/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>2652622
What power do those 49 MHz walkie talkies transmit at anyhow, and how much loss is there with those stubby antennas they used? I swear I saw one with the rubber on the antenna torn when I was a kid and it was just a straight piece of wire inside.

>the Chad repeater

>the Chad repeater

The is red rooster calling nasty butler...
come in nasty butler!

what's up non US people and naked ladies on sstv

You are not helping at all in emergencies. Stick to jotting down boomers, having a late life crisis, bib numbers at marathons and relaying it to the net control at the finish line.

>>2652708
back in the early 60's my dad and some friends started a fire buffs club and contacted the local fire chief.

they received permission from the fire dept to attend any fire (unless requested to stay away which rarely happened).

for years they chased fires, and even helped by running messages at fire scenes, when the fire was out they helped roll up hoses and whatever help was needed. they wore red construction helmets and had bunker gear.

that lasted up until some time in the 70's. while that fire chief was in office (more than 30 years) fire buffs were generally allowed at fire scenes.

my dad designed response cards for the fire department (in the early 70's) which were used up until everything went to computers.

I've been to more fires than I can count when I was a kid. been to more fire stations to (back when you could just walk in to them). My dads pictures were often published in the local paper, and the local paper did a story about our family and my dads hobby including staged photos of us all rushing to a fire.

it was a different time back then... sigh™

>>2652719
My son. Don't let your memes be dreams.

>>2652623
I only QSL via bureau. In some countries, sending US currency can get the operator into serious trouble. I recall a list of countries that prohibit that. And I avoid anyone that expressly demands a green stamp to obtain a card. I'll get the contact into the log but I don't need the card.

I've only sent a "green stamp" twice. One was to get a card re-sent from a CIA event station at CIA hq celebrating its 50th anniversary that was suspiciously damaged in the mail. The 2nd one was for a card for decoding packet from the space shuttle Columbia (W5RRR) in 1993. Coincidentally less than 60 minutes prior I decoded packet from MIR space station (R0MIR) and packet telemetry from AO-21/Rudak-2.

Don't pay the antenna jews thousands of dollars just to DX.

>>2652798
meant to reply to >>2652511

>>2652622
>The FAQ is now back:
>https://wiki.cybsec.io/index.php/HamFAQ
OP, the cybsec domain is gone.
>>NEW FAQ is updated to preview 15
>https://files.catbox.moe/aftx43.htm
This, on the other hand, still works.

>>2652880
ayy lmao thanks

>>2650997
>Essentially the cybsec.io domain is up for sale, and since it fgures in a lot of archives and FAQs, someone wants a lot of money for it. They are unlikely to get it. Instead, check out the archived copy at:
>https://archive.is/nMkSN

>>2652652
>What power do those 49 MHz walkie talkies transmit at anyhow, and how much loss is there with those stubby antennas they used?
I can't answer how lossy the antennas are, but anything normally sold in the US will have an FCC ID that you can go on the FCC's website and look up. Manufacturers are required to submit testing data and pictures of the internals. There's also an advanced search function if you just want to poke around.

https://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid

>>2652880
>>2652885
stop using fly-by-night hosts, you fags

>>2653115

>CQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
>HELLO DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>CQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
>HELLO DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>CQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
>HELLO DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>CQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
>HELLO DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>CQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ
>HELLO DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

>>2653460

>>2652652
The 5 channel Radio Shack ones back in the late 80's were 100 mW and had extendible whips and claimed a range of 600 to 900 ft so I suspect about the same power. Stubby antennas are a compromise antenna not built for range. A guy at work broke a stubby antenna on a 460 MHz GMRS radio and it was a little coil about an inch long.

Whats a decent model ham radio to install on a motorcycle? I need something to run of the bikes battery.

>>2653698
An FT817 and a Morse key.

>>2653115
>stop using fly-by-night hosts, you fags
Nothing wrong with Catbox.
Cybsec was an entirely different story with sky high conspiracy factor.

>>2653698
a (tr)uSDX or a chink clone of one in a decent case, and 10m of antenna wire trailing off the back of your bike.

I have two questions, #2 kind of depends on #1.
>1
I know that in order to homebrew a radio tranceiver you need a HAM license, is that also true for antennas that are only for receiving?
>2
What's the easiest uhf/vhf antenna to make for a retard who hasn't gotten a license? It's probably the J-pole right? Is it particularly hard?

>>2653884
Are you American? If so:

>1
Wrong. The issue is if you want to transmit on the ham bands. You will need a license to transmit on those bands (since you will need to test), not to create. You can always do a workaround by building it to also work on license free bands near the ham bands like MURS for 2m or FRS for 70cm.

You can also create antennas without a license.

>2
Dipoles are the most basic yet so simple.

>>2653884
1. you need a license to transmit (this includes testing into anything that can radiate)
2. Easiest is a half-wave vertical or a 1/4 wave ground plane
>>2653899
Dipoles not so much for vhf/uhf

>>2653899
>>2653906
Yes, I'm a Burger, should have mentioned that in my post.
>Half wave vertical or 1/4 wave ground plane or dipole
Thanks anons, I'll go do my research.

>>2652622
I have a Wilson Flex antenna for a CB radio. Can I re-use this for a Baofeng radio with using an SMA adapter?
Is it possible to use a Splitter and use both radios with one antenna?

>>2653939
You would have to trim the antenna to the right length. You would need an SWR meter or a VNA.

No.

>>2653957
Nah, just transmit with both for quadruple the power

>Dear ARRL members,

>Yesterday, the ARRL Board of Directors completed their second annual meeting. I'm writing to let you know that they made the tough, but necessary, decision to increase the regular membership dues rate to $59 a year starting January 1, 2024 (see 2024 Dues Rates).

>Additionally, we have chosen to separate the printed, mailed magazine from regular membership. Members will be able to choose whether they want to add-on a print subscription to any of our magazines including QST, On the Air, QEX, and NCJ. All members will continue to have online, digital access to each of these four magazines and the digital archive as part of their regular membership benefits.

>>2653972
why do you seethe about the ARRL so much?

>>2653973
Because they are our biggest enemy.

>>2653973
They don't do their actual job. They just continue to charge their memebership fees, take others old radios for free to sell at auction, sell bricks to line their pockets and not actually help the ham radio community.

>>2653981
>$80 for a brick

Gonna be sticking a Serio Tornado 27 on top of my apartment building. Will try not to die during install. If anyone asks its for Starlink internet, and totally been up there all this time since before the building was bought by a new owner. Might post an update when done.

>>2653973
>That'll be $10 more a year, but you can now opt out of our spam mailing or free!

>>2653981
A lot of them don’t even have their license. Just a bunch of idiots draining money.
Like nearly every other company is, or will, become.

>>2652622
Does anyone know what bandwidth passband filters amateur satellites like AO-91/FOX-1B or AO-92/FOX-1D use? I figure they wouldn't use something as tight of a filter as possible since you already need to worry about adjusting the frequency due to doppler shift, but they'd still want it tighter than the 28-35 kHz that HTs and mobile rigs use with how weak of signals they're dealing with.

>>2654092
Following with casual interest.

>>2654402
I couldn't find any definitive specs but on Fox-1D I would think it's approx 50 kHz wide centered on 435.350MHz. On 1.2 GHz it's 90 kHz wide centered on 1,267.350 MHz.

I find it interesting it has automatic frequency control on the downlink, virtually eliminating doppler shift. I didn't know that existed.

>>2654567
>I couldn't find any definitive specs but on Fox-1D I would think it's approx 50 kHz wide centered on 435.350MHz. On 1.2 GHz it's 90 kHz wide centered on 1,267.350 MHz.
Isn't that extremely wide for FM use?

>>2652676
Temporary Offline did a livestream with someone which showed the box that connects the two radios do in fact work and make it a repeater. Based as fuck.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LTwhrcK3kBs

I want to get inituated into the ham radio community and other related ones

Im not ready right now but email me in 6 months please

sosalekashae @ protonmail

>>2652622
I live in a third world country
If I get into this hobby without bothering for a license, I want to know how they can even catch you

>>2654633
Easily and very fast.
I don't know if your country bothers about 11m DXers much, you could do that.

>>2654633
If you're really in a shit hole country, get your license, run digital modes, and charge $5 for each confirmation.
That'd be the easiest way out of poverty for someone in Nigeria or Ethiopia.
>Average salary in Ethiopia is $5/day
>Could be made in 1 minute on FT8
Sad. With a little bit of travel, they could do that full time all across Africa and live like a king.

>>2654633
Im in Croatia and the chances of getting caught for misusing ham frequencies is zero because the government doesn't care about hams. They only seem to react when you cause interference on emergency service and marine frequencies. There are old hams that have literally been trolling other hams for decades and absolutely nobody ever reacted despite everyone knowing their identities.

>>2654856
>Croatia
I had expected people to take the machine gun down from the wall and clean up themselves.

>>2654857
You cant do much since many of them give fake locations and addresses when getting licenses.

>>2653703
>FT817
Any reason to chose FT817 over FT818?

I am looking into buying my own transceiver. HF is my main interest, VHF/UHF is a nice bonus. Portable is a big plus. I had a look at FT-991A. Anyone here have any experience with it?

>>2654934
>Any reason to chose FT817 over FT818?
The FT818 is basically the same, but can put out 6W instead of 5W.
With the FT817, I was advised to not use full power on VHF/UHF FM.
> FT-991A. Anyone here have any experience with it?
No experience, but I know someone who uses it and takes it to vacations. It's pretty decent.

>>2654934
>HF is my main interest, VHF/UHF is a nice bonus
That's a loaded question, buddy.
>They Don't Think It Be Like It Is But It Do
I was handed my ticket 3-5 years ago to memorialize my grandpa's death.
Dude was an old fart with a love of radio.
>I'm gonna get a DXCC
>I'm gonna get a DXCC Challenge
That was solved rather easily while working from home with an IC-7300
Much like you, my interest was HF.
I had a separate V/UFH radio on the desk, but rarely used it.
>Local omelette bros doing omelette things.
>RIP omelette bro
Now I'm eyeing an FT-991A or IC-9700 for satellite shits and giggles.
It depends on your location, budget, goals, and all that shit changes with time.
As with life, it's really easy, but equally complicated.
They Don't Think It Be Like It Is But It Do

>>2654861
You're going to do what you want to do.
I enjoy having a license and racking up awards and relationships with my license.
If you want to play some fart noises and use someone else's callsign, nobody will stop you.
If you want to have meaningful conversations or achievements like an adult, go through the very simple process. It has become much easier as we moved to online processes with covid.

>>2655136
>>HF is my main interest, VHF/UHF is a nice bonus
>That's a loaded question, buddy.
How is that possible?
>>They Don't Think It Be Like It Is But It Do
>I was handed my ticket 3-5 years ago to memorialize my grandpa's death.
>Dude was an old fart with a love of radio.
I got my license years ago but never had the time to do much beyond the occational listening in on KiwiSDR.
>>I'm gonna get a DXCC
>>I'm gonna get a DXCC Challenge
>That was solved rather easily while working from home with an IC-7300
Also looks like a nice rig.
>Much like you, my interest was HF.
>I had a separate V/UFH radio on the desk, but rarely used it.
That is what I was wondering, perhaps HF is all I end up using.
>>Local omelette bros doing omelette things.
>>RIP omelette bro
What? Sure he is SK?
>Now I'm eyeing an FT-991A or IC-9700 for satellite shits and giggles.
If I drop VHF and UHF, I see the FT-710 looks relevant and also cheaper. The FTDX-10 is just a little more expensive.
>It depends on your location, budget, goals, and all that shit changes with time.
That is anpther thing that has changed over the years: my budget is not a problem.
>As with life, it's really easy, but equally complicated.
>They Don't Think It Be Like It Is But It Do
Doo bee doo be doo

For sure, they don't design the rigs as if we live in the year of our Lord 2023. Og, and the Yaesu catalogue is from 2021. For instance, why couldn't they use USB-C for power, monitor, keyboard and mouse? Or use a NTP client to get precise time without a NMEA protocol for an external GPS? Or enable use of apps on the onboard computer? It is as if they are stuck in 2010.

>>2655469
>USB-C for power
3A to 5A max would limit your output power to something less than 60W. It would be good to charge some internal or external battery overnight though.

>>2655469
>HF is my main interest, VHF/UHF is a nice bonus
You're comparing 30+ foot antennas which will reach around the world to 1 ft antennas that might reach across the city. Same theory, different application and drastically different results. Depending on your desires and dreams, they're night and day.
>I got my license years
Gotcha - you're not a newb that comes here asking if a Baofag will work the other side other world. That helps
>Sure he is SK?
Zero proof other than I haven't seen any posts lately by omelette bro.
I agree ham gear is very outdated, but while we're bickering about USB 2.0 ports, people come here asking for solutions that won't be available until a few more decades. I like to pry and ask WHY and for WHAT.

>>2654597
Sorry, i'm looking at this wrong. I was thinking of a linear transponder where the sat listens to a narrow range of frequencies rather than a specific frequency. When I scroll down to the bottom of: https://www.amsat.org/getting-ready-for-fox-1d/ I see the operator has to compensate for the uplink doppler shift. That tells me the satellite listens to one specific frequency. My money would be on a bandpass that's ~15 kHz wide at 435.350 MHz. A bit wider than the transmitted signal to maximise the SNR. Perhaps someone on a groups.io hamsat forum has more technical details.

After seeing your initial post I thought I would look further into this sat. Then I discovered my Yaesu FT-847 won't transmit on 70 cm due to a technical fault. :-( Looks like i'll have to crack it open and start tracing the problem.

Is there SOTA but for city slickers? This is just a hypothetical question 146.52 is a dead horse in NYC.

>>2655752
Like Parks on the Air/POTA?

>>2655752
Just go someplace and name it Whatever On the Air e.g. go to a Walmart, activate it, and call it Walmarts On the Air. One guy on one of the nets I participate in went to a public pool and now has claimed himself as the first person activate a public pool and thus the originator of Public Pools on the Air.

Yes, this is how dumb and idiotic things have gotten on the -OTA front.

>>2655752
Be the change you want to see: "Skyscrapers on the Air".

>>2655795
>>2655815
I think I'll start Hospitals On The Air. I'll start with the pediatric ICU. Just hope the life sustaining equipment is well shielded when I call CQ on an amp.

>>2655816
After that you can see if you can activate Prisons on the Air.

>>2655824
Do I get bonus points if I make contacts while in the Hole?

>>2655752
PTOTA

>>2655827
Sure, and double that if on the run, with further bonus if you are being actively pursued by police cruisers and choppers.
https://youtu.be/Ws3mkfSkvYo

>>2655675
>You're comparing 30+ foot antennas which will reach around the world to 1 ft antennas that might reach across the city. Same theory, different application and drastically different results. Depending on your desires and dreams, they're night and day.
Years ago i used to operate HF radios and handle the antennas. a long antenna is not much of a problem and I live in a mountainous area suitable for long walks.
>Zero proof other than I haven't seen any posts lately by omelette bro.
Lets hope for the best. It is always sad when you see people sell their rigs in order to pay for their medical bills.
>I agree ham gear is very outdated, but while we're bickering about USB 2.0 ports, people come here asking for solutions that won't be available until a few more decades. I like to pry and ask WHY and for WHAT.
For me it is the surprise and a little exasperation that we have all these neat componets but nobody is integrating them yet. Most ham radio makers use at best hybrid SDR rather a baseband SDR. Often they use 2 or 3 IF stages too. Crystal ladder filters are common when it can be done in software. Yaesu FT-710 uses a video connector which was outdated 5 years ago. I know of only one mainstream rig that at least has outputs for 2200 m and 630 m, but most should be able to handle this.
And Elekraft K4 has worse performance than their older KS3, which already was worse than some very old tube radios. How is it possible?
Also truSDR fails to handle the ADCs according to best practice, which causes a lot of noise that would be easily avoidable. Worse, the license makes it probably not legal to post how to rectify it.
Portable radios could cheaply add a GPS unit, none do other than NMEA-adapter. Base station rigs could have added a RJ-45 to put the receiver function on the air like KiwiSDR, but don't. And then there is a pile of mobile phone tech that could be imported to ham radio like MIMO and beamforming.

I think all of this is part of the stagnation.

So I'm new to all this and I got myself a usb sdr, using cubicsdr. Why is it that the waterfall is showing mostly noise (like it's all green) unless I grab the tuner and wiggle it back and forth, then it clears up (shows mostly blue and some signals)

>>2655971
Sounds like loose contacts and/or poor grounding.

>>2652622
What do you think the fair market value of a license is?

>>2655910
>stagnation
So if we imagine 4ch goes all in to design a rig, what would it be like?

>>2656403
Time in a federal penitentiary.

>>2655910
RemoteID is probably coming to transmitters for radio, so it transmits your gps coordinates along with your operator’s license on Bluetooth .9 miles and on a Digital sideband.

> Inb4 “make own radio”
They just mandate it and fine/delicense anyone found transmitting without remoteId

>>2656494
>oh no, fearmongering!
Unlikely.

>>2656499
Yeah, well I have to buy yet another radio because Cobra paid off some fuckhead in the FCC and now you have to use FM on 11m instead of AM like it’s been for 40 years.

Bet you didn’t see that coming either, eh?

>>2656494
Take you meds.

>>2656494
You haven't really done the thread modelling.
First off it is well known that three letter agencies across the world have tapped phone calls everywhere and for decades. Anyone older than 18 should realise they recorded and transcribed not only the conversations but also secured voice prints. And those voice prints will let them identify you whenever you use a new phone, someone elses phone, a walkie talkie or a ham radio.

Fucking MFJ, I connected a MFJ-249 to reverse polarity, it's gone, the 7805 died but a couple of transistors are dead too, the counter module with the LCD is gone, there is the position for a protection diode and they didn't put it there, because it will make them earn 5 cents more on a 300 $ product.

