu.be/jZjgx4BADf8?t=1m43s)
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I've seen banks of vertically mounted "kinetic batteries" before and they're a pretty neat technology. Super heavy rotors inside a vacuum floating on magnetic bearings. when powered, they spin up, and wait. when power goes out, they instantly become generators and use their inertia to provide power for the worst-case 10 secs or so it takes for a generator to come online and match phase with everything, then the generator takes over and the rotors slowly spin up and recharge.
Neat stuff. Very expensive for the amount of time you get out of them.
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For those in the Melbourne area, this weekend is big for ham radio events.
Today is QRP by the Bay. Come down to Chelsea beach from 3pm and see us trying to work around the world from portable low power stations. More info at https://www.facebook.com/events/287817648076248/ (https://www.facebook.com/events/287817648076248/) and other places on the web.
Tomorrow there's a couple of things happening.
Yarra Valley Hamfest http://www.yvarg.org.au/index.html (http://www.yvarg.org.au/index.html) (cheap stuff at pre-eBay prices!)
EMDRC Microwave day http://www.emdrc.com.au/event/vk3-2014-microwave-test-and-tune-day/ (http://www.emdrc.com.au/event/vk3-2014-microwave-test-and-tune-day/)
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A Broadcast station should be able to run for more than a day on its diesel--how come 3 hours?
I can't say the reason, but I can report similar experiences around here. The last major power outage we had, the cell towers in my area died after about 20 minutes. This outage didn't affect any broadcast radio stations that I noticed, but the stations I normally receive were not in the area that lost utility power, so it wasn't a good test for them.
The fact that local cell towers lasted around 20 minutes tells me that they must have some brief battery backup capability, but perhaps the batteries aren't well maintained. I suspect that maintaining backup power at the cell sites isn't something that brings the cell companies lots of subscribers and revenue, and most customers don't examine a cell network's backup power arrangements when they're shopping for phone service.
My ham radio equipment will last several days on the lead-acid batteries that I keep charged. And I've got a generator and fuel that can be used to recharge those batteries.
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A Broadcast station should be able to run for more than a day on its diesel--how come 3 hours?
I am telling you, everything was dead. Road traffic was horrible because traffic lights did not work. And it was disturbing that when I drove 2 or 3 hours form work to home through the packed city I did not see a single police cruiser, not a single police officer, not a single fire truck, not a single ambulance vehicle. So here is the ugly reality - in case of a disaster only count on yourself. And by the way, cell phones are pretty much useless anyway even if cell towers still have power because towers become overload with calls. So do not count on your cell phone either. I do remember my land line phone at home worked ok though.
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The cell tower up the road from me originally had a back up diesel gen/set but that was removed a few years ago, now when mains power goes down so dose the cell tower. All about cost I expect the diesel gen set would need a visit every month or so, the cell tower itself virtually never as most things are managed remotely and mains failure in the UK is considered to be rare or non existent by the bean counters in their ivory towers, here in the sticks when the wind blows there is always a tree ready and waiting to fall on the lines somewhere, so we get 2 or more cuts a year lasting at least half a day.
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I was stationed on a mountian top in Germany in the early 80s. It was the largest switch and microwave transmission facility in the European AutoVon phone system. Our back-up power included flooded cell battery plants, a fly-wheel generator and two giant diesel gen sets. A noisey power plant! All the equipment in the transmission and switch facility can now fit into 1/4 of space. All was either 50hz or 60hz stuff, no 400hz stuff like the mobile microwave radio I also worked with. I wish I could have hung antennas on that tower in Germany and a decent radio instead of the pos SB-104 I had.
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Well, it's still going for some of us.
Attached are some pics of my really, really crude junk box direct conversion receiver and a screenshot of the HDSDR program processing the output.
This is not IQ quadrature, just plain direct conversion to audio with only a high pass filter on the antenna ( 6ft wire ) to knock down the AM broadcasts and a low pass following the diode ring mixer. There's all kinds of imaging and mixing going on here and the oscillator drifts all over the place but it's good enough to pick up a whole bunch of people sending code in the 40 meter band. I can hear the code plainly enough but am so rusty at it that I can't make copy yet.
So, some of us are still interested in Ham Radio and some of us are still interested in designing/building equipment.
earl...
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Looks good, nothing like home-brew!
Have you seen Eamon Skeltons articles in RadCom? He has some nifty LO designs using some of the synthesiser modules, his book "How to build a transceiver" uses many of these modules. Nice series of articles and all constructed in real Ham "ugly' style but with good results on testing.
73 Robert
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I realise it's rather late in the day to the OP, but I don't think that ham radio will ever go away. Yes there will always be ebbs and flows, for example CB introduced many thousands to ham radio, but typically, as with any pastime, people only have so many hours in the day to persue discretionary things.
It is also true that many people just like to skit betwen one hobby and the next, once they've achieved a basic goal, that's it they go onto another. I see it in flying, many people spend an awful lot of money getting their private pilot licence and then finish, and lose interest.
I also believe that a large number of people try out hobbies like ham radio, and then lose interest for all manner of reasons. Perhaps it's just not for them, maybe they can't put up antennas, or they don't want to persue it further. Personally speaking, I tend to achieve a goal and then move on, no point in re-inventing the wheel. Contesting for example just doesn't interest me at all, but designing and making a new wireless device that no-one's ever done before does.
Interesting, too, that the word "wireless" was very untrendy for decades, in the "gramophone" area of the dictionary. And yet in the past decade or so it's suddenly become uber cool.
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This video describes a 500mW 7 MHz transmitter built into a wind up torch. The crank & generator produces enough output to power it without difficulty. Its CW signal has been identified several hundred kilometres away. The video includes the circuit which uses common parts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARhiSUl8-5w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARhiSUl8-5w)
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I've actually been reading up a bit here and there on ham radio and it would be something fun to play with. Most of it is still over my head as far as the technicalities go but it is very interesting. Something I might actually pursue at some point. I also like the idea of being able to transmit or receive signals to/from all sorts of soruces during a large blackout or perhaps some kind of disaster situation. You can even talk to astronauts on the ISS when it passes by. That's pretty cool right there.
There is also a more modern version of ham radio these days usually referred to as mesh networking. Basically people setting up various point to point wireless networks. Governments and ISPs these days are taking away freedoms on the internet so it has sparked a new interest to try to be prepared if bad things happen.
So many hobbies that would be fun to get into, so little time and money. :P
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Haven't posted in a while ... but I'm still hangin' ;)
Doing mostly digital modes these days - JT65 & JT9. I completed a WAS using JT65 and am now trying to do a WAS using only JT9. I have 38 states now on JT9.
I bought a new FT-450D for the main shack so I can work two bands at once on the digital modes along with my FTDX-3000. I moved the older FT-450 to the living room where I have a Man-Cave setup along with a VHF/UHF radio (don't try this if you're married).
I have now worked 152 DXCCs and am looking forward to the upcoming Navassa DXpedition. Navassa is the number two most wanted DXCC and it's right in our backyard this time! :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navassa_Island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navassa_Island)
So cheers to you all and happy electronics hobbying next year! :-+
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I have limited bench space, but would be interested in getting a basic set to talk/comunicate with while Im doing boring work. Any good starting points for fairly active bands that dont need massive antennas? (I would be limited to a run of wire along the ceiling basically: small lab!
Im a total noob and have not a single clue! O0
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Can you buy and use (listen only) the equipment without a ham license? It would be neat to mess around with and if it becomes something I want to get into more deeply then could get my license.
A true ham probably makes their own equipment though, but I imagine to start you buy first.
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In Canada, it is not illegal to listen to anything. It is illegal to act upon certain things you might hear, or to profit from it.
That is the law in a very general sense in Canada, but there are some nuances of course but I don't know all of them so take my statement as very general.
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Ham radio communications are assumed to be "public". Anyone can listen at any time.
For that matter, many people listening is how ham radio works.
Clearly, you are not allowed to transmit without the appropriate license.
In most places you cannot purchase transmitting equipment without proof of license.
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I have limited bench space, but would be interested in getting a basic set to talk/comunicate with while Im doing boring work. Any good starting points for fairly active bands that dont need massive antennas? (I would be limited to a run of wire along the ceiling basically: small lab!
The best bands for casual listening during the day are 7 & 14 MHz. 3.5 & 7 are good at night. 144 MHz has local FM activity. An outdoor antenna is best for the lower frequencies but an indoor antenna (eg a loop or even bit of wire) will work if there's not too much local electrical noise. A 144 MHz antenna can be 50cm long and you could use one of those cheap Chinese handhelds you can get off eBay for short distances.
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A true ham probably makes their own equipment though, ...
Sadly, that isn't the case much anymore. Most of us are spoiled rotten now, although I do build my own antennas. :)
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Interesting, too, that the word "wireless" was very untrendy for decades, in the "gramophone" area of the dictionary. And yet in the past decade or so it's suddenly become uber cool.
Ha! Hadn't noticed until you pointed it out. "Radio internet," or "tranny access," anyone?
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Re Homebrew or lack of it in Ham circles, that is where microwave and QRP are gaining fans, I learn a lot by building especially when I break it (!!!) or it doesn't work first time. I am slowly learning to like fixing gear, it has taught me a lot.
Eamon Skeltons series of articles in RadCom (and now book) are a great example of what you can do piece at a a time.
73
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A true ham probably makes their own equipment though, ...
Sadly, that isn't the case much anymore. Most of us are spoiled rotten now, although I do build my own antennas. :)
+1-I've done a couple of kits in the past-a 70 cm fast scan ATV transceiver and a 20 Meter psk31 QRP transceiver. Pretty much antennas only now. Latest is a 40 Meter true Carolina Windom on the cheap--love it. Thank God for Hamfests and Home Depot ;D
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I need to put one of my Arduinos to work in my shack, but I can't think of a good use for it for the ham ops I'm doing. :(
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I need to put one of my Arduinos to work in my shack, but I can't think of a good use for it for the ham ops I'm doing. :(
Building an Arduino based iambic keyer for working CW mode would be a cool first project candidate.
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Building an Arduino based iambic keyer for working CW mode would be a cool first project candidate.
Yea, I need to use CW more for DX. ;)
Here's a small project I did recently. Picked up a used Yaesu FT-5200 dual band transceiver. Had low output on VHF, but I managed to get the VHF output up to 30W. Supposed to be 50W max, but the hybrid VHF power amp isn't quite up to speed. Might get a replacement off Ebay but it's good enough for my needs.
It originally came equipped with genuine filament bulbs. :) I decided to retrofit with LEDs. I chose orange LEDs for a modern Yaesu look. Had to make sure of the Bulb supply V and then calculate the needed limiting resistor for the LEDs. Came out quite well. Didn't have exactly the right resistor for 20mA but what I had gave 10mA for the LEDs and they are quite bright enough.
First pic is the original bulbs, second the LEDs. A little tricky to do in some places due to space (had SMD components ...) but I slogged through it. 8)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--uSxi1BHxHM/VIbwU3CsXVI/AAAAAAAABPg/ltG8NroVHP8/w694-h520-no/IMG_0579.JPG)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kNkjdrt9ytc/VIbwU_mJ98I/AAAAAAAABPo/w39LaGmSG_k/w694-h520-no/IMG_0580.JPG)
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Ham radio is still alive and well. It's just these days the younger crowd is more into video games and instant gratification. But hams still provide great public service and support for "general welfare" activities when disasters strike. Bike rides, walks, marathons, they're all likely staffed by hams coordinating the supplies for the rest stations, first aid for the injured, and status for the event leaders. And there are many ham organizations that are in coordination with local public safety and disaster relief organizations for backup during emergencies.
While the high frequency bands still see a lot of use (High Frequency being 3-30 MHz) the VHF and UHF bands around 145 and 440 MHz are where the new folks start. There is no morse code requirement any more and passing the tests are a matter of getting some books (or online) and learning the rules. There is still technical knowledge required for the higher licenses but you can get on the air with no technical knowledge at all. In fact, a lot of people here in Arizona get their license to support their off-road activities where cell phones no longer work. Ham repeater stations are on many mountaintops so it's possible to talk across extremely wide areas with just a low powered hand held radio. Think walkie-talkie. We call them Handie Talkies or HT's. And it's all free after you get the equipment you want.
So ham radio is not dead, just overshadowed by the many other activities available now. But if you have an interest in things technical, it's a place to learn and experiment with plenty of "Elmers" (mentors) to guide you.
Google "hamfest" or go to www.arrl.org (http://www.arrl.org) for local ham contacts. If you're on this forum you ought to be a ham.
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I have been a Class A radio ham for some time, about 12 years. Generally, I only operate when I have built and or repaired something. I have little to no interest in just buying a brand new rig, brand new aerial, plugging it together and operating.
Ditto previous sentiments about "Johnson waving", I remember a Yaesu 1000MP owner getting very upset when my KW2000 (pre suffix) was praised by another operator for having superior audio. Made my day :)
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Hey all! 8)
Been gone for a while, busy with ham radio! I got a brand new Yaesu FTdx-3000 and it's a killer transceiver. I've got a total of 130 countries worked and 94 confirmations towards a DXCC right now. With luck the other 6 confirmations are in the mail!
Also got into JT65 too. A little strange but it has the capability to do DX when no other modes can hack it.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lp-CTYeUkU8/U17wK5PQ4XI/AAAAAAAAAwM/LFVTLg96XPM/w704-h528-no/ftdx3000.jpg)
Neat kit! I make do with a Kenwood TS-50 (built into a flightcase as a go-box), a Yaesu FT-897 and a Yaesu FT-817 for the neat
little QRP ops. For VHF I have an ancient Icom IC240 (actually the first trx I ever touched, given to me by its first and only owner) and a just slightly newer IC-260 all mode 2m set. Both Icoms had been in storage for like 25 years. Connected to power they both worked like a charm on first try. :) Apparantly they used proper components (esp. caps) in the 1970s...
Wilko
PA1WBU
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I've been working lately to renew my commercial pilots licence. In doing so, I bought a scanner to assist getting my radio calls up to scratch. I thought about what else I might be able to receive, now that police channels are no longer analogue. One thing lead to another and now I'm determined to get my advanced amateur radio licence.
I completed a degree in Communications and Electronics Engineering back in 2007 (Curtin University). Having moved into industrial automation for my day job, my knowledge of communications theory and application has gotten quite a bit (very) rusty. Getting into amateur radio should be a great way to freshen up all of this knowledge. It's worth noting that throughout the communications components of my degree, amateur radio was not mentioned once. I'd mistakenly believed that it was equivalent to CB radio and never really looked into it.
In any event I'm hooked now. What a bloody great hobby you guys have. It's re-kindled my passion for electronics also. :D
If you're on this forum you ought to be a ham.
Couldn't agree more with you mate!
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I've been working lately to renew my commercial pilots licence. In doing so, I bought a scanner to assist getting my radio calls up to scratch. I thought about what else I might be able to receive, now that police channels are no longer analogue. One thing lead to another and now I'm determined to get my advanced amateur radio licence.
I completed a degree in Communications and Electronics Engineering back in 2007 (Curtin University).
I did it a different way around, in the 70s I went up ladder starting with the crystal set, then TTL and computer programming, and was designing and building my own computers by the late 70s. In 1981 I received my ham radio licence, and went to university to do electronic engineering. After pledging never to do another exam in my life, I relented a few decades later and received my private pilot licence in 2013.
I realise that there are different schools of thought on this, but obscurely I found that learning the patois for my FRTOL (UK aviation radio licence) was much harder than I anticipated, despite having a ham radio licence. Knowing the phonetic alphabet was beneficial for me, but that was about where it ended. Other pilots who have ham licences do have diametrically opposed views to mine on this though.
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Well FWIW people get ham licenses so they can legally transmit on ~400MHz IIRC for longer range FPV stuff.
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Whatever Happened to Ham Radio?
It turned into FPV.
Instead of talking to your buddy you fly with him.
The weird people used to play in the MHz band building antennas.
Now the weird people pay with FPV building antennas in the GHz band .
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Well FWIW people get ham licenses so they can legally transmit on ~400MHz IIRC for longer range FPV stuff.
Exactly. That's what motivated me to get the license. Then, once I was into it, it seemed easiest to just take all three exams at once. So I've been an amateur extra for about a year and have never done anything other than fly RC. Will probably get into it some day when I have more time for another hobby.
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Just got this jewel off Ebay. It's a Drake SSR-1 circa 1977ish. I posted the pic in the "What did you buy lately" thread but I'm going to be restoring it to like-new condition so I wanted to post more pics about that here. So far it works pretty well and it's a lot of fun to tune around. It needs basic cleaning and dust removal. It was around a smoker too because I can smell nicotine. Love the green glow, especially in a dark room. :)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9FRMy4FaewyYxttDTncr0x1oR0whk6VQOfeo8yhDSxc=w1024-h768-no)
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Where would one go for information on ham radio and what can be done with it? Say can you use it for data or just audio? Would a UK Ham licence allow me to communicate with people in say Russia or do different countries have different allowed sections of the spectrum?
Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm only 32 so until I joined this forum only ever heard of ham radio as "and this was popular in the way back times" and not something that people actually still did.
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Where would one go for information on ham radio and what can be done with it? Say can you use it for data or just audio? Would a UK Ham licence allow me to communicate with people in say Russia or do different countries have different allowed sections of the spectrum?
Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm only 32 so until I joined this forum only ever heard of ham radio as "and this was popular in the way back times" and not something that people actually still did.
Here is a place I think you can start; http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ra/publication/ra_info/ra190/ra190.htm (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ra/publication/ra_info/ra190/ra190.htm) and http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/for-students/foundation/ (http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/for-students/foundation/)
You can do all sorts of things. You can operate HF single side band to speak with hams all over the world. You can learn morse code, the most basic of digital modes. There are digital keyboard mode such as PSK31. As mentioned, RC planes, boats, cars. Some like to build things, radios, antennas. There are those that enjoy doing emergency communications. There are clubs you can join. There is VHF/UHF operations such as working ham radio satellites. moon bounce, meteor scatter and FM repeaters.
I tell new hams that the only stupid question is the one that is never asked. None of us come out of the womb knowing everything about ham radio or even what it is. Probably the best place to start is to use your Google Fu and see if you can find a club in your area. Clubs are a great resource of information and you should find plenty of people that will answer your questions and help you get started.
Tom, NW0LF
Amateur Extra license class and ARRL Volunteer Examiner Liaison
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Google Fu and see if you can find a club in your area. Clubs are a great resource of information and you should find plenty of people that will answer your questions and help you get started.
Thanks for all the info, especially that bit. I think been born pretty much as the public internet went live and (as far as I can remember anyway) always having mailing lists and BBSs about gives me a blind spot to the local club options lol.
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Where would one go for information on ham radio and what can be done with it? Say can you use it for data or just audio? Would a UK Ham licence allow me to communicate with people in say Russia or do different countries have different allowed sections of the spectrum?
Sorry for the stupid questions but I'm only 32 so until I joined this forum only ever heard of ham radio as "and this was popular in the way back times" and not something that people actually still did.
Amateur Radio is an International service,so Hams can talk to anywhere in the world,providing they are using a frequency which has propagation to that place,or is linked via the Internet (IRLP,Echolink).
Ham allocations do vary slightly in different countries,but,by & large,the major bands are the same.
Voice,data of various kinds,Slow Scan TV,Fast Scan TV.
And via HF,VHF,UHF,microwaves,you name it.
Just Google "Ham Radio",& you will be overwhelmed with information.
P.S.In the UK,the "Foundation Licence" is very easy to obtain.
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Some more internal pics of the SSR-1. Also checked the 1 MHz referance - not too bad for most likely never having been touched in ~ 38 years.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rRu-ritZ7-CoN_g0JnAzKyoq4tk-HqUnQTxcteiEZNk=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0kUpWawL68hgqQcgmf6Jls8UTR3bgYt8JBxbOUYNRHE=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wTkm8KTQROCIsPaKzOU1cj5If7FeCRgu9N3lhLtgdUs=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ETqJw7FTleyXEr-FWUnzMrt_1but7_KHufMotpCVOik=w1024-h768-no)
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That SSR-1 is a sweet bit of gear. You will enjoy it.
At the moment I am in the process of restoring 2 Heathkits HW-101's. Both are in pretty sad shape. But will come together.
On another note just picked up a Kenwood TS-2000. Yep, a shack in a box rig...
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Damn it! now I'm going to have to clean the mouse poo out of my old "Duck" fix the power supply & get it back into service!
It was the first receiver I had which had good reset accuracy---you could set it on a frequency,listen for a while,go awy & surf the band for a while,then come back to the same frequency & be pretty much "spot on."
Of course,the Racals at work would do that,but they weren't affordable.
My old Regen drifted all over the place,The "Number 11" transceiver wasn't much better.
The HRO was probably OK,but translating frequency from the graph on the front of the coilbox to dial readings got a bit old after a while.
And you could carry the SSR1 around with you.
I remember listening to 20m with the whip while I was putting down pavers in the back yard.
My FT301 has a much better receiver for the Ham bands,but there are still times the "Duck" would come in handy.
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Here's the final cleaned-up version. Front panel has been taken off and cleaned in warm soapy water. All knobs ultrasonically cleaned. Inside cleaned. It really looks cool!
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QhnS6XtAAGYxmBN4oCxZPD5283sZl_aacLVjInUdDaM=w1024-h768-no)
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Just some ruminations from my defunct brain. I was heavily into CB many years back in the 80's and I loved my President rigs when the HAM's got all miffy and said CB was going to kill their hobby, it never did. I once went out with the daughter of a HAM ( G4ODM ), he was known as Ayatollah on CB.
I am surprised that not one mention is or has been made of Hamsphere on the net, it may not be a real radio set up but for someone who wants to give it a go and learn it is at least an option without a licence being needed, if you can put up with everyone talking over yours !. Yes I did join some years back but to be honest trying to have a chat with that going on just annoyed me and I walked away, but it is as I said a way to get into it with no licence required until you think you have what is needed to take one.
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Here's the final cleaned-up version. Front panel has been taken off and cleaned in warm soapy water. All knobs ultrasonically cleaned. Inside cleaned. It really looks cool!
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/QhnS6XtAAGYxmBN4oCxZPD5283sZl_aacLVjInUdDaM=w1024-h768-no)
Very nice indeed!
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Probably the main reason younger people aren't into ham radio is that it isn't a cheap hobby.....but it's far from being dead.
http://www.arrl.org/radio-technology-topics (http://www.arrl.org/radio-technology-topics)
I would have to disagree with you. I am 14 years old and i am studying for my foundation license and i do agree that younger people aren't really interested in ham radio but i don't think its a cost thing. All my friends are interested in video games (like every other person my age) and a gaming console costs about $500 and the games cost about $100 each. So over time if you have 10 games that adds up to about $1500. The same thing with a gaming pc. It (over time) would cost about $1500. For that amount of money you could get a very good ham setup. What I think draws kids away from ham is that it is not a very popular hobby and you need to learn a lot of stuff and kids don't want that. They want something that is easy and since everyone else is interested in games. it is a great "social lubricant" so it is easy for kids to talk to each other about the latest video game thing.
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Good luck on getting your Foundation license. The hobby surely needs the younger generation like you to keep the hobby going after us old farts die off. With so many different aspects to the hobby, i'm sure you won't have any problems finding aspects that get you going. As for gaming being a social lubricant-I would rather see that than alcohol/drugs.
By the way, if you want to see my modest setup, you can look me up on QRZ.com. The 3 radios listed came to about $1500 USD, only the VHF radio was bought new.
Tom, NW0LF
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I have (or had, I think the license is expired now because I didn't renew it) a General Class license. I was big into morse code in junior high school, but lost interest over the years.
Ham radio used to be the ultimate electronics hobby. I mean it was the Big Time thing if you wanted to experiment with electronics. You really had to know your shit.
I realized the other day, I never, and I mean never, hear about a ham hobbyist on electronics forums. I'm sure they have their forums, but it seems to be a dying hobby. I don't know if computers are killing it or the internet, but something happened, for me anyway. I just didn't see the challenge in it at some point. Maybe it was that you could go buy the most elegantly engineered radios and given that, there was no more challenge to it. :(
Thoughts?
While I haven't read the whole thread, I can assure you those of us who have our electronics hobby centered around amateur radio are plentiful in number.
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I am 14 years old and i am studying for my foundation license and i do agree that younger people aren't really interested in ham radio but i don't think its a cost thing.
Considering you can get 2-Meter rigs for $29 on Amazon.
My oldest boy got his Technician ticket at 12 years old! :-+
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I am 14 years old and i am studying for my foundation license and i do agree that younger people aren't really interested in ham radio but i don't think its a cost thing.
Considering you can get 2-Meter rigs for $29 on Amazon.
My oldest boy got his Technician ticket at 12 years old! :-+
:-+ :-+
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Nothing happened to Ham radio. Ham rigs are more expensive than ever. People are buying it. Major manufacturers are still there.
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Many regard the 1950's as the beginning of amateur radio's golden years, due in part to millions of military radios hitting the surplus market and rapid advances in technology. That thought ignores more recent history though.
Let's look at the number of U.S. amateur radio licensees since the 1950's. This is the number of licensees per million population:
| 1956 | 829 per MM |
| 1958 | 915 per MM |
| 1963 | 1,321 per MM |
| 1970 | 1,316 per MM |
| 1991 | 1,953 per MM |
| 2014 | 2,277 per MM |
Today, there are over 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the United States. You can see that for over 60 years, the number of ham radio operators is growing faster than the national population. Anyone who thinks that ham radio is dying out is ill informed.
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I just wanted to say that anybody who wants to check out the radio spectrum should pick up one of the little RTL2832 USB dongles. They typically can receive 24-1766 MHz unmodified and can be made to receive HF too without too much fuss, or you can use an upconverter. I have paid an average of $12 for mine. They get a lot of use.
Search on youtube for "rtl2832" or see attached pic to see what I mean.
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Many regard the 1950's as the beginning of amateur radio's golden years, due in part to millions of military radios hitting the surplus market and rapid advances in technology. That thought ignores more recent history though.
Let's look at the number of U.S. amateur radio licensees since the 1950's. This is the number of licensees per million population:
| 1956 | 829 per MM |
| 1958 | 915 per MM |
| 1963 | 1,321 per MM |
| 1970 | 1,316 per MM |
| 1991 | 1,953 per MM |
| 2014 | 2,277 per MM |
Today, there are over 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the United States. You can see that for over 60 years, the number of ham radio operators is growing faster than the national population. Anyone who thinks that ham radio is dying out is ill informed.
Does that data take into account the people who might have got a license in the sixties or whatever and don't use it anymore? I see they expire in a relatively short period of time, please ignore me.
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While I haven't read the whole thread, I can assure you those of us who have our electronics hobby centered around amateur radio are plentiful in number.
Well that post was from two years ago. :) But yea, I see that now, and thanks to this thread I renewed my license after the responses in the thread back then!
In other news, I got a new (old) radio coming off Ebay - a Kenwood R-1000. The seller stated it has one known issue - the mode switches stick and won't pop out like they should. I don't think that will be a huge problem to fix. I will post pics when it arrives.
It looks like this, although this is not the specific radio I bought -
(http://www.knauer-funk.de/wp-content/uploads/Kenwood_R1000.jpg)
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Woo hoo! on the renewal. And woo hoo! on the radio too. :-+
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Nothing happened to Ham radio. Ham rigs are more expensive than ever. People are buying it. Major manufacturers are still there.
Considering inflation an Icom IC-7200 is around the cost of a Swan 500CX from 1974.
On a positive note, the Icom outperforms the Swan. However....
I enjoy my Swan 500CX on weekend morning rag chew....
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(http://i558.photobucket.com/albums/ss21/AF6LJ/Stuff/My%20Gear/IMG_0726_zpsvuaoztma.jpg) (http://s558.photobucket.com/user/AF6LJ/media/Stuff/My%20Gear/IMG_0726_zpsvuaoztma.jpg.html)
This is an old picture...(needs to be updated)
I can tell you this; the more you know the cheaper the hobby is. The SX-62 was a gift from my friend Pat WA6MHZ who has a substantial boat anchor collection, and an up to date shack.
When I just want to talk; I'll pick up an HT or operate one of the two Icom Appliances.
When I want full contact amateur radio then the Kenwood, the Heath gear or the Swans come into play.
In another lifetime I could have been very happy running a steam locomotive, if there wasn't any of this good old gear that takes some know how to operate. :)
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Great picture. I see you have the nessesary rubber mallet to tweak for maximum output power. :-DD
73 WA6TKD
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When I want full contact amateur radio ...
Good term - I like it! 8)
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Great picture. I see you have the necessary rubber mallet to tweak for maximum output power. :-DD
73 WA6TKD
I get a lot of comments about that..
Actually I had finished alighting the spacers for the shelves, after pulling back the actual shelves to get cores and whatnot behind the radio gear. The Heath SB-220 (AKA Oscar) is undergoing rehab which I should be finished with before next spring. A few things have come up in that regard and Antennas and the needs of my roommate regarding maintenance around here take priority around here. More on Oscar can be found here in spite of me and QRZ divorcing...http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/sb-220-find.372651/
(http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/sb-220-find.372651/)
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When I want full contact amateur radio ...
Good term - I like it! 8)
I came up with it to describe what amateurs use to go though running the old gear during a contest.
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While I haven't read the whole thread, I can assure you those of us who have our electronics hobby centered around amateur radio are plentiful in number.
Well that post was from two years ago. :) But yea, I see that now, and thanks to this thread I renewed my license after the responses in the thread back then!
In other news, I got a new (old) radio coming off Ebay - a Kenwood R-1000. The seller stated it has one known issue - the mode switches stick and won't pop out like they should. I don't think that will be a huge problem to fix. I will post pics when it arrives.
It looks like this, although this is not the specific radio I bought -
(http://www.knauer-funk.de/wp-content/uploads/Kenwood_R1000.jpg)
Me too! ;D
I just picked up an R1000 at the Hamfest.
it cost me $A135----not sure how good a deal it was,but it's a nice radio.
My Transceiver doesn't have General Receive,so I wanted a good Rx.(looks like it's bad news for the Drake SSR1,though-----back in the cupboard!! ;D)
I got a Dentron AT160 ATU($40),too, & an audio oscillator in a neat leather carry case for $5!
I think the Dentron is a 160m only device,hence the name--not much on Google,except the old Ads which seem to think "it can match anything from a barbed wire fence,to a bedframe".
If it is that good,I might possibly be able to get on 160m! ;D
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I hold the UK foundation & intermediate licenses and will be taking the Advanced exam for the full license in early December.
Ham Radio is still very active around the world,
each time I scan through the HF Bands there are always people on there.
Here is a useful link for people in the UK wishing to know more about Ham Radio or how to get started in it.
http://www.essexham.co.uk/ (http://www.essexham.co.uk/)
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It is also interesting that while Morse code exam was largely eliminated, it is still hard to find a free frequency in CW portion of a band when propagation conditions are good. All is filled , lots of people work CW.
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It is also interesting that while Morse code exam was largely eliminated, it is still hard to find a free frequency in CW portion of a band when propagation conditions are good. All is filled , lots of people work CW.
As a VE Liaison, I have helped quite a few people become hams and a surprising number of them ask the best way to learn CW. I think more people are interested now that it isn't a requirement than ever before.
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I just picked up an R1000 at the Hamfest.
it cost me $A135----not sure how good a deal it was,but it's a nice radio.
Kool! I should have mine by the end of the week - will post pics ... 8)
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This is an old picture...(needs to be updated)
I can tell you this; the more you know the cheaper the hobby is. The SX-62 was a gift from my friend Pat WA6MHZ who has a substantial boat anchor collection, and an up to date shack.
