Amateur Radio FAQ

[K31]

I figure the more the merrier. Our tradition (which I think is typical) is the first person to find it runs the next one. Not sure how that would work...might have to be the first club member to find it runs it.

Yeah, that (the club of first guy to find the fox runs the next one), is pretty standard. But in practice, since club's have them so infrequently it doesn't always work out.

 

[jc1240]

Carroll County Amateur Radio Club typically does them twice a year (winter, summer). Actual date up to the one running it. I would have done it sooner had it not been for family obligations taking up a bunch of weekends lately.

 

[md_rick_o]

I hope you can make it! We don't mind walk-ins, but pre-registration does speed up your experience.

Unfortunately i was diagnosed with Pneumonia and couldn't make it. Just gives me more time to run the extra stuff just in case.

 

[E.Shell]

Dang, sorry to hear that, hope you have a speedy recovery.

We have moved our test days to the first Tuesday of the month, but we're skipping the September exam session because of the very low turnout we had at the July session when Tuesday exams followed a Monday holiday. Our next exam date is the first Tuesday in October. This means you have plenty time to study for both General & Extra.

 

[gamer_jim]

I bought an iambic paddle from cwMorse, so far I like it.

 

[K31]

New Amateurs, Get a Free HT

QRZ and Gigaparts team up to give new Amateurs a free HT or a 1 year Premium QRZ subscription if you already have a radio.

Must apply within thirty days of your grant showing up in the ULS.

Announcing the QRZ New Ham Jumpstart Program

[ATTACH] We are pleased to announce the QRZ New Ham Jumpstart, a program that will help new hams get on the air faster than ever. The program,...

forums.qrz.com

 

[jc1240]

New Amateurs, Get a Free HT

QRZ and Gigaparts team up to give new Amateurs a free HT or a 1 year Premium QRZ subscription if you already have a radio.

Must apply within thirty days of your grant showing up in the ULS.

Announcing the QRZ New Ham Jumpstart Program

[ATTACH] We are pleased to announce the QRZ New Ham Jumpstart, a program that will help new hams get on the air faster than ever. The program,...

forums.qrz.com

I think this is nice, but I hope they extend it.

Limited Time Offer
The program ends on October 31, 2022.

 

[md_rick_o]

Too bad, my license grant date was 7/6 so i'm out.

 

[fscwi]

New Amateurs, Get a Free HT

QRZ and Gigaparts team up to give new Amateurs a free HT or a 1 year Premium QRZ subscription if you already have a radio.

Must apply within thirty days of your grant showing up in the ULS.

Announcing the QRZ New Ham Jumpstart Program

[ATTACH] We are pleased to announce the QRZ New Ham Jumpstart, a program that will help new hams get on the air faster than ever. The program,...

forums.qrz.com

I made the 30 day eligibility window with 2 days to spare and submitted the form, got an email a short while after stating that I had been approved and a new radio is on the way.

 

[jc1240]

I made the 30 day eligibility window with 2 days to spare and submitted the form, got an email a short while after stating that I had been approved and a new radio is on the way.

Sweet!

 

[K31]

I made the 30 day eligibility window with 2 days to spare and submitted the form, got an email a short while after stating that I had been approved and a new radio is on the way.

 

[Antarctica]

I stumbled onto a pile of classic old tube receivers

Collins R-388
National HRO-5
An R-274 variant,
Hallicrafters SX-71
and my fav - a Hammarlund SP-600

They are rough and I'm not sure how revivable they are, but for now, they just missed the landfill...

 

[BFMIN]

I think I have C.R.S, (Oldtimer's Disease).
I'm adding 4 Eastern Shore repeaters to my H/T using Chirp. I used to remember how to convert the Repeater Book, & did it successfully, now I'm stumped as its been a while since I actually dd it.
My problem is taking the R/B items & Terminlogy & entering them into the drop downs in chirp.
this is what I think I need to do (last 4 line items) 120~123
If you're using Dark Mode highlight to show the text.

109​

HAM 42​

146.420​

HAM Radio​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

​

110​

HAM 52​

146.520​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

NAT Call​

111​

HAM 55​

146.550​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

​

112​

HAMUHF​

446.000​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

NAT Call​

113​

HAM U3​

446.030​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

HAM Repeaters​

114​

K3ERM F​

146.640​

HAM Repeaters​

-0​

0.6​

Tone​

156.7​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

115​

K3MAD F​

147.060​

0​

0.6​

Tone​

146.2​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

116​

W3CWC H​

147.090​

0​

0.6​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

S​

High​

117​

K3UMV H​

147.375​

0​

0.6​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

118​

KD3SU B​

442.950​

0​

5​

Tone​

94.8​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

119​

W3CWC H​

447.975​

-0​

5​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

120​

K3KMA T​

448.025​

-0​

5​

Tone​

103.5​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

121​

K3ERM G​

448.425​

-0​

5​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

122​

N3JDR B​

444.350​

0​

5​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

123​

W3CWC​

146.940​

-0​

0.6​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

​

to use this information, can someone give me a check/ correction or a link to a chirp config with them that I can "copy/paste"
Thanks.

