You don't need all the math theory for extra. It's only a few questions. Load up on the other categories. I did it in like 15 minutes at the hamfest. It's not difficult at all if you hit the high points.

I freaking knew it.

Meh, you got some of the hardcore guys.  Do you need extra? Nah.  General yes, extra isn’t as big IMO.  Ham radio is what you make it to be.  You can be a casual user and get the basics.  Experience will be your greatest teacher.  

Ask on here your questions and you’ll likely get better answers.

I currently have "4" radios, which is really 1 functional radio.  FWIW I have a bunch of CB's and CB equipment in storage.

Technically I have 2 Beofangs that are designed to be program locked and used as coms at organized events.  1 was for my stepson (he lives about 100 miles from me).  The group organizers dictated the model so they could mass program them at the day of the event.  The idea was to program them privately before the event to give us somewhat secure communication while being somewhat legal.  I think they programed them on unlicensed family bands (which is technically not legal due to power and the radio not being certified as a family band radio).  Likewise the mass programing was a clusterfuck as even supposedly identical radios would not all accept the program downloads.  Sadly to keep us from publishing the programming - there really is no option of using a better radio.  I really don't want to count these 2 as a single functional radio (as they are program locked, and may or may not accept the next set of programing.

I have a working 7100 (set up Wednesday).  It is fine for VHF/UHF - but basic for HF.  I think the receiver is good, but the scan is slow in HF and it effectively does not have a spectrum scope.  I guess if I knew what I was doing, that would not be as annoying - but as it is, programing in channels and direct tuning seem to work the best so far.   I should also have a 7300 but it was dead out of the box when I hooked it up Wednesday.  I will be sending it back to Icom this week.  Meanwhile I have a replacement ordered, a 7610...  While the 7300 is a very nice entry level radio (talk about a relative term-$1100 is entry level?), the 7610 is probably way overkill for me-definitely not entry level.
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I have been listening to a local repeater mostly today.  I can not figure out how to program in the RX tone, not sure what problems that is causing other than it will not automatic squelch the RX.  It must be internet linked, because none of the traffic is local.  I got fed up listening to all the liberal drivel coming out of someone (He mentioned the UK prime minister by name a lot).  They are currently in a lock down (effectively house arrest it sounded like) with 1hr a day to leave their houses (prisoners get 1hr in the exercise yard a day, right?)- and he was wondering why it took them so long to finally get to an appropriate covid reaction.  He was bitching about people celebrating Christmas - saying I hope they enjoyed it because they are all dying now.  Well I got covid at a Christmas party too - felt like a 3 day hangover...  Not dead yet.

Right now I am listening to Radio Havana.  At least you know you are listening to propaganda when you tune into a communist country.

Ask them for 222 coverage. Euros want 4m coverage.


Just plug them in and program them with whatever you want.

Many/most amateur repeaters do not transmit a CTCSS tone if that's what you are trying to do.

Friday morning bump. This thread has had a bunch of great info for those not in the know.

Transmitted on 2m last night for the first time in 15 years. I’m surprised a rat didn’t run out of the radio when I did

Need to get going on getting setup for HF. The IC7300 is very intriguing right now. Been watching some DX videos and contest.

I did go ahead and pick up a 30amp Samlex supply last night so I can run my mobile dual band in my garage. I figure I would need that piece of the puzzle anyway when I pick my Hf rig. Might as well pick up a decent one now.

Funny how you start noticing things.

Never even saw them in the past.

Now see cars with different antennas.

Drove by this house with a huge antenna complex. I've driven by there a million times. Only noticed the antenna now after watching a video on general test and the different antennas.

The IC 7300 is far from an entry level radio. Ease of use might make it a nice starter radio, but it's more radio than 90% of hams will ever need.


BTW, you might be the first IC-7610 owner in history that's locked out of his own Baofeng.

A Yaesu FT3DR showed up here the other day.


I'm going to go into "study mode" this weekend and try to test soon. Possible mobile VHF/UHF and/or HF coming next. Still trying to get my bearings in terms of radio.

@Ben

Is there any use for the handheld Ham radios, or do you need the Base Station design?

What would be your pick if the handheld style was an option?

TIA

They all serve a purpose. Handheld/HT is useful for keeping in contact with a group on foot, where everyone is within a mile or so of each other (to several miles or more depending on terrain). If you have repeater coverage and a clear view of a repeater an HT can give you comms in the repeater's coverage area, which could be a 30 mile radius or more.

The HT's limitations would be poor reception and very poor transmit ability from inside the house or car, and low power. Using an external antenna (mag mount on top of car, or elevated antenna outside the house) can help immensely and is one of the reasons a ham HT with a removable antenna has much more capability than say an FRS radio.

The HT is still going to be relatively short range, regional comms due to the nature of VHF/UHF.

I programed in about a dozen local repeaters.  I skipped 1 because it used a Motorola C code tone and this one has separate TX and RX tones (a quick google did not show me how to program that in).  I am probably wrong, but I think the RX tone is for a tone squelch so should not cause much problems as I am receiving it loud and clear.  This one did not list it's network It is part of the WIN system - but it apparently is relaying communications from all over the place - listened to California, Ohio, and UK over it so far.  Several of the other repeaters I programed in are also on linked networks - just have not heard any traffic on them yet I guess.