When I just want to talk; I'll pick up an HT or operate one of the two Icom Appliances.
When I want full contact amateur radio then the Kenwood, the Heath gear or the Swans come into play.
In another lifetime I could have been very happy running a steam locomotive, if there wasn't any of this good old gear that takes some know how to operate. :)
Great looking bit of gear Sue! Fine collection. And I will agree Pat has a house full :)
I need to update my shack pictures. At the moment I am restoring a Heathkit HW-101. Was in really bad shape. Still looking for another Swan to add to the rest.
Buddy kc4umo
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This is an old picture...(needs to be updated)
I can tell you this; the more you know the cheaper the hobby is. The SX-62 was a gift from my friend Pat WA6MHZ who has a substantial boat anchor collection, and an up to date shack.
When I just want to talk; I'll pick up an HT or operate one of the two Icom Appliances.
When I want full contact amateur radio then the Kenwood, the Heath gear or the Swans come into play.
In another lifetime I could have been very happy running a steam locomotive, if there wasn't any of this good old gear that takes some know how to operate. :)
Great looking bit of gear Sue! Fine collection. And I will agree Pat has a house full :)
I need to update my shack pictures. At the moment I am restoring a Heathkit HW-101. Was in really bad shape. Still looking for another Swan to add to the rest.
Buddy kc4umo
Pat does have a house full, a garage full, and a portable office full.
There are a number of items that Pat has passed on to me that are in exchange for my halp in moving gear for him and other activities such as antenna work and the like....
http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/progress-on-the-north-wing-of-the-crest-radio-museum.461382/ (http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/progress-on-the-north-wing-of-the-crest-radio-museum.461382/)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7487/15934415677_7d64055423_b.jpg)
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As a newly licensed HAM (since Jan 2015), I'd like to give a few words of encouragement for people thinking about getting US license.
I thought about taking the exam for a LOOOONG time. Things started to move forward when I joined local HAM club, and asked around about the procedure, exams, and all technical details related to getting licensed. It turned out to be much easier than I though. When I checked requirements for Tech license, I decided that it would be a waste of time (trivial exam, I'd just have to study a bit the rules), and I should get the General license instead. However the real kicker that motivated me to wrap up and take a trip to the examination center was ordering a handheld radio. It was a cheap Baofeng, but gave me a strong motivation to move on. After I went through the material for General exam, I still did not feel challenged enough, and I started to study for Extra. My goal was still to get General license, but I decided to take a try with more advanced topics. I went through the entire material in less than a week. The exam session was on Saturday. I went to the examination center in the morning, left after 3-4 hours having passed all 3 exams on the first tries, and on Monday before noon I had callsign assigned by FCC and I could start using my brand new radio.
Turns out that for someone with EE background getting the license should not be difficult. Tech exam is trivial. You will have to study the rules a bit, but I have a friend who passed the exam after reading the ARRL manual once during his flight. General is probably what most people should shoot for, and it's the license which really opens the HF bands, where most of the fun is. If you like the challenge, you can try Extra. You can take all 3 exams on the same day, and you loose nothing if you don't pass, however basic EE knowledge may not be sufficient to be successful.
Regarding studying materials: I found "The no-nosense study guides" written by KB6NU to be very helpful. Electronic versions (PDF) of guides for Tech and General are (were) available for free, if you prefer e-book or printed book, you can buy them from the author. Guide for Extra exam is also available for purchase. These are good books to help to study.
Another useful resource is http://hamexam.org/ (http://hamexam.org/) You can go through the entire question pools for all three levels, take practice exams, and check your stats to see what topics you know well enough to pass, and on which you should spend more time studying. Dot try just to memorize what answers to check. You don't have to hurry, so don't guess. If you don't know something, go to google, or open a book, and learn how to answer the question.
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It arrived - but it's dirty. Very dusty. So dusty that some of the buttons would not work like the clock settings, I pushed them about 100 times and they started to work, so most of this unit will have to be deep-cleaned. Also the old bulbs are long since burned out, so will have to decide whether to make it original and get new ones, or to defile it and convert to LEDS ... :)
But - it is picking up signals. :phew:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rAAfGUCkPe22kTNDWg8OTTKy1RPskV6sFCGO6DBM2hc=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HMaqApcib37Qd9kWY9xT5WE3wxL62ZgHmStR73jfDpA=w1024-h768-no)
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please dont fit led's to it, try and put new bulbs in as close to original as possible :-+
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please dont fit led's to it, try and put new bulbs in as close to original as possible :-+
Having once owned a couple, being a fan of old comms. receivers, and being a bit of a originality purist in general, that's one of the few mods I would do. For some reason both of the examples I owned went through dial lamps at the rate of 1 every few months, with only light-medium use.
Compare that to my FRG-7700, which as far as I know is still on all its original 1981 lamps.
And put a padlock on the MSM-5524 display/clock IC - they're unobtanium, and in the FRG-7700 are frequently blown by people trying to replace the VFO dial lamp without completely disassembling the front of the unit.
(If anyone knows of a free/cheap FRG-7700 with a blown MSM-5524 in Oz, let me know - it's been in the back of my mind for years to build a PIC/AVR-based drop-in replacement, and I ain't going to risk my very original set on it...)
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The lamp thing is easy to fix. just add a ten ohm resistor in a piece of heat shrink in one fo the lamp leads.
The smaller lamps are more sensitive to thermal shock than even the #47 bulbs used in tube gear.
I made the mistake of replacing the lamps in my Kenwood R-599 with LEDs, now I have the proper lamps and will be using them. I really find the white light a bit too hard to look at so back to incandescent bulbs it goes.
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please dont fit led's to it, try and put new bulbs in as close to original as possible :-+
OK, I decided to get some bulbs. the originals are 4mm and the supply is 14V DC. I found a US supplier on Ebay that had 4mm bulbs but they stated the voltage rating as 12V. Other suppliers in China list similiar bulbs as 12 - 14V. What do you guys think - is that rating pretty flexible for these little bulbs?
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OK, I decided to get some bulbs. the originals are 4mm and the supply is 14V DC. I found a US supplier on Ebay that had 4mm bulbs but they stated the voltage rating as 12V. Other suppliers in China list similiar bulbs as 12 - 14V. What do you guys think - is that rating pretty flexible for these little bulbs?
Not really, which may be why the originals didn't last.
If on the other hand you underrate a low voltage incandescent lightbulb, then it will on average last a very long time. For instance high quality German tube radios from the fifties frequently ran 7V rated bulbs at 6.3V (nominal), and those bulbs usually still works today. The price you pay by underrating, or using a series resistor, is a slightly more yellow/orange light.
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Not really, which may be why the originals didn't last.
+1
IIRC the folklore is that over-driving incandescent lamps by as little as 5% halves their life expectancy. Similarly, under-driving by 5% doubles life expectancy.
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It's been a long time now, but I remember delving into data sheets of incandescent bulbs for use on aircraft, and I think the life was inversely proportional to something ridiculous like the 12th power of supply voltage - but that might have been under vibration stress as well. I do recall it was really scary!
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OK on the bulbs, I'll try to find the best fit.
I thought I had a big problem. The seller stated the mode switch bank was sticking, and it was, so I pulled the assembly. I sprayed a good amount of Deoxit into each one, but it didn't help the sticking. I worked the switches and let it sit an hour, but they were still sticking. The only way to further investigate the issue would have been to take apart each switch.
The way these are put together is that the switches are crimped onto the main holder, which also holds the top of the switch on. In order to get the innards out, you have to pull off the top blue hat and then the thing will release out. I didn't want to do that because you have maybe one chance to bend the crimps out and back. A second bending might break them off. But I had no choice. So I started on the end and very slightly bent one away to see how it would go, and that switch unstuck!
I did the same thing to the others and got them all to work properly. The problem was that after 35 years, the strength of the metal crimp force had cause the inside of the switches to collapse just enough to make them start sticking. You just never know what it will take for this older equipment. :D
The bottom pic shows the front face removed, so I could clean and get to the bulbs to remove them.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/7vHBiCXvHibjw2-rokoijF_e5Yyh7F4ztxsmQEcJb4s=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3DaLjI5s9Bnspa0ELSBSB_I9yWx8YLXKVj61-UMCbuI=w1024-h768-no)
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please dont fit led's to it, try and put new bulbs in as close to original as possible :-+
OK, I decided to get some bulbs. the originals are 4mm and the supply is 14V DC. I found a US supplier on Ebay that had 4mm bulbs but they stated the voltage rating as 12V. Other suppliers in China list similiar bulbs as 12 - 14V. What do you guys think - is that rating pretty flexible for these little bulbs?
You are going to want to add a dropping resistor to increase their life and compensate for the lower voltage. My FRG-7 uses 28V lamps.
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Good work on the switch rehab.
...
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The lamp thing is easy to fix. just add a ten ohm resistor in a piece of heat shrink in one fo the lamp leads.
The smaller lamps are more sensitive to thermal shock than even the #47 bulbs used in tube gear.
I made the mistake of replacing the lamps in my Kenwood R-599 with LEDs, now I have the proper lamps and will be using them. I really find the white light a bit too hard to look at so back to incandescent bulbs it goes.
I got away with LEDs with the FT301,as they don't directly light the dial,but shine in from the edges.
I had to sand the surface of them,though,to stop them being too "spotlight" like.
It looks a bit "white",but not excessively so.
The incandescents had series resistors already,so I just changed the values.
Should be easy to do with lower voltage incandescents,too.
Another idea might be to use 18v lamps as I think that is the next standard value.
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The lamp thing is easy to fix. just add a ten ohm resistor in a piece of heat shrink in one fo the lamp leads.
The smaller lamps are more sensitive to thermal shock than even the #47 bulbs used in tube gear.
I made the mistake of replacing the lamps in my Kenwood R-599 with LEDs, now I have the proper lamps and will be using them. I really find the white light a bit too hard to look at so back to incandescent bulbs it goes.
I got away with LEDs with the FT301,as they don't directly light the dial,but shine in from the edges.
I had to sand the surface of them,though,to stop them being too "spotlight" like.
It looks a bit "white",but not excessively so.
The incandescents had series resistors already,so I just changed the values.
Should be easy to do with lower voltage incandescents,too.
Another idea might be to use 18v lamps as I think that is the next standard value.
18V lamps are not a bad idea ether.
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Well I'm waiting on the lamps so I continued with the cleaning. To give you folks an idea of the dusty condition it was in, here is what accumulated under the speaker grill -
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/JGEB4BTR4zDmhReK0u7i9f5FxV-kOgQfFuY7arQ0dRY=w1024-h768-no)
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That is a lot of sand...
:)
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Good luck on getting your Foundation license. The hobby surely needs the younger generation like you to keep the hobby going after us old farts die off. With so many different aspects to the hobby, i'm sure you won't have any problems finding aspects that get you going. As for gaming being a social lubricant-I would rather see that than alcohol/drugs.
By the way, if you want to see my modest setup, you can look me up on QRZ.com. The 3 radios listed came to about $1500 USD, only the VHF radio was bought new.
Tom, NW0LF
Yeah i would love to get a HF setup but i have to start saving up for a car soon so i can really afford $1500 maybe a decent 27mhz setup and i can talk around Australia but one day i will get a HF setup.
Thanks
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I am 14 years old and i am studying for my foundation license and i do agree that younger people aren't really interested in ham radio but i don't think its a cost thing.
Considering you can get 2-Meter rigs for $29 on Amazon.
My oldest boy got his Technician ticket at 12 years old! :-+
Unfortunately the cheapest 2m mobile rig you can find in Australia is about $200[emoji22]
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Unfortunately the cheapest 2m mobile rig you can find in Australia is about $200[emoji22]
I have seen Baofeng radios on Ebay even for as low as US$10. With shipping to Australia will be a bit more expensive, but still should be much cheaper than $200.
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Unfortunately the cheapest 2m mobile rig you can find in Australia is about $200[emoji22]
I have seen Baofeng radios on Ebay even for as low as US$10. With shipping to Australia will be a bit more expensive, but still should be much cheaper than $200.
I got a baofeng for about $50 aud but i was saying the cheapest mobile rig (not a hand held) is about $200 (a yaesu ft1900) if you ignore the Chinese liexen and QYT cheap ebay dual band mobile rigs
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Buy secondhand at Hamfests,etc--------there isn't a lot that a new 2m rig can do,that an old one can't.
I got a Kenwood TM201 at the Hamfest a few years back--25W output,& small enough to fit in a DIN space in a car dashboard.
An oldie but goodie.
It cost me $40 because it had no microphone. ::)
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Got one set of bulbs from a US supplier. They advertised them as 12V / 100 mA.
I'm testing one now at both 12 and 14 VDC (remember the Kenwood receiver supplies 14 VDC to the bulbs).
At 12V the bulb actually draws 67 mA, and at 14V it draws 73 mA.
What do you guys think? Is the current draw at 14V that big a deal or not (keep in mind they were advertised as drawing 100 mA)? I'm going to leave one running at 14VDC on the bench this afternoon and see what happens ... :popcorn:
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If you are concerned about the life of the bulb I would run it somewhere around eleven volts.
If you are concerned about damaging the radio the heat generated by an over voltage bulb can damage nearby plastics. Another good reason to lower operating voltage.
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If you are concerned about the life of the bulb I would run it somewhere around eleven volts.
If you are concerned about damaging the radio the heat generated by an over voltage bulb can damage nearby plastics. Another good reason to lower operating voltage.
Ha - well everything is OK. I was looking at the schematic and realized then that there were already dropping resistors in-line with each bulb. Of course when I measured the voltage at the burned out bulbs there was no current flowing :palm:
I test-soldered a bulb at one harness and it had 12V full brightness and 11V when the dimmer switch was pushed. I went ahead and installed one bulb the right way and shot a pic for you guys - very pretty.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PZXi8AtYtLrJy9zXpbCKG8JD3iPoCHYnGZjIzOAi_QA=w1024-h768-no)
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Looks Good what a nice shade of Green.
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Looks Good what a nice shade of Green.
Thanks. I got the radio all back together again and it sure turned out nice. I'll post some glamour pics tomorrow. :)
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Well here they are - the glamour shots. A fully restored and working Kenwood R-1000 -
(No I didn't update it with LEDS per the purists out there :) )
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sFj-FX5pDdXsW79yQcJzQP2evUjZl1C4H1xCCcvCl2M=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/x_lGnLIgERRIX905cgsioEvvoYjGvhG80MM3uFuL3co=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/teoDWmlNVM9uWit9gcRoHek6Q9WhF48obJOnZsVb0vo=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ht-3r0NnY1vRx5j-txo7IhU7ctSAYVUPJ6d92vviJsY=w1024-h768-no)
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Looks really nice.
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New aquisition - A Yaesu FRG-7700 shortwave receiver. This one is from a local ham wanting to clear out things. It works but it's grungy.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/JdnZ2-lq9mc7toVt0JC6O7D90nbIzqSm2VQuihJdoq0=w1024-h768-no)
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Really nice work on the Kenwood. Too bad I can't get things like that here in Chile to fix up.
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New aquisition - A Yaesu FRG-7700 shortwave receiver. This one is from a local ham wanting to clear out things. It works but it's grungy.
Nice set; arguably the best shortwave receiver Yaesu made. The FRA-7700 is a surprisingly good active whip too.
Quick request: could you check & post the voltages on pins 2 & 3 of connector P16 (5 pin plug to the memory unit, or behind the blanking plate on the rear panel if no memory unit fitted)? And post the first couple of characters (build date) of the serial number?
According to the all the manuals it should be 11v on pin 2 & 13.5v unregulated on pin 3 (pin 5 is gnd), but the couple I've checked have that reversed. Curious minds want to know...
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Really nice work on the Kenwood. Too bad I can't get things like that here in Chile to fix up.
Thanks for that!
Quick request: could you check & post the voltages on pins 2 & 3 of connector P16 (5 pin plug to the memory unit, or behind the blanking plate on the rear panel if no memory unit fitted)? And post the first couple of characters (build date) of the serial number?
According to the all the manuals it should be 11v on pin 2 & 13.5v unregulated on pin 3 (pin 5 is gnd), but the couple I've checked have that reversed. Curious minds want to know...
I sure will - I'll get to it tomorrow.
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New aquisition - A Yaesu FRG-7700 shortwave receiver. This one is from a local ham wanting to clear out things. It works but it's grungy.
Nice set; arguably the best shortwave receiver Yaesu made. The FRA-7700 is a surprisingly good active whip too.
Quick request: could you check & post the voltages on pins 2 & 3 of connector P16 (5 pin plug to the memory unit, or behind the blanking plate on the rear panel if no memory unit fitted)? And post the first couple of characters (build date) of the serial number?
According to the all the manuals it should be 11v on pin 2 & 13.5v unregulated on pin 3 (pin 5 is gnd), but the couple I've checked have that reversed. Curious minds want to know...
That would be good to know, wouldn't be the first time a misprint appeared in a Yaesu manual.
The FRG-7700 is a very good radio.
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Quick request: could you check & post the voltages on pins 2 & 3 of connector P16 (5 pin plug to the memory unit, or behind the blanking plate on the rear panel if no memory unit fitted)? And post the first couple of characters (build date) of the serial number?
According to the all the manuals it should be 11v on pin 2 & 13.5v unregulated on pin 3 (pin 5 is gnd), but the couple I've checked have that reversed. Curious minds want to know...
The manual is wrong - mine is 14.7 on P2 and 10.3 on P3
The SN is a little confusing.
SN on the outside is: 1I110212. On this sticker the first two symbols - the "1I" is stamped with a little different ink than the rest of the number.
SN on the inside sticker is: 110212
EDIT: Oh wait there is a SN on the memory unit too. It's P1J070766
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A friend wanted me to look at his FT-8500 yesterday. Seems that it stops transmitting on VHF when it gets hot. He said he got a new power amp module and swapped it and it exhibited the same problem. I put it on the bench and it did indeed stop transmitting when it got hot. It's been in service 10 years in a static setup doing Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS).
So far I've removed the power module and cleaned up the area. I did notice part of the circuit board peeling up in one area. I'm going to put the new power module back in and do some testing.
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Quick request: could you check & post the voltages on pins 2 & 3 of connector P16 (5 pin plug to the memory unit, or behind the blanking plate on the rear panel if no memory unit fitted)? And post the first couple of characters (build date) of the serial number?
According to the all the manuals it should be 11v on pin 2 & 13.5v unregulated on pin 3 (pin 5 is gnd), but the couple I've checked have that reversed. Curious minds want to know...
The manual is wrong - mine is 14.7 on P2 and 10.3 on P3
Magic - thanks for confirming that!
(Some of the FRG-7700 fan-folk around the traps are a little ... let's say "odd". A friend of mine once asked the same question on a couple of Ham/SWL groups/mailing lists and ended up with a huge argument from non-technical people who swore black & blue that the manual was right and he was wrong, stupid, and that the sets we'd checked had obviously been tampered with...)
edit: the 14.7v is OK - it's unregulated, and basically only feeds the audio amp and a few zener regulators around the circuit - but the 10.3v is a bit low (should be closer to the regulated 11v).
The SN is a little confusing.
SN on the outside is: 1I110212. On this sticker the first two symbols - the "1I" is stamped with a little different ink than the rest of the number.
SN on the inside sticker is: 110212
EDIT: Oh wait there is a SN on the memory unit too. It's P1J070766
Ta. "1"=1981, "I"=September & "J"=October. It also indicates that it was assembled in the factory without a memory unit (no "M" prefix on the set), and the memory unit was added later ("P" prefix - presumably for "part" - on the memory unit). Probably as a dealer/distributor add-on, since the dates are so close.
FWIW, the other sets we'd seen were also 1981 builds (my own is 1I, and I think his was 1H), so I wouldn't swear that bit of the manual is wrong for all sets - but it certainly seems it is for late 1981 builds. And good to know it's also the case for sets with memory units, since none of the ones we'd checked had them fitted.
The reason I asked (http://the7700.blogspot.com.au/p/m.html) - I worked with a friend on that, and have inherited it completely after he passed away.
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(Some of the FRG-7700 fan-folk around the traps are a little ... let's say "odd". A friend of mine once asked the same question on a couple of Ham/SWL groups/mailing lists and ended up with a huge argument from non-technical people who swore black & blue that the manual was right and he was wrong, stupid, and that the sets we'd checked had obviously been tampered with...)
LOL - OK. :o
Found out what was wrong with the FT-9500. A transistor that switches VCC to the PA had apparently had some separation under it from the circuit board and wasn't transferring heat to the heat sink, which is under the circuit board. I pulled it to test it and found it was OK. After soldering it back on, the problem was fixed. :)
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Good catch. :)
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My take on it is that for the majority, it’s no more a hobby than typing this message into this message box.
Even though electronics is a life long hobby of mine, and I did make the usual crystal radio sets as a kid,
when I became interested in old valve radios I knuckled down to fully understand how a superhet, TRF, and some other radios work.
This landed me at a radio club to try to find information and also leads towards sourcing vintage components and valves.
In a club of about 50 members, a few of them have what I call a hobby, and the rest talk on radios, and talk about radios.
In addition to that, never did I observe such stupid politics, Superiority complex of supposedly advanced in the hobby
both in person and on air. Needless to say I held on to my F call for the year and did not renew it,
and continue the legitimate hobby that is electronics :D
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My take on it is that for the majority, it’s no more a hobby than typing this message into this message box.
Even though electronics is a life long hobby of mine, and I did make the usual crystal radio sets as a kid,
when I became interested in old valve radios I knuckled down to fully understand how a superhet, TRF, and some other radios work.
This landed me at a radio club to try to find information and also leads towards sourcing vintage components and valves.
In a club of about 50 members, a few of them have what I call a hobby, and the rest talk on radios, and talk about radios.
In addition to that, never did I observe such stupid politics, Superiority complex of supposedly advanced in the hobby
both in person and on air. Needless to say I held on to my F call for the year and did not renew it,
and continue the legitimate hobby that is electronics :D
You will find those kinds of politics in every hobby, I once belonged to a tropical fish club, same deal. Getting on the radio, talking to folks, working DX, doing weak signal work on VHF and above are legitimate hobbies. Amateur radio is when you think about it; an umbrella term for a bunch of different hobbies.
I am on the board of a local radio club we have none of those politics, we did in the past and those people were shown the door, I am part of the board of directors that was formed after that stage in the life of the club. Problems like you related to are the result of a club's leadership that doesn't put its members first. Our club's leadership is there to serve the members not itself.
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@rt, sorry to hear of your experience, could I suggest you try another club?
My experience has been exactly the opposite, from a long interest in electronics (hobby level) I heard morse was no longer required ( a quiet cheer from me ) and 7 years ago went throughout the F call exams at the North East radio Club in South Aust; a good bunch of really welcoming guys, some really hot technically (ex govt military tech) others really experienced Hams ops, some rag chewers and some really limited by funds. They welcomed me and helped me sit my exams esp the radio work of which I had done rel little of.
Politics does come into most fields but some areas/clubs seem to control it better.
73
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Good question. Maby because of the Internet. I just recently got my license. Im going for general soon so i can use my clansmen prc -320 hf manpack, once i repair it of course!
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Good question. Maby because of the Internet. I just recently got my license. Im going for general soon so i can use my clansmen prc -320 hf manpack, once i repair it of course!
You will have fun with that, a member of our weekend rag chew group had one for quite a while.
He had all the accessories to go with it including the portable dipole antenna.
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Couple of active clubs in Sheffield, UK; where I live :)
http://sheffieldwireless.org/ (http://sheffieldwireless.org/)
http://www.sheffieldarc.org.uk/ (http://www.sheffieldarc.org.uk/)
In fact several of my friends have amateur radio licences. Would take the plunge myself, but never seem to find the time ;D
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@rt, sorry to hear of your experience, could I suggest you try another club?
Interesting that.. the nearest other club does not have trainers to follow through licensing,
and the next nearest is too far away to commit to going unfortunately.
The final nail in the coffin for me was a Facebook group of thousands of members
bashing F calls online (more than I’ve ever heard on air).
That day I saw an actual thread dedicated to F call bashing was the day I actually quit the FB group and decided not to renew,
but before that I stated the truth that most of the advanced hams participating in the thread could not have possibly
legitimately passed the radio theory.... and they wonder why it’s in decline.
There are many legitimate areas of radio that do not require any licensing or club,
as I was already involved with before I went there.
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Had a major win---scored a Hustler 5BTV trapped vertical antenna free!
I have fairly limited space & had been trying to work out how to fit buying one into my hobby budget ---bit hard for us old retired codgers!
The Ham who had it,Kevin VK6TKR, had replaced it with another type of antenna & wanted it "to go to a good home".
Great bloke,----he pulled it apart,& helped me to get the bits into my car.
Thanks,again,Kevin!
73,VK6ZGO
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Good on ya! My free antenna is a Cushcraft R-5. And a couple of Diamond 2 meter base antennas. I passed on a free to me Ringo Ranger to a new ham. I am using one of the Diamonds and waiting to find a good candidate for the 2nd.
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What happened? Appliance operators. CQ Contest. Soapbox, etc. Most cannot, and wish not to, be even able to solder on a PL-259. Tests were taken only by memorizing and not learning. Just look at the state of QST, nothing but adverts filling page after page. I used to tear out those pages after obtaining the magazine at a hamfest and the resulting articles were but a few mm thick. So says this Extra Class Ham. :phew:
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What happened? Appliance operators. CQ Contest. Soapbox, etc. Most cannot, and wish not to, be even able to solder on a PL-259. Tests were taken only by memorizing and not learning. Just look at the state of QST, nothing but adverts filling page after page. I used to tear out those pages after obtaining the magazine at a hamfest and the resulting articles were but a few mm thick. So says this Extra Class Ham. :phew:
I have to admit it looks a bit grim..
As for QST devolving into an ad filled magizine for appliance operators, I would have to agree. I do however support the ARRL, and at least there is QEX which always has at lease one article that gets my attent, usually two or more...
Amateur radio is a large enough hobby there is room for the appliance operators, contesters, the two meter 10:04 crowd, and so on. Amateur radio was dying in this country and something needed to be done to turn the hobby around.
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What happened? Appliance operators. CQ Contest. Soapbox, etc. Most cannot, and wish not to, be even able to solder on a PL-259. Tests were taken only by memorizing and not learning. Just look at the state of QST, nothing but adverts filling page after page. I used to tear out those pages after obtaining the magazine at a hamfest and the resulting articles were but a few mm thick. So says this Extra Class Ham. :phew:
I hope that isn't aimed at me for wanting to use a commercially made antenna.
I've always made my own,but it is (& I am), getting a bit old.
If a commercially made vertical gets me on the air on 4 more bands it will do me!
I've soldered & crimped enough connectors to last me the rest of my life,& I get my technical "jollies" from keeping secondhand rigs going.
I used to like the ads in the old QST,73,etc ----nice line drawings of useful components,kits,& stuff.
73 is gone,& QST is a pretty rare commodity in VK.
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Please, don't go all Gladys Kravitz on me! I have no problem with verticals and beams, but HF dipoles and longwires, yikes!
Who isn't getting old in this hobby. Wayne was a strange bird at the end, but I too would devour 73 Mag.
On the second hand rigs, I thing a lot of kids and poor folks say how could I possibly afford a radio like that after hearing about QST and having a looksee. The ARRL should be treated with it's own Rettysnitch for devolving the hobby by not promoting building and tinkering like most of us did as kids. The fun was when it failed and we figured out finally how to fix it. Yes some of us may have been awkward nerds before the internet showed us how "normal" kids should act, but we had fun learning. There are still many LV Plate tubes that one could build a non-lethal radio out of without death resulting. And in the process kids could learn. See any articles lately on that? Nope. Let's pass this back to whoever it goes to. X#XXX back to you.
I hope that isn't aimed at me for wanting to use a commercially made antenna.
I've always made my own,but it is (& I am), getting a bit old.
If a commercially made vertical gets me on the air on 4 more bands it will do me!
I've soldered & crimped enough connectors to last me the rest of my life,& I get my technical "jollies" from keeping secondhand rigs going.
I used to like the ads in the old QST,73,etc ----nice line drawings of useful components,kits,& stuff.
73 is gone,& QST is a pretty rare commodity in VK.
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Amateur radio just reflects the rest of the electronics hobby.
When was the last time you saw someone homebrew a VTVM?
I know a lot of us are stuck back in the mid 20th century, God knows I love running and working on my hollow state stuff. Considering the cost involved in building hollow state gear these days without a considerable source of parts, the new kids are better off ether buying new or building something that is transistorized.
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Nothing like a pair of 833's modulated by a pair or if you must use Tetrodes, a 4-1000 modulated by a pair of your favourite Triodes. All with a spectral bandwidth of
30KC 50KC.
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Nothing like a pair of 833's modulated by a pair or if you must use Tetrodes, a 4-1000 modulated by a pair of your favourite Triodes. All with a spectral bandwidth of 30KC.
There Ya go :)
Unfortunately I don't have the space or the electrical service to run stuff like that, or I would. :)
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Used to be you could at least watch the meter spin round n' round. :scared: Now all you can do is watch it count up and up.
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Used to be you could at least watch the meter spin round n' round. :scared: Now all you can do is watch it count up and up.
I know; and I am not so sure those electronic watt hour meters are really all that safe.
The old ones were reliable.
I like to listen in the AM window on seventy five, occasionally at night, but usually after morning rag chew on weekends. :)
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How about DUBUS for a good read! After I read a few articles my head hurts! HiHi
Above 2GHz very little commercial gear so its all got lots of real solder.
Come down to Gippstech next July for a great VHF and above conference! Lots of grey beards in attendance.
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I think the question is not so much that ham radio is fading (it actually is making a very gradual recovery, at least in the US) but why it ever took off in the first place.
Think about it. When us old-timers got started in electronics there were typically no more than three categories of "electronic" devices in the house:
- one or more radios.
- one or more record players, possibly including radios. Maybe one of them in a "stereo console" in the living room.
- a TV set. ("Nobody has two TVs" - Marty McFly's grandmother)
The first thing most of us did was to make a "crystal set" - a radio receiver. A few of us built more complicated receivers, then got into ham radio - a natural extension.
At the time, a lot of us lived on property where we already had a TV antenna on a tall mast and if we put up a big ham antenna on a tower, the neighbors might complain a bit but they couldn't stop us.
Others got into home-built audio - an extension of the record player.
So now we have video games, home video, computers, and the internet. It's just a case of more directions to go with an interest in electronics.
The internet has collided with ham radio: We have digital modes, we have APRS, we have D-STAR, we have EchoLink and IRLP. I can key up my handheld 2m/440 transceiver and talk to people in many parts of the world (but mostly the western US), just by hitting my nearest "Winsystem" repeater. On the other hand, many more of us now live in apartments or in houses where HOAs prohibit outside antennas. (Or try to.) So HF, which needs big antennas, is definitely on the wane.
The microcomputer revolution has given us microcontrollers and op-amps that have opened up a *type* of hobby electronics to many people who just couldn't wrap their heads around analog (much past a simple one-transistor buffer stage, anyway) and who couldn't see slogging through minimization via Karnaugh maps to build things that need a state machine. And those things are getting used in ham radio, too. You can now run an IRLP node on a Raspberry Pi. For those who don't mind a little math, DSP opens up a whole new word of analog possibilities - not excluding radio receivers.
Things change, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of fun to be had.
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There is so much one can do and explore in amateur radio these days.
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My gut feeling is that amateur radio is on the rebound, although it does not have the same do-it-your self attitude as it once did. I received my license back in mid-70s as a young teenager and built my first transceiver a Heathkit HW-101 after saving up lawn mowing money. Sadly, by the time I completed the radio and power supply I discovered girls and cars - realizing they were a lot more fun and soon lost interest in HAM radio.
