On a related note, I saw in another thread you have the Hy-Gain vertical. I have the same one and with a slight coating of ice it bends like its made out of bamboo.

My radials extend to one side for the same reason. I'm sure if I tested it there would be a difference, but for practical purposes it works fine. Its not a waste of time.

I have this antenna and had nothing but high SWRs until I removed the tuning coil. It wasn't helping on 80/40 and isn't needed for the higher bands (I've worked 98 entities with 100W on it.) It's really useless with the small clip and deforms if you attach a stronger one. I have roughly 300 feet of wire under it now and the more I add the better it works.

Some rigs like the Icom 718 key the mic if the gain isn't off when the soundcard is hooked into the rear DIN.

If you want to share alot of useless macro info, at least use PSK125!

I love digital modes and integration with computers. But I am not paying $300 extra for a $20 chip, which is proprietary no matter what the original poster says. Icom is the only manufacturer and there is no reason or incentive for other companies to license their technology. Going to closed proprietary systems is not good for ham radio. Unfortunately, too many hams like the idea of D-Star filtering out hams they don't like based on price. Its becoming defacto encryption keeping most hams out of their playground.

I used 6M for the first time and ran across this contest by accident for the last hour. I got 7 states and 15 grids using a 100W Ranger and a homebrew rotatable dipole on top of a 10' PVC pipe.

When I first mentioned getting licensed to my father, he immediately related going to a MARS station in Vietnam and talking to my mother. Obviously those days are past. I think MARS would be a natural pool of operators and frequencies for serious EMCOMM use, a step above the current ARES / RACES 2M clubs and their orange vested wannabes. Perhaps it needs to be transferred to FEMA and given a more current mission?

Gil this is right on target. There is a strong place for emergency communications in the individual ham's survival plan. If I'm trapped in my basement, I'm going on 2M to ask for help. If a small town is cut off by a hurricane, someone should go on HF and ask someone to contact their relatives. I dare say 75% of the organized EMCOMMers aren't going to show up in a Katrina level scenario, nor should they. They should be home with their families.

There has been many communications infrastructure improvements in the last 12 years. I do not mean to say there is never a need for amateur assistance for short range communications. But devoting so many man hours to V/UHF HT contingency planning by amateur radio groups is a waste of time. Obviously, there are hams who are highly skilled in EMCOMM. But they are a very small percentage of the hams who have their "go bags" and orange vests packed for Armageddon. A lot of the new amateurs have no interest in any aspect of the hobby besides short-range EMCOMM. The ARRL promoting that is harmful to the entire hobby. When the emergency never comes, the HTs go in the closet and another license isn't renewed. Around 2022 you are going to see a massive drop off in licenses.

quote author=K1CJS link=topic=83029.msg672242#msg672242 date=1367838795]

98% of the time, that is the plain simple truth, but there is always that other 2%--like what happened in NYC on 9-11.  Short range VHF/UHF ham help was needed and WELCOMED there since the local official communication infrastructure was first damaged, then destroyed when the towers came down.

I wish I could say your level of sarcasm is Olympic team trial material, but unfortunately it is more like Pop Warner. I'm sure in the sophisticated realm of California things are different, but here in Pennsylvania the situation is as I described.

They are really incredible values. The cost has nothing to do with  their quality as the Chinese appear to be "dumping" them at the cheap price to get market share.

If you aren't using repeaters often I highly recommend the Baofeng UV5-R. I've gotten two through Amazon and I have almost no complaints (menus are quirky) as I bought the cable. Mine are well constructed and have good range. For $45 you can't go wrong.

My wife was listening to the local repeater. Someone "kerchunked" it and within 10 seconds a guy was on screaming about how it was a violation of FCC rules and a misuse of the repeater and demanded the guy ID. 'Nuff said.

I realize that this is most of my frustration with local clubs. It's really hard to break into a group that's been meeting for breakfast every Sunday since 1975. They really aren't about Ham radio so much as a social club.