Diving into Ham Radio... uh oh!

[Frankenkubota]

Any of you radio guys remember ACSB? I think it stands for Amplitude Compandered Side Band?

Had a customer work on that for 3-4 years before they went out of business.

 

[k0ua]

I'm not wanting a big ugly tower... definitely something more discreet. Would like to set it pretty much out sight of my wife and neighbors if possible. I am thinking of a dipole suspended from a couple of trees or house and tree to start.

Also liking the idea of having a multi-band Hexbeam antenna but that will be harder to hide. I do have one area on my lower property where it would be obscured by evergreen trees but this would require a couple hundred feet of coax running down a steep unimproved slope and not sure if that is a good idea.

200 feet of LMR 400 or Davis RF Buryflex is s NO problem on HF frequencies, or even 6 meters for that matter. You can lay it on the ground, or you can bury the Bury Flex. I use a lot of Bury Flex. It is really good coax and not too expensive at 89 cents a foot. Below is a good place to buy it.

Davis RF 9914F Bury-Flex Low Loss Coaxial Cable

 

[k0ua]

Any of you radio guys remember ACSB? I think it stands for Amplitude Compandered Side Band?

Had a customer work on that for 3-4 years before they went out of business.

I remember the term, but it certainly is not mainstream.

 

[k0ua]

That's the radio I think I considered a while back. Doesn't it have a pretty waterfall?

Not just a colorful waterfall and spectrum scope, but it is a joy to operate, and has performance to rival the top end radios from yester year. It is amazing what can now be done in software inside of a radio that used to take expensive hardware. This is the SDR (Software Defined Radio) revolution. Things are only going to get better from here. Higher performance, lower price.

 

[Industrial Toys]

When people inhabit the moon and mars, maybe the thrill of ham radio will return. How's the weather on mars today old man? Heck, who am I kidding? They will probably be on the Internet too!

Had a computer teacher in grade 11 or something that was into RTTY. I just loved those old TT machines. I was always partial to the ASR 33. Had one on a modem with time share service, and had one at age 4 (TELEX) at home in my dad's office. But the hams seemed to use the older looking model before that.

 

[k0ua]

When people inhabit the moon and mars, maybe the thrill of ham radio will return. How's the weather on mars today old man? Heck, who am I kidding? They will probably be on the Internet too!

Had a computer teacher in grade 11 or something that was into RTTY. I just loved those old TT machines. I was always partial to the ASR 33. Had one on a modem with time share service, and had one at age 4 (TELEX) at home in my dad's office. But the hams seemed to use the older looking model before that.

At one time when I was a kid, I had a model 15 Which is the old black ugly thing from about 1920 or so. I also had a Reperforator and the Tape Distributer So a complete set able to make my own paper tapes and read them as well. I had that interfaced with my Yaesu FT101 HF rig from the 70's. I sure had fun with that old greasy thing. I was always amazed at "grandpa's" technology and the thousands of parts and pieces in that thing. Of course RTTY now is just one of many applications in some simple software run on your PC. No grease, no oil, no WD40 and no noise. Oh well. The sound of that old Model 15 teletype banging away was kind of soothing in a way. I am not totally sure I could lift the model 15 or at least carry it very far. It was a lot even when I was 19, Might be a problem now. Software instead of hardware.... That is where we are headed.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The marvel of some guy typing away in Japan in the middle of our night and it showing up in our house minutes later was totally lost on me. Just as I'm sure the marvel of the internet is lost on most kids. I was more interested in playing with the old paper spools and ribbon reels!

 

[radios1]

instead of free, the FCC is now considering asking for $50 to get a new, or renew an amateur radio license!. and you'll have to pay another $50 if you want the printed version you previously got for free!. sad times!.. look here. FCC Proposes to Reinstate Amateur Radio Service Fees

 

[dragoneggs]

instead of free, the FCC is now considering asking for $50 to get a new, or renew an amateur radio license!. and you'll have to pay another $50 if you want the printed version you previously got for free!. sad times!.. look here. FCC Proposes to Reinstate Amateur Radio Service Fees

That seems excessive.

 

[dragoneggs]

Purchased my first antenna last night. Going with a End Fed 80m to 10m, EFHW-8010-2K from myantennas.com and added a Common Mode Choke, CMC-130-3K.

Thanks to K0UA for help on this!