| Ham Radio hobby | Rate Topic |
| Moderators: redbaron, MDKramer, Flyone, AZgl1500 | Page:   1 2 |
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27th, 2012 04:41 pm | 21st Post |
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monkeytrucker wrote: My daughter who does a little CW at times with my station is a Novice Class license. She will not upgrade simply because she is in a dying class. After my Novice ticket, I upgraded to Tech+ out of pressure from many that wanted me to follow them up to 2M. I did. Had all kinds of 2M equipment there for a while. Ran a Kenwood TS-700A mobile for a while. Commercial FM TK-705's (front panel programmable) and 760's (with remote dual heads) being my favorite rigs for mobile. It didn't last for me though. "Radio" is so much more than just FM, repeaters, a credit-card and few minutes of study. Should never have relinquished the code requirement. At the tme, the CG did away with its use, the old-timers were dying-off and vhf/uhf rigs were being made so cheap and fast that retailers were getting returns weekly so Joe-ham could buy the next dual-bander that just went on sale, ...with everybody else who had resources trying to put up their own repeater. Radio Shack, being the leader in inexpensive little mobiles back then, made a killing, ...I'm certain of it. Now-a-days, I'd rather Look at all the wireless 2.4 video that floats-about in the ether than key-up and talk to anyone. You'd be surprised how much of it there is and what I sometimes see. Ok, ...rant over. Last edited on Fri Jan 27th, 2012 04:57 pm by CaptainMidnight85 ____________________ "They're gonna make it look like suicide." Hunter S. Thompson, one day before his death. |
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27th, 2012 05:11 pm | 22nd Post |
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I use a Kenwood TK-805D commercial on UHF here in the shack. Good radio except the scan function does not function. Hey, it was $50 and I wish I had bought several of them at that price. The commercial guy had not discovered Ebay yet. Now he has and he has tripled his price. Around here the Chinese Wouxun dual band handheld for $130 delivered is the hot ticket. They are really a good radio. They do not have all of the bells and whistles that the major players have built into their handhelds and inflated the prices north of $500. I agree with you on dropping code requirement, however as a VE we are making more hams. Granted a bunch of them get their license and then are never seen again. However with careful cultivation some of them really get into the hobby. So I have resigned myself that CW is going the way of Latin. We used to say that CW would get a signal thru when nothing else would. Well today give me my laptop with a PSK-31 program and the same radio you would have doing CW and I can send messages along with a hundred other guys sending and never have to turn the dial. 15 watts is high power for that and the messages are easy to confirm. I have been involved in SSTV and even some AM work. My son and his kids are into ATV. My son takes care of the 1.2 gig ATV repeater in Rockford, IL. He also does the 2.4 stuff. Down here the few signals there might be seen are too few to warrant the cost of equipment. I would have to put up a 120' tower and a rotor to get out of this low spot. Then my ham friend that runs the airport a mile south of here would worry about me tripping some of his student pilots. To me the most fun contacts are the ones that the signal sounds like it is in reverberation. Usually hear it on down under contacts. It is the signal taking different paths around the big blue rock and arriving out of phase to my station and therefore the reverb effect. Used to keep a schedule with a Auckland, NZ fellow before he became an SK and that effect was heard quite often.
____________________ Life is a collection of stories we old people tell and hope a few will listen and carry them into the future. There is a story to everything we have, everyone we have met and everything we have done or we will do or dream about doing. We sometimes ride to forget, but hopefully we never forget to ride. If you have no regrets in life, then you must have bad memory! Honda SL 175 Honda XL 350 Honda CB 750 X 2 Kawasaki 250 Honda GL 1200 Interstate |
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| Posted: Fri Jan 27th, 2012 07:25 pm | 23rd Post |
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I put the 805's on GMRS for others. I've been pushing GMRS lately. I despise cellular, so this is a good family alternative. Bring-up "Ham" or "Amateur Radio" to many of them and they get turned-off pretty quick. After some GMRS exposure, Amateur doesn't seem so intimidating. I don't have access to them (or any other commercial equipment) like I use to have, so yeah, I hit eBay too. Whole lot of old Mastr II repeaters still out there up and running both with GMRS and the Amateur bands. Newer equipment is relatively cheap today and they're getting replaced though. Again, I'm gonna get a nice size dish one day and go looking for ET, the Extra-class Terrestrial. I know he's up there, ...listening, ...waiting for something. Want an interesting read? Find a old copy of "Deep Black". That's where it really started for me. I've been listening on and off ever since. It's UHF for me from here on out. I'm much more interested in the satellites and beyond...
