Amateur Radio

[ColonelPanic]

Cool! Have fun making that antenna... Sounds like a neat little project.Good news on the antenna cable project, it is now 100% complete. I pulled back the trim around the window and lifted the weatherstripping, ran the cable down the channel... Ran it down the channel with the rest of the wiring all the way to the front, then went under the kick panel cover on the passenger's side front. Had enough cable to keep on going under the dash, and into the shifter storage compartment.Still have plenty of cable left to reach up to the driver's seat, so I'm good there. Didn't need the extension after all. Nice being able to just wad up that mess and put it away when necessary. Can't even tell its there.

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[ColonelPanic]

How about that weather tonight, ullbergm? How are you guys doing out west?I assumed my usual severe weather position - in front of the scanner, tuned to the repeater that the NWS uses for weather net, had the ht tuned to a repeater here on the other side of the river that also had a weather net going, and had the weather radio ready.Pretty crazy, some reported ~80 MPH winds around here. The folks' place, about 45 minutes from here, got some pretty bad damage - trees down all over the place, one fell on the garage, all the power and telephone lines are down.The ham thing sure is cool when the weather turns nasty.

[ullbergm]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »How about that weather tonight, ullbergm? How are you guys doing out west?I assumed my usual severe weather position - in front of the scanner, tuned to the repeater that the NWS uses for weather net, had the ht tuned to a repeater here on the other side of the river that also had a weather net going, and had the weather radio ready.Pretty crazy, some reported ~80 MPH winds around here. The folks' place, about 45 minutes from here, got some pretty bad damage - trees down all over the place, one fell on the garage, all the power and telephone lines are down.The ham thing sure is cool when the weather turns nasty. Crazy stuff. Atleast 2 cars flipped over by the wind. Trees down on houses, Postoffice on fire. It's wild out there.I was out when it hit so i checked in with the weather net, my first one so far. Kinda scary when the wind is trying to push you of the road. I'd say the average speed on a 65 mph road was around 35 mph when i was out. The good news is that i havent heard anything major or people injured, i hope the people in the flipped cars are ok. (one was on a bridge.. i bet that was scary..)Over all this rated pretty high up there as far as storms that i've been on the road in the middle of. I've had some scarrier (sp?) things when we really expected a tornado to hit but it never did.. freaky stuff..Hope everybody in your area is doing ok.73's from W4KJM

[ColonelPanic]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...=WDVW

[ColonelPanic]

Yow! You were out in that last night, huh? That must have been creepy / yet kinda cool at the same time, huh? Not sure what all was damaged around here last night, I haven't watched or read the news yet... I did go out to the car this morning and found it covered with leaves. Drove down to the car wash, but didn't see anything other than leaves everywhere and a few small branches in people's yards. I'm sure I haven't been through a hard-hit area yet.

[ullbergm]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Yow! You were out in that last night, huh? That must have been creepy / yet kinda cool at the same time, huh? I was.. i thought about getting back out and looking around while it stormed but then i decided to just sit and listen to the guys out there

[ullbergm]

First antenna seems to be a failure.. i think the epoxy may be interfering with the coil, but im not sure..I'm going to the local club meeting on tuesday and i may ask some of them if they have any suggestions.Oh well, no biggie. I guess if you succeeded on the first try everything would be pretty boring..

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by ullbergm »I guess if you succeeded on the first try everything would be pretty boring.. ;-)You're right about that one! Failures are a few of the things that make life interesting. Good luck next time around. Saw your posts about the trailer hitch mounted antenna, good idea! I see antennas mounted that way quite often.

[ullbergm]

I just got my hitch installed, really easy thing to do. I ordered some hamsticks (6m + 20m) and i'll end up using them until i can make a antenna that works..I visited the club meeting a couple of days ago and got to meet some of the guys that i have talked to on the air. I think it also will help to get some more people to answer when i call on the repeater. I checked in to the weather net last night and the guy that runs the net remembered me from the meeting.I also found out that we have a ham-celebrity in the club (ex-ARRL president).. George Wilson. He seems to be a great guy. I've heard that he can do 45+ wpm and that he is a good teacher. He offered to help me get my morse code and i think i'll take him up on it.I cant remember if i posted this already, but here goes.I moved the 706 to the pocket to the left of the steering wheel, it works great there. I took a 2x4 and belt-sanded the heck out of it until it matched the shape of the pocket (weird angles). Except for the fact that i have to lean over to the left a little bit to see all of the display it works pretty good. Even thou i was originally looking at the kenwood d700ag i think the 706 will be great in the long run. I miss out on the APRS, but the addition of the HF bands will be good. I've talked to a few of the guys around here and they do 20m mobile.

