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eHam Forums / Computers And Software / RE: LOTW certificate on Puppy Linux computer
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on: June 10, 2013, 11:40:29 AM
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Have you checked puppy's package distro? It might have a package all ready to install. Even so, building from source is not that bad especially if you have the how to recipe. 73 Dave Dave, thanks for your reply, but with the need to compile from source code, I think I'll pass on using LOTW
Simon
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eHam Forums / Mobile Ham / RE: 2m mobile dipole?
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on: June 07, 2013, 12:54:30 PM
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I'd just get a 5/8ths wave antenna like a Larson NMO-50 and put it on the tire carrier. What you are trying to gain is going to be offset by problems in the long run. 73 Dave I have a Jeep wrangler, I have a high sierra 1800 mounted on the rear drivers side in line with the fender. I welded a bracket that bolted to the frame where the tow hook connects. However I have been looking for a place to put a 2 meter APRS antenna. The top is fiberglass and does not leave a lot of good spots to mount a vhf antenna.
I could mount it to the tire carrier, and deal with poor grounding issues, and poorer ground plane, which would cause directionality towards the front of the vehicle, but very week signal out the sides and rear.
I could mount it to the hood with a diamond k400c trunk mount, but again any of the verticals will have directionality along the longest length of metal.
My last thought was to create a 2m dipole and mount that to the tire carrier so that the entire 40" dipole is above the fiberglass roof (vertically oriented).
I searched the forum but could not find any relevant posts by anyone who has created a vertical 2m mobile antenna.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
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eHam Forums / Elmers / RE: MFJ-269 Distance to fault
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on: May 23, 2013, 06:35:39 AM
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I was making up a jumper with LMR-400 flex cable, put on the first PL-259, checked for shorts, everything was good.
Put on the second connector, and just as I finished I got called away. When I went back the cable had fallen to the floor so I have no idea which end has the second connector, but it now has a DC short center conductor to shield.
Pulled out my 269 thinking I could use the "Distance to Fault" to find the short. After putting in the proper velocity factor, and finding the double nulls, it just comes back with the length of the jumper no matter which end I test from. I would hate to cut both connectors off and start again, bad enough I messed up one of them.
I know there are two different instructions for using the Distance to Fault, and I tried both methods with the same results.
Any suggestions?
eeny meeny miney mo??? ;-) you have a 50/50 shot at guessing right.. better odds then Vegas! good luck! Dave |
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eHam Forums / VHF / UHF / RE: Active repeater listing?
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on: May 22, 2013, 11:45:35 AM
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I am pretty new to VHF/UHF. The linked repeaters seem pretty good. I may just have to bite the bullet and delete like 50 of them.
No need to delete them, the 8800 scans fast, and you could priority mark certain frequencies. I have an 8900 with the entire state of NC programmed in and I set the primary frequencies as preferred and priority scan those on one side of the radio and monitor my favorite repeater on the second side. However, if I'm traveling elsewhere in the state, I'll hit scan on the second side which is set to scan everything. The 8900 frequency management is brain dead compared to the 8800 so I'll bet you could set up something similar if not 10 times better on that rig. You never know when you might need access to one of those "dead" repeaters. |
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eHam Forums / VHF / UHF / RE: Active repeater listing?
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on: May 20, 2013, 08:23:24 AM
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Welcome to the hobby  sounds like a normal state of affairs. The repeaters are there, there is just no one talking. You might try throwing your call out and see if you can stir up some "lurkers". Nice things about the 8800 is it has a lot on memory locations, and it scans fast. 73 Dave They work, but no one is ever on them. The other 5 are great.
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eHam Forums / Mobile Ham / RE: Dual Band Install in a 2013 Ford Explorer
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on: May 02, 2013, 08:44:06 AM
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Hard to give advice without an exact pic of your car, but a carmax image search shows a cubby below the radio/climate controls in front of the gear shift. How about a right angle bracket velcroed into that cubby holding the head, run the remote wire to the radio body vi a small access hole drilled through the back side of the cubby. You can even remote the mic by using a six conductor rj-12 telephone extension. I did this with my FT8900 in my 98 Jeep Liberty just be sure the extension is a straight through, not a cross-over. I have some pics towards the end of this album: https://plus.google.com/photos/108388273845581073968/albums/569393114840255886573 Dave |
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eHam Forums / Antenna Restrictions / RE: Fake Palm Tree Low Bander
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on: April 29, 2013, 08:37:31 AM
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It's still there, though the trees have gotten a little bigger. Still sticks out like a sore thumb IMHO. There is a similar "tree" along I-25 in Colorado as you come to the top of Monument Hill between Denver and Colorado Springs. 73 Dave Back in the 1990's, near the Raleigh-Durham Airport on I-40, that was a fake tree cellphone tower. Only problem was that it was about 20 or 30 feet above the grove of trees!
