/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I love preppers so much.
>overhear prepper group on GMRS ch2
>they're doing a larping session
>start playing scat man on ch 2 on 30 watt radio
>they move to ch 3
>make it play while going through all the channels
Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop, bitches. Learn to deal with threats better, larpers.

CQ contest, calling CQ contest... this is the only thing I ever do is contest because ham is dead.

>the Chad repeaters

>>2769567
you're 59 swollen prostate

>>2769567
you're 59 swollen prostate.

dumb question
If I get a rtl-sdr, can I listen to two frequencies at the same time? They're less than 2mhz apart

>>2769722
nope.

>>2769724

I thought you actually could if you use the right software. Can't you use multiple SDR dongles to decrypt P25?

It is probably too technical for someone with little radio knowledge however

>>2769727
You're not decrypting P25. Nobody is.

>>2769777
kek

>>2769722
websdrs do this
from what I understand they receive the raw I/Q data from the sdr, then do some stuff to it to allow multiple users to tune anywhere in the range of where the SDR is centered
still looking for info on how they actually do that

>>2769784
the fag at twente doesn't want to tell us.

>>2769599
based 101 enjoyer
>>2769722
You can record the I/Q stream and listen to the recording later on any frequency

>>2769777

Don't be such a faggot about semantics

>>2769514
Where do you live that you actually pick up ANY GMRS traffic? Geographical area is fine. In short, I don't believe you. FRS I would have believed - you get kids there at Birthday parties using Walmart blister-pack radios.

>>2769811
not him, but around here GMRS is as popular as 2M

>>2769811
Nta, but I pick up GMRS traffic. I once picked up a dirt bike race going 8 miles away. There's also two GMRS repeaters I can also pick up.

>>2769815
Wow. I guess I am jealous in a way. GMRS is as dead here as 2m simplex. The only reason 2m alive here is repeater vampire that will jump on any call. I'll stand corrected.

>>2769843
How many people in your area has a GMRS license? If there's plenty and you have spare cash, you could always get a repeater up and running. Though, you won't get much unless those people are also interested.

Never fall for their tricks.

>>2769908
This pic is truth, although you will rarely get 100w radiating on that wire. Also keep in mind your coax braid is also a radiator in this setup, so good idea to put an air choke or line isolator near the rig end.

>>2769722
You can do this with SDRAngel
https://www.sdrangel.org/

As long as it is in the 2.4 MHz bandwidth range of the RTL-SDR, though for your instance you might be better off getting another RTL-SDR.

>>2770139
this video explains how to do it with SDRangel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfbuOT_RawI

You could also use GNU Radio, but thats a bit more complicated to setup.

I want into SIGINT and comms, I know the very basics of comms, I read NCscout book, now I'm watching some YT courses for ham radio and S2 underground.
i got a vanilla baofeng uv5r, it would be good to develop the listening post concept to monitor signals around me, I saw the hack rf one in S2s video and it seems good as a standalone receiver for almost everything, and also has capabilities to do cooler stuff that I don't even know now.
so yes give me some info on where to go look to learn and what to do

I'm also starting my journey into trying to have more privacy and opsec for my life in general, like leaving less trace on the internet and making it harder to be spied on by the police if they wanted to

>>2770154
>making it harder to be spied on by the police
Don't use radio then, numbnuts.

>>2770258
what

>>2770154
>S2 underground
GHOST NET!!!!!

>>2770154
>yes give me some info on where to go look to learn and what to do
I already provided the info in that other thread where I even pointed you to /diy/. The OP text is full of links and it will take you more than a week to read and understand it all. All the information you need has been placed in your hands already.

How do I create a radar?

>>2770474
For what? Like doppler weather radar? Thit’s going to be very different than, say, car speed radar police use. What are you pointing at?
(This is why I never go on airplanes because of the radar dishes pointed at it)

>>2770407
I know dude I just posted here too for completeness, the links are good

>>2770476
Don't respond to the radarfag.

I goon to this daily

>>2769785
How about KiwiSDR? It's open source so maybe that could help if someone wants to figure out.

>>2770817
to a receiver?

>>2770866
No idea, I am not good at software. I would love some SDR with range scanning, mode regognition, multiple listening capability but maybe it's a bit out of reach for civilians

>>2770817
It looks good, very good, but the DSP might be obsolete by todays standards. I like my icom IC-720 line, it needs an AT-100 and it would be complete but I don't use it often. The nice thing is aligning is done by a pot under the little cover on the top.

>>2771133
>I would love some SDR with range scanning,
Not sure what that is. With SDR you view the entire pan simultaneously, no linear scan anymore
> mode regognition,
SIGINT is available for anyone, teh FAQ has links
>multiple listening capability
KiwiSDR and others has that out of the box
>but maybe it's a bit out of reach for civilians
A modern ham operator has all of this available.

Falling more and more in love with Vara every day, what an amazing program. Fuck FT8. Also I got a SSTV pic to and from Hong Kong from western US, so pretty stoked. On 10m no less, usually sstv is a 20m thing.

>>2769514
Thank baofeng for funneling so many retards into the licensed amateur bands.
t. 11 meters chad.

Anyone want to share the installers passphrase to sd22-1?

I'm a ham with a lot to learn.
Recently I stumbled across the concept that's popular in CB radio - dual radiating antennas.
I quickly dismissed that as aesthetics or ignorance, but I have a vertical HF element at home and keep being dragged into the concept.
2 vertical driven elements goes against everything I've come across as a ham, and yet it's not radically different than a yagi
Has anyone explored the topic? I suppose I could do some modeling - it's just seems like such a coin flip. Either it's folk lore or genius.
In a lot of ways, that's life.

>>2771921
In ham a similar concept is practiced, phased arrays.
Dual radiating is a primitive version of this that only really works decently on semi trucks for various reasons.

>>2771929
>phased array
Yes! At some point I connect that dot after associating parasitic elements and a yagi and reflectors and then try to factor in hf vf v/uhf and it hasn't come out the other side.
>Hey Bob, I just got a 6 element Hustler vertical. It's great!
>Good for you, Joe!
I've never seen anyone respond
>Joe - that's nice ... but wait until you buy a second 6 element Hustler vertical and put it X feet away. It's a life changer!!

>>2771936
well the shitty thing about phased arrays is they're almost always monoband and you need a lot of space since they need to be 1/4 wave apart and there is generally 4 of them
plus your coax between them needs to be cut and tuned precisely since it's part of your phasing tuning. It's not a simple setup and only a technically minded ham would even bother.

>>2771217
>Not sure what that is. With SDR you view the entire pan simultaneously, no linear scan anymore
There's still a limit on how wide it can monitor yeah?
I bought a RTL-SDR the other day and I only have ~2Mhz range in the software I'm using (GQRX).
Also, what software should I be using?

>>2771975
>RTL-SDR the other day and I only have ~2Mhz range
that's the capability of RTL-SDR, some do more like SDRPlay, hackrf, etc.

>>2771981
Does much chatter happen on HF?
How would I find the channels/frequencies where this chatter happens?
Anyone know of any lists that I can import into SDR software?
Have been considering testing with Skykang EAMs.

>>2770817
Nice radio. I got to play with an NRD-535D with matching speaker briefly in the early 90's. The digital filters, build quality, and looks had me drooling for one for a long time but the price tag put me off.

>>2771134
I still have my Icom 730 I bought many years ago. Solid radio. The guy I bought it off was primarily a CW op so he had the 500 hz CW filter option. I remember having to pop the top hatch open to switch on the voice processor and to calibrate the frequency via the little pot. No frequency counter so had to tune it to WWV on 10 MHz and adjust by ear until the tone was in phase.

I posted this on /out/ because I didn't know there was a general. There's a couple of chucklefucks around my house that do dumb shit all the time in the woods and have recently raided my garden. I know they use radios since I heard them chattering on them before, so I'm going to buy a cheapo baofeng and eavesdrop on them to make sure I'm aware of any potential antics regarding my property. I'm not really a radiofag, so how do I find what channel they are on and will they know if I connect to it?

>>2771995
Channel 69 has all the chatter.

