HAM Radio anyone?

MonkeyZero

MonkeyZero

Mexican Mayonnaise Weiner Sandwich
I bought a Baofeng UV5R5 a few months back and finally sat down last night and programmed in some local EMS/FD frequencies. I listened to a respiratory distress call on a 15 month old and a car fire right down the street from my house.
Needless to say, I am SO addicted now.
I really have zero intentions of ever getting a license to transmit. I just love aural voyeurism.

Anyone else mess with these things or scanners?
 
WB6ACU
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:grin:
 
I have an extra class ticket (N1QO). I got into HAM radio to learn about electronics and build radios. I've built several from scratch (using schematics/instructions, I've never designed a radio). My current rig is an Icom7200 into a g5rv dipole. My antenna tuner broke and I haven't had the desire to fix it, so I've been off the air for quite a while. I pretty much stick to CW (morse code) as I don't find talking on the air that enjoyable. I've also done quite a bit of psk31. I have that same baofeng radio, it's pretty full featured for such an inexpensive unit.

Here's a 40 meter radio I built. 3 watts (approx). I had a qso with a Russian station on on it once - pretty exciting!

incase.jpg

cascode-009.jpg
 
wagdog said:
I have an extra class ticket (N1QO). I got into HAM radio to learn about electronics and build radios. I've built several from scratch (using schematics/instructions, I've never designed a radio). My current rig is an Icom7200 into a g5rv dipole. My antenna tuner broke and I haven't had the desire to fix it, so I've been off the air for quite a while. I pretty much stick to CW (morse code) as I don't find talking on the air that enjoyable. I've also done quite a bit of psk31. I have that same baofeng radio, it's pretty full featured for such an inexpensive unit.

Here's a 40 meter radio I built. 3 watts (approx). I had a qso with a Russian station on on it once - pretty exciting!

incase.jpg

cascode-009.jpg
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where are the tubes??:grin:
 
KD6WWQ - I don't have my own rig but I have a no-code Tech License. My old place of employment provided us with radios for emergency broadcast. We had an on-air group check-in once a month. Been meaning to get one again on 2 meter but never pursued one.
 
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wagdog said:
You see the three circular heat sinks? Those are the finals, 2n2222 transistors. The story of the design is here: http://www.k8iqy.com/qrprigs/2n240/2n240page.html

Some HAMs do use tubes for building, I never did. I was able to learn enough theory building radios to start building and repairing guitar amps though.
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I can see that. The front end of a transmitter is basically a power amp, so the principals are the same. It's a matter of using the correct components to match the frequency and impedance of your application.
 
TomcatMF said:
I can see that. The front end of a transmitter is basically a power amp, so the principals are the same. It's a matter of using the correct components to match the frequency and impedance of your application.
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Indeed.

I actually went about learning how to build tube amps backwards by starting with radios. Radios are infinitely more complicated. The good news is the receiver section and especially the audio amp is similar in operation to a guitar amp; it takes a very small signal and amplifies it. The front end of a recvr has a bit more work to do, but once past that, it's pretty straight forward.
 
I've been a ham for about 5 years now, a no-code extra, though I do have a straight key and am in the process of learning CW. I've played around w/digital modes, but I'm mostly single-sideband phone (voice). I also run G5RV. All of my antennas are homebrew, though @wagdog that's a nice 40m QRP rig!

I do have a tube-powered transmitter and receiver, made by a company named Collins.
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This is the transmitter. The receiver looks pretty similar.
DFE47DA2-5DEF-4757-BF17-5E955A0E4E5A-9527-00000FAB4CBE50EE.jpg

The final output tubes in the cage are 6146s (2) @800v or so. This set was found in an old falling-down woodshed, full of mud-daubers and spiderwebs. Took a month to restore and align.


It's nice to see a couple other radio amateurs here.

@MonkeyZero, make sure you don't accidentally transmit on the freqs you're listening in on. Unlike a scanner, iirc those Baofengs are "wide open" in that they'll transmit on frequencies that may be reserved for official and/or emergency use. They're great little handhelds, I have 3 of 'em.
 
