ExPo Radio Chat

[1leglance]

I agree that it was fun and interesting to learn how to use these things for other than better cb's

Results for me...
As long as Blake and I had short comments then no issue...I am not sure if my speech was ever timed out and why I would lose him after 15-20 seconds of speech from him.

I disconnected from 9255 after I couldn't raise Blake and went for a direct connect to 3892 and while I was able to talk to a very nice helpful man John (pass on to him thanks if you figure out who he was) I wasn't able to keeep a good connection going long enough to get his call sign or thank him myself.
Again not sure if it is on my end...
I am in central phx using a 70cm repeater that is also in central phx so all should be well.

I would go drive to where I could try a 2m repeater but I already lit my cigar and that spells relaxation time

Ok so it seems like we got 3 folks on the air...I count you Ed since you made contact with Blake...
Who is in for next time and when should we make another go of it?
Friday is my next aval. evening or Sat/Sun afternoon...thoughts.

Thanks Blake for the help and Ed I hope to hear you on the air myself.

 

[BogusBlake]

For the first time, I thought it went well. Lance and I were able to make contact through the Western Reflector on 9255. We chewed the rag for about 20 minutes, a little about trucks and trips, but mostly how we were connecting with our radios. Next time, we'll talk about more ExPo type stuff.

Ed came on towards the end, but like he said, right as Lance's link dropped out.

We'll definitely be trying this again.

Lesson for the night: D E L A Y

 

[BogusBlake]

Results for me...
As long as Blake and I had short comments then no issue...I am not sure if my speech was ever timed out and why I would lose him after 15-20 seconds of speech from him.

I disconnected from 9255 after I couldn't raise Blake and went for a direct connect to 3892 and while I was able to talk to a very nice helpful man John (pass on to him thanks if you figure out who he was) I wasn't able to keeep a good connection going long enough to get his call sign or thank him myself.
Again not sure if it is on my end...

Yeah, John (I forget his callsign) is the owner of 3892. He's been helping me with my radio skillz.

I don't know what was going on with my long transmissions. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my radio timing out- the manual says it beeps when it does that. Ed and I were talking through the repeater just fine, and we heard John OK too.

Ed and I were also on 70cm.

Lance, the reason you couldn't get through to 3892 was probably because I still had it engaged to the reflector.

Oh yeah, pretty much any Mon-Thurs night works well for me and radio playing.

 

[1leglance]

.........I.......don't.......know .......what .......you ......are .......talking......about

Hey they John (sorry again I didn't get his callsign) came on went I went for the direct connection to 3892 to give me some great feedback,,,
He said that the only delay we needed to worry about really was the 1 second between keying the mic and talking so that the first part of the first word isn't chopped off..
He said 1-3 seconds after a person stops (both to make sure they did stop talking and to let someone else break) is plenty.
Great lesson learned and talking is better than listening any day.
Now we just need to figure how to get Mark-crawler#976 in since he is 2m with no irlp node northern az...

Any thoughts on the next net time?
I would like to suggest that we also pick a topic for each net so it can be kind of a roundtable or open discussion....
Maybe:
Navigation setups..merits of maps, vs gps, vs blind exploration
Most interesting 3 day weekend campsites
Keeping the kids entertained while on the road
Where are you going next?

Any other topic thoughts?

 

[BogusBlake]

I like the idea of a discussion topic.

I vote for navigation setups next week.

 

[1leglance]

Hey I love navigation as a topic..
I have tried a few diff setups and can offer my thoughts on them...
And Blake since you were in the Expo Trophy last year and nav was a part of that then you can offer some insights also...

Now lets hear some thoughts on our next net...
Like I said I am free Friday evening and Sunday anytime Sunday...

Lastly and maybe most importantly is that if we get this going we should all donate a few bucks to the owners of the local repeaters we are using as that is how the ham community seems to work. I am cool with that and I am sure most others are also.

 

[BogusBlake]

Now lets hear some thoughts on our next net...
Like I said I am free Friday evening and Sunday anytime Sunday...

Lastly and maybe most importantly is that if we get this going we should all donate a few bucks to the owners of the local repeaters we are using as that is how the ham community seems to work. I am cool with that and I am sure most others are also.

