N00b Ham questions

[Hulk]

I warn you: I tend to ask really stupid questions when I'm new to something. Lot and lots of them. Eventually, I'll know enough that I'll stop.

Question one:
My CSCE (Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination) says that I have earned this new license class:
TECHNICIAN w/HF

Does that mean I have some HF privileges? I thought the technician level granted only VHF and UHF.

 

[Seldom Seen]

You get privileges on 10 meter from 28.000 to 28.300 CW, RTTY & data and 28.300 to 28.500 CW and SSB phone. 200 watts PEP. You also get a small sliver of 15 meters, 40 meters and 80 meters IIRC (Nathaniel can fill you in on these) but it's CW (code) only on the lower bands

 

[Hulk]

Is anybody running HF in their rigs, or does that require so much antenna that it makes it a logistical PITA? Just curious -- some of the radios, like the FT-8900, offer quad band: the 8900 is a 29/50/144/430 MHz FM Transceiver. The Yaesu FT-100D looks way cool as well.

 

[Seldom Seen]

The quad banders are FM only. IMHO not worth the x-tra $$. 6meter FM isn't any better than 2meter FM. I know you probably read that 6 is the magic band but most of the action on 6 is on SSB. Currently there are no 6m SSB mobiles 'cept the $1000 DC to Daylight all bander rigs. 10meters on the quads is FM also and our Tech+HF privileges do not allow for FM transmissions on 10.

 

[nakman]

Matt, my vote is you should just get a 7800 or 8800. They are perfect radios for what our main need is, and will completely satisfy your immediate need for a radio. And similar to sliders, bumpers, and OME springs.. if you decide to switch up in a year or so I bet you could get 75% of what you paid for it back... or, put the 7800 in the other truck...

I can't remember if the 7800 is a true "dual bander" or not.. but that feature has already been very handy so I'd recommend it.. I know Chris uses it as well, we keep one channel on the repeater, the other on the common simplex freq., can monitor both and switching which one to talk on is just a button. hth...

 

[DaveInDenver]

The 7800 is a true dual band radio (in that it receives and transmits on both 2m and 70cm), but only has one tuner. The 8800 has two VFOs, so it can tune two bands simultaneously. I have a 7800 and like it a lot, but having two tuners would be nice. But my $0.02 is that the 8800 isn't quite as friendly to operate while moving, so I decided to live without it. If Yaesu made the 8800 with the lighted buttons and big display of the 7800, I'd think about going that way.

 

[Groucho]

Matt,
Just because some folks wanna stick it out with CB(WHY?), don't think that there are any dumb questions. My 2M radio has less buttons(3) than my 1978 Realistic CB(4).

Technician w/HF privileges means exactly what Brian said. You may operate on certain HF frequencies in specific modes. Ironically, the HF privileges that are most effective right now are the 80 and 40 meter bands, and those privileges are for CW only for the Technician license. It is ironic b/c they dropped the code requirement, but the only real way to do HF as a technician is to use morse code.

The 10 Meter band(where you can talk on SSB phone) will start to open up in the next 2-4 years, and when it does you'll be amazed to talk all over the world with as little as 5 watts. Bruce gave an example in our Ham class of when he was operating in the Cayman Islands during a peak in the sunspot cycle(affects signal propogation) he used a modified CB rig to operate on 10 Meter band(CB is technically 11 meters) and talked all over the world with only 3 watts!

Watch out, folks tend to get bitten by the bug and then they really want to see how cool the entire amateur radio hobby really is and how it has contributed directly to the communication devices we take for granted daily(Cell phone, etc).

Any more questions?

You get privileges on 10 meter from 28.000 to 28.300 CW, RTTY & data and 28.300 to 28.500 CW and SSB phone. 200 watts PEP. You also get a small sliver of 15 meters, 40 meters and 80 meters IIRC (Nathaniel can fill you in on these) but it's CW (code) only on the lower bands

I warn you: I tend to ask really stupid questions when I'm new to something. Lot and lots of them. Eventually, I'll know enough that I'll stop.

Question one:
My CSCE (Certificate of Successful Completion of Examination) says that I have earned this new license class:
TECHNICIAN w/HF

Does that mean I have some HF privileges? I thought the technician level granted only VHF and UHF.

 

[nakman]

The 7800 is a true dual band radio (in that it receives and transmits on both 2m and 70cm), but only has one tuner. The 8800 has two VFOs, so it can tune two bands simultaneously. I have a 7800 and like it a lot, but having two tuners would be nice. But my $0.02 is that the 8800 isn't quite as friendly to operate while moving, so I decided to live without it. If Yaesu made the 8800 with the lighted buttons and big display of the 7800, I'd think about going that way.

definitely agree, there's only so much you really want to try to do while driving.... those buttons are small and not lit on the 8800, and kind of a pain. OTOH, you can custom the P1-P4 buttons on the handset to do some common stuff (like scan, adjust output power, toggle between the two bands, etc.) so you can minimize the times you actually have to touch the buttons on the faceplate. I wish those little buttons were backlit like on the 7800... but I'll take the dual tuners! thanks for clearing that up, Dave.

