and use your equipment when you are hunting, fishing, boating, etc?

I am VE3EPA, originally licensed years ago in BC as VE7WTA. I always have a few radios around.

So we have no CDNs who have any AR inspired cartridges chambered in a bolt action or a single shot. It appears we don't have any hams here either.

Wife and I are both Hams... KK4FZI & KK4FZH..... FYI you might want to update QRZ

https://www.qrz.com/lookup

Hello. It's nice to see there are a few hams around.

I deleted much of my information from QRZ because I was getting spammed. Since I am not a contester, I never considered it important to post information there.

I should add that after an Asian tourist took out my F150, I decided to get two good used vehicles as replacements. One of them is a 2017 Ford Escape. I haven't driven a small car in many years. I wanted to put my 2 meter radio in the Escape, but I need a can opener, grease and a smaller radio. I bought a smaller (palm sized) 25 watt dual bander from a company in SD.I can mount the radio on a cup holder mount and power it with the cigarette lighter. I will be putting the antenna on the rear hatch.



I cannot get over how engineers have managed to squeeze everything down into such a small space. They might be pleased, but I am not!

I have less than zero interest in contesting. QRZ offers kind of a facebook for adults function. I'll generally look them up to see if we have anything in common before I'll respond to a call. Do you operate on HF bands?

I have never been interested in that. Some of the awards are interesting, but I was in the military for many years bouncing around. It was difficult to work contests because of the locations where I was posted. I occasionally work 80m and 20m. I use either an 10-80 Easy Tenna I bought from ebay several years ago, or a home made dipole for nets and local rag chews.

Most of my work is with VHF because of range trips and hunting. I took an ancient Yaesu FT-101 to moose camp one year. I got it set up and never used it.

My wife and I got licence 9 years ago. I had a back injury that forced early retirement. I had always planned to travel "someday" but took good health for granted and never got a passport. I'm interested in "visiting" with folks I never would have met otherwise... I call it arm chair travel.... No annoying TSA agents to endure either.

One of my first DX contacts was a guy in a Northern Ontario off grid cabin running everything with solar and wind power. ... he and his wife were up ice fishing and had caught all the perch they were going to have any use for that day and were planning to tow their shack out over deeper water to try for lake trout in the AM. He was not running much power but propagation was good and we probably spoke for an hour or more.... kind of like sitting around the wood stove in a North woods cabin...

When this covid 19 thing was really starting to take off a few Months ago I was having a conversation with a Ham I'd never spoken to before. I told him I was frustrated with the lack of PPE... my wife is a doc and they were having to ration protective gear. The gentleman in FLA had worked briefly as a EMS person and still had an unopened box of exam gloves. He sent them out Priority mail the next day. Refused any money for postage.... Fine business.

It's great that both of you were licensed at the same time! My wife is not interested at all.

I was licenced in 1992 in BC, on Vancouver Island. An air force buddy and I took the basic course in a place called Courtenay.

I had considered trying 6m ssb. The antennas were small enough for when I was still bouncing around the planet. Never did get around to it.

You have not missed much on "the magic band" over the past several years. I have a 6 Meter beam and almost never use it. There are a few people in our local club that live and breath contesting and awards. I get emails saying openings on 6 Meters NOW!!! There have been a few openings in the past few weeks but the people there just want your grid square for their log book.... and then they will move on while the opening is still there.... Not my thing.

On a humorous note we have a friend that helped us get set up in the hobby.... he is 80 something now.... He gets text messages from his logging software that follows DX Cluster. He has the program set up to trip alert alarms when one of the very few entities that he does not have logged yet pops up on the cluster... I'd hate to be out on the road between Duane and his home station if say North Korea ever got spotted.

Duane has been a Ham for close to 60 years now.... he loves old classic equipment. When I decided to get a legal limit auto tuning amplifier he was horrified.... "It's crazy to spend that much on an amp....". About a year ago I got a call from him... "So John how are you liking that Acom amp you bought?". Apparently he got so excited when one of the few countries he did not yet have in his log book showed up he blew up his manual tune amp trying to make that contact.... He now owns a legal limit Acom just like the one I bought..... I hope he gets the rest of the Countries he still needs....

I was all fired up way back when I was maybe 10, 12 years old. I even built a one tube receiver. Back then you had to know Morse code. I never quite mastered that.

