Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Any General or Extra Hams Here?

There is a group of guys that have mostly switched from Flex to Apache Labs gear most night down around 3.715 after 9:00 PM more by 10:00 PM. Their audio sounds like BBC broadcast and their receive is amazing.

Hey Dave remember when I told you about them? The same group that I found talking to the woman sailing around the World when they were meeting on 40 Meters.... let me introduce you to them when you get back from vacation.... come on it's only money....

I wanted to get into a near legal limit, solid state amp and didn't want to cough up $6500 so I went this route. KM3KM sells this Mercury III kit as a parts kit and the end user assembles it. A weller pistol type soldering gun, anti static wrist strapped some basic tools and multi meter is all that's required. It comes in modular components and complete instructions on a jump drive. Took me about 5 hours to assemble and test. Its a well thought out unit and the cost is $2500 plus shipping. Its a 1200 watt max amp with 40 watts of drive out my IC 7610, I normally try to run it with 30 was drive for 800-1KW on 20.

Nice work.

Some really nice gear displayed in this thread! I am into boat anchors and run a Johnson Valiant and National NC400 on AM. (have a military bc610 waiting in the wings). On vintage SSB, I run a Hallicrafters HT37 into a Heathkiit SB220 amp, with a Collins75a4 for a receiver. Modern stations include a Kenwood ts870 and a ts850 with the dsp100, both into A merits on amps. I've also got a bunch of vintage transmitters, receivers, amps and transceivers that are in line for restoration.

I think 40m SSB could work during the.day or evening in the intermountain west. kb7loq

Thanks for putting that up Patrick your station sounds great!

Barak asked about a campfire ragchew. At night I think 80 Meters would have the widest coverage out to 500 or so miles but having an amp with at least 500 watts makes that much more reliable.

It may not be "real radio" but this works well and anyone with a technician license can register and then get the free software
. I use a free app on my phone and can work thousands of repeaters around the World. The last station I worked was a woman truck driver up in the Yukon.

https://secure.echolink.org/

StGeorger, I love 40 Meters and have a 2 element beam for it. The propagation changes a lot from closer in during daylight and then is usually "goes long" after nightfall. Late at night I can work the West coast and then on to New Zealand like they are out on my driveway some nights but will not hear a station 100 miles away any longer.

Not sure how to best work out a Campfire round table... kind of trial and error. Hopefully cycle 25 will be good to all of us.

Good to have you back! Hi to Penny.

I'm in, have 80 and 40m dipoles.

What I'am running for equipment. Antennas are a OCF Dipole 80 tru 6, vertical 75 thru 6, VHF and UHF vertical in 6, 2, 70cm. In the process of getting a Mosley classic 33 up in the air.

Thanks! Penny says hi back.

I have my extra, but no shack. Needed a license for my Yaesu handheld. Got my technician, General, and extra in quick succession. Didn't want any restrictions for access.

I do have a great vanity call sign. KZ0MBE


73.

So that box on the left, if I squint through the lens flare (or is that Vaseline on the lens to smooth out the curves?), looks like an iCOM IC-9700.

I'm curious about that one.

What have your experiences with it been? Have you ever run it on 23cm?

Good Lord man you have had your Extra Effective 2012-05-08 and all you have is a handheld???? Antenna restrictions?

I know for some people the technical details to pass the Extra just kind of comes naturally so passing that exam might not seem like such a milestone but still....

BTW Expires 2022-05-08 I have not had to renew my license yet but I think it is free... you are not going to let this slip away.... right?

I took the pic with my iPhone 12 with a broken lens on the wide angle. Yes it is a 9700, the center is a 7300 and a 7610 to the right. I spent most of my time on it as a technician operator mostly 2 meter repeaters and 70 cm. Worked some D star on 2, no 23cm or satellite just yet. I received my General privileges two months after I passed my Technician test so I jumped to HF chasing DX and never really experimented with any more of this radios capabilities. It shares a lot of similarities with its HF twin the IC-7300. I have connected to 2 meter repeaters in NYC 90 miles away through gaps in the Blue Mountain. On the rare occasion 2 meter SSB opened up I received good audio reports with the radio also.

Just wanted a radio for emergencies. Ham Radio Outlet strongly recommended license so I would be FCC legal.


Can't renew until six months of expiration date. Will renew in November. New renewal fee is 35 dollars if my recollection of the new regulation is correct.

I've used other people's 7300s, but never owned one myself; I'm more of a Yaesu guy. However, Yaesu constrains me to C4FM for VHF/UHF digital. Now, C4FM is fine, and I have absolutely nothing against it; but I'd also like to play around with D-STAR. The 9700 is a bit spendy to just play around with D-STAR, but I'm also fascinated by the UHF SDR direct sampling.

I bought it used off eBay and have yet to see the few offered there go less than the price of a new 7300. It does quite well receiving distant repeater signals on FM, Have yet to catch a 2 meter SSB opening to see how it would preform on that mode. C4FM, is that Yaesu's version of D-Star?? I'am relatively new to amateur radio and not familiar to many digital modes.

Sorry to intrude but this thread has the right audience. FIL passed and left what looks to be a NIB MFJ 949-E antena tuner. $100 if anyone is interested.

Thanks and again, sorry to intrude.

I had a 9700, it’s a great satellite rig. Will auto track Doppler without additional software (FM only). Too much radio for my use, I operate satellites portable with a Kenwood D74A and D72A using a hand held Arrow antenna.

JB in SC, the satellite contacts are very brief correct?

Wife and I had more fun than expected playing on the local UHF VHF repeaters but that was because we knew people through the local clubs that were on them. Repeater use in our area has dropped way off though.

We have been involved in an ARES net since the beginning. The local club feels strongly that practice for and providing emergency communication is part of the armature radio "service" that helps protect our frequencies allotted for us plus it's just the right thing to do.

2 weeks ago we did a simplex test where the club repeater was turned off briefly so we could find out which stations could work each other direct. We live just below 2900 feet in the NC Mountains but because of the higher ridgetops around us we only made direct contact with 2 out of a dozen stations.

We can run 100 watts on 2 Meters and have a good vertical base antenna. As I understand it , UHF VHF is mostly a line of sight propagation thing. I know some hams drive or hike up to the highest mountain tops and have made some impressive longer range contacts though.

2 of the things that help to keep the hobby interesting are, there are about a million new areas to explore and Hams are on a life long scavenger hunt for new and especially used gear. Kind of like being a rifle loony