Pages: 1 [2] 3   Go Down

Author Topic: Yep, that would have been too easy...  (Read 3425 times)

KX4QP

  • Member
  • Posts: 407
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #15 on: May 07, 2019, 04:24:17 PM »


Another option is to use terrain analysis to see if coverage is possible.  Not 100% definitive but more conclusive than an internet forum.

https://www.ve2dbe.com/rmonline_s.asp

That's how I know to within a few tens of feet how much hill is in the way one direction, and how much mountain the other, as well as how unlikely that terrain is to exhibit knife edge diffraction.

I've also already contacted the owners (that I can get email addresses for) of repeaters on Sauratown mountain; the only one who responded says he's no longer able to link to an analog net, as he switched out his hardware to digital some time ago.

At this point, it looks like the only hope I have of ever checking into my club's net is Echolink, but although the repeater they're using at this time (while the disarrayed interconnection is put back in order) is an Echolink node, it's apparently offline for that purpose.
Logged

KC0UKR

  • Member
  • Posts: 46
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #16 on: May 08, 2019, 12:52:45 PM »

Again,you are a new Ham and if you have not even tried a full power radio and/or real base antenna then you are giving up too soon.

Many things that I have been sure about before trying have worked despite my knowing that they would not.
Logged

K5LXP

  • Member
  • Posts: 6823
    • homeURL
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #17 on: May 08, 2019, 05:00:19 PM »

My introduction to impossible paths was being able to talk from ABQ to the community on the other side of the mountain to the east.  Easily over a half mile high of rock between here and there and there weren't many places in town you couldn't talk.  Even better was copying my 2M repeater in Santa Fe, a good 60 miles away with untold mountains and terrain inbetween.  There's a gentleman that lives near Truth or Consequences NM that checks into a 2M net in ABQ every morning, a good 75 miles away.  He had to put up beams and run an amplifier, and some days he comes in better than others, but he gets in.  You never really know until you try it.

Mark K5LXP
Albuquerque, NM
 
Logged

N2AYM

  • Member
  • Posts: 375
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #18 on: May 09, 2019, 08:03:41 AM »

Well, the manufacturer claims I'm radiating 8W on high power TX -- it's a BaoFeng BF-F8HP.  Three settings; 1W, 4W, and 8W (says the manual).  With a Nagoya 771 mounted, I can key a repeater from a hilltop at 40 miles, and be heard well enough to conduct a QSO.  First thing I did when I got it was order an extended battery (which turned out to be a set of two such).  I haven't done anything with it yet that involved a lot of transmitting, but it'll listen for days on one extended battery.  With 3800 mAh at 7.4V, I should be able to count on two-plus hours of solid transmit time on a single battery (assuming the radio isn't just dissipating so much heat I could use it to make toast).  Since I have the original battery (2500 mAh) plus a pair of extended ones, I ought to have enough battery life for a lot of QSOs.

8W is not very practicle for this small of an HT.
At that power level a Yaesu FT-817 with a shoulder
strap battery would be a better choice. The heat sink
on an 817 is more effective than the HT case.
Logged

KX4QP

  • Member
  • Posts: 407
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #19 on: May 09, 2019, 03:50:45 PM »

At that power level a Yaesu FT-817 with a shoulder
strap battery would be a better choice. The heat sink
on an 817 is more effective than the HT case.

Discontinued, seemingly.  The upgraded/replacement FT-818ND puts out 6W on external power, and 2.5 on internal battery -- and costs TEN TIMES the money.
Logged

SOFAR

  • Member
  • Posts: 1640
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #20 on: May 09, 2019, 04:00:37 PM »

At that power level a Yaesu FT-817 with a shoulder
strap battery would be a better choice. The heat sink
on an 817 is more effective than the HT case.

Discontinued, seemingly.  The upgraded/replacement FT-818ND puts out 6W on external power, and 2.5 on internal battery -- and costs TEN TIMES the money.

That's an interesting radio, HF, VHF/UHF.
Has a cult following.
I suppose you read the specs/features.