I can unlock the Beofang with the data cable (which I got, I think it was $15 or so), but since it is a coms radio for a specific club - for $30, unless I have a large desire to use it elsewhere - I will just keep it in the clubs mode for now.  The technology is not what is stopping me - it is more cost benefit.  I have a UHF/VHF with a tower mounted antenna for listening to the local repeaters.  I don't think the Beofang will give me much benefit (unless the shit does hit the fan).  Unless I bother to put up a mast at the ranch to hook it up to or set up a cross band repeater - the Beofang is somewhat unlikely to reach the repeaters near me.  The main one I am listening to is 40 miles away.

That said, I probably should look into getting the supplies to do that - but that is more research when I should be studying for my general license.  One thing at a time.  If I do go to the effort to put up a cross band repeater - I will probably get a couple more handhelds and still leave the Beofang as a club radio most of the time.
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I am a research monkey - but applying that is all new to me.

@jonathan2421
@Ben

Thanks for the information.

I would guess my setup is typical.

Main shack in the shop has a mobil vhf/uhf 50w set up as a base station and 100w hf rig with 500w amp.
House has a newly added 75w vhf setup, just because I had the extra radio sitting in the box.  
Car has 50w mobile vhf/uhf.
Have 2 good handy talkies and a few uv5rs.

3 vhf/uhf mobile
1 hf
5 ht

All my vhf/uhf mobile units can be programmed with local frequencies and set to scan them. So you can turn it on when you are in the shop, house and listen.
The hf station is basically set to one frequency to monitor it. Not sure if I can scan thru multiple? Will have to look. But usually sit at the station  and talk listen on hf.
Some vhf/uhf mobiles can be set to crossband repeat one frequency. This allows you to rebroadcast your ht over your base station. Say out in the yard, going for a walk etc you can still access a repeater many miles away or monitor a frequency you may not get on the ht antenna.

Handhelds are very portable. However, their range tends to be very limited. Their biggest drawback is their antenna. I usually tell people to invest in at least 2 antennas. The first is a better quality replacement antenna for the supplied antenna. You won't necessarily increase your range but you will increase the quality of your transmissions.

The second antenna I recommend is roll up Slim Jim antenna. Throw in a decent length of 550 cord and a lead weight that weighs a couple of ounces so that you can hand it off a tree limb and you can dramatically increase the capabilities of your handheld. I've consistently made contacts that are 15-20 miles away. This small set up doesn't take up a lot of rooms and weighs very little.

Can you explain that a little more detail please?  Tie off the 550 and use it as part of the antenna? Or just to lift the coax into the tree ?  

Thanks

Tie the paracord (nylon line is even lighter, and strong enough) to the wire, toss the end with the lead weight over as high a branch as you can, haul the wire up.

Saves you a trip climbing up a tree, or on branches that won't support your weight. It allows you to get elevation which is key with 2m/70cm radios due to being effectively line of sight.

Oh, and the thinner/lighter the line you use, the easier it is for the lead weight to fall back down pulling the line with it. As long as the line is strong enough, thinner/lighter is better. High strength fishing line would work too.

The downside of paracord is that it's thicker, heavier, and is textured (more likely to snag on rough bark and stuff). You need the end with the lead weight to go over a high branch AND fall back down pulling the line, to where you can reach it to haul the wire up.

Great post/advice

A long time ago, I made a cheap imitation of this for running network cabling in ceilings.  That said, this one is specifically sold to radio operators to hand antennas in trees.  They also make one out of a dog tennis ball launcher-because slingshots might be illegal where you live, but Fido needs to play.  FWIW - if you do make one out of a tennis ball slingshot - use racquetballs.  From personal experience with my dogs - they fly much better.

Fwiw - the fishing line is to run the heavier nylon line, which in turn is your lifting line.  I suspect a spool of paracord would be even better.
 

Here's another way to hang antennas.

Get a kid-sized bow and a cheap fiberglass arrow. Drill a small hole in the end of the arrow near the nock. Tie a fishing line to the arrow and release the bail on the rod.

In the picture, we're using a Zebco Dock Demon spincast setup. Shoot the arrow over a high limb then use the fishing line to haul up another line that will support your antenna. E.g., 550 cord or dacron antenna support line. Tie the antenna to the support line and haul it up. We used this to hang a dipole for 80M over 50 feet up in the air.

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@Ben, thanks for starting this thread.

Let me preface this post by saying that before opening this thread when it was posted 8 days ago, I knew absolutely ZERO about amateur radio. NOTHING. I've never lain eyes on an amateur radio, let alone use one. And I know pretty much nothing about electronics. My electrical background consists of installing maybe three car stereos in my life (with printed instructions, of course) and perhaps using a volt meter to check voltage or continuity. That's it!

I started studying on www.hamstudy.org a week ago today in order to take the test for technician class, and quickly decided to study for the general class license as well, due to the driving distance involved for me.