Reposting from /g/ since I didn't know there was a general:

My question is, do you have any recommendations on walkie Talkies for range and clarity? Any particular brands? What about vehicle-to-vehicle? Should I just skip it and go to CB radio instead? A lot of people say the Baofeng UV5Rs bypass/ignore regulations, meaning they get further range than most even though they shouldn't. Was wondering if anyone had any thoughts.

Most recommendations seem to come down to:
Cobra
Motorola
Retevis
Midland
Rocky Talkies
OxBow
Baofeng

Or some sort of CB setup. Ideally looking for best range for buck so long as it reliably works.

>>2772212
channel 69 bro

>>2772212
>walkie Talkies for range and clarity
That's too ambiguous. How far do you want? What type of things are you doing? What is the terrain?
>>2772031
>frequency mode
>scan
It may take awhile especially if they're out of band. I'm told the scan of an SDR is quicker.

>>2772218
Mostly vehicle to vehicle on the highway. Terrain changes a lot, sometimes flat, sometimes mountainous. Distance can be created pretty quick, so something that can communicate reliably for a few miles at least.

>>2772220
>something that can communicate reliably for a few miles at least
>miles
From 'miles', I'll assume you're talking around Appalachia or the Rocky Mountains. FCC law would govern and is an important distinction in picking what you can use.
>Terrain changes a lot
The more terrain, the less the signal will travel.
>vehicle to vehicle
Mobile, a few miles, and obstructions.
Don't get a handheld.
I'd recommend GMRS, ham, and CB in that order.
This guy is pretty on point with gmrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-4EveDVEb4
For comparison, the radios he's reviewing are 50 watts. Those handhelds are 0.5-2 watts.
An external antenna is also very helpful.

>>2772220
>>2772226
I forgot an important point about those handhelds
>but it says can go 50 miles**
>but it says can go 20 miles**
>but it says can go 75 miles**
That's line of sight. You know how a flashlight or laser COULD go a mile, but it hits a tree or a wall or a bridge or the roof of your vehicle?
Those chicken shit marketers are saying those handhelds **could** be used that far ... if you and the other individual were in a perfect environment on the top of a barren mountain.
In actuality, you'd be lucky to get a few blocks' range since your radio wave has to pass through the glass of your car, then through there care and bounce off a house and ...

>>2772220
Install a CB, buy cheap baofeng(the FRS frequencies fall into the ham bands), use neither because no one uses radios to talk anymore unless predetermined in person or over a cell phone. If you have a convoy going both options will cover 99% of what other people have. If you are passing someone at 60mph and they are driving 60mph you are lucky if you can say anything but hello because you are separating at 2 miles per minute and as mentioned all these are LOS options.

>>2772220
I'm going to mostly second >>2772226. GMRS base station first, but I'm going to change CB to second but put in that you should get a basestation that can do 9w single side band. Use ham if the other two are failing. The reason why I put ham last in your situation is because
1) every party will need to get the license
2) though it's a bonus that the infrastructure is already there for repeaters, reprogramming on-the-fly will be difficult and you'll most likely need to look on repeaterbook and program ahead of time.
Though, I will say ham will be the most versatile of all your options.

>>2772393
GMRS requires a license. Why not just use FRS with the 5ish 8w you can get for a cheap "ham" handheld? We both know 8w and 50w will make it the same distance over a mountain and no one is gonna eat your ass using a uv5r on FRS channels.

>>2772426
>GMRS requires a license.
GMRS requires a $35 fee that's good for 10 years and covers 'extended family'.
Interpreted loosely, his friends could be 'family'.
$35. For a decade. For everyone. No test.

>>2772220
CB is best if you buy good equipment, know how to tune & calibrate it and use an amp.
I suggest you get european export models when you can. Make sure your antenna is in line with your radios specs.
Just check your SWR, listen to your own modulation, and don't fall for retards and salesmen.

>>2772466
>I don't always tune up, but when I do, I do so on top of a spanish speaking station babbling nonstop with a poorly tuned amp

Does anybody know where I could get this? Is there a free library around? I have only found an older edition, and it's not in the library in the OP:
>Get on the air with hf digital
>Steve Ford, ARRL 2022
>ISBN 978 1625951595/ 1625951590

>>2772468
SECÚ SECÚ LIMA UNIÓN NUEVE ESRREI ESRREI ESRREI LLAMADA GENERAL BANDA OCHENTA METROS

>>2772473
Why would you ever want an ARRL publication? I mean no habla
https://radioaficionados.com.ar/revistas/Get%20on%20the%20Air%20with%20HF%20Digital%20-%20ARRL.PDF

>>2772480
>Why would you ever want an ARRL publication?
A friend of mine is looking for a particular article.
>I mean no habla
Even down here we recognize that English is the lingua franca of ham radio, most here can at least read English, included my friend.
>file
Thanks, but that's the older edition we've already found. Does anybody know where we could get the 2022 edition?

>>2772437
FRS is free, for life, for everyone, and has the exact same limitations because we both know he's not gonna build a repeater. What kind of glow in the dark crypto are you smoking where you pay $35 and dox yourself to the feds for the exact same service you get for free. Test.

>>2772522
>FRS is free
>exact same limitations
are you a stupid or a troll? There are several key differences.

>>2772522
>glow in the dark crypto
>dox yourself to the feds
>oh mr. government man look at me I'm super important operator
>I mean no I'm not, please don't look at how awesome I am
*larping intensifies*

>>2772522
>*screams into the mic in a valley with mouth directly on the mic*
>"WHY CAN NO ONE HEAR ME? THIS EQUIPMENT IS JUNK!"

>>2772522
Good Lord. Heaven forbid you give away less info than required for a driver's license or voter ID to gain 50w - nevermind nearly any miscreant can vote now. If you are paying a power bill you are already out there Ted.

>>2772667
Just get a ham general license and get the fuck off lame ass repeaters.

>>2772383
>(the FRS frequencies fall into the ham bands)
Ha!

>>2772522
>dox yourself
You have never searched your own name on the internet before.

>get cheap radio
>drive around
>get on frequencies used by nearby businesses
>say something offensive
>repeat no more than once a month
It's the little things that make life worth living

whoever wrote the original hamfaq is a massive faggot, holy shit

>>2772667
>>2772525
Hey gmrsfags. What's a good 50w handheld? Oh even at 50w you can't make it 2 miles because LOS obstructions? Oh there's no 50w handhelds because that's an insane amount of power to lug around vs a 5-10w handheld? All the gmrs handhelds are 5w anyways? better use FRS. Ignore all the government agents telling you to gmrs.
No one cares if you 5-10w on a FRS channel. Get your shit together. Whoever decided to restrict gmrs with a loicense instead of letting FRS be 10w and have more channels should neck themselves.
Now greentext the rare scenario you need 50w when 8w won't cut it.

>QSO PARTY!!!!

>>2772927
I don't know about you but I don't want 50w of VHF near my face. Stick with FRS if you want a handheld and talk with all the kids at birthday parties.

>>2772741
>most businesses use dmr/p25 or trunking systems so this has no effect and your cheap toy radio does nothing
Life is good.

>>2772426
>>2772437
>GMRS requires a license

>>2773056
Oooh gonna be a badass and shoot GMRS...

A: Nobody will answer you
B: GMRS is only thing frigging FCC pays attention to now
C: You won't be infringing anyone
D: The only bigger loser is FRS trolls
E: Why broadcast that you are a lifeless virgin? Even birthday party kids will pick up on this and make fun of you.

>>2773145
Funny thing is, FCC and FAA are busting people daily. Seems they have nothing better to do. FCC - Radio transmissions, and FAA - people flying drones higher than 400' or beyond what they define as line of sight. Big income for a nation with a senile president.

Funny thing, I've yet to hear any of you badasses on any frequency, or seen any of your drones flying in my airspace. Until then, you are just pussies.

>>2773056
I'm cool with learning the rules and then learning how to break them
But the first step for anyone is learning the rules.

>>2773149
>if it doesn't happen in my area, it doesn't happen
Kek, people fly rc above the limit all the time. Above that altitude your hardcore badass eyes just can't spot them.

>>2773200
Don't blast a repeater with music. This should be fairly obvious. I wonder if he got in more trouble and was easier to find due to having a license.

>>2773202
Do this near an airbase or international airport, tough guy.