There is some allure with the older equipment. It was simpler, and certainly, looked less intimidating. With new hams, even the very tech friendly, younger crowd, I have been told this IC-718 looks intimidating. I suppose anything new may look scary until you get to know it.



Immediately upon hearing that, I do a web search and ask them about this radio.



They look terrified! That's when I tell them that it scares me too. When gadgets overtake the fun, it's time to walk away. I tell them if you are looking for something in particular, go to a local ham club or field day and ask questions. Tell them what interests you. Be prepared to get an earful. Like shooters, hams have very strong opinions about many things.

And this. I haven't met an amateur yet who would recommend something like an IC-7600 as a first radio. The price can put people off for sure, but most operators don't use half of the switches, buttons and dials.

For WX events and other emergencies, or just shooting the breeze, simple is best.



Yes, years ago the code was a requirement. The first time I tried a code test, I froze. Opinions are split as to its value. It is an old form of communication that has been eclipsed by more modern forms of delivery. On one side, you have hams (mostly older ones) who believe that code kept out the riff raff, which included CBers.On the other, there are hams who say that time and technology marches on.

If you don't know what to say at a ham field day or local meeting, ask for opinions about Morse, and the need to learn it. For hams, it's a hot button issue. Personally, I haven't bothered with it since the 21st century arrived. It isn't interesting for me. But for the people who insist it has value, I always ask them if they are doing it the old fashioned way, or using software to translate. I was surprised the number of people who use Morse software "just in case I don't get the whole message..." Okay.

I walk away from those conversations. For me at least, it's like asking which cartridge (or scope) is the best. I have always believed you should use what makes you happy, except...the reactions you provoke are similar to what you read here on the hunting scopes forum.

Here's 20 wpm of Morse. LOAD. SET R15 TO FULLY CLOCKWISE POSITION...etc

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Morse/Archive/20%20WPM/200114_20WPM.mp3

wabigoon, for a lot of the the older Hans in our local club, building and extensively testing it (some times with gear that cost more than the radios they built) was one of the most enjoyable parts of the hobby. I never would have tried for a Ham licence if Morse code was still a requirement. Again though we have older Hams in our club that LOVE Morse code. It seems to be a kind of zen like experience when they have their brains focused on the ... and ---s.

We have a field day event coming up at the end of the month where Hams nation wide set up temporary stations with rapidly deployed antennas and operate only with emergency power sources. This is the only contest type event my wife and I take part in . It is practical training for local Hams to train for providing emergency communications . I saw first hand how into Morse code some of the older members are. A pterodactyl could have swooped down over their heads and they would not have noticed...

About 5 years ago there was a technology break through that has changed the face of Ham radio. Soft ware defined radio has been around longer. I have a Flex 6500 SDR it cost close to $5000.00. It uses technology that captures the RF signal digitally and then displays it on a screen showing real time signals along with recording a history of what was just on the frequency.... I can monitor 4 bands at the same time. Flex offers a 6700 radio that allows a operator to monitor 8 different frequency bands at the same time ...

Icom came along and figured out how to produce a $900.00 radio that uses the same SDR tech with their ICOM IC 7300 radio. This is the shortest you tube clip I could find

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTivl2ND2gs

This break through is great for new comers that want to give amateur radio a try but terrible for the older hams who spent 5 to 10 thousand dollars on flagship rigs and now find that they can't resell these great radios for even a third of what they payed....

The sun appears to finally be starting to wake back up. solar activity is what charges the earth's atmosphere which then reflects RF transitions back down to distant stations. Think of skipping a stone across a flat calm surface vs a choppy one....

Now is a great time to think about trying Ham radio. You can probably find a Ham club near you lots of support is available and there is a station set up at field day locations just for new comers... no licence required if you'd like to give it a whirl

I've notice quite a bit of overlap between the shooting sports and ham radio, both are "gadget hobbies" so that might be why.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Outdoors/Ham-Radios/22/ ARFCOM has a ham radio forum
there is a guns & ham radio page on FB
some guy set up a demo station at the National Matches at Camp Perry a coupla years ago (and did not bring a key!!!, I brought a key and paddle the following year so I could help hiim operate but he had to cancel the plans at the last minute)

I don't know if your question was directed only at VE's but since a few hams from the US have reply'd I guess this could become 24HCF-wide.

