/ham/ - Amateur Radio General

[Anonymous No.1813941]

Loops & Electric Shocks Edition
Previous Thread >>1805136

>New to /ham/? Read this shit!
http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service
>Your search engine of choice works well too!

>Idiot's Guide to Coax Cable
https://www.pcs-electronics.com/guide_coax.php

>Looking for frequencies to monitor near you?
http://www.radioreference.com

>Basic Rx loop fundamentals
https://www.w8ji.com/magnetic_receiving_loops.htm

>DIY SWL Mag. Loop
http://www.kr1st.com/swlloop.htm

>Small Tx Loop
http://www.kk5jy.net/magloop/

>In Depth Loop articles
http://webclass.org/k5ijb/antennas/Small-magnetic-loops.htm

>Online Practice Tests:
http://aa9pw.com/
https://hamstudy.org/
https://hamexam.org/

> Real-Time Propagation Data
http://prop.kc2g.com/

>Space Weather
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/radio-communications

>WSJT-X 2.1 User Guide
https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-2.1.2.html

>FT8 operating guide
https://www.g4ifb.com/FT8_Hinson_tips_for_HF_DXers.pdf

>APRS
http://www.aprs.org/

[Anonymous No.1813942]

[Anonymous No.1813944]

[Anonymous No.1813945]

[Anonymous No.1813946]

One more article/guide

https://k1fm.us/2019/05/k1fm-magnetic-loop/

[Anonymous No.1813964]

>>1813942
Source?

[Anonymous No.1813986]

Any tips on picking up 15M Asia and other continents on 10M? I wouldn't mind turning my attention to a 5 band WAC award.

[Anonymous No.1814025]

Seems to be putting 80 watts into a semi-tuned wire antenna

[Anonymous No.1814079]

>>1814025
That's something. Now you need a fully-tuned antenna.
Beep.

[Anonymous No.1814082]

10th for 10 meters

[Anonymous No.1814091]

Any advice on any cheap low pass filter that can work in a wide range of frequencies?

[Anonymous No.1814096]

Is CW or digital any good for conversational QSO's? I don't much like contesting or contact collecting.
I ideally I'd like to have something lightweight (why I'm thinking CW) to bring into the woods hiking and chat on.
Lightweight CW also sound fun for the prepper meme.

[Anonymous No.1814124]

>>1814096
From what I've seen nobody really chats on CW except people who already know each other. There's js8call but it's all heartbeat messages and automatic SNR reports and barely any human generated messages (and when they are it's just two or three messages).
I don't know about PSK but I heard it's mostly CW style short QSOs too.

[Anonymous No.1814128]

>>1814091
Yes, forget it.

[MrCrummyPaws No.1814150]

>>1814025
based and 11 meter pilled
My linear from ebay, shipped from russia, should be showing up soon, gonna be nice to be heard across the valley.

[Anonymous No.1814170]

Our Founder and inspiration.

[LilLeto No.1814177]

>>1814170
I've always suspected he was just some widower who spent his SSI check at Goodwill every month on various remote controls, cordless phones, broken VCRs and any other cheap, obsolete electronics he found.

[Anonymous No.1814193]

Dang.
I've only had luck having long QSO's on local VHF/UHF, and once on HF in a ragchew net.
Why are all these hams so damn antisocial. THE POINT IS TO COMMUNICATE YOU AUTISTIC BOOMERS.

[Anonymous No.1814219]

Full Moon - cognitive dissonance

[Anonymous No.1814244]

got my license in october, mostly been doing VHF, got a radio at home and in my car and a couple hand helds

i think it's time for me to start getting into HF now

[Anonymous No.1814261]

>>1814096


>>1814096
skcc has a ragchew award. Something like 100 1 hour long QSOs.

[Anonymous No.1814267]

>>1814177
He's some israeli that did some stuff that was important. I forget.

[Anonymous No.1814270]

>>1755552
frogposter here

[Anonymous No.1814476]

What can I do with a radio to most piss off the hammies?

[Anonymous No.1814499]

>>1814476
We want more members so we would be very upset if you failed your exams, repeatedly.

[Anonymous No.1814504]

>>1814476
Local or DX?

[Anonymous No.1814509]

>>1814476
funny songs from a memefung into a repeater while driving down the interstate

[Anonymous No.1814691]

I want to buy a cheap baofeng radio so I can shitpost in the woods with my friends. The problem is that there are so god damn many different options I don't know which one to get. My friend uses a GT-3TP for bear hunting. I have also heard good things about the UV-9R and UV-5R Plus.

What baochad radio would /ham/ get?

[Anonymous No.1814694]

>>1814691

[Anonymous No.1814696]

>>1814691
This one might be better.
I went for the UV82 due to output power and dual band.

[LilLeto No.1814697]

>>1814691
Baofeng has a ridiculous variety of HT radios. Most fall into the UV-5R or UV-82 categories. Cheap cheap, get a recent UV-5R model. Should be under $25. 5 watts Vs 8 watts is virtually meaningless. It's FM line of sight, so if you're just working simplex, person-to-person, either will perform about the same.

There are some models that have better water resistance, so that might be a factor. It's important to note that NONE of the Baofeng have super easy programming, and it's best to get a good programming cable and do it through your PC with either Baofeng's software, or the 3rd party software, Chirp.

[Anonymous No.1814704]

>>1814476
You could broadcast killing yourself over amateur TV. That really passes off hammies, and the FCC.

[Anonymous No.1814709]

>>1814694
Do you think the differences between the 1st and 2nd generation UV-5R radios are significant enough to choose the BF-F8+ over the cheaper UV-5R+?

[LilLeto No.1814720]

>>1814709
A lot of this really depends on what you want out of the radio. Are you going to be using it for legit amateur radio HT purposes, or just want a cheap walkie talkie for casual communications. You can get the basic $25 UV-5r variant and program in FRS, GMRS, and MURS frequencies and communicate with a lot of other radios, or start going up in features & power to do more serious communications.

[Anonymous No.1814723]

>>1814709
Couldn't tell you - I only have the UV82HP. Price range is $25-$50 for any iirc, so pick what looks cool and go with it. LilLeto is absolutely right in that you need a USB cord if you want to program it.
If you don't have a license and want to just pick a frequency that isn't a repeater and not program it and play inna woods and nobody know, that's on you.

[Anonymous No.1814726]

>>1814691
wouldnt

[Anonymous No.1814728]

>>1814720
>>1814723

I will probably go with this UV-5R+ because bright color makes brain go vrrrrrrrrrr

[Anonymous No.1814731]

Should I get the QYT KT-8R or the Baofeng UV-S9?

Wondering if 350 to 390 is worth the extra $40

[LilLeto No.1814734]

>>1814731
Depends on your needs. One is a tri-band, the other is a quad band.The quad band seems a little more feature-rich, but I'm not familiar with the brand.

[Anonymous No.1814988]

>>1814728
whats the next upgrade from this piece of shit..it scans to slow !

[LilLeto No.1815013]

>>1814988
The Yaesu FT-4X is probably the next step up at about $85-$90. Plus side, better construction, a couple nice features the Baofeng doesn't have, and has a bit better signal purity...as in spurious emissions. It doesn't suffer the same overload with a bigger antenna like what happens on a Baofeng. Like adding a car antenna. It has 200 programmable channels compared to the Baofeng's 128.
Downside, it's not a dual-channel HT. Baofeng can monitor 2 at a time, even in different bands. All you can do is set one channel as priority that the radio checks for activity. Baofeng's are true dual channel. Press the A/B button and you hop from one to the other.

All in all, it's measurably a little better in most ways. Whether it's worth 3x the price of a Baofeng UV-5R series is up to you.

[Anonymous No.1815092]

I see the new Icom 705 on sale at HRO for $35, should I go for it?

[LilLeto No.1815094]

>>1815092
$35 holds you a spot in line.

[Anonymous No.1815100]

I only want to see who is on air around me. I don’t care about talking to someone via the internet (looking at you, dStar).