Nice radio @Steverino ! I love old radios, and that's a beaut. I used to have an old IC-701 - solid state, not nearly as cool as that Collins. Got taken out by a lightening strike. Here's a pic (not mine).
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wagdog said:
Nice radio @Steverino ! I love old radios, and that's a beaut. I used to have an old IC-701 - solid state, not nearly as cool as that Collins. Got taken out by a lightening strike. Here's a pic (not mine).
Icom_IC_701.jpg
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Sweet! Your pic didn't come through, but I Googled the 701. Those older Icoms were handsome rigs. I have an IC-720A (and a 736 and a 7300.)

I got some lightning too, last year. No radio damage, but took out a bunch of other stuff. :(
 
Steverino said:
Sweet! Your pic didn't come through, but I Googled the 701. Those older Icoms were handsome rigs. I have an IC-720A (and a 736 and a 7300.)

I got some lightning too, last year. No radio damage, but took out a bunch of other stuff. :(
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Thanks. Fixed the image - seems that site doesn't like hotlinking (just grabbed one off google images).

Losing that radio to lightening really sucked. It was my first ham rig, and I made quite a few contacts on it. I kept the carcass for a while, thinking about maybe trying to fix it, but it could have had damage pretty much anywhere.
 
All night at work I have an Icom handheld on my hip, a Motorola desktop in my office and the county emergency services band running from the Broadcastify app on my phone through a wifi speaker. After all that radio for 8 hours a night I have little interest in it at home. At home everything is video. Don't want to just hear anything, I have to see it too.
 
Rick 381 said:
All night at work I have an Icom handheld on my hip, a Motorola desktop in my office and the county emergency services band running from the Broadcastify app on my phone through a wifi speaker. After all that radio for 8 hours a night I have little interest in it at home. At home everything is video. Don't want to just hear anything, I have to see it too.
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Broadcastify is a great little tool/app. I was listening to all the chaos in Charlotte last night.
 
My son is huge into it. We have a 90 foot antenna strung between two trees in the backyard. He has talked to the space station, from NJ hit Australia with a one watt transmission of some sort, has his third license (I don't know exactly what it's called but it's two up from the technician license) and him and his friend made the following that has got him interviewed several times by trade magazines:

Emergency Antenna Platform System



Local newspaper article: http://wc2fd.com/images/4/41/Express-Times-2014-11-24.jpg
 
12Pack said:
My son is huge into it. We have a 90 foot antenna strung between two trees in the backyard. He has talked to the space station, from NJ hit Australia with a one watt transmission of some sort, has his third license (I don't know exactly what it's called but it's two up from the technician license) and him and his friend made the following that has got him interviewed several times by trade magazines:

Emergency Antenna Platform System



Local newspaper article: http://wc2fd.com/images/4/41/Express-Times-2014-11-24.jpg
Click to expand...

I saw that about a year ago. That's very clever, and could be deployed just about anywhere. Very cool. :cool:
 
Y'all are making me think more about pursuing the license. Not that I want to transmit still, just because I'll learn a lot more about it.
I definitely know to keep my finger off the PTT while listening. I just tune into 2 channels and dual monitor while laying in bed or sitting on the couch.
I like hearing the EMS and FD calls and following until I know everyone is OK. lol
I heard a head trauma call last night where a 76 year old lady had fallen. Turns out she was fine, just a big goose egg. No bleeding, no concussion. Just a sore back.
 
MonkeyZero said:
Y'all are making me think more about pursuing the license. Not that I want to transmit still, just because I'll learn a lot more about it.
I definitely know to keep my finger off the PTT while listening. I just tune into 2 channels and dual monitor while laying in bed or sitting on the couch.
I like hearing the EMS and FD calls and following until I know everyone is OK. lol
I heard a head trauma call last night where a 76 year old lady had fallen. Turns out she was fine, just a big goose egg. No bleeding, no concussion. Just a sore back.
Click to expand...

Be careful, listening to scanners is exactly how I got bit by the amateur radio bug :grin:

Getting the first level of license (Technician) is stupid-easy, costs $15 and you can get on local repeaters, FM/line of sight coverage and some longer range stuff in the 28MHz frequencies. At 28Mhz, on the right days (when propagation is good) you can transmit a lot farther.
 
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