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<title>Ham Radio forum - dslreports.com community</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/hamradio</link>
<description>Ham Radio forum current topics</description>
<language>en</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2007, dslreports.com</copyright>
<pubDate>Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:37:50 EDT</pubDate>
<lastBuildDate>Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:37:50 EDT</lastBuildDate>

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<item>
<title>146.52 MHz hailing frequency ?</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21023265</link>
<description><![CDATA[I understand 146.52 MHz is the usual 2 meter calling frequency, but is it not acceptable to continue a QSO on that frequency?

I'm asking because I heard a few ham's discussing this on 146.52 simplex this evening, and one guy said someone had filed an official FCC complaint that he was using 52 for more than just "a hailing frequency". That got my curiosity up.]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21023265</guid>
<pubDate>2008-08-28 21:32:33</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>KENWOOD TS-440AT</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21019563</link>
<description><![CDATA[440 SEEMS TO BE TRANSMITTING A CW "CHIRP SOUND". CW SIGNAL IS NOT A CLEAN TONE..
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CORRECTING THIS PROBLEM. ALL DC CONNECTIONS ARE SOLID AND RUNNING AT 13.8 VDC.
GEORGE]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,21019563</guid>
<pubDate>2008-08-28 10:33:53</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Hamfests - dead or alive?</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20895138</link>
<description><![CDATA[I went to my first hamfest 18 years ago, in Minneapolis, MN.  It was quite large, and tons of people.  I remember it took quite awhile to walk down the aisles because they were packed full of people.  A Hamfest I went to in Chicago in the mid 90's was similar.

Today I attended a Fest in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  The first time I went, about 8 years or so ago, there were quite a few people there, and lots and lots of tailgaters selling stuff.  Today, not so much.  Even after moving it to a smaller venue the indoor portion was close to 2/3 empty.  There were only two commercial vendors, and they seemed to be selling a lot of books, connectors, and other small items but not much "big" stuff.  The radio vendor told me they didn't sell a single HF radio.  How odd.  (I was planning to get a Yaesu FT-450 at the fest, but noticed on Thursday that the $250 coupon was expiring that day, so I placed a mail order before the price jumped up).

Very people browsing, and even fewer buying.  There was around 25-30 tailgators selling stuff.  A few of them appeared to do ok, but lots of stuff getting loaded back into the trucks it came in.

Most of the folks inside took all the stuff they brought with them back home again.  About the only person that did well was selling nice Dell 19" LCDs for $65.  

I'm wondering if this is the same everywhere.

Are Hamfests dying?  Or do people just not have any extra money right now?]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20895138</guid>
<pubDate>2008-08-03 22:03:33</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Real hams</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20661219</link>
<description><![CDATA[I was first licensed in 1991 when I was 18 years old.  I'm not a "real ham" because I'm under 60.  

It even happens at ham radio stores, mainly AES.  Every time I've been in there I've been mostly ignored or blown off.  They talked me out of buying two radios and an antenna earlier this week at the Milwaukee store.  I asked about the ease of use of a handheld since I've found the Yaesu VX-7R to be a bit overly complicated at times.  I was told that if I can't figure it out than there's no point buying any other radios since I'll never be able to figure them out either.  

It seems strange to me that I can't be a "real ham" just because I'm "only" 35 years old.  But I've been working in the RF industry since 1995, first on two-way radios for a couple years, then cell-sites, and for the past 9 years I've been working on high power television transmitters.  

Anyone else run into this attitude from the old timers?  ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20661219</guid>
<pubDate>2008-06-18 10:20:13</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>Radio Shack Coax</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20878395</link>
<description><![CDATA[I see on eHam and QRZ many people blasting Radio Shack coax as cheap, worthless, and lossy.  I'm confused.  Sure, the coax is inexpensive but I just don't see it being the junk it's purported to be.

I purchased 50ft of 50 Ohm RG-58 from Radio Shack with the PL-259 connectors on the end.  http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103483&cp=&sr=1&origkw=rg-58&kw=rg-58&parentPage=search

I connected a TS-2000 with a 2ft connector to an SWR/Power meter with a 2ft connector into a dummy load.

TS-2000 in AM, 20W, the power measured 19.5W on the SWR/PWR meter.

I then connected the TS-2000 to the 50ft of RG-58, and on the other end connected the SWR/PWR meter.  Then a 2ft connector into a dummy load.

The cable is ~25% lossy at 29MHz

15W of 20W = ~75% power
7W of 10W = ~70% power

Therefore, at 100W, you are really outputting ~75W.

Good enough for me.  This calculates to about a ~1.2dB loss which is on par if not better than some of the better RG-58.  This means, without question in my understanding, that the cable is not crap and there is no real incentive to replace it for such a short run.

Assuming the antenna has at least 1 dB of gain then 100W @ 1.2dB loss is 95W, .5 dB of gain ERP is 85.1W, 0 dB of gain ERP is 75.9W

Obviously loss would decrease with frequency.

Using http://www.timesmicrowave.com/cgi-bin/calculate.pl I show Times Microwave, the highly touted coax manufacturer, indicating that their RG-58 at 50ft is a 1.2dB loss.

So what am I missing?  Why the frothy-mouthed deriding of Radio Shack coax?  I appreciate any feedback.]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20878395</guid>
<pubDate>2008-07-31 14:23:32</pubDate>
</item>

<item>
<title>RTTY Contest</title>
<link>http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20965187</link>
<description><![CDATA[I was on vacation this past week in Wilmington, NC at my in-laws. I brought my TS-2000 down and stopped off at HRO in VA and picked up a 20m dipole. I made myself not look around or I would have been there for an hour or more. When I have time I'd like to browse. They had a bunch of high end radios out too, but I stayed focused. I picked up a 20m dipole and some coax. When I got everything setup, the dipole didn't work. I had a 4+ SWR which my TS-2000 wouldn't tune. So I called them and they shipped me out another which worked fine up about 25 ft between 2 trees. 

Anyway, Fri/Sat/Sun was the SARTG RTTY contest which I wanted to participate in. So I got some time in on Fri and Sat but was driving home today so I couldn't do the 8 hour time slot today (4am-noon ET). Had a bunch of new countries for me with the highlight being New Zealand. It shows about 8,800 miles from where I was in NC on 100w and a wire 25 ft up.  Blows my mind this stuff works. 

Made a total of 106 contacts which N1MM says is about 46k points. Not bad for my first RTTY contest using a temporary setup, 100w and a non-directional wire thrown up 25 ft. 

I even made contact with our clubs RTTY expert in NJ for a logged contact. We've since emailed about it and how else the contest went. 

This stuff is so much fun!!! 
--
Tweaked your connection? | Mail Parse | Speed Converter]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20965187</guid>
<pubDate>2008-08-17 18:18:36</pubDate>
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