>>2773362
bootlicker

>>2773591
>posts picture of himself
weird

>overhear larper reeeeee over ham boomers gatekeeping him because he's too dumb to memorize easy questions and answers
>he just buys a UV5R and programs his larper channels just because his larper friends told him to since they saw it on a larper channel on YT
>turn on my Scatman rig and have Scatman play on every larper channel
Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop, larper.

>>2773995
k, have fun

>>2772220
fuck cb and ham and walkie talkies.
use a 900mhz radio that lets you have talk groups n privacy n shit that will blow any deaf chinkshit radio out of the fuckin water. Available for free at ur local cop car, ensuring you have plenty of people to talk too while out on the road

>>2774175
I have one of these too, and unless you're talking about putting in a scanner that covers 900MHz, it's one of the least used amateur bands that people actually use to talk to each other. All commercial use. Also all P25.

>>2774175
> 900 MHz
Nice. Low freq should be able to get some distance.
I think you could re-wire some old cordless phones and maybe use the “intercom” feature. Has anyone tried this?

>>2773200
LOL thats what you get for using your real name and address. Swatted, that’s what…
Getting license… and using GMRS… LOL.

> only one channel.
That’s why we have lots of channels. There was this one guy using my gmrs channel and not even speaking american, so I just switched and moved on.

So I get that it's illegal to transmit on FRS frequencies with a ham radio. But to my understanding, that's a short range frequency right? So how would they catch you? If it's short range, it's not like joe blow at the FCC headquarters can hear you right?

>>2774503
If you look at the people getting in trouble it's jammers. I don't think the FCC even acknowledges people broadcasting on real ham bands without a license. Sure some old guy will lecture you but if you're not interrupting ARES nets no one who matters cares. CB has people constantly blaring soundboards and recordings for years at thousands of watts comfortably from their home with no recourse. No one is going to give a shit or be able to tell if you use 8w in a FRS channel.

>>2774503
>illegal
No, it's against the rules.

No one actually cares (except sad hams) unless you are causing interference. If you and a buddy have UV5Rs and transmit on 145.550 without alicense and it is causing no issues, then I don't care.

>MESHTASTIC!!!

how bad would it be if i used this adapter for a 433MHz antenna (receiving), if its only rated for 300MHz?

>>2774790
you lose some db but otherwise nothing

Anyone here use a SOTA beams mast? I have no idea how much they can bend without breaking and it stresses me out

>>2775013
I have one from DXwire and one from spiderbeam, they can take a lot of bending, as far as a i know these are glorified fiberglass fishing poles, so they are really flexible.
The 10m one from SOTAbeam looks a lot like the one from dxwire :
https://www.sotabeams.co.uk/compact-light-weight-10-m-32-ft-travel-mast/
https://www.dx-wire.de/gfk-masten/
That's the one in picrel, minus the two smaller elements, with a FD3 and a small balun at the top, no wind, no guying

>>2775051
Okay cool thanks for the sanity check. I just put together some guy ropes for it last night as well so between those and what you said I should be good I hope.

>>2775071
these guy ropes will do some good, but don't tension them heavily, allow some slack, everything is flexible, don't create a point in the mast where things go from rigid to flexible

>>2775079
Okay thanks for the tip. I'll try tying the other side down to some tent stakes tonight

Well, that's not bad for today, I thought the Adonis AM-508 was dead (of course I bought the AVAIR AM-508 because of that) and it's not, it just needs a good antenna without RF feedback, the end-fed is condemned, I hope the FD4 will do the trick.
Powered up a Yaesu FT-900 to check if I could sell it, it works ok but outputs only 90 tops, has some broken screw tabs at the back, I bought it because the other Yaesu FT-900 I have turned off randomly, tried the CPU reset with the backup switch in the manual, did nothing, that symptom is the sign of dead variable capacitors in the PLL, almost impossible to find now so I was lazy and got another Tx of the same model.
Turns out disassembling the removable head, pressing a strange undocumented reset button, cleaning everything and turning it on solves the problem, it's unfortunate I have no fucking of what did the trick.
Now I can sell a tx, a mic and get some money for the FT-Dx101MP kek

How do you find the frequencies that people are actively talking on? I hear about people making friends over the radio, but when I scan I just find static or workplace radios

>>2775143
I guess you listen to VHF, it's not densely populated...
for ham it's easier, there are limited ranges of frequencies where hams are, so you'll find someone there, likewise for CB on 27 MHz

>>2774536
Are local GPS jammers illegal? I heard it was common run a jammer to prevent things like apple tags placed illicitly on your vehicle or person

>>2775157
Yes, extremely.

>>2775157
yep, it's becoming a big problem in places like Finland
https://yle.fi/a/74-20078739
very illegal

>>2775167
>drivers increasingly try to hide their tracks
The cars are tracked ? What the fuck is happening there ?

>>2775168
commercial trucks, company cars etc

>>2769631
Reminds me of this

>>2775079
>>>>2775013
>>2775071
They worked well, I made sure to set them with some slack. Thanks again.

>>2775146
What frequencies would they be? How can I tell?

>>2775206
Nice ! Enjoy the outside anon

>>2775157
Wildly illegal.
In my city, air traffic control at the major international airport was having issues reported regularly where planes coming in on GPS assisted tracks were losing locks and forcing pilots to switch to manual while already in-pattern. It really pissed them off. FBI and FCC got involved and used aeriel surveillance imagery to identify a vehicle which was on the nearby freeway at times coinciding with the incidents. Turns out it was a truck driver using a Chinese GPS jammer to block his company's fleet tracking. He got absolutely legally raped over this.

>no state QSO parties

>>2775799
>random QSO party
>YL voice heard
>watch them lose their shit
>spaghetti everywhere

>>2769487
If any of you motherfuckers are in or near Zagreb get on RU700 (438.750/431.150). I'm always listening.

Just set up after moving.
I have a jpole vhf/uhf driller to the end of a gutter railing for now, but it seems to be working well enough.

I'm thinking of getting 3 of those 10' x 1.5" metal fence poles and a 50lb bag of concrete to put the jpole on, with an eye bolt to hoist up the center of my 40m dipole.
It's not gonna get me out crazy far, but it's enough to use voice locally and js8 call a bit further.

I think my first project is going to be getting either 706mkiig or IC207 hooked up to packet, as my area has a few repeaters for it I want to try interacting with.

Why does a dipole have 72 ohm impedance. Is this a theoretical value or a practical one?

>>2775995
Based, esp being not only being a Big 3 guy, but also not afraid to show off also having a UV5R.

>>2776153
it's a theoretical value, it will vary with the height from the ground, nearby objects, if it's not straight, etc., but it's a good starting point. You know you won't need an impedance transformer.
You can achieve 50 ohms with a dipole if it's in an inverted V : the "legs" seeing each other introduce some capacitance effect and lower the impedance but it also changes other characteristics of the dipole : it is not longer directional

So is that good or not ? I am confused by all of this

>>2770139
>2.4 MHz bandwidth range of the RTL-SDR

I suspect that is the limitation of some software package. How else would they receive DVB TV?

>>2776299
This is just like a weather report, that is you still need to stick you head out the door and observe the actual local conditions. In this case, turn on the radio and check out band conditions. Flux/activity can create openings that allow longer than normal paths, but they open sporadically and for a limited time. The time varies from a few minutes to several hours. However, you may just have terrible conditions, like higher than normal noise floor.

>>2776432
>check out band conditions
I did but I have a crappy end fed antenna, 40m looked okayish, 20m crappy, 10m was closed (at least for me)
I thought with maximal solar activity the conditions would be amazing...

>>2776434
No, it doesn't guarantee great conditions, just the potential to be better than normal.

>>2775995
cozy, would work

I was going to throw up a dipole behind my house on the west anchored off my chimney. However, it's a metal roof and I'm reading that's no bueno.

I've got 30 Acers on my family farm. I'm debating between throwing up the dipole and hoping, getting a vertical, or just getting like 500 feet of 18 gauge wire and joining the 9:1 balun gang to escape the roof and power lines (orange) by running it along the pasture fencing.

>>2776672
>I was going to throw up a dipole behind my house on the west anchored off my chimney. However, it's a metal roof and I'm reading that's no bueno.