Fast forward 40 years with the proliferation of SDR radios and the desire for reliving a more simpler time of my life, I began to investigate radios and taking the exams all over again.
Living in Northern US, we have plenty of time for winter projects and I decided to build the low wattage mcHF software defined transceiver designed by M0NKA and supported by an active Yahoo users group. So far, it has been an easy build with SMD 0805 components as the smallest and mostly SOICs - except for the processor of course. Sorry if the radio has been previously mentioned somewhere in the 30 pages of this thread... I will say that for the most part it has allowed me to relive my youth - I just wont fall into the trappings of my youth this time upon completion lol.
Check out:
http://www.m0nka.co.uk/?page_id=569 (http://www.m0nka.co.uk/?page_id=569) for more info.
In todays $$ it is less to build than the HW-101 was in the mid 70's, even though it has more features - but less output power.
Also check out youtube using: M0NKA mchf
IF all goes well, I should be licensed and have the radio operational for field day 2016.
73
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I built a Softrock receiver and was reasonably satisfied with the performance. There is a build thread over on QRZ.com I also started the Softrock transceiver, that project is safely stashed away until I can get back to it.
They are fun projects. The only part that bothers me about the current crop of SDR radios is with the exception of a couple they are not stand alone radios. We are seeing a trend toward stand alone SDRs and hopefully the kits will catch up.
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The only part that bothers me about the current crop of SDR radios is with the exception of a couple they are not stand alone radios.
Exactly, that was one of the "draws" of the M0NKA mcHF for me - the standalone / portable aspect.
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The only part that bothers me about the current crop of SDR radios is with the exception of a couple they are not stand alone radios.
Exactly, that was one of the "draws" of the M0NKA mcHF for me - the standalone / portable aspect.
I am going to look into that more.
It is good to see that Icom is going to be coming out with a self contained SDR the IC-7300.
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This got me thinking about other forms of communications.
- drum beating - I wonder if anyone is keeping this alive
- smoke signals ?
- morse code key type of thing - could this be done without a computer today - maybe via telephone lines. I mean - I think there are no telegraph lines
- signal mirrors - were and can these be used to signal morse code?
- flags - I wonder if there are still flag men in the Navys
- telegrams - they are gone - BUT maybe someone is still sending them as a hobby?
- I wonder if there is such a thing as a "communication club" that would experiment with all of the above
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This got me thinking about other forms of communications.
- drum beating - I wonder if anyone is keeping this alive
- smoke signals ?
- morse code key type of thing - could this be done without a computer today - maybe via telephone lines. I mean - I think there are no telegraph lines
- signal mirrors - were and can these be used to signal morse code?
- flags - I wonder if there are still flag men in the Navys
- telegrams - they are gone - BUT maybe someone is still sending them as a hobby?
- I wonder if there is such a thing as a "communication club" that would experiment with all of the above
I don't know about smoke signals; everything else you mentioned seems to still have a niche.
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I am doing my part to keep the old stuff going.
http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/so-i-bought-a-swan-350.442949/ (http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/so-i-bought-a-swan-350.442949/)
The radio in question is 50 years old and has seen few operating hours so few that paper and electrolydic caps
that are in the actual thransciver are still good. Can't say that for the E-Bay special power supply I picked up.
Not bad for a piece of gear nearly as old as me. Keep in mind that along with the Grey Beards there are a few Blue Hairs that work in electronics. :)
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We are seeing a trend toward stand alone SDRs and hopefully the kits will catch up.
In the meantime, why not use something like SDRplay with tablets or netbooks? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO71qbeC1v8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO71qbeC1v8)
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We are seeing a trend toward stand alone SDRs and hopefully the kits will catch up.
In the meantime, why not use something like SDRplay with tablets or netbooks? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO71qbeC1v8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO71qbeC1v8)
That would be fun and they are cheap.
Right now the project list goes like this.
1. Get the Inlogis loop up; that is the main component of the noise canceling project to try and knock the noise on 75 down to a reasonable S-3.
2. Phase 2 of Oscar's Rehab This involves installing a W7RY QSK mod in a Heath SB-220 which has had the power supply reworked. (see SB-220 Find on QRZ.com).
3. the fourth shelf for the desk, the desk is usable as it is now, but needs a fourth shelf so I can get another radio in for use, which leads us to the next project....
4. Put the IC-211 on our club repeater, Why? Why not, a fun project that involves adding PL to the IC-211, putting up a 3 element beam on the same rotor the InLogis loop is currently on.
All these projects take money, right now I have a decent chunk of change sunk in project #1, it needs to get finished, besides I will be doing a presentation on it to our club in January.
Then there are the projects waiting..........
1. four radios needing some TLC (TS-820, IC-745, SB-301, Drake R-4A,) they all work just not as well as they could except for the SB-301 it needs to be re capped and the decoupling resistors need replaced. The SB-301 works but only if you consider 500 microvolts to be acceptable. ;).
Then there is the test equipment waiting in the garage, along with a fairly rare home brew pair of receivers that were featured in QST in the early sixties, I have an HBR-14 and an HBR-16 that look too close to the ones featured in the articles. The test equipment are a pair of Tek 475s one is a hanger queen and the other one looks fixable and of all things an Eico VTVM that I want to restore, just because. :)
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This got me thinking about other forms of communications.
- morse code key type of thing - could this be done without a computer today - maybe via telephone lines. I mean - I think there are no telegraph lines
- telegrams - they are gone - BUT maybe someone is still sending them as a hobby?
Can't comment much on the other forms, but non-computerized Morse code is definitely alive and well on the ham radio bands. Many hams do use a little bit of digital electronic assistance for sending morse code, in the form of a "keyer" that automatically forms dits and dahs in response to pressing and holding paddles (the Digi-Key company takes its name from a digital keyer that the founder wanted to produce and sell as a kit for ham radio morse code enthusiasts). But quite a few hams still use a "straight key", a basic telegraph key that has nothing automated at all. There's a significant organization devoted to that sector of the hobby, the Straight Key Century Club, http://www.skccgroup.com/ (http://www.skccgroup.com/) . Some enthusiasts use old vacuum tube radios, too. WWII era radiotelegraphy technology is still in use.
I'm not aware of many people using telegraph systems over long distance wires; I only know about it being used on the airwaves. Maintaining the wires over much distance would seem expensive for a novelty hobby. But then again, just because I'm unaware doesn't mean it's not being done.
As for telegrams, again, the ham radio hobby keeps them alive as "radiograms", being sent via morse code, voice, and/or digital communications. I hear the national traffic nets many evenings, whether I'm listening for them or not. For more info, see http://www.arrl.org/nts (http://www.arrl.org/nts) . It's true that cheap phone rates and virtually free e-mail have almost eliminated the usefulness of radiograms for practical everyday communications, but people still send them around for fun, and for practice in case of disaster. Ham radio definitely has some value in being able to span that last hundred (or thousand) miles between a disaster area and a place that has good phone and Internet connections.
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This got me thinking about other forms of communications.
- morse code key type of thing - could this be done without a computer today - maybe via telephone lines. I mean - I think there are no telegraph lines
- telegrams - they are gone - BUT maybe someone is still sending them as a hobby?
Can't comment much on the other forms, but non-computerized Morse code is definitely alive and well on the ham radio bands. Many hams do use a little bit of digital electronic assistance for sending morse code, in the form of a "keyer" that automatically forms dits and dahs in response to pressing and holding paddles (the Digi-Key company takes its name from a digital keyer that the founder wanted to produce and sell as a kit for ham radio morse code enthusiasts). But quite a few hams still use a "straight key", a basic telegraph key that has nothing automated at all. There's a significant organization devoted to that sector of the hobby, the Straight Key Century Club, http://www.skccgroup.com/ (http://www.skccgroup.com/) . Some enthusiasts use old vacuum tube radios, too. WWII era radiotelegraphy technology is still in use.
I'm not aware of many people using telegraph systems over long distance wires; I only know about it being used on the airwaves. Maintaining the wires over much distance would seem expensive for a novelty hobby. But then again, just because I'm unaware doesn't mean it's not being done.
As for telegrams, again, the ham radio hobby keeps them alive as "radiograms", being sent via morse code, voice, and/or digital communications. I hear the national traffic nets many evenings, whether I'm listening for them or not. For more info, see http://www.arrl.org/nts (http://www.arrl.org/nts) . It's true that cheap phone rates and virtually free e-mail have almost eliminated the usefulness of radiograms for practical everyday communications, but people still send them around for fun, and for practice in case of disaster. Ham radio definitely has some value in being able to span that last hundred (or thousand) miles between a disaster area and a place that has good phone and Internet connections.
There is a group called "The Morsecodians" who use hand sent Morse over the Internet,& in short range internal lines at various displays.
They use tones like we do,or to add authenticity,the classic Telegraph "clickety -clack" Sounders.
They have good relations with Hams,& we had a display/demo by them at one Perth Hamfest
Here's a video of a demo at another place:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2vwgzo (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2vwgzo)
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Telegram and TELEX are still around, though vanishingly small. Used as the system is designed for utter reliability, no "best attempt" but confirmation of receipt on every message, and it runs on either dedicated trunks or in a proper telco link. Biggest user is the military, followed by governments, as they can use decent encryption on the lines, along with having control over the whole communications link.
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Going to take the test for my Novice license tomorrow. Wish me luck! I got a Baofeng handheld now, and I hang out with some guys at the Dominican Radio Club (HI8RCD). A friend programmed the UV-82 for me, with all the repeaters. Because of license restrictions I'll see you on CW and digital modes on HF, when I get the HF rig!
Speaking of HF rigs, I'm looking for a rig (used, kit or homebrew) that's less than $200. There's an upcomming ham sale at the club, but I'd like some other ideas. I can build a rig just fine (I'm thinking about the Minima HF transceiver). I could also buy and repair/restore a Heathkit rig or build a kit (it HAS to be less than $200 delivered to Miami, because of taxation).
It can be a QRP HF rig (like the Minima is), doesn't matter since I can build a linear HF amplifier just fine. One of these would be sweet:
http://www.communication-concepts.com/an762-140/ (http://www.communication-concepts.com/an762-140/)
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@ivan747 best of luck for the exams, talk to you on air soon hopefully! Although my current QTH has S7 QRM from ******* SMPSUs.
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Speaking of HF rigs, I'm looking for a rig (used, kit or homebrew) that's less than $200. There's an upcomming ham sale at the club, but I'd like some other ideas. I can build a rig just fine (I'm thinking about the Minima HF transceiver). I could also buy and repair/restore a Heathkit rig or build a kit (it HAS to be less than $200 delivered to Miami, because of taxation).
Best of luck!
I'd suggest, as a first build, something other than the Minima. Many (self included) have had luck with the BitX which is a monoband SSB rig. Same designer as the Minima but a lot more have been built and, being a single band rig, is much easier to build. Build it for a popular band for 40 or 20m and you should have contacts near and far.
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@ivan747 best of luck for the exams, talk to you on air soon hopefully! Although my current QTH has S7 QRM from ******* SMPSUs.
My handheld totally blacks out when a gadget is being charged with a SMPS close to it. And that's VHF/UHF...
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Speaking of HF rigs, I'm looking for a rig (used, kit or homebrew) that's less than $200. There's an upcomming ham sale at the club, but I'd like some other ideas. I can build a rig just fine (I'm thinking about the Minima HF transceiver). I could also buy and repair/restore a Heathkit rig or build a kit (it HAS to be less than $200 delivered to Miami, because of taxation).
Best of luck!
I'd suggest, as a first build, something other than the Minima. Many (self included) have had luck with the BitX which is a monoband SSB rig. Same designer as the Minima but a lot more have been built and, being a single band rig, is much easier to build. Build it for a popular band for 40 or 20m and you should have contacts near and far.
I'll look into that, thanks!
Today's the day :) I *should* be HI8NIV or HI8NIE.
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A detailed description of my latest homebrew 7 MHz receiver. Very simple, almost all discrete parts and good performance. I also describe a mixing scheme using common crystals that could be suitable for a dual band (7/14 MHz) receiver or transceiver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KgUy_MTBs8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KgUy_MTBs8)
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I would love to play with FOSS + OSHW SDR. Codec2 seems a very interesting audio codec!
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The latest QSO Today features a great interview with Alan W2AEW, a prominent YouTuber and poster here.
http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/w2aew (http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/w2aew)
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Going to take the test for my Novice license tomorrow. Wish me luck! I got a Baofeng handheld now, and I hang out with some guys at the Dominican Radio Club (HI8RCD). A friend programmed the UV-82 for me, with all the repeaters. Because of license restrictions I'll see you on CW and digital modes on HF, when I get the HF rig!
Speaking of HF rigs, I'm looking for a rig (used, kit or homebrew) that's less than $200. There's an upcomming ham sale at the club, but I'd like some other ideas. I can build a rig just fine (I'm thinking about the Minima HF transceiver). I could also buy and repair/restore a Heathkit rig or build a kit (it HAS to be less than $200 delivered to Miami, because of taxation).
It can be a QRP HF rig (like the Minima is), doesn't matter since I can build a linear HF amplifier just fine. One of these would be sweet:
http://www.communication-concepts.com/an762-140/ (http://www.communication-concepts.com/an762-140/)
$200 might score you a vintage Kenwood (or other manufacture's) 'hybrid' transceiver such as the TS-520S, TS-820 in working condition. The '520' was always a favorite of mine, pure analog, not many features, but can optionally contain a narrow CW crystal filter in addition to the standard SSB crystal filter. All solid state except for the driver and two final tubes to handle the higher wattage output.
Make no mistake, modern transceivers have great features and functions but is not a easy or affordable starter rig for someone first starting out with ham radio. One path or method for getting a decent starter rig is to check out a local ham club and let it be known you got your licence but could use help finding an affordable used rig. Your first rig will never be your last rig, and it's best to just start with something as you gain experience with antenna construction and tuning and operating the bands.
Good luck
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$200 might score you a vintage Kenwood (or other manufacture's) 'hybrid' transceiver such as the TS-520S, TS-820 in working condition. The '520' was always a favorite of mine, pure analog, not many features, but can optionally contain a narrow CW crystal filter in addition to the standard SSB crystal filter. All solid state except for the driver and two final tubes to handle the higher wattage output.
They are good rigs but for an absolute beginner something solid state might be preferable.
If you want 100 watts SSB/CW then an IC718 is probably the easiest to use basic HF rig there is. Or even the older Yaesu FT840.
Their used value will be over $200 but it should be possible to sell for not much less than you bought it for if you wish to upgrade.
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Has anybody checked out the Hermes-Lite SDR that seems to be making its way towards being a more than niche option?
Its still at the prototype stage, basically its built around an FPGA dev board, but the cost is fairly modest (around $150 for the parts) compared to most other options, and it avoids sound card unpredictibility/costs...
Its similar in many respects to the Hermes HPSDR - (but substantially cheaper) hence the name.
It's a 12 bit platform.
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Has anybody checked out the Hermes-Lite SDR that seems to be making its way towards being a more than niche option?
Its still at the prototype stage, basically its built around an FPGA dev board, but the cost is fairly modest (around $150 for the parts) compared to most other options, and it avoids sound card unpredictibility/costs...
Its similar in many respects to the Hermes HPSDR - (but substantially cheaper) hence the name.
It's a 12 bit platform.
No I haven't. However I'm just about made my mind to order a 12 bit ADC based SDR made by SDRplay and carried at Ham Radio Outlet stores. It's also $150, assembled, and they seem to have their own free downloadable PC 'console' application and drivers to operate it, and it also works with some other open source PC SDR applications.
http://www.sdrplay.com/index.html (http://www.sdrplay.com/index.html)
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Just sat for my license exam on Tuesday! Passed all three, although I did miss quite a few on the Extra exam since I had not studied any of the band plan information. I went in hoping I would pass two and no intention of taking the third, but the staff encouraged me to at least try it. I'm still awaiting my call sign, but that's ok, I have no equipment. I plan to buy or build a kit of a simpler rig, and the plan is to build all my own equipment other than microphones and displays, and other things impractical to "manufacture" yourself. I'm not opposed to using ICs, but want to experiment with discrete assemblies as well.
I bought a lot of books for Christmas, and can't wait to get started experimenting and building!
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Just sat for my license exam on Tuesday! Passed all three, although I did miss quite a few on the Extra exam since I had not studied any of the band plan information. I went in hoping I would pass two and no intention of taking the third, but the staff encouraged me to at least try it. I'm still awaiting my call sign, but that's ok, I have no equipment. I plan to buy or build a kit of a simpler rig, and the plan is to build all my own equipment other than microphones and displays, and other things impractical to "manufacture" yourself. I'm not opposed to using ICs, but want to experiment with discrete assemblies as well.
I bought a lot of books for Christmas, and can't wait to get started experimenting and building!
Awesome! There are endless projects to be had in amateur radio. Have fun and please post about your projects.
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Congratulations, Syntax!! The staff there did exactly the same thing I do at my testing sessions. I always encourage testers to try the next exam up. I tell them, if nothing else, you'll get an idea what to study for. Every once in a while, someone actually passes to the surprise and joy of those there!
I would hazard a guess that by the middle of next week, you should be able to look your name up on the FCC ULS database and get your call sign, or if you can wait a day if you don't want to try to navigate that deplorable website, look yourself up on QRZ.com.
Tom, NW0LF
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I hold a foundation licence, Just need to pin down the time to do my intermediate and then full licence.
All though the ametur radio licences in the UK are for life you do have to ramber to contact Ofcom with in five of last validating your license to confirm that you do wish to continue holding it.
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We have to renew every 10 years though it is free. Now the FCC has eliminated the vanity call fee, so renewing my vanity call is free though I didn't mind paying $15 for 10 years.
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Just sat for my license exam on Tuesday! Passed all three, although I did miss quite a few on the Extra exam since I had not studied any of the band plan information. I went in hoping I would pass two and no intention of taking the third, but the staff encouraged me to at least try it. I'm still awaiting my call sign, but that's ok, I have no equipment. I plan to buy or build a kit of a simpler rig, and the plan is to build all my own equipment other than microphones and displays, and other things impractical to "manufacture" yourself. I'm not opposed to using ICs, but want to experiment with discrete assemblies as well.
I bought a lot of books for Christmas, and can't wait to get started experimenting and building!
Congratulations and welcome to Amateur Radio. :)
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Thanks all for the congrats.
Some of the books I picked up are Experimental Methods in RF Design (ARRL), Build Your Own Transistor Radios (Quan), RF Circuit Design (Bowick), The ARRL Handbook (2014), The Circuit Designer's Companion (Wilson), and all four volumes of McGraw-Hill Electronic Circuit Encyclopedia (Lenk).
After skimming through all the books (and others) I see I have *a lot* to learn, but I also have access to an unbelievable amount of information, bordering on overload, in a good way.
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Syntax Error, I am in the same position as you were a while ago and have been reading up a lot on interesting homebrew equipment projects. Its really quite exciting the level of technology that is going into making modular SDR rigs these days. If you havent seen them already, here are several, the Hermes-Lite, the "Mobo" projects (all band softrock with switchable PBFs and PA filters, the new Peaberry II respin, a bunch of related HPSDR projects and so on.
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Oh - the hams have a new home on the forum, a new board! :clap:
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Do you need a real ham shack? I see people complain about RF interference, and avoiding unnecessary electrical, switching power supplies etc. I dont think I have room like that.
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Hello
Ham radio is alive and doing great. The United States has more ham operators now than ever before. Probably has a lot to do with the dropping of Morse code as a requirement. I have been licensed since 1969 and yes, I have seen many changes in the hobby since then. That is only natural and I welcome all the changes. In the late 70s and 80s, hams began integrating computers into their ham shacks and of course they continue to do so to this day. Yes, the proliferation of consumer computers diverted many from ham radio as their technological area of focus. But Ham radio has always been a small percentage of our population and back in the 60's and 70's no one seemed to care. The emphasis was more on having hams who had good technical know how. That's both good and bad. I remember many snobby hams back in the 70's who held themselves in high regard because they could remember how to program frequencies into there new radios. That was very misguided, but that seems to have worked its way out of the hobby. One of the biggest thrills of ham radio is being able to contact someone on the other side of the world. Sure you can do that with a cellphone, but with ham radio, you can do that with a wire in a tree and a hundred watt radio. The cellphone needs millions and millions of dollars worth of infrastructure to accomplish the same thing. Where's the thrill in that? Would you randomly dial an international number to find someone to chat with? Of course not. It is the culture of ham radio that makes it so much fun. Calling CQ and finding someone on the other side of the world who is also looking for someone to chat with and doing it on 100 watts with only a wire? Wow, now that is really cool but there are only so many of us that understands that.
73
Ben K9BF
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Do you need a real ham shack? I see people complain about RF interference, and avoiding unnecessary electrical, switching power supplies etc. I dont think I have room like that.
The answer depends very much on which niche of ham radio you're interested in. Local VHF/UHF FM work often uses enough power so that even serious noise generators aren't noticed at all. Some hams only use small handheld FM UHF/VHF units. Others use UHF/VHF radios installed in their cars. But if you want to communicate halfway around the world with HF (shortwave) signals, it's very helpful to reduce or eliminate local noise sources as much as practical. It's not that you can't have switching power supplies, it's just that they should at least be designed with some thought to avoiding RF interference on the shortwave bands. My own shack is powered by a switching power supply that was designed and marketed with Ham Radio in mind, a Powerwerx SS-30DV http://www.powerwerx.com/power-supplies/powerwerx-30-amp-desktop-switching-power-supply-powerpoles.html (http://www.powerwerx.com/power-supplies/powerwerx-30-amp-desktop-switching-power-supply-powerpoles.html)
There aren't too many things that will totally destroy your ability to work on the HF bands, but there are plenty of appliance that will contribute noise and reduce your ability to hear distant weak signals. People go to varying lengths to eliminate those things from their homes.
Personally, I live in a fairly crowded suburban area. I don't have terrible noise generators in my home, but I do have a computer in my ham shack, and there is some background noise from the neighbors. I also have the disadvantage of living in a "bowl" of a valley, surrounded by ridge tops that block some distant signals. Things work OK at home, but every chance I get, I take my ham radio gear camping in areas far from the electrical grid. When my radio is powered from a battery a few miles from the nearest mains power line, I can hear noticeably better.
But even in my noisy home, with my little 50W station and meager antenna that isn't as high up as it should be, from my location in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can routinely talk to Canada, Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, etc. When conditions are good, I can reach the US east coast, 3000 miles (4800 km) away. When conditions were really good, I have talked across the Pacific Ocean, approximately double that distance, using just five watts from my noisy home location. There is a fair bit of unpredictability in HF radio propagation, which keeps things interesting.
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Hello
Ham radio is alive and doing great. The United States has more ham operators now than ever before. Probably has a lot to do with the dropping of Morse code as a requirement. I have been licensed since 1969 and yes, I have seen many changes in the hobby since then. That is only natural and I welcome all the changes. In the late 70s and 80s, hams began integrating computers into their ham shacks and of course they continue to do so to this day. Yes, the proliferation of consumer computers diverted many from ham radio as their technological area of focus. But Ham radio has always been a small percentage of our population and back in the 60's and 70's no one seemed to care. The emphasis was more on having hams who had good technical know how. That's both good and bad. I remember many snobby hams back in the 70's who held themselves in high regard because they could remember how to program frequencies into there new radios. That was very misguided, but that seems to have worked its way out of the hobby. One of the biggest thrills of ham radio is being able to contact someone on the other side of the world. Sure you can do that with a cellphone, but with ham radio, you can do that with a wire in a tree and a hundred watt radio. The cellphone needs millions and millions of dollars worth of infrastructure to accomplish the same thing. Where's the thrill in that? Would you randomly dial an international number to find someone to chat with? Of course not. It is the culture of ham radio that makes it so much fun. Calling CQ and finding someone on the other side of the world who is also looking for someone to chat with and doing it on 100 watts with only a wire? Wow, now that is really cool but there are only so many of us that understands that.
73
Ben K9BF
Well, I've heard that party line from the ham community many times before, too. And there is some truth to it, but I think it's limiting. Now, I am no cellular network expert (obvious statement), but I would think it is better to *include* cellular networking's technical triumphs as case evidence for the awesome power of what RF is capable of. Sure, it's not ham radio, but it's radio, and it is far from trivial.
Basically, there are technical aspects of ham radio very much worth investigating, just as there are technical aspects of cellular networking and countless other radio technologies worth investigating. It is just my opinion, but a fair comparison of appliance operator to appliance operator, i.e. cell phone user to handie-talkie user, shows neither worth investigating on their own. As they say, ham radio is much more than any one of its facets. I could make the same statement about any appliance using a radio.
The underlying technical matter is king.
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Brand new ham operator here.
There is little about ham radio's "practical" aspects that appeals to me. Emergency communications, yeah ... maybe, but I won't be building a "go kit" to bury in the backyard inside a faraday cage anytime soon.
What drew me to ham radio is:
1. a hands-on way to experiment with RF. I'd been doing rx-only SDR stuff for awhile, but now can do experiments in tx, too. And there are lots of fun experiments to be done! Lots of existing digital modes out there, and nothing stopping you from making up a new one.
2. there is a certain _romance_ to speaking to people far off without the use of any intervening infrastructure. Not only is there not $M's of equipment in between, there is no 3rd party involved, either. Does this make sense as a "reason" to get into ham? Eh, who knows, but for me it is a reason it's enjoyable.
3. There are just fun "projects" to try. Contacting the ISS. Using a satellite-based repeater. (both of which can be done with a 5W HT and the right antenna (and luck). I'm also interested in trying EME, which from my research sounds quite doable with homebrew antennas, etc.
As an EE, RF was always a missing arrow in my quiver, and I'm excited to be addressing that.
Dave, KK6YRE
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1. a hands-on way to experiment with RF. I'd been doing rx-only SDR stuff for awhile, but now can do experiments in tx, too. And there are lots of fun experiments to be done! Lots of existing digital modes out there, and nothing stopping you from making up a new one.
Dave, KK6YRE
Well I'm an old ham with most of my ham experience as a youth. However I'm kind of intrigued/curious about getting into SDR. Know anything or heard about the SDRplay RSP device?
http://www.sdrplay.com/index.html (http://www.sdrplay.com/index.html)
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I've been a HAM for a couple of years now.
Most inactive since I'm not really interested in the HF bands due to a lot human 'noise' :-DD
But I do enjoy the occasional special contact on HF (Parks & Recreation activities, Islands contacts, stuff like that)
To ragchew (to use the lingo, means: talking for extended periods of time over radio) is something I'm interested in but not about the latest ailment of the other operator which is something that happens all to much. Ragchewing about technical is the holy grail but these days that's what twitter and this forum are for...
Professionaly I'm active in microwave radio so my ham interest also extends to those bands.
Currently looking into placing a portable antenna mast in my small garden to do some microwave PtP contacts.
DATV is also something I'm interested in since I used to work for a major TV manufacterer as DVBS specialist.
All the RTL-SDR stuff is really interesting, people can do radio astronomy, pickup satellite signals and deep space stuff from their backyards!
So yeah, certainly HAM radio is not dead. Lot of people never venture out of the HF bands but that's fine.
But the people who are a HAM because of the technical side and homebrewing are fewer and few...
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Well I'm an old ham with most of my ham experience as a youth. However I'm kind of intrigued/curious about getting into SDR. Know anything or heard about the SDRplay RSP device?
http://www.sdrplay.com/index.html (http://www.sdrplay.com/index.html)
There are so many SDR devices out there now, it's hard to keep track of all of them. I only have direct knowledge of the RTL-SDR units and the FunCube Dongle Pro+. The former seems pretty insensitive to me and without any input filtering, seems to have a lot of aliasing problems. (I was using it in the VHF band aviation area.) The FCDPP is a nicer radio all around, except that it has much narrower bandwidth, only 250 ksps.
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On June 23, 2012, the global power grid was almost destroyed by a Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun.
(http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/02/05/05feb_sdo_resources/collapse_strip2.jpg)
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm/ (http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/23jul_superstorm/)
If something like that pops up literally out of the blue, we really will need amateur radio!
Assuming our radios and other electronics still work! (Due to "global ESD")
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- I wonder if there is such a thing as a "communication club" that would experiment with all of the above
There are people who use modulated laser light to communicate very long distances with very little power. Also, look at the moonbounce people, using various digital modes, constantly evolving. People now can do EME with fairly minimal equipment, because of it.
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Sometimes QRP (under 5w output) produces marginal signals on its own
Sometimes mobile operation produces marginal signals due to compromise antennas on its own
Sometimes AM produces marginal signals due to inefficiency versus AM
Put the three together and you might imagine 'no hope'.
Anyway here's a video that shows that all three can sometimes work and produce good signals. The secret was probably, as they say in real estate, 'location location location, as both stations were in good spots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvcmWyrldew (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvcmWyrldew)
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I am not to much into QRP really, but it is always fun to build an low power tx that will fit into a small box and still get in contact with other hams. In Sweden, since they dropped of the Morse code requirement, there is a slight increase in new hams and what is fun, is that many of them learn cw afterwards which in fact, is quite interesting these days where digital modes is used more and more frequently. Myself is one of those nearly 100% cw-operators and that is because I find it more exciting and it also sounds like good music to my ears :) Took my license 1973 and have been quite active ever since.
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Can't recall seeing any videos on tuned circuit arrangements that resonate on two frequencies at once (one accidentally to obtain a wider tuning range, the other deliberately) so put together this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcdlJvPlJ3o (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcdlJvPlJ3o)
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This got me thinking about other forms of communications.
- drum beating - I wonder if anyone is keeping this alive
at least experimentally :
http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2003/09/2886-2/ (http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2003/09/2886-2/)
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I've been lurking for a few weeks now, and figured this might be a good place to give a short intro, since it's pertinent.
I'm Gwen, I'm an Extra-class ham in the Philadelphia area, and am getting my bench put back together after a long period of disuse. I started getting into microcontrollers a few months ago, and decided I wanted to do it right and learn the actual electronics. I've been tinkering for decades...I'm a bit of a tomboy at heart, as my favorite books as a child were the Tom Swift, Jr. books rather than the more predictable girly books, the Nancy Drew stories. I got my first soldering iron when I was 7, and was building kits with my Dad shortly thereafter. I always wanted to be a ham, when I learned they existed, but the code really daunted me.
About 15 years ago, I decided not to let the daunting bits stop me, and got my Technician ticket, then upgraded to General shortly thereafter, having buckled down and learned the code after all. Then I did some electronics studying, intending to get my Extra as soon as I could get my code speed up...then they got rid of the code requirement, and I got my Extra a month or so later. I sort of bridged the time between code and no-code tickets. I DID have to know code to get my General...but didn't have to demonstrate greater fluency for the Extra.
I'm somewhat into QRP, like building my own antennas and gear, and have my shack next to me where I'm sitting right now. I'm disabled from a car accident nearly ten years ago, with severe chronic pain and lowered range of motion, but I can do small stuff like soldering long enough to be useful before I have to stop and rest. The result of the injury is that I spend a LOT of time in a powered recliner with my computer and ham gear arranged around me, the keyboard on my lap, mouse on the arm of the recliner, and my monitor on a swing-arm in front of me. I used to have a bench in the basement, but it's hard for me to use and the chilly damp exacerbates my chronic pain, so I let the electronics slide for quite a while.