>>2656504
I don't use CB, nor do I give a fuck about it.

>>2656633
I don’t know, at 27 MHz it seems like you can get pretty good distance.
You’re probably one of those “don’t come here, it’s terrible” guys to keep the sweet bandwidth all to yourself.

>>2656519
Just use CTCSS or DCS encryption and they can’t hear jack shit. That’s why I ditched cell phone comms.

>>2656777
This, and on HF use USB below 10MHz and LSB above 10MHz, nobody will hear you !

SENT FROM MY BLACKBERRY
EMCOM SPECIALIST SINCE 1953
59+20dB STATIONS ONLY THE REST CAN GO TO KINDERGARTEN HI3X
73s

>>2656777
>>2656781

Is the use of digital modes on repeaters against the rules? I've heard people arguing about it on my local repeater but nobody seems sure.

>>2656983
It's up to the repeater owner, however I've never seen one that's allowed it.

>>2656983
It's generally seen as a dick move, because everyone else using analog FM gets subjected to the sound of machines fucking at max volume.

>>2656987
>>2656990
The owner is never around and there are no written rules anywhere so I guess its ok.

>>2655910
>And then there is a pile of mobile phone tech that could be imported to ham radio like MIMO and beamforming.
>I think all of this is part of the stagnation.
Beamforming has been known and used since the 1910s, but what the fuck is the point of MIMO in ham? Any frequency low enough to see benefits from the added bandwidth is necessarily low enough to where MIMO wont work. WiFi and LTE can do MIMO because their wavelengths are short enough to reflect off buildings and appliances and shit, <2m wont reflect and wont have much useful multipath
high-bandwidth digimodes get fuckall use anyways, so what's the point? pioneer MIMO so the two unicorn autists who understand the shit can exchange video of their greasy faces at higher bitrates on 3cm?

>>2656990
I personally use random repeaters to send warez and crypto keys to my friends across town. you can squeeze 9600 baud out of older repeaters

added a selectable inductance in a zetagi M27, thanks to :
https://der-bastelbunker.blogspot.com/2011/09/pi-match-antennentuner-fur-den-kleinen.html

>>2657066
there is way enough room left to integrate a CB SWR meter, it's good for 1 to 30 MHz apparently, no idea about the power it can handle.
this matching box will be used in portable setup with the FT-818 and a small amplifier so 30 W max

>he buys a tuner
vs.
>>2657070 >>2657066
>this man fucks

>>2656990
What does it use for digital? Is it literally a hayes modem or does it use DTMF or something?

Thanks to you assholes here on /diy/, who I can only assume are the same assholes in ham threads on /k/ and /out/, probably /o/ from time to time now that I think about it, I bought a study guide and will attempt my technicians license later this year.
>inb4 lol u payed 4 a faggot book lrn2google
Yes, I like having physical reference material, I also bought the ARRL 6 volume handbook because it looks sufficient to bring me up to speed. Also a uniden sds100 because I'm going to a race at the end of the month and the sds 200 isn't really man portable.

>>2657088
good luck anon. Try the general license then, HF is fun>>2657088
>assholes in ham threads on /k/ and /out/
Fuck this guys and the ones from /pol/ too

>>2657088
>assholes in ham threads
>probably /o/
no u

>>2657088
Only problem I have with that is
(a) the doxxing required by the licence, and
(b) the fact that you don’t really need one given all the open bandwidth available in FRS and other open frequencies. They’re like dead air.
The contact competitions seem like a useless activity like geocaching.

>>2657096
>The contact competitions seem like a useless activity like geocaching.
Have you considered that the entire point is having fun getting to use the equipment and operate under specific conditions, rather than than everything needing to be immediately practical or training for some fantasy scenario?

>>2657096
>The contact competitions seem like a useless activity like geocaching.
Have you considered that the entire point is having fun getting to use the equipment and operate under specific conditions, rather than than everything needing to be immediately practical or training for some fantasy scenario that's totally going to happen to you?

>>2657101
It’s surprising just based on that one comment that you realized I’m a bit of a prepper.
And yes, all my free time is spent on training/simulation activities.
Anway, when the government falls or is engaged in war, nobody is going to enforce any bandwidth rules to which your licence applies.

>>2657104
>when the government is engaged in war,
not him, in that situation HAM activities are suspended, forbidden, heavily monitored, etc.

>>2657096
I'm not really any more worried about a license being kept in the FCC database, given I already have the same info in databases with the state DOJ, DMV, SSA, ATF, OPM, and my name has been run through the FBI a couple of times.

They're might be weirdos listening to the airwaves, but there also might've been a crazy stalker at the grocery store.
>>2657090
I visit almost all of the boards at various times, I just found it amusing how hams kept cropping up in various other hobbies.
>>2657092
I was hoping it would be mounted to the bike.
>>2657096
I would not be satisfied being that limited (I understand there are still limitations when licensed), but the difference between what you can do with UHF and HF are substantial, and I want that capability.

>>2657096
>(a) the doxxing required by the licence, and
People report using PO boxes.
>The contact competitions seem like a useless activity like geocaching.
Then don't. The FAQ, had you read it, would have told you of many other ways to enjoy ham radio.

>>2657104
>Anway, when the government falls or is engaged in war, nobody is going to enforce any bandwidth rules to which your licence applies.
This is wrong. You will be suspected of working with the enemy and put down on the spot. The war in Ukraine shows how they hunt down traitors and suspects. Again, all this is also covered in the FAQ.

>>2654239
>A lot of them don’t even have their license
That's common for these types of organizations. AARP has gotten in trouble for age discrimination because they tried to avoid hiring older workers.

>>2657140
>I was hoping it would be mounted to the bike.
lurk moar >>2653703

If I just get an mfj-16010 for a random wire antenna, could I just run the wire out of one of my conduit holes in the house and just throw the ol speaker wire over the length of my roof? I don't have anything to hang it on, no trees or anything, and down the line for proper work I'll do something better and can use the tuner/wire for throwing into trees while camping, but wouldn't it work well enough just laying over my house like that?

>>2657192
>throw the ol speaker wire over the length of my roof?
that's going to be bad, at best, at least can you attach it to a chimney, an exhaust a little bit above the roof ?

Also get or build a choke, you are going to need it

I want a 70W handheld.
How do I get a 70W handheld?

>>2657338
>How do I get a 70W handheld?
With back pain

>>2657088
>I also bought the ARRL 6 volume handbook
So the ARRL has finally stooped to guerilla marketing?

>>2657088
/k/ and /out/ have ham radio threads? Time to troll them.

>>2657355
I daresay this general does more for recruiting new people than ARRL. The Japanese growth in /ham/ is far greater, why haven't they looked into the reasons?

>>2657382
>/k/ and /out/ have ham radio threads?
I know /k/ does, but they are remarkably clueless. And that is peculiar since most /ham/ operators I know have military background.
>Time to troll them.
The /k/lowns already do that themselves.

excuse my idiocity,
how does an amplifier allow to tx and also rx if it has an input and an output?
i get it amplifies in one direction but in the other direction, does the rf signal get reduced or what?

>>2657424
there are relays, in receiving condition the antenna is connected to the transceiver directly (or through an integrated preamplifier but let's keep it simple here)
when transmitting, PTT (push to talk) signal or VOX (voice detection) triggers the relays in the amplifier and the signal from the transceiver goes through the amplifier part.
in the schematic : receiving is the green path, relay contacts are bottom ones, transmitting is red, contacts on the top

>>2657443
and you can see PTT signal goes through a transistor to get it some punch and activates the relay

>>2657443
Good luck sourcing the transistor for this ever since they soft-banned RF amplifier technology.
That’s why there’s so much digital shit out there now—so they can control it’s use.
If it weren’t for the chinese that don’t care about the bans, the hobby would be dead. Same with fentanyl.

>>2657470
>Good luck sourcing the transistor for this ever since they soft-banned RF amplifier technology.
This is a conspiracy was not aware of. In any case, you can get very far with 10 W and a hand pump.

>>2657088
Good luck anon. Consider your doorstop purchase a donation to the hobby. I got my technician license two weeks after I bought my first transceiver and discovered I liked the hobby. The test is easy if you have an IT background. Grind out these practice tests until you can get >=26/35 100% of the time:
https://hamstudy.org/tech2022
>>2657096
You need to stop being lame bruh I gave you the answer in the last thread. My callsign is registered to an address in a different callsign region and my registrant name is not my legal name. 100% valid license but nobody can find me unless they foxhunt my signal. Good luck finding me I love doing portables.
>I get along with all the boomers on air though so this is actually a non-issue

>>2657443
The relay in the amp runs off a stepped up DC voltage, which returns a higher current to the transcievers relay. The transciever PTT relay cant hack it and gets damaged by the arc. Uneeda stepdown diode circut between the amp and the transciever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Aw0Y_Gan4&t=733s

>>2657470
A few second search says you're mistaken.

>>2657607
> a few second search
If you look deeper, you’ll realize they’re all fake.
Any actual motorola stocks of these things were depleted years ago. The one posted is also obviously fake.
Not only won’t they come close to their power rating, they won’t come near the frequency either.

