Amateur Radio FAQ

Traveler · Oct 23, 2019

Sorry you haven't done the work so you can use the WHOLE USA frequency space.

:rolleyes:

Pinecone said:
BAH

All you newbies that have a General without any code test are worse than 13ers

BTW ADVANCED class here. The only one that proves you passed a code test.

Winged Pig · Oct 24, 2019

Anyone making contacts with the Pitcairn DXpedition? I don't do much more than try for DX stations, and I managed to talk to VP6R yesterday on 15 meters. Very clear. I think they are operating until Nov. 1.

K31 · Oct 25, 2019

Winged Pig said:
Anyone making contacts with the Pitcairn DXpedition? I don't do much more than try for DX stations, and I managed to talk to VP6R yesterday on 15 meters. Very clear. I think they are operating until Nov. 1.

Apparently they got hit with a tropical cyclone yesterday and lost some antennas. They say they will have them repaired when conditions are safe a again though.

Keystone70 · Oct 25, 2019

Winged Pig said:
Anyone making contacts with the Pitcairn DXpedition? I don't do much more than try for DX stations, and I managed to talk to VP6R yesterday on 15 meters. Very clear. I think they are operating until Nov. 1.

I got them and Seychelles the other day for the first time. Bands have been open for a week or so. Don't know why things are picking up with no sunspots and low sfi?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

ToolAA · Oct 25, 2019

I think I’m ready to buy an HF radio. My usual MO with firearms and optics seems to be to convince myself that the cheaper product is good enough for my needs. Then I spend more time and money upgrading. I would like not to make that mistake with radio equipment.

I was gravitating towards the Yeasu 450d. I’ve been looking at used ones in the $500 range. However, When I was at the Howard County Hamfest they had the Yeasu rep there with a display of all of their radios. Now I’m not sure thats the right choice.

The 991a seems like it could do everything I want to do. HF, VHF, UHF plus USB connection to the PC for digital modes and Wires-X digitsl.
If I wanted all of those bands from the basement I would be spending the same amount if I got the 450 plus a VHF/UHF transceiver.

It also seems small enough to take camping and run from a 12v battery.

Does anyone here have the 991a and if so would you recommend it?

kazan182 · Oct 25, 2019

ToolAA said:
I think I’m ready to buy an HF radio. My usual MO with firearms and optics seems to be to convince myself that the cheaper product is good enough for my needs. Then I spend more time and money upgrading. I would like not to make that mistake with radio equipment.

I was gravitating towards the Yeasu 450d. I’ve been looking at used ones in the $500 range. However, When I was at the Howard County Hamfest they had the Yeasu rep there with a display of all of their radios. Now I’m not sure thats the right choice.

The 991a seems like it could do everything I want to do. HF, VHF, UHF plus USB connection to the PC for digital modes and Wires-X digitsl.
If I wanted all of those bands from the basement I would be spending the same amount if I got the 450 plus a VHF/UHF transceiver.

It also seems small enough to take camping and run from a 12v battery.

Does anyone here have the 991a and if so would you recommend it?

I have a 991A (just got 10 days ago), FT-897D (my first HF rig), FT-857D, FTDX1200, FTM-100D, FT-891, Kenwood TM-D710A & G models, and a slew of HT's. The 991A is a nice rig but like the others you need to get used to the menus. The screen is a decent size so I can make adjustments without looking for my glasses. All mode, all band so that is nice. I am going to setup a C4FM node here at my house using the FTM-100D and a HRI-200 so I can run Fushion on the 991 from the house. The band scope is slick (receive with the scope unlike my FTDX1200), and it is a decent size for camping. I am taking mine in two weeks to Dolly Sods to setup an HF station to run it through some paces. My FT-857D and 891 shine in portable ops. You are welcome to stop by one day to take a look see and of course make some QSO's. BTW, all most ALL of my rigs are used. The 991A I bought for $800 and was only a few months old. I did have to do a few firmware updates but that brought it up to spec. The single USB cable is very nice for computer operations. I run Winlink (HF & Packet) off of the built in sound card. Don't need to buy another sound card like a Signalink. I live in PG Co.

Steven

Winged Pig · Oct 25, 2019

A friend of mine has the 991a and he really likes it, but he also likes my Icom IC-7300. Not enough to sell his though. One of the things he seems to like better than the 7300 is the display. I don't see it (LOL) but he does. The 7300 also does not do vhf/uhf, so there is that.

HRO has the 991a for I $1075 and the 7300 for $925 if that helps you. The 7300 does everything I need it to and honestly, makes me sound a lot better than I am. I don't take it mobile or even move it from my house, but I think it's small enough to do that with if you wanted to. Get what you want up front and enjoy it. I think you will end up saving some money that way.

Anyway, good luck.

Traveler · Oct 26, 2019

A pre-owned Kenwood TS-590SG, or an Icom IC-7300 would be a fantastic value. You can buy them with PayPal off qrz.com, or qth.com. Both are a lot of radio for the money.

Traveler · Oct 26, 2019

The shack in a box (HF and UHF/VHF) rigs typically have that "jack of all trades, master of none" issue. A dedicated mobile VHF / UHF rig alongside your quality HF rig, will give you more bang for the buck.

gamer_jim · Oct 26, 2019

ToolAA said:
I was gravitating towards the Yeasu 450d.

This is my HF rig and I really enjoy it. It's very digital mode friendly and easy for me to use.

Keystone70 · Oct 26, 2019

gamer_jim said:
This is my HF rig and I really enjoy it. It's very digital mode friendly and easy for me to use.

