Amateur Radio FAQ

[fightinbluhen51]

I shudder at the thought of being in the Water Cooler. There really is no fitting place. I'm glad it's here or I wouldn't have found it.



If you're interested, there are some events coming up in Patapsco Valley State Park. One is a foot race and the other is a Mountain Bike ride. The interesting thing about these two events is the terrain - for the most part we can't just use a single repeater with HTs. PM me if you're interested. The events are August 8th and 9th. You can do both or either.

Check your PM; I think we QSO'd the other day!

 

[fightinbluhen51]

I heard Ed this morning on the 2M Holly Net.

Sorry I couldn't catch you on the air Ed, I was going into a lower elevation RF hole, and I am trying to NOT transmit when I hit those areas so as not to noise out and hog the repeater.

 

[E.Shell]

I heard Ed this morning on the 2M Holly Net.

Sorry I couldn't catch you on the air Ed, I was going into a lower elevation RF hole, and I am trying to NOT transmit when I hit those areas so as not to noise out and hog the repeater.

Sorry I missed you! Check your PMs.

 

[MDGolom]

Looking to replay the TM-281A in my car with something with a detachable face plate. I'm seriously considering the FTM-400DR radio. Does anyone here have experience with it?

Leo

 

[JamesH]

Looking to replay the TM-281A in my car with something with a detachable face plate. I'm seriously considering the FTM-400DR radio. Does anyone here have experience with it?

Leo

No personal experience with the FTM-400DR. As a rule, I prefer Kenwood products to Yaesu. I have a TM-V71 in my shack and a TM-D710 in my car, both of which are excellent radios, and both have detachable faceplates.

A good question would be, what other features do you want? Do you want something that works with Yaesu's System Fusion digital mode? Do you want APRS? Or just a simple dual-bander?

 

[Metaterra]

No personal experience with the FTM-400DR. As a rule, I prefer Kenwood products to Yaesu.

I'm new to all this but curious why? I have a Yaesu mobile and a Kenwood HT so far.

 

[JamesH]

I'm new to all this but curious why? I have a Yaesu mobile and a Kenwood HT so far.

I find Yaesu's interfaces to be needlessly complex. They often have pushbuttons for functions you never use, and the ones you want regularly are buried deep within menus. I'm also PO'ed at a Yaesu mobile that I got rid of that had a cross-band repeat function, but wouldn't run an IDer to be able to use it legally. That same radio did have an IDer for the ARTS function, which is a useless Yaesu gimmick feature.

Also, if you are doing APRS, Kenwood works better because Kenwood's engineers actually worked with WB4APR to make sure they work correctly. Yaesu's APRS implementation has some quirks.

 

[MDGolom]

I use a TM-V71A as my base station because I wanted to play with Echolink. I wouldn't hesitate getting another except on medium power it's only 10w. For now, I'm using the cigarette lighter to power the radio and it's only rates for 10a. Most Yaesus put out 25w on medium. The reason I'm looking at the FTM-400DR is because of the large screen and the menus seem to be an improvement. It also has lots of features I may or may not use, but they're there.

 

[JamesH]

Keep in mind, a large screen can become a liability after sunset. Check out the TM-D710. It's a great rig with a screen that I think is easier to read than the Yaesu.

 

[awptickes]

For anyone in harford county:
The 146.775 and 449.775 repeaters are back online after the move.

 

[Hyper-W]

I'm looking to sell some HF stuff if anyone is interested. I'm unable to post in classifieds for some unknown reason (PMs to admins have gone unanswered) so I'm posting here.

Yaesu FT-450 with built-in tuner $600
includes box

Icom IC-706 Tranciever with AT-100ProII Tuner $600
Tuner comes with box

Ultimax100 End Fed HF Antenna 6-80M $50
used once or twice

Multiband Dipole Antenna $50
I bought this as a 10M dipole and rebuilt it adding 20M, 6M, and 15M radiators. Had it in the attic for about two years.