Poole
.- .- ....- --.-

One of the tales I find interesting, William Van Horne, a few of you good Canucks may have heard of him, could read code without weighting it down. He broke up a poker game the telegraph operators had planed, he overheard the code.

oh and 2 folks named MAXIM, father and son I think, were instrumental in development of both firearms and ham radio 100+ years ago.

The thread is open for whoever wants to respond.

I agree, amateur radio and firearms are very much alike. In both worlds, there is a lot to talk about, and there are the fanboys for certain equipment, or modes, etc. And the silly fights that start from time to time too.



Years ago, one of my profs asked a question about water and steam. What is the difference between the two? He got the standard responses, but the one that stuck with me was a girl who said, "Steam burned me." My prof pointed to her, and smiled. "Ladies and gentleman, never overlook the obvious!"

Thoughts about making a link to this thread on the main forum page? I saw this because I'm interested in Canada and would love to visit it again someday.... Right now there are a bunch of Hams stuck at home and looking for new people to talk to while our various world wide dramas unfold....

Sure, but you'll have to chat with the powers that be.

I don't think so, this will just generate more traffic for Rick.... let's see what happens....

That's a 'Roger'. WB8YSQ here. Been a ham for 51 years and still loving it. Although recently at the gun range shooting my new AR15 M4 Carbine and CZ-75 SP01 9mm, I really think that target shooting is a tie for the most fun! Sure am having a lot of fun at the range and with friends.

Thanks for posting Dave..... WB8TSQ has been one of our "Elmers".... experienced Hams take new comers under their wing because well there is a lot to know and hands on learning works way better than just sitting down with a stack of manuals....

I'm a guy that back in the day never figured out how to program a VCR..... trying to get the computer to interface with a radio was a bang my head against the wall kind of experience..... Dave gets along fine with computers.... He retired a few years ago and built his dream observatory a few ridge tops over from me.

Check out his web page here

http://www.blueridge-observatory.com/#xl_xr_page_index

My wife and I have given him a place to shoot , deer hunt and taught him how to butcher venison.... Dave has helped reduce the amount of time I spend wanting to bang my head against the wall when the computer and radio don't play nice together.....

You met people you likely never would have when you check out a local Ham club...

I use ham radio to incorporate hands-on projects into my teaching. Other than that, I use aprs for tracking, email and sms messaging when I’m out and about in the out-of-doors. I’m only a tech but I’d like to move up so I can study and apply nvis propagation.

huskyrunner, it sounds like you are already doing a lot with you technician privileges. Are you familiar with digital Mobil radio DMR? If there is a DMR repeater with in range you can work the World. The cost of the hand held radios keeps coming down < $150.00 IIRC.

Are you interested in nvis for emergency and/or camping type operations?

Link re nvis...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvZ7z-6wAy0

Whatever, I'm glad you did post on the main forum.

Steve, Burghardt's in Watertown? Was Mecca when I was a novice in 7th grade. The ads in QST weren't up to the illicit copies of playboy that got passes around but close.

New sets intimidating? Not if you understand. I think it was the HRO-500 double conversion (or was it triple) receiver with tunable IF and tunable notch/peak/bandpass filters that intimidated me. But now with software receivers I suppose anything analog is passe. Still have a Hallicrafters S-38C 5 tube shortwave receiver that I need to restore - filter capacitors ya know. The glow and the vision of electrons flying from cathode to plate always fascinated me. Don't get that with transistors, much less ICs. And a bad bypass capacitor that made me test the chassis with a neon bulb to make sure it was plugged in the right way.

Then 8 bit personal computers stole my interest, always was on the tech side,

Never did use ham radio on the road here. Would travel with the old Kenwood 2M HT in the car but generally no activity.

I haven’t tried DMR. DMR would make a good dsp project for the students. It is in the queue.

Yes, NVIS for emcomm in mountainous areas. I’m interested in using the guyouts for a spider beam mast as the dual inverted vees for 40 and 60 M. I haven’t seen that done, but someone probably has. The mast itself could also become the support for a tipi-tent with the operator at the base of the mast. Shorter cable, less swr losses.

The pics I’ve seen of the military versions all have the operator right at the mast base and the mast itself is a giant lossless coaxial cable to minimize losses. I’d love to get my hands on one to measure some specs.

