Amateur Radio FAQ

K31 · Jan 14, 2020

Antarctica said:
Fired up a new to me Icom 7300 last night. Made my first HF contact in probably 15 years on 40 meters to Italy on about 25 watts and a crappy wire.

FUN! So cool to put something out there and have a far off station come back.

Still seems like magic every time.

I need to get my tower and beam up this summer.

KD4VMM

Can I get a QSO with you so I can say I worked Antarctica?

I need it for Worked All Continents.

tourrider · Jan 14, 2020

Antarctica said:
Fired up a new to me Icom 7300 last night. Made my first HF contact in probably 15 years on 40 meters to Italy on about 25 watts and a crappy wire.

FUN! So cool to put something out there and have a far off station come back.

Still seems like magic every time.

I need to get my tower and beam up this summer.

KD4VMM

Cool contact. I meant to ask you about that unit after told me you picked it up. What did you do, shoot a long wire through the trees there?

I'm still unpacking my stuff after the move. Found some of my shack, but I need to get to work on getting some antennas up. I do have a vertical HF that I might stick on a pole just to get something going. See if I can bounce a wave your way.

Are you working Friday? I'll be in the state for the weekend, and in building for most of the day Friday.

Yak at you soon!

K3DCX

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Winged Pig · Jan 14, 2020

Antarctica said:
Fired up a new to me Icom 7300 last night. Made my first HF contact in probably 15 years on 40 meters to Italy on about 25 watts and a crappy wire.

FUN! So cool to put something out there and have a far off station come back.

Still seems like magic every time.

I need to get my tower and beam up this summer.

KD4VMM

Congratulations! I hope you like the 7300 as much as I like mine, and I still haven't figured out all it can do.

I finished my tower last summer and it and the A4S I put up made a big difference, but my wire still works great.

Have fun!

K3MSP

Traveler · Jan 14, 2020

Excellent. Well done.

Antarctica said:
Fired up a new to me Icom 7300 last night. Made my first HF contact in probably 15 years on 40 meters to Italy on about 25 watts and a crappy wire.

FUN! So cool to put something out there and have a far off station come back.

Still seems like magic every time.

I need to get my tower and beam up this summer.

KD4VMM

Antarctica · Jan 15, 2020

K31 said:
Can I get a QSO with you so I can say I worked Antarctica?

I need it for Worked All Continents.

Ha! Sure!

Actually, my 'amateur radio claim to fame' was working HF two nights out of the Palmer station shack as KD4VMM/KC4 back in the early 2000's. I made hundreds of contacts in a matter of hours. It was intimidating to work such a massive pileup with almost no HF experience.

Antarctica · Jan 15, 2020

tourrider said:
Cool contact. I meant to ask you about that unit after told me you picked it up. What did you do, shoot a long wire through the trees there?

I'm still unpacking my stuff after the move. Found some of my shack, but I need to get to work on getting some antennas up. I do have a vertical HF that I might stick on a pole just to get something going. See if I can bounce a wave your way.

Are you working Friday? I'll be in the state for the weekend, and in building for most of the day Friday.

Yak at you soon!

K3DCX

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Hey retired guy!!

Yeah - my other rig is an Icom 706MKIIG and I had an AH-4 tuner that I used when I used to live on a boat in Cali. So I mounted the tuner to the house and strung a wire from it up to a tree out back.

Put something up and lets see if we can make a contact to your northern outpost!

yes, I'm in the radio factory this Friday. Need some OT to pay for all this shit!

Antarctica · Jan 15, 2020

Winged Pig said:
Congratulations! I hope you like the 7300 as much as I like mine, and I still haven't figured out all it can do.

I finished my tower last summer and it and the A4S I put up made a big difference, but my wire still works great.

Have fun!

K3MSP

I really didn't need it - the 706 I have is a fine radio (fine enough for my needs), but I wanted to start running some WSJT-X, and the way to do it was with a USB signallink at $135. I also wanted to tap the IF for an SDR to run HDSDR for a panadaptor, but didn't like the way you have to do it on a 706.

I looked online and the 7300 was $850 or $899 with rebate, and just made an impulse buy.