[ColonelPanic]

45 wpm? That's movin'! Sounds like you've got yourself a good teacher there. Definitely take him up on it!Heard some hams talking about cw today, one was giving another advice on learning. When driving, this guy would look at signs, license plates, etc. he saw and put that into code. Pretty neat way to go about it.I have a few morse code tutor apps I just installed... May play around with them and see what happens.

[ullbergm]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »45 wpm? That's movin'! Sounds like you've got yourself a good teacher there. Definitely take him up on it!Planning on doing just that. I emailed him earlier today to see what times he would be avaliable.Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Heard some hams talking about cw today, one was giving another advice on learning. When driving, this guy would look at signs, license plates, etc. he saw and put that into code. Pretty neat way to go about it.I heard someone saying the same thing. Just make sure you pay attention to the road as well ;-)Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I have a few morse code tutor apps I just installed... May play around with them and see what happens.Same here, i'm playing with the Koch one right now..

[ullbergm]

So... i'm planning on punching 5 holes in the top of the car soon..2m/70cm 40 inches - Primary 2m (50W)2m/70cm 15 inches - APRS (5W)800/1900 14 inches - Cellphone800 12 inches - Scanner2.4GHZ 8 inches - Laptop 802.11I've got the nmo mounts, antennas, hole punch, etc. All i need to do now is to pull down the headliner and see how things will fit.I really wish i would have gotten a vibe without the moonroof.. would have made it *much* easier.So, have any of you guys mounted antennas on a car using NMO mounts? Any suggestions?

[ColonelPanic]

Woah, that's a lot of antennas! I still haven't upgraded from my glass mount, so no experience with anything else so far.

[CMcGowan]

Right now I'm running an homegrown upgraded mag mount dual band (2m/70cm) in front of the rear cross bar. I called up Larsen and have a remount kit coming for my KG antenna I used to use on my old jeep (BTW, Larsen is giving it/shipping it free to me, Universal wanted $8 plus shipping).The mag mount is working ok but not great. I switched out the 12 feet of RG-58 with about 20 ft of RG 8X to make it the radio (mounted in the console). The 8X makes for a better signal but the poor ground a mag mount gives you doesn't help much. Plus the mag mount gets alot of interference from the rear wiper and other cars near by. Not sure if i'm going to mount the Larsen yet though. I'll be switching cars soon with the wife, (Easier for her with the baby/stroller with the Vibe) so I'll be driving a '03 Saturn L200. Since it's got a good size trunk, I have a left over heavy duty Diamond truck mount with a ~50" tall gain dual bander that will work much better then the mag mount.

[ullbergm]

How about ball mounts, anybody have experience with them? I've got a hamstick that im thinking about mounting on the right rear panel.

[CMcGowan]

My only fear would be the lack of material to mount the ball mount to. I have not looked into the rear quarter panel of the Vibe but is the sheetmetal thick and rigid enough to hold a ball mount?

[ullbergm]

Quote, originally posted by CMcGowan »My only fear would be the lack of material to mount the ball mount to. I have not looked into the rear quarter panel of the Vibe but is the sheetmetal thick and rigid enough to hold a ball mount?That's my question.. I sure dont want to have to replace the panel.. i bet that'd cost quite a bit..

[ullbergm]

Here is what i've been up to lately..Oh and check out http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=12907

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[ullbergm]

These make nice and clean holes.

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[ullbergm]

Here is one of the holes

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[ullbergm]

Here is what a NMO mount looks like

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[ullbergm]

Well, as expected the hardmounted 800 mhz antenna works a lot better with the scanner than the thru-glass one. I can pick up a neighbouring (sp?) city that i couldnt before. To be fair, the signal im trying to receieve is a 800mhz signal and now the antenna is a 800 mhz antenna. I need to do some testing on non 800 mhz stuff.