>>2657604
When you see a video, or a posting, with ham all in capital letters you know it was done by a guy who discovered the radio hobby only 15 minutes earlier.

>>2657604
there's a transistor between the relay and the PTT in that schematic, so that would avoid that problem ?
But you are right that a relay needs a free run diode

FFS how can they still make money out of that

>>2657810
You forget the point: it isn't about making money. It's more about gathering intel on other countries. Why do you think they're so adamant pushing apps like Tiktok and Temu when they're well known to have Chinese malware in its code?

>>2657830
>gathering intel on other countries
That handled cannot communicate with anything that is more than 1km away, China is a bit out of reach.

>>2657832
UHF is line of sight and perhaps 1 km across the ground. It is still within reach of Chinese satellites and "weather ballons".

>>2657839
I've talked 20+km on flat ground with antennas on vehicle roofs.

>>2657843
Direct line of sight?
Optical communications can also reach enormous distances (and nice bandwidth) and long as you have LOS.

>>2656777
doesn't fucking matter when everything is backdoored at the hardware level, digital comms have the same issue

Would a G5RV antenna (or any antenna really) have any reach at all when mounted at about head height? There's no way I can get a mast up, only other option would be maybe putting it in the attic.

>>2658092
Put it in the attic if it's not surrounded by metal, try to get the feedline going perpendicular as far as possible on the way down to your shack.
t. did Japan with an attic dipole

>>2658092
No. I would use something else. G5RV antennas don't like being near metal and need the ladder/window line section to be above and perpendicular to the ground to work

>>2658269
What would you recommend?

>>2658359
Not him, but any other dipole that you can feed with coax and a 1:1 balun

>>2658359
You could try a doublet or a sloper. If it's only going to be 6' off the ground don't expect to Tx on 40m - 160m and be heard. You will be able to Rx, however I think a loop would be your best bet if you want to transmit on those bands.

>>2657092
Praise "Bob"

>>2658516
ayy

>>2657084
I'm lookin gat the schematics for the 4S-Tuner by NM0S and yours is a bit different, what are you doing with that jumper wire and the inductor?

>>2658654
>4S-Tuner by NM0S and yours is a bit different
That's true, I had a few schematics in front of me and just built a T-match in similar fashion.
I didn't have a switch at hand, so I decided half an IC bed would suffice as a plug board.
The pins are connected to the coil taps.

>>2655469
Anyone here have any practical experiences with the FT-710?

I bought the HamStudy app because everyone says it's what you need.
It's literally just a bunch of questions, where the hell do I get the actual guide and rules of amateur radio?
I thought it was going to have a book I can read.

I've just gotten a shortwave radio for the first time. Anyone have suggestions for stations that aren't evangelical? I know ReportOfTheWeek does broadcasts. I'm in the mid Atlantic region. 7.08Mhz is currently playing the wails of hell it sounds like.

>>2658779
Do you mean english language broadcasts? I like Radio New Zealand International and occasionally listen to BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle.

This might be helpful: https://www.short-wave.info/index.php

>>2658777
impressive trips
It's free btw
https://hamstudy.org/tech2022
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.practicalapps.hamtrainer/
Grinding the technician test will give you a good idea of what the rules are but they're not that hard to summarize
>don't be an asshole to others
>ID with your callsign every 10 minutes and at the end of every communication
>only use the stuff your license allows
>no broadcasts, encryption
>no obscene language (lol)
https://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Band%20Chart%20-%2011X17%20Color.pdf
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-97
https://www.hamradioschool.com/post/basic-on-air-rules-regs

>>2658871
also next op needs to throw this in the general
https://openmhz.com/

>>2658777
this is what I used. read a chapter then grinded it on hamstudy.
https://www.kb6nu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2022-no-nonsense-tech-study-guide-v2-20230204.pdf

>>2657810
>fewer or completely missing filter stages
>wider tolerance components
>buggy firmware or fpga implementation of functions instead of ic
>>2657830
That's an issue mostly with IP-capable devices. Ham handies are too retarded to be able to have a dedicated exfiltration mechanism, specially when they can monitor the bands from space or from compromised devices by Huawei, Dahua, etc.

>>2659380
>missing filter stages
>Ham handies are too retarded to be able to have a dedicated exfiltration mechanism
On a second thought, the harmonics would be suspiciously useful for that

>>2658777
>everyone says it's what you need
You need to know the answers, which are publicly available.
You paid for free information.
I was going to offer advice, but I fear you're too dumb.

>>2658777
You got ripped off, bro. You could have just downloaded any of the old Tech books for the information. Then, use this app, memorize every question from each section until you miss none 3 times in a row. Then, take practice tests over and over until you miss no more than 3 many times in a row. It's what I did for all three of my tickets.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.delasystems.hamradioexamtech&hl=en_US&gl=US

Just note in the future, you can get away with cheap with a lot in ham radio if you know what the fuck you are doing. Sounds like you don't so join a club afterwards so you don't waste a lot of money like you did eith HamStudy.

Found cables on aliexpress that actually work. Any andflmsg users on here? Local hams are still stuck in the 80's and have never even heard of most digital modes.

>>2658871
> ID with your callsign every 10 minutes and at the end of every communication
That seems like a pain in the ass. Can’t they give you your own frequency band or something?

>>2659700
>ID with your callsign every 10 minutes
When in QSO.
Also nobody does that once the callsigns are clear for each party

>>2659700
You have to buy the frequency, but then you don’t need l license. It’s like $1200 per band iirc

I'm trying to create a double cross antenna to pick up weather satellites as well as random shortwave and stuff. I'm going off pic related but I'm not sure why they have the dipole length as 38.25" for 137mhz frequency. A half wavelength dipole should be 42" shouldn't it?

>>2659832
>QST
Dunno, you should ask the ARRL. They're very helpful and knowledgeable people ;)
41" = 137mHz.
Perhaps the crosses have an affect on each other making them electro-magnetically shorte... good question. Maybe the 100 ohm impedance?

>>2659856
Here's the other page
I'm very new at this, according to the plans, they should be around 50 ohm output

>>2659832
>>2659856
>making them electro-magnetically shorte
Anon almost had it.
There is a shortening factor depending on many things like cross section of the antenna wire and stuff.
The guy who wrote the article probably calculated this beforehand.

>>2659872
Ah, I guess I'm just overthinking it. The article is frustrating because the measurements are given "About 38 inches long" and "About 20 inches separation between dipoles" without explaining why.

My original plan was to make a QFH antenna but bending the wires sounds like a pain, and from searching the double cross appears to work better anyway (Assuming you're making it out of garbage like I am)

Here's the first image I managed to pull from NOAA15 with some shitty rabbit ears.

>>2659872
My logic broke thinking something so close would be parasitic and depending on the spacing, extend, not shorten, the element.
>>2659876
It's a well written article despite glossing over the steps to how he came to the conclusion. It could have been trimmed due to length constraints. Searching his callsign + NOAA returns more articles if you're hungry on finding the exact why and formula.
>they should be around 50 ohm output
>Each pair is wired in series to have an impedance of 100 ohms
...
>After connecting ,,, we end up with 50 ohms
That's where I was thinking there was a loss, but that too would require more length, not short.
Cynically, I'd bet he built it at 42", then trimmed based on his antenna analyzer, then made up a percentage or formula, then applied some logic (right or wrong) to look smart.

>>2659876
I built a QFH antenna from 1/4 inch copper tubing, a length of plastic pipe, and plans from the internet. it worked better than any other antenna I tried. it's omni directional and works pretty well down to the horizon (if you can see the horizon).

The issue I had was bandwidth you need a receiver that can receive 137mhz at 34khz bandwidth. I could get images but no color.

this was over 5 years ago since I last used it. I moved since then and don't have the antenna up. I need to make a new one.

this is the best pic I could find of it.

>>2659913
My original inclination was to make the QRF, but I've never made an antenna beyond long wires so I figured the double cross would be easier to start with. I may also try to make a V dipole but at full wavelength.

Here's my second attempt at NOAA 15.

>>2659925
from the looks of that, your antenna is to low to the ground and your bandwidth is also too small.

if you are going to use rabbit ears place them fully apart use them horizontally with the antennas perpendicular to the path the satellite will take.

like the pic here. the horizontal line on top is the satellite track if it was going directly overhead.

dipole antennas are directional when held horizontal and omni when vertical. though technically they are still omni directional but it's from horizon to horizon in all directions.

when horizontal they are directional perpendicular to the directions the two sides are extended to.

so when lined up with the satellites track they have the best chance of receiving. but they need to be as high up as you can get for a better picture.

>>2659930
I have them at about 21 inch long each end, at 120 ish degrees apart. It's about 10 feet off the ground, but it's hooked with a gorilla tripod to a metal awning and is facing with the open end pointing north. I'm sure if I put it on a tripod and went outside I could get a better signal since I'm sure the metal awning is fucking with it (And south is blocked by the house)

Question as well: when I'm listening to shortwave I have a bear of a time because my house is about 300 feet from an electrical substation in one direction and 1100 feet from a small(Pic related) AM tower in the other direction. I usually use a shitty 2 dollar AM band stop filter but I didn't use it when getting these pics- I'm guessing these two things will negatively affect my signal just like it does with shortwave.

