[geeks] new HAM on the net

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Wed, Jun 08, 2011 at 08:46:46PM -0500, Michael Parson wrote:

>That's been bothering me since I wrote it, was sure why until I read it
>again just now.  I guess didn't get enough sleep last night, I meant
>70cm and 2m.

Ok, I'm familar with the radio, I don't have one, but it's a hot little rig
also being OEM'ed by Yaseu. 

If you know how to solder, you can make a better antenna for a few dollars.
The standard "better" antenna is called a J-Pole and you can make it
from 300 ohm twinlead, 450 ohm ladder line or rigid copper pipe (which is
called a "copper cactus").

A better antenna would be a beam antenna which can be made from wire and a
long piece of insulator, usually wood. 


>Gonna have to save up for an HF set, even on ebay they run more than I
>can spend right now.

eBay is probably the worst place to buy one from. You can find a decent
HF rig without the WARC bands for around $200-$300. Looking at the prices
on eBay for the Buy It Now rigs, you can get 2-3 of them for the price
listed.

Best thing to do is if you live in a relatively populated area, start
monitoring the swp nets on local repeaters. 

Here's one I saw doing a search on QRZ.com. Heck if I had the money or
could convince my wife I needed ANOTHER radio, I'd buy it.

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?300107-FT-817

73,

Geoff.


-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Making your enemy reliant on software you support is the best revenge.