But we've relocated the bench to the dining room, which we never used for dining anyway, and have started improving our capability. Dave's videos have been very helpful in deciding what to get to flesh it out, and I expect that I'll be upgrading bits and pieces over time. I picked up a Fluke 27/FM on eBay for a decent price, a fair-to-middling BK Precision CRO. I hadn't watched Dave's video on getting a CRO from eBay, so I didn't get one with an ideal bandwidth -- only 10mhz -- but it's solid and works well, and I only paid about $40USD for it, plus another $12 or so for shipping. I already had a decent Weller soldering station, and augmented it with a hot-air rework station that Dave recommended in a video. When it eventually breaks, I'll probably be ready to get a better one, but this'll work to learn on.
The interest in microcontrollers primed me to have my interest piqued by a recent article in QST regarding an Arduino Nano-driven VFO for a 49'er 40m QRP rig. I've got all the bits and pieces collected and ready to build, but want to practice a bit on other stuff so my soldering skills are up to snuff before I start on it. Back when I could stand working in the basement, my partner and I built an Elecraft K2, and I built a couple of little QRP rigs, like a Rockmite, a Warbler, and a Small Wonder Labs 20m rig. When moving the bench, we discovered we still have the internal tuner module kit for the K2 we never built, so that'll be another one to keep me busy. Oh, and I got one of those silly little pocket O-scope kits that Dave ranted about in one of his videos...another I hadn't watched yet before I bought the thing. If nothing else, it'll be practice.
Good to meet you all, and I hope to learn a lot here!
---Gwen
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Hi Gwen, and welcome!
~Chuck
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Welcome Gwen, it's good to see another YH in amateur radio.
This forum is more polite than others I have been involved in, sad to say there are a fair bunch of amateurs that are uncomfortable with women in the hobby, especially women who are technically with it..
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Welcome to EEVBlog :)
There is some neat ham radio stuff that can be done with microcontrollers, such as automated beacons for propagation research.
AF6LJ: so that "Sue AF6LJ" in your signature is not an imperative! ;)
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Welcome to EEVBlog :)
There is some neat ham radio stuff that can be done with microcontrollers, such as automated beacons for propagation research.
AF6LJ: so that "Sue AF6LJ" in your signature is not an imperative! ;)
It's my name.
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It's my name.
Just kidding, of course!
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:-+
It's my name.
Just kidding, of course!
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It's my name.
Just kidding, of course!
My personal experience is that one's tolerance for puns on one's name is in inverse proportion to the rate at which one meets people who appear to think that they are the first person ever to think of that pun. YMMV
DOI: surname "Hayter"
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sad to say there are a fair bunch of amateurs that are uncomfortable with women in the hobby, especially women who are technically with it..
I find that surprising. Have you seen that here?
If people are interested in the same stuff as me, and they're not too thick, then they're interesting. Especially if they know more than me!
I am of the opinion that most men are interested in different problems from most women, but I have the advantage of not caring what other people waste their time on.
Of course there are a fair bunch of the in-your-face, know-it-all, wankers, and nobody likes them anyway.
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sad to say there are a fair bunch of amateurs that are uncomfortable with women in the hobby, especially women who are technically with it..
I find that surprising. Have you seen that here?
Not at all; that is refreshing.
If people are interested in the same stuff as me, and they're not too thick, then they're interesting. Especially if they know more than me!
I am of the opinion that most men are interested in different problems from most women, but I have the advantage of not caring what other people waste their time on.
Of course there are a fair bunch of the in-your-face, know-it-all, wankers, and nobody likes them anyway.
This place has been nothing but welcoming.
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Welcome Gwen, it's good to see another YH in amateur radio.
This forum is more polite than others I have been involved in, sad to say there are a fair bunch of amateurs that are uncomfortable with women in the hobby, especially women who are technically with it..
Thankfully, not in the club I belong to. Our secretary is a YH, she holds a General class and is also a VE doing reading for blind hams taking tests. She is only 1 of quite a few women. We let anyone in our club, hey, they let me in :-+
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Welcome Gwen, it's good to see another YH in amateur radio.
This forum is more polite than others I have been involved in, sad to say there are a fair bunch of amateurs that are uncomfortable with women in the hobby, especially women who are technically with it..
Thankfully, not in the club I belong to. Our secretary is a YH, she holds a General class and is also a VE doing reading for blind hams taking tests. She is only 1 of quite a few women. We let anyone in our club, hey, they let me in :-+
Our club also has a number of female members.
We have a good board of directors which I am proud to be a part of.
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One of the great things about ham radio is you don't need to feel guilty about cooped up inside on a nice day because you can take gear with you and operate portable.
This video describes and demonstrates a balanced antenna coupler suitable for use with tuned feeder dipoles. These are effective antennas that work on multiple bands.
Conditions weren't the best though some DX mobile stations were heard and some solid contacts within Australia were made. The second location tried was quieter than the first and has been tried as a successful field day location.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLSqfgvGg8M (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLSqfgvGg8M)
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Thanks for posting that. My intention is exactly that I.e. portable operation. Can set along the coast somewhere isolated, pop up an inverted V and have some fun.
Portland (UK) looks a fun place.
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This is a good summary of some of the more modern ham activities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOObNDf0Fk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOObNDf0Fk)
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Women have an aptitude for technology, and their contributions are complementary to those of males. Its not well known but a very great many of the first computer programmers were women.
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Just check out AI6TK
I bet quite a few will recognize the name behind that call.
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I didn't realise she had a call, is that recent?
There are some people who deserve honorary licenses, like they dish out honorary degrees at universities, and she's one of them.
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Just wanted to touch on a point that has likely been said here. At least in Europe, but I expect everywhere, you need a ham license for getting special permits: airplane, boat, etc. AFAIK, getting them as a package means the exam is probably a little less involved, as friends who have done it tell me. Mostly because the equipment you are using for communication is basically plug-and-play.
Trying to say there are other avenues for getting people into the hobby.
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Yes - "Scorched Chips!" ! (don't you love it!)
https://www.qrz.com/db/AI6TK/ (https://www.qrz.com/db/AI6TK/)
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/files.qrz.com/k/ai6tk/DSC02411.JPG)
Quote from: Howardlong on Today at 12:06:31 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=17613.msg1283963#msg1283963)I didn't realise she had a call, is that recent?
There are some people who deserve honorary licenses, like they dish out honorary degrees at universities, and she's one of them.
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I didn't realise she had a call, is that recent?
There are some people who deserve honorary licenses, like they dish out honorary degrees at universities, and she's one of them.
AFAIK, she did the exam last year.
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Just wanted to touch on a point that has likely been said here. At least in Europe, but I expect everywhere, you need a ham license for getting special permits: airplane, boat, etc. AFAIK, getting them as a package means the exam is probably a little less involved, as friends who have done it tell me. Mostly because the equipment you are using for communication is basically plug-and-play.
Trying to say there are other avenues for getting people into the hobby.
That's news to me. Where is this information from?
You do need to pass exams for airplane, boat and similar stuff, but that is fairly different from the HAM exam - you have much less "tech" there and stuff like Q-codes and country prefixes. A lot more emphasis is instead given on the practical operations, especially the safety critical stuff - phraseology, emergency coms, the various service-specific rules, etc. Then for marine ops there are often differences for inland/river stuff which is mostly UHF/VHF and sea, where you will have to deal with long range HF too. I believe both require separate exams.
Maybe you can do a HAM exam together with an exam for e.g. marine or aeronautical service as a package, but having the former is certainly not required for the latter. In fact, they are often administered by completely different institutions as they are different services. Certainly most boat captains and airplane pilots don't have amateur radio licenses.
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I haven't studied the curricula to see if they differ, but I have one friend who recently passed the aviation (VFR) and another friend which is due for the maritime (small boats/yachts) exam. I'm pretty sure neither of them has any idea how impedance works nor how VSWR can be altered, but they both had a separate ham exam as a requirement.
AFAIK they both receive callsigns, but not sure if those callsigns can be used outside their purpose (i.e. not on the vehicle).
Not sure how the US ham requirements differ from the European ones, as I'm not involved with this.
There are actually extra Q-codes for air and sea that need to be learned.
Maybe someone can clear the air on this.
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That's likely so they can communicate with others on HF, VHF, who may be nearer, and listening, in the case of an emergency.
So they wont hesitate to break into an ongoing QSO to call for help when only hams are nearby and clearly listening.
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Well, they to need to speak to the control tower and port authority on each trip, so I guess that's the main use. Airband is VHF and AM, not sure about maritime, they might go with lower frequencies at longer distances. All those radios have "standard" ham controls like frequency, bandwidth, squelch and modulation.
Just as a curiosity, the pilot license exam can be taken in Germany in either German or English language. The German one gives you access to all airports, while the English one just to English-speaking airports. While I'm pretty sure most tower operators speak English, their airport might not be listed as one, so you can't land there normally if you don't have the proper language exam. This might not seem like a big deal, but on these small airports you have a parking fee of about 15 EUR per day while on something like Frankfurt Airport the parking/landing fee is really prohibitive. Busy airports are also likely to request you to do really tight maneuvers in order to optimize the airspace, which might be tricky to do with a small/old airplane.
If anyone knows more about this stuff feel free to jump in, my experience with this has mainly been indirect.
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Ham Radio is still alive and well. As for the ladies in the hobby the finest example I can think of is Tisha Hayes AA4HA who is probably one of the finest RF engineers I've ever had the pleasure to meet. If you're curious, here's her Linkedin profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tisha-hayes-90a43015 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tisha-hayes-90a43015)
We need more like Sue and Tisha
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That's likely so they can communicate with others on HF, VHF, who may be nearer, and listening, in the case of an emergency.
So they wont hesitate to break into an ongoing QSO to call for help when only hams are nearby and clearly listening.
For emergency coms you don't actually need to be licensed - in an emergency, anyone can operate the radio and even transmit outside of the allowed bands/power.
OTOH, few marine and aviation radios can transmit outside of their respective bands, so the idea of someone tuning over to e.g. 2m HAM band to call for help is a bit unrealistic. Moreover, many radios have a button for the direct selection of the emergency frequency(ies), which are internationally standardized. Those are monitored 24/7 by the authorities, e.g. coast guard, air traffic control, even air force. So you really don't need to think about whether some HAMs are listening when you need to declare an emergency.
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Just as a curiosity, the pilot license exam can be taken in Germany in either German or English language. The German one gives you access to all airports, while the English one just to English-speaking airports. While I'm pretty sure most tower operators speak English, their airport might not be listed as one, so you can't land there normally if you don't have the proper language exam. This might not seem like a big deal, but on these small airports you have a parking fee of about 15 EUR per day while on something like Frankfurt Airport the parking/landing fee is really prohibitive. Busy airports are also likely to request you to do really tight maneuvers in order to optimize the airspace, which might be tricky to do with a small/old airplane.
Actually English is mandatory for the aviation exam, it is the official ICAO communication language. If you don't have the aviation English exam, you will not be able to fly abroad and to the larger airports where the majority of the communication is in English. May not be an issue for ultralight pilots or similar that stay around their home club, but most pilots take the English exam anyway.
If for nothing else then for your own safety - that big 747 on approach flown by a foreign crew may not understand from your German/French/.../etc chat with the controller that you are on a conflicting trajectory, so they will have no spatial awareness of you unless the controller tells them where you are (few small planes carry TCAS-capable equipment). Which they should, but the controllers are only people too and can forget, be overloaded or just miss something, especially a small plane. This has led to some near misses and even accidents in the past and is the primary reason why English is mandatory today as the communication language in aviation.
I am pretty sure that one can fly to a German general aviation airport without having the exam in German language, only with English. Otherwise no foreign pilot would have ever been able to fly to Germany outside of the big airports.
Here is the list of what you will have to learn/obtain for a German private pilot license:
http://www.aerotours.de/en/lapla-leichtflugzeugpilot-699.html (http://www.aerotours.de/en/lapla-leichtflugzeugpilot-699.html)
And actually Wikipedia has a good summary of what you need for the radiotelephony license:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprechfunkzeugnis_(Luftfahrt)#BZF_I (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprechfunkzeugnis_(Luftfahrt)#BZF_I)
For a private pilot license you need at least the BZF1 or 2. The testing is done in German but there is a part where the candidate must demonstrate English communication capability, unless doing only BZF2 exam (German only, but then not allowed to fly outside of Germany. Commercial pilots must have BZF1 including English).
Then to actually be able to communicate in the given language the candidate needs also a separate language proficiency certificate (ICAO-4 level or higher).
The list also shows that there is no HAM license prerequisite for the aviation radiotelephony certificate.
I didn't search for the marine radio requirements but they are most likely similar.
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I haven't studied the curricula to see if they differ, but I have one friend who recently passed the aviation (VFR) and another friend which is due for the maritime (small boats/yachts) exam. I'm pretty sure neither of them has any idea how impedance works nor how VSWR can be altered, but they both had a separate ham exam as a requirement.
A ham exam? I don't believe so.
The ham exam is normalized, http://www.sarl.org.za/public/licences/SARL_CEPT_AND_HAREC.pdf (http://www.sarl.org.za/public/licences/SARL_CEPT_AND_HAREC.pdf)
And its requirements are quite different from what an airman or a seaman will need.
I imagine that one of the subjects covered in their exams is proper radio operation for the concerned radio service (be it maritime or air communications) but that has nothing to do with ham radio.
Moreover, neither a pilot nor a seaman is supposed to know how to adjust an antenna. An exception were radiomen (who had to be proficient in Morse code and were also responsible for the mainteinance of the electronic and communications equipment) but I don't think radiomen exist anymore.
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I haven't studied the curricula to see if they differ, but I have one friend who recently passed the aviation (VFR) and another friend which is due for the maritime (small boats/yachts) exam. I'm pretty sure neither of them has any idea how impedance works nor how VSWR can be altered, but they both had a separate ham exam as a requirement.
A ham exam? I don't believe so.
Exactly, there isn't one. I have posted a link of what is actually required above.
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For emergency coms you don't actually need to be licensed - in an emergency, anyone can operate the radio and even transmit outside of the allowed bands/power.
Right, although it might depend on the country. Anyway the only radio operators with the privilege of operating modified equipment that might transmit outside of its assigned bands are hams.
OTOH, few marine and aviation radios can transmit outside of their respective bands, so the idea of someone tuning over to e.g. 2m HAM band to call for help is a bit unrealistic. Moreover, many radios have a button for the direct selection of the emergency frequency(ies), which are internationally standardized. Those are monitored 24/7 by the authorities, e.g. coast guard, air traffic control, even air force. So you really don't need to think about whether some HAMs are listening when you need to declare an emergency.
As far as I know, radio equipment intended for a certain service (maritime, mobile, air band) requires an approval process. In order to pass that approval equipment must be unable to transmit or even receive outside its assigned bands and, moreover, modifications must be reasonabiy difficult to perform. Even commercial ham equipment is subject to technical limitations. However, it is legal for a ham to use modified equipment.
So, in short. It's illegal to use a ham transceiver onboard a ship to communicate on the maritime mobile frequencies. However, it's legal for a ham to modify a maritime mobile transceiver in order to make it work on ham bands, as it is legal for a ham to operate self built equipment.
It's extremely unlikely that, for example, a ship in distress calls on a ham frequency. It would be possible if there was a ham onboard maybe. And anyway the safest bet would be to call on the officialy monitored frequencies. Maritime operators are not even used to think in frequency terms, they see their bands as a number of numbered channels.
Now and then there are discussions in the ham community about the usage of "emergency" frequencies within ham bands, and some people imagines that they should be monitored. Actually those frequencies are the preferred ones to allocate in case hams help in an emergency situation and they need some clear frequencies to operate.
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Regarding the value (or lack of) ham radio, well, I think it's one of those things that people will really appreciate in case it eventually disappears.
I am now reading a very nice book: "Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945" by RV Jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Victor_Jones (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Victor_Jones). It's an account of the electronic warfare in WWII from the British point of view. We tend to forget about it but it was much more sophisticated than it seems.
One paragraph in particular surprised me. He discussed the differences observed between the British and German radar equipment. British equipment was more of a best effort, experimental thing, while German equipment was much better engineered and with a much better build quality. But turns out that German radar operators were almost clueless in technical terms, while the British operators were much more knowledgeable and often able to improvise, change procedures, or adapt to changes.
He said that the main source for radar operators in the UK was hams. They also had hams monitoring frequencies from home and reporting (this documentary covers it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqPdyGpbYKs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqPdyGpbYKs) ). And, curiously, Germany had abolished amateur radio right after Hitler's ascent to power. Probably the nazis saw citizens communicating with foreigners as a threat.
Of course we are in very different times. But at the very least amateur radio is a good reserve of people with at least some knowledge of radio communications and in many cases the ability to improvise functional installations.
At least in Spain the law mandates that hams must help in case of emergency.
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It's extremely unlikely that, for example, a ship in distress calls on a ham frequency. It would be possible if there was a ham onboard maybe. And anyway the safest bet would be to call on the officialy monitored frequencies. Maritime operators are not even used to think in frequency terms, they see their bands as a number of numbered channels.
Well, theoretically it could happen if a maritime band in one part of the world overlaps a HAM band in another - not all bands are allocated the same around the world - and there are favorable propagation conditions (so pretty much possible only on HF).
On the other hand, emergency frequencies are almost always towards the middle of the band, not at the edges where these overlaps could happen. So this would be an exceedingly rare occurrence.
So, in short. It's illegal to use a ham transceiver onboard a ship to communicate on the maritime mobile frequencies.
Just for completeness - it is not illegal to carry and use a ham transceiver onboard of a ship to communicate on the ham bands (with the permission of the vessel owner and properly licensed, of course).
So, it is conceivable that an emergency call could come through if e.g. the primary radio is inoperative. It used to be more common in the past, though - various marine & land expeditions carried HF ham stations for communication like this (e.g. Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki in 1947). However, today they are more likely to just use a satellite phone instead of relying on the flaky HF radio ...
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Actually English is mandatory for the aviation exam, it is the official ICAO communication language. If you don't have the aviation English exam, you will not be able to fly abroad and to the larger airports where the majority of the communication is in English. May not be an issue for ultralight pilots or similar that stay around their home club, but most pilots take the English exam anyway.
If for nothing else then for your own safety - that big 747 on approach flown by a foreign crew may not understand from your German/French/.../etc chat with the controller that you are on a conflicting trajectory, so they will have no spatial awareness of you unless the controller tells them where you are (few small planes carry TCAS-capable equipment). Which they should, but the controllers are only people too and can forget, be overloaded or just miss something, especially a small plane. This has led to some near misses and even accidents in the past and is the primary reason why English is mandatory today as the communication language in aviation.
I am pretty sure that one can fly to a German general aviation airport without having the exam in German language, only with English. Otherwise no foreign pilot would have ever been able to fly to Germany outside of the big airports.
Here is the list of what you will have to learn/obtain for a German private pilot license:
http://www.aerotours.de/en/lapla-leichtflugzeugpilot-699.html (http://www.aerotours.de/en/lapla-leichtflugzeugpilot-699.html)
And actually Wikipedia has a good summary of what you need for the radiotelephony license:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprechfunkzeugnis_(Luftfahrt)#BZF_I (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprechfunkzeugnis_(Luftfahrt)#BZF_I)
For a private pilot license you need at least the BZF1 or 2. The testing is done in German but there is a part where the candidate must demonstrate English communication capability, unless doing only BZF2 exam (German only, but then not allowed to fly outside of Germany).
Then to actually be able to communicate in the given language the candidate needs also a separate language proficiency certificate (ICAO-4 level or higher).
The list also shows that there is no HAM license prerequisite for the aviation radiotelephony certificate.
I didn't search for the marine radio requirements but they are most likely similar.
Yes, basic English literacy is part of both the general ham exam and the aviation exam. However, having the [light VFR pilot] exam in German confers some extra rights.
Regarding airports, I've been told that there are significantly more airports that you can land on with the specific license compared to the English one one. There is a distinction between airports (117 of them in Germany) and aerodromes (550). So that's where my terminology was wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerodrome (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerodrome)
A list is here in German language https://www.ulforum.de/flugplatz (https://www.ulforum.de/flugplatz) and seems to have quite a few more places than http://aerodromes.eu/aerodromes.php?code=ED (http://aerodromes.eu/aerodromes.php?code=ED) . Again, just writing what I've heard and summarily researched as I was contemplating on getting a license myself, in English, but was told about the landing restriction.
You are right about the RR license (it was in your edited answer) and BZV2. The Wiki page specifically says the pilot is only allowed communication in bands G and E. So my friends said 'ham' and I automatically assumed the usual radio amateur exam, not knowing there is quite a difference.
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Back to the original topic....
Got my basic, then advanced licence wayy back when (grandfathered HF)
Was kinda fun chatting through repeaters while in the backcountry (prior to cell coverage).
With the internet now..there's HD video chat..who needs a key ..q codes..or...
The local ham repeaters are always crowded with IRLP from other countries..it's just plain annoying....don't even turn the rigs on anymore...actually most are archived in the attic.
Have learned a lot from the community though ..and the equipment ie:spectrum analyzers, scopes, power meters, etc..etc..
Don't mean to be a downer..it is fun (so was Chicken Band radio!)..have fun!..it's a great learning experience..like machine shop class.. with electricity! ;-)
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Yes, basic English literacy is part of both the general ham exam and the aviation exam. However, having the [light VFR pilot] exam in German confers some extra rights.
Regarding airports, I've been told that there are significantly more airports that you can land on with the specific license compared to the English one one. There is a distinction between airports (117 of them in Germany) and aerodromes (550). So that's where my terminology was wrong.
The exam is always in German, from what I can see. However, it is clearly said that the language of the exam has no bearing on the languages you are allowed to communicate in on the air - for that you must obtain the corresponding language proficiency certificate in addition to the radiotelephony certificate.
I believe the issue between "airports" and "aerodromes" is more about that the former can accept even international traffic, the latter not necessarily and little to do with whether you speak English or German. If you look in that list, you will see that many don't even have an ICAO code assigned. Usually these are small strips used by factories, aeroclubs, crop dusters, etc. The "airport" list contains only those which have the code and thus are larger fields.
If you have BZF1, you can go anywhere, because you are allowed to use both English & German (modulo those language proficiency exams). If you have BZF2, you can go only to German speaking places. There is also BZF-E that is English only, but I believe that one is only for special cases. And then commercial transport pilots have to do first one of the BZF certificates and then the AZF one.
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Hiya
There is another reason contributing to the reduction in ham radio. An introduction to shortwave radio was frequently through listening to national stations from 'far off' or 'exotic' lands, this then led to listening to ham operators by adapting an existing receiver or buying one with a BFO.
The reduction in shortwave broadcast stations (now streamed on the internet) means that it is only us 'greybeards' with existing receivers that forlornly look through the shortwave bands missing those wonderful days.
Cheers
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The exam is always in German, from what I can see. However, it is clearly said that the language of the exam has no bearing on the languages you are allowed to communicate in on the air - for that you must obtain the corresponding language proficiency certificate in addition to the radiotelephony certificate.
I believe the issue between "airports" and "aerodromes" is more about that the former can accept even international traffic, the latter not necessarily and little to do with whether you speak English or German. If you look in that list, you will see that many don't even have an ICAO code assigned. Usually these are small strips used by factories, aeroclubs, crop dusters, etc. The "airport" list contains only those which have the code and thus are larger fields.
If you have BZF1, you can go anywhere, because you are allowed to use both English & German (modulo those language proficiency exams). If you have BZF2, you can go only to German speaking places. There is also BZF-E that is English only, but I believe that one is only for special cases. And then commercial transport pilots have to do first one of the BZF certificates and then the AZF one.
Just talked to the pilot guy, he has a BZF-1, the exam was both in English in German. He's not sure about whether there's an English-only exam (so there probably isn't), but there is the German-only. So you are right on all points.
The radio license allows him to communicate only over airbands. I assume the points above are valid for most countries.
I think I've beaten this horse to death, I'll stop now. :)
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There is another reason contributing to the reduction in ham radio. An introduction to shortwave radio was frequently through listening to national stations from 'far off' or 'exotic' lands, this then led to listening to ham operators by adapting an existing receiver or buying one with a BFO.
The reduction in shortwave broadcast stations (now streamed on the internet) means that it is only us 'greybeards' with existing receivers that forlornly look through the shortwave bands missing those wonderful days.
Yes, that's true!
Maybe we should try to revive number stations!
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Hiya
There is another reason contributing to the reduction in ham radio. An introduction to shortwave radio was frequently through listening to national stations from 'far off' or 'exotic' lands, this then led to listening to ham operators by adapting an existing receiver or buying one with a BFO.
The reduction in shortwave broadcast stations (now streamed on the internet) means that it is only us 'greybeards' with existing receivers that forlornly look through the shortwave bands missing those wonderful days.
Cheers
Oh there is plenty of shortwave broadcast going on still. Here in France I can hear a lot of Arabic speaking stations, some Spanish, even Mandarin. BBC and Deutsche Welle are still on as well. It can be quite surprising when you suddenly get a jingle of Radio Beijing or some televangelist from the US out of the mess of wires on your bench.
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With some very simple modifications (pins 4 and 5 on the RTL2832 chip are an unused differential "Q" input that just needs some low pass filtration) a $10 RTLSDR USB dongle can receive HF fairly well, and its an SDR.
If you are a really good solderer, its probably easy. Basically the additional parts needed are a toroid core and a tiny bit of wire and some capacitors. You could also use pogo pins to make the connection.
You still need an antenna. A Chinese ham (BA7SBA) has been selling a kit for several years that incorporates a dongle and all the parts needed to do this really well, using a larger PCB with a square hole in it where you nest the dongle. I have one and also have the schematic, its a good design that maintains ESD protection for the input. You can DIY.
You really cant argue with a matchbox sized radio that can receive from below the AM broadcast band to over 1700 MHz. for $30.
Direct sampling radios are really good for tracking down ESD.
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I was just tuning around a few days ago and I heard the Cuban number station with the female voice. It was just booming in, really strong.
This picture is from a few years ago, different radio and software.
This is a shot of one of the weird digital data bursts they include with it. Who says the shortwave bands arent interesting. They totally are.
Also, there is an American equivalent. How does it go.. "Skyking, Skyking, do not answer"... then, numbers numbers..
very low tech... I try to record things when the audio quality is particularly good.. the airwaves really have a lot of interesting, sometimes really bizarre sounds.
Sometimes I have heard shortwave broadcasts that have an echo. Cant help but wonder whether that phenomena is natural (reception of the same signal via two separate paths?) or just two separate transmitters broadcasting the same thing on the same frequency slightly out of sync.
Quote from: borjam on Yesterday at 06:26:22 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=17613.msg1284984#msg1284984)
Maybe we should try to revive number stations!
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If you are a really good solderer, its probably easy. Basically the additional parts needed are a toroid core and a tiny bit of wire and some capacitors. You could also use pogo pins to make the connection.
It is probably easier to buy the device pre-modded. There are plenty of such on eBay and elsewhere. It is certainly better than trying to get some pogo pins stick to the microscopic traces/pins (never mind the parasitics introduced by that).
An even better option is to purchase (or build) an upconverter - about $20 will get you a better performing device (the modded Realtek dongle is quite deaf on HF).
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It's not that bad, actually. and there are fewer birdies than when using an upconverter, at least for me.
However, I now use a soft-rock type receiver for HF and its MUCH much better.
No comparison.
Quote from: janoc on 2017-08-26, 08:54:52 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=17613.msg1288578#msg1288578)>Quote from: cdev on 2017-08-22, 21:50:36 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=17613.msg1286173#msg1286173)If you are a
really good solderer, its probably easy. Basically the additional parts needed are a toroid core and a tiny bit of wire and some capacitors. You could also use pogo pins to make the connection.
It is probably easier to buy the device pre-modded. There are plenty of such on eBay and elsewhere. It is certainly better than trying to get some pogo pins stick to the microscopic traces/pins (never mind the parasitics introduced by that).
An even better option is to purchase (or build) an upconverter - about $20 will get you a better performing device (the modded Realtek dongle is quite deaf on HF).
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It's not that bad, actually. and there are fewer birdies than when using an upconverter, at least for me.
However, I now use a soft-rock type receiver for HF and its MUCH much better.
No comparison.
I have both the dongle+upconverter and a 40m SoftRock with the Si570 VFO and each is good for something else.
For me the dongle also seems to be more sensitive than the SoftRock (which is really really basic), but I have only an indoor magnetic loop as an antenna. If you have a proper antenna, the Softrock could well be better. Also not all the dongles are made equal.
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It's not that bad, actually. and there are fewer birdies than when using an upconverter, at least for me.
However, I now use a soft-rock type receiver for HF and its MUCH much better.
No comparison.
I have both the dongle+upconverter and a 40m SoftRock with the Si570 VFO and each is good for something else.
For me the dongle also seems to be more sensitive than the SoftRock (which is really really basic), but I have only an indoor magnetic loop as an antenna. If you have a proper antenna, the Softrock could well be better. Also not all the dongles are made equal.
I have a Softrock receiver and it works reasonably well, its performance is largely dependent on your sound subsystem in your computer. To a point it's only as good as your computer, after that the minimum detectable signal is limited to just under a microvolt.
It is fun to play with.
I'll stick to my Boat Anchors.
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Hello everyone :)
I am looking forward to meeting up with a local HAM radio group of the HF department at RWTH university here in Aachen tomorrow. I already looked at the topics I need to learn to take the "Klasse E" (CEPT-Novice) and "Klasse A" (CEPT-License) exam and will also be taking a course for SRC + UBI (short range certificate + inland VHF marine radio). The latter is not really related to the HAM radio license, but since I lately acquired an official license for recreational/sport boats, the marine radio license will come in handy in the future.
Since I need to travel quite some distance to take the HAM radio exam, I am thinking about skipping "Klasse E" and taking the full "big" exam instead.
I will have to work a little on that though :-/O
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Well, I am also interested in getting licensed, but as my interest is more in the higher bands, the novice license for 2m and 70cm only is really not in my interest either. I'd recommend you going straight for the full. I'd do the same.
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Appologise if these are huge generalisations, but it's a reasonably accurate picture, at least in the UK...
The people you hear talking on air, tend to be those who are mostly interested in AR as a way to comunicate with people. They tend not to be too interested in building kit.
Those who build stuff, are usually too busy to spend time on air.
So listening to AR stations only shows you one side of the hobby.
There are lots of interesting technical things going on, which you are not going to see through the HF/VHF/UHF shop window.
A few that I am involved with, which may be more interest for those with a technical bent:
Amateur satellite: Communicating through them, or even getting directly involved in designing and building them.
Microwave : Building kit for work above 1GHz.
Television : There is a well established group using analogue PAL (in the UK) to transmit video. And more recently moving into the digital TV world using DVB.
And Just these three subject areas have big overlaps. For example, there is a geostationary satellite transpoonder due to launch. This will be capable of carrying wide bandwidth AR signals. So transmitting digital TV at 2.4GHz is going to be a project. That is all three of the above!
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Using the relatively new digital mode FT8 tonight. Just worked two DX stations S58N Slovenia and 9Y4DG Trinidad & Tobago on 30m. :clap:
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Good deal, I need to read up on FT8 and see what it's all about.
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Well, I am also interested in getting licensed, but as my interest is more in the higher bands, the novice license for 2m and 70cm only is really not in my interest either. I'd recommend you going straight for the full. I'd do the same.
You don't have a novice license with privileges for everything from 2m up? Usually the HF (and modulation type/power) is restricted, not VHF/UHF bands.
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Okay, let me be blunt. The reason I don't have my ham ticket is because I don't drive.
Would it be too weird to ask local hams for a ride getting to the exam so I can take the frigging test. Ive been wanting to do this since I was a little kid.
If I do do that, how should I put it so it looks less pathetic? You see, ever since I was 18, I made it a point to live in places where there was good public transport. But I no longer do. My SO drives, but she is busy and frankly, she is not so excited about anything that will lead to my acquiring more "junk". Also, I could be there a while, as if I can pass the first test I want to keep taking the others until I fail. I think I might do well. I don't want to be nervous about imposing on her.