I did this NOAA stuff. It's not that hard. Literally just make a overly wide V. Like a woman doing the splits 3/4 of the way. One leg on the bed other up in the air and a bit off to the side. Wide inverted v. Enjoy the reception. Aim broadside for expected pass.

>>2659936
yeah the issue with a dipole is that for it to work best it needs to be perpendicular to the track all the time. think a yagi but with no reflector or director. thats why the QFH and double cross antennas work best for this type of thing. unless you want to use a dish antenna with tracking abilities.

the AM station should not matter so much for 137mhz, but the filter will not hurt, and will probably help if using an SDR. substation will just be putting out 60hz and maybe some crackling if they switch somethin on or off.

>>2659936
Oh yes bud, in this situation I might try a high pass filter. Getting away from surrounding metal. A tuned preamp at the antenna might work (I don't know if good kits exist anymore).

>>2659940
Oh no bud, even if off frequency large amounts of RF can make a receiver go off frequency friendheim.

>>2659942
I meant go deaf by large off Frequency high power signals is what I meant to say my brethren in radio wizardry.

>>2659936
Sure that's an AM station?
I see a directional VHF up top and a dated microwave dish

>>2659941
>>2659942
>>2659948

Are these chinkshit knock offs a legitimate replacement for the KFDtool? Anyone have experience with them? I half think customs will seize the damn thing.

>>2659940
>and will probably help if using an SDR
I'm using an RTL-SDR v3
>>2659949
>Sure that's an AM station?
I'm not sure what the dish is doing (If anything, backhaul?) and the VHF is pointed away from my house, but it blasts biggie and snoop at 1400khz, about 1000 watts.

>>2652622
I actually have a question about FRS radios like in OP.
I have been trying out a couple different ones, I've been trying to do a propagation test by playing music out of a device on loop next to one FRS handheld and then I can just walk out of the house with the other one and the continuous music tells me exactly how well is propagates.
Problem is the other radio keeps clicking off after about two minutes. Even though the button us clamped down it just goes "BOOP" and then clicks itself off. I'm pissed. Why is it doing this? It happens with a BOOP noise so it's not an error, it's written into software on purpose. WHY? The propagation was going way better than I thought it would!!!!!

>>2659975
there's probably a setting in the radio to auto-time out so that if you stuff it in a pocket and accidentally depress the transmit button it doesn't just transmit forever and annoy everyone/waste battery. usually listed as "TOT" in the menu or something.

>>2659969
Forgot pic

>>2659978
Well......fuck. Okay, so then is there any way to get around it? The continuous music testing really worked well. I can't see anything about radios saying if they do or don't do that.

>>2659986
you will probably need to program it via PC or if it has a screen use the menu. My uv-5r has a TOT setting to turn it off.

>>2659973
>I'm not sure what the dish is doing (If anything, backhaul?) and the VHF is pointed away from my house
I like you.
Keep being awesome.
It's all about progress and experimenting.

>>2659978
I have cobras, and I think the VOX mode might work too. I read my FRS radios have a timeout too.
But I think it’s a legal issue with FRS/GMRS bands… you can’t open a channel for more than 2 min continuously. I believe….
Maybe a real ham radio guy knows, it might be on their Voight-Kampff test to get a license.

>>2659997
>’s a legal issue with FRS/GMRS bands… you can’t open a channel for more than 2 min continuously. I believe….
>Implying Chang gives two shits about transmit laws

>>2660013
> chang
If chang wants to import and or sell in The US they better care or it will be confisncated.
For FRS devices they can’t be used for GMRS too, in one device, and
They need to have FIXED antennas that you can’t remove.
And, of course, limited to .5 watts.

>>2659989
This particular FRS does not seem to seem to be able to be programmable. >>2659997
The one I posted is really barebones. If it even has a vox mode, there's no was to turn it on our off.

So......if it's programmed into all FRS radios, what can I do?
All I can think of is learn C programming, learn servos, buy servos, build a big robot with a finger that presses and holds the button for two monutes, then lets go and does it again.
Man, no way, there's gotta ba an easier solution.

>>2660273
>there's gotta be an easier solution.
Just have a friend hold the button down as your do your thing.

>>2660273
Kid me did the same thing with various walkie talkies and my Walkman, I rubber-banded the PTT button and got on my bike and started riding, kek.
If my FRS walkie had had this feature, I would've had to build a simple robot out of K'nex or something to push and release the button. Don't know if you have access to something like that though. Like that other anon said, maybe the best solution is just to have somebody else help you.

>>2660273
If you are willing to open it, I think you could attach a digital switch like a “4066” … there is a resident digital switchologist in /ohm/

Note that opening it up/modifying might be technically illegal

I'm going to be making my own antenna soon so I want to hear you guys opinions on element material. The internet is full of pissing matches about how/what to use as the element

Copper is generally agreed upon as the best most affordable material, but it will corrode fast. steel sounds nice because it's cheap, but it rusts and has a bad skin effect. Aluminum is "Okay" but because it's very corrosion resistant people recommend it.

Any reason I can't just use copper and spray paint it with protective enamel? At the mention of painting antennas most forums turn to shit flinging instantly.

>>2659925
got a better picture today.

>>2660596
You might get a better picture with a PLL

>>2660581
>Any reason I can't just use copper and spray paint it with protective enamel?
it does something to the electrical characteristics of the material but I don't remember what. It is possible you end up with a very bad antenna if you calculate it with pure copper and then paint it, the elements can be to short or too long then.
Aluminium is good, it is better than steel and the oxyde is still conductive

>>2660581

>>2660631
>if you calculate it with pure copper and then paint it, the elements can be to short or too long then
This anon gets it.
You can do it and your antenna will be fine if the coating is good, but you must expect to fiddle with all the length numbers again after coating.
The dielectric of the coating is a variable in calculating the shortening factor.

>>2660581
>Copper is generally agreed upon as the best most affordable material, but it will corrode fast.
This company sells Litz wire with copper. These are coated against corrosion since Litz wire is all about the skin effect.
https://www.newenglandwire.com/product/litz-wire-types-and-constructions/

Credible threat or is the ARRL getting creative with their marketing thanks to your extra $5/year?

>>2661070
Well, people are realizing that they don’t need 1 GB/second on their phone, and you need a truly insane number of microwave towers for the upper bands, so the marketing/mba/vc driven companies are going to start squatting/scalping the bandwidth in the lower, farther reaching frequencies.

A few corrupt kleptocracy based countries have already de-allocated their AM radio bands, and I’m sure the US will follow suit.

just passed my tech, and they dropped me this .pdf before I left. thoughts? I was probably just going to get a chinkshit handheld anyway.

>>2661257
> cheap baofeng thing
Internally it is probably using the same chipset as motorola and yeasu. Only difference is the output transistor size.

>>2661257
>just passed my tech
Congrats, anon.
>30-day premium qrz.com
Pic related is what you will get.

>>2661257
pros
>getting a free $30 radio which is basically just a UV88/RT85 with locked firmware you can never unlock
cons
>giving the lunatics at QRZ.com a copy of your ID
hard pass just buy your own equipment

>>2661285
Most chink radios and some cheaper Yeasu use the same rfic. Rda1846.

>>2661257
>they dropped me this .pdf before I left
Are you human? If your soul is valued at $30 worth of worthless and un-useable gear, by all means enjoy their marketing propaganda.

>>2657698
Because nobody fucking makes BJT transistors anymore. Useless. MOS管 is easier to drive

>>2661257
I would get it myself if I was eligible.
>>2661580
>>2661594
>sour grapes cope

>>2661822
>I would get it myself if I was eligible.
What are you talking about? How are you not 'eligible' to get a useless 5 watt ht?
English is your second language, right? Which is first? Spanish or bug speak?

>>2661824
I've been licensed for more than a decade, fagnuts.

>>2661570
>>2661580
poking around, it seems that the re-flashed radio+cable is usually at least $10 more expensive, and I figured I could probably flash something original if I found it too cucked.

giving them my ID would be a bigger problem, but poking around the login page seems to imply that I don't need it (unless it's for the shipping, which would be strange).

>>2661822
>>sour grapes cope
I'm not trying to dunk on new techs for no reason (I am a new tech too.) But QRZ is actually full of fucking crazies and your ID card is worth more than $30. Here's why.
>TH-UV88 menu is liquid diarrhea
>now imagine the QRZ-1 as the UV88 but with non-upgradable firmware
>and no out of band transmit
>and worse software support
>it has fucking bugs in chirp because of the outdated jank firmware!
https://chirp.danplanet.com/issues/10023
Imagine being a new tech and being bamboozled by free garbage hardware. I guarantee you most techs would be happier starting on a Baofeng UV-82.

>>2661668
> mosfet > bjt
Linear region is too small. Doable, but not worth the effort.
> no bjt
On Semi is the legitimate heir to Motorola. They took over some of those fabs.