You would likely find summits on the air activations interesting.... This guy uses pack goats to haul his gear up... pretty entertaining

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu2mDr2Eo1U&list=PLAB38550CA8152C5F

Kite antennas are interesting too. A few years ago I spoke with a guy that had just built a $50.00 40 Meter QRP kit. He drove out along the Long Island Sound flew his kite with antenna up. He was running 5 watts and I could hear him up to 10 over 59 in NC. The signal went up and down as the wind blew faster or slower. He was having so much fun he was giggling like a little kid.... He gathered a "pile up" as word spread on the DX cluster. He worked lots of stations for at least an hour. Being over salt water is a big plus.

Location in general is huge. WB8YSQ is maybe 20 miles away from me as the crow flies. My elevation is just below 2900 feet the tower is on a very narrow ridge. Dave is closer to 3000 feet. I spent way more money on my antenna system... on paper it should have noticeably better performance. He consistently gets way stronger signal reports and hears stations I don't... best theory is that his location is 10 miles or more away from another ridge higher than his house.

He picked the spot for dark sky conditions for his observatory but ended up with an outstanding location to play radio.... I'm very happy for him.... I may need to move though

Man, I’ve never heard of a kite antenna! Thank you. I’ll study up on them. Reminds me of the Zeppelin antenna the Germans trailed from their airships.

2dwind,

How's your ground? Always wanted to try a trap vertical with a radial buried ground. Should give a lower angle of radiation and optimal radiation resistance in less than ideal conductive soil but never got around to it.

The guy flying the kite had been a Ham 40 years.... pretty sure that was the most fun he had ever had in the hobby.... People were still talking about it weeks later. Someone who knew him said he took his gear to the FLA Keys hoping to work Europe but got skunked because there wasn't good wind while he was there.....

Huskyrunner you should SO upgrade to General class. I read somewhere that due to covid 19 you can get tested online.... I'm thinking that change was only last Month....

If budget is tight there is a ton of great quality used gear for sale now... Hams are like rifle loonies only worse.... everyone is always wanting to trade up.... and since SDR has come on strong outstanding analog radios are now selling for pennies on the dollar.

If you can find a ham club in your area they could help you find gear for sale locally..... I dragged my wife along as a study buddy. We got our tech and general at the same time. The local Elmers were helping me with the scavenger hunt for all used gear to put a station together.... I figured it would have been selfish to spend much money on a hobby that was going to be a 95% John hobby.... Jayne is kind of introverted by nature.

Jayne is a family practice doc. At one of the first meetings we went to a retired ER nurse told a story about how 40 something years ago one of her husband's socially challenged engineering pals made a snarky remark about how she could never get her licence because a woman would never be able to learn Morse code..... her husband knew she was mad so he bought her the code study tape and she turned out to be a natural...

At the end of the meeting Wanda came over to introduce herself and she asked Jayne if she was just there to support me or if she was going to get her licence too.... Jayne said "Oh no... I'm getting my licence too!" I came home knowing the tide had changed and ordered a brand new radio the next morning and we have been adding radios amplifiers and better antennas ever since.....

Jayne wanted to study for the extra class exam almost right away.... I am not a technical person at all... the general class licence really isn't that hard but the extra class study guide gave me chest pains.... I figured I'd have a better chance of parting the Red Sea than passing the extra..... Jayne passed with flying colors and I didn't make the cut.... it took a year of being made sport of by hams literally around the World for needing my wife to pass me as third party traffic if I wanted to work the extra class frequencies (where most of the really cool DX happens)... before my male ego couldn't take it and I managed to pass the extra.....

nighthawk, our first antenna was a vertical Hustler 5 BTV it required radials generally the more the better. I never had great luck with that antenna and ended up giving it away to a new Ham... he has been running it for 6 or 7 years now and is very happy with it... not sure if my very steep sloping yard was part of the reason the radials didn't seem to reflect the way I'd hope or not?

Since then we have put up a tower with beam antennas.... The tower is grounded with wide heavy copper straps going to ground rods on all 4 sides.... I don't think that was the grounding question you were asking about though?

I've gotten 2 bits of advice from our Elmers that really stand out... The first was from Wanda who knew I was freaked out about retesting for the Extra exam She told me to "Only remember the correct answers...".

