With no more information than you provided, my first guess would
be that you are trying to transmit outside of the two meter ham band.

Do something I hate doing; Go back and read the manual before operating.

73,  Cal  K4JSR

K7KBN gave you excellent advice.  I know Dennis, WN4AZY, founder of Hosenose
and the "Daddy" of Logic 8.  He is a great guy and is always most helpful.
Tell Dennis I said "howdy!".

73,
Cal Neff  K4JSR

SEE?     I told you that Phil could bail you out of any technical problems!!
Proceed with vigor and without fear!

Actually, you have gotten good advice so far.

73,

Cal  K4JSR

http://www.barrowhamradio.org

   NO! DO NOT WAIT A MINUTE!!!  DIVE ON IN AND HAVE FUN!!!

Phil Sr. is a fairly skilled technician.  He can bail you out of any problems!

TRUST ME!!!

Hey Phil!  I missed seeing you at the Lawrenceville Hamfest last weekend.

73,  Cal  K4JSR

http://www.barrowhamradio.org

Camp grounds, old stomping grounds, battle grounds, coffee grounds, hallowed grounds,
grounds for impeachment, ground zero,  ground nutmeg,  ground round, burial grounds,
ground hogs, and etc.

I was serious once earlier today, but got over it.

73,  Cal  K4JSR

    You can't have my Neutrinos!!

They are my favorite weight loss breakfast cereal!!! 

73,  Cal  K4JSR

Tom said, "Wise people understand and accept compromises, and fools pretend compromises aren't important."

Well said, sir!!

73,  Cal  K4JSR
 
 
 

Lighten up, folks!   We all make mistakes.  Like the time I spent an hour troubleshooting my
oscilloscope only to find a fuse blown from old age and metal fatigue!
Life is sometimes cruel!   I am on the same boat with just up the road a bit  Phil.
I only bough a small amount Of ROHS solder.  I do have some equipment with that stuff in it.
That is when I learned that I needed a separate tip that has been tinned with ROHS stuff.
"Normal" solder wick and my Pace de-soldering station don't like ROHS solder either.
I believe it will be a while longer before ROHS solder is fully understood.
I also have a hoard of SN 63/37 Eutectic, which is a dream to use.

73,  Cal Neff  K4JSR  CET(Happily retired, but broke!)

AA4PB has it right about maintaining line "balance".
In the the days of overland landline telegraphy the old codgers soon discovered that they
needed to periodically "twist" the wire pair.  My paternal grandfather was a telegrapher for
the old Pere Marquette Railroad.  He told me that the parallel telegraph lines over distance
acted like a "condenser". The occasional twist would create enough inductance to cancel
the capacitance.  All that was figured out long before the 20th Century!!

As is so frequently said here, "Let Go ogle Be Your Friend"
Just get some popcorn and Go ogle Landline Telegraphy.  ENJOY!!

73,  Cal  K4JSR

Rhys said early on in his posting; "Old soldering iron now repells solder.   Not sure if it's something to do with the switch to unleaded or just the age of the station."
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  I am totally surprised that no one had noticed that his soldering tip Is/was/well sorta tinned
with the old 60/40 solder. He appears to be using the new ROHS solder which is lead free.
The two types are not compatible.  To solve the problem Rhys will need at least two soldering iron tips: One tinned for use with ROHS solder and another tinned for for the old Lead/Tin solder.    The ROHS solder also has a higher melting point than most folks are used to, so
getting it to flow and "wet" like you are used seeing is a thing of the past.
The ROHS solder will not give you as good looking a joint as the old stuff.  This also makes it fun looking for cold solder joints as they all look so much alike.

   Also, do not try to replace 60/40 solder with ROHS solder.  Like I said earlier, the two are not compatible.   

    Just be happy knowing that you are keeping the world safe from ourselves using ROHS.   I think it is all a big farce like global warming.  But then again, I am dangerous when I think!

 73,  and have fun learning ho3w to solder all over again!
      Cal  K4JSR


OOOPS!  I see somebody else replied while I was typing this.

Don't forget Rules and Regulations.  There are already four questions deleted from the brand new Technician question pool and test because of either rule change or proposed and likely to
pass rule changes.

73,  Cal   K4JSR

   That was bad enough to make my only remaining Bohr Magneton precess!   

    73,  Cal  K4JSR

Hi Jim;
   There has been lots of smoke and heat but very little light on your question.
The general rule of thumb is that a question pool for VE administered Amateur Radio exams is
three years.  The idea is to have one grade of exams reviewed and upgraded each year.
Last year was the review/upgrade for the Extra Class exam.  This year the Technician Class
exam got the rework as of 01 July 2010.

   For what ever reason, the General exam got caught up being set up for change this year at
the same time as the Technician exam.  This would work a bit of a hardship on the National
VEC Committee in reviewing and updating the question pools for two classes.  The VEC committee is made up of unpaid volunteers who also have families to feed and otherwise attend to.   Then you have the training book authors, publishers, distributors, retailers, etc.,
that have inventory and logistic opportunities abounding at each change.
Therefore, I believe, a wise decision was made to make the three year life cycle of each exam
question pool be staggered for updating on a one per year basis.

   I know as a VE how much paper work is involved with each exam.  I appreciate any relief given on administrative measures.  Good luck on passing your next exam.

   72,  Cal  K4JSR   




 

 

Lyman,  You need to do some serious reading at this website for an authoritive start:
http://www.w8ji.com/ground_systems.htm

You may surprised at what you learn.  There is more smoke,
more heat and LESS light about grounding and why than there is
about politics.  Welllll, slight bit of stretching there, but only slight!   

73,  Cal K4JSR

KE3WD asked, "What do the Band Police do when their radios are turned off?"

That's too easy!!!  The band cops go to their HOA meetings and eat cheese on their neighbors!         

73,  Cal  K4JSR