>>2661963
>start with the high quality baomeme (programming cable not included) instead, because you can tx out of band to all the other licensed amateurs. Also, our AIDS software menu is way better than their AIDS software menu, plus you can update firmware for even more menus and an emergency SOS flashlight mode!

>>2652622
Hello hamanons. I spend a lot of time at my grandpa's dairy farm. It is exactly 29 linear miles from my house. No elevation changes, just trees.

I want to set up a radio system for him and I to contact one another as cell signals sometimes suck and he's not much for Internet. I have two Baofengs. What can I do from here? I'm excited to learn. I'll be reading all your guides in the meantime.

>>2652719
Badass man. You would enjoy watching Wranglerstar on YouTube.

>>2661998
use a landline

>>2661984
It's 2023, you don't even need an FTDI cable anymore. The $5 CH340 cables work on pretty much all the cheap radios.
>TYT doesn't ship with a cable by default either
>our AIDS software menu is way better than their AIDS software menu,
I don't think you understand how bad the UV88 menu is. You can't hold a button to advance the menu so you sometimes have to smash the same button over 10 times.
>change tx power
>UV-82 press one button
>UV88 6 button presses total
>>emergency SOS flashlight mode!
the TYT radio actually transmits the SOS on whatever frequency you're on and there's no setting to disable it. That HT is actually a fucking trainwreck just buy one of these if you're a tech, live a happy life.
https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-82-Power-Portable-Antenna/dp/B09496MLH3/

>>2662019
No thanks, chang.

>>2662019
https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-82-Handheld-Charging-Programming/dp/B0B7W33QJG/

>>2661963
>But QRZ is actually full of fucking crazies
Can I get a QRD on QRZ Crazies? I have signed up for QRZ recently.

>>2662089
>QRD on QRZ Crazies?
Perhaps have a sample? Pic very related.

>>2662089
>>2662130
Their most widely-known fuckup was removing the entirety of Russian amateur callsigns from the database.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-hD60AinnI
https://old.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/14q1thd/typical_fred_from_qrz_removed_the_k3k_meme/

>>2662147
>removing the entirety of Russian amateur callsigns from the database.
That's fucking insane behaviour from anyone wanting to hold the definitive callsign database. I've only just got my ticket but I'm planning to make as many QSOs with Russia as possible to spite all the "Russia doesn't count for this contest" retards.

>>2662147
they should remove the US because their government attacked Iraq, and Mongolia because of the whole Ghengis Khan thing lol

>>2661998
>No elevation changes, just trees.
Direct line of sight? In that case use RONJA, optical communications is license free.

>>2662147
That virtue signaling was as bad as the dumbasses dumping "Russian" vodka they already bought down the drain.

>>2662147
I 'member.
Blocking armatures of a global, peaceful hobby based on the actions of their government is irrational and petty.
>muh safe space!! Russia bad!!

>>2662130
>>2662147
>>2662157
>>2662159
>>2662173
>>2662186
No one cares except /pol/ fags addicted to outrage bait. Keep a fucking paper log if you are contacting Russians.

>>2662147
I know.

>>2662157
Most of the russians doing radio, that i know, hate the government so much they left the country even before the ukranian thing. All they do is complain about the government even now.

>>2662248
Virtue signaling boomer detected. Make sure you have the Ukrainian flag somewhere in your profile along with your pronouns.

>>2662397
>boomer
>pronouns
pick one, retard

>>2662397
kek. Don't forget a bumper sticker

>>2662089
QRZ is better then eHam imo. I'm not signed up for either but do miss being able to read QRZ's technical forums. Now I just go to groups.io if I have issues with a certain piece of equipment. Although there's one British guy on there that worked on Yaesu FT101's. He's an absolute gold mine of info for those rigs.

Hello /ham/, I'm trying to settle an argument and this seems a reasonably knowledgeable place to ask. What's the viability of building a cellular data network with a single base station, to be used as a glorified wifi network that a regular cell phone could connect to? Are there any frequencies with which such a system could be feasibly constructed, for about a 5 mile range, without needing an absurd amount of electricity?

For the sake of discussion, assume that the FCC doesn't exist and that nobody is going to hunt you down for this.

>>2662632
>British guy on there that worked on Yaesu FT101's. He's an absolute gold mine of info for those rigs.
https://www.md0mdi.im/yaesu-ft-101-series-information-page/
I think it's this guy. His info helped me repair my voltage regulator board.

>>2662636
Could be easier to read if you actually said what you wanted, dipshit.
You want some wider area wifi to connect to that offers a gateway to a cellular data network/the internet?

>>2662636
Open source base stations were a thing over 10 years ago.
https://www.networkworld.com/article/2217442/burning-man-s-open-source-cell-phone-system-could-help-save-the-world.html

>>2661257
So why are they giving away questionable Chinese radios instead of developing, say, truSDX? The could go back to uSDX, which was open source, and correct the broken ADC issues.

>>2662705
>offer discount radio deal for new techs to get on the air
>no they should be developing SDR hardware and software, just correct the broken ADC issues
Are you fucking serious? Why are you people so fucking retarded?

>>2662756
Troblye with reading comprehension? I didn't say that the newcomers should work on the SDR hardware, but that that the organizartions should. The SDX variants are not easily hackable, and the latest has license terms that forbid modifications. That is why I suggested going to the first open and free version.

>>2662686
> kHz
I judge a man by the size of his crystal

>>2662636
I think the motorola t800 series has something like that. You can send texts as well.
Don’t know what kind of data protocol is uses though.

>>2662808
>they should work on this poverty tier garbage instead because it's what I want
I got it now.

>>2662856
>I got it now.
Hardly, unless by "it" you mean heavy drugs, because you see to be hallucinating big time.

>>2662848
That's the calibration tone crystal, it's connected to a 25 kHz multiplier so you have a way to reset your tuning knob scale every 25 kHz.

CQ CQ CQ
*crickets*

>>2663057
>CQ CONTEST CQ CONTEST
>**WHAT IS MY RST AND WHAT NUMBER AM I???????**

>>2663083
>It's always 599 (or 5NN)

heh. In fall of '93 I had just passed the 12 wpm CW thus gaining full HF privs. I thought it would be fun to try some casual contesting and maybe snag some cards for IOTA. I think the one I tried was the CQ WPX SSB contest. Due to personal schedule I couldn't join in until the last half of the event & could only operate 40M and 80M. Exchange was the usual callsign, signal, and serial number.

Well, Holy Christ, when I gave out serial #001 to a guy already over 1,000 everything stopped and he sounded incredulous and asked if I was serious. After explaining I was just starting he reluctantly accepted it and we moved on. This happened repeatedly, contact after contact. After about 2 dozen contacts like this I sort of gave up. A senior op in the small town I lived in called me on 146.52 as he heard me on HF. Told him that explaining EVERY SINGLE TIME was getting old & no one else (that I could tell) had to do it. He laughed. Asked if I was going to submit an entry, No I said. He said just fake a number like he does (he's primarily a CW op). And he said just give "59" as a signal report no matter what as most logging software automatically filled in "59" and the operator would have to backup and manually overwrite if I gave them something other. A real pain in the ass for them. I was giving true reports like 55, 47 etc. Anyways, after that it went much smoother. Good to have some cool old guys around to help a newbie out. Irc afterwards someone QSL'd me begging for my card to confirm the semi-rare grid that I was in.

>>2663001
Thanks,
I’ll crack open my radio one day, it’s a heathkit and supposed to have like 20 crystals in it or something crazy like that.

>>2652675
how do I make it

>>2663083
Contesters deserve the rope.

>>2663204
>like 20 crystals in it or something crazy

>>2663178
I remember fiving a Russian a 455 thanks to heavy chriping. The PA stage must have been wired up with shoe laces. He did not reply after that.

>>2657031
>Beamforming has been known and used since the 1910s, but what the fuck is the point of MIMO in ham?
It is a for for diversity reception, and has also been a thing since pic. related was hot.
>Any frequency low enough to see benefits from the added bandwidth is necessarily low enough to where MIMO wont work.
You do realise I hope that you get reflections from the ionosphere, aircrafts and meteor trails?
>high-bandwidth digimodes get fuckall use anyways, so what's the point? pioneer MIMO so the two unicorn autists who understand the shit can exchange video of their greasy faces at higher bitrates on 3cm?
Part of the hobby is exploring new tech, and fading has always been a hassle.

BTW, they made R-390. R-390A, R391, and R-391A, but why never any B-variants?

>>2660273
>All I can think of is learn C programming, learn servos, buy servos, build a big robot with a finger that presses and holds the button for two monutes, then lets go and does it again.
>Man, no way, there's gotta ba an easier solution.

Get a friend to talk to you while you do your range tests?
Oh wait you said easier...

>>2663562
> need freind
Hard to make new fren

>>2659975
Invert the problem. Use a radio at home for reception only and then use the radio you drive around with to send a test message at known locations. When you return home you can see what (and when) recordings you got.