What HT should I get? If the new android phone dual band phone/radio didn’t suck, I’d get it.

I’m looking at a kenwood d74 or Yeasu ft-3

I wish there was a HT I could program over Bluetooth with my phone - or that had it’s own internal directory of repeaters that you could select based on gps location.

How about it anon? Help me unload my sheckles.

[Anonymous No.1815443]

How can I go full /sdr/?
As in, use my Linux computer as the control interface, audio/data input and output, modulator/demodulator, etc. for my transceiver? I intend to mostly operate on 20 meters (and if possible, 2 meters) with whatever modes are available. General class.

[Anonymous No.1815510]

>>1814476
Report a fake emergency

[Anonymous No.1815530]

>>1815443
1) get antennas to cover the bands you wish
3) Get a ADC that can keep up with the bands you want to cover
F) do all signal processing on your computer.

[Anonymous No.1815536]

>>1815100
>wish there was a HT I could program over Bluetooth with my phone
Radioddity just released one of those and it looks like a fucking toy

[Anonymous No.1815733]

>>1815530
>>1815443

Any software or hardware reccomendations?

[Anonymous No.1815735]

>>1814476
1. Repeatedly key up the local repeater with PTT
2. Curse randomly during a nets
3. Interrupt conversations

The possibilities are endless really

[Anonymous No.1815738]

>>1814091
I'm hoping that you're trolling. But I don't think you are. Your comment is going to bring me laughter every time I see it, so I made it my wall paper.
I'm not entirely mean though, see the following comments for how to figure it out for yourself.

[Anonymous No.1815739]

>>1815094
I don't know if you're the same namefag from the last thread but if you're still looking for a Realistic DX-160, one was just listed on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Realistic-DX-160-Solid-State-Communications-Receiver-Radio-Shack-Shortwave-Ham/233582547343

[Anonymous No.1815740]

>>1815738
Cont.
Get yourself a copy of the bible (ARRL HANDBOOK):

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:f9f27dfda67948a5ef6aef4160035ce35b468e2a&dn=ARRL%202014%20Handbook&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969

Get yourself a copy of crystal sets to sideband:

http://www.qrparci.org/wa0itp/csts_book.pdf


Read the images I'm going to post.

[LilLeto No.1815741]

>>1815739
I saw that and am seriously tempted.
Thanks!

[Anonymous No.1815743]

>>1815740
Cont.
Notice how you didn't get any responses?
It's similar to how when someone says something in a crowded room that is so retarded, everyone gets uncomfortable and says nothing.

[Anonymous No.1815744]

>>1815741
There's also another one (with a speaker, at that) just listed with a BiN price of $150.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Realistic-DX-160-5-Band-Shortwave-Receiver-Matching-SP-150-Speaker/224003934900

[Anonymous No.1815745]

>>1815743
Cont.
Learn from this mistake,
You will get better, you will succeed, you can do it!

[Anonymous No.1815748]

>>1815745
Cont.
Last image. 4/4.
Good luck on your quest to find a low pass filter that covers a lot of frequencies!

[LilLeto No.1815749]

>>1815744
ohhhhhhhhhhhh

[Anonymous No.1815751]

>>1815749
Pull that trigger, man.

[Anonymous No.1815771]

All the solder smoke podcasts.
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:8979d0243827f435c99968e1d51d28a0874e374f&dn=SolderSmokePodcast&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.me%3A2940&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fglotorrents.pw%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexplodie.org%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.com%3A2710%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fp4p.arenabg.com%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.yoshi210.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.skyts.net%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fipv4.tracker.harry.lu%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=http%3A%2F%2Ftracker2.itzmx.com%3A6961%2Fannounce&tr=http%3A%2F%2Ftracker.bittor.pw%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=http%3A%2F%2Fopen.acgtracker.com%3A1096%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fzephir.monocul.us%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=http%3A%2F%2Ftorrentsmd.com%3A8080%2Fannounce

[Anonymous No.1815804]

>>1815733
something with transistors

[MrCummy No.1815875]

>>1814150
Literally just thrown in this hole for now but uhh, I'm thinking this is pretty based.

[Anonymous No.1815877]

>>1815738
>I'm hoping that you're trolling
It's the same retard who keeps asking about using a soundcard to transmit VLF in order to mess with speakers.

[Anonymous No.1816196]

>>1815875
>steal a road sign
>make it part of your dash

[Anonymous No.1816215]

[LilLeto No.1816225]

>>1816215
Please let this be real

[Anonymous No.1816228]

>>1816225
It is. https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=4277551
>>1816215

[LilLeto No.1816229]

>>1816228
Then, this is god-tier
Well played

[Anonymous No.1816258]

Thinking about getting a Yaesu FT-891 as my first HF radio.
https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=71-002216
Thoughts?

[Anonymous No.1816260]

Just won this bad boy on ebay for a great price.

Fuck yeah.

[LilLeto No.1816263]

>>1816260
Nice. I have a DX-390. Big chunky boy. Great radio. I remember the DX-440, never got to play with one. Something about using a legit RADIO radio to tune into HF frequencies that feels great.

[Anonymous No.1816282]

>>1816263
I like to listen to broadcasts more than I like to signal hunt so I popped wood when I saw all of the sliders and dials - especially that nice big BFO knob for easy ECSS reception. No sync, but on most portable units that's basically just a marketing gimmick at worst and no better than ECSS at best so I'm not fussed. Heard it has a sensitive front end so I won't go too crazy but I'm definitely going to cut a few antennas (grounded and bled, of course) and see where that gets me; also gives me an excuse to fuck off to the mountains to DX.

[Anonymous No.1816294]

>>1816225
look it up

[Anonymous No.1816299]

>>1816196
Very popular in the UK, a fellow student had quite the trophy collection. Especially the flashing warning lights impressed us, you know the kind put up immediately before big holes in the road.

Anyways, so the PIxie is garbage. Instead I found pic. related. How come this does not radiate out RF during reception?

[LilLeto No.1816324]

>>1816282
Apparently, yours is a rebadged Sangean 802a and mine an 803a. I always liked Sangean radios. I've been out of it for awhile so I don't know if they make anything decent anymore. Seems SW receivers like these aren't as popular as they were. I'll blame the internet and the SDR sites, I guess.
My DX-440 worked well with wire antennas, but any pre-amplified antennas seemed to overload the front end.
Good luck with yours and I hope it's pristine.

[Anonymous No.1816331]

>>1816196
Well, I can see why, raw construction materials and anything metal is way too pricey.

[MrCummy No.1816336]

>>1816196
You dont like it?
It looks cool and night when you're driving

[Anonymous No.1816339]

I just got mine recently as my first. It's a good radio. I think the 857 woud have been better, the FFT display isn't worth not having VHF. But the 857 is discontinued, and was a few hundred more.
All in all I like it a lot, but will have to get a VHF rig on the side.

[Anonymous No.1816342]

>>1816339
Who are you talking to?

[Anonymous No.1816345]

>>1816339
>>1816258
Meant to link

[Anonymous No.1816347]

>>1816345
Okay, sweet. Just want to make sure, I can hook this up to my Linux computer and use hamlib to do digital mode stuff with it? rigctl --list says it is supported.

[Anonymous No.1816355]

>>1816347
Yes, you'll still need an audio cable though it doesn't have built in USB audio like the 7300.

[Anonymous No.1816373]

Oregonfag, did you get your radio?

[Anonymous No.1816386]

>>1816324
>Apparently, yours is a rebadged Sangean 802a and mine an 803a.
The DX-440 is a rebadged 803a and the DX-390 is a rebadged 818.

>I've been out of it for awhile so I don't know if they make anything decent anymore.
I've heard that the ATS-909 was a good radio out of the box but that when you hooked up an antenna you got outstanding SW performance. The reviews for the 909x haven't been nearly as positive as far as SW performance is concerned, even with an external antenna.