Its kind of embarrassing because where I live now, everybody drives. Everybody, even teenagers.
I don't drive ether, never could due to being partially sighted.
That didn't stop me from finding a way to get things done.
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Okay, let me be blunt. The reason I don't have my ham ticket is because I don't drive.
Is there no public transport, taxis, Uber, Lyft, neighbor you could ask a favor?
Seriously, that's a rather ridiculous reason ...
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An interesting bit of history.. why Europe is still eco-friendly and the US is enslaved to oil and gas.
My mother had an aphorism which I never really appreciated until my first visit to Europe.
She said: "In America 100 years is a long time. And in Europe, 100 miles is a long distance."
I have heard from European visitors that they have the same surprise upon visiting the US.
When we were arranging a tour for 40 visitors from Romania and South Africa, they asked
if they could land in San Francisco and could we just come and pick them up (from Portland, 630mi/1030km)
Or whether they could take a day-trip down to Los Angeles. (1020mi/1640km)
The entire country of England fits into my median-size state (Oregon) with a bit of room to spare.
You can visit three or four countries in Europe before you cross the county line where I live.
I was very impressed by early tales of entire countries like Luxembourg being 100% wired for internet.
Until I realized that the entire country fits into the eastern half of my county.
OTOH, they refer to the "new part of the city" as the portion that was built 500 years ago.
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When I sat my class A morse exam here in the UK I had to get to Colchester on a Sunday and I still couldn't drive a car back in those days. The person I was lift sharing with was ill on the day and I ended up riding a dirt (moto-x) bike up the A12 to Colchester because I didn't want to wait for another test date. The bike was road legal but it wasn't really meant for regular use on tarmac.
It was only about 30 miles but it was through an horrendous thunderstorm with torrential rain the whole trip. When I got there I was as wet as if I'd jumped in a swimming pool and even though it was summer, it was a very cold day and I was shaking with the cold. Even though I'd only travelled 30 miles I arrived looking like some kind of intrepid explorer who had swam ashore from a sunken boat. Luckily I did pass despite falling off the bike more than once on the way there. The tyres weren't meant to be used on wet tarmac and the roads were like ice because of this. If I could have got there for the equivalent of $50 via a taxicab I would have done this in a heartbeat but there wasn't time to arrange this. So I ended up mixing some 2 stroke premix fuel at the last minute and dashed up the A12 on the dirt bike. Happy days... ;D
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An interesting bit of history.. why Europe is still eco-friendly and the US is enslaved to oil and gas.
My mother had an aphorism which I never really appreciated until my first visit to Europe.
She said: "In America 100 years is a long time. And in Europe, 100 miles is a long distance."
I have heard from European visitors that they have the same surprise upon visiting the US.
When we were arranging a tour for 40 visitors from Romania and South Africa, they asked
if they could land in San Francisco and could we just come and pick them up (from Portland, 630mi/1030km)
Or whether they could take a day-trip down to Los Angeles. (1020mi/1640km)
The entire country of England fits into my median-size state (Oregon) with a bit of room to spare.
You can visit three or four countries in Europe before you cross the county line where I live.
I was very impressed by early tales of entire countries like Luxembourg being 100% wired for internet.
Until I realized that the entire country fits into the eastern half of my county.
OTOH, they refer to the "new part of the city" as the portion that was built 500 years ago.
Keep in mind that most Europium countries tax their population so much, and for so long they are use to a standard of living different from out own.
Owning a vehicle in many countries over there is out of reach of all but those who are well off simply due to all the taxation. This may be due to fewer people in many of those countries as compared to where I am here in The People's Republic of Kalifornia (The State of California) with 35 million people to suck revenue from, more people here than in the whole of Canada.
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Close, we're at almost 37 million. http://countrymeters.info/en/Canada (http://countrymeters.info/en/Canada)
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An interesting bit of history.. why Europe is still eco-friendly and the US is enslaved to oil and gas.
My mother had an aphorism which I never really appreciated until my first visit to Europe.
She said: "In America 100 years is a long time. And in Europe, 100 miles is a long distance."
I have heard from European visitors that they have the same surprise upon visiting the US.
When we were arranging a tour for 40 visitors from Romania and South Africa, they asked
if they could land in San Francisco and could we just come and pick them up (from Portland, 630mi/1030km)
Or whether they could take a day-trip down to Los Angeles. (1020mi/1640km)
The entire country of England fits into my median-size state (Oregon) with a bit of room to spare.
You can visit three or four countries in Europe before you cross the county line where I live.
I was very impressed by early tales of entire countries like Luxembourg being 100% wired for internet.
Until I realized that the entire country fits into the eastern half of my county.
OTOH, they refer to the "new part of the city" as the portion that was built 500 years ago.
Keep in mind that most Europium countries tax their population so much, and for so long they are use to a standard of living different from out own.
Owning a vehicle in many countries over there is out of reach of all but those who are well off simply due to all the taxation. This may be due to fewer people in many of those countries as compared to where I am here in The People's Republic of Kalifornia (The State of California) with 35 million people to suck revenue from, more people here than in the whole of Canada.
Europe is a lot more car oriented than it used to be, I can't really say why, as the only really valid experience I have of Europe is the UK.
When I was there for a year back in 1971, people would own a car, but still take Public Transport to work & back.
On the weekend, they would ceremoniously "get the car out" & drive to some (from Oz standards), ridiculously close destination, spending half the day to get there due to being stuck in ginormous traffic jams.
I lived in Southampton, & the destination of choice was Bournemouth----they'd get there around midday, look at the sea for 5 minutes, buy something to eat, then get stuck into the traffic jam back home.
I would ask "Why not drive up to London on the Motorway instead?"
They would reply that they weren't interested in London, "It was pretty overrated".
Now, with the decline in Public Transport in that country, they use their cars a lot more.
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Close, we're at almost 37 million. http://countrymeters.info/en/Canada (http://countrymeters.info/en/Canada)
I was shocked when I bought a coat while visiting friends in Vancouver BC.
13% sales tax and that was back in 2001, no telling what it is now.
If you all had 300+ million the shared cost of running the country would be much less.
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An interesting bit of history.. why Europe is still eco-friendly and the US is enslaved to oil and gas.
My mother had an aphorism which I never really appreciated until my first visit to Europe.
She said: "In America 100 years is a long time. And in Europe, 100 miles is a long distance."
I have heard from European visitors that they have the same surprise upon visiting the US.
When we were arranging a tour for 40 visitors from Romania and South Africa, they asked
if they could land in San Francisco and could we just come and pick them up (from Portland, 630mi/1030km)
Or whether they could take a day-trip down to Los Angeles. (1020mi/1640km)
The entire country of England fits into my median-size state (Oregon) with a bit of room to spare.
You can visit three or four countries in Europe before you cross the county line where I live.
I was very impressed by early tales of entire countries like Luxembourg being 100% wired for internet.
Until I realized that the entire country fits into the eastern half of my county.
OTOH, they refer to the "new part of the city" as the portion that was built 500 years ago.
Keep in mind that most Europium countries tax their population so much, and for so long they are use to a standard of living different from out own.
Owning a vehicle in many countries over there is out of reach of all but those who are well off simply due to all the taxation. This may be due to fewer people in many of those countries as compared to where I am here in The People's Republic of Kalifornia (The State of California) with 35 million people to suck revenue from, more people here than in the whole of Canada.
Europe is a lot more car oriented than it used to be, I can't really say why, as the only really valid experience I have of Europe is the UK.
When I was there for a year back in 1971, people would own a car, but still take Public Transport to work & back.
On the weekend, they would ceremoniously "get the car out" & drive to some (from Oz standards), ridiculously close destination, spending half the day to get there due to being stuck in ginormous traffic jams.
I lived in Southampton, & the destination of choice was Bournemouth----they'd get there around midday, look at the sea for 5 minutes, buy something to eat, then get stuck into the traffic jam back home.
I would ask "Why not drive up to London on the Motorway instead?"
They would reply that they weren't interested in London, "It was pretty overrated".
Now, with the decline in Public Transport in that country, they use their cars a lot more.
Good to know Thanks. :-+
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I would ask "Why not drive up to London on the Motorway instead?"
They would reply that they weren't interested in London, "It was pretty overrated".
Now, with the decline in Public Transport in that country, they use their cars a lot more.
Dunno about "overrated", but London traffic is as bad as anywhere I have ever been.
I made the serious mistake of driving across London one weekday.
Now I understand why they have that big peripheral ring highway.
It is probably faster to drive several km out to the M25 than to try to drive through downtown.
It was challenging enough for this Yankee driver to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.
But it was made even worse by the nearly complete lack of signage.
London (and England and Europe, for that matter) are notorious for lack of street signs.
You are lucky if you can spot a placcard on the corner of a building (if they even have them).
And all the traffic flow information (left two lanes for Croydon, etc.) is painted on the pavement.
So, in heavy traffic you have zero opportunity to even see it, much less comprehend it in time to change lanes.
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I would ask "Why not drive up to London on the Motorway instead?"
They would reply that they weren't interested in London, "It was pretty overrated".
Now, with the decline in Public Transport in that country, they use their cars a lot more.
Dunno about "overrated", but London traffic is as bad as anywhere I have ever been.
I made the serious mistake of driving across London one weekday.
Now I understand why they have that big peripheral ring highway.
It is probably faster to drive several km out to the M25 than to try to drive through downtown.
It was challenging enough for this Yankee driver to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.
But it was made even worse by the nearly complete lack of signage.
London (and England and Europe, for that matter) are notorious for lack of street signs.
You are lucky if you can spot a placcard on the corner of a building (if they even have them).
And all the traffic flow information (left two lanes for Croydon, etc.) is painted on the pavement.q
So, in heavy traffic you have zero opportunity to even see it, much less comprehend it in time to change lanes.
The "Southampton-items" had quite a peculiar attitude to London.
It may well have gone by now, as the "Gen X" & "Millenials" are probably less set in their ways.
It is many years since I drove in London, but I remember getting caught with one of those illuminated "One Way" signs stuck on the corner of a building.
It looked uncannily like the logo of a burger shop chain called "Wimpies" which used to exist.
The London traffic was bad, even in those far-off days, although the drivers themselves were pretty good.
This was not always the case in other British cities.
I remember coming off the Motorway to go into Southampton, & being confronted by a farmer happily towing a huge trailer full of hay behind a tractor right across a big roundabout at about 5mph, looking neither to left or right as he went on his way.
Talking about roundabouts---there was one on the other side of town which had a hill in the middle.
Another delight, which I'm sure has gone by now, was three lane roads, where the middle lane was for passing in either direction.
The idea is OK, but they placed them in the weirdest places, including on a strange, boomerang shaped bridge-----that was seriously scary!
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Hi,
I am a ham too (DL1DWG), I took my test ca. 2 years ago, and I have not done a single QSO yet.
Why ? I love building stuff much more than using it. So I promised to myself that I will finish
a homebrew rig first and then go on air.
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/
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Hi,
I am a ham too (DL1DWG), I took my test ca. 2 years ago, and I have not done a single QSO yet.
Why ? I love building stuff much more than using it. So I promised to myself that I will finish
a homebrew rig first and then go on air.
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/
One of the rag chew groups I belong to have a few members who are active home brewers.
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Cool, :-+
what do your ham colleagues make ?
Unfortunately I am a TEA myself. Its just too much fun ! :)
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Not unfortunate at all. Welcome, Wolfgang!
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Wolfgang...your in good company...I too have had my tech license and now general since 2004. Never had a QSO, but I still want to! May be we should try to link up over HF for the inaugural QSO :)
Matt
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Matt, you wont believe it,
i bought an ANTENNA recently ! :) It is a Diamond CP-6S (real amateurs please stop laughing).
Now some type of work starts where I was never good at: mechanical stuff.
But I will manage, I promise. ;)
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Hehehe...the best thing I could rig up would be to hang a dipole! Keep me posted!!
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I realized the other day, I never, and I mean never, hear about a ham hobbyist on electronics forums.
Thoughts?
Let me apologize for not reading all those hundreds of posts, it could be there is the same "thought" as this my thought:
There is a lot of ham radio hobbyist in electronics forums, sure. There is a subtle issue with the "call signs" vs. privacy, however. Based on the call sign you may identify the hobbyist, his name and home address inclusive (and sometimes his phone number, and email address - it depends on the various "call book information" data setups, either local or international). So no privacy anymore.. Therefore a lot of ham radio operators do not disclose their call sign when discussing on various forums not directly related to HAM radio.
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Hi Sue,
just had a look at your ham shack with tons of rare vintage Heathkit equipment - just great :-+ Congratulations
But I have one question: What is the hammer lying on the table for ? ;)
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I am a ham, too. KB4EMF in US and JF2DKG in Japan. Latter is long expired.
I started with electronics, and got into ham radio almost as an extension of that. I recall (in the 70s) I built and rebuilt antennas every weekend. Tinkered with lots of stuff. Then life took over. I've tried to revive my hobby few times but petered out in short time. This time is little different. The WHOLE THING started because I found this forum which lead me to know WORKING SPECTRUM ANALYZER can be had for little over $1000!! I couldn't believe it. Then I got oscilloscopes, another one, another one, the current count is 9 I think. DVM joined, RF signal generator joined, etc, etc, etc. Wow.... a dream lab is mine came true!
I am not on air much at all. I just enjoy THIS side of the hobby. Why do I need 9 scopes and 2 spec analyzers? Hey, hobbies are not supposed to make sense. I want it, therefore I got it. (the fact that I'm single helps a lot) I don't care how anyone else enjoys or not enjoy his/her hobby. This is how I spend my spare time.
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The WHOLE THING started because I found this forum which lead me to know WORKING SPECTRUM ANALYZER can be had for little over $1000!! I couldn't believe it. Then I got oscilloscopes, another one, another one, the current count is 9 I think. DVM joined, RF signal generator joined, etc, etc, etc. Wow.... a dream lab is mine came true!
...
Why do I need 9 scopes and 2 spec analyzers? Hey, hobbies are not supposed to make sense. I want it, therefore I got it. (the fact that I'm single helps a lot) I don't care how anyone else enjoys or not enjoy his/her hobby. This is how I spend my spare time.
It's OK, you are among friends, please visit this thread -
The Official Test Equipment Anonymous Group Therapy thread (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/)
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Hi Sue,
just had a look at your ham shack with tons of rare vintage Heathkit equipment - just great :-+ Congratulations
But I have one question: What is the hammer lying on the table for ? ;)
Everyone always asks about the rubber mallet. .....
:D
Speaking of Heath gear....
I just acquired an SB-110A 6 meter transceiver, non working I might point out... The SB-110A is a future project.
Oh yah...
The mallet was used to align the spacers for the shelves.
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Oh yah...
The mallet was used to align the spacers for the shelves.
And other misbehaving things thereafter. ;)
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I am a ham as well. Though I have a modern SDR rig I like to restore and operate older gear, radios, amplifiers, etc.
I enjoy building antennas, and various small electronics projects to improve my station... mods to improve gear, etc.
It’s a fun hobby if you get into a decent ragchew group of people with similar interests.
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My dad was a ham back then, when I was a kid and I was totally fascinated by these rigs, with thousands of knobs, buttons lights and scales. I spent nights, listening far stations on my shortwave radio or listening my dad ragchewing with his friends from all over the world. When I was 23, I made my license and started on 2m band. HF equipment was just not affordable at that time. Now I have all the ham equipent I ever dreamed of (well, almost) but so less time to spend for the hobby. Radio propagation is also poor with what feels to be the longest low sun spot period ever and a S9 noise floor (qrm) on alomst all HF bands. Thanks to PLC, and LED lights.
EU is loosening EMI regulations more and more, killing ham radio and Austrian government is currently heavily changing laws and regulations for ham radio to the worse. :-(
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The QRM (man made noise) here is also S7-9 on most of the HF bands. FT8 punches through but I find it impersonal - even PSK31 was better from a contact with a person view point.
I have had a bit of luck with a horizontal loop - about 30-40m of wire - fed with 450 \$\Omega\$ to a 1:1 balun then an auto-tuner to coax into the shack. It is relatively noise resistant as it has a low pass cut off, esp good if you are running an SDR type rig. Perhaps 1-2 S units less noise than a vertical.
73 Rob
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@Wolfgang
Congrats for nice work here -> https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/2018/08/03/a-homebrew-fet-probe-to-1-5ghz/
Like to test your last probe version... are you able to sell one to 9A ?
73
9A4DB
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It was challenging enough for this Yankee driver to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.
I found that to be freakishly hard, far more difficult than it seems like it would be when you think about it. I mean sure, just drive on the opposite side, whatever, except the devil is in the details. It's hard to override years or decades of experience turning left into the left-hand lane, or turning right after just glancing to the left. I only tried driving there for a short while but I was sweating, having to completely focus on what I was doing. I hadn't felt like that since I was a kid in drivers ed and got on the road for the first time.
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All my designs are free for noncommercial use.
If you want, I can send you the ExpressPCB file and you can roll your ownmor even modify it.
Please send PM
Wolfgang
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I found that to be freakishly hard, far more difficult than it seems like it would be when you think about it. I mean sure, just drive on the opposite side, whatever, except the devil is in the details. It's hard to override years or decades of experience turning left into the left-hand lane, or turning right after just glancing to the left. I only tried driving there for a short while but I was sweating, having to completely focus on what I was doing. I hadn't felt like that since I was a kid in drivers ed and got on the road for the first time.
Yes, and I had my passenger constantly reminding me at every turn: "Turn into the LEFT side of the road." Even that was unreliable when I encountered narrow streets where on the left side of the street were solid with cars parked half up on the sidewalk (BrEnglish: "pavement"), and parked the "wrong way".
But then I started noticing the second-order effects like position-in-lane where you have to remember which side of the vehicle you are driving from. I kept driving up onto the curb (BrEnglish: "kerb").
I remember my first trip to London and seeing big white letters painted on the kerb: "Look Right! --->". I asked a policeman (BrEnglish: "bobby") why the warning when everyone had grown up with traffic approaching on the right all their lives. He said: "Oh, it's not for us. It's for you Yanks. You don't know how many of you we loose every year because you always look the wrong way."
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A friend of mine had a similar story from when he went to Australia on business. He stepped off the curb to cross the street and one of his colleagues grabbed his arm and yanked him back so he wouldn't be run down by a car that was coming. So many simple things are almost hardwired after years of practice.
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I found that to be freakishly hard, far more difficult than it seems like it would be when you think about it. I mean sure, just drive on the opposite side, whatever, except the devil is in the details. It's hard to override years or decades of experience turning left into the left-hand lane, or turning right after just glancing to the left. I only tried driving there for a short while but I was sweating, having to completely focus on what I was doing. I hadn't felt like that since I was a kid in drivers ed and got on the road for the first time.
Yes, and I had my passenger constantly reminding me at every turn: "Turn into the LEFT side of the road." Even that was unreliable when I encountered narrow streets where on the left side of the street were solid with cars parked half up on the sidewalk (BrEnglish: "pavement"), and parked the "wrong way".
But then I started noticing the second-order effects like position-in-lane where you have to remember which side of the vehicle you are driving from. I kept driving up onto the curb (BrEnglish: "kerb").
I remember my first trip to London and seeing big white letters painted on the kerb: "Look Right! --->". I asked a policeman (BrEnglish: "bobby") why the warning when everyone had grown up with traffic approaching on the right all their lives. He said: "Oh, it's not for us. It's for you Yanks. You don't know how many of you we loose every year because you always look the wrong way."
Back in the day, Brits going for a trip on "the Continent" could buy stickers to place on the top inside of their Windscreen, which read
"Today I will drive on the right!"
People from Oz are frequently caught by the habit of Brits pulling across the road & parking facing oncoming traffic.("the wrong way round")
This is forbidden in Oz.
In turn, they have trouble with the way we tuck our car's nose into a parking space, instead of pulling up & "Parallel parking".
I have noticed a habit among migrants from various other countries of always backing into spaces at a car park, instead of, again, "nose first" Oz style.
I think it is something they are taught for their licence test.
Back on topic, I am very inactive with Ham Radio, as the room I use is currently being used for storage.
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Wow, I started this thread more than five years ago. :D
Since then I did get back into the hobby. I completed three WAS awards (JT65, JT9, and FT8). Also I got my DXCC and am currently up to 178 confirmed on LoTW.
My current HF equipment consists of an FT-450 and recently I got an IC-7300 SDR transceiver. I built all of my own HF antennas using the fan dipole design. So I'm back into the hobby big time. If you are thinking about getting into ham radio do it - it's a great hobby!
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Couldn't agree more. Arguably it's probably the best time ever, bar the current solar minimum. Decent transceivers cost very little, parts are at an all time low price, parts are at the highest availability ever, the reading material out there is much better than it ever has been and there's a surplus of quite excellent stuff floating around.
What I think the turning point for a lot of people recently is was when they dropped the CW (morse) requirements in most countries in the last few years. This is a biggie. A lot of operators these days don't want to whack keys and want to go and play with DMR, FT8 and things. To take the CW tests on top of the weight of the knowledge that is required in this day and age is quite difficult for a lot of people so no one bothered. In fact when I did my license courses recently (I'm relatively new at this), most people only did them because CW wasn't a requirement any more. Personally, I'm a big fan of CW now even though I wasn't historically. It cuts through everything else like a knife and it's actually fun BUT I very much couldn't handle it until I'd got my head around the technicalities because I didn't have the time or the energy for it. I've made a couple of contacts at a miserable 2W of power out now and I'm hooked on it like crack.
One barrier for entry for me has been some of the older hams. I spent a good few months approaching local amateur radio clubs and found that they were mostly populated by elitist, racist, sexist old wankers who couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. Typically it took 6 months of fannying around to try and get my foundation license done initially.
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Advancement in communications and electronics both have given rise to the downturn of Amature Radio. I refer to it as the dumbing down of a not too distant soon to be an obsolete area of interest to our governments. Government is the only thing that allows us the privilege of this hobby and Government will take it away when our frequencies are needed for cash-generating purposes or national security.
That may not be your opinion and I AM GOOD WITH THAT. You still have to admit the hobby is not close to what it once was. FCC testing has been reduced to literally NOTHING which requires learning anything. 2 reads of a small book with test questions and answers, if you kept attention, and you will pass the exam. Even when I took my exams the test was a joke.
The dumbing down of testing, dropping requirements that licensees learn morse code and for that matter, anything about electronics or radio theory has allowed the Citizens Band crowd into the hobby. My guess is that was the only way to sustain any number of hobbyist as others went silent or lost interest without friends who actually knew something about radio. Today we see the trucking industry increasing the numbers of drivers who communicate with each other using ham bands for communication instead of Citizens band. Why not the range and quality of communications are certainly better using nationwide VHF or UHF repeaters.
For the real hams, those interested in electronics and understanding radio theory and understanding the complexities of transmission no one is really left for them to relate to. It truly is time to HAMMER DOWN ON EVERY HAM RADIO IN EXISTENCE for many. The hobby is near death and the most exciting thing it offers is a swap meet or contact with another ham via the ISS.
I suspect the final blow to ham radio will be when the equipment begins showing a sign of inability to hold any monetary value. Then many will drop out because they will not want to lose any investment in gear later when they decide to sell off.
It was a good ride for a while for a few old timers who are left!
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https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gatekeeping (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gatekeeping)
My experience is entirely the opposite to yours, even as a former CB pest :box:
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My interest in the hobby comes and goes. There's something almost magical about picking up distant signals out of thin air, and lots of room for interesting experiments with antennas and filters and whatnot. I can't help thinking it all must have been a lot more exciting decades ago, before I could just pull a mobile phone out of my pocket and call, text or email someone anywhere in the world instantly.
I had a similar experience when I went to take my test a few years ago, the club was mostly grumpy old geezers with elitist attitudes who seemed more interested in talking about what I "needed" to do next to advance in the hobby rather than talking to me about what I was interested in doing.
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Hi,
in my view being a radio amateur is an opportunity to legally play with all kinds of electronics that emit radio waves. In the ages of IOT, all kinds of far and near communication devices, protocols, ... there are huge fields of research on an awful lot of topics from hardware to signal processing, classic IT like protocol stacks, application layers, ... you name it.
If find this fast-evolving and very interesting, and I learn something new every day.
I must admit, however, that my fields of interest are not shared with a lot of radio amateurs. Of course, there are these cliques of old men telling hi-flies without any background, measurebaters, endless ragchews which equipment is better, completely uninteresting stuff to me.
Thank god not all are like this, and over time and found some very interesting guys on the web which made my hobby even more fun !
So, I think that amateur radio is not at all dead. Its only like the rest of life - there are a lot of average people who never did anything extraordinary in there whole life, and some jewels that changed the world. Ham radio is no difference.
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I'm mainly interested in data communications and just stick to the ISM bands. I don't see much use for ham radio - you have to constantly transmit your call sign, no encryption, and no unattended transmission? what can you even use it for other than as a walkie talkie?
I haven't gotten into ham radio mainly because (1) the no encryption rule makes it pretty useless for me (2) you are required to let the inspector enter your home and check out your setup without any probable cause.
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The constantly transmitting a callsign rule has always seemed a bit antiquated to me. Surely in these modern times we could have the callsign embedded in a subcarrier or something? That said, I'm not sure if anyone is actually policing that aspect, I occasionally hear guys chatting on the local repeater but most of the time most of the band is dead air.
I'd be cuious to know the average age of hams too, I've met some young guys who are into it, there was even a 20-something girl in the group I tested with, but the club that hosted the test appeared to be entirely populated by guys over 70. I think the hobby got very popular after WWII when so much neat surplus gear was available, and remained strong through the Heathkit/Eico/Knight/Dynaco/etc kit days in the 1970s but it seems popularity of the traditional ham stuff sank throughout the 80s and 90s until the dirt cheap Chinese radios came along.
One of my related hobbies is scanner listening, I used to spend many hours finding all kinds of cool stuff to listen to. The channels have steadily gone silent though as more and more stuff moves to digital/encrypted communications. I used to listen frequently to the metro bus drivers, taxi services, local fire, police, medics, etc and now the emergency services I can hear on the trunked repeater but the bus services all went digital. The business band is still fairly active, that and FRS radios. I hear lots of employee to employee communications in local stores.
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It annoys me when they start encrypting anything. I think being able to listen in on the police for example is not only interesting, but keeps me up to date on what's going on around me and fosters a respect for law enforcement, hearing all the crazy stuff they deal with every day. A scanner is how my grandmother heard that Mt. St Helens had erupted, and all sorts of other interesting news. The airwaves used to be full of cool stuff to listen to.
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I have been licensed since 1972. Took the test at the end of 1971 - the test paper is attached for anyone interested in what the exam was like in the UK in those days. Just one test. Pass this plus morse and you were good to go. No morse, and you were restricted to 70MHz and above.
I got 98%. I often wondered where that other 2% went :-)
Call issued was G8FVM (I still have it).
Since then I have had a French call (had to be interviewed by the DSG, equivalent of the CIA or MI5, as a no French citizen), and my US call when I moved to America (K7UF - Extra).
What I have seen be a big problem is the gap between the "technician" class and those licensed for HF.
Many of the VHF only licensees have really less technical interest. They want a better CB. I actually don't have too much of a problem with that. They go out and buy a hand-held transceiver and discover the range between this, and a similar one a friend bought who passed the test at the same time is 1/4 mile at best. They have to use repeaters. Then they find that the repeaters are either empty, of occupied by a bunch of old men who either ignore calls from newcomers, or pretty much tell them to get lost.
They become quickly disillusioned and the hand-held transceiver ends up stuffed in a drawer and forgotten.
They would have had a much better experience if they has spent a tiny bit more money and bought something not a hand-held or mobile FM unit, but capable of SSB. That combined with a decent (horizontally polarized) antenna would suddenly extend their range out to 50 or 60 miles, and way beyond when conditions are good.
Horizontal polarization is actually much better for VHF propagation over any sort of distance, but vertical became the defacto standard because of simpler mobile antennas and hand-held rubber ducks.
The other killer was that cell phone usage used to be expensive, so ham radio (VHF + repeater) was a good alternative to long chats. These days, cell phone airtime is pretty much "free" (once you have paid the humongous monthly fee).
I started with a home made 1W FM transmitter and a down-converter to HF for the receiver. Transmitters were crystal controlled. VHF operating was quite different. The best I did was about 160 miles direct contact (using horizontal polarization).
HF operating is quite different. You really can't skimp on the antenna, because HF repeaters really are not a thing. But wire antennas are not hard to make. You just need a bit of space.
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Wow, I started this thread more than five years ago. :D
Since then I did get back into the hobby. I completed three WAS awards (JT65, JT9, and FT8). Also I got my DXCC and am currently up to 178 confirmed on LoTW.
My current HF equipment consists of an FT-450 and recently I got an IC-7300 SDR transceiver. I built all of my own HF antennas using the fan dipole design. So I'm back into the hobby big time. If you are thinking about getting into ham radio do it - it's a great hobby!
Congratulations with your DXCC, I got my license years ago but don't get myself to spent some time setting a shack up. I just upgraded my IC-7300 to firmware version 1.30. I bought it just to take it apart, to see where the magic happens ;D
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Have we completely lost sight of the (IMHO) single most important contemporary benefit of ham radio? Emergency communications.
Have we become completely accustomed (entitled) to the "internet" and cellular wireless voice/data? In no way are these any kind of substitute or replacement for the mobile, independent, over-the-air, point-to-point communication provided by ham radio.
Essentially the entire internet on this planet flows through 10-12 central buildings. An attack (whether physical or digital) on several of them would essentially sever the world-wide connectivity. And at the other end of the line, while traditional telco central offices may have battery backup to last a few days or a week, the cell sites we rely on for voice and wireless data have no significant backup even if they survive any physical trauma. Both wired and wireless commercial "last-mile" services are quite vulnerable to all manner of disasters.
And it troubles me that the utility power producers and distribution seem so vulnerable to online attack from both government-sponsored and free-lance hostilities. Several insiders I have heard worry that online attacks on the power grid may be our most vulnerable spot.
But the sorry state of local ham organizations does little of benefit to promote or even maintain emergency communication preparedness that I can see.
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Congratulations with your DXCC, I got my license years ago but don't get myself to spent some time setting a shack up.
It's getting really hard to get more DX entities now, I got all the low-hanging fruit already and now mostly DXpeditions is what I need to keep going.
I just upgraded my IC-7300 to firmware version 1.30. I bought it just to take it apart, to see where the magic happens ;D
Yes it's a true SDR and I love the waterfall. I mostly use digital modes such as JT65 and the newer mode FT8 -
https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html
They have added a special DXpedition mode to FT8 so that DXpeditions can handle many more calls and will start using it in addition to the classic modes SSB, RTTY, and CW. I've aleady got several DXpeditions using FT8.
And yes I do have the latest firmware loaded! :-+
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Have we completely lost sight of the (IMHO) single most important contemporary benefit of ham radio? Emergency communications.
Is that even such a big benefit anymore? It used to be very useful when everything was landlines and mostly only hams had 2-way radio gear, but these days it might accomplish more to bring in a mobile cell site or set up and adhoc wifi network. Even during major disasters there are so many other forms of communication that I'm not convinced there is a great value in having a few guys with radios. It would take a pretty major disaster to knock out all the cellular service in a whole region.
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That happened in Toronto in 2000-ish, there was electricity blackout at US-Canada border. All cell phone service was dead within 3 hours. The Only source of information was a guy sitting on top of CN Tower (TV tower in Toronto) broadcasting informational updates using a Ham handheld transciever. Other Ham volunteers drove to downtown to supply him fresh batteries. I had an ICOM mobile in my car and a UHF antenna mounted on the trunk, i was able to listen to his updates, i still have vivid memories of that day.