[spoonman]

Hey!! The install looks GREAT!! Sorry I am a little behind, I haven't been able to get on here very much lately. I thought about doing that, but went with my magmount for now. How hard was it to remove the headliner?? Where did you get that punch at? Was it expensive? How is the studying for the code test going for you??? That is another thing I need to get back to. Want to have my general ticket before Field Day next year. Anyway, just wanted to compliment you on the good install.Vern

[ullbergm]

Quote, originally posted by spoonman »Hey!! The install looks GREAT!! Sorry I am a little behind, I haven't been able to get on here very much lately. I thought about doing that, but went with my magmount for now. How hard was it to remove the headliner?? Where did you get that punch at? Was it expensive? Thanks. I think it worked out pretty good. I have one last hole to put in tonight and then i'll get to reassembling the car. I also ended up putting in a motorola handsfree kit for my phone. (pictures on the way)Headliner took me about an hour and a half to take out, it really wasnt that hard. I was just taking my time to make sure i didnt break anything. The hardest thing were these round buttons holding it over the cargo area. I had a heck of a time getting those out.the punch cost me $33 plus shipping from Mouser.com. (Part nr. 586-3805) If you get one make sure it is the 0.75 inch punch, not the 3/4" one.. apparently there is a 3/4" punch that punches a hole that you can pull a 3/4" hose thru without problems.. The one i got worked out great. I would highly recommend it, i would not use a holesaw. All you have to do is to drill a hole, insert this thing and use a wrench to shear it off. Makes a really nice hole.Quote, originally posted by spoonman »How is the studying for the code test going for you??? That is another thing I need to get back to. Want to have my general ticket before Field Day next year. Anyway, just wanted to compliment you on the good install.Well, that's a different story, haven't even looked at that stuff. I'm going to do that eventually thou, i've been listening on 20m and i think it'd be interesting to understand them. I did listen to some digital traffic using my laptop, pretty cool stuff.Any picture requests before i put the headliner back up?

[ullbergm]

After driving around with the headliner out and all the antennas i realized that i ended up with quite a bit of wind noice.I ordered some dynamat and tacmat and put that up before i put the headliner back in. Almost all of the windnoice is gone, at 70 there is a hint of noice. Since i didnt want to put the headliner up, check the noice and then take it back out and put in dynamat and check it again i dont know if the dynamat made a big difference or if the headliner would have done the same thing by itself.I am hoping that the dynamat stuff will help with the heat and cold transfer from the outside. I have some left over and i may take the doors apart and put some in there to see if it will reduce road noice.

[zionzr2]

i guess I'll have to go to the book store and find a book for a Tech license, nad start readin and learnin How long is the license good for?? Do you have to retest periodically or anyother FCC fees?

[ColonelPanic]

You're good for 10 years. The tech license isn't too bad to get... That's what I have. No code, none of the really hard stuff. It only cost me under $15 for the test, plus $20 for the book... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi...07846Once you get your studying done, you can find a test in your area: http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtmlGood luck to ya, and hope to have you join the ranks of hams sometime in the not so distant future!

[litefoot]

If you check this link http://www.arrl.org/FandES/fie...html Check your state and zip for a club that is near you.Some clubs have classes to help you get your license.Most of the time the class is free. All you pay for is the book.Most classes run one night a week for 4 to 8 weeks depending onhow long the class runs 2 to 4 hours. The nice thing about the classesis you can ask question if you do not understand some thing. And they normally have the test when the class is completed.That is how I got mine. My call is N2MSV. Just an FYI I believe the test price is $14 for 2005. Best of Luck. It is well worth the efford.

[zionzr2]

I picked up the "now youre Talking" book at B&N yesturday. EDIT: Any recomends on an IN-EXPESIVE beginer first radio?

[litefoot]