I also have a MFJ-1868 Discone Antenna $50
Paid $60 plus tax and shipping. never used - still in packaging.

Let me know if you're interested. Everything is negotiable. I'd do trades for Mossberg shotguns, Gen4 Glocks in 9mm, .380, or .45, Walthers in 9mm or .380, Ruger LCR, a Jeep, etc.

 

[City Rat]

Nice write up haven't used my gear in a couple of years. You guys are getting me thinking of getting back into this as soon as deer season is over. Any good local clubs around Laurel, I'll be a bit rusty. thanks.

 

[K31]

Nice write up haven't used my gear in a couple of years. You guys are getting me thinking of getting back into this as soon as deer season is over. Any good local clubs around Laurel, I'll be a bit rusty. thanks.

Welcome.

There is the Laurel Amateur Radio Club: http://www.larcmd.org/

as well as many others in the area.

 

[JamesH]

+1 for the Laurel ARC. Columbia also has a good club.

 

[Baccusboy]

Finally got my Korean license, and have been calling for a few days. Best I have are Argentina and Georgia. Several from Japan, across the water. I want to put my loop back up. That did better. On a dipole now.

 

[K31]

Finally got my Korean license, and have been calling for a few days. Best I have are Argentina and Georgia. Several from Japan, across the water. I want to put my loop back up. That did better. On a dipole now.

Give us a sched.

 

[K31]

Finally got my Korean license, and have been calling for a few days. Best I have are Argentina and Georgia. Several from Japan, across the water. I want to put my loop back up. That did better. On a dipole now.

Looking on a Great Circle map, Argentina is about as far away as you can get. US should be easy, all other things being equal (which they may not be depending on the time of day, etc).

 

[Baccusboy]

K31, the US is actually harder for me. I've got a mountain partially in the way, for one. The base of the mountain is within 20 minutes walk from my house. I can't make out signals from the US, usually. I am going to switch back to a loop, which was far better for noise here. I have a somewhat compromised 34'x34' dipole up now.

Also, everyone here says talking to the US is far more difficult than reaching Europe. I have found this to be true. Without a Yagi up high (or, I assume, being up on a mountain) it's very rare to even hear much from the USA. Japanese signals drown out a lot. They have a huge number of Hams blaring away on Yagis in Japan. I can hear them talking to Americans sometimes, but usually get just the Japanese end of the conversation.

We have far too much noise here in Seoul. I can reach European signals around 5am or 6am, before Koreans wake up and run their TV's and electronics. By 7 to 8am, I have to give up on anything from Europe, for the most part. By 10am, signals here in Korea and Japan are difficult to get, due to the noise. I am pretty much giving up on HF unless I'm between 11pm and 8am now.

Something about the longpath signal from Argentina, and the fact that LU2FCB from Argentina has a really nice set-up and antenna, makes it work to Asia. He booms in often.

I QSO'd with three guys in a group from Italy this morning (barely): IK8IPO,
I0QMN, and IK0IFL Also got UA3VFS in Moscow.

 

[Baccusboy]

You can see my log if you check qrz.com. I am HL1ZIX now, in Korea.

 

[K31]

K31, the US is actually harder for me. I've got a mountain partially in the way, for one. The base of the mountain is within 20 minutes walk from my house. I can't make out signals from the US, usually. I am going to switch back to a loop, which was far better for noise here. I have a somewhat compromised 34'x34' dipole up now.

Also, everyone here says talking to the US is far more difficult than reaching Europe. I have found this to be true. Without a Yagi up high (or, I assume, being up on a mountain) it's very rare to even hear much from the USA. Japanese signals drown out a lot. They have a huge number of Hams blaring away on Yagis in Japan. I can hear them talking to Americans sometimes, but usually get just the Japanese end of the conversation.

Sorry, what I meant was, compared to Argentina, the US should be easy, looking at a great circle map.