Still, I don't really see the point in shelling out ~225 dollary-doos when you can get a well cared for vintage portable that's not only highly functional but super fucking rad (ICF-2010/SW-55/SW-77, RF-B65, etc.) plus an antenna for the same price or less and if you drop another C-note you can get an used Eton/Grundig boat anchor that's basically a low-end tabletop set in a wig.

[Anonymous No.1816395]

>>1816299
>How come ..
Because belief is for free.
Listen carefully to this when he talks about LO leakage and to the audio sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHP2I3qtv0I
Result: another practically unusable toy.
Nothing beats the QCX.

[Anonymous No.1816399]

>>1816386
I love my (rebranded) Redsun RP2000, paid 65€ new.

[Anonymous No.1816420]

How and where do I sign up for the online test taking for my technician license?

[LilLeto No.1816466]

>>1816386
Ahhh... Glad my DX-440 still works. I get the itch to dig it out and dust it off every couple years. Love older radios

[Anonymous No.1816469]

>>1816373
Yes, Got my 891. I have a 6m loop, and a 40m dipole set in an NVIS configuration (that for some reason does 5-9 from LA and Reno on a good night).
I'm out of town atm, but will be back durring the workweek. I'd be down to try making contact some afternoon.

[Anonymous No.1816492]

is it legal for me to buy some chink shit handheld to listen in on stuff?

[LilLeto No.1816498]

>>1816492
Always legal to listen. Definitely legal to listen/transmit on amateur bands if you're licensed. Quasi-legal to transmit on frs/gmrs/murs if your wattage is correct and have licenses for any bands that require it. Never legal to transmit on any frequencies outside established amateur or other bands I mentioned.

[Anonymous No.1816510]

>>1816498
It's not any more illegal than speeding is illegal.

[LilLeto No.1816511]

>>1816510
wat

[Anonymous No.1816532]

so the FCC to you guys is like the ATF to /k/ right?

>buy a chink radio
>turn it on
>go to jail
>Buy a metal tube
>dog and wife shot
>go to jail

[LilLeto No.1816535]

>>1816532
Yes, those are clearly exactly the same. Other than being completely different.

[Anonymous No.1816542]

>>1816535
the point is muh FREEDUMS. who the fuck has the right to tell me i can't shitpost on Amateur frequencies or own a metal tube that makes a loud sound quieter. fucking alphabet fags. i want to get into this for a hobby but im worried ill hit some xfile band and get got by the FCC and then WACO'd by the ATF

[LilLeto No.1816543]

>>1816542
As I said, there's no law against listening. Lots of license-free bands for transmitting. And, as I recently learned, the test for the technician class is really. really. easy.

[Anonymous No.1816544]

>>1816532
That's why I say it's not illegal.
It's just a technical infraction with no chance of jail and no criminal record. Just (big) fines and confiscation of equipment. At least as long as you don't mess with emergency services.
ATF shit on the other hand involves misdemeanors and felonies which are criminal in nature.

[LilLeto No.1816548]

We can argue semantics all day long, but the FCC enforces laws. And I can assure you, that escalating the level of a violation will, at some point, possibly lead to jail.

[Anonymous No.1816552]

>>1816469
You're not working NVIS on 40 meters in the current solar cycle, too high a frequency for high-angle reflection. You need to be below about 6 MHz, so 80 or 60 meters are good options. A low hung 40M dipole will just be a bit compromised and still work okay out to a decent distance most of the time.

[Anonymous No.1816685]

>>1815875
Kenwood, TK model? I see you're a man of taste.
-Former kenwood dealer.

[Anonymous No.1816703]

>>1816548
Semantics is the branch of linguistics and logic concerned with meaning. Memantics is something else.

[Anonymous No.1816706]

>>1814267
a lonely fat jew waiting for magic showers
F

[Anonymous No.1816807]

so what should i buy to start? im semi poor fag so for now just to familiarize myself with the technical aspects should i get a baofang?

[Anonymous No.1816828]

>>1816807
What do plan on doing?
Which of these would you like to do?
https://www.qsl.net/w2vtm/hamactivities.html

[Anonymous No.1816848]

>>1816807
Ham radio can be very portable and affordable. In this article, we will look at ham radio and show you how to get started in this wireless world!
https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ham-radio.htm

[Anonymous No.1816876]

I am concerned about my privacy and would like my full name and address not to be publicly displayed on the FCC database. How do?

[Anonymous No.1816882]

>>1816876
As a station operator, you may need to be contacted in order to correct your operation.
Like being out of band, excessive harmonics, interference etc.
Also consider, it lets those issues be resolved without having the FCC be involved.

[Anonymous No.1816883]

>>1816876
As a station operator, you may need to be contacted in order to correct your operation.
Like being out of band, excessive harmonics, interference etc.

[Anonymous No.1816885]

>>1816883
But what if someone doxxes me?

[Anonymous No.1816898]

>>1816876
Get a PO Box, you can use that as your address with the FCC.

[Anonymous No.1816909]

bands are open, time to screech at east europeans and italians on cb.

[Anonymous No.1816913]

>>1815738
That's one strange computer.

[Anonymous No.1816924]

>>1816260
Nice. I had one growing up. Wish I still had it.

[Anonymous No.1817133]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0772FYKK8/ref=cm_sw_r_apa_i_ZEfUEbJNHT3BM

this looks like a good entry deal?

[LilLeto No.1817139]

>>1817133
It's not a bad deal. The UV-5R is an older generation Baofeng. There's a lot of varieties now. But if price is the main factor, that's a good deal. I like that it includes an extra battery, a speaker-mic, and the programming cable. Those are a pain to program manually and doing it through a PC makes it simple.

[Anonymous No.1817209]

>>1817139
cool i just placed an order im gonna do some lurking when i get it as far as i know theres no testing right now since everything is shut down but ill use this time to get familiar with it and study

[LilLeto No.1817250]

>>1817209
The practice exam links in OP's post are very helpful.

[Anonymous No.1817306]

>>1817209
Learn to set it up for your local repeaters so you can listen to both sides of a conversation. Learn to set up "channels" on channel mode - a channel can be simplex frequency even. Don't bother with the scan function. Aim for General class operator, not just Technician. You'll grow out of this HT pretty quick if you are at all interested. BTW if you are Amazon bro that is a decent deal you got - the cop mic is crap but the programming cable is a must. Also I'm pretty sure the antenna you get will be a knockoff, so stick with the factory rubber ducky unless you get better results. I ordered a 6 pack of these radios/antennas/batteries and the non-stock antennas have disapointed me.

[Anonymous No.1817310]

>>1817306
Oh, and don't forget to program in your local NOAA weather alert stations as channels. They won't alarm but make good weather radios. Don't try to xmit on these freqs though - the older Baofengs will.

[MrCrummyPaws No.1817313]

>>1816685
TK8160
kenwood simply makes the best mobile radios, fuck everyone else.

[Anonymous No.1817324]

>>1817313
Mobile, maybe. Their HF rigs suck balls. Have to buy aftermarket filters to not sound like Alvin the Chipmunk or Darth Vader. Kenwood is trash.

[Anonymous No.1817376]

QSL printing recommendations?
I want some vintage style post cards, but can't find a service or template.

[Anonymous No.1817420]

what are some sub 150 dollar CB and HAM transceivers for the car?

[LilLeto No.1817424]

>>1817420
Your best bet would be to look for a local ham swap meet. More bang for the buck, and if you're really interested in CB, vintage stuff is better than modern.

[Anonymous No.1817512]

>>1817420
for 10/11m there's the much-rebranded qixiang 555, check out the "also sold as" on http://cbradio.nl/alpha/alpha_am1000.htm

or the alinco dx10/cre8900 which is the same functionality shrunk to fit into an automotive DIN slot, plus the mic comes out the front instead of the side.

[Anonymous No.1817701]

What's a good logging software for Linux?