It depends on how much you call cheap.I would look at a 2-meter 440 Dual band mobile radio. One with a detachable front panel. The reason I say a detachable front panel. In the Vibe there is not too much room to add a radio. Where the front panel comes off you place most of the radio under one of the front seats. And mount the front panel in hands reach. A good dual band magnetic mount mobile antenna. With a magnetic mount antenna you can bring it inside and use it.Depending how close you are to the repeater in your area. When I travel, I place the mobile antenna on an old metal milk crate. Turn the power on my radio to the lowest power out put about 5 watts and talk away. And a 12-volt power supply to use in the houseIcon makes an IC-208h about $309Kenwood makes a TM-7VA about $399A good dual band antenna runs about $80 power supply runs about $70. The other brands are good too; I only mentioned these because I have worked with them. You can go with a 2-meter band radio for under $200 with out a detachable front panel.You can also buy used. I would find a club to help you with that.You should test a used radio before buying. I would not do this unless you have help, the first time.The cheapest you can start out with is about $300.If you buy new, then you have a warranty.Sorry, I get carried away sometimes when it comes to ham radio.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by litefoot »It depends on how much you call cheap.I would look at a 2-meter 440 Dual band mobile radio. One with a detachable front panel. The reason I say a detachable front panel. In the Vibe there is not too much room to add a radio. Where the front panel comes off you place most of the radio under one of the front seats. And mount the front panel in hands reach. Yes, very good advice all around! The Vibe kinda stinks for this stuff. No good places to mount all of our gizmos and gadgets. That kinda keeps me in the ht world instead of finding something mobile and finding creative ways to make it work. Then, Ullbergm's came up with a pretty good idea... His rig is a few pages back, the control head mounted in the dash to the left of the wheel. Looks pretty darn nice. I still have my starter rig, a Yaesu VX-2R ht. It was around the $200 mark when I bought it last year. I can't do much of anything with it when I'm out in the boonies, but it sorta works in the suburban area where I live. Although quite often, I'll key up, give my call, but just end up doing nothing more than kerchunking the repeater. That 1.5W doesn't go far at all. Looking back, I'd probably go for an HT with a bit more oomph. But the small size of this thing, plus the bands it is capable of receiving have been two reasons to like it. So yes, I have a glorified scanner with occasional transmit capabilities. Maybe I'll find another ht, but it's probably going to be another I really need to get out there and see what's up in the ham world! Sadly, I just don't have the time. Someday soon, I may.Don't worry about you getting excited about it, litefoot... It's a cool hobby, quite rare these days, and very easy to get carried away with! It can be rather fascinating at times. Nothing wrong with being an enthusiast! Coincidentally, this thread was revived and a couple days later I get a new AES catalog... Gonna take a look at that before I go to bed here in a few, and see what goodies they have.

[litefoot]

Since you have a Yaesu VX-2R there is a way to keep using that HT and get more power. They make small amps. Mirage is one that comes to mind, there are other brands. They make a model B-34-G that is 2 watt in 35 watt out, but it is only 2-meters but it is under a $100 and it has a preamp. That would give your HT some range and more sensitive in your Vibe. They also make a DB-35 which is a dual band amp, 2-meter /440 4 watts in 45 watts out vhf, 35 watts uhf But that is $160. Following the threads here, I too believe that an HT may be the best way to go in the Vibe. Since I have an Icon HT with a hand mike, and I use mostly 2-meters in the car, I going to see if the amp will fit under the driver’s seat. This way when the car is parked Everything is out of sight

[zionzr2]

I was thinking some-sort of Handheld would probably be the best way to go at first...The reading is going well... I'm in the middle of Chapter 6 in the "Now you;re Talking" Book.

[zionzr2]

I found a practice test site....my first try:Completed 35 of 35 Current score is: 28/35 = 80.0% Pass Assured.http://www.qrz.com/p/testing.pl

[ColonelPanic]