Talbot repeaters: 9/13/22


Call Frq Offset Tone UP/Down location


K3EMD 147.0450 +06 Mhz 156.7 / CSQ Trappe


N3YMS 441.9125 +5Mhz CCI / Wye Mills


K3EMD 442.200 +5Mhz 156.7 /156.7 Easton UM Med

 

[K31]

I think I have C.R.S, (Oldtimer's Disease).
I'm adding 4 Eastern Shore repeaters to my H/T using Chirp. I used to remember how to convert the Repeater Book, & did it successfully, now I'm stumped as its been a while since I actually dd it.
My problem is taking the R/B items & Terminlogy & entering them into the drop downs in chirp.
this is what I think I need to do (last 4 line items) 120~123
If you're using Dark Mode highlight to show the text.

109​

HAM 42​

146.420​

HAM Radio​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

​

110​

HAM 52​

146.520​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

NAT Call​

111​

HAM 55​

146.550​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

​

112​

HAMUHF​

446.000​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

NAT Call​

113​

HAM U3​

446.030​

​

0​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

HAM Repeaters​

114​

K3ERM F​

146.640​

HAM Repeaters​

-0​

0.6​

Tone​

156.7​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

115​

K3MAD F​

147.060​

0​

0.6​

Tone​

146.2​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

116​

W3CWC H​

147.090​

0​

0.6​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

S​

High​

117​

K3UMV H​

147.375​

0​

0.6​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

118​

KD3SU B​

442.950​

0​

5​

Tone​

94.8​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

119​

W3CWC H​

447.975​

-0​

5​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

120​

K3KMA T​

448.025​

-0​

5​

Tone​

103.5​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

121​

K3ERM G​

448.425​

-0​

5​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

122​

N3JDR B​

444.350​

0​

5​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

123​

W3CWC​

146.940​

-0​

0.6​

Tone​

100.0​

88.5​

23​

NN​

FM​

5​

​

High​

​

to use this information, can someone give me a check/ correction or a link to a chirp config with them that I can "copy/paste"
Thanks.

Talbot repeaters: 9/13/22


Call Frq Offset Tone UP/Down location


K3EMD 147.0450 +06 Mhz 156.7 / CSQ Trappe


N3YMS 441.9125 +5Mhz CCI / Wye Mills


K3EMD 442.200 +5Mhz 156.7 /156.7 Easton UM Med

Two of the repeaters you are trying to add are DMR repeaters, is your HT DMR capable? If so, you probably have to use software supplied with it or developed for it. For the other two I'm including a screen grab of what I believe is what you are looking to do (based on Repeaterbook entries). I appended _V and _U to the end of the callsigns to designate VHF/UHF respectively. Since that's just the text that's displayed in the radio display you can make it whatever you like of course and will fit (CHIRP allows you to enter more in their field than can be displayed by some radios).

The usual caveat applies: It's possible to brick your radio using CHIRP so always make and save a backup of the existing configuration first (even new radios for you first time users) and use at your own risk.

 

[gamer_jim]

Does anyone own a BuddiStick with the Long Telescopic Whip?

I'm having trouble with the whip length and coil clip configurations. The manual only includes settings for the standard whip. I tried emailing the company and they told me to just use an analyzer, which I don't have.

 

[K31]

nanoVNAs are > $60 on Amazon nowadays and > $50 on ebay.

 

[Baccusboy]

Does anyone own a BuddiStick with the Long Telescopic Whip?

I'm having trouble with the whip length and coil clip configurations. The manual only includes settings for the standard whip. I tried emailing the company and they told me to just use an analyzer, which I don't have.

Shouldn’t be hard to get close. How long is the whip and untapped coil together, compared to the standard?

You know, nothing wrong with TX at 5 to 10w in FM using an SWR meter to see where you are at, then adjust. Keep the TX to a few seconds with 10 seconds in between. Assuming this is a typical rig from a big name.

 

[gamer_jim]

Shouldn’t be hard to get close. How long is the whip and untapped coil together, compared to the standard?

standard whip is 66 inches
long is 114 inches

untapped coil is 5 inches, same coil for both whips

Here's the instructions for standard:

 

[gamer_jim]

nanoVNAs are > $60 on Amazon nowadays and > $50 on ebay.

Have you used one of these? I was leery as cheap analyzers on ham store websites start at $300 and not sure how dependable a $60 one was.
Amazon product ASIN B07Z5VY7B6

 

[Mark75H]

They are generally dependable if you do not get a counterfeit. The price does not reflect the usefulness of the tool.