Please help a new (old) HAM with first equipment

scatter

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I am embarrassed to say that I took and passed my exam 2 1/2 years ago and am not yet on the airwaves. I went in for the Tech exam and managed to pass General and Extra while I was there. Life has intervened, especially trying to build a new house that has taken much longer that it should have because of contractor problems.

I want to get going now. I would like a recommendation on a good basic setup that will allow me to take advantage of the Extra license without having to buy more equipment once I get some experience. Looking for recommendations on a radio, cable and an antenna.

I live on top of a mountain and I think I need an antenna that directs flat/down instead of up. I am planning on mounting it in my attic. The antenna location will be about 40 linear feet from the radio.

I researched all this stuff back when I took the exam but time has moved on and I'd just like some opinions from those of you with the practical experience that I am lacking.
 
I run an Icom IC-7300 and its worked well for me. My setup has the radio connected to a crappy Windows 10 laptop via USB cable.

I run Ham Radio Deluxe ($$$) and WSJT-X (free) for software. This setup lets me work PSK31 and JT65. I have a fan dipole (basically 2 dipoles separated by 12 inch lexan spacers) for 20 and 40 meter. I have them about 70ft in the air hanging off some pine trees.

Very cool mode that is fairly new is called FT8 which is a lot like JT65 but transmissions take only 15 seconds. Last night I tried it for the first time...my second contact was on the other side of the planet!

N1EBE RW0SR 2017-08-14 00:24 20m FT8 -10 -07

n1ebe.png

The digital modes are pretty darn cool IMO!
 
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First time on the air and you're going to go on to the extra frequencies? Well, if you think you need to have thick skin here wait till you get up there on your first day.

Are you some sort of electrical engineer? Passing the extra portion of the test with only studying for the technician level is almost impossible without some type of prior electronics knowledge.

AE1Y
 
First time on the air and you're going to go on to the extra frequencies? Well, if you think you need to have thick skin here wait till you get up there on your first day.

Are you some sort of electrical engineer? Passing the extra portion of the test with only studying for the technician level is almost impossible without some type of prior electronics knowledge.

LOL. No, I'm not planning on using the extra freqs initially. Far from it. A man's got to know his limitations. I just want to get some equipment that will allow me to do that once I get some experience, so I don't have to buy more stuff. Yes, I've got some EE degrees. I passed the extra with only two misses to spare, mostly because I was able to eliminate the wrong answers.
 
This is an interesting read on HF antenna propagation. https://www.arrl.org/files/file/antplnr.pdf If you haven't done so already join the ARRL they have a wealth of information. Their Boxboro convention is coming on September 9and 10.

This hobby is addicting. You might start out with something basic but it's never enough. You'll find yourself wanting more, bigger, and better. I started out with a simple Kenwood TS140 and a long wire antenna. Now I have a Yaesu FT1000MP MK 5, with a quadra amplifier, a 40 foot tower and a log periodic antenna. The only thing that stops me from wanting more is that I don't care for the newer all microprocessor, multi-function button rigs that cost $10,000.

Good luck and enjoy.
 
I want to get going now. I would like a recommendation on a good basic setup that will allow me to take advantage of the Extra license without having to buy more equipment once I get some experience. Looking for recommendations on a radio, cable and an antenna.

.

Awesome.

For the investment, the Icom 7300 is tough to beat at this point. Developers are writing innovative features to accommodate the features in that rig causing other manufacturers to have to catch up.

A fan dipole and setup like GomerPile suggests is about perfect. Only adjustment could be to look at DXLabs suite of software vs. Ham Radio Deluxe.
If you opt for a multi-band antenna, you may need an external antenna tuner.

FT8 is a hoot- I leave the rig on 50313 all day and see what my shack heard. With WSJt-x, and JTAlert software. DXLabs' DXKeeper for logging

Even if you do not want to integrate a PC, the 7300 is a worthy performer.