[Anonymous No.1817753]

>>1817424
Not >>1817420 but all the meets/hamfests have been cancelled due to coronachan, and I'm sure its probably the same case all around

[Anonymous No.1817777]

>>1816395
>Result: another practically unusable toy.
A bit brutal? Not many hams where I am. To fix this, will a more traditional mixer do or do you have other recommendations?

It is a strange board with large vacant areas, not sure why.

[Anonymous No.1817784]

>>1817777
>7777

[Anonymous No.1817820]

>CB is dead
>don't bother with CB
>just move on to other toys

get fugd gay nerd we open bands now
https://files.catbox.moe/z9j05t.mp4

[LilLeto No.1817840]

>>1817820
Alex, "What is squelch?"

[Anonymous No.1817841]

>>1817777
The other unusable toy is the much cheaper Pixie.
>other recommendations?
https://www.qrp-labs.com/qcx.html

[Anonymous No.1817861]

for car antenna should i get a 50 inch chad dong antenna or a virgin 15/16 inch antenna

[Anonymous No.1817968]

>>1817840
Squelch blocks out s1 stations that are audible.

[Anonymous No.1818020]

>>1817861
taller is better, but use a little common sense. a too-tall antenna will hit parking shades, carports, trees, bridges, overhead wires. don't be that guy.

>>1817820
tonight on the UK CB muppet band, sensible polite french DXers on 38fm, wankers from spain and ireland are squatting on 19fm with tape loop echo mics, and an italian internetting into his homebase radio is sending cute little e-cards on 1 usb.
bands are open and it's a fucking zoo.

[Anonymous No.1818034]

>>1817840
fuck off with this shitty reddit meme

[Anonymous No.1818042]

Tune to 40 meters, 7.200.000

[Anonymous No.1818154]

what are some useful things to use a mobile HAM+CB setup?

[Anonymous No.1818157]

>>1818154
A co-pilot.

[Anonymous No.1818290]

So how do I shitpost on the radio waves from the comfort of my computer?

[Anonymous No.1818438]

WHERE IS THE PROPEGATION?!! I could hardly get out of the US on 20 or 30M this morning.
Been playing the FT8 video game while working from home during the beer flu. Really jonesing for a good day. I frankly have nothing else to look forward to.

[Anonymous No.1818467]

>>1816532
Not at all
FCC is actually intelligent for one because they have everyone and I mean everyone breathing down their neck including foreign governments so they have to have their shit together

[Anonymous No.1818472]

>>1816885
nobody cares faggot

[Anonymous No.1818493]

>>1816532
No the FCC doesn't really come after you unless you're a big dumbass. You can get away with pretty much anything.

[Anonymous No.1818502]

Got a chink clone off Chinkxpress and it apparently works. Not sure about how it compares to the original one.

[Anonymous No.1818504]

>>1818290
This
>>1818042
Why?

[Anonymous No.1818506]

>>1818438
ok boomer

But yeah propogation has been shit these past few days. On VE days it was really good, friends here in FL were able to hear some Russian stations (I shit you not) but since then it has been pretty bad.

[Anonymous No.1818508]

>>1818502
Is that TX/RX or just a reciever?

[Anonymous No.1818514]

>>1818508
yes, tx, albeit half duplex

[Anonymous No.1818515]

>>1818514
And performance?

[Anonymous No.1818522]

>>1818515
It's 30mW max output, 8-bit ADC and DAC. They work but they aren't amazing.

[Anonymous No.1818525]

>>1818522
So tell me, are you considering adding an amplifier and trying to make contacts? What bands does it cover?

Also, what software do you use to control it?

I'm just really interested in weird chink stuff like this

[Anonymous No.1818531]

>>1818525
I'm not the same anon, I use an ADALM-Pluto instead, mostly for QO-100. The HackRF claims 1MHz to 6GHz though and it's not strictly a Chink creation, just cloned. https://greatscottgadgets.com/hackrf/

[Anonymous No.1818548]

>>1818531
Modified or as is?

[Anonymous No.1818554]

Hey guys, /g/ fag here. Just recently got into ham radio and I decided to make a cross-platform logging program. Do you guys have any suggestions or requests? I'm still a techie, so any input would be greatly appreciated. Once I'm done, I will post a link here to the download.

Also, when the user wants to log his contact as digital, what should the default baud rate/configuration be (I.E. when they click "RTTY" should it default to RRTY-45 or RTTY-50)? Can't seem to find a clear answer to what the most common rates are.

[Anonymous No.1818561]

>>1818548
Just the software range unlock and the TXCO board which I think is sold out now pending version 2.

[Anonymous No.1818572]

>>1818554
https://www.dxzone.com/5-free-ham-radio-logbook-programs/

[Anonymous No.1818575]

>>1818572
None of these run on openSUSE. So I decided to make my own.

[Anonymous No.1818584]

>>1818575
Faggot.

[Anonymous No.1818587]

>>1818575
Faggot.

[Anonymous No.1818589]

>>1818584
Wincuck.
Mactoddler.

[Anonymous No.1818593]

>>1818587
Wincuck.
Mactoddler.

[Anonymous No.1818597]

>>1818593
Faggot.

[Anonymous No.1818600]

>>1818506
Any prediction on when it'll go back to normal?

[Anonymous No.1818601]

>>1818597
>mint
>chromium
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
LITERALLY THE WORST, NORMIE-LEVEL DISTRO
ENJOY YOUR SPYWARE

>*breathes in*
HAHAHAAAAHAHAHAHA HE WANTED TO PROVE HE WAS LE EPIC LINUX HAXOR HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA
>*wheeze*
AHHHHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous No.1818602]

>>1818600
Not sure, check space weather sites but this sort of thing is quite unpredictable

>>1818597
>mint
kek

[Anonymous No.1818635]

>>1818554
Man, you really are retarded. https://www.klog.xyz/.. As a linux user myself I've gotten to the point where I can usually solve my problems myself. If you cant find a package try googling.

[Anonymous No.1818641]

>>1818601
debian user here, for 25 years. You're a faggot.

>>1818597
Don't listen to faggots.

[Anonymous No.1818645]

>>1818522
8-bit ADC/DAC is pretty shitty, adding input noise and output distortion (if you only do voice, you're probably OK with 8 bit).
The only reason you want the hackrf one is going above 2.4 GHz -- many satellites use 2.4 GHz, some 5.6 GHz:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/satslist.htm

[Anonymous No.1818672]

>>1818561
>TXCO
I guess you mean TCXO. Is it Y3 in the pic? I just got a tip on the bird from someone who replaced it with a 0.5ppm version. He has the SMD rework tools you need though. The trick is to use a piece of alu foil (with a tiny window) that protects the other components during the surgery.

[Anonymous No.1818689]

>>1818672
Yeah my bad, dyslexic'd it. It is Y3 yeah, I just used a flat tip and some tweezers to get it off then cleaned it up with flux and braid. I bought pic related off a guy on Facebook to replace it, it sticks up near the Zynq chip and taps power off of test points with a bit of kynar wire to the Y3 footprint.

[Anonymous No.1818714]

>>1818689
Deslyxia is normal.. Is your board adjustable? It looks like a multiturn pot for external voltage control.

[Anonymous No.1818719]

>>1818504
>Why?
Crazy, drunk dude was doing a very long impression of Lou from Barcelona.It was hysterical.

[Anonymous No.1818724]

>>1818635
>If you cant find a package try googling
Already did. Not only that but it doesn't compile for SUSE.
>>1818641
>debian user here, for 25 years. You're a faggot.
HAHAHA DEBIAN IS EVEN WORSE HAHAHAAAA
I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR 25 YEAR OLD PACKAGES, BOOMER HAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA
DEBIAN IS EVEN WORSE THEN MINT KEKEKEKEKKKKK

[Anonymous No.1818730]

>>1818724
> muh distro
can you stop fagging up the thread?

[Anonymous No.1818733]

>>1818730
Sorry, I do not associate with deb/mintfags. Please do not speak to me.