A while back, QST had an article about a 2m antenna hid in a fake tree flower pot on somebody's balcony.
Randy Ka4nma
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eHam Forums / Misc / RE: RF and a PaceMaker
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on: April 22, 2013, 07:52:51 AM
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Pacemakers and the like are designed to reject interference pretty well. At those power levels I don't think I would worry too much, but 1. I'm not an engineer of those devices, and 2. nor am I a doctor. ;-) I can tell you I worked with a TV transmitter engineer/ antenna site manager who had a pacemaker and he never seemed to have an issues working around RF power levels hundreds of thousands of levels of magnitude greater, TV/AM and FM at the transmitter site. That said, what you should watch out for.. if your MIL starts flopping around like a fish when you key up you might want to stop.. or not depending on how well you get along :-D 73 Dave Just setting up shop and the Mother in law is moving in with a brand new pacemaker.
I run uhf/vhf under 10w (fm) and hf (10m) Under 100w, but mostly around 5-10w. The uhf/vhf ant is a jpole 3 ft above the dining room and the HF is a wire dipole run along the short side of the house, all for visibility reasons.
What are the odds of something going bad? What do I need to watch out for?
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eHam Forums / Mobile Ham / RE: JL Audio CleanSweep
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on: April 17, 2013, 07:03:52 AM
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I tried an FM micro transmitter and Aux in on the dash and was left seriously unimpressed. Spend $8 on a jetstream external speaker and shove it under the dash and enjoy, it's more than loud enough for most modern cars. If you drive a diesel get an amplified Motorola from e- whereever.com for a few bucks more. Using the built in sound system is a good idea in theory, in practice no one I know who have tried it liked it enough to keep using it.
73
Dave
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eHam Forums / Mobile Ham / RE: Dual-Band antenna mount on full-size van?
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on: February 26, 2013, 09:49:02 AM
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That was me  I have antennas on both sides of the Jeep that are tall (Larsen NMO 27 and a Maldol EX-510B). You are right, at first they were distracting, but now I don't notice them at all. 73 Dave an earlier post mentioned a hood seam mount. I use one. It works well enough, but I use a short 2m/440 whip on it becausea a longer one whips around in the turbulence and can be distracting while driving at speed. I keep a longer whip inside, to use if I'm ever in a situation when I need it. No holes drilled in my Honda Element at all - fabricated my own bracket, used antenna hardware and base from Comet.
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eHam Forums / Mobile Ham / RE: Yaesu 8900 AM mode
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on: January 25, 2013, 05:49:20 AM
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Thanks, The Maldol is a compromise antenna but performs well at 2/440. On 6m it is just OK. I'm going to try adding another diplexer to split out 2 and 6 from 440 and swap the Maldol for a Larsen NMO50 5/8ths wave 2m which loads very nicely as a 1/4 wave 6 meter antenna. I just need to punch a hole on the roof of the Jeep for the 440 whip when things warm up and I can find the time. 73 Dave Thanks Dave, sounds like a great antenna set up.
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eHam Forums / Mobile Ham / RE: Yaesu 8900 AM mode
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on: January 22, 2013, 11:02:05 AM
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I'm running a Larsen NMO27 shortened slightly for 10 meters, and a Maldol EX-510b NMO for 2, 6, and 440 through a Comet CF-360f diplexer. The 2 antennas perform reasonably well, and they just fit in the garage. 73 Dave Hey kj4obr Just curious which antenna you were using w/ your 8900 when you made those S american and European contacts? http://www.arrl.org/band-plan has information on what is where in the bands. I have an 8900 and have made contacts into eastern Europe and South America from North Carolina when conditions were right. Unfortunately, there is more activity on SSB most days even when the band is open. Unless you have a 10m repeater in your neighborhood, you can't sit and wait to hear people, get on 29.600 and start calling CQ you might be surprised who answers. 73 Dave Thanks WE7H. That make sense my feeble mind can grasp.
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. Google for a bolt in hood mount for your durango, or fab a no drill bracket out of 16g stainless stock like I did for my Jeep:
