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  • Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    That's what us hams do - talk about nothing for most of the time. Weather, rigs, antennas, audio, give signal reports etc etc ...

    The CARA 135 repeater used to have a LOT of drive time firearms discussions. :)
     

    K31

    "Part of that Ultra MAGA Crowd"
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 15, 2006
    35,632
    AA county
    If you have Amazon Prime, the Baofeng UV-5R Plus comes up on Lightning Deals every once in a while for $30.
     

    chale127

    Ultimate Member
    Nov 5, 2008
    2,616
    Brooklyn, MD
    Those of you who recently got your Extra class upgrades, what study resources did you use?

    I used the ARRL book and took the upgrade class at the HEM in Linthicum.
    Rol Anders K3RA taught the class and is probably one of the most informed there is on the topic since he was on the Committee that wrote the latest Question Pool, heck of a nice guy too


    http://www.k3nem.org/
     

    tourrider

    Grumpy
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 9, 2009
    2,327
    Corry, PA
    Those of you who recently got your Extra class upgrades, what study resources did you use?

    Mostly ARRL book, some old text books from school, and practice tests on my phone. Oh, and a bit of Googling :)

    Get a practice app and keep banging on it. When you get a Q that you do not know, pull out a book and study that topic. Then move to the next.

    The app was great on my study for tech. After I was consistently scoring high, I also got the app for general to play with. I went to take the tech, aced it. They gave me the general, and I did pretty good with that, so I sat for the extra too. Missed enough on it not to retake, not to mention I had just sat through hours of testing. I missed enough on resonance formulas and attend patterns to know I had to go study if I wanted an extra. At that time I was only looking to get a tech so I could talk to my brother. One month later I picked up my extra at the HoCo Hamfest. If I had downloaded the app for extra, i might have been able to pass all three at once :)
     

    jpo183

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 20, 2013
    4,116
    in Maryland
    Its here! Woot! Ok so I have my beofung setup (I think) I have a couple repeaters setup into memory (hagerstown, frederick and frostburg). I am in Frederick. I also programmed the offset to transmit on and have that saved.

    So far so good ( I think)

    I am stuck on the CTSS for Receiving and Transmitting. According to

    http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/search/index.asp?state=Maryland

    The frederick repeater wants a 141.3 PL Tone.

    First what is a PPL tone. I think it is the tone that "ques" the repeater letting it know you are transmitting?

    Second, if I am right above how do I "save" this for that frequency, as I imagine each repeater uses its own tone?

    If I am way off base please set me straight.

    Am I missing anything else?
     

    garym

    Damn Right, Rebel Proud
    Sep 20, 2009
    296
    Davidsonville
    Those of you who recently got your Extra class upgrades, what study resources did you use?

    I used this pdf as a study guide for a few weeks and passed the Extra earlier this year, I missed 1 question. You really need to study this enough to understand how you get to the answers, you will be much more confident with the testing.

    BTW, I wished I made a note of this but I did find one Q&A that had the wrong answer in this study guide.

    http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Inst...ass/2012 Extra Class Syllabus rev 106 pdf.pdf
     

    K31

    "Part of that Ultra MAGA Crowd"
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 15, 2006
    35,632
    AA county
    Word of another tech class scheduled. This one in Hagerstown.

    Location: Hagerstown Md.
    Start/End Dates: 03/07/2014 - 03/09/2014
    Times: Friday 7 PM, Saturday 9 AM to 5 PM, Sunday 9 AM to 5 PM
    Number of Sessions: 3
    Class level: Technician
    Morse code offered: No
    Pre register required: Yes
    Fee: $35.00
    Pre Study required: Yes
    Class Type: Weekend/One Day
    Exam offered: Yes
    Sponsoring Club/Organization: Antietam Radio Association
    Instructor: KD3JK
    Contact: Robert Long KD3JK
    Phone: (301) 745-4932
    Email: <rjlong61@myactv.net>
    Location: Washington County Sheriff's Office, Patrol Division
    500 Western Maryland Parkway
    Hagerstown, MD 21740
    Additional Information: Contact KD3JK at <rjlong61@myactv.net>
    for full details.
     

    rpker

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 26, 2009
    2,577
    Charles County
    Its here! Woot! Ok so I have my beofung setup (I think) I have a couple repeaters setup into memory (hagerstown, frederick and frostburg). I am in Frederick. I also programmed the offset to transmit on and have that saved.

    So far so good ( I think)

    I am stuck on the CTSS for Receiving and Transmitting. According to

    http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/search/index.asp?state=Maryland

    The frederick repeater wants a 141.3 PL Tone.

    First what is a PPL tone. I think it is the tone that "ques" the repeater letting it know you are transmitting?

    Second, if I am right above how do I "save" this for that frequency, as I imagine each repeater uses its own tone?

    If I am way off base please set me straight.

    Am I missing anything else?

    The PL tone or CTSS tone prevents the repeater from activating on spurious signals or noise. If an incoming signal does not have the tone with it the repeater will not transmit that signal. Your radio will have some means of turning on the tones and selecting the proper tone for a "channel" that you have set up for the repeater.

    The repeater directory you use will have the freq, offset, and PL tone listed to setup.
     

    jpo183

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 20, 2013
    4,116
    in Maryland
    SO I finally got to talk to someone tonight! Really awesome! I bounced off the 146.73 repeater here in Frederick and reached two guys. One was in Winchester VA, the other in Falls Church VA.
     

    K31

    "Part of that Ultra MAGA Crowd"
    MDS Supporter
    Jan 15, 2006
    35,632
    AA county
    SO I finally got to talk to someone tonight! Really awesome! I bounced off the 146.73 repeater here in Frederick and reached two guys. One was in Winchester VA, the other in Falls Church VA.

    :thumbsup:
     

    chale127

    Ultimate Member
    Nov 5, 2008
    2,616
    Brooklyn, MD
    SO I finally got to talk to someone tonight! Really awesome! I bounced off the 146.73 repeater here in Frederick and reached two guys. One was in Winchester VA, the other in Falls Church VA.

    While you are at it plug in the Thurmont machine (freq. eludes me right this sec) it's a pretty mean machine, have hit it with 75w from Wilkes-Barre and almost to Pittsburgh before and well down into Va
     

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