Not a huge deal really.

>pasture fencing.

We have hundreds of miles of 3/4 wire cattle fence around here, the top wire is the best antenna I never paid for.

>>2776672
>However, it's a metal roof and I'm reading that's no bueno.
If you can take advantake of that as a ground plane, you are golden.

>I've got 30 Acers on my family farm.
My man, up your game: build yourself a Wullenweber and be the undisputed king of the airwaves.

>>2776672
>I've got 30 Acers on my family farm
SKYLOOP

>>2769487
Based Thread, balanced levels of technical knowledge and tomfoolery without the gatekeeping and autism of ham forums. Proud of you /diy/ always harass tacticool larpers on gmrs talkies as they don't know how to into pl tones.

>>2772927
Hams are moving into it and setting repeaters up in droves as no one is on ham and gmrs is starting to get more popular. Same nets about cpaps and colonoscopies except its on uhf now.

Thinking of getting my technician license, are there any cool jobs I can get with it? I can only think of being dispatch for the fire department or some shit and working for a radio station

>>2776818
Motorola Solutions techs make decent money, You'll have access to all the unobtanium p25 programming software and they have a shit ton of government contracts to maintain for the forseeable future.

>>2776815
kys
>>2776818
>Thinking of getting my technician license, are there any cool jobs I can get with it?
no, that's why it's an amateur license
>dispatch for the fire department or some shit and working for a radio station
Those take actual degrees and professional licenses.
>>2776821
https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/commercial-radio-operator-license-program/commercial-0

>>2775587
> gps jammers
Putin is coming for GPS, he already test blocked it from st. Peter’s-burg.
Anyway, you should start preparing to do without it.

>>2776855
Faggot like you in every radio thread, please consume bleach in large quantities immediately.

>>2776767
>>2776759
>>2776689

Gonna play around with other ideas too, like clipping onto the fence or getting a skyloop. But, to start I'm thinking something like pic rel.
I probably wont go the full 1100 feet, but as far as I can go with a single stretch of unsupported wire.

How do you pick a balun or unun ratio? Online I see a lot of guys just pick 9:1 unun

>>2776818
>are there any cool jobs I can get with it?
This can help you set yourself apart from the rest when you apply for a job. I did that, still have that on my Linkedin profile.

I can't see picrel being a good antenna because one side is grounded. You are better off just clipping to the dense at that rate. Clip to your metal roof and see where it resonates rx. Baluns and ununs are magic, you might find for your area and setup it helps, but it can easily hinder. One antenna could be great in one area but complete garbage by comparison in another (based on soil type, desired frequency, shack equipment...) Just run a wire up your tallest tree and cut it to a 1/4, 1/2, or full wavelength of your desired frequency.
There's research in turning the tree itself into an antenna. My 40ish ft oak picks up 40m better than my 131ft long wire up a mast.
https://eandt.theiet.org/2016/10/13/man-who-made-trees-talk-and-changed-radio-forever

>>2776672
>vertical
>longwire
>dipole
With 30 acres why not do all? :^)

A vertical usually has a low angle of radiation so better for DX but radials are critical. Just lay down as many radials as you can. Good soil conductivity helps too. I knew a guy in the praries who mounted a Cushcraft R7 or something on his wellhead. Said he got excellent performance over his wire antennas.

>pasture fencing mentioned by >>2776689
You should experiment with this, especially on the low bands. I recall during FD '95 we had a 160/80/40 dipole set up as a sloper & talking to another club station ~350 km away on 160m that was using a 1/4 wave wire vertical suspended from a tethered wx balloon.. Signals were okay but when we tapped into the 3/4" galvanized stranded cable about 3 ft off the ground being used as a fenceline, the signals were nearly full quieting on receive. Poor on transmit as the far end 80 metres away wasn't terminated properly. We'd toggle between the dipole and fence wire during tx and rx with an MFJ959.

Hopefully that powerline won't give you grief with noise.

>>2776943
>but as far as I can go with a single stretch of unsupported wire.
Just from personal experience: it's going to be brought down some way or another. It maybe a tree branch, a bird, or even wind. If you are going the random wire route, make sure to have regular supports along the way. Even using zip tying it into a tree branch will suffice. Depending many factors (like >>2777104 said), it may be excellent for certain bands yet completely deaf on others. That's the mystery with antennas: what should work somehow doesn't yet what shouldn't work sometimes produces excellent results.

>How do you pick a balun or unun ratio? Online I see a lot of guys just pick 9:1 unun
Don't worry whether it's an unun or a balun. 9:1 works but a 49:1 would probably suffice better for a random wire (which is why >>2769908 is wrong.) You are going to need a tuner anyway. Also, make sure to have a counterpoise. Trust me that'll work a lot better, even if it's just 17' danging freely off the unun in a tree or even wrapped around a branch.

I also second >>2777147's response. You have the room: why not multiple antennas abd use an antenna switch? If you want to DX, switch to the vertical; if you want regional, switch to it, etc.

>>2776818
Art Bell claimed to have landed his Coast to Coast position because he met a ham in the workplace

>>2776877
You first, tough guy

>>2776875
>Anyway, you should start preparing to do without it.
Already underway, various naval academies have now re-started training people in the use of a sextant.
Conversely, all hams should know how to use a sextant.

>>2777272
>know how to use a sextant
That's the next skill I'm planning to acquire.

What conversational digital modes are popular now? I've got a Kantronics packet 3, and both a HF and a VHF rig that can work digital.
I tried FT8, which was some kind of lead paint brain damaged boomer activity hell. I though JS8 was chill when I managed to make another contact, but even that was more guys trying to get DX contacts for their "worked all X" nonsense awards.
Is there a popular mode for just meeting and talking to new people around the world? Or should I just stick to CQ'in into a mic?

>>2777471
Stick to voice contacts if you want to ragchew. Digital modes are mainly used to get easy quantity of contacts or for larpers like that Tech Prepper guy.

>ARES net running
>normally 10-15 checkins
>woman is net control this week
>46 check-ins

>>2777173
>That's the mystery with antennas: what should work somehow doesn't yet what shouldn't work sometimes produces excellent results.
Is the implication here that we don't necessarily understand how they work?
Can we mathematically model them to a very high degree of accuracy - or is it:
>model it
>hope it works according to our models
>fuck

>>2777536
>obsessed

>>2777567
I've used antenna design software and a laser etcher to make the exact GHZ antenna I modeled and treated it in a faraday enclosed lab
It was pretty close, but really all that stuff about null zones is theoretically, and everything is unidirectionally leaky to some extent.

>>2777574
>simped for a girl on the airwaves
Did you join in on the pile up when she gave out her callsign like the 20 other hams?

>>2777536
Around here, I hear many female operators are retired radio officers from the merchant navy with a preference for about 30+ WPM. Oh, and most are about 70 years old.

>>2769487
Can anyone tell me if this is a good sdr?
If not what is?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32936334224.html?

>>2778338
it's standard, a good thing to start with.
Be aware it doesn't receive below 24MHz, so HF is a bit out of reach.

>>2778338
discard what i said : >>2778403
They do HF but I don't know how exactly :

HF Direct Sampling Mode (V3) or HF Upconversion (V4) - Listen to 500 kHz - 28.8 MHz with direct sampling on the V3 model, or upconversion of the V4 model. There is a built in 25 MHz low pass filter, but additional HF filters may be required for optimal performance (e.g. to attenuate strong MW AM).

Maybe get the V4 if you'll use windows or linux, the software is compatible

>>2778338
That is V3, you might want to consider V4:
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/
That page will also help you in spotting fakes.

>>2778406
>>2778415
Thanks for the help, reading up on them now and found a V4 on amazon.
Can you tell me what advantage this has over using something like these?
Also, is there anything else I should purchase when ordering that I may need?
http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
http://na5b.com/

>>2778486
>Can you tell me what advantage this has over using something like these?
I see they don't require internet so that's a bonus.