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Have we completely lost sight of the (IMHO) single most important contemporary benefit of ham radio? Emergency communications.
Is that even such a big benefit anymore? It used to be very useful when everything was landlines and mostly only hams had 2-way radio gear, but these days it might accomplish more to bring in a mobile cell site or set up and adhoc wifi network. Even during major disasters there are so many other forms of communication that I'm not convinced there is a great value in having a few guys with radios. It would take a pretty major disaster to knock out all the cellular service in a whole region.
Tell that to the Portorico people after the last year's hurricane. Amateur radio was the only working link to the island for quite a while until the normal comms were re-established. The same when Katrina flooded New Orleans. And many other disasters.
Of course you can set up a mobile cell site and wifi and what not. But that is missing the point entirely. The idea with HAM emergency communications is that the radio is in place, with its operator, ready to go from the start of the catastrophe. Not a week or two later when emergency services get there and manage to set up their generators and what not. Until that happens the HAMs are providing a critical service because they are often the only ones on the ground with any means to communicate with the outside world.
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I'm mainly interested in data communications and just stick to the ISM bands. I don't see much use for ham radio - you have to constantly transmit your call sign, no encryption, and no unattended transmission? what can you even use it for other than as a walkie talkie?
I haven't gotten into ham radio mainly because (1) the no encryption rule makes it pretty useless for me (2) you are required to let the inspector enter your home and check out your setup without any probable cause.
If you need encryption then you don't need HAM radio. It is that simple. HAM radio is not meant to be a replacement for commercial bands/services (and, in fact, it is explicitly prohibited to use it for such purposes). If you need to transfer data, there are plenty of other bands and types of equipment that are designed for that.
Think of HAM radio as a research laboratory/sandbox, not a replacement for commercial services. What you can use it for has been debated here many times - there is much more to it than a "walkie-talkie". You are also wrong about the lack of unattended operation - that is obviously possible (how do you think the various beacons, repeaters, packet radio stations, HAM radio satellites, APRS trackers and what not operate?) but there are specific rules that have to be followed.
Re inspectors - don't know the Canadian law but where I live, the inspectors show up and demand you to show the type approval/certification papers for your ISM gear as well. They can also demand that you let them perform any necessary measurements. And heavens help you if they find that you have modified the ISM gear in any non-approved way (= very much in any way, modifying ISM stuff is illegal) or are using non-approved antennas (e.g. with higher gain) with it. The rules around the inspections are very much the same as for HAM stuff just in the HAM rules it is usually explicitly spelled out.
Under normal conditions the inspectors will turn up only if there is an interference complaint - and then it makes no difference at all whether you are operating under the HAM license or messing with ISM gear. You will be ordered to turn the equipment off and possibly get a fine either way if you are found to be at fault.
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I'm mainly interested in data communications and just stick to the ISM bands. I don't see much use for ham radio - you have to constantly transmit your call sign, no encryption, and no unattended transmission? what can you even use it for other than as a walkie talkie?
I haven't gotten into ham radio mainly because (1) the no encryption rule makes it pretty useless for me (2) you are required to let the inspector enter your home and check out your setup without any probable cause.
Hmmm - methinks you are missing the main point of a hobby.
Ham radio can be many things - but it's mainly a hobby for the enjoyment of the person utilizing the license. For example, the awards such as WAS (Worked All States) or DXCC (DX Century Club contacting 100 countries + more). Of what use are such awards to anyone really. Why did I waste all the hundreds of hours doing what it took to get the awards when they serve no real purpose.
Well, it's like a painter painting a picture for him/her self. Why do it? What purpose does the picture serve to anyone else after the picture is painted and hanging on the wall or perhaps put in a closet? Why not go out and just buy a picture already painted? Would you go up to a painter and chastise them for wasting time painting?
It's really the enjoyment and challenge of painting the picture - it doesn't have to serve a purpose for the greater good of society.
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Ham radio can be many things - but it's mainly a hobby for the enjoyment and education of the person utilizing the license.
Just thought to add an important part. One doesn't learn as much by using off-the-shelf "black box" commercial gear as by building, debugging and operating own equipment.
Also HAM radio is often about performing research and experiments - when it comes to radio, a lot of things are first tried by HAMs (even when working for a university, for ex) and then the results trickle down to the commercial gear.
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I had had getting the ham license in my to-do list for the past 30 years until I finally decided to take the test and go for the general class. My main motivation for getting the license was technical, like being able to use the new digimodes and experimenting with SDR and QRP techniques. Emergency communications was a secondary aspect of getting the license. I will probably buy a QRP SDR transceiver and start experimenting with Raspberry Pi.
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Have we completely lost sight of the (IMHO) single most important contemporary benefit of ham radio? Emergency communications.
Of course not:
The USA has ARES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_Radio_Emergency_Service
And even my super tiny country has DARES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARES
The main reason I keep radio equipment in house is in case SHTF.
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The attached always makes me laugh about ARES.
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LOL! Fortunately, it's just a composited pic (and not very well done).
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Funny thing... I've always been suspicious of the idea that amateur radio operators would be considered useful to public safety workers who already have their own sophisticated radio systems. But recently, I've been going to some emergency prep meetings in my city, and the firemen actually seem to like the ARES folks and find them useful.
When the fireman presses the PTT on his pre-programmed Motorola and nobody responds, he's done. He hasn't the time or the training to figure out that an antenna connection is lose or whatever else might have gone wrong.
The ARES guy, nerd that he is, knows his equipment, and when he hands a microphone over to a public safety person, it is going to work.
To my surprise, the fireman present at the meetings pointed to multiple situations where this has actually happened.
So... huh.
-- dave
WE6EE
The attached always makes me laugh about ARES.
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That's an interesting aspect: keeping gear going during medium- to long-term emergencies.
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Remember that municipal systems rarely (never?) connect any farther than their own jurisdiction. And that is the best case. In large-scale emergencies, long-distance communication is frequently knocked out and ham radio is the only means of communication beyond the affected area.
We hear frequent horror stories about different services (police, fire, medical) with different radio systems having no way to talk to each other in major incidents/emergencies. Ham radio is indispensable in both of these cases. But many municipalities are taking advantage of updating to new digital radio systems to integrate communication between all the services.
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Police, firefighters, meds and such can talk to each other as much as they want, good for them . The problem is they have no means to UPDATE THE PUBLIC, this was what the Toronto incident demonstrated. Ham radio can bridge the gap and should be seriously considered.
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Police, firefighters, meds and such can talk to each other as much as they want, good for them . The problem is they have no means to UPDATE THE PUBLIC, this was what the Toronto incident demonstrated. Ham radio can bridge the gap and should be seriously considered.
Well, but that assumes that their trunked base station(s) has not been knocked out too. Once that happens they are carrying only very crappy walkie-talkies that don't work for any significant distance (especially in built-up areas) and that often don't work at all once the infrastructure is out - the radios are not freely tunable, they expect some control signals to be in place, etc. In such situations even a basic supermarket walkie-talkie may do more service than their kit.
Also it is (unfortunately) still quite common in many places that the fire/meds/police radios are actually not interoperable and they aren't able to talk to each other directly without going through dispatch (which may not be available/in range/etc.). Or they have to carry/share multiple radios on the scene when e.g. the fire commander wants to talk to the paramedics or police.
And that assumes that the service in question even has radios in the first place - e.g. in my home country (Slovakia) the state has deemed acceptable that some services didn't have radios at all and were relying on cell phones instead. Which works great (and is much cheaper) when everything is hunky-dory but then the cellular network stopped working once (because of a technical fault, fortunately not because of a major catastrophe) and a person has died because they were unable to dispatch an ambulance. Suddenly they started to put the radios back in service in a hurry. I just hope that the idiot who has approved this insanity got fired but given the corruption levels I have my doubts ...
Informing the public is probably easier done using bullhorns/speakers/normal (emergency) radio channels - keep in mind that HAM radio is not generally interoperable with these service radios, so you would have to set up the HAM radio op with one of their radios to act as a relay. Also one HAM radio op can inform only so many people. Broadcasting the news on regular broadcast radio will reach much more people.
Furthermore, this also poses additional challenges because generally you do not want to make everything public by default but you need to control the flow of information - e.g. an unconfirmed report or a worried call from a police officer on site about a levee that looks in danger of breaching during a storm/hurricane (or a large fire/bomb/whatever) could unleash a widespread panic, making the bad situation much worse - even more so if the original call was unfounded and there was no real danger.
This is a complex problem that rarely gets solved by throwing more gear/money at it unless someone engages the brain too.
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In Germany, there was quite a debate about the usefulness of emergency communication based on ham radio.
IIRC, the latest state of affairs is that the government does NOT rely or plans to rely on ham radio based emergency communication.
I do know that emergency communcation (here: Notfunk) is seen by many ham club leaders as a means to make ham radio more popular and
visible regarding public attention, especially in an age where mobile phones are available for everyone and a lot of people ask themselves what
ham radio could be good for in the 21st century.
As an example, there was a short article in a lot of media describing a case where a disabled German ham operator fell out of his wheelchair and the only means
of communication left to him was his ham rig. He called for help, a south american ham responded, called another ham in germany, the found out his adress and put
the poor chap back in his wheelchair. Astonishingly, nobody in the ham community asked why he did not have his mobile phone or the red cross emergency wristband with him.
So, in my view, telling the wrong stories to support a good cause is not a smart thing to do. If ham clubs would be serious, a well-organized integration of ham radio
emergency communication with all the other emergency services (red cross, THW, military, police, ...) is a must. Unfortunately (please prove me wrong) I dont see this happening on a broader scale.
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I think it probably depends on the specific circumstances, and the people involved. I've heard of cases where it seemed the ARES guys were just kind of in the way and not very useful. I suppose in other circumstances they could be really helpful, it just depends. For widespread distribution of information, it's hard to beat old fashioned broadcast radio, even if the local stations get knocked off the air, powerful stations elsewhere can be received hundreds of miles away.
The fact that a simple power outage could knock out cellular service after just a few hours strikes me as a serious issue though. Landline phones would operate for quite a long time without grid power so if we are going to depend on cellular phones it seems reasonable to require at least a subset of the towers to be capable of operating a week or more on standby power sources.
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ARES forget it IMHO.
For me there’s another emergency situation that is a better service to the end users. Amateur radio will still be viable if government pull the plug on mainstream comms because is vast and difficult to jam. This does happen and has actually happened to a lot of us in the UK before such as in the immediate aftermath of the 7/7/2005 bombings. Stuck in London, all mobile phone service was switched off and land lives went down in some parts of the city too. Only thing that will remain is red line communications between government HQ and various agencies around the U.K. who are on private circuits.
Look at turkey’s attempted coup for another example of this as a control method. Media blackout.
In such situations like these, news and internal information can be relayed easily over security borders.
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I am not a huge fan of the emergency communications for a couple of reason.
It is pushed by many as being the lever to keep the amateur frequencies intact.
Its not a particularly valid argument now that the government has their own (superior, at least in their minds) solutions.
Seems like a good reason to actually relinquish those frequencies if that is the best argument you can come up with.
Secondly, almost all of the emcom activity that I see is based upon VHF (because they insist on using email and need the bandwidth) and the use of repeaters. If power outages take down the "professional" systems, and cell towers, it will certainly take down the repeaters.
Play the game if you want, but don't overestimate/overstate its importance.
G8FVM/K7UF
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Look at turkey’s attempted coup for another example of this as a control method. Media blackout.
In such situations like these, news and internal information can be relayed easily over security borders.
In situations like those if the state wants to actually control the information flow, the HAMs are historically the first target - ban on transmitting, confiscations of gear, etc. Keep in mind that the government knows where every single us lives and keeps our gear (it is part of the licensing requirements). So if you are hoping of using a HAM radio as a way of subverting a government going rogue or some sort of tyranny, keep dreaming.
Just look at how restricted any radio operation was in the former communist countries - at first banned outright, later on only well checked "reliable" people were able to obtain a license. And the bands were constantly monitored so heavens help you if you tried to talk about something deemed "sensitive" or "improper" on air.
In Germany, there was quite a debate about the usefulness of emergency communication based on ham radio.
IIRC, the latest state of affairs is that the government does NOT rely or plans to rely on ham radio based emergency communication.
That's totally missing the point. No government can/will rely on HAM radio operators in disaster situations, that would be insane. HAMs are there to supplement the official capacity before something more permanent/"official" can be established when possible, not to replace any kind of official capacity.
Also keep in mind that in Europe it is quite rare to have catastrophes that would cut communications or access to a large area at once, simply due to the geography. OTOH, it is enough to have a major flooding or e.g. a snow calamity - during the catastrophic floods in Czech republic in 2002 HAM operators were often the only way to contact the authorities for many villages where normal phone networks were disrupted/destroyed and roads were impassable in many places. This is fairly well documented.
Anyhow, this is not really specific to amateur radio users, anyone with a radio (even a CB) could be useful like this. In fact, it is often even your legal duty and you could be prosecuted for nor providing help if you refuse without a good reason (e.g. endangering yourself) in such situations. Only HAMs tend to be better equipped, trained and organized than a random person with a CB walkie talkie. And HAMs have emergency communications explicitly in their "job specifications" (legal frameworks, including from ITU). Even if the HAM isn't in the disaster zone themselves, there still needs to be someone to receive the calls from the affected area elsewhere in the world (e.g. the hurricane or earthquake hits) for this to work.
Some stats:
ARES:
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARES%202017%20Report.pdf (http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Public%20Service/ARES/ARES%202017%20Report.pdf)
German emergency comms (mentions e.g. the Nepal earthquake where HAMs in Europe were able to maintain contact and speed up the emergency response)
http://notfunk-deutschland.de/html/news.html (http://notfunk-deutschland.de/html/news.html)
Belgian organization, mentions e.g. 9/11 traffic, the recent Italian earthquake, etc.
https://www.uba.be/fr/radioamateurisme/aide-en-cas-durgence (https://www.uba.be/fr/radioamateurisme/aide-en-cas-durgence)
So denigrating this only because you have either never encountered something like it or you don't understand how the service works is just ignorance, IMO.
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Secondly, almost all of the emcom activity that I see is based upon VHF (because they insist on using email and need the bandwidth) and the use of repeaters. If power outages take down the "professional" systems, and cell towers, it will certainly take down the repeaters.
HF is not practical for such local use, both because of the size of the gear and the way HF propagates. So local networks will invariably be VHF/UHF based. I don't know about your ARES guys but I believe in many places there are various coordinators that have spare repeater/generator and all the required accessories prepared in storage. In the worst case setting up an emergency repeater is a matter of putting up a portable radio with a car battery - many radios can do a simple cross-band (e.g. 2m - 70cm) repeater out of the box. Or you go "old school" and build a net to relay the messages, with an actual human being there. Getting the "official" infrastructure up and running will definitely take a lot longer than this.
Anyhow, again, that's not the point really - the idea is to have someone on the ground should something happen before the emergency responders manage to get to you and take over. Even if that means being able to call for help on your CB across the street.
Play the game if you want, but don't overestimate/overstate its importance.
G8FVM/K7UF
By all means. OTOH, saying it is not useful and implying that these are just some busybodies who want to feel important is also doing a huge disservice to it.
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In situations like those if the state wants to actually control the information flow, the HAMs are historically the first target - ban on transmitting, confiscations of gear, etc. Keep in mind that the government knows where every single us lives and keeps our gear (it is part of the licensing requirements). So if you are hoping of using a HAM radio as a way of subverting a government going rogue or some sort of tyranny, keep dreaming.
That's actually a pretty compelling argument *against* getting licensed if that is a situation one wishes to be prepared for. I hold a technician class ham license, but one of the things I was not too crazy about is the ease at which anyone who learns my callsign can look up exactly who I am and where I live, thus I do not share my callsign over any other medium. I also decided that once I was licensed I had better behave myself, so no more pirate FM broadcasting or other fun stuff we did as kids.
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I think I just stated facts.
The German government did not state if they like or dislike ARES, they just decided not to use it, for whatever reason.
And, when you see how official emergency communication is organized for fire brigades, medical aid, catastrophy relief, THW, air traffic, ... its clear that radio amateurs
would need some integration effort and training to fit in there. Some have (at least those that are also members of the organization mentioned above), but
a lot of them dont. When I took my license, it was an absolutely minor issue hardly covered at all.
So, if you promote ARES on a broader scale, things cannot stay as they are. This means a better education of the average radio amateur to make sense.
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In situations like those if the state wants to actually control the information flow, the HAMs are historically the first target - ban on transmitting, confiscations of gear, etc. Keep in mind that the government knows where every single us lives and keeps our gear (it is part of the licensing requirements). So if you are hoping of using a HAM radio as a way of subverting a government going rogue or some sort of tyranny, keep dreaming.
That's actually a pretty compelling argument *against* getting licensed if that is a situation one wishes to be prepared for. I hold a technician class ham license, but one of the things I was not too crazy about is the ease at which anyone who learns my callsign can look up exactly who I am and where I live, thus I do not share my callsign over any other medium. I also decided that once I was licensed I had better behave myself, so no more pirate FM broadcasting or other fun stuff we did as kids.
Seriously; that is not a big deal, the same information can be had elsewhere n the net. No amateur license necessary. An individual's name and address are the easiest things to obtain.
One will note I have a PO Box the reason for that dates well before my earning (ha ha) my Extra ticket.
The Post Office folk here are not capable of delivering a letter to the right address... At least by having a PO Box that limits what can happen to my mail...
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It's not that hard to obtain that information if you know who the person is, but in many cases you don't. I have not gone to any great lengths to hide my personal identity here because it's not *that* big of a deal but to find it with certainty I suspect would take some effort. Someone could look up a callsign and in many cases find the person's real address with trivial ease. A P.O. box helps tremendously with that but I suspect those are in the minority. I don't go too far out of my way to hide, but I try not to be the low hanging fruit.
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My point about ARES utility was that some public service workers in my area told me stories where it was useful. So I don't have to debate it; I know it to be so. (Unless they were lying, I suppose.) Now, how useful or important, that's another question.
Interestingly, our local ARES group's charter is to provide emcomm services to all organs of local government. Now, I'm not sure it matters in a short-term emergency if the city council can talk to the zoning board, but I guess in a longer-term situation it might. Then again, it's hard for me to imagine a long-term situation that needs such comms unless things have really, really gone off the rails.
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Out here our ARES group trains for a role as passing logistics traffic for hospitals and other public agencies. This is good since it doesn't compromise patient information and frees up personnel for more critical tasks. We also have other amateur groups that aid with animal rescue during wild fires and the like.
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If we get to that long term situation I doubt anyone is going to care if people using radio gear are licensed or part of an organization. If things get that bad the FCC is probably not going to have much to do anyway.
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If we get to that long term situation I doubt anyone is going to care if people using radio gear are licensed or part of an organization. If things get that bad the FCC is probably not going to have much to do anyway.
As far as amateur radio goes there is no FCC.
They just fined someone and he gave them the middle finger and is still on the air.
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That's surprising. I was under the impression that in the unlikely event they do target someone for misbehaving they come down pretty hard. Maybe they're too busy going after nudity or cursing on TV.
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SDR, FPGA, microcontrollers, and even surface mount are sometimes viewed as suspicious newfangled magic.
Look at any amateur radio meetup or organisation and it's almost entirely 60yo white dudes. It has the lowest diversity of pretty much any social institution anywhere, in terms of age, gender or whatever.
The single biggest thing that "happened" to amateur radio, basically, is the Internet.
Young(er) people interested in radio today are typically not interested in "chewing the rag" as their motivation - we have constant access to Twitter, forums, and other Internet services that perform that function.
The main areas of interest, which need to realistically be the focus areas if the hobby is going to evolve instead of going the way of the apatosaurus, are machine-to-machine communications which aren't oriented around the idea of a person talking on the end of the link.
Machines that talk to machines, telemetry, wireless sensor networks, IoT, OSI-model networks generally, software-defined radio, microcontrollers and programmable logic, open-source instruments and tools built around these modern technologies, radar, radio astronomy, satellite communications and remote sensing are probably some of the core areas that people are interested in with regards to RF today.
The concept of a "shack" or station where a human operator sits and keeps all their gear is anachronistic, too.
Emergency communications? Government can communicate with the public via SMS, TV, broadcast radio, etc.
For very fast, agile updates of what's happening in the world, check Twitter.
If all cellphone and internet services are completely knocked out by some catastrophic event, what would that event look like?
And what role, realistically, would ARES play?
Maybe modern EMCOM needs to take a different approach - IP networks, Wi-Fi WANs and femtocells that can rapidly be deployed to restore connectivity that the general public is familiar with, using the devices that they already have.
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Some good points there.
However it misses three things. The social, skill and competitive aspects. It isn’t just about technology but how it manifests itself in human hands. Sometimes people do things the old and hard way because it’s more fun. Hence the ridiculously large CW following.
Voice modes are only as dead as they are because HF propagation is crap at the moment so people are playing digimodes due to the better efficiency.
Shacks are however portable now. Mine is :)
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The best radio is what is available and what works when you need it. There have been some storms here in Finland which have caused blackouts for the mobile and rescue radio networks as the base stations were running out of batteries. Ham radio can be kept operational quite long time even with a car battery and/or emergency generator until one runs out out gas. If someone happens to need emergency help during blackout, the ham radio can be used for relaying the distress call. For non-emergency situations one can use the ham radio for asking for more gas or food supplies.
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I think I just stated facts.
The German government did not state if they like or dislike ARES, they just decided not to use it, for whatever reason.
And, when you see how official emergency communication is organized for fire brigades, medical aid, catastrophy relief, THW, air traffic, ... its clear that radio amateurs
would need some integration effort and training to fit in there. Some have (at least those that are also members of the organization mentioned above), but
a lot of them dont. When I took my license, it was an absolutely minor issue hardly covered at all.
So, if you promote ARES on a broader scale, things cannot stay as they are. This means a better education of the average radio amateur to make sense.
I think we agree here, my point was not to promote ARES or to make a big deal out of it, just to point out that it does exist and it is actually useful.
That a government doesn't want to formally work with the HAMs is another issue and debate and not really indicative of anything. It is kinda like volunteer firefighters or Red Cross volunteers - the state at best gives them some funding or some gear for their activities but that's that, no official planning is done around these groups because they may or may not be available in a crisis situation (being volunteer and all). But that doesn't mean they don't play an important role whenever something happens.
I don't think anyone is advocating equipping e.g. firefighters or paramedics with HAM radio stations so that they can talk to ARES operators or train staff (or HAMs) for this - even though it couldn't hurt and similar things have been done on a volunteer basis already.
E.g. it is common for paramedics/firefighters to monitor the designated emergency frequencies on both HF/CB and sometimes UHF/VHF because a lot of truckers carry these radios. Before cellphones were widespread it was literally saving lives by getting the help to a road accident faster. Even today it is not pointless because there are a lot of even major roads with terrible cell coverage (just made a trip across Austria, Germany and France yesterday - my phone was struggling to get a signal for a large part of the trip outside of major cities). A radio call could get out but a 3G phone would be dead as a brick there.
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I have no doubts that ARES could be useful in quite some situations. If some ham radio officials claim that ARES is an issue to keep ham radio frequencies alive, to attract positive public attention, ... then they should also adapt their education programs (license tests) and make sure that ARES is properly handled by all hams. Then, I suppose, the other emergency services would take them more serious.
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I vaguely remember the early 80s when it seemed almost everyone had a CB radio. Then in the 90s there was still a lot of activity on the air, but I have the CB frequencies programmed into my scanner and only ever hear a peep there once in a blue moon. It was kind of cool back in the day, the pre-internet equivalent of a chat room but I guess it's mostly just truckers using it now.
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Some good points there.
However it misses three things. The social, skill and competitive aspects. It isn’t just about technology but how it manifests itself in human hands. Sometimes people do things the old and hard way because it’s more fun. Hence the ridiculously large CW following.
Voice modes are only as dead as they are because HF propagation is crap at the moment so people are playing digimodes due to the better efficiency.
Shacks are however portable now. Mine is :)
It wasn't so long ago that CW was required. And short of the digital modes like PSK it IS the most efficient method with low power, high noise situations.
Can you do better with a room/car/whatever full of computer and sophisticated radio gear? Of course you can. But for basic simplicity and working with minimal gear, you can't beat it.
That said, I never got on well with CW. Tried multiple times over many years to get up to the required standard to pass the test, but just never got there. Maybe I just didn't dedicate enough time to it, or maybe my brain just isn't wired that way, but whatever, for those that want to use it, go for it! (Just don't try to force me to use it :-) )
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One of the great things about hobbies is that there's no one right way to participate, but that doesn't stop some from acting like there is. One of my other hobbies is flying RC aircraft, mostly planes but I've dabbled in helicopters and multirotors, but a lot of people seem to belong to a specific camp. You have the old school nitro/gas balsa planes, you have the electric plane guys which is split between traditional balsa models and "foamies" that have become quite good as well as being cheap. Then a lot of the plane guys look down on the "drone" guys, the balsa guys look down on the foamie guys, etc and there are rivalries around the brand of radio gear and other seemingly trivial matters, it's all a bit odd to me.
I can certainly relate to the nostalgia aspect too, yet another hobby being vintage computers, as well as classic arcade games, I have a love for CRTs and other vacuum tubes and if I could ever fully grasp Morse code I think making a distant contact on a tube based CW set sounds like fun. I don't particularly like sitting around gabbing on the radio but there's nothing really wrong with that. In another decade or two when all the old timers are gone there will probably be a resurgence of that as a generation that has lived their whole lives with the convenience of cell phones discovers the novelty. What's old becomes new again.
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I vaguely remember the early 80s when it seemed almost everyone had a CB radio. Then in the 90s there was still a lot of activity on the air, but I have the CB frequencies programmed into my scanner and only ever hear a peep there once in a blue moon. It was kind of cool back in the day, the pre-internet equivalent of a chat room but I guess it's mostly just truckers using it now.
With the sunspot cycle at minimum you won't be hearing a whole lot.
There is not much local activity here considering we are a large city and right on the Mexican border.
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There used to be a lot of activity all over. I remember playing with a CB radio in the late 80s and you could turn it on practically any time of the day or night and hear all sorts of people chatting. Now it's mostly silence.
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There used to be a lot of activity all over. I remember playing with a CB radio in the late 80s and you could turn it on practically any time of the day or night and hear all sorts of people chatting. Now it's mostly silence.
Cellphones and internet took away a lot of former CB users. They are simply more convenient for what most people wanted to do (chat). Normal technology evolution. These days CB is mostly the domain of truckers.
The sunspot minimum isn't helping neither because the high HF bands are almost constantly closed so no long distance propagation. Even HAMs don't get to hear much above 20m (14MHz) these days, CB is almost 2x higher at 28MHz.
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I wonder if that's why I've only rarely been able to receive WWV and WWVH recently, I hadn't followed the status of the sunspots recently.
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I have no doubt that someone will design a CW transceiver into the base of a classic telegraph Morse Key
with the wifi menu on your phone and charging its battery via the cigarette lighter socket.
I am surprised that smoking is still legal in 2018. nothing dies, as everything is relative nowadays,
some goes for my father's nonprofessional radio hobby.
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I wonder if that's why I've only rarely been able to receive WWV and WWVH recently, I hadn't followed the status of the sunspots recently.
Probably is. They're turning that off apparently soon anyway as everyone is using GPS references these days.
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I wonder if that's why I've only rarely been able to receive WWV and WWVH recently, I hadn't followed the status of the sunspots recently.
Yes and to top it off..
Congress is talking about cutting back funding for WWV / WWVH.
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I have learned that the time service transmitters are suffering from so much RFI caused by LED lighting, power line communication, all kinds of noncompliant wall-warts, ...
to a degree that makes them unusable as a time source.
For another radio amateur I built a box that emulates the WWVB frequency (60kHz) from a Rubidium standard, like here:
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/an-noninteger-frequency-divider-with-sinewave-output/
Why are they so important ? You could use GPS, GALILEO or GLONASS to acquire a precise standard frequency.
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I hope they don't shut it down, I have several clocks that rely on the 60kHz WWVB and even out here on the west coast those still work great. The shortwave WWV and WWVH stations are harder to receive, I always have liked those even if GPS is a more practical time source on a day to day basis.
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Gee, my watch syncs to WWVB. If it gets shut down, I guess I'll have to set up a GPSDO with a transmitter similar to what Wolfgang did. Just to update the time on my watch, that seems like overkill. But it'd be an interesting project. ;D
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I have learned that the time service transmitters are suffering from so much RFI caused by LED lighting, power line communication, all kinds of noncompliant wall-warts, ...
to a degree that makes them unusable as a time source.
For another radio amateur I built a box that emulates the WWVB frequency (60kHz) from a Rubidium standard, like here:
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/an-noninteger-frequency-divider-with-sinewave-output/
Why are they so important ? You could use GPS, GALILEO or GLONASS to acquire a precise standard frequency.
Here they are still quite usable, I have a ban here on non-compliant wall rats.
I just destroyed one this last week.
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CE (China Export :)) labelled wall warts are a real pest here in Europe. With whatever you buy from China you are bound to get one that does not meet EMI and RFI specs.
I got so desparate that I made my own USB power supply on the bench:
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/power-supplies/a-quad-usb-power-supply-with-low-noise/
When I get to it I will kill some more wall warts, plus I will replace my LED lighting switching PSUs by linear ones. You wont believe what is on your scope with just a bare wire attached ! On the other hand, a nasty lab will teach you to not take shielding lightly. If your crap works there, I should work anywhere :)
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CE (China Export :)) labelled wall warts are a real pest here in Europe. With whatever you buy from China you are bound to get one that does not meet EMI and RFI specs.
I got so desparate that I made my own USB power supply on the bench:
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/power-supplies/a-quad-usb-power-supply-with-low-noise/
When I get to it I will kill some more wall warts, plus I will replace my LED lighting switching PSUs by linear ones. You wont believe what is on your scope with just a bare wire attached ! On the other hand, a nasty lab will teach you to not take shielding lightly. If your crap works there, I should work anywhere :)
Around here I would believe it, add to the hash an AM and two FM stations.
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Some day our environment will be so electrosmogged that you dont need energy from the power grid anymore :)
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The energy harvesters will love it!
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Despite the lousy efficiency, there's something to be said for the old fashioned iron transformer wall warts. They have much lower RFI emission and they're a lot more reliable too. I finally put one on my internet router after I went through about 3 of the switching type.
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At least in Spain a ham operator is legally bound to help the authorities in case of emergencies. It could be in person or allowing usage of equipment.
That said, are we likely to experience the kind of emergency that would really require hams to help? I can imagine two scenarios.
- A really catastrophic one, like the Katrina or the latest hurricanes hitting Puerto Rico. In one of these a reserve of people with experience improvising installations and using simple, low tech equipment (opposed to complex to install and operate, with potentially fragile software) could help. Hopefully most of us will never experience such a thing.
- A not so catastrophic one that maybe won't destroy all the infrastructure but will prevent ordinary citizens to contact their distant relatives and say "I am fine".
In the second case a simple ham network could help. It wouldn't be directly supporting the disaster relief efforts but could really help the affected people and their families.
I live near Bilbao and in the early 1980's we experienced a serious flooding event. Hams and even illegal CB operators really helped in that case. Of course we didn't have mobile phones at that time. But I am a bit skeptical of the capability of network operators to keep the service up in a catastrophic event. If only because many of them don't have much proper technical staff, working with outsourced manufacturer staff instead.
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It's a fair point on mobile phone operator availability. We had near to no service here for 2 days in the middle of London because someone hit one of the cabinets with a truck.