Today, I passed both the technical and general license tests with two perfect scores.

It cost me many, many hours of running through the online flash cards repetitively in order to memorize the questions/answers from the pool of 376 for technical and 454 for general (830 total), $15 for the test fee, $40 in gas for my big-tired 4X4, and 212 miles of interstate driving round trip. A zip code search on the ARRL website yielded no testing in my area.

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders after this week. Maybe I'll see you guys on air someday -- if I can get around to buying a radio.

Tie one end of the 550 cord to a 3 or 4 lead weight and the other end to your antenna. Then you basically throw the weighted end over the branch of a tree and hoist up your antenna. That Slim Jim antenna that I provided a link to comes with 25 feet or so of coax so you should be able to easily get that lead weight over a limb 20 feet of so off the ground.

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Congrats. Now the learning can begin.

Damn man. Congrats

Anytime have direct experience with the ft-891 vs the 991a?

Well done, grasshoppa!

I do not personally. Lots of videos out there on the 991. I personally have a Icom 7300 and an older Icom 746.

I have a kiwiSDR

Check out this house nearby.

Think it may be a hammerhead house.



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I'd love to do something like that. But don't think I can get away with it. Maybe one day down at the ranch.

Congrats. Welcome to the club.

I live in a town of about 800.  IIRC last year when I started this quest I saw about 8 amateur radio antenna's still up (I think 2 were on towers, the rest masts).  Sadly they are mostly in very bad repair - as if they had not been used since the 80's.  My house was little better.  My father had a tower fabricated in the 70's, then added 3 commercial sections on top (when he realized it really was not tall enough).  In the 90's (after cell phones) he sold off the commercial sections - so we had a 30' tower stub since then.

the slim jim coax cable connects into the uv5r handheld..?

Thanks.

Yea I need to make sure I have enough antenna so I don’t need a step ladder to talk

Essentially yes. If you're going to string the antenna way up in a tree, you'll need a length of coax to extend from the slim jim to your radio. Be sure to get the right connectors on each end. I believe the Baofeng UV-5R needs an SMA female, but I'm not certain.

Something to consider, the small screw type rf connectors on some handhelds are rated for x number connections. I put a sacrificial BNC adapter on almost everything.

Like this:

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https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dmn-bncj-smap

Indeed. As a plus, it makes connection/disconnection way faster/easier.

I am going to show my ignorance here, but why does the Handheld Yaesu FT3DR have the capability of receiving so many more frequencies 0.5-999 MHz, versus a much more expensive home base unit?

Tagged

shit, I didn't know about the fire.

you can add wire to that antenna by using an alligator clip attached to the antenna and a long wire. Especially if that wire is outside, you will get weaker signals.

it does receive HF and others, but it can only transmit on VHF and UHF ham freqs.

How well it receives those other freqs I don't know.

An HF transceiver will transmit on the 1.8 - 30 Mhz ham bands and some also trans,it on 50 Mhz ham band

So, I have played a bit with my county-comm GP5ssb.

First, I have to use reading glasses to read the button labels. Second, I have figured out how to make it scan in FM radio mode, but not in SSB mode. I can change the channel with the knob on the right, but....one.....notch....at....a.....time gets kinda old when you're trying to scroll across thousands of MHz. I found the button that lets me move in increments of several thousand steps. But am I doing something wrong when I try to scan? Is there some trick I don't know?

Maybe!

You're going to need an adapter of some sort depending on the connection that the antenna on your handheld uses. For the most part, most handhelds use either an SMA or a BNC connection. The best way to connect these is to use a adapter/jumper from Comet antenna. The 18 inches or so of cable takes the stress off you antenna connection of your handheld. Most people are going to probably need either the HS-05 or the HM-05 (disclaimer: check your connections first).

Programming a GP5

This video gives a good tutorial.

Here's my Handheld to go setup:

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My handheld is a Yaesu VX-7r. It's a 4 band radio covering 6 meters, 2 meters, 1.25m, and 70cm. Right now it's wearing the factory antenna but I also use a Diamond SH999 quad band antenna

Inside the bag you get:

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A Slim Jim Antenna, 2 ounce fishing weight (4 ounces is better), a Comet HS-05 connector/jumper, outdated repeater directory, notebook and pens, and a length of 550 cord.

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Speaker mic, 2 meter rat tail mod, , and microphone adapter. I'm not yet convinced that the rat tail mod is effective.

But wait there's more:

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Spare battery, cigarette lighter power cord, power cable, cigarette lighter plug, and a home brewer power cable that allows me to attach it to 12 volt batteries.

I set up the various power cables using Anderson connectors. This gives me a little bit of flexibility. I can connect a small 12 volt battery using the alligator clips which can be connected to the power cable, or I can use the 12 volt receptacle and power something else that might use a 12 volt plug.

What is not shown is a separate power supply that I sometimes lug along. For a while I was using a 12 volt rechargeable dry cell. It got the job done but it was heavy and bulky. I'm waiting on parts to arrive and I'm going to build a power pack using 18650 batteries. I've also got a goal zero 20 watt folding solar panel that I use sometimes use to keep things charged.