Amateur “Ham” radio operators

Post Reply New Topic

I know there are a few of you lurking around here, what operating mode interest you the most? Voice, digital text/file transfer, cw, digital voice, or any I failed to mention?

Lately I have been heavily into digital and cw, specifically FT8 and PSK31.
73 and good DX

I'm a ham

I participate in some local ARES stuff, but primarily SSB DX.

I've done a bit of PSK31, but don't have an interface box. Being an EE, I want to
build one myself. Of course, with propagation not so good, digital is
looking better.

Casts the spell "Resurrect Old Thread +1"

I'm an amateur radio operator. My radios are: HTX-202 2 meter handheld, a Drake TR-22C 2 meter portable transceiver (crystal bound from 1969) and a BaoFeng UV-82L 2 and 440 rig handheld. I feed the 202 into a 5/8ths wave mobile antenna at times. I am active on 2 meters for the most part but want to get my General license soon. I'm looking for other ham radio operators too.

the closest i ever came to being a ham was visiting the local ARRL office, and having in-laws who are hams. my brother has the top license category, can't remember if that is called Expert or what. he just got his last year. he hasn't erected any antenna masts and wire yet, he so far sticks to his portable 2 meter unit. i think he also is using 70cm band. of course i could be wrong about that last one. if i were smart enough to join y'all's ranks, i think i'd stick with 6 meters, that has always been my fave band

I have my Extra class license, and also a Radiotelephone license with radar endorsements.

Theoretically, I could work the radio room on a cruise liner for free passage, but that job has been largely automated.

^^^can you tell me what the difference is between the various radiotelephone license classes [1st, 2nd, etc.]?

Well, the Technician test is pretty easy, go for it! I plan on going for my General soon. BTW, the highest class is Extra. Back when I was licensed, they had 5 classes, Novice, Technician, General, Advanced and Extra. Then the no-code tech came out a month later, this is in 1990, so that was the sixth. I became a Tech +, with code, in 1998. They got rid of the code (CW) and pared it down to three classes, Technician, General and Extra. I'd also like to try 10 meters too, would love to get that handheld 10 meter transceiver, can't remember the name. BTW, I've been picking up a lot of the Over The Horizon Ghadir Radar from Iran on 10 meters in the late afternoon here in Eastern Ohio. I've heard it "walking over" some hams too. I used a SDR (Software Defined Radio) USB "dongle" hooked into my PC from Noo-Elec as my receiver and HDSDR as the software for the radio. I'm using the short whip antenna hooked to a long wire. I was using Upper Sideband mode although the Ghadir Radar uses AM mode.

fascinating about the radar travelling over the ocean and continent and overloading the reception over there. they must be pumping out 10s of thousands of watts to do that. tried taking the pre-test for tech and got only 64% so i guess my LD is getting in the way.

Same here, and I work in communications equipment repair - everything from pagers to 911 dispatch systems. I have everything from 160 to 23cm. SSB/CW, DMR, APRS, and whatever else I can put together. Also contesting, especially VHF. I'm taking all my VHF stuff up to a 3200 foot hill in June for the contest, hoping to break the division low power portable record. I currently have the second place spot.

Well, I'd keep trying, studying and so on, you can do it, at least get your tech and go on 6 meters, but we could use you on 2 meters too. . I did an simulated online test for general without much studying and I failed myself but came close. I think because of the changed is some rules where you have to account for RF exposure now, we did not have that in the 1980's or 1990's so I have to catch up myself. As to the OTH Radar, they must be pumping out a lot of wattage. If you direct the signal in a narrow beam, you can have the equivalent of millions of watts. BTW, I love my dedicated SW radio, the Grundig G6 Aviator Buzz Aldrin model but unless I put an external antenna on it, it is a little deaf above 25 Mc so that is why I use my SDR dongle on the PC, basically turning the computer into a radio, it is designed for VHF/UHF but does tune down to 24 Mc and goes to 1766 Mc. I'm trying to use it to decode the various digital modes some first responders use like APCO 25 I and II, DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) and NXDN but it is tough although I am successful a few times, I just have to tinker with it until I can buy a dedicated scanner.