>>2778486
>Thanks for the help, reading up on them now and found a V4 on amazon.
the V4 is on the same shop on aliexpress
>Can you tell me what advantage this has over using something like these?
it's different, you'll receive things around you and >>2778545
>Also, is there anything else I should purchase when ordering that I may need?
maybe some male SMA for RG58 cable if you want to put an antenna outside

>>2778486
>Can you tell me what advantage this has over using something like these?
The RTL-SDR is cheap and cheerful, has a fairly wide operating band, but has only 7 - 8 effective bits and limited quality at HF bands.
When you start out you should also get some coax cables, a good quality power supply, some ferrite beads for keeping noise level down, perhaps a broadcast band filter (depends on your location) and some copper wire to make your own antennas.

Just looking up web enabled SDRs such as the ones you list or the ones at KiwiSDR, are even cheaper, and you can switch to any that give you the low noise level you want.

>>2778643
>>2778738
Thanks for the info, I do appreciate it.
My bookmarks are filing up and I'm learning lots.
I ordered the RTLSDR V4 and some connections for cables also.
These units are pretty neat and it looks like there is a lot of tweaking and many capabilities.
I look forward to using it and making antennas.
I also purchased another Quansheng UVK5 (8) which looks to be very tweakable and waiting for it all to arrive now.
>ferrite beads for keeping noise level down, perhaps a broadcast band filter
Will check those out too, thank you.

I came across this PDF if anyone is interested, it's 286 pages.

https://dokumen.tips/download/link/the-hobbyists-guide-to-rtl-sdr-really-cheap-software-defined-.html

>another weekend without a state QSO party
I NEED MY QSO PARTIES!!!

What's with all the new shit on Meshtastic? Did zoomers forget we have something called DMR?

anyone have any cool SSTV's? I used to get way more and better quality ones but fucked something with my setup. This is a MLA-30+ magloop

>>2779270

>>2778776
I had a look, and saw it has 1000+ reviews, most positive. The format is rather raw, looks like it was made from a HTML document.
Perhaps we could take the FAQ and build on it until we have a complete book, free for all?

Considering the original hacker culture started with hams, it is puzzling to see just how many paywalls there are these days.

>>2769487
Okay so I mess with using CB and FRS radios a lot for various things, I won't pretend that I know all the physics behind how they work because I don't, I just use them.
I've been wanting to get a programmable so that I can simply listen to both CB and FRS, and I never really gave thought to buying anything other than a baochang uv5r, same as everyone else. I figured I could just program in all the FRS and CB frequencies and be good to go.

But then I heard about this
https://spectrum.ieee.org/quansheng-uv-k5-hacking
Apparently a few different people say that UVK5 can do everything the UVK5 can but the software is much better and way more easy to use. The price isn't really any different. Should I just get that instead? From what I'm reading I think I can still listen to FRS and CB on it no problem. Is there any reason to get the UV5R still?

>>2779622
pray tell how your gonna to have CB on a VHF/UHF radio? they're not even close frequently wise

>>2779664
The BK4819 RF chip the UV-K5 is based on has 18 MHz ~ 660 MHz, 840 MHz ~1300 MHz, half duplex. So you can CB with it. Gonna be doing a pot of antenna switching but its a nice hack around radio for $28. Better than the uv5r for sure IMO. Firmware is flashable so there's a little team of modders working on giving it a scanner, texting ability, pong, among other things.

>>2779673
the horrifying future of people exciting CB linears with Chinese handhelds is here

>>2779676
Indeed.

>>2779622
>listen to FRS and CB
I'm a bit mystified as to what kind of antenna you can use to listen to such different wavelengths at the same time. Do you plan to use two different antennas and a duplexer?

>>2779622
UV-K5 are amazing little cheap things, you can use another firmware to get other possibilities.
From stock, the FM modulation is way better than the Baofeng

>>2779622
If that is your stated goal, go for it. The cheapness means the cost is most likely a drop in a bucket for you. As for me, I don't like cheap chinese shit, so I don't bother even though the UV-K5's are dirt cheap. The only reason I have a bunch of UV-5R's is because I'm a larper and it's going to be the radios I barter with if shtf does happen. If I wanted to listen to CB, I have multiple radios that can listen in like my Yaesu FT-5D and VX-5R. I have zero plans on buying CB's to talk on.

>>2779733
>I have zero plans on buying CB's to talk on.
You shtf larpers are baffling to me.

>>2779733
>because I'm a larper and it's going to be the radios I barter with if shtf does happen
you faggots are insufferable

Oh, we have another larper, eh?

>be on SDR
>scanning for signals
>find one
>it's a bunch of larpers talking to each other during a patrol during SHTF
>they're only using 5w HT's
>direct my directional antenna in their direction
>play Scatman at 50w
>watch SDR to see if they change frequency
>they do
>change my radio to the frequency
>repeat
Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop, bitch.

lmaoooo some based Spaniard sent the KKK over SSTV
>inb4 easter
still pretty funny

>>2779887
its not kkk its a weird religious thing in Spain

>>2779887
>KKK
Traditional Spanish Holy Week garb.

>>2779694
>>2779673
>I'm a bit mystified as to what kind of antenna you can use to listen to such different wavelengths at the same time.
Honestly I spaced it, but yes actually. If I have to buy two different antennas and switch them out when I want to use FRS or CB. Yeah I'm actually okay with that. But I didn't think of it until you mentioned it. Thank you.
So other than the default antenna that comes with it, what would be an antenna to buy for it for FRS, and what would be a CB antenna?
I don't know about either because with my old truck CB setup I just used the antenna that came with it, and FRS radios of course don't have separate antennas. So I don't know what 'FRS antenna' or 'CB antenna' for the UV-K5 would look like.

>>2779953
wtf? I love illegal aliens now!!

>>2779694
You can't without major compromise to either one of the bands. I've researched and experimented with different antennas, and found zero success. The only solution I found is a duplexer like the MFJ-916B.

>>2779978
Buy a reputable antenna for the desired frequency or build one yourself. The nagoya 771 is $20 and works on uhfvhf, the cb antenna is gonna be like a 50" telescopic with a BNC to sma adapter, also $20

>>2780068
>$40 for two pieces of metal
holy shit, you mutts are getting absolutely scammed
you can get a good enough 771 clone from Ali for ~$4, and you can get an also good enough telescopic CB antenna there for ~$6.

>>2779947
wtf kkk's just a ripoff of this shit?

>>2780107
You're probably right about the telescopic antenna because those you can set to the correct length, but the uhfvhf clone I have works for about 3 blocks and the real 771 goes for 2 miles. There might be more legit clones, I spent $10 on mine and it's worse than the antenna that came with the uv5r. The dipole that comes with the rtlsdr blog v3/4 actually works pretty well for stationary setup on the low watt hts too, about 2 miles, probably further if I didn't live in the mountains.

>>2780107
>just buy a cheap chink knock off!
Poors always try to justify buying junk as being smart. Nope, you're just a poor.

>>2780146
Hardware-wise, is an SDR basically just an amplifier, configurable low pass filter and configurable high pass filter?
I'm trans btw.

>>2780174
>I'm trans btw
This is why everyone hates you fucking weirdos. Nobody fucking cares. Die horribly in fire attention faggot.

>>2780146
>real 771 goes for 2 miles
NTA
Yesterday I worked a repeater 18km away (two million and one hundred and twenty barley cornes dry and rounde laid ende to ende in freedom units) with a literal fucking "8 watt" (sure) (eleven thousandth fractions of the employment of one draft horse) Feng and a 771. Good times, plenty of prostates in good shape all around.

>>2780224
Wtf? I only mentioned it just in case it was relevant.

>>2780612
On an anonymous image board, you thought being trans was somehow relevant to the topic of ham radio?

You're just a troll; an attention whoring faggot in a dress; or both...

>>2779220
you can build a mesh node for a couple of bucks and don't need a loisence.
because it uses an app it's non-Ham friendly..

>>2780224
>>2780625
>being baited this easily
newfags

>>2779781
CB is for boomers and literal inbred retards. 100% fudd tier. Nothing good can come from communicating with those mouthbreathers.

>>2780748
Hardly a newfag, but you're right; I took the bait...

>>2780726
too bad its pretty useless compared to a wlan mesh

>>2780748
> CB is for boomers and….
No, it’s for those that don’t want that silly license.
Someone noticed the 99% of the licensed tournament-level D&D dungeon masters had HAM callsigns. I think Magic, The Gathering will come up with similar results.

