What did you do in the shack today?

[ToddDubya]

Dang, I tried out the power meter I bought and it's complete trash. First I tried it on the new 220 rig and it read between 1.4 and 1.8A on receive, no audio. Hmm, I could have sworn the spec was <0.6A. I looked it up, yup. Okay, maybe something is wrong with the radio. So after about an hour and a half it had "drawn" about 2Ah. I put the battery on the charger and measured how much charge it took: 0.87Ah. And it did accurately measure the 2A the charger is rated for, although it said the max current had been 11A.

This afternoon I tried it on my 857D and LDG tuner. As soon as I plugged in the tuner it jumped to 1.6A. That's more than double the rated current when it's in use; at that point it was only driving the led on the front. I turned on the radio and it read anywhere from 6.5 to 8.5A on receive, no audio. It should have been about 1A.

Don't tell Amazon but I opened it up to see if anything looked bad. The main board was soldered to the display board so I couldn't see much. But what I could see looked well soldered and professionally built.

Don't buy this trash.

https://www.amazon.com/Analyzer-Digital-Balance-Battery-Voltage/dp/B0753DPC2D/

 

[CatSnoutSoup]

I bought another cheap Chinese handheld. I now own four different brands/models.

While I would never consider replacing my Yaesu and Icom handhelds with one of these, they are fun to hack the firmware and mess with the features.

This little fellow, the TidRadio TD-H3, is the smallest form factor of any of them I have. It is 2-1/8" wide, 4" tall, and 1-3/8" deep with battery.

 

[n1oty]

I have another Alinco DMR radio coming in tomorrow. Quite a few places ran a $50 off special during Dayton Hamvention, so I ordered one out of DX Engineering. This time, it is a mobile to go with my collection of Alinco DMR handhelds.

 

[Drix]

Tried to set up my inherited whistler 1060 on the cape-
Holy shit is that thing a pain in the ass to program, you need a f***in degree.

Had a scanner for years growing up, you just slipped the local frequencies in and called it a day, now it's rocket science- not even sure where to start programming the local police/fire department, canal, harbor, etc.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Tried to set up my inherited whistler 1060 on the cape-
Holy shit is that thing a pain in the ass to program, you need a f***in degree.

Had a scanner for years growing up, you just slipped the local frequencies in and called it a day, now it's rocket science- not even sure where to start programming the local police/fire department, canal, harbor, etc.

RRDB | Massachusetts Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference You will likely have to subscribe and pay their fee.

 

[Drix]

RRDB | Massachusetts Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference You will likely have to subscribe and pay their fee.

Yeah, I found them, I'm just not certain what to do with them.
Half the problem is I don't have a programming cable- apparently it's all much easier to do from a computer.
Ordered one up and it should be here saturday.

 

[n1oty]

Yeah, I found them, I'm just not certain what to do with them.
Half the problem is I don't have a programming cable- apparently it's all much easier to do from a computer.
Ordered one up and it should be here saturday.

The modern memory architecture of current scanners almost demands programming from a computer in order to avoid pulling your hair out.

 

[UJay]

Built the 220, 432, 903 beams and ordered the 1296- hoping it arrives before the VHF 'test.

#notenoughtimeintheday

UJay

 

[ToddDubya]

Built the 220, 432, 903 beams and ordered the 1296- hoping it arrives before the VHF 'test.

#notenoughtimeintheday

UJay

You sound just like my buddy. He just bought a 5 band transverter and is racing to get everything setup in time. Next up is an array of 1296 for moon bounce.

He just designed and built a controller for the transverter. There's a unit that goes on the bench with a knob and a display. Turn the knob to change bands, then you get a handshake confirmation back from the remote unit at the transverter to tell you which band you selected. No more transmitting into the wrong antenna. It's a very slick design that I really want him to sell. Everyone who buys that particular transverter will need something to do what he did.

 

[UJay]

You sound just like my buddy. He just bought a 5 band transverter and is racing to get everything setup in time. Next up is an array of 1296 for moon bounce.

