Going to try and get "serious" this year....

[Martinjmpr]

As some of you have seen from my numerous posts on the topic, I've often complained about the complexity of the current crop of HAM radios.
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I've had my license since 2011 and got my radios (a 2m mobile and a dual band HT - both used) shortly after that - and then I just sort of let "life" get in the way. A couple of times I pulled my radios out to try and use them but got distracted and lost interest.
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Well, I've decided that as the new year approaches, I'm going to stop complaining and start figuring this stuff out. :bigbossHL:
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My first step was to bring my Yaesu FT-50R HT to work along with the manual and I'm going to slog it out page by page and figure out how to use this thing. Anyone up for a QSO in the Denver area some evening after work?
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@Daveindenver, I know you're up in Loveland, do you monitor any of the local repeaters?
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Oh, forgot to put my call sign: KD0PHH.

 

[prerunner1982]

Martin,

Have you participated in Field Day? It's the last full weekend in June and may be a way to keep your interest peaked through mid year. You may find another avenue within ham radio that you may want to explore (Satellite contacts using your HT, HF, fox hunting, etc). I enjoy helping set up the antennas and radios for the group I hang out with, get some of the hands on experience. It was good before I got my own HF radio to be able to get on and "play".

Just an idea, good luck with the programming. Do you have a programming software? I use CHIRP, it's free and pretty easy.

 

[DaveInDenver]

When I monitor it's usually the RMRL machine, K1DUN, 449.450MHz, -5MHz, PL 103.5. I can usually monitor any of the main repeaters around Denver, though.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Right now I'm still wading through the operators manual trying to figure out how to do something simple like set a pre-set channel to a specific frequency.
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It should be like a car stereo where you can just tune it to that frequency and then hold the button down until it beeps, but of course it's 100x more complicated than that.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Actually, it is almost as easy, with the beeps and stuff like a car radio. From the manual.

http://www.radiomanual.info/schemi/FT50_user.pdf

1. Preset the desired frequency, shift, power level (etc.) in the VFO mode as already described.
2. Hold F/W for 1/2 sec. (until a second beep sounds) to display the memory slot (blinking) at the right.
3. Within five seconds of releasing F/W, turn the knob and select a memory channel for storage. If you select one that was already used, it will be overwritten with new data in the next step.
4. Press F/W, to store the displayed data into the selected memory slot. The memory number stops blinking for a second, and then disappears as operation continues in the VFO mode.

The F/W is the button on the lower right.

 

[kmlacroix]

I am studying to get my HAM license. Will be fun figuring how to actually use my radio.

 

[DaveInDenver]

He programs a frequency in the first 44 seconds of this video on a FT-60, which is very similar to the FT-50. Turn on, punch in frequency, two pushes of F/W and it's done. He goes back and gives the memory an alphanumeric tag to make it easier to remember.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Ah, OK I can see what I was doing wrong. I was switching back and forth between the VFO mode and the channel mode. I thought it had to be in "channel mode" in order to program a channel but it doesn't.
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Thanks for the help.
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Now let me axe you another dumb question : In the owners manual it says there are two VFOs, A and B. The manual seems to imply (but doesn't outright say, at least not where I can see it) that VFO A is for adjusting the VHF frequency and VFO B is for the UHF frequency. Is that it? Or are the two VFOs for something else?

 

[DaveInDenver]

Two independent VFO (variable frequency oscillator, BTW). Each can tune VHF or UHF. Think of it almost like two radios operating within the same chassis. Each can be listening simultaneously, although only the selected one (main channel) will probably transmit. IOW, the secondary (sub-channel) one is only a receiver. From what I understand about the FT-50 is that you can designate either VFO A or B to be the main channel and the other will default to the sub-channel, so it's flexible.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Martin,

Have you participated in Field Day? It's the last full weekend in June and may be a way to keep your interest peaked through mid year. You may find another avenue within ham radio that you may want to explore (Satellite contacts using your HT, HF, fox hunting, etc). I enjoy helping set up the antennas and radios for the group I hang out with, get some of the hands on experience. It was good before I got my own HF radio to be able to get on and "play".

We have a pretty busy camping schedule in Summer, basically we're out every other weekend minimum, and it's not uncommon for us to camp three weekends in a row. With a schedule like that, it's tough to work any other commitments in.
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Just an idea, good luck with the programming. Do you have a programming software? I use CHIRP, it's free and pretty easy.

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Not sure that would work on my Yaesu? I don't see any inputs like USB or serial or anything like that.

 

[camp4x4]

I see this is kind of an old thread but I thought I'd jump in to see how it was going... Did you figure out the programming yet? Typically for ham radios you have to get a special USB cable that connects in to the headphone/PTT port on the side of the radio. A few has USB ports, but you still can't use just a standard USB cable. It's annoying...

In general ham radios seem to be about a decade behind the rest of consumer technology. Sadly there just aren't enough hams to warrant the investment by the companies who make our gear. In addition it seems many new hams don't want to dump a few hundred + dollars to get radios with high end screens and such. That's why the Baofengs are becoming so prolific now: they're cheap.

I went through this all too when I first started. Getting the programming cable and software is a huge help to using the radio. It's MUCH easier to program that way if you haven't already figured that out.

If you have got up and running, I'll blow your mind with another thing you can do with ham radio: talk over the internet. 2 services, Echolink and IRLP, are used to connect repeaters to the internet to send voice back and forth. With these you can talk to hams beyond your local repeaters but with your same gear. I've talked to a guy in Australia with my HT while hiking in the back country.

I bring this up because if you're interested in practicing more, and with other expo people, I've started the Off-road and Overland Amateur Radio Net specifically for new expo hams to get some practice, ask questions, etc. And of course to meet people.

The net is run out of the SF Bay Area, but is also available over IRLP. If you'd like to join us I'm sure I can help you get connected.

- Aaron W6TDR


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[mpinco]

Programming from the keyboard can be a PIA. Get Chirp and autoload your local repeaters by using the Download from Radio, Import from Data Source (select State and County of choice) followed by Upload to Radio under the Radio drop down menu.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I see this is kind of an old thread but I thought I'd jump in to see how it was going... Did you figure out the programming yet? Typically for ham radios you have to get a special USB cable that connects in to the headphone/PTT port on the side of the radio. A few has USB ports, but you still can't use just a standard USB cable. It's annoying...

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Hi, Aaron! Well, as far as how it's going, I was able to figure out how to program the radio manually using the keypad. Still have to figure out how to put in the CTCSS codes so I can access some of the repeaters.
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However, my progress got a bit derailed on Christmas day when the wife and I decided we needed a new home. We had been going back and forth for most of last year as to whether we wanted to "upgrade" our current home or just move to a new one but having been through the experience of having our home modified once before and having to ride herd on a general contractor, we both realized it wasn't how we wanted to spend our time.
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The good news is that we found the perfect home for us 5 miles away and we have a contract on it - we close two weeks from tomorrow. The bad news (at least in terms of my HAM radio abilities) is that all of our spare time has been spent packing up our house to get ready for the move, and that includes my radio gear. In any case, I'm still determined to get more proficient with my HAM equipment and plan on taking it with me during all of our upcoming camping trips (we run a teardrop camping group in Colorado and have a bunch of trips scheduled.)

I may try and talk some of the people we camp with into getting into HAM since it's such a great way to communicate in some of the areas where we go that have no cell service.

 

[camp4x4]

Congrats on the new place! I hear you about not wanting to deal with doing the upgrades on your existing place. I've lived through 2 big projects and while the outcome was great, getting there definitely makes you question the choice.

Find other people worth talking to on the radio, and even more so a real reason to use it beyond just shooting the proverbial $h1t is pretty much the only way I've found for staying interested. I've worked hard to get my off-road buddies engaged and find other off-roaders who are already engaged. And the only reason I got started in the first place was a workplace buddy who was part of a ham club. They were really nice guys and held a weekly on-air meet up - a net - that gave me a reason and a place to practice.

That's cool that you run a teardrop camping group! My wife's dad built us a tear drop years ago and we still have it. We haven't put it to much use lately in favor of the overland rig, but we love that thing.

Anyway, knowing how to program manually is definitely good, but once you get comfortable with that I'd suggest looking into getting a programming cable and using software like Chirp. For inputting multiple repeaters - or better yet using an online service like RepeaterBook.com - software is the way to go with any radio.

Let me know if you need a little help getting going again once you get settled! I've found my side hobby within ham radio seems to be getting people up and running.


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[b00ster]

Here is a cheat sheet that I found useful for my FT60. I don't know a lot about the FT50 but I have 4 Yeesu radios and they all seem to work more or less the same way, so I suspect you may find some use in this: http://rick.sparber.org/bg60.pdf

Good luck!