____________________ "They're gonna make it look like suicide." Hunter S. Thompson, one day before his death. |
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28th, 2012 01:50 am | 24th Post |
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Our club has a Mastr II 2 meter repeater, a motorola Micor 440, and a new Vertex 440 repeater. We have been watching for mastr II repeaters but have not had much luck unless we wanted to drive a thousand miles. I have 2 UHF GE Mastr repeaters, a GE UHF mastr paging system, a spare UHF micor for parts and a UHF Kenwood desktop sitting out in the tractor shed. They are the club stuff and was donated to us by Duke Energy's Gibson Generating plant. They were collecting dust and had not been used for many years. That also is where our Micors came from. Several years ago they pulled every feedline out of that plant and put in a trunking system. A electrician at the plant found out they had hauled it all to a substation. There was a 1,000 ft. reel of 1/2" heliax that he wanted but he had to take everything. So he called me and I went over with my 12' enclosed trailer and we packed it full of everything from 3/8 super flex to 1-1/8". Tried to give it away over the years but as soon at they found out how much the ends cost it stopped the gift. Two years ago I hauled a thousand lbs and bought my wife new kitchen appliances. This last year I hauled most of the rest and bought my Gold Wing and material for the trailer. ET? He stops in here quite often.
____________________ Life is a collection of stories we old people tell and hope a few will listen and carry them into the future. There is a story to everything we have, everyone we have met and everything we have done or we will do or dream about doing. We sometimes ride to forget, but hopefully we never forget to ride. If you have no regrets in life, then you must have bad memory! Honda SL 175 Honda XL 350 Honda CB 750 X 2 Kawasaki 250 Honda GL 1200 Interstate |
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| Posted: Sat Jan 28th, 2012 04:59 pm | 25th Post |
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N7VRZ Need 7 very red zebras Was on subs in the Navy and to keep boredom at bay I would do all kinds of things. One of them was some sort of electronic kit. On my last sub one of the radio ops was a ham. I was already working what I could with CB. So stepping 'up' to ham radio was a natural progression. Got my license before I retired from the Navy and been active off and on since. (mostly off due to circumstances) So here I am a ham for over 10 years, a General for the last 3 and still haven't WAS or done the DXCC. My younger brother is also a ham and we haven't worked each other yet. I've been wanting to put up a tower/beam and had the money to do so. BUT, family members had financial difficulties that I helped. So no tower/beam until I can save for it again. Best 'thrill' on ham was working all of JA land on 6 meters in a couple of hours. I was outside of Seattle at the time. I responded to a single JA CQ and found myself to be the target of a pileup. Longest distance contact was from outside of Seattle to the Republic of South Africa. Did that bare foot on 10M with a 3 el beam at 25 feet. I have a couple of old Swan radios and a Heath Kit unit and they all need work. I keep telling myself that I will get aorund to fixing them. Don't know if I ever really will.
____________________ Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes. - James Tiberius Kirk Good health is merely the slowest rate at which you will die. Don't worry about old age. It doesn't last very long. |
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| Posted: Thu Feb 2nd, 2012 11:15 pm | 26th Post |
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Here in my corner of VK4 land, analogue TV has been switched off (now tv is digital only) & we don't get the skips showing up on the tv anymore 
____________________ Bob |
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| Posted: Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 11:54 am | 27th Post |
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Same here, though I'm not sure if the transition to digital is complete yet or not. I haven't been on any of the Amatuer bands in quite a while, but I'm curious if any of them will quiet-down once the digital switch is made. Have you noticed the bands being any quieter down there in VK4-land due to the swith-over from analogue to digital, scons?