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CE (China Export :)) labelled wall warts are a real pest here in Europe. With whatever you buy from China you are bound to get one that does not meet EMI and RFI specs.
I got so desparate that I made my own USB power supply on the bench:
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/power-supplies/a-quad-usb-power-supply-with-low-noise/
When I get to it I will kill some more wall warts, plus I will replace my LED lighting switching PSUs by linear ones. You wont believe what is on your scope with just a bare wire attached ! On the other hand, a nasty lab will teach you to not take shielding lightly. If your crap works there, I should work anywhere :)
I have a similar project in my todo-list. However, I have considered using some sort of low-noise switching power supply with sufficient filtering as pre-regulator for improved efficiency and reduced heat dissipation. For example Analog Devices have some low-noise switching ICs. And placing the power supply inside a metallic enclosure will reduce any switching noise in general as long as power input and outputs are filtered sufficiently using ferrites etc.
It is no wonder that linear power supplies are popular among hams although the efficiency may not be that good. It will keep your coffee hot during QSO, too.
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Despite the lousy efficiency, there's something to be said for the old fashioned iron transformer wall warts. They have much lower RFI emission and they're a lot more reliable too. I finally put one on my internet router after I went through about 3 of the switching type.
I fully agree. They last forever and RFI is minimal. Problem: they are getting rare.
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CE (China Export :)) labelled wall warts are a real pest here in Europe. With whatever you buy from China you are bound to get one that does not meet EMI and RFI specs.
I got so desparate that I made my own USB power supply on the bench:
https://electronicprojectsforfun.wordpress.com/power-supplies/a-quad-usb-power-supply-with-low-noise/
When I get to it I will kill some more wall warts, plus I will replace my LED lighting switching PSUs by linear ones. You wont believe what is on your scope with just a bare wire attached ! On the other hand, a nasty lab will teach you to not take shielding lightly. If your crap works there, I should work anywhere :)
I have a similar project in my todo-list. However, I have considered using some sort of low-noise switching power supply with sufficient filtering as pre-regulator for improved efficiency and reduced heat dissipation. For example Analog Devices have some low-noise switching ICs. And placing the power supply inside a metallic enclosure will reduce any switching noise in general as long as power input and outputs are filtered sufficiently using ferrites etc.
It is no wonder that linear power supplies are popular among hams although the efficiency may not be that good. It will keep your coffee hot during QSO, too.
A *properly* done switching PSU with very good RFI suppression is also a possibility, of course. Even sensitive T&M equipment like Keysight spectrum analyzers have switching PSUs today. If you look how they are built and then have a look on a Chinese wall wart PSU, there are no similarities :).
When you look on my oversized box and cooler I would say that I need to keep my coffee warm elsewhere ... :)
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<snip>
It is no wonder that linear power supplies are popular among hams although the efficiency may not be that good. It will keep your coffee hot during QSO, too.
<snip>
When you look on my oversized box and cooler I would say that I need to keep my coffee warm elsewhere ... :)
Yes, your box looks good enough for the purpose. I was just regarding to linear power supplies in general used by hams to power their +100W rigs.
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Agreed, for a 100W rig you would need about 150-200W rig input power at 13,8V.
Passive cooling at such a power level is not pratical. You need a fan, definitively, and then its get loud, I dont like that.
But then, also the coffee problem could be solved :)
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Problem is operating at 100W out in the summer :phew:
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The invention of the day would be a combination of a refrigerator and a 100W ham radio unit. :popcorn:
I once say something like this, look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neHreW-PNtw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neHreW-PNtw)
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I wonder if SWMBO will let me make that a kitchen feature :-DD
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Just dont tell her about the hidden functionalities ...
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In German, fridge is Kühlschrank, or "cool cabinet". Knowing that peculiarity of the German language, I converted an unrecoverable kaputt fridge into an electronics parts cabinet. In this new life it's still a cabinet and now really cool.
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Agreed, for a 100W rig you would need about 150-200W rig input power at 13,8V.
Passive cooling at such a power level is not pratical. You need a fan, definitively, and then its get loud, I dont like that.
But then, also the coffee problem could be solved :)
The linear supply (a Chinese one) I use at 100watts does have a fan, but most of the time it isn't on.
If you stretch your overs a bit, it will eventually, kick in.
Remember, SSB has a fairly low duty cycle, as does "CW"(Morse).
With AM or FM, it would probably be on a lot more.
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Some fun with a lecher line (measuring UHF frequencies to 2% accuracy with scraps)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-IEjBNfbFc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-IEjBNfbFc)
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A chineese linear good god bet its multi band,ie dc to daylight but all at the same time !! 73 m3vuv.
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If youre using a receiver and an un-tuned piece of wire to scan the ham bands and don't hear anything at all, try a better antenna that actually resonates at or near the frequency you're listening to. This has been my experience with my RTLSDR, etc.
Still, there seems to me much less activity now than I would wish.
Also the time of year. Foliage eats up a lot of RF where I am and when its gone that makes a noticeable improvement. Altitude too. Getting any antenna up higher helps a lot, especially the higher you go in frequency.
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a good reason why its not popular is the scary 'at will station inspection' clause in ham license ownership.
Normal telecom is protected by search warrants. There is nothing quite so bad as giving the government a signed paper that says we can come enter your house at will for invisible technical crap.
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Think that's just paranoia there. At best it's used to eventually, after much complaining, get the FCC to find some fucking prick jamming stuff or broadcasting.
That doesn't even happen here at all. Ofcom don't really care.
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Think that's just paranoia there. At best it's used to eventually, after much complaining, get the FCC to find some fucking prick jamming stuff or broadcasting.
That doesn't even happen here at all. Ofcom don't really care.
try selling that to someone. the only other thing comparable in terms of intrusion is a class 3 weapons license, for owning a machine gun, or a license for explosives (magazine inspection). Quite a bit different then a radio. Quite a bit of undertaking for a home owner, usually you need to own a factory or something for even OSHA visits. If its actually interfering with something important, a warrant would be signed quickly. Its an outdated non effective anti-spy policy* (like in The Americans, they would setup a little remote transmitter in the woods, even when it was 'hot' that became totally outdated somewhere around 1970 with easy international telecom and strong encryption. Even back then it probably made more sense to go to a pay phone place or something (like the movie American Gangster).
*Do you think they would some how justify warrentless peremesis inspections WITHOUT a 'scary' reason beyond interfering with stupid car radio talk shows?
Who would bother now when you have a ultra reliable feed going into a spy masters house with full encryption and ultra high $ $ $ $ $ telecom reliability?? And then if someone needs to tap that, you basically NEED to announce yourself. Its so much better. A spy can.. literally complain to the telephone company when his stolen data is not uploading, damn the weather. Lol going into the woods and adjusting antennas for rain, now its like make a angry phone call to the teleco and have another shot of vodka, comrade. They will send out a repair man or dive 1000's of feet into the ocean or even launch a satellite so that system works. This kind of reliability and promptness was not imaginable otherwise when these laws were drafted. I even get warnings from the phone company that there might be an outage sometimes. Try getting that from the ionosphere or the weatherman!
These KGB radio men might have been a serious threat to some installation in 'middle of nowhere' Kansas when they were counting (nuclear missile) truck deliveries to an air base (it was HUGE to know where and what the enemy had so you can adjust your finances accordingly, i.e. plan the next years missile budget in the secret committee meeting), but now you can probably get an app to send ultra high definition encrypted video directly to the FSB from your phone with the push of a button, all through ultra reliable civilian infrastructure, and have it analyzed by AI to estimate the trucks weight in 5 seconds. Back then the same little town might have had 'downed phone line, est 2 week repair' as a bimonthly regularity and have been 60 miles away from anything with like 5 cars passing through per day. I'd say this law became outdated as soon as they made the Eisenhower interstate roads.. now you can get from the bottom of california to the tip of maine in like 2 days. Its even 'less secure' now given that you car won't break down after 500 miles.
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But that’s irrelevant when they just shoot you anyway (apparently)
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But that’s irrelevant when they just shoot you anyway (apparently)
well its relevant because people read to the end of a HAM manual and decide not to take the test
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I think it's mostly other hams who stop people wanting to take the test from experience :-DD
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I think the only concern is that people can agree away their constitutional rights (as explicitly spelled out in but not created by the 4A). For whatever is serious enough to warrant a search, the investigating party can easily obtain a warrant. But the FCC thankfully has zero interest in fishing expeditions. (Of course, if they did they'd soon find they no longer have that power.)
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I think the only concern is that people can agree away their constitutional rights (as explicitly spelled out in but not created by the 4A). For whatever is serious enough to warrant a search, the investigating party can easily obtain a warrant. But the FCC thankfully has zero interest in fishing expeditions. (Of course, if they did they'd soon find they no longer have that power.)
I think its more of a budget thing, if the budget is increased someone in the organization that likes travel will likely justify it because it pays and seems 'useful'. Kinda like cops trolling for tickets come quota. Easy money making scam 'hey boss, you know how many busts I made this year?'. Or if its decreased too much someone is gonna think that they can fund the organization with stupid fines. Thats why its good to have the judicial system involved (usually independent, or more so). Judges that do it too much will eventually be investigated if enough complaints are made, and usually there will be a corruption investigation.
I am not sure having a transmitter and a call sign is enough justification to be treated like someone with a machine gun or explosives, now that the spies have moved else where. There is like no reason to do espionage with it anymore, especially with other more advanced anti espionage and terrorism laws (patriot act, etc) which make it MUCH easier for the FBI to spy on spies. Interfering with aircraft or police communications could easily be considered a national security issue, so you don't need the FCC to investigate it, and the cops are way more advanced now.
Most of this stuff is based on a 1912 law! And I think it was all made with broad band spark gap transmitters in mind! I think the only reason it stayed so draconian is because of sabotage during the world wars and the cold war. Now you do all that over the internet. They did not even have security cameras and taking a suspects photograph was a highly planned team effort up to the 60's (sneaking up on people with flash powder illuminators and giant cameras LOL).
Keep in mind congress makes sure things are cheap and the FCC is so ridiculous that you likely cannot align with them too well in a political sense as a congress member without being considered a turncoat in some regard (does not pay to work with the FCC) so they might just never be able to get the power, even if it is some how loosely justified. The congressmen would really need to be scared to give them power because dealing with the FCC likely makes you choose some kind of side on a very sticky issue and then you lose elections or people stop doing favorable deals with you. It may be something thats generally frowned upon but allowed to exist and not funded well (impolitely called a red headed step child, think the simpsons episode with Bart's brother in the attic). Think about the ridiculousness of English "tv van". You just DONT want to be associated with that. I imagine its like a stupid office group detail of some sort that you have at work at some places that makes some kind of decisions that no one cares about, effect nothing and for some reason take up alot of resources. Like deciding on what kind of binders will be used in the physical storage cabinet that has not been opened for 20 years and getting everyone to agree on it. A buisness can mostly override these things by yelling at people, but congress is based on strict adherance to paperwork so you end up needing something. It might be as simple as it takes up too many sessions to change anything so they just let it be and keep it small.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_detector_van :-DD
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Here in Germany I only know of visits of the BNA guys in cases where neighbors complained massively about RFI.
I dont think they have a huge travel budget :)
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A chineese linear good god bet its multi band,ie dc to daylight but all at the same time !! 73 m3vuv.
I know this is an ancient posting, but it niggles at me every time I am unfortunate enough to encounter it, so now the thread has been dragged kicking & screaming back into the daylight, I will answer it.
The term "linear" in my posting referred to the mode in which the power supply operated, in other words it is not a "switchmode power supply".
That was quite apparent in the context, had you applied more then 0.0005% of a brain cell!
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a good reason why its not popular is the scary 'at will station inspection' clause in ham license ownership.
Normal telecom is protected by search warrants. There is nothing quite so bad as giving the government a signed paper that says we can come enter your house at will for invisible technical crap.
Oh bollocks!
In 43 years as a ham I have been visited just once!
The guys, all hams, just had a look at my station, read my logbook (not a requirement any more) & were on their way.
If I had important other things to do, they would have gone away & come back at a more convenient time.
Commercial stations also had visits, back in the day, but successive governments in all countries have reduced funding for any real engineering work, so visits to anyone are "rare as hens teeth".
It is mostly non-technical clerical people with computers these days, who can, & do, stuff up!
Their main job is "allocating frequencies", & in the 1990s, the Oz ones double allocated a Studio/transmitter link frequency, so the new link could interfere with a long standing one.
When we pointed out the problem, they didn't have an engineer to verify it with, & had to find, & employ an outside one.(apparently our "tame" EEs didn't count!)
The "spy" stuff was never part of a Radio Inspector's function--they were Technicians (real ones), & Engineers, who knew damn all about espionage.
Their main function was to ensure stations were not emitting signals outside their licenced allocation.
Broadcast Stations had one licenced frequency they had to rigidly stick to, instead of the large bands hams have, but also transmitted much higher power levels.
Imagine a 50kW transmitter having a 3rd or 4th harmonic, out of spec----- this may radiate tens of watts, whereas a ham's similar harmonics would be much lower.
The level of inspection was accordingly, much more intensive.
It is pretty much a given that if you do something a bit out of the ordinary in your house, rather than just eating, watching TV, then off to bed, you will run up against some regulatory authority or other.
The radio licencing authorities only lightly brushed against most ham's lives, leaving barely a flurry.
Back to the spies---most countries have a dedicated intelligence signals organisation to detect communications possibly associated with espionage, rather than further loading down a handful of overstressed Radio Inspectors.
Further, if I was running a spy network, I would make sure my agents stayed well away from critical radio services who might "kick up a stink" about interference.
It would probably be better to "pirate" on amateur radio frequencies, knowing the authorities will pretty much ignore ham complaints.
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I don't think you see the disconnect of keeping an old hobby alive with government distrust rising in young people. The fact that they have a capability is enough to alienate alot of smart young people that just go by what others are doing. I think that there is a chilling effect. You need teenagers (I say that with a grain of salt, people are teenagers until 30-40 now, with what older people can renember) that think hacking is cool to want to get this license. Its like contrary to what most young people think is cool. I see tons of people in defund the police protests and police brutality protests and all sorts of stuff and I think basically every one of them would have a reservation with that clause. There is probobly 100x more then what you see out on the streets that are either too scared or incapable of attending that agree with that view. Now, if you wanna keep em out, thats why the air is not popping. It is literary a head count issue. Its not very useful now adays AND you have a rather pesky clause in place making people wary.. not inviting at all. Maybe we can get republican kids to get Ham radio licenses to show alliance for order parties or something, because the democrats are lawless criminals :-DD
Compare it to discord, which is the closest online real time service thing that is similar to radio communications and popular.. basically no laws save for stuff that gets international attention.. the groups can make their own rules on what is allowed, but usually its extremely lax. Howard stern looks like a choir boy in comparison (and he bought a sybian (sex toy) on air with porn stars).
How on earth do you compete with that.. when you get basically the same thing BUT with the government able to come to your house after 1 signature. I'd say that alot of young people see that like signing a deal with the devil. I think the spirit of the laws pertaining to ham licensing had the espionage act in mind (USA President Woodrow Wilson signed it).
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But that’s irrelevant when they just shoot you anyway (apparently)
well its relevant because people read to the end of a HAM manual and decide not to take the test
That's the first time I have ever heard about someone citing this as the motive to not take the test. If you have said that morse code requirements (not mandatory anymore in most countries) were off-putting or the pathetic HF band privileges for the novice classes were, I would believe you more.
Nobody is forcing you take the test and become licensed. HAM radio license is a privilege you have to earn and it comes with its own set of conditions (same as the driving license, pilot license, licensed engineers, licensed electricians, physicians, lawyers needing a bar exam, etc.). If you don't like them, don't take the test, it is that simple.
The inspection requirement has been there pretty much since the start of the HAM radio and it is not really any different than anything else you might be doing - e.g. police can also stop you and require an on the spot technical check of your vehicle if they suspect a serious problem (in some countries, at least - and you pay for it too!). In some countries you could get an unannounced visit from the firemen to inspect your chimney and furnace or from the municipal employees if you have a mess on your property that is causing problems for neighbors (smells, waste, rodents, etc.). And that doesn't seem to prevent people from getting driving licenses or owning houses, despite these things being often much more onerous (and with a lot more expensive fines and remediation work required) than anything a HAM radio regulator will ever want to see.
In practice the inspections are extremely rare, they happen only when someone complains - typically a neighbor about RFI or some other HAM about your behavior on the bands. The first situation they have to investigate because of the law, the latter is very rare unless you do something really egregiously illegal. And neither of this is any secret, just ask any licensed HAMs how many times they were inspected during their career - the only contact with the regulator for most is when renewing/updating their license. The government bureaucrats have better things to do than to chase people for messy logbooks or a missing filters, the clerks don't deal only with HAM radio agenda in most countries.
This sounds more like finding an excuse why not to take the test than an actual good reason, IMO. And that "spy stuff" - that's just incoherent paranoia bullshit, sorry.
EDIT: Re that "think of the children" bit in the post above (youngsters being reportedly put off HAM radio because of this obscure condition) - nonsense. If you, instead of making up conspiratorial nonsense, took a radio to the nearest school, set it up and showed the kids how you can talk around the world with just "a box and piece of wire", especially if using a computer or using a satellite, you would have got several kids interested in the thing on the spot, pretty much guaranteed. And at least one or two would end up taking the test later as well.
The reason why youngsters are not interested in this hobby is simply because:
a) It is technical, geeky = nerds are "not cool", lawyers, athletes and various "celebrities" are, not engineers (when did you last time see a TV show featuring engineers in some meaningful capacity and not nerdy socially awkward laughing stock?)
b) Most kids have never had a chance to see it, the clubs are few and far between and HAMs are only a few around. Most "radio" thing that lay people will imagine is a police-style walkie-talkie, because that's what they see on the TV. That's the same like showing a today's teen an original Sony Walkman - they will probably think it is a toaster.
This anti-government nonsense comes nowhere into play - youngsters certainly don't have issues getting driving licenses, which are also government issued, do they?
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There are a lot of possibilities for interesting hybrid AR/voice/text digital modes. For a great many reasons which should be obvious to people, these should be an open platform and not a corporate possession.
The shift could be great for ham radio, and a great way to meet people, or not. Its up to us.
Also, we may be living in the Golden Age of driving. Young people spend so much time online and often cant afford cars these days. Also the shift to autonomous vehicles will probably push older non-autonomous cars off the roadws, at least the bigger ones.
The cost of the conversion will likely be used to justify privatizing the highways and feeder streets.
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The police cannot come into your house to do a search without a warrant. You have considerably less rights in your car. It is turning your house into a car driving on the highway (usually it takes state police to violate you like this) ! clear downgrade.
the risk reward is not there when you can.. get streaming video on a cell phone that cannot be touched (unless you are in a car of course, then some police departments scan your phone and think about the ACLU and EFF law suits later). Bandwidth, nope. Coverage? Not really if you have a decent provider. I am not sure but I believe usually the only other way you can have someone go to your house without owning anything really dangerous or without a radio license is... probation.....after you get out of prison. Or maybe if you have trouble with child protective services. Some how legally a radio transmitter box is equivalent to owning a browning automatic machine gun or being a felon.
"their not supposed to" and "usually don't" is not a very strong reassurance for formfitting such a right.
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The police cannot come into your house to do a search without a warrant. You have considerably less rights in your car. It is turning your house into a car driving on the highway (usually it takes state police to violate you like this) ! clear downgrade.
Maybe not the police, but, in many countries the pool inspector can, as can the person from an animal welfare organisation (RSPCA in Oz can enter your property & remove any sick or obviously mistreated animals).
If you are operating a noxious trade in your property the Local Government health inspector can enter without being asked or having a warranty.
Immigration officials can enter a premises if they have reason to believe undocumented aliens are living there.
the risk reward is not there when you can.. get streaming video on a cell phone that cannot be touched (unless you are in a car of course, then some police departments scan your phone and think about the ACLU and EFF law suits later). Bandwidth, nope. Coverage? Not really if you have a decent provider. I am not sure but I believe usually the only other way you can have someone go to your house without owning anything really dangerous or without a radio license is... probation.....after you get out of prison. Or maybe if you have trouble with child protective services. Some how legally a radio transmitter box is equivalent to owning a browning automatic machine gun or being a felon.
"their not supposed to" and "usually don't" is not a very strong reassurance for formfitting [sic] such a right.
And yet, many thousands worldwide do just that!
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The high cost of ready-made equipment is significant barrier for many young people, many of whom also don't drive any more either.
Its not fear of police. That sounds quite ridiculous to me. Lord knows that when the police have a reason to come in, they do. As a group, hams are probably among the people with the lowest risk. They tend to be good at reasoning things out, and that's a skill most of us could use more of.
Increasing access to ham radio would be as simple as making more good but inexpensive equipment available. And having more tests in areas where people live. Or even some way to take the test over a video hookup - that would be especially good these days.
Here in the US, it would be a very good thing to get more young people more interested in technology, good for their mental health.
Knowledge and community are both very good things, even where there are low chances of getting actual paying jobs with them, they both are their own rewards in many ways.
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Since there continues to be a bunch of hand wringing despite the fact that ham radio is more popular than ever before in history, I present to you my own quote from page 5.
Many regard the 1950's as the beginning of amateur radio's golden years, due in part to millions of military radios hitting the surplus market and rapid advances in technology. That thought ignores more recent history though.
Let's look at the number of U.S. amateur radio licensees since the 1950's. This is the number of licensees per million population:
| 1956 | 829 per MM |
| 1958 | 915 per MM |
| 1963 | 1,321 per MM |
| 1970 | 1,316 per MM |
| 1991 | 1,953 per MM |
| 2014 | 2,277 per MM |
Today, there are over 700,000 amateur radio licensees in the United States. You can see that for over 60 years, the number of ham radio operators is growing faster than the national population. Anyone who thinks that ham radio is dying out is ill informed.
Don't be "that guy" spouting falsehoods that ham radio is dying or an outdated hobby. The opposite is true! The hobby is very much a hot bed of innovation.
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The RTLSDR, for all it's greatness (it only costs $10-20, or sometimes even less, and receives basically all of VHF and the lower 1/2 of UHF) without an even larger investment in ferrites, etc. plus after-purchase modifications, (or buying the slightly more expensive "rtlsdr blog" version) is not a good enough radio to hear most ham traffic, at least in my area. What's needed is:
1.) Antennas, preferably gain antennas, tuned to the frequency of interest.
2.) Better transmission lines, meaning thicker coax, OR putting the tiny receiver right at the antenna, which is easy using a powered USB extension. This avoids the cable loss problem.
Neither is that difficult and you will bring in significantly more signals.
The RTLSDR seems to be a really insensitive receiver on some bands no matter what you do, though, because of its own internal spurs, etc.
Others, though it does a decent to good job.
It can pull in HF using direct sampling. This works quite well when paired with a tuned magnetic loop antenna.
But when you use a long wire antenna, say with a unun, you need both a good outdoor ground (not your house's electrical ground) AND additional bandpass filtration.
This is all basic stuff, and hams all learn it, so all in all a good intro to radio.
With Christmas coming up, they make good inexpensive gifts!
This has been my experience, anyway.
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Along with the US test for which all questions & answers are given in advance, the applicants should be able to pass a mental
fitness "psycho" test, seeing all the garbage that permeates the airwaves lately..... :blah: AKA: a certain VE7 & friends filter of sorts.
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Is VE7 still around?
There are all kinds of nutters in radio, that's for sure.
IMO, amateur radio in the states has been getting toxic for years.
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I am not quite certain if he is but his legend and certainly his proteges are!
Quote from: Mark19960 on Today at 01:16:40 (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=17613.msg3341838#msg3341838)Is VE7 still around?
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Ok I've had a shitty day today and my mind drifted onto the original question again so I feel like a rant. I made an exit from amateur radio this year. I now own no radio equipment at all. Life is better. I am going to let my license expire as well.
As an outsider now, when I look back in I see four big problems which need to be resolved:
1. Asshats and loons. There are so many of them that it makes the interesting and nice folk leave or hides them. I've had quite a few hobbies over the years and this one definitely has the highest asshat and loon quantity of anything I've experienced. I'm not going to go too far into detail but I don't wish to communicate with people so devoid of morality and personality who's only identity is that they are openly racist or deranged in some way.
2. Cost. It's really expensive. Even a basic rig that is usable is about 3x too high IMHO. This means you have to throw a lot of money in just to even get over the hill. And if you don't the asshats complain at you for using Baofengs and other Chinese radios. Honestly I'd rather buy a new iPhone at this point.
3. Technology. Half the radios available are quite frankly crap and rammed full of really bad compromises and idiocy. A fine example is the portable radios from Yaesu, Icom, Elecraft which have stupid battery logistics problems, terrible user interfaces and industrial design. I can only conclude the design was done by the engineers shitting the crayons they ate onto a sheet of paper. The other end of the scale is "small automobile" territory pricing and is as much about the size of your dick as practicality.
4. Interest. It's really not that interesting. 75% of my time is yodelling off a hill into a valley trying to get the attention of someone looking much further away and ignoring me while some Italians with a PA system yodel across everyone trying to reach the other end of the country. 24% of the remaining time is debugging and fixing things and constantly unfucking and arguing with antennas and 1% after that is actually interesting.
I'm going to be dead one day and if I live in that universe I'm going to have regrets.
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@bd139 - Pretty much how I feel mate. I have not unloaded anything but I have considered it.
Agree with all of your points. I think they are spot on.
In the states amateur radio in some areas is not too dissimilar to CB radio.
That's because the same chaps that talk on CB then go over to VHF or UHF and continue the toxicity.
I am not out, but I am certainly looking at the exit.... too toxic.
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Yeah I was hoping for that environment on local 2m. All it turned out to be was people being racist, homophobic and sexist idiots with serious health problems. There was a local net on Sunday which wasn’t much better but at least they used their calls reliably.
Good time to sell radios. Return has been good thanks to covid! :-DD
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Ok I've had a shitty day today and my mind drifted onto the original question again so I feel like a rant. I made an exit from amateur radio this year. I now own no radio equipment at all. Life is better. I am going to let my license expire as well.
As an outsider now, when I look back in I see four big problems which need to be resolved:
...
I'm going to be dead one day and if I live in that universe I'm going to have regrets.
All true.
I literally disconnected my 2m/440 rig and put it in a coffee table drawer because I was so fed up with the people and conversations. Tens of thousands of people in the area and these are the ones who decided to get a license? :palm:
I do still do FT8 because it's still fun to see what DX stations you can reach on low power, but also because I don't have to talk to the hams at the other end. :P
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Yeah I was hoping for that environment on local 2m. All it turned out to be was people being racist, homophobic and sexist idiots with serious health problems. There was a local net on Sunday which wasn’t much better but at least they used their calls reliably.
ZENOPHOBES!!! You forgot to mention that they are all ZENOPHOBES!!
.
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Yeah nothing ironic about that is there? :palm:
CQ CQ DX ... 2 seconds later ... bastard foreigners!
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CQ CQ DX ... 2 seconds later ... bastard foreigners!
Watch video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE7FrVY9T4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE7FrVY9T4)
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The police cannot come into your house to do a search without a warrant. You have considerably less rights in your car. It is turning your house into a car driving on the highway (usually it takes state police to violate you like this) ! clear downgrade.
the risk reward is not there when you can.. get streaming video on a cell phone that cannot be touched (unless you are in a car of course, then some police departments scan your phone and think about the ACLU and EFF law suits later). Bandwidth, nope. Coverage? Not really if you have a decent provider. I am not sure but I believe usually the only other way you can have someone go to your house without owning anything really dangerous or without a radio license is... probation.....after you get out of prison. Or maybe if you have trouble with child protective services. Some how legally a radio transmitter box is equivalent to owning a browning automatic machine gun or being a felon.
"their not supposed to" and "usually don't" is not a very strong reassurance for formfitting such a right.
Not true, there are circumstances where a warrant isn't required.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_warrant#Exceptions
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Ok I've had a shitty day today and my mind drifted onto the original question again so I feel like a rant. I made an exit from amateur radio this year. I now own no radio equipment at all. Life is better. I am going to let my license expire as well.
As an outsider now, when I look back in I see four big problems which need to be resolved:
...
I'm going to be dead one day and if I live in that universe I'm going to have regrets.
All true.
I literally disconnected my 2m/440 rig and put it in a coffee table drawer because I was so fed up with the people and conversations. Tens of thousands of people in the area and these are the ones who decided to get a license? :palm:
I do still do FT8 because it's still fun to see what DX stations you can reach on low power, but also because I don't have to talk to the hams at the other end. :P
Weirdly these tosspots are the ones who bitch about 'muh freedoms' and yet also moan on about people not obeying the rules...
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CQ CQ DX ... 2 seconds later ... bastard foreigners!
Watch video -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE7FrVY9T4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWE7FrVY9T4)
So much truth in there :-DD
These are the ones that get me. Raynet wankers:
(https://imgur.com/w0u0iin.jpg)
Plastic police prick :palm: :palm: :palm: :palm:
(https://imgur.com/NtQEUVO.jpg)
Raynet dogging van
(https://imgur.com/F7hsvoB.jpg)
And the limit of their actual ability - fucking up random public events...
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Like this........
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Hahaha yeah seen that one before
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Like this........
believe it or not, the DARC (german amateur radio club) still believes that Notfunk (emergency amateur radio) is an adequate tool to infiltrate the minds of decision makers and legislators with the idea that Amateur radio will save the world some day. No professional organization (fire brigade, medical, technical corps, police, ...) wanted to work with them and they all have networks of their own. There are even legal texts saying that the official authorities do not include or rely on amateur radio services to handle emergencies. I think I know why ...
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Mixed feelings about this thread. I got my license when I was 13 or 14, filled in a third of a page of logbook and then got bored with talking to 60+yo blokes on 2M moaning. Over the years I've dipped in and out and it's been pretty much the same thing on 2M / 70cms.
The excitement at the prospect of owning a big HF rig and antenna and communicating with the otherside of the world was tempered by email & the internet. But what I learnt from doing/sitting the City & Guilds, reading Benbow and building my own kit has been invaluable. And the best bit of advice I ever got - "put your mast up 3 months before you get your license, that way the neighbours won't think you're causing the interference on their TV"
bd139 - you have a license for life now, can you even ditch it?
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bd139 - you have a license for life now, can you even ditch it?
Expires every 5 years unless you notify Ofcom now. Think it came in with the M-prefixes. Just going to let it burn.
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bd139 - you have a license for life now, can you even ditch it?
Expires every 5 years unless you notify Ofcom now. Think it came in with the M-prefixes. Just going to let it burn.
Not sure you can ever really get rid of it, you can surrender the callsign but all it really takes is an email to OFCOM to reactivate it (colleague has done just that).
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The police cannot come into your house to do a search without a warrant. You have considerably less rights in your car. It is turning your house into a car driving on the highway (usually it takes state police to violate you like this) ! clear downgrade.
the risk reward is not there when you can.. get streaming video on a cell phone that cannot be touched (unless you are in a car of course, then some police departments scan your phone and think about the ACLU and EFF law suits later). Bandwidth, nope. Coverage? Not really if you have a decent provider. I am not sure but I believe usually the only other way you can have someone go to your house without owning anything really dangerous or without a radio license is... probation.....after you get out of prison. Or maybe if you have trouble with child protective services. Some how legally a radio transmitter box is equivalent to owning a browning automatic machine gun or being a felon.
"their not supposed to" and "usually don't" is not a very strong reassurance for formfitting such a right.