Keep us updated-
 
I guess a good question also is do you plan on doing any local 2m/440 work? If so, you'd need a second radio as the 7300 is only a HF rig...no UHF/VHF. The Icom 7100 is all band/all mode capable, but doesn't have the pretty UI like the 7300 does. If you opt for the 7300, and plan on UHF/VHF, you can buy a nice rig from Kenwood or Yaesu for a couple hundred dollars.

Any reason why you are limiting yourself by putting the antenna in the attic and not outside? If you are top of a mountain, and space is limited, why not look into a good multi-band vertical antenna?
 
I had a first hand chance to see the new Icom in action last week and it was really impressive. They really thought of everything with that one radio. So much for the old saying ICOM means I can only monitor [rofl]
 
My first thought is make sure your antenna will go down to at least 80meters, and preferable 160meters. We are heading down into what they say will be a record setting solar minimum and the higher frequency bands are going to suck (already do IMO, actually).

For the antenna, the problem is you have too many choices. For starters I would rig a wire antenna. My first was just 180' of wire with one end connected to a tuner that was grounded with a couple 8' rods close by. I can force a tune on any band, though 6 meters, though 10 and 6 don't work well. A fan dipole is a great choice. An off center fed Windom type is also a great choice (needs tuner). These days I'm a big fan of multi-band end-fed half-wave antennas, partly because you don't need to 100' of feed line(you feed it from one end), and partly because you don't need a tuner. There's nothing to do to switch bands other than...switch the radio's band. These guys make one that covers 80M - 10M and gets great reviews. It's probably my next purchase. I've designed my own but never came close to the magic they figured out in the wideband transformer in the box.

Icom vs. Yaesu, vs Kenwood is like Chevy vs. Ford vs. Dodge. They all work and have their differences. I have an old FT-857 which is a great does-everything rig, but being a compromise it's only outstanding feature is its flexibility. It's a compact 100W rig that does all modes covering HF + 50 + 2M + 70cm. It goes in my car for mobile and sits on a desk as my main shack rig. I think they quit making it, but there are lots of similar rigs out there.

You'll be fooling with antennas forever, but the rig you only have to buy once. Get one that at least covers HF + 50MHz and is fairly modern (last 5 years) and I don't think you can go wrong.
 
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Icom IC-7300, it is now on sale at HRO or the Kenwood TS-590 SG both are great radios and would be great to enter into HF radio. I run a 72ft. end feed wire antenna with 63ft of LMR 400 cable under ground connecting it to my radio. I can tune 160-10 with out a problem and have talked all over the world on 100 watts. If you would like you can call me and I will try to answer any questions you may have about getting on the air. Don't worry about operating on the extra portion of the bands, you have the license privileges you should use them. There is nothing different about those frequencies except for the fact you can use them. Send me a privet message and I will send you my phone number if you are interested in talking. Check me out on QRZ N1HM
 
i agree with EvilDragon, pick up a cheap chinese radio (baofeng HT, 'Woaxun' or whatever HF) we'd all love to have 7300s, so if you want to drop coin on it, find out radio isn't for you and then sell it at a loss, you'd have no further to look than this forum likely....

passed my tech back in '92 or so, put the radios away from pretty much 98 until last year, just got my general earlier this year, bought the extra book (took extra at the same session as the general, missed it by 9 without even cracking the book) and i'll get to it eventually... but i'm running an HTX-202 i bought 20-odd years ago, a baofeng 2m/440 HT and an Icom HF rig i bought on ebay for cheap....
10m dipole in my attic, random wire+tuner for the lower bands, can't do 6m or a lot of the fancy digital HF modes (not yet, i have Ham Radio Deluxe, but need to do some soldering in the radio) but i've talked around the world on 100W and a piece of radioshack speaker wire....

