Try www.balundesigns.com

I like the Yaesu FT1000MP MKV for split, and for S&P you can't beat the band scope on the Icom 756ProIII.

I recommend you go with a call in your area.  There is no requirement that you do but since you're applying for an OT call you may want to follow the OT rules and get it fer your area.

73 es gl getting yer call
Steve

Steve here are couple of your own quotes and my replies:

“I asked a simple question a 10 year old, could answer.”

The fact that you are on here asking these questions says a lot about you.


“but to have absolutely no grasp for the obvious is shocking to me”

If it’s so obvious why are you asking the questions that a 10 year old could answer?  


“And how about the king of morons, K9YLI, probably been on here for years and can't figure out how to avoid posting the same post 4 times.”

You didn’t receive the 10-year-old, spoon fed answer that you like so you resort to calling other hams morons.  


“What a joke.”

Yes you are!


“I am not interested in DIY”

No real surprise here.


“Those others should be ashamed of themselves. In fact, they seem like the type that would be talking on a CB radio instead of ham.”

That’s the spirit.  You asked an extremely vague question and didn’t get the response you liked so you resorted to referring to the hams as CBers.  You are a perfect candidate to be an Internet ham.  


“your defending the morons”

It’s actually “you’re.”  So much for the pot calling the kettle black.


“telling me to get a web cam or use the telephone when I am on a ham forum is asinine.”

No it’s not.  When you want “on demand” communications to the exact part of the country you desire then that may be the best solution.  Next you will want your own dedicated QRM free frequency.


“It's beyond ridiculous.”
Yes you are.


I do have the solution for you and it does involve ham radio.  You and the rest of your family need to get technician licenses and then setup echolink on your computers and you can communicate with each other.  You have to have a license to connect to echolink.  

www.echolink.org

If you want an HT to hit these repeaters then the VX7R may be a good choice.  It will work all those bands.  

The FT817 is a good choice if you want to expand out to HF or use the VHF/UHF bands on SSB also.


>>>we have 6,2, 220 and 440 repeaters all within reach.

Any HF radio will work.  There are many out there and lots of information available on the reviews section of this site.  You can get some very good deals on used rigs if you want to save some money.

The antenna is what you need to focus on.  You need a fan dipole antenna.  Use a 1:1 balun with a set of wires for 80meters and a set for 40 meters.  

Here is more information:

http://www.hamuniverse.com/multidipole.html

73, Steve

What IF worms had machine guns?

MMTTY and WriteLog is the best combination for the serious contester.

73, Steve

W7KB es Milo,

I guarantee that the General exam that I took was A LOT harder then what he took.  But, I agree that we should have fun with our license and continue to learn.  I'm not putting anyone down, I'm simply stating that some of us did indeed work harder and his statements are incorrect.  His age didn't have anything to do with it either.  A lot younger folks upgraded to General and Extra while he had his Tech ticket.

73, Steve
back to WAE RTTY

The Original Author Wrote:

"The point I am trying to make is I have worked just as hard for my ticket as anybody before me.
W4MLO ex KE4RAZ"

Milo, you sat around on your ass and waited for the code to be dropped before you upgraded.  Now I don't have anything against that, but don't come around and blab that you worked just as hard for your ticket as anybody before you.  You most definitely DID NOT!  Every General or above who was licensed a month before you actually worked harder then you did.  All the old Novices and Tech Plus hams worked harder then you did.  

By all means be proud of your license.  I have nothing against that.  But you were a no-code tech for over 11 years waiting on your ass for the code exam to be eliminated and then you come on here bragging that you worked as hard as anyone before you.  I don't think so.

73, Steve

It would be discriminatory against older hams.  As our memory declines we can't memorize some answers as easy as the new young hams can.  Of course in our day it wasn't memorization, we actually had to know about electrical principles, circuits, operation, rules etc.  

Seriously, we would lose a lot of hams if we had to do this.

by K4DPK on October 29, 2009    
Don't let all the negative posts sway you from your goals.


Which negative comments were they?  With the exception that there are only 3 radio companies, I thought all the replies were decent and right. There many options for good radios out there.  A CB is not one of the them, but I understand that the original poster didn't know any better.  That is why he asked the question here.  We all live an learn.

73, Steve.

There are ONLY three valid companies that manufacture Amateur Radios.
___________________________

Ten-Tec and Elecraft aren't "valid"

Who Knew.

Ok, so there's only twol

KJ4PVW,

Welcome to amateur radio.  I hope you have a lot of fun with it.

I know how you feel when you have to wait for a license.  My granddaughter was the same way.  She had to wait for a week to finally get her call.  This was a couple years ago and she has KI4 call.

Now I know you when you first start reading the rest of this you're gonna be thinkin, who is this old fart tellin me stories bout how he had to walk to school in 10 feet of snow and it was uphill....both ways!  I know younger people think this way because my granddaughter thinks this way and gives me that look when I tell her these stories.  

Anyway, I had to drive two hours to the FCC office.  There was no welcome aboard or good luck when dealing with these folks.  Not like when you meet the VEs today and they are so nice.  Imagine the worse person to deal with at the DMV office and multiply that by 100.  

I was going for my General license and the first thing I had to do was take the code exam.  Here's how it was: The first thing you had to do was pass the code exam and if you didn't make it you were done for the day.  No second chance, no take the written and get a CSCE that is good for a year and try again later. Nothing, you were done, go home.  You had that long drive home with nothing.  So they take the exam paper and grade it right there and I passed.

You already know what happens if you didn't pass the code exam, but if you did pass then you get to take the written exam. After you take the exam the real fun started.  They take the exam paper and put in an envelope and tell you the results will be sent to the mailing address provided on the application.  That's right, they did not inform us if we passed or not so we had the long drive home and after a couple months we get an envelop in the mail from the FCC.  I remember just standing there and looking at it.  I was afraid to open it.  I had waited all this time just to see if I passed the written exam or not.  Well, I did pass.  This is just to show you how long we had to wait just to find out the results of the written exam.  I know of folks who had to wait 2 months just to find out they didn't pass.  They had to start all over again.  Drive to the FCC office and guess what....take the CW exam again and if they passed....well you know the rest of the procedure.

Of course we didn't have Internet back then and the postal system was a lot slower, but the pain of waiting was the same then as it is now, it was only longer then.

73 and glad to have you onboard.
Steve,

PS, I like the picture on your QRZ profile. It is funny.

Well apparently some lame a$$ Extra extra-lite has nothing better to do than try to stir up the pot.  What a waste of a good 2X1 callsign.  Of course he had to buy that call that he never could earn.

ROTFLMAO.  

Bye Bye Troll.