____________________ "They're gonna make it look like suicide." Hunter S. Thompson, one day before his death. |
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| Posted: Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 12:38 pm | 28th Post |
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Not really - only some country areas have turned off the analogue, its being done progressively with the capital cities who have the larger populations being last. I think all analogue will be turned off by the end of 2013, but at present the two systems run in parallel until analogue is turned off in that area. We went digital only in the eastern part of Queensland (excluding the capital Brisbane,) last 6th Dec Qld is VK4 - rollout timetable is on http://www.digitalready.gov.au/when-do-i-switch/Rollout-map/Queensland.aspx i you need a bit of bedtime reading. I'm not active as a ham these days, but occasionally tune in & listen around. PS Did you see my PM? Last edited on Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 12:40 pm by scons ____________________ Bob |
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| Posted: Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 01:23 pm | 29th Post |
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Ok. Yeap, staged transition here too. I think all commercial interests (television and radio) in my area were due to convert by last month sometime. Haven't paid much attention to it for a few years now. I do know that station operator/owners can file for a extension to when they must convert. Many of these outfits run a very tight profit margin and the equipment is a major expense to lay out for them, so the extensions here in the States are many, I'm sure. I don't know what aide is currently available to a frequency owner. I got out of the two-way business prior to when the plan was calling for a 2008/9 digital change-over for LMR operators. None of my equipment was capable of the narrow-banding that was coming and seeing that I'm not the best salesman out there, a decision was made that it was time for me to get out and move on... Cellular (Nextel, specifically) marketing (and not their actual RF coverage) at that time, was trying to take me out anyway. Whew-Man, ...the power of advertising.
____________________ "They're gonna make it look like suicide." Hunter S. Thompson, one day before his death. |
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| Posted: Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 02:21 pm | 30th Post |
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The recent changes to Digital TV has made a company that a Ham Radio friend is an engineer with very busy. ERI (electronics research inc.) who makes much of the television antennas has been very busy making and installing antennas for the new digital stations. They are the company that has the antennas on places like the Empire State building and on the World Trade Center. They lost an employee when the towers went down. Radio sales companies are reaping big profits selling the new narrow band radio gear to police, fire and etc. I really doubt if any/all of the private radio systems will convert. I know the system I set up for my cousins farm operation will only take a easy programming change to meet those requirements. Doubt if we will change.
____________________ Life is a collection of stories we old people tell and hope a few will listen and carry them into the future. There is a story to everything we have, everyone we have met and everything we have done or we will do or dream about doing. We sometimes ride to forget, but hopefully we never forget to ride. If you have no regrets in life, then you must have bad memory! Honda SL 175 Honda XL 350 Honda CB 750 X 2 Kawasaki 250 Honda GL 1200 Interstate |
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| Posted: Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 03:51 pm | 31st Post |
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...if you guys are leasing space on a trunked Land Mobile repeater system, you'll have to change over by this time next year. January 1st is the current deadline. Someone is gonna pay for them radios if they aren't narrow-band capable already..