You can get into it more cheaply now although I wonder what effect the current trade war will have, you can get a good Baofeng handheld for 2 meters and 70 cm for $25 instead of paying over 10 times the amount. I have an HTX-202 2 meter handheld from Radio Shack and a Baofeng UV-82L, the latter can do 70 cm/440 Mc. I bought the latter for around $45 in early 2014 soon after I lost my Mom in late 2013. I always wanted to try 440 but now since I'm out in the sticks in the Ohio Valley, 440 is almost non-existant here. I don't see much into 6 meter equipment unfortunately but I have to dive into it more to see what Baofeng, Pofung, etc have.

Cool! BTW, the longest I've talked on 2 meters is when I was in Erie PA on the shores of the lake. I was using my HTX-202 handheld with the rubber duck antenna, 6 penlite batteries and using the low setting at 1 watt, I was able to talk to hams in Canada and fire up some repeaters over there. My signal went 50 miles across the water and about 20 or 30 miles inland. It was fun participating in a repeater net of Canadian hams, I was the only American to check in. We all had a good time. 160m is interesting too and I'd like to try 6 meters. Heck, I'd like to try it all if I can.

i am curious, what is the lowest frequency you [or anybody you know] have transceived, and the highest? what is the furthest distance you have dx'ed without using a repeater [just using skip or whatever it's called when you use a temperature inversion boundary layer]?

Well, My Canadian contact is my record, excellent since I was running basically barefoot. It was my only international contact. When I was in Pittsburgh, O could hit East Liverpool Ohio about 40 miles away using my HTX-202 and a two meter 5/8ths wave mobile antenna on a cookie sheet as ground plane. On good days, 1 watt was OK, but most of the time, 2.5 watts high power was better (using NiCads) or 4 if I use alkaline but with external power, I get 5 or 6 watts. I could also hit the middle of Westmorland County, PA about the same distance the other way. I was able to hit that repeater that where it was part of a chain of repeaters that went down to Washington DC and a little beyond. I remember chatting on the system and when one ham got off, another wanted to talk to me and I never got a break to go to the bathroom. I had to take my scanner to listen to take care of things when he got longwinded. I'd like to try to get the ISS (space station) sometime. Well, I'm in a bowl here in the Ohio Valley close to the river so I'm lucky I can hit Wheeling, maybe Steubenville.

I'd love to get my ham radio license. Can you talk to people around the world, or just other ham operators in your area?

how high elevation were you on the mobile dx attempts? do you ever try to see how far you can receive DTV broadcasts or FM [broadcast] radio? using a portable [sony watchman] with its built-in telescoping antenna, [upon the roof, south of tacoma WA] i could get vancouver BC [CBUT-2] many days, and KVOS-TV12 [bellingham WA] most days. now and then i could pick up the lower channels of Portland OR. FM-wise, furthest west i could pick up a signal was ocean shores WA, about a 2-hour drive away. east is impossible due to blockage from the cascade mountain range. southwise, portland and medford OR were now and then receivable on the lower end of the FM dial. AM radio is easier to DX with, often i'd receive lower-end stations in san fran [KNBR-680] and now and then los angeles. canada was easier for some reason, vancouver was a most days thing. DTV is basically impossible without an expensive 100'+ tall mast and deep fringe array, very carefully aligned and focused. as it is, i have a 100' tall single deep fringe antenna aimed in between the various towers on cougar mountain, and downtown seattle. am barely able to, at about 50 miles distant [as the crow flies] pick up the stronger stations without serious digital drop-outs. KCTS-9 is the worst as its antenna is half the height of KOMO-4's antenna and also located BEHIND it AND its signal propagation is mostly north as well [most of the viewers with money are up north]. IOW a deep-fringe amplified channel master quad-4 array up 770 feet + 100 additional feet atop a tree, less than 50 miles distant, could often not get that [KCTS-9] station, just a purple screen. IMHO our DTV system is [in terms of signal propagation/reception] sub-par, and not robust. if you live more than an hour's drive outside a major metropolitan area, you prolly aren't getting much reception over-the-air. anyways, this all was at an elevation of about 700 feet above sea level.
btw, what kinda antenna is needed to talk to ISS? how much power needed?

bands lower than about 6 meters [depending on the maximum usable frequency which varies from day to day relative to solar activity], will allow you to use skip [ionospheric bounce] to chat with other people in other nations/continents. i understand, however, some countries such as Yemen and NK do not allow their citizens to use amateur radio or to communicate with outsiders in that manner at least.