I stuck an SMA version of the INRAD RF tap in it last night along with a splitter. The splitter feeds an RTL SDR which drives HDSDR on the PC. You just click on the HDSDR waterfall where you want to receive and the radio tunes there. Also, if you take the audio from HDSDR, you can drop a notch filter any where you want it and cut the audio filter any way you want. You're still taking a 3db hit on the RF sensitivity, but 99% of the time, I won't care.

I have a 50 foot Rohn and a TH7DX beam with a rotator laying out back. Maybe this will motivate me to get them up in the air this year.

Winged Pig · Jan 15, 2020

Antarctica said:
I really didn't need it - the 706 I have is a fine radio (fine enough for my needs), but I wanted to start running some WSJT-X, and the way to do it was with a USB signallink at $135. I also wanted to tap the IF for an SDR to run HDSDR for a panadaptor, but didn't like the way you have to do it on a 706.

I looked online and the 7300 was $850 or $899 with rebate, and just made an impulse buy.

I stuck an SMA version of the INRAD RF tap in it last night along with a splitter. The splitter feeds an RTL SDR which drives HDSDR on the PC. You just click on the HDSDR waterfall where you want to receive and the radio tunes there. Also, if you take the audio from HDSDR, you can drop a notch filter any where you want it and cut the audio filter any way you want. You're still taking a 3db hit on the RF sensitivity, but 99% of the time, I won't care.

I have a 50 foot Rohn and a TH7DX beam with a rotator laying out back. Maybe this will motivate me to get them up in the air this year.

That's impressive. I still have yet to do anything other than use the 7300 for stand alone SSB, but what your doing sounds pretty interesting! I may have to give that a try.

That's a big antenna! I am using a free standing aluminum tower and it would not support something that size. I suspect your set up will work great.

I purchased everything I have as a package from an older gentleman who had bought it all and then never installed it. He was moving and just wanted it gone, so I lucked out. Still cost me more than I thought I would have to spend though. LOL Live and learn.

I hope you post some pics of your progress.

Good luck!

Antarctica · Jan 15, 2020

Winged Pig said:
That's impressive. I still have yet to do anything other than use the 7300 for stand alone SSB, but what your doing sounds pretty interesting! I may have to give that a try.

That's a big antenna! I am using a free standing aluminum tower and it would not support something that size. I suspect your set up will work great.

I purchased everything I have as a package from an older gentleman who had bought it all and then never installed it. He was moving and just wanted it gone, so I lucked out. Still cost me more than I thought I would have to spend though. LOL Live and learn.

I hope you post some pics of your progress.

Good luck!

Driving the radio via HDSDR is the way to go. You can see everything that pop's up on the band and just click on it to tune the radio.

I picked up the tower, rotator and antenna a few years ago for $300 on craigs. The antenna needs about $200 in parts, and I'll need anchors, cable and concrete for the tower pad and guys, so probably another $500-$1000. So yeah I'm in same boat having to spend more than I paid for the stuff initially!

I'd really like to have it all up and running in case anyone makes it to Bouvetoya in the next few years.

tourrider · Jan 15, 2020

Antarctica said:
I really didn't need it - the 706 I have is a fine radio (fine enough for my needs), but I wanted to start running some WSJT-X, and the way to do it was with a USB signallink at $135. I also wanted to tap the IF for an SDR to run HDSDR for a panadaptor, but didn't like the way you have to do it on a 706.

I looked online and the 7300 was $850 or $899 with rebate, and just made an impulse buy.

I stuck an SMA version of the INRAD RF tap in it last night along with a splitter. The splitter feeds an RTL SDR which drives HDSDR on the PC. You just click on the HDSDR waterfall where you want to receive and the radio tunes there. Also, if you take the audio from HDSDR, you can drop a notch filter any where you want it and cut the audio filter any way you want. You're still taking a 3db hit on the RF sensitivity, but 99% of the time, I won't care.

I have a 50 foot Rohn and a TH7DX beam with a rotator laying out back. Maybe this will motivate me to get them up in the air this year.

Hey that's cool. I tapped into the 1st IF on my FT897D for SDR panadaptor. Also running digital of this radio.