[Anonymous No.1818759]

>>1818733
distro fagging is reddit as fuck. Use whatever, no one cares.

[Anonymous No.1818762]

>>1818724
opensuse is god tier

[Anonymous No.1818858]

>>1818759
Install Gentoo.

[Anonymous No.1818951]

>>1818730
It's not like reading all the messages in the thread takes more like 2 minutes per day though

[Anonymous No.1819046]

>>1818554
Have it remember what the user picked the last time. Keep it as the default.

[Anonymous No.1819623]

If I attach a whip for the 10 meter band to my 5 watt HT to do UHF and VHF do I run a serious risk of blowing up my radio due to high SWR?

[Anonymous No.1819651]

>>1819623
Depends on the radio. Better radios will ramp down power when there's an antenna mismatch, but cheaper ones don't always do that and you risk blowing out your finals.

[Anonymous No.1819730]

>>1819651
If I shorten it down to say halfwave length, will that do anything?

[Anonymous No.1819734]

>>1819730
Well, half wavelength of 10m is about 200 inches and that's about 2 1/2 wavelength of the 2m band and 7 1/4 the wavelength of the 70cm band. Wouldn't it be easier to just make a correct antenna for what you're using?

[Anonymous No.1819741]

>>1819734
I meant collapse it down to half wavelength for 2 meters. I had this old antenna around and wanted something to do with it.

[Anonymous No.1819744]

>>1819741
Of course the correct answer is "use an SWR meter", but if you get it as close as you can to a perfect 1/2 wavelength, you should be fine.

[Anonymous No.1819748]

>>1819744
That's cool. I tried it with the antenna fully extended from the radio with some coax, and got a good signal report from a local repeater, but I wasn't very far away either, a couple miles.

[Mrcrummy No.1819822]

Nice, just got a like new TM-218A for 50 bucks, excited
>talking about linux
uhh, cringe and please stop pilled.

[Anonymous No.1819851]

>>1815443
newfag here but i think about use raspberry pi (which have embedded transmitter) and RTL SDR USB dongle (I care mainly about the lower frequencies):

https://github.com/F5OEO/rpitx
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/

[Anonymous No.1819859]

>>1819822
>TM-218A
Not found. Deslyxia?

[Mrcrummy No.1819864]

>>1819859
281, simple typo

[Anonymous No.1819866]

I'm mildly interested in getting into radio. Whats the easiest way for a casual on a budget to start out?
Is this a hobby for total autists? I'm more of a couch autist

[Anonymous No.1819868]

Let's say I build a dipole antenna off spare parts (wire or aluminium remains). How can I make it safe for transmitting? (50 ohm, decently low SWR) I read about baluns, loading, capacitors, etc, but none of those articles gave me a straight simple method+formula to follow.

[Anonymous No.1819869]

>>1819868
connection: radio PA -> (auto)tuner -> balun -> dipole
Start with minimum power output and tune to best SWR, then increase power to need.

Loading and capacitor are terms used in the tuner (or autotuner) and are used to match the impedance.

[Anonymous No.1819901]

>>1819868
there are cookbooks for the wire length of the dipole and for winding the common mode choke "balun", you don't need to understand anything, shit i'm a genu-wine retard can't even do fractions in my head and i still got it done.
other than that i dunno. i mean there's the plain dumb stuff like make sure the pole won't fall on someone, don't fall off a ladder, don't poke a power line. wet rope conducts a little bit so use insulators to hold the ends out if you're running hundreds of watts.

[Anonymous No.1819939]

>>1819868
>simple method+formula to follow
https://rsgb.org/main/get-started-in-amateur-radio/antennas/your-first-antenna-the-half-wave-dipole/

[LilLeto No.1819981]

>>1819866
Go on Amazon and get a basic Baofeng dual band HT radio. Get an FTDI programming cable, too. You should be around $45 all told. Find what local repeaters are nearby and program them into the radio and start listening. The radio can be used for a ton of other things, but this will give you a taste of whether it's something you're interested in pursuing. There's lots of YouTube videos that'll help you understand the radio's features and how to set them up on your computer.

Next step is licensing. In OP's post, there's a few links for practice testing. I have a background in electronics and have been playing with radios for years, so I was quickly able to ace the tests. There's plenty of online study guides and YouTube courses as well that will get you ready for the testing. Online testing is now a thing. The starting level is the Technician class amateur license. It's good for 10 years. It's mostly privileges in the VHF and UHF bands.

I would recommend you get into this with a friend so you'll have someone local to mess around with this stuff.

The next level is the General class. This is a bit more serious and gives you privileges in the lower HF bands. That's the area that will let you talk around the world without needed repeaters. And there's more money involved in the costs of the radios, antennas and other stuff that's required.

But like I said, grab a cheapy chinese radio from Amazon, get the programming cable and fiddle-fuck with it and see if you're really interested.

This might be the one another anon here was ordering. $38. These radios...especially this one... are not fantastic, but they get the job done for a beginner looking to test the waters.

>The link was too long for the post, just search for this in Amazon:
TIDRADIO TD-UV5R Radio 5W Ham Radio Upgraded Version of Baofeng UV-5R Radio Rechargeable Two Way Radio Dual Band UHF VHF Radio

[Anonymous No.1819989]

>>1819981
epфтлы ф ьшддшщтю Шдд пкфи ф ифщayтп фтв cфидy фтв ыyy цpyкy шe eфлyы ьy
thanks a million. I'll buy a nbaofeng and cord and see here it takes me
can you recommend a cable too?

thanks

[LilLeto No.1819991]

>>1819989
This claims to include the correct cable with the radio plus other stuff, too:

https://www.amazon.com/Walkie-1800mAh-Battery-TIDRADIO-Antenna/dp/B07CZDQNKM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=TIDRADIO+TD-UV5R+Radio+5W+Ham+Radio+Upgraded+Version+of+Baofeng+UV-5R+Radio+Rechargeable+Two+Way+Radio+Dual+Band+UHF+VHF+Radio&qid=1589467520&sr=8-3

[Anonymous No.1819997]

>>1819991
sweet
I justy gotta find the repeaters in my area
will google it shortly
thanks so much for the detailed responses, its a big boost

[LilLeto No.1819999]

>>1819997
Good luck!

[Anonymous No.1820002]

>>1819999
>9999▶
>>>1819997 (You)
Checked.
So I found this website : https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/location_search.php?state_id=CA08&type=city&loc=Ottawa Do I just go to these stations and listen to people talking?

[LilLeto No.1820007]

>>1820002
Yep- When you program the radio for a repeater, you plug in the input frequency, the required tones to access the repeater, and the offset. Repeaters receive and transmit on different frequencies. With the cable, a PC and a program you'll hear about on YouTube called Chirp, you'll set all this up, load it onto your radio, press SCAN and listen away. And, once you get your license, you're all set to talk on the repeaters.

[Anonymous No.1820015]

>>1820007
How does this license work? Can you talk on them without a license, but you need a license for legal reasons? How does the radio know whether you're licensed or not?

Can I hear the airport traffic control with a ham radio? police?

that website has actual ham radio clubs listed... they meet every month and have a radio night too. I could see this becoming a fun thing if they're alright people

[LilLeto No.1820026]

>>1820015
You may legally monitor any frequency. To transmit on any amateur band, you must be licensed for those frequencies. The entry level, Technician class, generally operates in the 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands for repeaters. You can go to the ARRL website and see a chart of who can operate on what frequency.

The radios we're dealing with here, the Baofengs from China, can operate on a bunch of frequencies outside the legal amateur bands. They include fire, police, EMS, air traffic, etc. It is super illegal to transmit on those frequencies. They can also operate on family radio service, general mobile radio service, and multi-use radio service channels (FRS, GMRS, MURS). Not sure how much of that is used up in Canada, but probably a good many of them. The sketchy part is, the Baofengs are too powerful to use a lot of those channels. Probably not gonna get you in trouble unless you look for trouble. They can also be programmed with weather radio frequencies and a ton of other stuff.

