Posted: 10/5/2008 9:58:09 AM EDT
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I'm looking to get into the hobby for emergency comms and maybe as a hobby later on. I'm passing the practice tests pretty regularly for technician and getting started on the general practice tests. For Now I was looking at getting a FT-8900R to start out as my base station to cover VHF/UHF communications and maybe get my feet wet in HF on the 10meter band. The only problem is that my setup needs to be discreet. Would this antenna give me good range if i was to mount it in the attic or would i have to find a way to roof mount it? I'm on the second story so it would be about 30ft up at least. Terrain is flat as a pancake. antenna My goal is to communicate about 20miles or so, and I haven't looked up the local repeaters yet to find out what I might be able to bounce off of. I'm in the Missouri City/Sugarland area. |
the FT8900 is a good radio -- but, it only transmits using FM on the 10m band. note that in most areas, there is little 10m FM activity. hence, you may find that the 10m band on your FT8900 goes unused or almost so.
you need to get the antenna outside for optimum performance. it may work ok in the attic, it may not. it depends heavily on the roof construction (asphalt shingles vs other), insulation (foil-faced vs paper), and so on.
thanks good for range.
20 miles simplex is doable on 2m at relatively modest power, assuming you can get both of the antennas up high enough. if there is a repeater in the vicinity you should have no trouble with reaching out to keep in touch. ar-jedi |
DK, I see you finally ventured into the forum.  Warning it can be as bad or worse than Black Rifle Disease.I still recommend something along the lines of a multi-band yagi (10/6/2/70 maybe to match the rig? or a pair 2/70 and 10/6). It has "urban camo" b/c john q public can't tell from standard tv antennas. |
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save your money and get an FT7800 or FT8800. the latter is a tad bit more expensive but adds [a] dual receive (it is basically two radios in one box) and crossband repeat (with a dual band HT you can roam around and use this feature as a mini-repeater to strengthen your signal). once you have a good VHF/UHF station (or even VHF only), then you can start to look at more expensive HF or HF+VHF/UHF radios. one approach might be to get something like a FT8800, and save your pennies to eventually get an FT857D. at that point you can move the FT8800 to your car/truck, and use the FT857D as your all band/all mode fixed station radio.
performance will be diminished with the antenna indoors, no doubt. you should think about how you could get creative here to employ an outdoor antenna. google "Ventenna" (link), for one idea. i'm not saying that the indoor antenna will not work, however you have stipulated needing 20 mile range and i think that will be tough to do with an indoor antenna. moreover, with snow on the roof performance will be very much degraded. ar-jedi |
After our talk I've decided to go ahead and keep my vhf/uhf and HF separate. I'd love to do a Yagi or other beam antenna but if I mount it to the roof I won't be able to easily change the orientation in order to contact someone else in the opposite direction. Or is there a neat gizmo for that? |
t.v. antenna rotator |
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so something along these lines with a rotator hooked up to a 7800? antenna how will a rig like that stand up to storms? hurricanes? The mount will have to be semi-permanent wherever it goes due to it's height and lack of access. the HF gear may just have to wait |
back up for a second. to me, it appears that you may be jumping to the "solution" phase before the "define the problem" phase is complete. tell us, in as many words as you can muster, what it is you are trying to do -- in the short term, in the medium term, and in the long term -- from a communications perspective. the reason i ask is because you are starting to contemplate some purchases which may or may not solve the problem(s) you are working on. ar-jedi |
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I think what the jedi is saying DK is that for the initial goal you stated in the first post (20 miles comms point-to-point) a vertical antenna mounted at the chimney would suffice. See if that is discreet enough to meet your needs before adding too much to you budget station. I suggested the yagi b/c they blend in just a little better than a vertical I think, depending on distance from the road and background behind the antenna. If you want/need longer haul vhf/uhf the yagi will be a necessary. |