I started with the 450d. Great rig for the price. Very underrated. I now have the ftdx3000. Awesome receiver.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

CrazySanMan · Oct 26, 2019

Last night I got an Anytone AT-D878UV, it's a nice radio. This is my first foray into DMR and I can't tell if I like it or not. It's cool to hear people from all over the world and see their call sign and name and location on the screen, but it just seems way to busy and very difficult to actually get any air time. Are there any secrets to making QSOs on DMR?

K31 · Oct 27, 2019

Winged Pig said:
A friend of mine has the 991a and he really likes it, but he also likes my Icom IC-7300. Not enough to sell his though. One of the things he seems to like better than the 7300 is the display. I don't see it (LOL) but he does. The 7300 also does not do vhf/uhf, so there is that.

HRO has the 991a for I $1075 and the 7300 for $925 if that helps you. The 7300 does everything I need it to and honestly, makes me sound a lot better than I am. I don't take it mobile or even move it from my house, but I think it's small enough to do that with if you wanted to. Get what you want up front and enjoy it. I think you will end up saving some money that way.

Anyway, good luck.

Traveler said:
A pre-owned Kenwood TS-590SG, or an Icom IC-7300 would be a fantastic value. You can buy them with PayPal off qrz.com, or qth.com. Both are a lot of radio for the money.

Between the ICOM 7300 and the FT991A (make sure you are buying the A if shopping used), the ICOM is direct sampling (like SDRs), the FT991A I believe is not. Since the world seems to moving in the direct sampling direction, I think this is going to make the IC7300 a better radio for resale if you want to move up. There were a lot of people selling IC7300s used when the IC7610 came out making an almost new radio cheaper.

I wouldn't buy a radio today without a panadapter/waterfall display like the TS590. They are so nice to have. You can see at a glance what's happening on a band.

Traveler said:
The shack in a box (HF and UHF/VHF) rigs typically have that "jack of all trades, master of none" issue. A dedicated mobile VHF / UHF rig alongside your quality HF rig, will give you more bang for the buck.

If you want to do satellite work or SSB on UHF/VHF or pretty much anything other than FM, then a dedicated VHF/UHF radio that supports other modes is going to cost about the same as another HF rig (or more) unless you buy used/no-longer-made-new. The FT991A has the issue that it can't receive on one band and transmit on another simultaneously for satellite work (good to have, some would say essential) but some other shack-in-box radios can. You could use a dedicated SDR receiver to make up for this on the FT991A but that's less than ideal.

cms1528 · Oct 28, 2019

Listening to some contesting yesterday on 20 meters. When a contact was made the DX would say 5-9-8. Then the DE would give the state they were in.

What is 5-9-8. The 5-9 I get but 8?

NY Transplant · Oct 28, 2019

cms1528 said:
Listening to some contesting yesterday on 20 meters. When a contact was made the DX would say 5-9-8. Then the DE would give the state they were in.

What is 5-9-8. The 5-9 I get but 8?

For the CQ WW SSB contest this past weekend, 5-9 is the signal report and the last digit(s) is the CQ zone which covers zone 1-40. Continental US covers zone 3-5.

cms1528 · Oct 28, 2019

NY Transplant said:
For the CQ WW SSB contest this past weekend, 5-9 is the signal report and the last digit(s) is the CQ zone which covers zone 1-40. Continental US covers zone 3-5.

Thanks, that nails it.

Pinecone · Oct 29, 2019

Arcamm said:
I was ready a few weeks ago, but they closed testing before I got to the HOCO fairgrounds.

I may take you up on it if there's nothing sooner.

The code part stopped me from getting involved sooner. That was 47 years ago..... I'm a bad speller. If somebody would invent a code key with spell check, I would be golden.

You don't need to be able to spell to TAKE code. You hear, you write letter/number

You don't even need to know how to read.

Pinecone · Oct 29, 2019

ToolAA said:
I think I’m ready to buy an HF radio. My usual MO with firearms and optics seems to be to convince myself that the cheaper product is good enough for my needs. Then I spend more time and money upgrading. I would like not to make that mistake with radio equipment.

I was gravitating towards the Yeasu 450d. I’ve been looking at used ones in the $500 range. However, When I was at the Howard County Hamfest they had the Yeasu rep there with a display of all of their radios. Now I’m not sure thats the right choice.

The 991a seems like it could do everything I want to do. HF, VHF, UHF plus USB connection to the PC for digital modes and Wires-X digitsl.
If I wanted all of those bands from the basement I would be spending the same amount if I got the 450 plus a VHF/UHF transceiver.

It also seems small enough to take camping and run from a 12v battery.

Does anyone here have the 991a and if so would you recommend it?

This is why I a got a Yaesu FT1000D for my first (and only) HF rig.

I KNOW if I buy lower end, I will be moving up.

AWESOME rig.

I got the Peter 1st DXpediation many years ago on ONE call, using a Cushcraft R-5 vertical.

ToolAA · Oct 29, 2019

Pinecone said:
This is why I a got a Yaesu FT1000D for my first (and only) HF rig.

I KNOW if I buy lower end, I will be moving up.

AWESOME rig.

I got the Peter 1st DXpediation many years ago on ONE call, using a Cushcraft R-5 vertical.

I just watched a quick video showing the features of the FT-1000d. Wow. I don’t think thats in my league at this time. The display on that radio is amazing.

My stretch goal is the 991a. It’s really the max I can budget right now and I think it’s still portable enough to take camping should I want to.

Arcamm · Oct 29, 2019

Pinecone said:
You don't need to be able to spell to TAKE code. You hear, you write letter/number

You don't even need to know how to read.

.--. . .--. .-.. . -- .. - --- -. -.. .-. ... - .- -. .-- .- - .. .- -- ... -.-- . -. .. ..-. - .... .

.-- ..- .-. -.. ... .- .-. ... .--. . .-.. . -.. .-. .. --. -

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