And yeah, clubs can be real useful for people getting into the hobby. Nothing better than those crusty old Ham radio guys who have been doing this forever to help you along the way... unless they're asshats.

[LilLeto No.1820028]

>>1820015
oh yeah, and everything I've said about licensing is from the United States point of view... no idea how different Canada is.

[Anonymous No.1820065]

>>1820028
In Canada there is a license thing too.. I already emailed them and they say the course might have to be done online because of the "pandemic"
The club I mentioned cancelled their monthly meeting as well
But I'll get this radio and do listening in on my roof

[Anonymous No.1820120]

>>1820028
>>1819991
>>1819981
I ordered the radio. It's only 39.99 but when you add delivery and import duties it came to over a hundred bucks. It'll be here on Wednesday, so I'll probably be back then asking questions.

Thanks again

[LilLeto No.1820122]

>>1820120
No problem!

[Mrcrummy No.1820128]

>>1820120
>It's only 39.99 but when you add delivery and import duties it came to over a hundred bucks
Leftists literally ruin everything

[Anonymous No.1820142]

>>1820120
The Canadian feng clause.

[Anonymous No.1820147]

>>1820128
yes, they do. They just banned AR-15's in Canada, and like 11 other types of rifles "scary rifles not allowed"
>>1820142
by land service do they mean police and such? Does this mean I'm not allowed to listen in?

[Anonymous No.1820152]

Any downside to adding a gazillion lengths to my vertical fan antenna?
I already have individual wires for 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, and 6. All but 10 are sub 2:1. Adding more could only help me hit spots I can't tune to, right? No negative effects?
Ex.: on 20, I can tune from data up to around 14.3.

[Anonymous No.1820192]

>>1820147
>not allowed to listen in?
What does "communicate" mean to you?

[Anonymous No.1820229]

>>1820152
>wires for 160
Impressive!

[Anonymous No.1820259]

>>1820192
was just checking m8

[Anonymous No.1820405]

>>1820229
Took it down for summer, but picked up 40 states. Strung it in a Z fashion around the yard

[Anonymous No.1820720]

How do you find out which frequency the police // air traffic control operate on? I assume they don't use the same public repeaters but I don't know anything about anything

[Anonymous No.1820731]

>>1820720
Look up the national authority for allocating frequencies, there will have it.
Air bands are international, many are just over the FM band at 108 MHz.

[Anonymous No.1820740]

>>1820731
>national authority for allocating frequencies
Thanks a lot, got a lot of useful info here on air traffic and maritime patrol. how about local LE? Any idea how to make my baofeng a police scanner?

[Anonymous No.1820765]

>>1820740
>>1820731
I think I made some progress
I found the provincial frequencies - but how do I use the Talk group information?
What am I looking at here?
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=2560

[Anonymous No.1820785]

Am I programming the tone right?
The sight says Tone in / Tone out but I don't see corresponding fields in CHIRP

[Mrcrummy No.1820821]

>>1820785
Use "tone" under tone mode, not tsql

[Anonymous No.1820825]

>>1820821
better?
while I wait for my baofeng I"m gonna make some station lists

[Mrcrummy No.1820826]

>>1820785
Oh I thought this was an amateur repeater, that's traffic control
I dont think you need to even fill out the tone part, you arent transmitting so it doesn't even matter.
If you were trying to talk to them, you would need to enable tone (ctcss) otherwise the repeater would not open up for you.

[Mrcrummy No.1820828]

>>1820825
Looks good, make sure you key up and say lots of curse words followed by your exact location.

[Anonymous No.1820831]

>>1820740
>how about local LE?
Not sure, might be described vaguely as government services or land mobile services.
>Any idea how to make my baofeng a police scanner?
Not sure.

BTW these allocation charts can be nice as a wall poster. Pic. related.

[Anonymous No.1820837]

>>1820826
I believe this is an amateur repeater but it's located near the airport
This repeater is used by a club in manotick
I don't see a ctcss option btw

[Anonymous No.1820857]

>>1820828
>>1820831
What do I enter in CHIRP when the tone isn't a number?
>pic related
like DSTR. What tone is that?
>>1820831
that style of chart is very handy looking

[Anonymous No.1820862]

>>1820857
>like DSTR. What tone is that?
D-STAR, a digital mode, your Baofeng can't receive it. Likewise CC0 is a DMR color code, another digital mode your 'feng can't receive.

[Anonymous No.1820865]

>>1820857
>>1820862
Oh and I'm pretty sure "D346" is P-25 related, again, digital.

[Anonymous No.1820869]

>>1820862
>>1820865
Curses
So these digital mode elitists won't let me in their little club and I'm limited to non digital ones?
Fine, I guess.... I'll work with what I have

[Anonymous No.1820873]

>>1820869
>So these digital mode elitists won't let me in their little club and I'm limited to non digital ones?
What? If you bought an analogue radio then you're limited to analogue systems. If you want DMR, there's a few good Chink radios, the GD-77 being my preference.

https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-gd-77-dmr-two-way-radio

[Anonymous No.1820875]

>>1820869
>>1820873
And if you're just looking to listen, get a $25 SDR and you can receive/decode pretty much any digital mode easily.

[Anonymous No.1820880]

>>1820862
>>1820865
>>1820873
>>1820875
What about the frequencies that don't have anything in the Tone field? Are those reachable by analog?

I am just looking to listen right now, but I'll take the course when it becomes available

[Anonymous No.1820886]

>>1820880
>What about the frequencies that don't have anything in the Tone field? Are those reachable by analog?
Yes. You don't need to set tones for any analog transmissions anyway, it's only relevant if you're TXing or there are multiple organizations using a frequency. Setting no tone receives all transmissions on that frequency. You need to go do some reading.

[Anonymous No.1820906]

>>1820886
>>1820886
Thanks for the input. Yes, I need to learn a lot... All the fire in my city use P25, but campus security uses FM.. and there are many trunked radio systems I'd love to monitor. How hard is it to pull that off?

I'm brand new but this seems like it could be a pretty fun hobby

[Anonymous No.1820908]

>>1820765
Your baoshit doesn't do trunking or p25.

[Anonymous No.1820911]

>>1820906
Go buy an actual scanner if you want to get into monitoring. A used pro-106 on eBay will do p25 phase I and trunking.

[Anonymous No.1820912]

>>1820906
>and there are many trunked radio systems I'd love to monitor. How hard is it to pull that off?
Depends on what they are but for the most part, very easy but you'll need a couple of RTL-SDR dongles. I monitor trunked NXDN and P25 with a set of four of them.

[Anonymous No.1820916]

>>1820911
>>1820912
I do want to get into monitoring, but I guess first things first. My bao is coming and I'll play with that for a bit. A use pro 106 will be something I look into.

Also... Why does reddit make every thing so fukking gay?

Just found pic related while searching their amateur radio site

[Anonymous No.1820927]

This line intentionally left reddit.

[Anonymous No.1820929]

>>1820916
>Why does reddit
Go discuss that shit over there.

[Anonymous No.1820930]

How complicated is the pro-106 to set up compared to baofeng?
What do you think of this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/RadioShack-Pro-106-Digital-Trunking-Handheld-Scanner/184292269367?hash=item2ae8acdd37:g:2FoAAOSw5uBevX0z

[Anonymous No.1820956]

>>1820930
There's a curve, but it's not too bad. I've done it by hand and also using a cable and software.
>What do you think of this one
Looks fine to me. If you can get them for $165 - $200, you got a decent price.

The Whistler WS1040 is the same scanner as the Pro-106. It was picked up and re-branded when RS went out of business. Uniden has good scanners too, but you'll be spending $500+ for those.

[Anonymous No.1821028]

I bought a straight key and really want to use it.
Tips on learning cw? How long should it take before I'm on the air?

