2M Recommendations For Beginners Please!

[Flyn G]

WOW!! Talk about opening up a door and stepping into a whole new world.

I was looking for info on installing a CB in the truck, so I clicked on this thread.

I've now read every page, took a full page worth of notes on things to looks up to study more on and feel like I just uncovered a world I never knew existed

Thanks guys, I find it so fun to learn new things

I looked into the Ham thing a few years ago but decided I didn't want to mess with the morse code.

I needed a radio to go with a group this next weekend so I decided to take another look at the Ham stuff. Weds I bought this online study guide for 20 bucks. I put about 8 hours of piddling with the course and took the test today and passed very easily with a 100%.

The HT should be here weds and hopefully the callsign will be posted before next Sat.

UPDATE:
I decided to do it Weds, ordered radio Fri, tested on Sat, radio (Yaesu FT-270) arrived tues, FCC web posting of my License on Thurs. It isn't hard at all.

Checkout the weekend of fun! The HT worked very nice too.

Flyn G

 

[Ozarker]

Boy, this thread is alot like an 80M rag chew, can't stay on topic...lol:ylsmoke:

Never saw Icom or Kenwood mentioned. I run an Icom 706 and a cheap MFJ three element beam on 6M, it lays in the back and used on a 10 ft section of PVC pipe when parked. 2M is a Larson 5/8 wave on a mag mount was from a 1/2 wave and coax runs through rear window. Also have the Yaesu 1802 and 2 Yaesu FT 60 R HTs (that I have to learn to use, LOL).

Does anoyone use a J pole? Mine works well and a good clamp would make go anywhere too, but people would wonder what it was!

 

[1911]

Does anoyone use a J pole? Mine works well and a good clamp would make go anywhere too, but people would wonder what it was!

I use a j-pole (actually a mirrored j-pole) for 2m at my home base station and I get excellent range with it 25' off the ground. A j-pole would make a good camp antenna because they are sturdy and don't take up too much space, but I'm leaning towards a Yagi beam antenna for the extra range.

 

[Ozarker]

Just a tip. I hung the J pole in a tree about 40' up. Shot an arrow with fishing line tied to para cord. The para cord takes the J pole up. Tie off the para cord and bring the coax straight down to hold it in place, it just hangs in the air. Don't really need a mast or pole. Yes, it will move some, but it doesn't matter. :coffeedrink:

 

[Beowulf]

What is APRS and why would I want to use it?

 

[Beowulf]

I see lots of comments regarding buying the software and programming cable. Exactly what is everyone programming? Don't these work right out of the box?

 

[Beowulf]

Why would you need both VHF and UHF? Does this tie to 2m and 70cm?

 

[Pskhaat]

70cm ~= UHF ; 2m ~= VHF for Hams.

There are terrain and congestion reasons for both bands. I can only raise a UHF repeater in Tuweep.

 

[1911]

What is APRS and why would I want to use it?

Automatic Packet Reporting System. Lots of info on the interwebs if you google it, but the short story for an expeditioner/4WD is so your family and friends who are not with you can see where you are on GoogleMaps, pretty much in real time. Your trail mates could also see exactly where you were and how far/what bearing from themselves, if they were so-equipped. And, you can use it to send and receive text messages in places where there is no cell phone service (provided you can reach another APRS station or digipeater).

 

[1911]

I see lots of comments regarding buying the software and programming cable. Exactly what is everyone programming? Don't these work right out of the box?

They are programming repeater offsets and PL/control tones, so they can use repeaters near them (or along their route) quickly from the radio memories. You can program them from the front panel buttons and knobs on the radio, but this is tedious if you're doing more than a few at a time. The programming software and cables allow you to set up lots of them at one time in a spreadsheet format on your computer, then upload them all at once to your radio.

 

[Beowulf]

What are PL tones?

 

[1911]

What are PL tones?

An older (shorter) abbreviation for the Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System or CTCSS tones used by many repeaters to reject spurious signals.

 

[Pskhaat]

...are sub-audible tones combined into the transmission that can be detected by the repeaters to tell 'em if to honor the transmission by reception and repeating.

 

[Beowulf]

70cm ~= UHF ; 2m ~= VHF for Hams.

There are terrain and congestion reasons for both bands. I can only raise a UHF repeater in Tuweep.

Then I'm also guessing that 144 MHz band is VHF and 430 MHz is UHF?

Also, why is VHF/2m usually 50 watts and UHF/70CM 40/45watts? Is this regulated by the FCC?

 

[Pskhaat]

There are power limits (much higher), but there is a logical limit to how much you want to output considering the nature of the line-of-sight'edness of VHF+ bands. You can quite functionally go hundreds of miles at 5-10 watts. Most Ham radios have varying power output levels and you generally only increase the power if conversations are clearly limited by power, most of the time one operates on the low power output.