>>2769784
>>2769785
Wait, isn't this bandwidth pretty crazy? How is it serving this much to 700 users just on an FPGA?

UV-K5 is pretty nice stuff

>>2779622
>Is there any reason to get the UV5R still?
no
the 5r cant do AM
it cant do anything but vhf/uhf
if what you are saying about the K5 and the BK4819 is true, then it is far superior

>>2779673
holy based. I just keyed up on CB with mine and confirmed it with airspy it's doing TX on FM on CB.
surely it wont last long without a tuned antenna for it but thats cool, and it sounds very clear too.
I'll have to get an antenna for it because I'm too afraid of Tx longer than like half a second and maybe burning it out

>>2780874
it emits some mW in 27 MHz, there's no risk to be heard.

>>2780879
It's not 5w at 27?

>>2780886
No, the final transistor tuning is for vhfuhf

>>2780892
Sad
No one makes a compact FM CB handheld fuck. I want one for memes

>>2780895
>No one makes a compact FM CB handheld
Wouxon KG-S72C.

>>2780905
>Wouxon KG-S72C
oh shit I didnt see it came back in stock.
it was out of stock everywhere for a long time
still kind of expensive to buy multiple of them
I basically want a decent radio unlicenced people can use so I can loan them out to friends when we go ride motorcycles. My hopes are the 27mhz will go much further than uhf

>>2780908
They are, but if that's what you want, I don't think you can go much cheaper. I personally don't like it since you can only get 4watts on FM, but only 2 on AM. However, some people in our community is adamant about staying on CB despite their REEEEE'ing about secure comms, so it's what I went with.

Afa motorcycles, is there an option to mount an antenna onto the frames? That might be beneficial to get you some better range. Though, the long antenna needed for effective CB transmission and receiving would be a hindrance.

A possibility you might want to explore would be MURS especially if you have to deal with mountain ranges. At that point, any cheap unlocked radio will suffice so you can get that extra wattage that is not going to matter since no one will notice the difference between 2 and 5 watts. Plus, you also get the advantage of removable antenna. That'll allow you to mount a better antenna onto your motorcycles which will increase your range significantly.

>>2780843
How is it with the stock antenna?
I have a couple on the way, looking forward to tinkering with them.

>>2780945
Limiting
It preforms worse than the uv-5r stock antenna
But somehow I forgot to get my better antenna and put it on

>>2780918
Yeah nah it's gotta be wearable, but like a 30-50cm rubber duck is doable. Maybe can even get fancy and ground it to the bike frame

Murs is always an option, but the closer to legal I can get the better, and Murs requires a fcc certified transmitter, so a real blue dot radio used off ebay or something. Not a hard rule, but the more legal the better.

It's kinda like is a good vhf antenna and 2w better than a shit 11 meter antenna and 4w? I think it first comes down to transceiver quality but my bet is 11 meter still idk.
Obviously 4-5w vhf and good antenna best

>>2781019
Both 11 meter and uhf/vhf are still basically line of sight. You'll probably get better results with the vhf 2w and better antenna. I have a cb and a UHF/vhf antenna on my rig, both 2:1 swr. The cb is like 50 inches and the dualband is 62". CB is 4w and UHF/vhf is 8w. They go almost the same exact distance practically speaking. I have a diamond uhf/vhf that's 38" on my quad and idk what the fuck because my shitty uv5r (5w?) and na771 can go farther than the TYT TH-8600 25w with the diamond antenna. I bought it used so its probably broken or its just a giant pos. Open to suggestions of anyone knows of a good 'weatherproof' uhfvhf mobile unit that can use an ext speaker.

Listen,
Is there a single cheap HF power meter that hasn't PL connectors?
I want BNC or even sma. I just need to check my usdx output that is at most like 3 watts and probably doesn't even work. I don't want to get pl adapters, I don't have any pl cables or antenna

>>2781186
aliexpress.com/item/1005004757474647.html

>>2781203
That's a great find. It didn't listed when I searched for it. Thanks for your service.

Newfag here about a new installation. The cable to my mobile antenna is giving me very bad swr. Is rg58 not usable for UHF(433) or is it just a bad cable/connectors? The cable is 7.5m (23ft) long.

>>2781240
It's bad because it's just TV antenna wire and 95% of it is made by chinks not to spec and works like shit
Use lmr400

>>2781240
What kind of swr meter are you using?
Picture?

>>2781330
I'm using a nanovna. Swr was around 6. The antenna itself is around 1.2.

I just measured 2db loss with the vna on a 3m cable and 10db loss on the 7.5m cable. Seems a bit high to me.

>>2781019
>caring about the FCC
lol
nothing ever happens unless you're actively trying to cause problems

>>2781486
This. No one cares (except salty ham boomers) provided you are not causing interference.

>>2781342
Is it old cable? second hand? Chinese?
Down under we use rg58 with pl259 for mobile uhf cb's, the bases are prewired with about 4 metres of it. Police/fire/ambulance/commercial use it on 400-520mhz.

>>2781486
Some of my friends care too much, I don't care at all

>>2781486
NTA but I live near a fire station, an international airport, and a ship port.
Somebody would care

>>2781606
out of curiosity do you contribute ADS-B or AIS data?
you're in a sweet spot for that

Just came here to say OP is a faggot.

my hackrf just arrived but I noticed this piece sitting strangely inside so I opened it.
what is it and is it a problem?

the rest of the stuff seems to work but if i connect headphones i cant hear shit, yes the headphones setting is on, I've seen a reddit post saying they soldered some chip rotated 90 degrees, I'll have to check

>>2781666

>>2781666
That isn't just a "hackrf"
That's a hackrf one with some Porta pack thing stuck on it.
Maybe you should post where you got it from or whatever is attached to it as well retard

>>2781679
yeah I know it's the hackrf one portapack H2 from opensource sdr lab on aliexperess

Just received one of my Quansheng radios today and I am wondering what "hack" software I should install on it, I see so many and I am confused on whether I should install the firmware from quansheng or if I have to do that for starters then install modded stuff and from where?

>>2781714
Plug in a programming cable into the mic/headphones jack
DO NOT plug in the USB end to your pc
With the radio turned off, hold the ptt key and then turn on the radio.
The led on the top should be on
Now plug the USB end into your pc
Go to this website https://egzumer.github.io/uvtools/?firmwareURL=https://github.com/egzumer/uv-k5-firmware-custom/releases/download/v0.22/egzumer_v0.22.packed.bin
Either use that firmware, or upload a different one, I recommend just use that one because it just werks and has all the good stuff
Then click the button to upload it to the radio, a pop up will appear to select the right serial device
The led will flash the entire time the firmware uploads
If it fails just start from step 1 and keep trying until it works

>>2781668
>>2781666
>>2781697
turns out the sticked component is a speaker, but it didnt work either, now I tried unplugging it and the Jack still didnt work, so I'm thinking it's not receiving any signal.
I'm looking for the chip I saw in the reddit post but separating the 2 boards requires too much force and I dont want to break them

>>2781755

>>2781757
took the nigger apart

looking for anything wrong in it but honestly idk what to even look for

>>2781794

>>2781797
that's the Jack solders

btw mine is a revision 9, the chip from the reddit post doesnt even exist on this one

>>2781802
but did you put an antenna and received something ? Is there some kind of a squelch maybe ?

>>2781803
I did put an antenna and tried various settings of gain and shit but i never get any sound at all, I only get sound when putting the Jack in and out and it does the bzzzt noise

>>2781797
start here, take the thing on the left, the hackrf, and plug it into a pc with a usb micro cable.
then install drivers and airspy
set airspy to some am or fm broadcast radio band and see if you at least receive that.

That will rule out the sdr just not working entirely.

the speaker should just work when there isnt headphones in the hole. https://github.com/portapack-mayhem/mayhem-firmware/wiki/Hardware-overview#portapack-internals

>>2781748
Thanks a lot, that worked great.