The second one was "For every dollar you spend on your station invest 75 cents of it into your antenna system...". People get carried away with latest greatest gear... but none of that matters if you have a poor antenna system.

I'm not so good on antenna theory, was thinking of an unbalanced antenna like a vertical. Since the ground makes up the other half of the antenna I would suppose a steeply sloping yard would be a problem. Think of a ground plane on the roof after a wind storm. There are rapidly diminishing returns with increased number of radials. This has been well studied to optimize commercial installations. I don't remember how many, probably in the ARRL antenna book. Was the text I grabbed first. Sounds like a plan for the beam if you have decent conductivity, enough to keep currents off the tower. That would screw up the pattern like an extra extremely weird element.

Used to dream of all kinds of HF antennas, half zepp, rhombic, etc. But kept coming back to verticals. Particularly an array I could switch from the shack. Sort of an electrically steerable vertical beam with that extremely low radiation angle.

What would really be cool would be to get strapped to a man carrying kite and operate from aloft. Why lift just the antenna?

Um, because the wind might die....but it might make a popular you tube clip...

Antenna reviews by real hams.... warning antenna discussions often bring out stronger feelings the say 6.5 Creedmoor discussion does here....

https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-category?id=13

https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-category?id=11

My suggestion for a new Ham is get an off center fed dipole up as high as you can and start to play radio.... maybe 150.00 to install...

More fun choice get a Hex Beam antenna and watch it outperform your friends much larger more expensive beam antenna. About 700.00 for the antenna maybe 300..00 to 400.00 for a light duty rotor and then figure out how to get it 30 to 40 feet up in the air.... light duty tower like a Rohn 25 is common and can often be found for free if someone will just come and take it down.... if it's already on the ground you might have to pay a few hundred dollars.....

Because the Hex Beams are so light with low wind load people mount them on utility poles with a tilt over rotor plate on top... I had the local power company come out to install a cut in half power pole because I needed 2 elevated guy line points to guy out my tower which again is on a very steep lot. They gave me and installed 2 used power poles for free while they were here that I use for a wire 80 meter antenna.

There are roof mounted systems that can manage the light weight of a Hex Beam antenna.... that might not be an option if you are married though....

WB8YSQ and I spoke with a Ham who was running and absolutely state of the art SDR radio by Apache Labs an Anon radio... truly cutting edge gear that requires a very powerful computer and being a full on computer guy to make it work.... open source soft ware that extremely smart people are constantly upgrading and sharing for free....

When Dave and I looked at his QRZ page we saw that he had his Hex Beam antenna mounted on the top of a tree... His wife didn't want an unsightly tower in their yard so he had a tree service come in a top a large tree and mount the rotor plate up there.... I hope his tree stays standing for a long time....

If I was "a computer guy" I'd have one of these radios.... WB8YSQ IS a computer guy and he needs to buy one of theses so I can come over and play with it... (Seriously Dave , you know you want one of these and it's only money right???)

https://apache-labs.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVV0b4_aYhQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I9DnlWqdjg

Antennas are like the width of ties, falling in and out of fashion. I remember when cubical quads were all the rage. But the future has brought us the hex beam. Must be better, six is more than four. Antennas and transmission lines always been a black art to me. But like the cubical quad the laws of physics still hold. Fun to play with though and with the quad there were some advantages over a beam, mostly mechanical given your location and budget.

Amazing what you can do with a signal once you go digital. Consider that your now commodity GPS receiver pulls signals from below the noise floor. Doesn't seem possible if you've ever worked 80m at night with thunder storms within a couple hundred miles. But I don't think I've had more fun than building a 1 tube transmitter for 40m. (12AX7) when I was in 7th grade. A guy at the club supplied the coil form and another a couple milsurp crystals



You could shift the frequency a bit by disassembling the thing and grind the quartz element with toothpaste to raise the frequency or add a little graphite with a pencil to lower it. Never had the guts to try it on one of my in band crystals. Antenna was a portable dipole that sort of worked. No SWR meter, cut to Handbook length and hope that was good enough.

And I am a computer guy. RTTY and weather FAX and SSTV on the old Radio Shack Color Computer was a thrill. (could only receive at the time)

WB8WSQ and I are planning to talk later this evening... probably on 80 Meters if anyone would like to join us shoot me a PM with some contact info and I'll let you know what frequency... around 9:00 PM Eastern.....

