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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 7, 2017 16:25:19 GMT
Technician class. I'm now KG(five)TOA.
I'm studying for my General license now so I can eventually do more HF. I don't know if I'll go for Extra or not. Is it worth it? Any Hams on here?
I am not on air yet - I need to do a lot more learning so I don't sound like a fool on-air.
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Post by fondofchips on Jun 7, 2017 17:07:58 GMT
Ey up Rick, I've just passed my UK Intermediate Ham Radio licence exam. Our licence system is Foundation - Intermediate - Full. Only the Full licence is fully internationally recognised. So I can use 50 watts now, I have a HF rig (Kenwood TS570) but have only used it to listen in so far. There isn't much activity on HF at the moment anyway. People are going to talk to you anyway, the main thing is not causing interference to neighbours telly's and radio's. Something to do in the warm room when it's cloudy!
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Post by Dragon Man on Jun 7, 2017 18:09:04 GMT
Sorry Rick but I don't understand all the lingo you used. Must be radio lingo LOL! I never got into it and it's never seemed interesting to me, but lots of people do it so it must be fun. Good luck with it
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Jun 7, 2017 23:03:00 GMT
Never got into it. I barely talk to the people I know.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 8, 2017 12:52:28 GMT
Awesome, Harry... I had been putting it off for years and finally decided to just do it. I'm not even sure what I want to do on a regular basis. I only have an SDR that I've used for listening, like you.
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Post by fondofchips on Jun 9, 2017 17:52:08 GMT
Awesome, Harry... I had been putting it off for years and finally decided to just do it. I'm not even sure what I want to do on a regular basis. I only have an SDR that I've used for listening, like you. Ham Radio is a lot like Astronomy as there are lots of different ways of enjoying the hobby. I've only made 9 contacts so far all on VHF/UHF 144.00-146.00 & 430.00-440.00mhz. I had to do Morse, taught by a lifelong Ham Radio operator who has 30,000+ QSL cards which just over 60% are Morse contacts. A lot of fuss is made over waterfall displays on HF rigs, but try this site hackgreensdr.org:8901/there should be something similar in the USA. There is a lot you can do if there is a PC near the rig. Listening to a Scottish station talking to someone in Germany on the 20metre band 14.240.00mhz, both nice and clear. Register on qrz.com, you will need to e-mail them to be added to their database. Even if you can't make contact you can still find out where their location is as long as you know the callsign.
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Post by davy on Jun 9, 2017 19:36:46 GMT
Can remember years ago uncle John had got me a computer and he bought over a yeasu receiver and it had a computer interface,, for picking up Morse code and it was ment to decipher and display on screen what was being tapped out,, sadly I think the operator was too fast for the software,, was neat at the time,, the amount of time I spent going up and down the dial was unreal.. would be good to see a modern version of this in operation
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Post by johnno on Jun 9, 2017 20:57:59 GMT
Congratulations Rick. I got my USA callsign in 97 KF6OZQ but I had to let it expire at 07 because I didn't have a US address no more. I took my US technician test in the UK. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Menwith_HillAlso G7GLS in the UK in 1990 It all depends what you want to do, do you fancy Dx'ing, I use to do a lot of Dx'ing when I was mobile in my car and big rig, use to run 1KW mobile with a icom 706. use to have regular contacts when propagation was in . When I was in the states I took a icom IC-T8A 2m 70cm 6M 5watt handheld great little radio
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 13, 2017 17:10:03 GMT
Awesome, Harry... I had been putting it off for years and finally decided to just do it. I'm not even sure what I want to do on a regular basis. I only have an SDR that I've used for listening, like you. Ham Radio is a lot like Astronomy as there are lots of different ways of enjoying the hobby. I've only made 9 contacts so far all on VHF/UHF 144.00-146.00 & 430.00-440.00mhz. I had to do Morse, taught by a lifelong Ham Radio operator who has 30,000+ QSL cards which just over 60% are Morse contacts. A lot of fuss is made over waterfall displays on HF rigs, but try this site hackgreensdr.org:8901/there should be something similar in the USA. There is a lot you can do if there is a PC near the rig. Listening to a Scottish station talking to someone in Germany on the 20metre band 14.240.00mhz, both nice and clear. Register on qrz.com, you will need to e-mail them to be added to their database. Even if you can't make contact you can still find out where their location is as long as you know the callsign. I have an SDRPlay box that I'm still learning - just for receiving and learning about bands, etc. I also have a little dongle and antenna and successfully tracked planes using their beacons. That's pretty cool.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 13, 2017 17:11:52 GMT
Thanks John! I have been holding off on getting much of a rig because I intend on joining a club and seeing what a lot of other people are doing. Much different than video astronomy, where you're the only bloke within several hours drive doing it. I'm anxious to meet other Hams.
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Post by johnno on Jun 14, 2017 23:31:48 GMT
What do you mean Rick, ''am I the only bloke doing it''
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Post by Dragon Man on Jun 15, 2017 13:21:21 GMT
What do you mean Rick, ''am I the only bloke doing it'' You will find that Rick is talking about himself John His comment "where you're the only bloke within several hours drive doing it" means he has no-one else near him doing it, being said in the third person context
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 15, 2017 19:52:22 GMT
Yes, sorry John - sometimes my writing style leaves much to be desired.
When I first started in Video Astronomy, Andy in MO was the closest at 2 hours away, but wasn't very collaborative. Shrug. There are 3 or 4 local Ham clubs to choose from, so my chance to learn from others hands-on is greatly improved over Video Astronomy.
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Post by fondofchips on Jun 16, 2017 11:30:49 GMT
Best value for money handheld radio is the Baofeng UV5R. Upgrading the standard antenna with the Nagoya NA-771 improves it's range. With a programming cable/driver disc you can program in the repeaters as well giving you greater range. Mine doubles up as a listening rig as I have a co-linear Diamond X30 antenna in the loft with an adaptor for the Baofeng. You can also listen to any FM radio station and when someone calls it automatically changes from FM to Ham Radio mode. In the UK the radio is around £25, the programming cable & driver disc is around £7. The Baofeng uses the freely available CHIRP programming software. Mobile Ham Radio on a budget!
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jun 16, 2017 17:25:25 GMT
Thanks Harry, I'll check that out!
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Post by johnno on Jun 20, 2017 23:14:36 GMT
Just had a read on that little Baofeng and its got good reviews and for the price it's dirt cheap, can't believe they can make a radio for that price, you can pay more just for a fist mic
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Post by fondofchips on Jul 25, 2017 8:39:15 GMT
Done a HF upgrade over the weekend. Changed my Kenwood TS-570 for a Yaesu FT-920, also took down the 20 metre offset wire dipole and put up a 40 metre delta wire antenna (loop) instead. It is quite an improvement and the DX conditions have improved too. The Kenwood is a good rig though, I just wanted a bit more control over the incoming audio and the Yaesu has more features for that. Not fair to compare the two really as the Kenwood is entry level HF and the Yaesu is a mid-range rig. I'm using web based SDR & I've bought a K1EL morse code decoder which cuts down the cost of the rig. You can get the SDR & morse code decoder built into rigs now but it bumps up the price. I had to laugh I still have to learn more 'Q' codes even with the morse code decoder, so it's back to school!
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