HAM Radio Starter Kit - Information for Beginners

[Don H]

but I couldn't find the question for Echolocation..

Echolocation is how bats 'see'. Basically they emit a wave and then sense the reflection. Think sonar.

Animal echolocation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[JackThompson]

Echolocation is how bats 'see'. Basically they emit a wave and then sense the reflection. Think sonar.

Animal echolocation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know that part But I can't for some reason find in the Ham Technician exam where Echolocation was the correct answer for a radio related question, but I remember coming across it many times during my studies!

 

[Don H]

Could it be this one?

Operating activities; radio direction finding, radio control, contests, special event stations, basic linking over Internet

T8C01: Which of the following methods is used to locate sources of noise interference or jamming?
Radio direction finding
Echolocation
Doppler radar
Phase locking

 

[XSubSailor]

Great catch AMProducts! (I just went through the Technician exam again, and I found the question that contained RDF, but I couldn't find the question for Echolocation.. I swear it had to do with radio location as well!) I updated the information above to reflect the correction to Radio Direction Finding though.

I made a copper J-Pole using one of the designs listed above and it works amazingly! I took it to a HAM Elmer (Elmers are other HAMS that are happy to help new HAMS learn the art) and he connected it to his meter. It had an amazing 1.2:1 SWR!

Quick question on the LEO Satellite work. I thought LEO was going to a trunking system that would be fairly closed? Is that not the case?

"echolocation uses sound waves (i.e. sonar), not RF...I think you were referring to echolink.

Also LEO satellites are "Low Earth Orbit" satellites.

Brian AC7NA

 

[m1gunr]

From the Olympia Capitol, a simple handheld radio was able to hit the Tiger Mountain repeater as well as the Ashford repeater using the copper dipole setup shown below.

 

[wombat]

... thanks Jack ... nice timing of the subject matter, for me.

 

[Cortes]

Thanks everyone for the great info!

I took the CERT classes, great organization IMO. Then the City canceled our program due to budgetary concerns :/

Well worth the time though if there is a program in your area.

 

[300zxtt]

wow. cant thank you enough. this is exactly what I've been looking for.

 

[wichaka]

Went to the HamFest at Rickreall a few weeks ago and got my Tech lic.

Picked up a couple Kenwoods, a dual bander mobile/base, and a dual band handheld.

Off to up the lic. class to General this Saturday in Dallas.

 

[AMProducts]

Went to the HamFest at Rickreall a few weeks ago and got my Tech lic.

Picked up a couple Kenwoods, a dual bander mobile/base, and a dual band handheld.

Off to up the lic. class to General this Saturday in Dallas.

Congrats!

I got my general 3 years ago, still havn't spent the coin on a decent HF rig. I do have a 10M rig, but havn't built an antenna for it.

 

[BlindedByScience]

Curious about one thing.....

This is the cable NOT TO BUY
Amazon.com: USB Programming Cable for Baofeng UV-5R UV-3R+ Two way Radio With Driver CD: Car Electronics
(Labeled as "USB Programming Cable for Baofeng UV-5R UV-3R+ Two way Radio With Driver CD")

Just so happens that is the exact cable I just bought for my new Baofeng UV-B6.....and it works perfectly.....??

Good compilation of info, will pass along to other folks.

73's - NY7D

 

[wichaka]

Congrats!

I got my general 3 years ago, still havn't spent the coin on a decent HF rig. I do have a 10M rig, but havn't built an antenna for it.

Just got my dual band base/mobile set up done...so no pesos left much for a HF rig.

But have some things to sell. Hoping to get enough together to get a good used rig, as I will most likely make my antenna.

 

[AMProducts]

By the way, I found this earlier today thought I would pass it along:

www.amazon.com/TYT-Transceiver-TH-9800-Amateur-Radio/dp/B00I53VUEY/

Seems to be a chinese copy of the Yaesu FT8900R. It seems to have the same problem as the 8900... it only does FM on 10M. 10M really shines when you can do AM.

 

[wichaka]

Passed the General, now off to search for a good used HF rig.

 

[Mycoffee11]

Wow that is a lot of good information. Thank you. I have been wanting to get my HAM Radio license. Now its just finding the time.

 

[wichaka]

Its easy. There are at least 6 sites where you can study and do mock tests that use the current test questions.

I started studying and took my Tech and General and passed both within 6 weeks.

 

[willseeker]

Thanks for a great thread Jack!

As much as I fantasize about bugging out and living like Thoreau on a lake…not gonna happen!

I'm a N.E.T. (neighborhood emergency responder). Being an A.R.O. (amateur radio operator) will help in coordinating emergency services. I will look after immediate family, then neighbors, then community and then…well, we go Zombie hunting'!

Be well,
Will

 

[twoclones]

I thought some might enjoy the tale of my very first Ham Radio purchase. It was an adventure in trouble shooting.

I bought one Baofeng UV-82 and the "genuine" Baofeng programming cable. After reading online and watching some youtube videos, I tried to program the radio using Chirp. And since I've worked as an I.T. guy, this should be easy What could go wrong?

The first couple dozen attempts resulted in a 'no response from radio' error. I tried the Windows default driver, the driver from the miniCD, a driver for the wrong chipset (BSOD with that), and an older driver. When that didn't work, I tried the Daily version of Chirp. No joy Went back to the stable version.

Online advice was all pointing to a bad cable. But I was determined to get a definitive diagnosis and located someone with 3 UV-82 radios. When we hooked their radios to my cable, Chirp worked and I cloned the radio! All 3 of theirs worked on my cable and computer. "Ah ha!"

Not giving up on the new radio, I reset it to the factory defaults before trying one last time. Then the radio started talking Chinese to me. LOL After getting the language set to English, I connected the programming cable and it still didn't work.

Diagnosis: defective radio.
Cure: replacement by Amazon should be here in a few days.

 

[AMProducts]

Most of these programming cables work well with the sabrent USB->Serial drivers, I think I have about 5 cables and all work with this (if you want PM me your e-mail address and I will send you the zip of what I have)

Chirp and windows are somewhat at odds with how they control serial interfaces, windows likes to play musical ports (XP-Pro) and will assign the cable to whatever port it feels like, so I have to go into device manager and figure it out nearly every time, but I don't reprogram my radio a lot so it's not much of an issue. Chirp doesn't have a good method for finding the cable port, so you have to set it manually. This is likely your issue. As it sounds like your cable and radio are working fine otherwise.

 

[twoclones]

This is likely your issue. As it sounds like your cable and radio are working fine otherwise.

I'm using Vista Business and the cable is assigned Com 4 in each of the 4 onboard USB ports (checking with FindComPort). That appears to have been improved after XP.

Since the cable is working on 3 of 4 radios tested, I can't blame the drivers or the cable. The new radio also refused to work with my cable on a Win 8 system.

It's either the radio or the Chinese are screwing with the gravity again.