ToolAA · Jan 15, 2020

tourrider said:
Hey that's cool. I tapped into the 1st IF on my FT897D for SDR panadaptor. Also running digital of this radio.

I did the same thing on my 991a and use HDSDR to hunt for activity. It’s great.

NY Transplant · Jan 15, 2020

I'm configured the same way with my FT-950. I have been so accustom to using HDSDR for frequency tuning and checking for activity on the bands that I am almost lost without it.

K2AR

Antarctica · Jan 15, 2020

I don't think I could go back - or at least wouldn't want to. Finding traffic/contacts via scrolling the dial seems like trying to find something in the dark with a flashlight. Watching activity with HDSDR is like turning on the floodlights.

Occam · Jan 19, 2020

Occam · Jan 19, 2020

As a professional technologist of sorts, I’ve taken to heart the warning not to spend dough on radio gear until I’ve marinated in this stuff for a while longer. I get it. It’s why I’ve been happy as Mr. Baofeng so far! But ... I have already grown weary of doing the cabling and loose-object-in-the-cockpit dance while driving. I’d like to permanently mount a decent VHF/UHF in the truck. Perhaps something with a decently smart mic for data entry, maybe a removable display/head for security. Something that will look out for me on SWR in case of cable/antenna shenanigans.

Yes: I don’t know what I don’t know. Budget... under $400 would be nice. Ish. But dang there’s a lot wade through out there, and some practical guidance, with an eye on currently available products from reputable manufacturers would be great. I know ... “I want a gun, what should I buy?” I don’t mean to come across that way! But here I am. Thanks in advance!

K31 · Jan 19, 2020

If all you want is UHF/VHF and a mic with a keypad and a remote head you can get that for under ~$200 from the big three (Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood) either new or on the used market. A lot of good gear is on the used market from people looking to upgrade to something with a digital mode.

TapRackBang · Jan 19, 2020

Most of the used stuff seems to go for prices within spitting distance of new, at least on evilBay. Asking prices on craigslist are sometimes higher than new! Even here in the classifieds used gear has not really been a bargain. Maybe that's because the Big 3 gear is so reasonably priced now that there is less room for the used market? For the prices I'm seeing, worth it to buy new from a reputable dealer and get a warranty. Maybe I'm just not good at finding deals or negotiating.

Occam · Jan 19, 2020

K31 said:
If all you want is UHF/VHF and a mic with a keypad and a remote head you can get that for under ~$200 from the big three (Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood) either new or on the used market. A lot of good gear is on the used market from people looking to upgrade to something with a digital mode.

See, there we go. Should I be thinking about sporting a digital mode? FWIW, I have every expectation that I’ll hit General and likely Extra before summer is out, and I’d probably feel silly ripping out that <$200 radio because it lacks something I’ll discover I want on the road.

TapRackBang · Jan 19, 2020

I don't think that's the case. Radios are like guns: Never enough, never useless no matter how old.

One of my base VHF rigs is a 30 year old, two channel, diode-programmed Regency (RELM). Works fine, sounds nice.

Now let me tell you about my 60 year old, 50 lb, front-mount, two-channel, crystal-controlled, Twin-V / Unichannel Motorola Boat Anchor I want to get back on the air... :innocent0

(I have two copies of the "red book"!)

Traveler · Jan 19, 2020

I have a gently used Kenwood TM-V71A I don't need since I got the APRS version. $295 to good home.

Occam said:
As a professional technologist of sorts, I’ve taken to heart the warning not to spend dough on radio gear until I’ve marinated in this stuff for a while longer. I get it. It’s why I’ve been happy as Mr. Baofeng so far! But ... I have already grown weary of doing the cabling and loose-object-in-the-cockpit dance while driving. I’d like to permanently mount a decent VHF/UHF in the truck. Perhaps something with a decently smart mic for data entry, maybe a removable display/head for security. Something that will look out for me on SWR in case of cable/antenna shenanigans.

Yes: I don’t know what I don’t know. Budget... under $400 would be nice. Ish. But dang there’s a lot wade through out there, and some practical guidance, with an eye on currently available products from reputable manufacturers would be great. I know ... “I want a gun, what should I buy?” I don’t mean to come across that way! But here I am. Thanks in advance!

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