I might keep it in mind, when the next X-mas bonus is doled out.

Edit to add: has 10 meter FM  ;)
« Last Edit: May 09, 2019, 04:19:40 PM by SOFAR »
Logged

N2AYM

  • Member
  • Posts: 375
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2019, 11:26:18 AM »

At that power level a Yaesu FT-817 with a shoulder
strap battery would be a better choice. The heat sink
on an 817 is more effective than the HT case.

Discontinued, seemingly.  The upgraded/replacement FT-818ND puts out 6W on external power, and 2.5 on internal battery -- and costs TEN TIMES the money.

Evidently you know nothing of the difference of cost and value since the 818 is about 20 times the value of the BF-F8HP
Logged

N8AUC

  • Member
  • Posts: 1007
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #22 on: May 10, 2019, 11:32:47 AM »

Discontinued, seemingly.  The upgraded/replacement FT-818ND puts out 6W on external power, and 2.5 on internal battery -- and costs TEN TIMES the money.

Ten times the money? Compared to what? A $30 Chinese HT?

Talk about apples to oranges.
An FT-818ND does everything, all modes, all bands, 6 W output.
The $30 Chinese HT only does FM on 2m and 70cm.

I would argue that an FT-818 easily has more than 10 times the capabilities of the Chinese HT.

I realize watching the wallet is important, I do it myself all the time.
And if $30 is all you can afford, then you do the best you can with what you can afford.
But the comparison being made is beyond ridiculous.

Logged

SOFAR

  • Member
  • Posts: 1640
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #23 on: May 10, 2019, 12:06:48 PM »

Discontinued, seemingly.  The upgraded/replacement FT-818ND puts out 6W on external power, and 2.5 on internal battery -- and costs TEN TIMES the money.

Ten times the money? Compared to what? A $30 Chinese HT?

Talk about apples to oranges.
An FT-818ND does everything, all modes, all bands, 6 W output.
The $30 Chinese HT only does FM on 2m and 70cm.

I would argue that an FT-818 easily has more than 10 times the capabilities of the Chinese HT.

I realize watching the wallet is important, I do it myself all the time.
And if $30 is all you can afford, then you do the best you can with what you can afford.
But the comparison being made is beyond ridiculous.



From my observations, people buy a $30 HT, after accessories they've spent over $150. Or they wind up buying another radio because it's so 'cheap'.

I see it as false economy. It's a radio on a computer chip, front end is software, not hardware. Easily overloaded in an urban environment.



Logged

KX4QP

  • Member
  • Posts: 407
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #24 on: May 10, 2019, 04:21:58 PM »

I bought the BF-F8HP the day after I got my call sign.  I bought an extended battery for it, that turned out to be a two-pack, and I bought a Nagoya 771 antenna.  I've got about $120 into the HT at present.  I have no expectation of buying another while this one works, unless I decide to pursue setting up a "poor man's repeater" (then I'll get a pair of UV-5R and a little repeater controller).

At present, my main spending is going on my main HF rig, and my budget is tight enough that I had to put off buying a $35 power cable until at least the middle of this month (might wind up in June, the budget isn't cooperating right now).  I also still need to get an antenna up for that (got a wire, not support, and the wire is really intended to hang from a kite line for portable QRP).

Once the Heathkit is either on the air or under repair (can't troubleshoot until I have it powered, and ideally have an antenna to check receive and transmit) I can look at spending money on 2m or 440 to get to my club's net.  The simple way would be to drive up Sauratown Mountain and check in from the top -- the repeater in Fancy Gap should be easy from up there, and I might be able to key the primary (in Thomasville, and not very high) from that elevation.  Problem is driving back, on a mountain/country road, in the dark, after my regular bedtime.

Build a Yagi, get an amp or "better" radio, none of those things are free, and I'm short enough on free time to have to watch that budget, too.

All of this stuff would be easier if I could afford to quit my job, but I'm still several years too young to collect Social Security, never mind enough benefits to (halfway) live on.
Logged

SOFAR

  • Member
  • Posts: 1640
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #25 on: May 10, 2019, 04:39:44 PM »

Some day, I'd like to put time into constructing a 2 meter Moxon. Then follow it up with a 440 Moxon.