Do you niggers rattlegram? It caught up among local hams and now a previously rarely used repeater is used like a chat room. Shits incredibly fun.

>>2663956
Some frequencies have provisions against transmitting digital.
What about lora? I’m not sure a typical radio can do that though.

I don't want to deal with masting an obvious UHF/VHF ant on my roof and I don't even have a general license for the big dick horizontals. Would hanging an N9TAX antenna off of my second story be a good idea?

>>2664193
http://www.hamuniverse.com/slimjim.html

>>2663956
>rattlegram
it looks like Hellschreiber but more modern of course

>>2657338
enjoy being sterile and/or blind

>>2661285
>probably using the same chipset as motorola and yeasu
wrong except for >>2661593
>Only difference is the output transistor size.
The receiver front end, receiver and output filtering (against spurious emissions) is much better on yaesu and motorola. Baofengs go deaf in frequency congested areas

>>2664040
>I’m not sure a typical radio can do that though
nope but the transceiver chips are cheap enough, there are also plenty readymade boards incorporating some ESP Arduino and LoRa transceiver. LoRa is encrypted by default, so you can't use it out of the box on ham frequencies. But you could play with meshtastic on ISM frequencies as well without your callsign
github.com/travisgoodspeed/loraham/
https://meshtastic.org/

>>2664678
> Encrypted so you can't use it on ham frequencies
What!?!?!
Are you implying that it’s illegal to use encrypted comms over amateur radio frequencies?

>>2664683
Yes, you imbecile.

>>2664683
yes sir
any modulation and encoding scheme is permitted as long as all the technical details of which are publicly available
you can get away with using steganography tho

>>2664691
Nobody ever mentioned that to me before.
I watched a video on rattlesnake and the guy just literally takes text, it emits a sound, and he plays it into the mic of his radio. Seems it would be absolutely trivial to encrypt the text message first, so it’s hard to imagine why that would be ‘illegal’

>>2664695
> encoding scheme, public
This is sounding like ITAR export regulations

>>2664696
it is trivial and nobody would care most of the time, but it is technically illegal
the reason it's illegal it's not some spook dystopian measure though, it's merely to keep big companies from using ham bands so they have to pay for their own frequencies

Not >>2664691 but >>2664678
>>2664696
It is trivial to encrypt with simple apps like that. It's the same principle of data transfer(AFSK) people have been doing with radio teletype (RTTY) on ham for decades, same as AX.25 networking over VHF packet. Except they use a modem connected to the radio instead of acoustic coupling from a cellphone into a mic and speaker

It's trivial to buy an AES encrypted VHF or UHF radio nowadays as well

Passed my General test today. It was one of those look through all the questions, take a few practice tests, and throw a Hail Mary.
I want to get the Extra this winter. I know I will need to legitimately study for that one. Then I'm planning on learning morse code and do cw exclusively.

>>2664700
I figured it was against mexican drug cartels, but I’m up north and the canadians are mostly harmless and talk like Wisconsin natives.

>>2664704
Thanks, i just learned more from these two posts than all the time I’ve been lurking here and reading the faq. I have a bunch more reading to do…

>>2664705
Congrats, man.
It took me a year to go from General to Extra, but not due to trying.
I wanted General privileges, then slowly decided I wanted Extra privileges. It's the same amount of work with memorization with HamStudy. I passed the actual test first time with both the General and Extra.
The outdated logic and 'theory' doesn't matter - it's about getting the right answer. Both times took a month of on the side practice.

>>2664705
Congrats, anon, and good luck for Extra.
For Morse, see >>2652622
>how do I into Morse code in a good way?
>https://pastebin.com/HByjfN4F

I don't subscribe to the idea that old is bad and new is good, but I do feel that new tech should at the very least not be a regression. And yet this is what I see in the various tabulated review results such as the Sherwood Engineering table and the QST Magazine Product Reviews.
What is the reason for this??

>>2663956
What's old is new again. Was group chatting on packet via a local underutilized 440 MHz repeater in 1994. Seems awkward to type on a phone then hold it to a radio and manually transmitting.

>>2664696
>Seems it would be absolutely trivial to encrypt the text message first, so it’s hard to imagine why that would be ‘illegal’
It would be trivial to encrypt text. But then sending that encrypted text over the airwaves makes it illegal. Of course you knew that in the first place and were just trolling.

>>2665438
No, it’s still shocking because of all the things that use radio and get hacked, like cameras, wireless DECT phones, baby monitors, and even lora should all be encrypted nowadays. I wasn’t even aware lora was even encrypted (i read one of the downsides was all messages can be read by everyone) so you’d imagine using the same technique into another band might be feasible.

I realize to make contacts you don’t want to encrypt, and that those frequencies are usually short range and have commercial/retail device allocations, but I was just generalizing and never imagined it was banned.

Cripes, find me a website that doesn’t use https, everyone is moving to more encryption.

Only thing that made sense was the prevention of the bandwith being exploited by companies,

>mfw get gatekept by an extra because I only have a tech license

>>2665631
lol you americans are unlucky
in my country any retard who can memorize Ohm's law can pass the exam, but you have to actually know about antennas and shit

>>2665506
>wireless DECT phones
Turns out older DECT is unencrypted but newer ones are. Also DECT shares frequency bands with cell phone systems.
And baby monitors should definitely be encrypted; there have been many horror stories already.

>>2665702
>older DECT is unencrypted
How old?

>>2665708
Not sure. My source is here:
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/listening-in-to-a-dect-digital-cordless-phone-with-a-hackrf/

A few questions about grounding. Some places I read are adamant both the antenna and ham station (and all the devices) need to be grounded. Is it normal to cut open the coax and ground the line like you see here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08KkVxEMveI)? I have seen a few setups in person and everyone pretty much says you should but they don't. My 120 year old house had a questionable ground so I reran a new wire from the panel and installed a new grounding rod. My understanding is I have to run a fat copper wire from that ground rod to the other side of the house to a new rod for the ham antennas and tie my entire station into it. Do you use a lightning arrest in line on top of that? Is it just easier to skip all this shit and unplug the coax when not in use and leave it in a glass jar?

>>2665843
>Is it just easier to skip all this shit and unplug the coax when not in use and leave it in a glass jar?
It is for me, I have te VHF / UHF antenna coax and the HF antennas (via a selector) to unplug, also the command cable for the selector.
I had the possibility to ground the coax cables but didn't, because the RF ground has to be very, very good, meaning burying a fuckton of wires, copper, rods in a very good soil for that to be efficient. But it only avoid surges, not lightning.
The problem with redirecting antennas to the ground is that in cas of lightning, the ground potential is now 10s of kilovolts different from the mains, and you can see a pretty number of devices with a neutral, phase and ground plug, these devices will die, they aren't protected for this.
So the antenna ground must be different and very far away from the mains ground and you need to be sure that 10s of Kv will be dissipated between the two, if you live in a marsh, maybe that's possible, I don't want to take the risk.
Antennas free floating means the y don't attract lightning because they aren't a short path to ground, I am very happy with that but other people might want something else.

It was so much fun jamming the 706 Mt Diablo repeater back in the Ham wars k7ij days... We had all these uptight (hams are literally mentally ill, larpers who think a ham "license" makes them federal agents) OMG it was hilarious, they would dox you and go to yer employer, follow you, my gawd hams are CANCER most are dead as only boomers kept it going ....

RIP n8MZA da big dawg...

Holly weird could make a movie about that shit, we were "assisting" getting berkely batshit crazy homeless licenses, giving them 2 meter rigs COMEDY GOLD... I placed a jamming transmitter repeating mexican music on side of Mt Diablo, they never found it but went CRAZY RD effing it....

>>2666036
correction
n6MZA the scourge of 415

MY RE-TEST
I recently went back to San Diego,
making sure I steered away from the SDPD,
to meet Riley and retake the ham test.
I had no reason to study for I am a smart man.
I easily blurted out my answers
as my lovely wife read me the questions.
It took Riley about 5 minutes to grade my test.
He then looked at me,
and trying to keep from laughing he said
"You failed! You failed the NOVICE!
How can you NOT pass the novice!!??"
Well, I took it the second time and still did not pass.
I do not know when I will head back to San Diego
to try to get my ham license back.
This in N6MMMMMMMMMMM-Zed-A...clear.
I don't have an e-address but you can leave your comments on the

>>2665506
Work at a hotel. We use regular FRS radios, we send out door codes, and passwords all the time. Thinking about it now, that’s probably not the greatest idea in the world.

At last!
>KIWISDR 2 PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/kiwisdr-2-pre-announcement/
>KiwiSDR is a 14-bit wideband RX only HF software defined radio created by John Seamons (ZL/KF6VO). The KiwiSDR has up to 32 MHz of bandwidth, so it can receive the entire 10 kHz - 30 MHz VLF/LF/MW/HF spectrum all at once. Other than the specifications, the main interesting feature about the KiwiSDR is that it is designed to be operated entirely as an online web based SDR which is accessed over a network connection. Owners can optionally share their KiwiSDRs online with anyone who wants to access it, which also allows for interesting distributed applications, such as TDoA direction finding, which allows users to pinpoint the location of unknown HF transmissions such as numbers stations.