[Anonymous No.1821030]

>>1820857
>that style of chart is very handy looking
You can find a vector format PDF of it and others.
The only problem is that, being logarithmic, it gets too dense at high frequencies.

[LilLeto No.1821034]

>>1821028
I would suggest, after memorizing the characters, to work toward THINKING in CW. Going through the mental gymnastics of translating what you hear and what you're going to say will only slow you to an unusable speed. CW is a language and you must treat it that way.

That said, lots of courses out there on the intertubes, and many are free. Dig around and you'll find something you can work with.

[Anonymous No.1821035]

>>1821028
>Tips on learning cw?
Koch method is boomer endorsed and it does work, as for how long it will take you, that depends on you. I found copying it in my head the hardest part, tapping it out fast is easy.

[Anonymous No.1821051]

>>1821034
Much appreciated. I'm going to take a stab with this 'course'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR0NESR3tJY
>>1821035
Yea, I know the alphabet, so I can type, but not hear it. Ballpark, should I expect to be on the air in a week? Month? Year?

[LilLeto No.1821053]

>>1821051
No idea... I worked on learning CW as a kid, but since it's not required, I kinda fell off it. It's a niche area of amateur radio that I feel needs to be preserved, but no real interest at this time on my part. Good luck with it either way.

[Anonymous No.1821060]

>>1821051
>Ballpark, should I expect to be on the air in a week? Month? Year?
I reckon you could manage to copy lower speed (15-20WPM) CW inside of a month with some practice. I really like the G4FON Koch trainer for copy practice, you can apply artificial QRM and pitch skew to simulate poor conditions.

[Anonymous No.1821073]

fucking Amazon my shit says arriving today by 8pm via USPS but mail already been delivered and still no shit

[LilLeto No.1821080]

>>1821073
Amazon packages often come on a separate run. My normal mail is 2-3pm and Amazon stuff is usually after 5pm.

[Anonymous No.1821097]

>>1821028
G4FON morse training software is what I use. The guy is really cool, my father even had his suggestion implemented into the program.
His philosophy is you should learn at a 20 WPM character speed, even if you need the letters to be spaced really far apart at first.

The program is great. You can put text files in and listen to audio books in morse. Or have it send the practice code with pitch variation and errors like you would get on the air.

[Anonymous No.1821125]

>>1821051
>Ballpark, should I expect to be on the air in a week? Month? Year?
That depends on your sense of music/rhythm. When I learned Morse, the first guy to master 12 speed played a lot of instruments. Most of us played at least one instrument and we had already passed an entrance exam. It took a few months to get going and a few more months to get acceptable speed. We also had to learn a lot of equipment which also took much of our time.
If you have zero sense of rhythm you might struggle.

Learn the rhythm, try not to think in dots and dashes.

[Anonymous No.1821162]

>>1821125
>Learn the rhythm, try not to think in dots and dashes.
YES! Don't try to teach your ears to see!
Always dits and dahs, never dots and dashes.

[Anonymous No.1821391]

>>1817133
>>1817139
Amazon Fucked me this was supposed to be delivered today, i ordered the 10th of may, it came back as delayed not shipped. i reached out to Amazon and they said that the unit was out of stock even though it said in stock per the seller. well the only unit they have now is a "Used" unit. Fuck that, so i canceled it and reordered the UV5R single unit and everything else separately since i couldn't find a good kit so on the plus side ill get genuine stuff but i spent like 40 dollars more and i have to wait 5 more days

[LilLeto No.1821396]

>>1821391
Well, that's a hefty dose of suck.
I picked up a GT-3TP to add to the collection

[Anonymous No.1821411]

>>1821051
https://morse.withgoogle.com/learn/
https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/morse

[Anonymous No.1821456]

MY

FUCKING

DICK

[Anonymous No.1821458]

It should be illegal to look this good. How did I not know about this until now?

[LilLeto No.1821460]

>>1821456
>>1821458
What in God's name are we looking at??
I'm intrigued.

[Anonymous No.1821462]

As opposed to coming in several models with different coverage, the Pro80, has continuous coverage from 150khz to 108MHz and 115MHz to 223MHz with optional converter.

Again:

MY

FUCKING

DICK

[Anonymous No.1821463]

At any rate I have new grail to quest for.

[LilLeto No.1821465]

I have one of these. Realistic (Radio Shack) Pro-43 scanner. 30-54 MHz, 118-174 MHz, 220--512 MHz 806-824 MHz, 851-869 MHz, 896-1000 MHz
I need to clean mine up, get a new wall wart for the charger, and probably a new battery pack.

[LilLeto No.1821467]

>>1821463
Looked it up. Pretty advanced for 1987

https://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/sony/icfpro70/index.htm

[Anonymous No.1821553]

>>1821396
you should trade all that junk in and buy a decent radio

[Anonymous No.1821695]

>>1820916
>reddit
I used to troll a ham mod by throwing God into the mix
>False. It is not possible to transmit HF on a HT.
>Anything is possible through Christ, who strengthens us.
>REEEEE!! RELIGION IS NOT WELCOME HERE!!
I've lost interest in that site after losing around 200 accounts to trolling

[LilLeto No.1821704]

>>1821553
Ehh, the first one is 7 years old. Middle one I've used for over a year for non-amateur stuff. And the newest one, I got for essentially free. They're great little radios for tons of uses. ~IF~ I get into it once I get my Technician license, I'll go all in and probably snag a Yaesu ft-3dr.

[Anonymous No.1821719]

hooked up a CB in my car my SWR on ch 40 is 1.5 (+- .5) and on ch 1 its 3 (+-.8) does this mean i need a longer antenna? i couldn't find a good spot to tune it since where i live its trees for miles and miles i could hear people talking but it still wasn't clear yet

[Anonymous No.1821726]

what's a plus minus?
If you find it has a lower SWR on channel 1 as opposed to channel 40, that means it's long.
If you find it has a higher SWR on channel 1 as opposed to channel 40, that means it's short.

[Anonymous No.1821728]

>>1821719
Just re-read that and correct, a longer antenna (or evaluate other components/interference.

[Mrcrummy No.1821793]

Welded up a new antenna mount for my truck, much stronger than the shitty plastic and aluminum one.
Should take a beating and get that 102 inch whip even higher into the air.
It has a stainless steel washer welded inside underneath to make sure it doesnt rust where the ground makes contact.

[LilLeto No.1821794]

>>1821793
Very nicely done. I respect quality welding. Now coat it so it won't rust.

[Mrcrummy No.1821809]

>>1821794
Its gonna be welded to my diesel tank, kinda nervous to be welding on a full diesel tank, but imma purge it with CO2 before hand, hopefully I wont die

[Mrcrummy No.1821944]

>>1821809
It's on, with no explosions.
Based and 108 inch whip pillled

[LilLeto No.1821947]

>>1821944
Neat!

[Anonymous No.1822016]

>>1821162
Wow, that's really helpful!

[Anonymous No.1822023]

I'd like to setup outdoor microphones on all 4 corners of my property to listen in on my neighbors. Any ideas?

[Anonymous No.1822026]

>>1822023
Multi-channel intercom, modded for continuous operation and selective monitoring. Use parabolic microphones.

[Anonymous No.1822028]

>>1822023
Max distance from house to corners are */- 75ft. Back two corners have 120v power.

[Anonymous No.1822049]

>French F4GOT
lulz

[Anonymous No.1822119]

got a CB power mic (kpo nm532) out of a junk box, and it puts out near enough 9 volts of audio when i whistle into it. a regular dynamic mic only puts out 0.2 volts. is the output supposed to be this hot or has something gone wrong inside it?

[Anonymous No.1822188]

>>1822119
>has something gone wrong inside it?
See for yourself.

[Anonymous No.1822201]

>>1822188
wow, that's awesome, thanks anon! will report findings tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.1822417]

>>1821456
>>1821458
>>1821462
>>1821463
operator as fuck

[Anonymous No.1822419]

>>1814170

I always thought he had a fukin giant bulge in the front of his pants, so he aint fraid of no ghost!