He just designed and built a controller for the transverter. There's a unit that goes on the bench with a knob and a display. Turn the knob to change bands, then you get a handshake confirmation back from the remote unit at the transverter to tell you which band you selected. No more transmitting into the wrong antenna. It's a very slick design that I really want him to sell. Everyone who buys that particular transverter will need something to do what he did.

Dude sounds like me..... I have the Q5 5b transverter auto controlled so I can run the shack completely remote. Actually controlled from the rig's aux band output.

Thats why I ordered the FM filter too (On the other 'got scammed' thread) since there is a buddy of ours rovering and only has an FM HT on the High UHF bands or something.....
The K3 needs a specific filter to use the FM mode.

Awesome though, I hope to be up and running and work your buddy, you, anyone wanting points.

Cool, this sure is some kind of hobby, eh?

UJay

 

[ToddDubya]

Haha, I'm pretty sure that's the one he just bought, maybe the high power one. He wanted it so badly but couldn't (wouldn't) justify the money. I told him if he didn't buy it I was going to buy it for him, so he bought it. I don't think he thought I was serious, but I was.

Before that he had five separate transverters, each with its own quirks, and a farm of switches to change bands. Now it's a knob twist and maybe a button press to tell the radio to change bands. He's mounting his antennas across the yard on the shed roof so he can run at night and not make rotor noises while the XYL is sleeping. She puts up with enough.

I'm not into the VHF/UHF stuff, but the same guy gave me a big 2m yagi and a big 70cm yagi. I could see setting up on a clear spot somewhere and giving it a try. I know the 2m needs some work after it had a disagreement with a low hanging branch. I've had the 70cm on the air, so I know it works.

 

[ToddDubya]

I fixed, then broke, then fixed again a 5 element 2m yagi my buddy had given me a couple years ago. It needed a director replaced, and that was easy enough. Then I got the smart idea to tidy up some soldering and I broke it. I got that fixed and it's working, but it all seems pretty shaky.

I'm really not sure how it's fed. It looks to be a paperclip shaped hairpin and a double gamma match. I'm not entirely sure what those blue things are. Some kind of capacitance? Either way they're both broken and it seems to still work. I thought maybe just supports for the gamma match, but I don't know. The one on the center pin was only on by habit so that's what I had to re-solder.

 

[ToddDubya]

I got out the 432 antenna as well. I'm not sure what the deal was with that but my buddy and I were trying SSB and it was like one of us was off frequency. CW and FM were spot on, but SSB we couldn't make it work. Although I could hear him well enough to tune in, but then I was even worse. It's a nice antenna, not great SWR for 432, but sturdy and well built.

We switched to 144.2 and worked SSB no problem. That was the antenna I fixed earlier, so it was good to see that it worked well.

We're only about 6 miles apart, but with a hill between us, and I was pointing right into someone's house. I wasn't quite S9 at his house with my 6 watts, but close. Can't be mad at that. We did have a lot of yagi elements between the two of us.

 

[UJay]

Awesome! I worked on stuff today too. Reverse XMas tree....



Still need to build the 1296 ant and hang both the 902 and 1296 but we got time.

First QSO on 6m was Azores! I just hear KB1GMX calling intermittently on 2.
Started looking for beacons on 2m 222 and 432 without much luck- Turning, pausing, watching the panadapter.

I told him if he didn't buy it I was going to buy it for him, so he bought it. I don't think he thought I was serious, but I was.

Something wild was that the reason I procured this HP 5-band transverter == is because my buddy always wanted it. I have never really been a VHF+ guy at all.
I relate it to screaming in to a pillow... anyway-
We will be using his call from the station here... all of the antennas / feedline are his.


UJay

 

[ToddDubya]

I can just make out a 2m beacon in NY. K2DLL in FN23xc.

If the weather cooperates I'll go sit on a high point nearby for a while. I'm gonna borrow a 6m halo so I might be able to get some 6m contacts. But otherwise I'll have 144 and 432 on a few sections of mil surp mast, with an armstrong rotor. I'm not planning on doing it the whole time, maybe a few hours unless it gets exciting. There are a bunch of guys in FN32, so I'm not exactly rare.

I'll have two FT-857s, so 100w on 6m, 50w on 2m, and 20w on 70cm. I'm not really a VHF+ guy either but maybe I'll like it.