>KiwiSDR 2 has recently been "pre-announced" by creator John Seamons on the KiwiSDR forums. The changes to the design are not huge, but they bring a few iterative improvements. He writes:
>KiwiSDR 2 Goals:

>Minimal changes. Fastest time-to-market with lowest possible risk. BUT since the PCB is going to be re-spun fix some of the known limitations that don't add too much risk:

>New RF front-end:
>Balanced input via balun transformer
>Digital attenuator (per the advisory group: pSemi PE4312, 0 - 31.5 dB, 0.5 dB steps)
>Gas discharge tube (GDT) across input in addition to TVS diodes
>Static drain resistors (100K) from input connections to ground
>External ADC clock brought out on third SMA connector
>Self test loopback mode using a short cable between this SMA and antenna input
>New GPS chip to replace current one which is now EOL
>Reverse polarity protection (via P-FET) on 5V DC input
>TVS diode across 5V input

>>2666264
Thanks for the advertisement! I enjoy constantly being bombarded with thinly veiled ads disguised as organic hype by real people on image boards.

>>2666264
> TVS diode across 5V input
What a headlining freature—it’s just like every hard disc drive ever made.
> Now with decoupling capacitors!!

>>2666323
It is a pre-announcement, there is no offer for sale, there is not even a request for money, tghey don't even know what it will cost in he end. How then can this be an ad?

I posted it because I found it interesting and had planned to buy the old one until I learned that it was EOL. Lots of rigs are EOL recently, so it is good news that this one is updated. The end of 817 and 818 has left a hole, and no 819 has been announced.

Even Raspberry Pi 5 is nowhere in sight, what is the reason for the halt in development across the board?

>>2666383
>It is a pre-announcement,

>>2666383
>designed to be operated entirely as an online web based SDR which is accessed over a network connection
>replacement for an 817/818
Thanks shillbot 5000

>>2666323
This anon fucks!

>>2652622
>use signalink to capture high quality recordings of people calling each other on a repeater
>occasionally play them back at random times through another repeater when no-one is talking
>people answer only to get no further response
>everyone is confused as fuck but don't believe it's a recording because the sound quality is so good
>hear people say that the repeater has a strange malfunction
signalink is definitely worth the $150
I have never used it for digital modes lol

Does anyone here participate in or do foxhunts?
I just tried one in the vhf band using my spectrum analyzer and got completely kneecapped by signal reflection.
My go to for wifi bug finding is just a simple omni to do the site survey and then a near field to locate each device.
Well that doesn't fucking work when every piece of metal within 20m of the vhf transmitter is pissing out reflections
I guess I need a highly directional antenna, so I was considering a loop antenna, and probably a decent adjustable attenuator with a frequency offset.
I want to basically point the big end in a direction and have +-5° of accuracy in the direction of the transmitter. My spectrum analyzer is based on a hackrf so it fucks.

>>2666389
>My reading comprehension is shot.
Bot detected.

>>2666398
>capture high quality recordings of people
>play them back at random times through another repeater
>signalink is definitely worth the $150

>>2666436
>It's the reader's fault, not the author's.

>>2666401
A highly directive antenna is not enough, you will still see the reflections, just with greater precision. There is a report of a fox hunt for a GPS jammer in a marina. It was important to find it but again the reflections made it extremely hard, even for professionals. It turned out to be a faulty TV antenna amplifier on a boat. Most likely it was near the antenna, and the elevated position was idea for filling the landscape with reflections. A circularly polarized antenna would probably have some resistance against linearly polarized jamming.

>>2666476

>>2666501
https://www.gpsworld.com/the-hunt-rfi/

>>2666520
Lmao that's like a few miles from where I live, I go fishing there every year

>me and friends are gonna go hiking with a billion different models of radios because I just had to try out all the CCRs
fuck. oh well at least they all work the same when you lock the keypad
>whoops all my ham radios turned into MURS radios

>>2666264
Damn this sounds nice but too bad it's fucking massive

So i was looking at the spectrum allocations, and here’s something I can’t figure out:
Why the military needs so much bandwidth!?!?

So, domestically there’s little if any need for it since they just do stuff like pump out Louisiana after it floods and maybe break up antifa riots. Just get on emergency rescue and police bands.

When actually doing war stuff you’d better hope they’re on another continent—with different rules—which they’re not gonna follow anyway so just use whatever they fancy.

Anyway, they should open up those bands here in the US for general use already instead of squatting on them.

>>2666675
O I d equipment they can't afford to upgrade. Even if they have upgraded they don't want anyone to know. Even if they could work alongside you, they'd dont want to because your shit might be a little out of spec. And fuck with their shit.

>>2666652
Massive, what? It is all designed to fit a single PCB that attaches to a Beaglebone.

>>2666675
>Why the military needs so much bandwidth!?!?
They don't, though they do need some bandwidth at various frequency bands. Even if there are som old equipment as >>2666705 states, the military upgrades equipment continuously, and SDR was an early military project.

Reality is that this is not about technology but all about culture. If you want to reach the top you have to be at a prestigious post which is anywhere but signals and communications. And the posts that do lead you to the top (infantry, subs, carriers, fighter jets) are in many ways conservative and possession is prestige. Yielding bandwith thus equals loss of possessions and prestige, so it won't fly. During the Clinton presidency people did look into this question and Pentagon was ordered to review the situation. No nobody's surprise they declared they needed it all. They don't.

Part of the conservartive thinking is that they use circuit switched comms, not packed switched. So even if they rotate frequencies (which is rarely), the use of specific frequencies will yield traffic information. This they consider acceptable and preferable compared to going for packet switched. One example is the "Skyking" broadcasts, which now is close to intentional.

We have had cognitive radio tech for decades but little happens, perhaps outside ALE on HF bands. Now that Elon Must fills the skies with Starlink, the military is starting to look a little silly, especially as Ukraine has great success with Startlink.

>>2666725
My projects involve embedding sdr equipment in other hardware

>>2666747
> especially as Ukraine has great success with Starlink

The russians were often using their cellphone, and stolen cell phones so ukraine just let them and monitored everything, ha ha! Brilliant.

I've got a Team Ham MobileCom 1011 and I had to repair its amp by soldering in two new mosfets. That worked but now I have to recalibrate the amp. At the moment it puts out about 10 watts in all modes. The power control at the front just has little effect (+/- 2-3 watts). Expected are 5 to 40w for AM/FM and up to 60 for SSB. How do I adjust the potties around the mosfets? How does an amp loke that with 3+1 mosfets work? Is the one a pre-amp and the other three pull it up? (The three "big" fets are solded parallely from what I see.)

>>2666836
You'll need a bunch of expensive equipment so unless you're interesting in spending 500+ it might be better to have it done by someone else

>>2666844
nah, I dim. if I trash it, then I can live with that.

I haven't heard anything on 7.20Mhz since reading the FCC was going to clean up the air.
Can anyone confirm?

>>2666891
>FCC was going to clean up the air
umm wat?

>>2666803
That war has been the test field for a lot of electronic warfare (EW) stuff. The Russians have done some stupid stuff but I hope the US does not rely on stupidity also in the future. Unfortunately that happens too often.
Ukraine has captured several Russian EW assets, these are now in the US for analysis. Hopefully the entire NATO sees the need to modernize the entire communications system. They have a long, long way to go.

>>2666891
>>2666898
Anon posted the image of a chronic HF shitposter/drunktard

>>2656439
huge pile of GU-81M linear amps in parallel

>>2657470
>soft-banned RF amplifier technology.
Huh, guess i'm not the only one to notice this
at least you can still find them (or pieces of plastic with RF transistor markings) on ebay

>>2666898
I can't find the specific notice, but I enjoyed K9RSY on 7.200Mhz when I needed some company. I recall seeing something from the FCC earlier this year or last year saying they were going to crack down, then haven't heard Dan since.
>>2666922
Maybe his liver finally gave out. I don't understand how someone could be drunk 24/7 for a decade plus and stay alive.

>>2666939
>>2666891
are the 14.313 schizos still talking?

>>2666941
>>2666891
Crisis adverted - they're on 7.200 now.
Seems late in the day. I'd usually catch them around noon and they sounded blackout drunk.
I should put together a dipole, SDR, and website dedicated to these guys . The original /b/

>>2666946
A good webSDR to listen in? I'm in Yuropooristan waiting for my chance to hear the banter live.

>>2666948
I'm recording and will snip a bit and share it here. I'm one State away, so he comes in fine during the day

>>2666963
Thanks, anon.

If I stand on top of the mountains will I be able to QSO my friends that passed away?

Can anyone identify this signal ?
Is it a digital mode or something ?
Its always here like 24/24 on my cibi band

QUUU ESSS WHYYY >>2667213
SWITCH QRG >>2667213
CHANNEL UP >>2667213

Got my callsign today. I am now officially a hamfag. Will the communications agency automatically publish my info? I dont want my info on the internet.

>>2667286
Congrats, anon!

>>2667286
good job !