Passed my Tech and General today
- Thread starter Volcano cruiser
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Saw posts on Outdoor Adventure USA, which started as a ham board. 'Folks are saying' to stay away from the VX-8 for at least six months to let the bugs cure! That being said, I want everyone to rush out and get one so the VX-7's will drop in price!!!
Congrats on the double from me as well. I to should be studying for the general exam. Code was always my weak link, my brain just never seemed to register it very well. I gots the book, just needs to get on it!
Thoughts from this end on radios.. If all you want to do mobile is FM, dont waste money on the Icom 706 or the likes. Get yourself a Kenwood TM-742 AD. They are on E-bay, about $500. They come with 2m-440 and have a slot for a third band module. You can get a 1.2, 220, 6m or 10m and add it right in. There are even some kits out that allow you to add all the extras to a box and swap which band you want.
Your choice of the VX-7R is great, I have one and love it. If you want to stay cheap and with Yaesu the 8800 is good. I considered a new 8900 for the LC but decided that I really didnt need 10m FM.
I bought the 742 with this expansion box put 1.2 and 220 in it and went contesting. Had a BLAST! the 1.2 modules arent cheap, but if you dont have it or 220 in the area, 6m will be a safe bet for longer range FM comms.
Have a great time, I need to go study.. Brodie KE6BZY
Thoughts from this end on radios.. If all you want to do mobile is FM, dont waste money on the Icom 706 or the likes. Get yourself a Kenwood TM-742 AD. They are on E-bay, about $500. They come with 2m-440 and have a slot for a third band module. You can get a 1.2, 220, 6m or 10m and add it right in. There are even some kits out that allow you to add all the extras to a box and swap which band you want.
Your choice of the VX-7R is great, I have one and love it. If you want to stay cheap and with Yaesu the 8800 is good. I considered a new 8900 for the LC but decided that I really didnt need 10m FM.
I bought the 742 with this expansion box put 1.2 and 220 in it and went contesting. Had a BLAST! the 1.2 modules arent cheap, but if you dont have it or 220 in the area, 6m will be a safe bet for longer range FM comms.
Have a great time, I need to go study.. Brodie KE6BZY
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2008
- Threads
- 67
- Messages
- 1,887
- Location
- El Salvador and Washington, D.C.
- Website
- www.facebook.com
- Thread starter
- #24
Hi it's still me, jabxyz, just morphed and changed my screen name to Volcano cruiser to reflect reality, I own a cruiser and I live on a volcano.
Interesting development. As I was setting up to use the Vx-7 here in El Salvador I did another check to confirm the existence of the usual suspects, local band plan (almost same as ours), reciprocal agreement with the U.S. (we have one) However I found out that El Salvador has added an additional requirement of a visiting operators permit( my translation). It isn't expensive, a bit more paperwork but it comes with one cool benefit, I get to add a YS/in front of my call sign. Therefore I will hold off transmitting until I get my vanity call sign so that it can all be reflected clearly in the local paperwork.
So for now I'm just receiving and actually not hearing much activity aside from the guys at the local Costco doing price checks and local cab dispatchers pleading for guys to take runs in shady parts of town. I haven't heard anyone calling CQ and the one or two conversations that I catch no callsigns or station id's per the rules.
Interesting development. As I was setting up to use the Vx-7 here in El Salvador I did another check to confirm the existence of the usual suspects, local band plan (almost same as ours), reciprocal agreement with the U.S. (we have one) However I found out that El Salvador has added an additional requirement of a visiting operators permit( my translation). It isn't expensive, a bit more paperwork but it comes with one cool benefit, I get to add a YS/in front of my call sign. Therefore I will hold off transmitting until I get my vanity call sign so that it can all be reflected clearly in the local paperwork.
So for now I'm just receiving and actually not hearing much activity aside from the guys at the local Costco doing price checks and local cab dispatchers pleading for guys to take runs in shady parts of town. I haven't heard anyone calling CQ and the one or two conversations that I catch no callsigns or station id's per the rules.
I know what you mean about 'rule breaking'. Listened to a conversation off a Sylmar repeater here in SoCal for over 1/2 hour. Three of them dropping f bombs and a bunch of other !#!$!$. None ever identified themselves by call sign, but they knew each other. Wish I'd have caught a call sign from one of them. I'd have reported it to the FCC. It sounded more like truckers on CB.
Congradulations! You'll love HF in the rig, granted if you can hunt down and silence all the RF noise if your rig is anything like mine. I'm working on the install of my Yeasu FT-857 and Icom IC-2720H. Good luck!
KF4YNZ
KF4YNZ
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2008
- Threads
- 67
- Messages
- 1,887
- Location
- El Salvador and Washington, D.C.
- Website
- www.facebook.com
- Thread starter
- #27
Thanks. My first step will be to pick up the antenna that I left at my Dad's house last month because it wouldn't fit in my carry on luggage. I'll have less cr_a_p to carry this trip so I can carry it back. I'm now scouring ebay waiting to pounce on a FT 8900. I just missed one the other day so hope springs eternal.
As to getting rid of RF noise I take it that you have been running braided ground straps all over the frame rails. What else? Some of that I'd like to a head start on so any advice would be great.
Any way, I won't be taking the Extra test next week. I still have alot of studying to do and I still haven't found a study guide for the Extra test that I find as helpful as Romanchik's guides were for the Tech and General tests. Right now I'm using the ARRL guide which frankly to me is written more like a reference book. I particularly dislike it when I read a section and ir refers me to a practice test section and the answers to 2 out of 5 questions are not in the section that I just read. Anyone know of a better written more consice study guide for Extra?
Thanks,
John
Kofoed
SILVER Star
Sound like 147.435, aka "435" Don't bother reporting them.....There are actually some very knowledgable people on the freq, typically late at night and the Wednesday night radio round up...BUT you have to put up with a lot of nonsense.
Website for the 147.435 Amateur Radio Repeater
rusty_tlc
Dain Bramaged Member
I have the FT8900 and the problem is FM isn't really useful on 6M and 10M. You really need an AM mode transmitter for those bands. I wouldn't spend the extra money on the FT8900 again. However I like, and use, the cross band repeat function with my VX-7R. Look for the FT8800 instead that will get you cross band repeat and the remote head.
Sound like 147.435, aka "435" Don't bother reporting them.....There are actually some very knowledgable people on the freq, typically late at night and the Wednesday night radio round up...BUT you have to put up with a lot of nonsense.
Website for the 147.435 Amateur Radio Repeater
Not sure w/o looking at the frequency, but this was mid afternoon on a Sunday. Just a foul conversation. I'm fairly open minded, but this was just rude.
