Whatever Happened to Ham Radio?

[MikeK]

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 and  http://www.repeaterbook.com/

[xrunner]

In case you don't already know: ...

I did, but thanks. 

[Radio Tech]

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.

[xrunner]

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. 

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. 

[jamesb]

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!

[dr.diesel]

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

I'm really hoping for quality kits in the near future.

[xrunner]

Indeed.  It also appears that HeathKit has reappeared, with an emphasis on Amateur Radio.

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 -

[dr.diesel]

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 -

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

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.

[SLJ]

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.

[Radio Tech]

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.

[xrunner]

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.

[SLJ]

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.

[WBB]

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. 

[xrunner]

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". 

[xrunner]

Hilarious video! 

[ivan747]

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.

[dr.diesel]

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

[Radio Tech]

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.

[adnewhouse]

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.

[xrunner]

Looking around at the new rigs being offered. Gah, They look too much like home stereo equipment.



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. 

[dr.diesel]

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

All of my tower parts I've gotten next to free, just driving around looking for old TV antenna towers with nothing on them.

[MikeK]

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

I just bolt it to my camera tripod.

[duskglow]

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.

[xrunner]

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

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? 

[w2aew]

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.