Okay the Winter is here and it's cold outside. It's too cold to go out and work on a new antenna, but that does not mean you can't be planning on one for the warmer weather. So get out your pencil and paper and start using your imagination. Maybe a simple dipole antenna or an off center fed dipole antenna. Either way they make a nice antenna each with their own characteristics. Hey there are even some yagi beam antenna designs I have seen with copper wire. Maybe you can get one of these going and show it off at your next local Ham Fest.
Speaking of Ham Fests I wonder why we don't plan a Ham Fest in the winter months, but inside a large building. I know in my area they had one at the local college and it had quite a big indoor space. Well that's just a thought to pass around and have some fun. Why not have a Ham Fest with all Hams showing off small antenna arrays that they have built. Maybe even some Ham Radios that they have cleaned up and brought back to life. The thoughts just can go on and on. If you have any comments be sure to leave them. You know we all need something to do in the cold weather.
Okay so back to adding items to your Ham Shack. Have you checked out Ebay for some awesome new and used Ham Radios and Equipment. There always seem to be an abundance of awesome older ham radios that would look good in the ham shack. Besides the Ham Radios there are always various swr meters, microphones, swr analyzers and many other items that come in handy. Another item to add would be some Ham Radio Manuals for advancing to your next Ham Radio License. Bundle up stay warm and study for the General or Extra License today.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Baofeng Two Way Radios Are Best Sellers
This the Baofeng Two Way Handheld Ham Radio Transceivers are really going strong at Amazon. I was browsing again and I found that the various models are priced very good. They seem to have very good reviews as well. I think that maybe this may be a good purchase in my future. I would love to add some of these to my Ham Shack. You can check out the reviews on Amazon and I would also go to eham.net at http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/49 .
Here is an excellent example of a review from Amazon:
"The first Baofeng BF-F8HP I received had a problem with the sound on it. I could only hear if I had the microphone plugged in. I returned it and ordered another one. The replacement is very nice. I have 4 other Baofengs to compare this one too. The uv5r plus has the best sound with the least amount of back ground hiss when listening to people talk. The BF-F8HP has the best signal going out of the radio. I live out in the desert and its relatively flat out here. We took all of our radios out and I drove down this long straight road. All the radios with the stock antennas became scratchy at about two miles but could still understand what was being said. At 3 miles I could hear only one UV5R plus and the BF-F8HP. We switched antennas to aftermarket antennas and at 4 miles I could only receive and transmit on the BF-F8HP to another UV5r Plus. At 5 miles I could not hear them but they could hear me on the BF-F8HP but I was scratchy and not every word was readable. At this point we pulled out our roll up slim jim jpoles and connected them to a tree about 6 feet up and we were both receiving strong signals. I drove up the road and stopped at 8 miles and we could still hear each other. The could hear me better than I could hear them. Drove up another mile and same thing. Drove up the road till I hit 10 miles and we both could still hear each other. They could hear me better than I could hear them. Drove to the 12 mile mark and tried again. We could both still hear each other but they were very hard to understand but I came across mostly clear with a little hiss. So the extra watts on this radio does help getting your signal out. My buddies were impressed with the BF-F8HP. We were in simplex mode. Haven't used it on a repeater yet but the extra watts couldn't hurt having."
- Baofeng Tech is the only authorized USA Baofeng Distributor to honor the Manufacturer Warranty. Only Baofeng Tech offers warranty claims without shipping anything to China. You must insure that Baofeng Tech is your selected buying option when buying to be able to have the full USA warranty.
- High / Med / Low Power Settings (8W/4W/1W); Frequency Range: 65-108 MHz(Only commercial FM radio reception) VHF: 136-174 MHz(Rx/Tx). UHF: 400-520 MHz(Rx/Tx); Broad (Wide) / Narrowband (Narrow) Selectable
- A PC03 FTDI Programming Cable is Recommended for Easier PC Programming
- Helpful BaoFeng Guides and Programming Tips at Miklor.com
- Whats different from the BF-F9v2+: The BF-F9 v2+ has firmware that is older than our current BF-F8HP firmware. In many cases we have rejected batches of firmware - which will get put into different radios "clones" at lower prices. The BF-F9 v2+ is always imported by sea and not air - so by the time it even hits the market for re-sell it is already MONTHS outdated. --- The BF-F9 v2+ does not include the high gain antenna, but comes with the UV-5R antenna. --- The BF-F9 v2+ has a small 1500mAh battery (our battery is 30% larger) --- It does not always include the earpiece for quick communication. --- The BF-F9 v2+ includes the old original manual - and does not include our full manual (which is 3 times larger) for operating your new radio.
Here is an excellent example of a review from Amazon:
"The first Baofeng BF-F8HP I received had a problem with the sound on it. I could only hear if I had the microphone plugged in. I returned it and ordered another one. The replacement is very nice. I have 4 other Baofengs to compare this one too. The uv5r plus has the best sound with the least amount of back ground hiss when listening to people talk. The BF-F8HP has the best signal going out of the radio. I live out in the desert and its relatively flat out here. We took all of our radios out and I drove down this long straight road. All the radios with the stock antennas became scratchy at about two miles but could still understand what was being said. At 3 miles I could hear only one UV5R plus and the BF-F8HP. We switched antennas to aftermarket antennas and at 4 miles I could only receive and transmit on the BF-F8HP to another UV5r Plus. At 5 miles I could not hear them but they could hear me on the BF-F8HP but I was scratchy and not every word was readable. At this point we pulled out our roll up slim jim jpoles and connected them to a tree about 6 feet up and we were both receiving strong signals. I drove up the road and stopped at 8 miles and we could still hear each other. The could hear me better than I could hear them. Drove up another mile and same thing. Drove up the road till I hit 10 miles and we both could still hear each other. They could hear me better than I could hear them. Drove to the 12 mile mark and tried again. We could both still hear each other but they were very hard to understand but I came across mostly clear with a little hiss. So the extra watts on this radio does help getting your signal out. My buddies were impressed with the BF-F8HP. We were in simplex mode. Haven't used it on a repeater yet but the extra watts couldn't hurt having."
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
My Two Favorite Ham Radios For Christmas Presents
I have been looking around think what two ham radios would make excellent Christmas Presents this year. Well my two favorite picks for Ham Radios are the Yaesu FT-450D Base Transceiver and the Yaesu FT-857D HF Transceiver. Both of these radios are HF or High Frequency Transceivers. They both do an excellent job and are rated very well at Amazon. They are not the cheapest of Ham Radio Transceivers and they are also not the most expensive.
I love the fact that they have some unbelievable features and are not big in size. They could easily be used in a mobile type environment. I would however have to say that the Yaesu FT-450D is much more suited for mobile use mainly due to it's size. Just at amazon it has 4 out of 5 stars and 24 reviews presently at 79%, which is not bad at all. The 450D has a solid 5 star rating and with 15 customer reviews. So you can see they are doing pretty good. I would also check out eham.net at http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/14 and read what Ham Radio Operators are saying about these transceivers as well as many other Ham Radio Transceivers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)