____________________ "They're gonna make it look like suicide." Hunter S. Thompson, one day before his death. |
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| Posted: Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 06:18 pm | 32nd Post |
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The great state of disrepair (Illinois) made a push for all of the public service police, fire and etc. to make the move to StarComm-21. That is a system owned and operated by Motorola and they charge a monthly fee for each radio they supply or that uses their system. It is a computer based system that relies on the phone lines for communications. It is the most rediculous thing that bribed politicians ever foisted on public services. You can be down here in the southeast corner of IL and all of a sudden you can hear a couple of beat cops in Chicago discussing an illegal parker. Plus in the last two years right here within 3 miles of here the underground cable has been cut 3 times. Once a farmer mowed a pedestal down and twice by the telephone company itself plowing in customer lines. Seems the cable are not where they are supposed to be. These cuts stopped all police computer communications to the state data base, phone communications, internet, cell phone service and who knows what else for 7 county area. Old fashioned simplex with local repeaters worked for years without a problem. Now with the very expensive fancy crap there is always a problem. The state of Indiana was sold on a 800 mhz trunking system for the whole state including local police and fire. After millions spent, 5 years of missed communications, fire departments failing to be dispatched to fires and etc. they now are planning on scrapping that system in favor of some new boondoggle that their government officials got bribes (excuse me, campaign donations) from some company that will sell them another non working system. That is why Ham Radio is billed as "When All Else Fails"
____________________ Life is a collection of stories we old people tell and hope a few will listen and carry them into the future. There is a story to everything we have, everyone we have met and everything we have done or we will do or dream about doing. We sometimes ride to forget, but hopefully we never forget to ride. If you have no regrets in life, then you must have bad memory! Honda SL 175 Honda XL 350 Honda CB 750 X 2 Kawasaki 250 Honda GL 1200 Interstate |
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| Posted: Fri Feb 3rd, 2012 11:22 pm | 33rd Post |
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i did this at one time also cb radio still have my ham radio in closet also cb with booster and siltronic slider know any one wanting to buy send me a message raio is ken wood
____________________ Don & marion oller chapter directors FREEDOM WINGS chapter F American gold wing association vice president TN> state director region director south east usa AGWA FREEDOM WINGS IS A CHARTERED CHAPTER 0F THE AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE ASSOCIATION |
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| Posted: Sat Feb 4th, 2012 12:51 pm | 34th Post |
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I am a freebander, taking practice tests online. 11 meters and cb are my outlets at present. DX is alot of fun. I don't have a megawatt station, just stock. Talking skip with a whopping 7 watts, now that's fun! jimsjinx
____________________ "We are put here, to take care of each other" |
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| Posted: Sat Feb 4th, 2012 01:22 pm | 35th Post |
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For me, fighting through them 11M pile-ups when skip is rolling is the fun. A TOTAL lack of order, direction and respect towards another in getting that other person to hear 'ya. "Key-Up and Hammer-Down" as I like to call it. Only the strong survived where I use to play. Channel 6 AM ain't no joke. Them Brothers have got some real serious sh1t out there for power. Freeband (above the regular 40) sees much more order and less hammer-down. Them guy's who are there have been there for a while and keep their homes kinda quiet. A HF Ham pile-up is the complete opposite. Complete order, total direction and absolute respect for another individual. I found it boring in comparison. But I got use to the "quiet" up on 10M and found I enjoyed the peacefulness of it. Night and day difference. I had my most enjoyment with my Galaxy Pluto and the Maco V-5/8 barefoot. Was hard for me to get use to the change from 11M/FB to the Amatuer bands. My terminology, the way I talked, would swing between the two. Them old-school Ham's would try and point me out as the ugly kid in the group when I'd slip-up. No problem, ...I'd tune-up the old twins on frequency if it got outta-hand. They learned to leave me alone. They found out I was much worse than "...another CB'er". They found out I was a hard-head CB'er that fought back at their self-righteousness. Damn, ...did I just vent?  Last edited on Sat Feb 4th, 2012 01:26 pm by CaptainMidnight85 ____________________ "They're gonna make it look like suicide." Hunter S. Thompson, one day before his death. |
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| Posted: Sun Feb 5th, 2012 01:44 am | 36th Post |
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monkeytrucker wrote: I have mentioned several times about being a Ham Radio operator. WB9UDJ Although I haven't been on-air much in the past few years, I've had my license since age 15, and quickly got to the Extra-class license when I was 17. I share quite a few contact with your list here. Bob Heil's still around and kicking, as well. Great guy with a rich history.
____________________ Rusty. Enthusiast of things that ride, drive & fly. No one had seen Tigger since the 6:10 Southbound Freight. He was last heard to say: "Tiggers can do anything!" |
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