...but stay away for a while. But it's always good to know that when normal methods of communication break down, hams are around somewhere... There's a chance our stuff would work when needed. Quote »ARRL President Urges Orderly Amateur Radio Response in Katrina RecoveryNEWINGTON, CT, Sep 1, 2005--ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, today called on the Amateur Radio community to exercise patience as the Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans flooding relief and recovery efforts move into high gear."I know many people would like to move now," Haynie said. "Please don't. I know many of you want to enter the fray, come to the coast and get involved. Please, not yet." Haynie instead advised hams eager to assist to make sure they're prepared, refresh their skills and knowledge of protocols and procedures and let emergency management and relief agencies determine who is needed and where."For now, the area is simply too dangerous and no one is being allowed in," Haynie went on to say. "Transportation and logistics, including volunteer groups coming in, must be done in an orderly manner or we may only add to the chaos and confusion." He recommended that ARES members and teams work through their Section Emergency Coordinators (SECs)."Information and coordination for such a historically large response is being developed and will be made available soon," he said.Haynie also reminded volunteers to be "professional and disciplined" whenever checking into a net. "Net control is a difficult job at best, so be respectful," he said. "If you have traffic fine, but if not , please stand by."Meanwhile, Amateur Radio operators have been deployed from Houston, Texas, to New Orleans to assist in the trouble-plagued evacuation of flooding refugees from the Louisiana Superdome. Because of additional flooding, damage to the facility and other problems at the Superdome, authorities have been convoying the 25,000 flood evacuees in the sports stadium to the Houston Astrodome.Louisiana Section Emergency Coordinator Gary Stratton, K5GLS, says ham radio communication between Houston and the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, emergency operations center (EOC) today was able to clarify some logistical issues involved with the refugee relocation effort. "They needed ETAs and that sort of thing, because they needed police escorts to go with the convoy," he said. "They were also working with the management at the Superdome and police support for the people that are being moved in there."While Amateur Radio is providing scattered support in Louisiana for various relief organizations, Stratton said most of the hams' efforts so far have gone toward assisting with emergency management and search-and-rescue operations. He says he has ARES members ready to roll once state authorities reopen the hardest-hit parishes that have been closed off to outsiders."We have people on standby from all over northern Louisiana and from the South Texas Section basically champing at the bit trying to find out when they can go," Stratton told ARRL. "It's a very tough wait."Volunteers have been or will be deployed into the areas that are not cordoned off, he said. "People are beginning to come back up," to he said, referring to radio amateurs who were themselves storm victims. Stratton says Louisiana Assistant SM Mike King, W5MP, rode out the storm at a hospital on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, from which he's been providing communication. "He basically lost everything down there," Stratton said, "but he's carrying health-and-welfare traffic out of Slidell at this point and also coming up to the tactical frequency from time to time."Stratton said most of the emergency activity has been on HF, as repeaters were knocked out or have exhausted emergency power resources. He noted that some systems north of Lake Pontchartrain were coming back on line, however, as power is restored. ARES volunteers from Bossier and Caddo parishes are being deployed into areas that are still open."We're handling a lot of traffic from down there that ends up being made by cell phones from people in the affected area to relatives to people up here in Shreveport," Stratton explained, "and they call the 911 center in the Bossier area, and we have a radio link from our EOC to Bossier." From there the traffic goes onto the HF net.Mississippi Section Manager Malcolm Keown, W5XX, in Vicksburg, told ARRL today that ARES members in the three hardest-hit counties--Harrison, Hancock and Jackson. Assistant Mississippi SM Edwin Franks, AD5IS, says people have been calling him at home to get information about friends and relatives in the stricken area. District Emergency Coordinator Thomas Hammack, W4WLF, in Gulfport, has been among those volunteering at the Harrison County EOC. Amateurs in the three counties have been using HF, VHF and UHF resources to support emergency management as well as the Red Cross, The Salvation Army and the Baptist Men's Kitchen. Amateurs also have been handling considerable health-and-welfare traffic, he said.The West Gulf ARES Emergency Net--organized under an agreement among Louisiana, Mississippi and South Texas sections--remains active on 7.285 MHz days and 3.873 MHz nights, handling emergency and priority traffic only. The net has been operating 24/7 according to Keown. Health-and-welfare traffic is being handled on 7.290 MHz days and 3.935 MHz nights. Stratton said he'd heard that some 40,000 health-and-welfare requests had been received via Amateur Radio already, but no way to deliver them at this point. "We've not had anything like this, and it was so widespread," he said.The Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) on 14.265 MHz has begun concentrating on emergency and priority traffic and shuttling health-and-welfare requests to its Web site. As of this morning, SATERN reported it had received more than 12,000 health-and-welfare requests, most via the Web site, and it's had to update its server to handle the overwhelming volume of requests. The Salvation Army also is using Amateur Radio for its tactical communications.SATERN National Net Director Jim Adams, WA0LSB, says the net is activating daily at 1400 UTC and continuing until 20 meters closes. "We estimate that approximately 1000 Amateur Radio operator operators are checking into the SATERN net each day," he said. "Most of them have traffic and are an excellent source for relays and traffic handling. Each day, we are able to pass many pieces of traffic." He said QRM and jamming problems have been minimal so far.The American Red Cross advises it's also handling health-and-welfare inquiries via its toll-free "Get Info" hotline, 866-GET INFO (866-438-4636).Radio amateurs not involved in emergency communication are being asked to keep the West Gulf Emergency Net and SATERN frequencies clear, plus or minus 5 kHz. ARRL advises that stations not initiate any additional traffic into the storm-affected areas at this time, since the primary activity is focused on supporting ongoing search-and-rescue, relief and recovery operations.

[Benny]

Techs can run on 6 meters SSB & CW also440 SSB, CW, FM220 FM, SSB