[Anonymous No.1822534]

is there anything commercially available that can be modded to interfere or jam radio signals within a 50m radius? asking for a friend

[Anonymous No.1822536]

>>1822534
You would have to know what frequency range and type of signal you wanted to jam, ie, spread spectrum or no.

[Anonymous No.1822549]

>>1822536
sure do, it's one radio station

[Anonymous No.1822552]

>>1822549
If it's just a regular FM station you can buy an FM transmitter/amp combo from AliExpress and just broadcast on top of them.

[Mrcrummy No.1822563]

>>1821944
Install almost done, gave that other linear to my brother and got a big boy

[Anonymous No.1822630]

Last night 40m was full of CW, maybe there was some viral contest. The QRS section seems to be around 7055. I learned that after STAYHOME we now have 73 ES MYHSY, may your home stay yours..

[LilLeto No.1822713]

>>1822549
Can you show us on the doll where the station hurt you?

[Anonymous No.1822864]

should i have a ground strap on a magnet roof antenna? also i tried one of those cigarette lighter plugs for my cb. everything works good and i can pick up some crack heads on CH6 but everything else is static sometimes i can hear chatter should i just wire directly to the battery? i am getting blower motor and radiator fan noise in the radio

[Mrcrummy No.1822907]

>>1822864
Channel 6 is super bowl, it's people with like 10-100kw CBs trying to talk over each other.
What you're hearing on 6 is likely in another state.

[Anonymous No.1823137]

>>1822201
components test ok, nothing has been hacked on, it's working as designed. damn! back into the junk box for now, maybe some day i'll find an antique set that it'll work with.

[Anonymous No.1823186]

CB is on fire again

[Anonymous No.1823189]

>>1821793
n i c e

[Anonymous No.1823267]

>>1823137
>Peak Atlas
A man of culture I see. The LCR45 was one of my best gear buys.

[Anonymous No.1823289]

Is there a reason why I'm hearing cw at 7.5mhz?

[Anonymous No.1823358]

>>1822864
>should i have a ground strap on a magnet roof antenna
NO.

[Anonymous No.1823389]

>>1823289
next time record it and one of us will decode it

[Anonymous No.1823411]

>>1822534
I don't know.
>>1822536
The most effective kind of jamming detects existing signals and neutralizes them. But nothing is 100% effective against digital modes.

[Anonymous No.1823425]

>>1822563
what's that?

[Anonymous No.1823430]

>>1823411

[Anonymous No.1823576]

>>1814728
Their tri-band UV-5X3 is a good option too.

[Anonymous No.1823628]

>>1813941
the end is near

[Anonymous No.1823717]

>>1823628
nigh, the end is always nigh

[Anonymous No.1823823]

>>1823289
I saw that, too. As well as an obnoxious Hispanic flapping his trap down in the CW frequencies. Covid is really bringing the assholes out of the woodwork. More than half of my attempts at decoding SSTV have been thwarted by some dumb fuck talking over them.

[Anonymous No.1823874]

>>1822049
genuinely top kek

[Anonymous No.1823938]

i made a little antenna tuner

[Anonymous No.1824001]

>>1823938
Neat.

[Anonymous No.1824231]

>>1823823
I guess I'm lucky but there were two Chinese shortwave stations shitting up 40m yesterday. A sign for improving band conditions.

[Anonymous No.1824408]

Hey, Anons.
I have a diy vertical fan antenna. I'm dedicated to forgo an external tuner and get this resonate.
Only I'm running into a lot of roadblocks with what I believe are harmonics. In other words, I add one band and lose two others. It has also become rather fussy lately - one day 15m works, the next it doesn't. Anyone have some pointers?

[Anonymous No.1824423]

>>1824408
Coupled wires can no longer be tuned independently.

[Anonymous No.1824427]

>>1824408
This should help.
http://udel.edu/~mm/ham/randomWire/

[Anonymous No.1824432]

>>1824231
7200 .. 7600 is the 41 m BC band. On the 40 m band the dark zone between NA and the Pacific region allows regular contact to JA and VK before sunrise.

[Anonymous No.1824447]

>>1824423
>>1824427
Tremendous help, thank you. I have some reading to do and then may be back.
Harmonics are good, but the yang to the yin are multiples.

[Anonymous No.1824492]

I went through and calculated the 1/4 wavelength for 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10, and 6. Then calculated the half waves and multiples and graphed that by length of wire. That shows my 40M and 12M need to be moved elsewhere. Cool, that's a start!

[Anonymous No.1824501]

>>1824492
I have that backward. My 6M vertical is interfering with my 12M, and every antenna from 6-20 (33.2) is interfering with 40M

[Anonymous No.1824507]

>>1824501
Plus 20M is getting hosed

[Anonymous No.1824531]

My baofeng uv5r came in... I can't find any channels where people are talking... are the channels always dead? should I just leave it on scanning?
The fm radio works well but thats not why I got it
I'm a total noob btw
I programmed the 5 local repeaters and campus security... no hits, but sounded like some morse code at one point

[Anonymous No.1824559]

>>1824531
Remember, VHF/UHF is line of sight. Make sure you're in as open a place as possible. Try adding FRS, GMRS, and MURS frequencies and listen for action. NOAA weather radio should always have one local frequency in use- I use that as a way to make sure I'm able to receive. You can also program in local police/fire/EMS as long as it's not a trunked system.

[Anonymous No.1824582]

>>1824531
radio repeaters that aren't carrying any traffic will announce their name in morse code every half hour or so. some days that's all you hear, other days the band is a pileup.

[Anonymous No.1824610]

>>1824582
>every half hour or so
That's up to the owner. Normally the repeater is only required to ID when in use, not when in idle mode.
>other days the band is a pileup.
What band? A standard repeater transmits on a single channel. How would a 'pileup' sound like given the FM capture ratio of about 0.1..0.3 dB?

[Anonymous No.1824667]

CB help dunno whats wrong

already tuned antenna 1.5 SWR on ch1 and ch40
attached power line to positive battery terminal
should the ground wire be on the negative terminal? that's where its at now
all i get is static until about half squelch
i can hear people SOMETIMES but not clearly
antenna is positioned high on roof of car (mag mount)
i can still hear engine noise/electrical noises through the cb (A/C blower motor for example)
the RX meter has like 1 bar sometimes too
TX shows full bars but i never get a response

I've tried everything except trashing everything and buying new shit. unless no one around me is talking? i feel like i should hear something?

[Anonymous No.1824680]

>>1824610
fm pileup, sounds like farts and quacks and popping bubblewrap in the background when a weak station tries to break through, and with multiple strong stations competing you get a pegged needle of hiss with a few words coming through whenever someone lets off the key.

a local repeater is on 70cms since 60 years ago; the same spectrum has been allocated for 20 years to unlicensed walkie-talkies. toy radios using ctcss can open the repeater and not even realise they're doing it. hams mad, government indifferent.

[Anonymous No.1824688]

>>1815013
>It doesn't suffer the same overload with a bigger antenna like what happens on a Baofeng
this is a very bizarre issue with baofengs, it's like the firmware gets confused
if i use my base station discone with a baofeng it will bug out and not receiver SOME signals, some repeaters will work fine, others it bugs out and stops receiving

the weird thing is, if you press the menu button (as well as the flashlight button and some others) it will start receiving again until the transmission ends, then will go back to bugging out until you press the button while receiving

it's really bizarre

[Anonymous No.1824691]

>>1824492
I was able to tune up 6, 10, 15, 17, 20, 30, and 80. I don't care about 12, but 40 would be nice.
I found the lengths for the DX Commander - I may try and just copy that.

[Anonymous No.1824858]

>>1813941
>>1813941
>>1813941
>>1824857
>>1824857
>>1824857
cq cq cq cq cq

[Anonymous No.1825085]

>>1822419
that's a fuckin diaper lmao