N1NJI
 
Icom IC-7300, it is now on sale at HRO or the Kenwood TS-590 SG both are great radios and would be great to enter into HF radio. I run a 72ft. end feed wire antenna with 63ft of LMR 400 cable under ground connecting it to my radio. I can tune 160-10 with out a problem and have talked all over the world on 100 watts. If you would like you can call me and I will try to answer any questions you may have about getting on the air. Don't worry about operating on the extra portion of the bands, you have the license privileges you should use them. There is nothing different about those frequencies except for the fact you can use them. Send me a privet message and I will send you my phone number if you are interested in talking. Check me out on QRZ N1HM

Just wanted to give you a quick comment about LMR-400. Real LMR-400 is made by a company called Times Microwave. Beware of imposters or cables that say they're just as good. I would say out of all the cables it's the most expensive. IMHO it's also the best cable by far. I often make custom cables to custom lengths. I solder on the PL 259's. This cable is the easiest to do that process and also uses the highest quality tinned copper.

Don't cheap out on CABLE!!
 
I guess a good question also is do you plan on doing any local 2m/440 work? If so, you'd need a second radio as the 7300 is only a HF rig...no UHF/VHF. The Icom 7100 is all band/all mode capable, but doesn't have the pretty UI like the 7300 does. If you opt for the 7300, and plan on UHF/VHF, you can buy a nice rig from Kenwood or Yaesu for a couple hundred dollars.

Yes absolutely. I'll probably be doing 2m exclusively at first. So I'm starting to rethink this and may just go mid-grade VHF until I get a feel for it all.
Any reason why you are limiting yourself by putting the antenna in the attic and not outside? If you are top of a mountain, and space is limited, why not look into a good multi-band vertical antenna?
The attic install is just for aesthetics. I've got a huge, otherwise unoccupied attic, and I put a conduit in there during construction just for this sort of thing, and we've already got two dishes on the roof. I remember doing a little research and should only lose a dB, if that, through the roofing materials. But I'm open to corrections.
 
My J-pole is in the attic and seems to work OK.
Don't forget "urban camo". You can always paint an antenna so long as you don't paint any insulators.
And if you want to go cheap for a while, you can always plug an HT into the antenna. You'd be amazed with what an HT will do when connected to a good antenna. The difference between 5W and 50W is only about 1.5 S-units of signal strength.
 
First time on the air and you're going to go on to the extra frequencies? Well, if you think you need to have thick skin here wait till you get up there on your first day.

Are you some sort of electrical engineer? Passing the extra portion of the test with only studying for the technician level is almost impossible without some type of prior electronics knowledge.

AE1Y

I'm in the same boat as scatter, passed General a couple of years ago having studied for tech. I missed extra by a couple of questions. My only claim to electronics background is reading a LOT of sci fi.

I did acquire an HT and did a very little with it. I plan to build up some basic equipment and experience over time.
 
Update: Well I'm finally on the air. Got me a Yaesu 2900 with a Jetstream power supply. Had some issues getting the power supply connected because it's got these "Anderson" connectors which I had never heard of. But eBay is my friend.

My home brew 2m ground plane antenna is hanging in the attic. I've only had two QSOs so far but apparently I'm hitting a repeater about 18 miles away with 5 watts loud and clear. Thanks for all the advice. Hope I can venture into the HF world by the end of the year.
 
I chose the Kenwood TX480SAT for my first rig. Gave me the flexibility I was looking for and is all-mode from 6M down. Was also on sale this past summer at HRO, so I couldn't pass it up.

Have it plugged into a laptop and added an SDR IF panadapter from that eBay dude.
 
Scatter glad to hear you are up and running and good to hear your update. It is time to set up your HF station. The TS 480 SAT is a good radio I have one unfortunately I almost never use it. It really is a portable /mobile radio/ however it can be used as a base. The draw back for base use is it is small, and the control head in not attached to the radio, it doesn't offer half what a radio like the IC 7300 does. The one advantage is price it is currently on sale at HRO for $879.95. and the IC 7300 in on sale for $1249.95. The IC 7300 offers a lot more, you should check out both radios. I purchased the TS 480 SAT over a year ago to do some portable work, as of yet I haven't, so I fire it up once in a while and make a few contacts. It would not be my first choice for 1. a first radio or 2. a base station radio, however it is a great radio with a great receiver.
N1HM
 
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