Hard to justify working for free. When I can put those same hours in at work.

http://www.ai4ji.com/Projects/antennas/moxon.htm

There's a Moxon generator, and a site. I'll post a link, if I run across it.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2019, 04:42:14 PM by SOFAR »
Logged

KC0UKR

  • Member
  • Posts: 46
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #26 on: May 10, 2019, 04:42:45 PM »

I am baffled by your attitude here especially considering how you titled this thread in the first place.
Any Ham worth the name will help you to merely try a full power VHF rig and decent antenna from your location so that you can see the only way possible whether there is reason to keep trying from there or not period.

Until you have actually tried this there is little to talk about really.
I remember vividly getting my first radio too and of course it was an HT as well and I was successful using it from within a metal car somehow and I thought I had it all figured out.
I got adopted by an experienced Ham who proceeded to relieve me of the radio until I could try an real antenna mounted outside of the Metal Box because even though I could hear everyone else,they were tired of trying to hear me within the first hour of my victorious entrance to the repeater!

I remember just as vividly getting the real Mobile 5/8 wave antenna and then a full power Mobile radio and then I was ready to go almost anywhere on our local systems.

Do you really think we are just blowing smoke here and coincidentally all saying about the same thing?

It is too easy if you are running the right gear.

If you can not afford to do so right now then sure you will need to wait until you can but trust me this is not likely a bigger deal than that.

This is one reason joining a Club is handy,live and learn.
Logged

KX4QP

  • Member
  • Posts: 407
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #27 on: May 11, 2019, 11:21:03 AM »

It is too easy if you are running the right gear.

If you can not afford to do so right now then sure you will need to wait until you can but trust me this is not likely a bigger deal than that.

This is one reason joining a Club is handy,live and learn.

Don't mistake me.  When I say I get out of the "metal box", I get reports of "full quiet" on the repeaters I use, other operators can hear me as well as I hear them.  By the time I'm forty miles from the repeater, I have to be on a hilltop to key, but it's still perfectly intelligible to the other operator until I drop down into a valley.

At the club meeting today, someone was offering to lend me a J-pole to mount on my roof ridge or 30-40 feet up in a tree in the yard -- until I told him how much mountain I have between me and the repeater and how far below average terrain I live; then he agreed it might take more than a better antenna.  Yep, then came the suggestions of building a Yagi, bouncing the signal, putting up a passive repeater -- all the stuff I've heard before on eHam.  I won't argue that 50W will do this job better than 8W (which I'm informed by those who are certain they know better isn't actually 8W, because the radio is Chinese -- I can't say for certain, I don't have a meter).  I should be able to afford a 50W or better mobile for my car before winter, but probably not much before.

Even if I were certain that a Yagi pointed just about there could somehow thread a signal around the mountain that's in the way, it'll be a while before I can build one (budget issues, as mentioned above).  It'll be even longer before I have more than a putative 8W on VHF.

The thread title came from realizing that even getting my HF set running on a band with one repeater on the club's net wouldn't help because 10m SSB doesn't work on a 10m FM/tone repeater.  It wasn't intended as anything more than a comment about mode fragmentation (i.e. my 40m isn't your 40m, because I can't/don't do FT8 or PSK31 or whatever).
Logged

KC0UKR

  • Member
  • Posts: 46
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #28 on: May 11, 2019, 12:20:10 PM »

Wow.
Logged

AC7CW

  • Member
  • Posts: 1789
RE: Yep, that would have been too easy...
« Reply #29 on: May 11, 2019, 04:02:05 PM »

PVC, copper rod [even coathangers maybe], electrical tape, diagonal cutters, misc hardware, coax: You could make a 4-el yagi in about 20 minutes and test out the situation with your handheld, no?
Logged
Novice 1958, 20WPM Extra now... (and get off my lawn)
Pages: 1 [2] 3   Go Up