I agree on the support of local repeaters.

Ill start a new thread about the weekly radio net in the general section.

 

[crawler#976]

Mark-crawler#976 I will try to be on 1 of those repeaters if I can figure how to link from Phx some afternoon (not Tues as I work but wed/thur/fri)
Hey have you tried:
3182 W7JLC Prescott AZ USA 442.3500 100 17:36 IDLE 3 Hours 11 Mins
3727 K6JSI Prescott - WIN System AZ USA 445.3000 100 17:36 9453 17 Days 16 Hours (appears to be connected to winsystem.org)

Unfortunately I've got a single band radio - 2M only. Looks like I may have to upgrade!

 

[DaktariEd]

Hey, I'm good with the navigation topic idea, and I'm also available Fri-Sat-Sun...
Mark, get a dual bander! Doesn't a 70 cm carry farther anyway?

:sombrero:

 

[crawler#976]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/70_centimeters

Propagation considerations often take a back seat to channel availability or economic concerns in system planning. One practical concern when comparing 70cm to 2m is that a quarter-wave antenna is much less unwieldy at 70cm than it is at 2m. Portable antennas for 2m are generally continuously loaded coil spring or "rubber duck" types while on 70cm they can be full quarter-wave. The difference can be as much as 8 dB. The primary advantage of 70cm is that base station antennas of very significant gain (up to 11 dB or so) are practical while 6 dB is about the practical limit on 2m. The extra 5 dB of receive and transmit gain are often critical for long range communication, particularly for high level repeaters which can then concentrate all of their power and receive sensitivity at the horizon.

The US 70cm amateur band also provides 30 MHz of spectrum, versus 4 MHz on 2m. This allows many more channels, accommodating fast scan television, wideband digital modes and point-to-point linking, which are not permitted on 2m and lower frequencies.

A problem found with all UHF or higher frequencies is the prevalence of multipath signals. The reflective properties of the 70cm band allow signals to be reflected by dense and solid material such as cement or rock. This creates a slight time delay between the primary signal and reflected signal(s) causing cancellations as the direct and reflected signals are combined in the receiving antenna. This can cause "picket fencing" or rapid fluctuations in signal strength to be experienced by stations in motion. The problem is much less severe with modern FM systems because the limiter circuit in the receiver compensates for variations in received signal strength over a very wide amplitude range. In properly engineered systems, multipath can also be reduced by assuring that the transmitter uses only the minimum necessary power, allowing the reflected signals to be lower than the receiver's detection threshold.

70cm is very close to the third harmonic of 2m, which allows sufficiently broad band 2m antennas to also be used for 70cm. Antennas specifically designed to work on both bands are common. Also, 2m is far enough away from 70cm in the spectrum to make duplexers small, requiring just a few components, so it is easy to cross band repeat signals between the two bands with a single dual band dual receive radio.

 

[adventureduo]

When we get back from our trip i'll see if i can hit the 9255 western reflector with this local node. http://www.billlovelace.com/irlp/

EDIT: Talked the owner of this node and he gave me his passcode to use the system. Super nice guy and really willing to help out someone so new. I will try and hit this later today when i get home possibly.

 

[bj70_guy]

This looks really interesting. I'm game to try joining in on the next round, whenever that turns out to be.
It appears the fellow that invented the whole IRLP thing lives 15 minutes away from me, cool!

VE7TFO, 2M+75cm.

 

[bc_fjc]

I'm in, Just as long as the GF is not over... I've been using IRLP on my last two outtings to stay in touch with peaple. We have lots of open IRLP repeaters across BC.

VA7DRW

 

[crawler#976]

I've got the FT-7800R installed - working on the programming this week. I've got to find out what local resources I've got available on 70CM.

 

[Mlachica]

node questions w/yaesu 7800

Okay, so I've got the 7800 installed on the 80.

When I use a local repeater/node to connect to a node far far away once I'm linked with the node must I enter the node code every time I transmit? Or can I transmit as if I'm just using the local repeater?

Also, after I'm linked to a distant node does the local repeater repeat my transmissions local to that repeater or only on the node I'm connected to?

sorry if this already has been answered...