>>2781810
k I'll try thanks, I just put it back together after unplugging the battery for some minutes, and also re attached the speaker, will see if it works, then do what you said

the speaker was detached bc it was assembled on top of a resistance so it didnt adhere to the pcb

>>2781815
still nothing

>>2781817
BRUH

i changed the squelch on the INI file for the looking glass app (I assume you know what it is), from 0 to 1 and now I still cant hear shit but when I open the looking glass app and zoom in to listen my headphones have some very low background noise, also the spectrum is less populated I assume due to my base squelch being higher

>>2781820
ok now I'm using the scanner and for some unknown reason I can hear, I can also hear on the looking glass


if you're on the spectrum mode you cant hear, if you go on FM or AM you can

>>2781825
btw the squelch returned to 0 on it's own on the mini file

>>2781826
when I turn it on now I get the mayhem start screen and it doesnt go away until I click a button, before it didn't do that and went straight to the menu indidnt install the software bc the version it came with was already the right one (2.0.0), but after downloading the stuff on the sd front github I re installed the software from the settings just to make sure

>>2781825
>>2781820
yeah idk, I dont really use the portapacks much. I'm pretty sure its intentional that there is no noise on the spectrum analyzer. it works by sweeping across a ton of bands really wide. theres no real way to listen unless you want scanning performance to be significantly slower

I did something slightly different with my hackrf >>2780843 so idk most of the nuances with the portapack since I wasnt able to really integrate it into the case.

why is it that when I'm listening to a frequency on the baofeng I can hear talking no problem but when listening to the same frequency with the looking lens on the hackrf both with AM and FM I dkntbhear much if anything? alotugh I can see the spectrum change when they're talking

>>2781666
>>2781668
>>2781697
>>2781755
>>2781757
>>2781794
>>2781797
>>2781802
>>2781804
>>2781810
>>2781815
>>2781817
>>2781820
>>2781825
>>2781826
>>2781832
>>2782100
This isn't a support forum. Go spam your shit elsewhere.

>>2782103
>This isn't a support forum
It's not? Then what is it? Unboxing pics and sad ham rants?

>>2782106
>sad ham
This isn't reddit either

>>2782103
suck my dick nigger faggot

it's a ham radio thread and I'm talking about ham radio, might be interesting for others reading too or people having the same problem so fuck off

>>2782114
You are full blown retarded and have no idea what you are doing or how to operate your device. It's like going into a motorcycle thread and being ignorant about how a 4 combustion engine works. You should at least read the manual, buy (or god forbid build) a proper antenna, and a multimeter wouldn't hurt.
>it's a ham support thread hurrdurr
If this was bait, well done faggot

>>2782116
ofc I don't know how to use it I bought it to learn along with a book and the manual on github

>>2782116
This is why ham radio is dying...

>>2782100
Did you like, extend the antenna?

>>2782122
yes

but how much depends on the frewicny its not like you got to extend it necessarily all the time

>>2782100
do you have some kind of receive mode where you can select the demodulation ?

>>2782103
nigger

>>2782135
yes it's the looking glass mode, and I tried both AM and FM, one time it did work but then the later times it didnt although on the baofeng I could hear, I mean the audio worked it was just bzzztzz instead of voice

>>2782169
Tried tracing the path from antenna across the board and to the chip? There could be a dry solder issue or a short circuit.

>>2782295
idk but if I listen to other stuff I can hear it np, for example if i listen to normal radio music I can hear very well, so the board works, it's just this case that I dont understand, maybe I'm using it wrong idk

>most of the good ham radio channels are now going full larper mode
God I hate fads.

>>2782434
Don't worry, I got a rig ready to Scatman them since many are showing the frequencies in their videos. My first target to be Scat'd will be the 40m JS8call frequency.

>>2781817
oh my god you're so fucking stupid, this is discord retard tier support spam
read the god damned wiki first before you start expecting everyone to spoon-feed you

>>2782295
there's no way that gorilla nigger owns a multimeter

>>2782493
This is /diy/, ther are more than one way to skin this fox. A skilled /ham/ can skin a fox without using a multimeter.

>>2782524
So induce current then touch the different points to see if I get shocked to find the pathway of the cirucit?

>>2782558
Not what I had in mind. Rather use a long wire that can act as an antenna, and make contact along the antenna input path. If there is a break like dry soldering or b0rken capacitor, you will notice once you are past the break.

ever tried this? recording super low frequency discharge?
https://archive.org/details/ird062/ird062-cd1-stephen-p-mcgreevy-01-alvord-desert-dawn-chorus.mp3

https://ia601307.us.archive.org/29/items/ird062/ird062-00-vlf-booklet.pdf

>>2769487
Does anyone have some tips with reading winlink? You can't encrypt in ham!
According to Giddy, he had to sync the chronology of the spoofing station with the receiver.
I'd enjoy reading boomer spam.

>>2782597
Not much goes on in Winlink anyway. It's just the same exchanges they do on any kind of net.

>t. Winlink Wednesday regular
I'm close to getting my Century designation on WW!

>QSO PARTIES!!!

>>2782582
Now that's a flashback. Thanks for this, i've always had an interest in the basement frequencies. I often visited his webpage and the LWCA one. If I remember correctly McGreevy recorded the three "Eves River" ones in late summer 1994. The location is actually called "Eve River", I used to live in the region and the night he recorded those there was a large auroral event. I still remember that night.

That same year a local with similar interest built one of the McGreevy kits and I obtained a Palomar VLF converter. The Eve River spot McGreevy used is wonderfully radio quiet and although I did have a creepy moment there once, I still go there periodically to listen for weak signals when I pass through the area.

My friend went SK in 2019 and unfortunately I wasn't able to obtain his ELF receiver. I remember it worked well when he pounded a grounding spike into the ground. I want to resurrect my Palomar unit. I've been searching for plans for a loop that covers 10 kHz - 500 kHz.

>>2782597
no tips but interesting topic, i'll read that pdf

A few may recognize my chair.
I was trying to pick up a few contest strategies from the ARRL 'Amateur radio contesting for beginners' book but couldn't help but share an observation.
1. Please note the grey box
>We strive to produce books without error
2. Draw your attention to the table of contents, number 2
>2 Equipment needed for contesting)
>contesting)
>)

>>2782802
>>2783063
I agree it's interesting and I'll explore it further. Not for malicious means, but because it's there. I'm drawn to lockpicking in a similar manner. I have no interest in breaking into a house or stealing something from someone, but having the knowledge that I can beat a lock I see puts a smile on my face.
Again, if you can't encrypt in ham, I want into Winlink.

>>2783089
Not as huge a mistake as the dirt under your thumbnail. Which is, figuratively, your post, and factually, your dirty fingernail.

https://usradioguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/20200307-How-To-Build-A-QFH.pdf

what is the best type of omnidirectional antenna for receiving 433MHZ? ideally one with decent gain pointing upwards as well as to the horizon

>>2783488
1/4 groundplane for 433

>>2783488
Receive only? Discone.

Antenna geeks?

Gabil GRA 7350T. Set it up in the backyard. Can't get the SWR below 57:1 on all HF bands; basically infinite in the RigExpert AA-55. Brand new 25ft run of LMR400.

Should there be electrical continuity through the loading coil? No continuity tone on the multimeter.

Trying to figure out if the coil is bad or my backyard sucks?

>>2783664
>Should there be electrical continuity through the loading coil? No continuity tone on the multimeter.
that sucks.
Yes, from the central connector of the PL at the base to the telescopic antenna you should have at a couple of ohms.
What is that pink coaxial RG316 cable ? it's not LMR400

>>2783665
Not my photo

Thinking I got a used/returned unit. The telescopic tip was slightly bent and I'm not getting anything on the meter for continuity.

>>2783668
can you take it appart further ? There should be a contact that slides on the coil, like coil is on the bottom fixed part, contact is on the sliding upper part

>>2783671
I'll have to check later. The coil and the contact are basically in a sealed housing and not exposed even when sliding it up and down.

>>2783683
ok, can you return it ? Don't take it appart if it will cause more damage

>>2783685
Yeah... back to Amazon it goes I guess.

>>2783618
Please don’t recommend anything ever again

>>2783706
Stick to BooFwangs kiddo. You'd probably learn a thing or 2 if you weren't so arrogant.

>>2783709
not him, the other anon wants to receive on a specific frequency, a discone is not appropriate. A colinear antenna will be better

>>2783710
I’m >>2783706 and >>2783488
Collies suck too for anons question since they rob upwards gain in favor of more gain towards the horizon. The humble 1/4 GPA fits anons bill completely.

