Ham experience (1 Viewer)

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I have not had a p with dropped calls. Most of my autopatch calls have been from Bartlett lake area and Seven Springs on my mobile unit 65 watt unit. Also no problem on the 4watt hand held with autopatch to Mt Ord from Sheeps Bridge.
Don'the Fergit to donate to the repeater operator for the phone calls:beer:
 
http://www.arca-az.org/main/arca_clubs.html

http://www.w7ara.org/z/Information.aspx

http://www.eaars.com/repeaterguidelines.pdf

From the Eastern Arizona Amateur Radio Society (Probably NOT operating any repeater you are currently using in Phoenix, but a good example)

Support: EAARS is an open membership club, and sponsors all of the repeaters on the network. There is

considerable cost involved with purchase, installation, maintenance, and ongoing services. If you use the
system frequently, please join to support the system. The dues are only $24 a year, so it shouldn’t be a burden
on anyone. No one will be asked to leave, or refrain from using the repeater simply because they are not a
member.
If you hear a new user on the system frequently, encourage them to join the club and point them to
our website. www.eaars.com

In Phoenix you might be using an ARA repeater:

http://www.w7ara.org/z/Information.aspx

ARA Repeater Sites
Mount Ord, Sunflower White Tanks, West of Glendale
Smith Peak, Aguila Shaw Butte, Phoenix
Scottsdale Airpark Greens Peak, McNary
Pinal Peak, Globe Mount Elden, Flagstaff
Chase Bank, Phoenix Bank of America, Mesa
Usery Pass, Mesa Daisy Mountain, Desert Hills
 
These cable issues are why a hand held with stubby inside a car works as well as the same handheld with a 18" SMA-UHF adapter cable connected to a magnetic roof mount with an extra 15 or 25 feet of cheap RG58, especially when on the 70cm band.

I guess it's individual experience. I had no luck get any responses to calls on my HT when I had the OEM Yaesu antenna inside my Tacoma. Added the adapter/mag mount NMO antenna and it made a world of difference.
 
It is condition dependent - you may not have received any response had you had the external antenna at that exact moment. All sorts of things play into Rx/Tx, radiated power is just one.

That said, a 1dB or more insertion loss of extra adapter and mount cable, a few 0.25dB insertion losses of extra connectors and reflections added by sketchy assembly, and you are down 3dB (1/2 power) pretty quickly. In some cases the antenna gain can 'get' some of that back... but as in anything, ymmv.
 
So I messed around today during lunch. I had both the SRJ77CA mounted directly to the HT, and the roof-mounted Tram with the additional adapter required for the BaoFeng. From my parking lot in Chandler on the SRJ77CA, I could easily listen in on a conversation from the Usery repeater, about 26 miles away. I immediately powered down, and switched antennas to the roof mounted one, and... nada. Couldn't hear anything. Back to the SRJ77CA direct to the HT, and back listening in. I'm using the roof mounted one straight out of the box, so I'm guessing it needs some tweaking, too. I don't know jack about that, but assuming you can't use the SWR meter from a CB, right? Cuz that would be too easy...
 
No to the 27MHz VSWR meter on 150MHz-2M or 450MHz-70CM bands.

I suspect a bad antenna or adapter ... haul them down to where you bought them (Ham Radio Outlet, I hope) and have them inspect for problems.
 
In the interest of quality control, here (first image) is an example of what not to buy. The concept is fine, but this execution is very typical and will ruin the connectors it plugs in to (a radio mfg may void a warranty for this). Note how the solder flows up over the gold plating with a nasty flux residue (dark stuff). Not only does it make the connection unreliable, it fouls and may damage the joining connector by springing it open too far. Third image shows the gold plate as it should look when finished (no trace of solder); and fourth image is of a properly soldered silver plated connector (no solder on the outside of the pin - its all kept inside the hollow).

By the way, good UHF cables can cost thousands of dollars - even used off eBay they still cost hundreds. Home usable cables can be purchased for much less, but expect to pay for what you get - its one of those few areas where time and workmanship still matters.

1) 41XqRdc6kUL.jpg
... cheap F-SMA to PL-259 cable from Amazon - first clue is the bulkhead SMA rather than a cable connector.

2)
Capture.JPG

... solder has wicked down the outside of the pin, over the expensive and important gold plated surface
... still has black flux residue which is non-conductive and will fould the mating connector

3) pl-259_gold_pin.jpg

4)
Capture.JPG

... close up of a properly soldered silver connector: no solder wicked out from the inside of the pin; and residue was cleaned off.

5) 61L3+5zt1zL._SL1366_.jpg
... inexpensive cable from Amazon that shows a good solder job.

Link to Gore: http://www.gore.com/en_xx/products/cables/coaxialmicrowave/coaxial-microwave-cable-landing.html
 
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Cool post. "Spaceflight Applications". Likey.
 

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