 

[Seldom Seen]

Matt,
Just because some folks wanna stick it out with CB(WHY?)

That's a big 10-4 good buddy, I got your back door. What? What? Come back, say again Billy-jo-jim-bob down in Tejas just walked all over you. What? What? Wait let me see if I can squelch them out. Come Back? What? Wait I forgot to turn up the RF gain.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Woops it's Perry again tring to break in, wonder what he wants.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Damn it Perry, I told you to fix that thing. Some one roll down their window and shout at him.

Wait I think I heard the tail gunner say some one is broke down, can some one relay up to the leader to hold up, my radio doesn't seem to be getting out.


Yea going to miss all that

 

[Hulk]

The 7800 is a true dual band radio (in that it receives and transmits on both 2m and 70cm), but only has one tuner. The 8800 has two VFOs, so it can tune two bands simultaneously. I have a 7800 and like it a lot, but having two tuners would be nice. But my $0.02 is that the 8800 isn't quite as friendly to operate while moving, so I decided to live without it. If Yaesu made the 8800 with the lighted buttons and big display of the 7800, I'd think about going that way.

Dave, thanks for posting this. I think I need to go to HRO and see the units in person.

Hey, how often are you guys using 70cm, anyway? Any? Is there any reason to get the 7800 over the 2800 if you're not using UHF? The 2800 gives you 65 watts instead of 50 watts, too.

 

[Seldom Seen]

Hey, how often are you guys using 70cm, anyway? Any? Is there any reason to get the 7800 over the 2800 if you're not using UHF? The 2800 gives you 65 watts instead of 50 watts, too.

To be honest the only reason I bought a dual band was for the remote mount head unit. I installed it with a 2meter only ant. I recently got a dual band antenna and it has opened up a whole new world. 70cm seems every bit effective as 2meters is around town. There are enough ops on 70 to keep things from getting boring yet it's not as crowed as 2meters esp. at rush hour.

I can definitely see the utility of 70 in the back country for short haul QSOs.

The difference between 50 and 65 watts is negligible, on paper anyway. I have no 1st hand to ofter here, may be Nathaniel or Dave can explain it better. I seem to recall a rule of thumb that to double your range you need to quadruple your power. So if 50 watts gets you 50 miles you need 200 watts to get 100 miles.

 

[Hulk]

Brian, what radio are you using? The Kenwood TM-G707A?

 

[Hulk]

Anybody use Icom gear? The IC-V8000 2M Mobile radio is pretty highly rated over at eham.net.

Big props to Eric Vogt for all the links.

 

[Seldom Seen]

Yep Kenwood g707a. I like it a lot. Dual band but not a dual deck like Tim and Chris's, but its nothing to toggle between 2 freqs or the 2 bands with the touch of a button.

1 of the reasons I went for it is the buttons (all 4 of them) are back lit

I considered the V8000 and I still might get one to use as a base. The thing that stopped me is, they get exceedingly HOT. I figured since it's DIN height and 1" less than DIN width I could put it under the stereo. I was warned about the heat situation and the lack of air cirulation in the dash.

 

[nakman]

I've heard only good about the Icoms, and in fact they're all most likely going to be great. The thing though that clinched it for me with the 8800 is the fact that Chris got one. Not to copy, but for mutual tech support reasons.. if you get a 7800 then you know you can always ask Ken, Bruce, Dan, or Nathaniel (via CM trailer) how to work the thing, or if you get a 8800 you can always ask Chris or me, etc. But if you get an Icom you may be on your own for a while. For the same reasons it would never be a bad idea to get the same radio Brian has, you know he knows how to work the thing. just a thought, that's all... I'm sure the learning stage is only temporary.

 

[Groucho]

Anybody use Icom gear? The IC-V8000 2M Mobile radio is pretty highly rated over at eham.net.

Bruce Miller uses that one in the Prado.

 

[ginericLC]

The 707As are on sale right now at aesham.com A link I can't believe I forgot in my list. I can't believe I forgot them.

 

[Hulk]

I can see getting into this hobby. Just what I needed: another spendy hobby.

 

[ginericLC]

I can see getting into this hobby. Just what I needed: another spendy hobby.

My wife hates HAM stuff. She thinks I'm going to turn into an old man and lock myself in a corner room spending all my time trying to contact strangers just to see how far I can get with the radiation causing me to lose more of my memory. And honestly, when I joined the HAM club her stereotype really was accurate. I was young enough to be the grandson of almost every member. And they were all excited about DX contesting and making foreign contacts. I'm limiting myself to only having HAM stuff in the Cruiser. I think I'm almost done spending. The Antenna and APRS stuff will be all that I need.

 

[nakman]

My wife hates HAM stuff...

remember that VW ad where the guy gets his wife out of the house to show her how he can make all the windows go down with the key? that happened to me last night.. I got her out in the driveway so she could see how cool it was to talk across town to all the other hams in the club... totally unimpressed.