Not true, there are circumstances where a warrant isn't required.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_warrant#Exceptions
I mean, this is usually used to allow the police to chase people running away or driving through other peoples property or someone with a gun retreating into their house, people banging on windows or something like a drug dealer running into a bathroom with a bag of cocaine or whatever.. its not really relevant IMO. Those are common sense things that would make things ultra easy for criminals (well people with diplomatic immunity leaping over embassy walls running from cops still have this kind of 'privilege'). It's basically saying that your house is not a embassy or foreign border. That is a rare occurrence and those are good laws and they are scrutinized heavily in court when those powers are used. Usually there is severe panic when those warrentless searches are done and its a BIG deal.
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I mean, this is usually used to allow the police to chase people running away or driving through other peoples property or someone with a gun retreating into their house, people banging on windows or something like a drug dealer running into a bathroom with a bag of cocaine or whatever.. its not really relevant IMO. Those are common sense things that would make things ultra easy for criminals (well people with diplomatic immunity leaping over embassy walls running from cops still have this kind of 'privilege'). It's basically saying that your house is not a embassy or foreign border.
My point being that police have been found using those excuses for what would otherwise be illegal searches.
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bd139 - you have a license for life now, can you even ditch it?
Expires every 5 years unless you notify Ofcom now. Think it came in with the M-prefixes. Just going to let it burn.
Not sure you can ever really get rid of it, you can surrender the callsign but all it really takes is an email to OFCOM to reactivate it (colleague has done just that).
Yeah probably can do that. If you choose to :)
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Watch video -
Oh yes, my old friend Mr. Fisher. I remember getting a 900 baud modem so I wouldn't tie up the phone lines, conversing with him.
.
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Wouldn't you have to be actually doing something illegal with a radio transmitter to have that happen?
Also, I'm somebody who notices and remembers when people say really stupid or evil things, and I also spend a fair amount of time listening in the background to the HF and 70 cm bands.
I'm sure Ive heard that kind of stuff occasionally, but not recently. I hear people once in a while who I disagree with but to be honest, despite this recent quite contentious political season, the main thing I am walking away from it with is compassion for the problems people are having.
And I actually think lots of the people I hear are good at being diplomatic. Its not as bad here as the UK, I am gathering.
Caveat: I don't live in the South, which is perhaps a lot different, I don't know.
I live in a high population density area and there are a lot of smart people around here including smart hams.
Unfortunately, there aren't so many hams online - less than I expected there to be. And pre-built equipment is generally around two or three times more than I think it should be, from the parts it uses. Which is ridiculous.
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HF conditions are picking up with the next solar cycle well underway.
Videos show activity on 14 - 28 MHz - running 5W CW & SSB.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC35SBPspT0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC35SBPspT0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2JEG4SRHDU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2JEG4SRHDU)
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These are the ones that get me. Raynet wankers:
We've got them over here too. We call them whackers. Their vehicles typically include light bars (and sometimes sirens), stick-on logos, half a dozen (or more) antennas, etc. The drivers of these "mobile command posts" often wear uniforms, have assigned ranks, and try to look as much like real emergency responders as possible (despite having no official affiliation with any of them).
(https://www.hamsexy.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/mob1.jpg)
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These are the ones that get me. Raynet wankers:
We've got them over here too. We call them whackers. Their vehicles typically include light bars (and sometimes sirens), stick-on logos, half a dozen (or more) antennas, etc. The drivers of these "mobile command posts" often wear uniforms, have assigned ranks, and try to look as much like real emergency responders as possible (despite having no official affiliation with any of them).
(https://www.hamsexy.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/mob1.jpg)
If you make it to the UK, pay a visit to Bletchley park, it's really interesting but while you're there, drop into the RSGB "National Radio Centre" for a giggle, last time I was there they were wearing these:
https://www.britishmilitarysurplus.co.uk/shop/jumpers/royal-navy-pullover-grade-1-1123618.html (https://www.britishmilitarysurplus.co.uk/shop/jumpers/royal-navy-pullover-grade-1-1123618.html)
Complete with shoulder flashes to denote 'position'.
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Another similar thing popular over here are the so-called storm chasers. They usually drive an SUV festooned with weather vanes, light bars, antennas, video equipment, and similar stuff, and go chasing after tornados and other extreme weather, making nuisances of themselves and getting in the way. I'm not talking about the real storm chasers, who are usually affiliated with universities and/or government organizations, but rather the clueless amateur types.
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These are the ones that get me. Raynet wankers:
We've got them over here too. We call them whackers. Their vehicles typically include light bars (and sometimes sirens), stick-on logos, half a dozen (or more) antennas, etc. The drivers of these "mobile command posts" often wear uniforms, have assigned ranks, and try to look as much like real emergency responders as possible (despite having no official affiliation with any of them).
(https://www.hamsexy.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/mob1.jpg)
If you make it to the UK, pay a visit to Bletchley park, it's really interesting but while you're there, drop into the RSGB "National Radio Centre" for a giggle, last time I was there they were wearing these:
https://www.britishmilitarysurplus.co.uk/shop/jumpers/royal-navy-pullover-grade-1-1123618.html (https://www.britishmilitarysurplus.co.uk/shop/jumpers/royal-navy-pullover-grade-1-1123618.html)
Complete with shoulder flashes to denote 'position'.
That doesn’t surprise me at all. I’d compare their attire to 1980s bin men slightly too loudly :-DD
I actually went to Bletchley last year. Well TNMOC anyway. Didn’t get to Bletchley in the end and quite honestly couldn’t face actually talking to any hams at NRC. I think that trip might have flipped me back to computing if I’m honest.
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Another similar thing popular over here are the so-called storm chasers. They usually drive an SUV festooned with weather vanes, light bars, antennas, video equipment, and similar stuff, and go chasing after tornados and other extreme weather, making nuisances of themselves and getting in the way. I'm not talking about the real storm chasers, who are usually affiliated with universities and/or government organizations, but rather the clueless amateur types.
You misspelled dumbass there when you wrote “storm chaser” :)
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I'm guessing that vehicle's occupants are the two guys in the white t-shirts with the diet soda!
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Yeah the two guys who are Baywatch extras.
Edit: put my glasses on now. Retracted last comment.
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Heh. I may know one or both of those guys. ;D
The caricatures of storm chasers we see on TV certainly appear to be whack-a-doodles. I wouldn't assume that all are like that, but it does help to be a nutjob if you want to be on TV.
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those raynet guys look suspect, I thought it was a legitimate goverment car at first
hint: put up a folded sign to indicate you are not with the goverment rather then painting your car (when you are parked at events).
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Yeah but that would make them feel less important. I suspect a lot of them were rejected by the police or have some weird fantasy thing going on.
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Yeah but that would make them feel less important. I suspect a lot of them were rejected by the police or have some weird fantasy thing going on.
Oh definitely, I *think* this guy is someone I knew years ago, he wanted to be an ambulance driver and failed several times.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/28/8 (https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/28/8)
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Yeah but that would make them feel less important. I suspect a lot of them were rejected by the police or have some weird fantasy thing going on.
Oh definitely, I *think* this guy is someone I knew years ago, he wanted to be an ambulance driver and failed several times.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/28/8 (https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/28/8)
It wouldn’t surprise me. There used to be a guy I knew who was into CB that was like it as well. Told everyone he was the only person to have worked for all three emergency services. Turned out he was the only person to be rejected for all of them :-DD
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Yeah but that would make them feel less important. I suspect a lot of them were rejected by the police or have some weird fantasy thing going on.
Oh definitely, I *think* this guy is someone I knew years ago, he wanted to be an ambulance driver and failed several times.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/28/8 (https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/28/8)
It wouldn’t surprise me. There used to be a guy I knew who was into CB that was like it as well. Told everyone he was the only person to have worked for all three emergency services. Turned out he was the only person to be rejected for all of them :-DD
I kinda hate to think there may be more than one of them but that guy was into CB as well, you didn't grow up in Manchester did you?
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a reasonable amature I think would put a banner up on the car in the car windows and have a fold out sign like a pizzeria not a dedicated radio car
I mean its kinda cool to think that someone can setup a radio vehicle but it really looks like a goverment thing, it is extremely unchill
Maybe if it said "HAM CLUB mobile command" I would feel better about it. Just calling something a command brings to mind incident management systems and all sorts of bureaucracy. I also feel like that kinda person is gonna start asking you for money or something. We are so fucking official we painted our car lol
And the way it says amature radio on the back bumper not near 'emergency' is kinda deceitful also. It should be in one place. It is confusing and makes it seem like a emergency vehicle. It needs to say CLUB on it because its a CLUB
Even NASA is more modest.
(https://i1.wp.com/nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/05/tesla-nasa-01-1.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&ssl=1)
Maybe it should be a logo and thats it lol. Put a flag on it if you want it to be visible (like a box car race flag).
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I kinda hate to think there may be more than one of them but that guy was into CB as well, you didn't grow up in Manchester did you?
No there were definitely more. London, Nottinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire here.
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Wouldn't you have to be actually doing something illegal with a radio transmitter to have that happen?
Also, I'm somebody who notices and remembers when people say really stupid or evil things, and I also spend a fair amount of time listening in the background to the HF and 70 cm bands.
All that paranoia about an Evil Government is rather silly, frankly.
Why do you need a ham license? Well, it makes sense because a poorly operated station can do harm to essential services. Also, at least in Spain, we can be legally required to assist in emergencies. After all the privileges as amateur radio operators have a price :) Not that I have a problem, I was a volunteer at the local Red Cross of Sea base and, guess what? Upon saying "I am a ham" I was put in charge of communications.
So, mandatory inspections. I don't know about other countries, but in mine you certainly authorize the telecommunication authorities to inspect your equipment. Which means they can, well, inspect it. Ask me to turn it on, maybe measure it for spurious emissions or, of course, illegal power levels.
But, guess what? The telecommunication authorities don't care about us since many years ago because troublemaker illegal CB amplifiers are a thing of the past. And profanity on radio, although it shouldn't be done, is a non issue for them. This is not USA, where a stray tit shown on TV can mean a change of govwernment!
So, telecommunication authorities and hams? We don't cause troubles, mostly they have to investigate interference suffered by us rather than problems caused by us.
Carry on and enjoy the brand new solar cycle. Besides, ham radio will be full of crazy old guys if the youger wise ones just abandon ship.
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a reasonable amature I think would put a banner up on the car in the car windows and have a fold out sign like a pizzeria not a dedicated radio car
I mean its kinda cool to think that someone can setup a radio vehicle but it really looks like a goverment thing, it is extremely unchill
it seems to be some amateurs attitude to show everybody that they are 'government certified radio amateurs'. But honestly, others do the same thing with their cars, their motorbikes or other kind of 'penis extensions'. I guess most of those posings seem to normal people rather kooky.
otherwise I have to agree with borjam. I never had any troubles with the regulation authorities.
It was not very kind from them confiscating all the Baofengs ordered by radio amateurs thus denying their ability to modify them up to code, but on the other side it's very much in our own interest, if the authorities have an eye on the market with all the crap that in the end messes up our frequencies too.
Indeed they have much more to do with all the crappy consumer electronics, and sometimes even us radio amateurs put their attention on the particular culprit standing innocently in neighbors living room, messing up all the spectrum.
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All that paranoia about an Evil Government is rather silly, frankly.
Why do you need a ham license? Well, it makes sense because a poorly operated station can do harm to essential services. Also, at least in Spain, we can be legally required to assist in emergencies. After all the privileges as amateur radio operators have a price :) Not that I have a problem, I was a volunteer at the local Red Cross of Sea base and, guess what? Upon saying "I am a ham" I was put in charge of communications.
So, mandatory inspections. I don't know about other countries, but in mine you certainly authorize the telecommunication authorities to inspect your equipment. Which means they can, well, inspect it. Ask me to turn it on, maybe measure it for spurious emissions or, of course, illegal power levels.
But, guess what? The telecommunication authorities don't care about us since many years ago because troublemaker illegal CB amplifiers are a thing of the past. And profanity on radio, although it shouldn't be done, is a non issue for them. This is not USA, where a stray tit shown on TV can mean a change of government!
So, telecommunication authorities and hams? We don't cause troubles, mostly they have to investigate interference suffered by us rather than problems caused by us.
Carry on and enjoy the brand new solar cycle. Besides, ham radio will be full of crazy old guys if the younger wise ones just abandon ship.
If we want to see the best use made of the resource we would be smart to make it easier to invent new ways to use it for the benefit of all.
And not just commercially. They should think about the educational value of ham radio, and try to make it easier for people to get on the air and comply with all relevant laws, maybe even having FCC resources like a lab open where people could bring in equipment (homebrew or kits especially) to have it tested to ensure its not emitting spurious emissions a couple days out of the month for free.
Kits save a lot of money, and promote a more knowledgeable kind of amateur.
We have to realize that the sciences bring a lot to the table in helping everybody, young and old, not only stay sane in these difficult times, also they offer global communities that are pushing us forward in ways we didn't have before. And building self esteem.
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If we want to see the best use made of the resource we would be smart to make it easier to invent new ways to use it for the benefit of all.
And not just commercially. They should think about the educational value of ham radio, and try to make it easier for people to get on the air and comply with all relevant laws, maybe even having FCC resources like a lab open where people could bring in equipment (homebrew or kits especially) to have it tested to ensure its not emitting spurious emissions a couple days out of the month for free.
I just don't see the difficulty in getting a ham license, at least in the no-code USA. The Technician and General-class licenses don't take much study, and all the info needed is on-line and free. Taking the test is also easy, now that you no longer have to go to an FCC office. I do have an Extra license, so perhaps I'm biased...
As for open labs, I think that most ham clubs will have some hams with good test equipment, who would be thrilled to mentor new hams in the technical side of the hobby. I know my local ham club welcomes all hams regardless of their interests -- we've got preppers, emergency comms volunteers, ragchewers, DXers, and tech nerds (like me).
I do agree that ham radio can have a huge educational value, and can be a wonderful gateway into a rewarding professional career -- that's how it was for me. Resources aren't the problem, interest is. But much like the "minorities / women in STEM" issue, I don't think that lack of resources or institutional bias are what is keeping people out of ham radio. Different people are interested in different things.
But encouragement and public role models might help some discover a latent enthusiasm for some aspects of ham radio.
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If we want to see the best use made of the resource we would be smart to make it easier to invent new ways to use it for the benefit of all.
Not so simple, though. Look at air band VHF communications, still in good old AM.
And not just commercially. They should think about the educational value of ham radio, and try to make it easier for people to get on the air and comply with all relevant laws, maybe even having FCC resources like a lab open where people could bring in equipment (homebrew or kits especially) to have it tested to ensure its not emitting spurious emissions a couple days out of the month for free.
I haven't tried and it isn't publicized widely, but in Spain you can do that. You can take your project and have it tested for free at the official lab. After all it's a timesaver for them as well :)
We have to realize that the sciences bring a lot to the table in helping everybody, young and old, not only stay sane in these difficult times, also they offer global communities that are pushing us forward in ways we didn't have before. And building self esteem.
Of course! Sadly ham radio has become kinda invisible. Maybe IARU could start a global campaign showcasing the influence of people who happen to be amateur operators. From Nobel laureates to part of the creators of the TCP/IP protocol suite and how ham radio influenced them.
Lots of people would be really surprised!
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Not so simple, though. Look at air band VHF communications, still in good old AM.
My understanding is that aviation VHF uses good old AM because a weak signal is less likely to be obliterated by a stronger one. There's no "capture effect" with AM. But this doesn't explain why marine VHF is FM, so perhaps this is just an old wives' tale?
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Not so simple, though. Look at air band VHF communications, still in good old AM.
My understanding is that aviation VHF uses good old AM because a weak signal is less likely to be obliterated by a stronger one. There's no "capture effect" with AM. But this doesn't explain why marine VHF is FM, so perhaps this is just an old wives' tale?
Yes, that's correct regarding airband AM. Moreover, as control towers have some carrier offset you will hear a beating tone if an aircraft transmits at the same time. By using offset carriers for control transmissions it also exploits a cheapo "voting" system. So it has several benefits. But think about the cost and complexity of replacing it with a more modern digital scheme.
As for marine VHF, same thing. Simple and cheap.
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Well here they are - the glamour shots. A fully restored and working Kenwood R-1000 -
(No I didn't update it with LEDS per the purists out there :) )
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/sFj-FX5pDdXsW79yQcJzQP2evUjZl1C4H1xCCcvCl2M=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/x_lGnLIgERRIX905cgsioEvvoYjGvhG80MM3uFuL3co=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/teoDWmlNVM9uWit9gcRoHek6Q9WhF48obJOnZsVb0vo=w1024-h768-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ht-3r0NnY1vRx5j-txo7IhU7ctSAYVUPJ6d92vviJsY=w1024-h768-no)
Very nice!
40 years ago that would have been on my wishlist as an aspiring Novice. I probably should have gotten the lower priced R-600 model or even the lower end Radio Shack receiver on the market at the time, but I went another direction with the Heathkit SW-717. What the SW-717 lacked in capability it made up for by teaching me what a lousy/poorly designed "receiver" truly was. I wasn't done yet as I bought a couple more Heathkits before learning my lesson. :palm:
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Very nice!
Thank you. I just had it on last week. I have other vintage SW receivers and I wanted to listen to them for a retro experience, make sure they all still work. It still works fine and sounds good.
40 years ago that would have been on my wishlist as an aspiring Novice. I probably should have gotten the lower priced R-600 model or even the lower end Radio Shack receiver on the market at the time, but I went another direction with the Heathkit SW-717. What the SW-717 lacked in capability it made up for by teaching me what a lousy/poorly designed "receiver" truly was. I wasn't done yet as I bought a couple more Heathkits before learning my lesson. :palm:
Funny you should mention the R-600. I just recently within the last month got an R-600 which I had been wanting for a while. It was on Ebay in a city not too far from me so I went ahead and bid on it. The picture looked extremely clean, so why not take a chance? Well I won the bid and when I got it I was shocked. The thing looked brand new and I do not exaggerate. Like right out of the factory box. The inside was immaculate, not a spec of dust. How could this be? Where did the seller get it? This is what she told me when I asked her where it came from -
"My father (who was not a ham radio operator) died in September. He was a hoarder, being brought up in the depression he didn’t throw things out because you might need it some day. Anyway, I was cleaning out his van and found it.
No one (my mother or sister) even knew he had it, let alone why. My guess is he bought it new, thinking he might need it and never did.
I am so happy it’s in such wonderful condition. I was married to a ham radio operator and was the only one who even knew what it was. :)
Enjoy!!"
Pictures below but they won't do it justice.
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I have one! :-+
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I have a R1000, too, & a sweet looking receiver it is!
I had, (& used a lot), a Drake SSR1, which is now languishing in the "round tuit" box.
The Drake is quite "agricultural" in appearance, compared to the Kenwood, but, in my estimation is a better radio, as the Wadley Loop analogue design allows tuning in much smaller increments.
Don't get me wrong, though, the R1000 is still a nice radio.
Back to "hamming", I currently have no working 13.8v power supply & need to finally get around to fixing the broken one!
As with many hams, radio takes a back seat to other more urgent stuff, so you mainly come into contact with those who have "got their act together" enough to have additional funds, time & space, the fanatics, who don't care about anything else, the "whackers", or the "preppers".
It is a bit like EE & IT people----most people think some young twat who developed a totally unnecessary "App" for iPhones is an "electronics genius", & that "hackers" are agents of Satan!
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I have an original Collins not a clone, R-390. No bloody A, B, C or D.
It'll beat all that solid state stuff in performance.
The problem is lifting it into a rack! :-DD
And it's still is not for sale..
http://www.r-390.com/ (http://www.r-390.com/) <---- Not my page, but look at those filters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-390A (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-390A) <---- A >:D
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Here, the small brother Collins 51 S-1 desk model...Have the KWM-2 too.
R-390 was on my wish list but the size is not the favor one....
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At one point I owned three R-390A receivers. I did a few modifications and at the time I thought it was the greatest receiver out there. If you limit your contest to tube radios, it wins on every level.
That being said, it is eclipsed by my TS-940S. Not as great a selection of bandwidth, but nearly everything else is better on the Kenwood.
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Speaking of the R-600/R-1000, some years back a local dealer I know well had one or the other on his table at the state convention. I walked by it a few times but did not buy it. It would have been nice nostalgia, but I'm really more interested in transceivers these days. In mid 2014 I bought a TS-520SE off eBay with the narrow CW filter, very clean and it aligned nicely. I've since added the DG-5 display, and remote VFO and speaker. It's a nice classic setup.
Earlier this year I bought a TS-130SE from a local. I need to go through it and touch it up before Straight Key Night. That gives me just over a month to get that done!
Otherwise, I've been tinkering with this and that.
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I was lucky a year or two ago when I got a pristine TS-520S with manual from an old guy (ha! I'm older than he!) who had bought it new in 1975. It works great. He said the finals had less than 5 hours on them.
I added a homebrew digital display using arduino; all external, no mods needed to the radio.
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A thermal shot of the R-1000.
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Wahoo!---I just had a contact on the local 2m repeater with VK6ATX mobile, using the old Yaesu FT411 I picked up, (along with a 2m "brick" RF amplifier, & a couple of small power transformers), for $A50, a couple of Hamfests ago.
The FT411's Nicads had, of course, "gone to battery heaven", but I managed to remove them after a bit of butchery, temporarily replacing them with 2 little PP3 9v Alkalines.
Up to now, because of the non-rechargeables, I have been limiting use of the radio to calling in after the weekly "ham news", so this is its first longish contact.
The 2m repeater is usually dead silent, so it was a nice surprise to hear him calling.
I think I've got the ham virus back, so I will really have to get back into "fix it" mode so I can use the stuff that needs my (currently dead) power supply!
Maybe even fix some non-ham stuff!! ;D
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At one point I owned three R-390A receivers. I did a few modifications and at the time I thought it was the greatest receiver out there. If you limit your contest to tube radios, it wins on every level.
That being said, it is eclipsed by my TS-940S. Not as great a selection of bandwidth, but nearly everything else is better on the Kenwood.
can you be more specific? I wanted a r390a for a while and I was interested in how it compares to modern radios. I guess the newer radio is more sensitive? I am wondering what the limiting factors are, since with HF it is normally not noise I think (since atmospheric noise dominates when a real antenna is connected to the system).
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The R-390A is a fine radio. It's big and heavy and runs very warm. Its mechanical construction is complex and needs occasional service.
The speaker impedance is such that one needs an external transformer to drive most speakers. The S meter is not calibrated in S units, a minor annoyance. I don't recall the antenna input impedance, whether 50 Ohms is an option or not.
The frequency stability is not up to modern standards; a long warmup is a good idea. Nor is the frequency resolution, with one dial division each 200 Hz (vs most modern radios with 10 Hz or even 1 Hz steps). If I remember correctly, switching from USB to LSB requires some juggling of tuning and BFO dials. CW seems to require yet a different setting.
I changed mine over to solid state rectification to eliminate the hot rectifier tubes.
Those are the main shortcomings. As for convenience, changing frequency is a major chore, especially large frequency jumps. If you are on 75 meters and want to QSY to, say, 20m CW, there is no way to do that quickly. There can be annoying backlash of the dial, causing differing readings depending on tuning direction. If you are an SWL, going over the hump at each MHz can really be a pain.
The audio CW filter and the wide selection of bandwidths are a definite plus. Sensitivity is not an issue, as the incoming noise level swamps the internally generated noise and there is plenty of gain.
When I got rid of mine, I felt a pang of regret. Now, years later, I don't look back.
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Started with an Icom IC-7000 and an Icom AH4 auto tuner.
My old ears then needed a West Mountain Clr/dsp and a BHI NEIM1031. The noisy power line internet needed an MFJ1026 diversity phaser. Then came dstar and c4fm for the solar minimum.
The endfed 8010 half wave 80m at 12m was put up 7 years ago for QRP and gets into the US and UK depending on conditions.
Great hobby just treated as a hobby and a bit of fun! 3,000+ QSO's for a previous long term SWL. Got my lic. after the internet killed SWL and the commercial hf bands went silent!
My current radio desk layout using glass tv shelves...
(https://i.imgur.com/bAPWpfr.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/OBxtQXN.jpg)
:-+
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Scherms, that's a good visual example of how the hobby has evolved.
Too bad the average person is unaware of the great innovations happening in ham radio today. Instead, they assume it's a dead & obsolete hobby.
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We’re aware of the innovations. They’re just a bit, well, meh.
I’m talking to you in the US via a web site hosted in the US from the UK set up by a dude in Australia. And not once have I had to worry about cycle 25 propagation or say CQ :-DD
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We’re aware of the innovations. They’re just a bit, well, meh.
I’m talking to you in the US via a web site hosted in the US from the UK set up by a dude in Australia. And not once have I had to worry about cycle 25 propagation or say CQ :-DD
But HF has nothing to do with conversation. It's like fishing, you get nibbles and then a bite! Bag it and move on. It's a jungle jumble... thats what makes it great.
iPhone does everything else... :-+
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It's like fishing, you get nibbles and then a bite! Bag it and move on. It's a jungle jumble... thats what makes it great.
Same thing happens here and it's thousands $$$ less expensive. :-DD
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Here you don't get to play with your Bird meters.
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The R-390A is a fine radio. It's big and heavy and runs very warm. Its mechanical construction is complex and needs occasional service.
The speaker impedance is such that one needs an external transformer to drive most speakers. The S meter is not calibrated in S units, a minor annoyance. I don't recall the antenna input impedance, whether 50 Ohms is an option or not.
The frequency stability is not up to modern standards; a long warmup is a good idea. Nor is the frequency resolution, with one dial division each 200 Hz (vs most modern radios with 10 Hz or even 1 Hz steps). If I remember correctly, switching from USB to LSB requires some juggling of tuning and BFO dials. CW seems to require yet a different setting.
I changed mine over to solid state rectification to eliminate the hot rectifier tubes.
Those are the main shortcomings. As for convenience, changing frequency is a major chore, especially large frequency jumps. If you are on 75 meters and want to QSY to, say, 20m CW, there is no way to do that quickly. There can be annoying backlash of the dial, causing differing readings depending on tuning direction. If you are an SWL, going over the hump at each MHz can really be a pain.
The audio CW filter and the wide selection of bandwidths are a definite plus. Sensitivity is not an issue, as the incoming noise level swamps the internally generated noise and there is plenty of gain.
When I got rid of mine, I felt a pang of regret. Now, years later, I don't look back.
I don't like the backlash thing.
For a long term project, do you think its possible to replace some of the mechanical hardware to make the adjustments more stable/accurate ? Some of this sounds like stuff related to worn gears and low quality screws? I am guessing someone (designer) got 'clever' with bent metal etc, and it does not work as it ought to. Like that stampings and whatnot were used instead of machined parts.
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Check out this radio: SDR, nice display, 10W, HF-50 MHz coverage. But wait, there's more! Bluetooth (for keyboard and mouse), WiFi, USB in and out, antenna tuner, built-in battery. *And* you can run linux on the SAMD processor. Some hams have loaded WSJTX, JS8Call, and other programs on it, as well as VNC and other tools. It is now a completely self-contained HF digital communications rig.
(https://i0.wp.com/qrper.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Xiegu-X6100-1.jpeg)
https://www.amazon.com/Xiegu-Transceiver-Supports-Bluetooth-Screen/dp/B09PHK6XPB (https://www.amazon.com/Xiegu-Transceiver-Supports-Bluetooth-Screen/dp/B09PHK6XPB)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz551tZGX4Y (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz551tZGX4Y)
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A review on one of Icom's most popular pre SDR sets the IC-7000.
https://icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/productLeaflet/IC-7000.pdf (https://icomuk.co.uk/files/icom/PDF/productLeaflet/IC-7000.pdf)
(https://i.imgur.com/cAWZHWd.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/8FJLcs1.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MoZMJEC.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE9OYGuGaaE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE9OYGuGaaE)
NOTE: If Craig had turned on the ANF 'auto notch filter' that interference would have been notched out!
IC-7000 HF/50MHz/VHF/UHF mobile transceiver (Discontinued)
Stylish and compact, the IC-7000 is the first radio in its class to have IF DSP. In fact, with features such as digital IF filter, digital twin PBT and manual notch filter the IC-7000 offers unparalleled performance not seen in a radio in this class before. Usability has also been enhanced with the incorporation of a 2.5 inch colour TFT display, eight direct access buttons and a detachable head for vehicle mounting. In short, the IC-7000 symbolises great leaps in performance, features, operability and design.
2 x DSP
There are two times the DSP in the IC-7000 that will leave many base station rigs in the noise! While it is too early to list all the great features, here are a few to keep you talking!
Improved AGC loop performance
With Multiple AGC loops, you will never experience AGC pumping from a signal filtered out by the DSP! The digital IF filter and manual notch filter are included in the AGC loop, so you will never encounter AGC blocking. IC-756PROIII and IC-7800, middle, fast for each operating mode.
Digital IF filters
All the filters you want at your fingertips! You will never have to purchase Optional filters as the IC-7000 has 41 different filter widths. You just dial in the width you want and select whether you want a sharp or soft filter shape for SSB and CW modes. Then to pull-in the weak ones, a quick turn of the concentric twin PBT knobs, allow you to either narrow the IF passband, or shift the entire passband to eliminate the QRM.
2 x MNF (Manual Notch Filter)
Pull out the weak signals in crowded band conditions with Icom's NEW two-point MNF manual notch filter. Apply 70 dB of rejection to two signals at once! Notch width is adjustable ¡V wide, medium, and narrow ¡V and an auto-tuning notch filter is available, too.
Digital voice recorder (DVR)
Record your callsign, CQ, or other information in 4 transmit playback memories with alphanumeric labels. A total of 90 seconds is available for the four memories. A front panel REC control allows you to record incoming signals, too! The DVR makes portable contesting or mini-expeditions a breeze!
Flexible installation with detachable panel
Smaller than the IC-706MKIIG, the IC-7000 measures only 167(W)x58(H)x180(D) mm*1. With the detachable front panel*2 many installation possibilities are available.
Remote control Microphone
The supplied HM-151 remote control microphone allows you to control often used functions of the IC-7000. This includes band hopping with Icom's Triple Band Stack registers.
2-mode band scope
The band scope function lets you watch conditions around the band. In Centre mode the band scope is centred on the receiving frequency. In Fixed mode the band scope sweeps a fixed range.
2.5-inch colour TFT display with TV screen receive capability
The IC-7000's display presents numbers and indicators in bright, concentrated colours for easy recognition. You can choose from 3 background colours and 2 font styles to suit your preference. Not only does the display provide radio status, but you can watch NTSC M or PAL B on VHF-TV channels!*
One-touch operation
Eight of the most-used radio functions are controlled by dedicated function keys grouped around the display for easy visibility. One quick touch turns the function and off. A longer touch activates adjustment of the functions setting.
Memory Keyer
The internal memory keyer provides 4 memories for station information or contest exchanges, calling CQ and call sign with up to 55 characters for each memory. The keyer also performs automatic repeat and automatic contest serial numbers.
IC-7000 Additional Features
• Selectable main dial tension from heavy, light and click
• SWR graphic display
• CW full break-in
• CW receive reverse
• CW pitch adjustable, linking to side tone
• Tone squelch in FM mode
• 503 memory channels
• Built-in voice synthesiser
• Duplex mode and auto repeater function
• Transmit monitor
• DTMF monitor
• 1Hz tuning
• CI-V interface
• RIT/∆ÝTX
• VOX
• RF/SQL knob
• Large speaker
• Thermo control silent cooling fan
• Auto TS function
• Noise squelch and S-meter squelch
• Preamplifier
• Dial lock
• Attenuator
• 35W output on 430/440MHz band
(https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0700cont.jpg)
(https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0700rdia.jpg)
(https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0700scr1.jpg)
(https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/0700disp.jpg)
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