>>2783709
STFU bozo, learn antenna theory

>>2783488

I've had great luck with this one. Used a lot of double discones when I was in the military! Very wide banded...

https://unicomradio.com/product/scanking-royal-double-discone-antenna/

>>2783728
Just look at the RX range. The gain and TX range too. And Cheap AF! Gives me a boner...

>>2783488
i should've probably specified that i was planning on using this antenna to receive APRS packets from a model rocket tracker. i already have a yagi that works fine, but i wanted to try out something omnidirectional so that i dont have to point an antenna all the time and so that i can track rockets even if they get lost in the clouds. so far, it looks like a QFH might work best for me, but they're kind of expensive and they look like a pain to make
>>2783542
>>2783718
i dont think that a 1/4 wave would have enough gain in the vertical to work
>>2783618
>>2783728
these look alright but their wide bandwidth kind of worries me. still though, would it be reasonable to just use a discone with the cone side facing upwards, towards the sky?

>>2783762
What kinda altitude we talking?

>>2783762
Corner reflector antenna peaked for 433 pointed skywards then. I’ve also seen them with 3 sides and made aluminium foil cladded cardboard and simple wire. Should be DIYable

>>2783767
no more than 5,000 feet

>>2775013
>spiderbeam fiberglass holding up lmr400 without it being velcroed to the mast because i wanted to see for memes

pretty strong ngl

>>2783865
>velcroed to the mast
just make it do some turns around it, it will get some of the weight off the top

>>2783869
tried that, it was too autistic to pass the whole coil of cable around the mast around and around as i extended it, especially since this is a portable/temporary camping setup

plus I feel like strapping the cable tightly to the mast itself hopefully slightly supports some of the weight of the cable so its not all pulling on the actual j pole

Anyone get any weather images from GEOS or weather sats of the eclipse?

is LF a meme?

>>2784017
>LF
>2200 meters
>135.7kHz
Are you Chad enough to make a dipole fir LF?

>>2784082
There is a bridge here in the right orientation. If I extend a copper wire across the same sound, I can use the bridge as the reflector in the world's largest Yagi.

>>2784100
Based creative anon.

>>2784082
Could I just use a rail road track, or is this a case of where I need to get the antenna extremely high?

why is ham so interesting from a technical level yet so boring from a practical level. They literally just talk about radios and the weather. Or do these pointless QSLs
I just don't get it.

>>2784117
Our local club 2m/70cm repeater has a morning and afternoon "traffic jam" net. It's tech, traffic updates and just plain old rag chewing. HF is a lil more formal imo, but there's something to said about reaching halfway around the world on 10 watts and a homemade antenna.

I like think it's practical experience for when our shitty governments shut shit down or obliterate each other that we normal folks can still communicate, pass news and critical information.

>>2784082
that wasnt the point of my question, more like is reasonably doable to tx over it, and maybe even do voice over it. Does anyone even use it or will I just be shitting up websdrs

As for the antenna, It seems the most common type is inverted L
my plan was to build a 10 meter tall tower at the top of a cliff and then yeet a roll of wire off it down the cliff, and then maybe walk that and put in posts occasionally to insulate it from the ground. the cliff is about 400M tall and averages out to like a 30 degree angle. I would just frontload the rest with some big ass coils

>>2784117
It's the genius catch-22.
It takes a genius to set shit up properly, but the genius ego inhibits them from using it properly.

>>2784107
>Could I just use a rail road track
Probably not, there are usually currents floating along the rails.

>>2784288
What if it isn't electrified? How well would it theoretically? Obviously need an ATU.

>>2784533
>What if it isn't electrified?
They all are. Rail lines use electrical signals to detect track faults and send signals to trains, not necessarily power for propulsion.

>>2784586
Ok whatever, how effective is a long piece of metal running parallel to the earth used as an antenna that ISN'T connected to power

>mess about on websdrs
>haha am radio that sounds like shit
>widen the bandwidth up to like 10-15khz
>shit sounds like FM broadcast, perfectly clear and good.
>wtf
>websdr in EU
>BBC radio 4 longwave
>do same thing
>sounds fucking perfect

Why my whole life have I always heard am radio and it sounded like shit playing through a landline telephone?
Why did everyone unanimously decide to fucking cripple the bandwidth of every receiver ever sold in the US?

>>2784608
Narrow bandnwidths means you can sell more licenses at teh same band.

I don't know shit about radio but I was listening to this talk.
They said they found a way to make a receiver for some band which they said usually needs antennas hundreds of feet long with a 10 ft antenna, they said usually the only hams who touch that band are on farms,
somewhere around 17 minutes in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC5iPJSnsjQ

thought you guys might understand it better than i do

>>2784607
See
>>2776689
I'm not an expert and have no idea why it works... Maybe my remote location plays a role. We have mostly 4 wire cattle fence that runs for miles up and down terrain connected to t posts that are 8 feet apart or so. The top wire is bomb diggity at Rx almost everything. Just for fun when I was building the goat pin I made each side 131.2', total parameter is 160m which is essentially a full wave horizontal loop. It works at well as the top wire of the cattle fence (miles long). I used plastic insulators/stand offs that you use for an electric fence to run the antenna wire which is like 5 feet off the ground. Works better than the 26ft antenna I bought for like $900 (not including the tower). Buying antennas really is a meme.

>>2784671
>The top wire is bomb diggity at Rx almost everything.
Okay what Tx?

>>2784671
Pretty sure that would be effectively a quarter wave

I'm sure I ordered a V4 dongle kit but received a V3 dongle kit. How do they compare?
I have already installed the V4 driver when waiting.

>>2784643
At 1:58:25 onwards he talks about how LED light fittings actually act as a jamming device that targets AM broadcast bands and citizen radio band.

Can any of you comment on this effect?

>>2784984
Got the V3 installed and works great so far.
These things are pretty neat.

Is allstarlink worth setting up an access node for? I was thinking of setting up a simplex node with a RPI.

>>2784643
It's not new. He's loading the antenna with a large coil. It adds inductive reactance to the antenna to make it seem electrically longer than it really is.

Back in 2000 I saw a LOWfer beacon antenna for 1750 band. Rules limited a max antenna height and feedline of 50 ft so to get the resonance down required large base loaded coils. The one I saw was an unknown length of copper wire wrapped around a Rubbermaid garbage can. It was bloody huge.

>>2785015
Yeah, many LED lightbulbs put out a lot of RF hash. An ARRL test showed the offending bulbs are predominantly sold online from overseas (read: China) and dollar stores. I had a druggie neighbour who had a grow-op and his shit chinesium LED grow lights wipe out the AM band and much of the HF spectrum with noise that varies from S9 to 40db over.

>>2785217
>1750 band
oops, that should've read: 1750 metre band.

>>2784608
Hi-fidelity wasn't much of a thing among listeners when AM radio was being established and to change bandwidth regulations would've been very expensive and problematic. Definitely a hard-sell. Enter FM radio with it's relatively lower atmospheric noise at VHF frequencies and larger bandwidths. The audio quality was its major selling point but even then it took a long time to gain acceptance. Read up on Edwin Armstrongs multi-year fight to get FM accepted

The AM-wide setting on my Icom R71A is 15 kHz and is what I use when listening to the local stations or clear channel ones skipping in at night.

>>2785217
Thanks, so I guess I've another reason to avoid chinese stuff.now. I guess they would be a lot less efficient if they're pumping out noise wavelengths outside of their useful light range

>adds inductive reactance
gotcha

>>2785015
It was mentioned here in /ham/ a few years ago that LED lighting had jammed out air traffic radios. The authorities finally put down the donuts and after a while found a gigantic LED installation was the source.

>>2785275
What is it about LEDS that causes so much interference?

>>2785340
Lazy/poor/cheap circuit design. It costs more to do it properly, but, you know, China.

>>2785340
The noise is mainly from the LED power regulators. These are designed to be cheap, not to be compliant.

QSY >>2785963
SWITCH CHANNELS >>2785963
MOVE, ANGRY BOOMERS ON THEIR WAY >>2785963

am I crazy or was this radio from 2012 around $800 a few years ago?!! I bought my ic-7300 for about $900