Watched it last night on Prime Video. Not "riveting" but definitely interesting. MARS is still active as well.
Been working on a few things myself over the last few weeks. Got an APRS (packet location and messaging) radio going using a Baofeng UV-5R and a Mobilinkd TNC. Works great. Also put in a new base station using a Yaesu FTM 7250 dual band VHF/UHF radio, a Pyramid power supply, and a Diamond X300 antenna at about 30' to the top. Works great! Also bought some testing gear that I will post photos of when I get a chance.
Excellent Looking forward to info on the test equipment as well. Have you used the Yaesu much yet? I am interested in a good dual band radio.
I use it every day at this point. I haven't used the digial side of it much as we don't have any digital repeaters with Yaesu fusion or Wires-X in the area right now that work. I'll probably get a hotspot at some point so I can do more digital. As far as the radio itself, it's great. I wanted the FTM-100, but they discontinued it. This radio was a bit cheaper, but you can't put a Wires-X box on it if you want to have your own node. At some point, I'll get an FTM-400 and put this one in my truck as I only have a 2 meter radio in it right now.
As promised, some info on the test gear I bought. First up is the Surecom SW-102. It's an SWR meter, Watt meter and frequency counter. The watt meter side showe power out and reflected power. it has a rechargeable battery. The unit has N connectors, but also comes with N connector to SO-239 connector adapters, a charge cable (USB-C) and instructions. This meter is really handy. I haven't got a chance to test it against a more expensive unit, but others have on the net and say it's pretty close. Next up is a NanoVNA. This very small Vector Network Analyzer is quite a piece of gear. I have never used one before, and there is a but of a learning curve, but since they are real popular, there are many instructional videos out on it on Youtube. I mostly got it to test frequency radiance on antennas for certain bands, velocity and loss on coax, and that sort of thing. It wiil do tons more, but I haven't learned that part of it yet. They are a bit fragile, so I ordered a 3D printed case for it that I haven't received yet. Many of the video that I have watched on it where they test it against very expensive network analyzers have shown that it does work correctly. Be aware if you buy one, that there are many manufactures that are making them and some are not good. This one is the small version. there is a larger screened version also. Free software from the designer and also 2nd party for Windows is available free on the net. It's an open source project, so lots of people are working on software and firmware for it.
Great add bigfrank ironically I was looking at the same equipment for my shack. Not very expensive, and seems to work well from those that use them. I'll likely go with the SWR meter first, but the Nano-VNA, an SDR, and a set of headphones are on my wishlist. Anyone participating in Field Day this weekend? I'll be trying to make some contacts tomorrow, but only for a couple of hours around the evening. bigfrank I'm not aware of much digital in my area, that's a whole 'nother wad of noodles to unwind. I'm glad you're using the Yeasu frequently.
Ok, so I feel compelled to add. I've been studying antenna theory and practice, after all, the best radio doesn't mean much with an inferior antenna. The antenna I have was inexpensive, but I did know it was a compromise. I've found 80M to be the most active band, but the antenna only tunes at the low end of the band, in Extra territory, that I'm not allowed to play in.. Yet I could alter the antenna, but that would likely throw 40M out the window Edit.. It's coiled for 80M on the 40M wire Fortunately, with the TS590SG I can hook up 2 transmit/ receive antenna, and one dedicated recieve antenna. Gonna be more playing around here.
Focus on the test for now. Once you're a General, you can focus on your antenna and radio. Never put the cart before the horse.
BTW.. You'll probably find one band restrictive, in my opinion, if that one band is quiet, you'll have no option other than turning off the radio. As I said, I've found 80M the most active during the timeframe I have listened. Again, focus on the test for now, then you get to play.. err.. experiment
I made a contact today on VHF. They guy was hiking in the Sierra Nevada Moutains and was at about 4000' elevation. He was using 5 watts. He had a pretty good pileup going, though I couldn't hear many of the contacts he was making. I did make contact. Went and checked the distance to him. 142 miles on simplex! Granted that was road miles, so probably a bit shorter. Still exciting. I have a shooting match tomorrow for a good part of the day, and work on Sunday. Hoping to make some contacts in the evening if possible too.
Is it just a wire antenna? If so, did you try an balun (choke)? I've been watching some videos on them and they help frr lots of things, especially wire antennas.
bigfrank congrats on the long distance VHF contact. Perhaps I've shortchanged the 2M band. But aside from the repeaters, it is quiet around here. Perhaps I'm just not listening enough. As to the HF antenna, it's a fan dipole, with a coiled 80M extension on the 40M wire. Edit.. The antenna does have a balun, and I coiled some coax as an additional choke. I could fiddle with it, but it could muck with the 40M tuning. Easier to make an "upper 80M" antenna in my opinion. Besides, the KW has the option for 2 transmit/ receive antennae, and a dedicated receive antenna. As long as Chazsbetterhalf doesn't find out my plans, I'm good.
Ok, so Field Day 2020 has come to a close. I didn't pull an all nighter like some operators Heard one guy saying he had over 600 contacts, and that was early this morning. I made 60 voice contacts on 80/40 and 10 meters. Plus threw my hat onto the digital realm this afternoon on FT8 Made 3 contacts on FT8, but I couldn't handle the mode for long. High pitched squealing isn't really my thing But.. considering I learned FT8 just 20 minutes earlier.. it's a win Bands were packed, so much so that there was often people too close to one another, leading to annoying bleedover. One guy was General class, and obviously forgot how to stay away from the edge of the band. Guaranteed half his signal was out of band allocation. But it was fun, I must admit. States I worked.. Even made it out to Cali and BC Wish I'd been able to put a couple of you in the logs.. perhaps next time Who knows.. Camber might be setup by Winter Field Day
Sounds like a great successful night to me. I found out I know a couple guys who are extras. One gentlemen offered to take me into the Ham shed next week. I've known him my whole life, but didn't know he was a ham operator. Steve is a quiet guy. I don't know if I'll be around this site in a couple months. There is so much going on in the world we can't talk about here. I'm a pretty open guy. I'll leave a PM with my call sign if I leave Chaz. BTW, Steve told me not to buy anything yet too. He said he has a lot of equipment that I may want from him. I'll have to check it out and see.