I'll ask Dave to post a few of his "back yard sky photos" so you guys can see what I'm up against antenna location wise.... Another Ham from the club did a google earth location on the base of my tower and then used some kind of terrain mapping software to predict how much gain I would likely get by raising the antenna stack another 20 feet.... turns out not much... Ridges well over a mile away apparently block some of the low angle radiation..... only kind of kidding about needing to move....

I got this to try. It's Chinese made, and is small and cheap. As you can see, it fits in the palm of my hand. It is a QYT KT-8900R tribander. Max. o/p is 25 watts. From the reviews I have read, it doesn't quite make it. Reviewers are saying 20-22 watts. I'm not sure if they are just copying what they read elsewhere on the Internets, or actually tested it. Regardless, there is no difference between 20 and 25 watt.

Should this turn out to work properly, it will be perfect to take hunting. Because of it's small size and output, this little tribander will go for days with a deep cycle battery before the battery needs recharging.

I also have a Baofeng Mini UV-25X2 25 Watt Dual Band coming from SD. I hope the manual is better than the 8900R, and not Chinglish.

For those of you in the US who are considering a ham license, go here. The days of Morse testing are over. Thank God it's 1950! In my experience, that usually starts the debate about the value of Morse.

http://www.arrl.org/getting-your-technician-license

https://www.rrmediagroup.com/News/NewsDetails/newsID/1038

Our Ham club had gotten permission to operate from a 5000 foot elevation state park for field day this year.... due to a reported spike in Covid 19 we decided to call the group field day off for this year.... My wife and I spoke with several Hams on the local 2 Meter repeater last night who had operated field day solo.

We heard reports of simplex 2 Meter contacts, both FM and SSB being made to well over 100 miles from operators who drove up to overlook areas here in the NC Blue Ridge Mountains..... I may need to give that a try..... I'd like to try a hitch mounted mast with a yagi 2 meter antenna.

That is always fun. Originally, I wanted a 6m SSB set up to take advantage of those times when band conditions would open up. Whether it's 2m or 6m, there is that feeling of camaraderie and the accomplishment of filling in some squares on your map.

I finally got the tribander into the Escape and programmed. I have not received the cup holder mount yet, but I can learn a little about it. I used CHIRP software. There is still a lot to learn about CHIRP, but the radio is now usable. One of the downsides to some Chinese radios is the Chinglish instruction manuals.

I will eventually get around to buying a VHF all mode radio. I like the idea of SSB and want to learn more about digital.

Happy Canada day.... I listened to a few stations. I'm just not into the "radio sport" part of Ham radio. We have some club members that live and breath contesting... just not my thing.

It did sound like there was a big turn out with pretty decent propagation so fine business on that:




One of the few Amateur Radio events that takes place on a fixed date each year and often during the week, the Canada Day Contest on July 1 commemorates the anniversary of Canada’s confederation. It’s sponsored by Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), and all are welcome to participate.

The contest runs from 0000 UTC until 2359 UTC on July 1, which means it gets underway the evening of June 30 in US time zones. Activity is on all modes, 160 meters through 2 meters.

Canadian stations send a signal report and their province or territory. VE0 stations. Stations outside Canada send a signal report and a serial number. Contacts with RAC official stations are 20 points (listen for the “RAC” suffix).

Participants may work any station once on each of two modes and on each of the eight contest bands.

There are 13 multipliers — Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories. The station submitting the highest Single Operator score from outside Canada will win the Larry Kayser, VA3LK, Memorial trophy.

Steve, what's your experience with a ham radio in hunting camp? Are you using 2M? Are there repeaters nearby?

My experiences have generally been very good. Not every location has repeaters, but where I hunt, many do. For example, when we go moose hunting around Gerladton, there are two repeaters that I can hit with either my HT or mobile radio. Like everything else, there are certain spots where the signal is blocked or degraded. For LOS comms, I get a few miles coverage. If you are away from the main camp, and going to one of the areas that we hunt, I can usually communicate with the camp.

The repeaters in Northern Ontario seem to have a wider coverage area. It makes sense, given their locations, I suppose.

On 1 Jul, I ordered a Xiegu X-90 HF transceiver. 1 to 20 watts. Lightweight, small and not power hungry. It should be good to take out for field days or hunting trips. It tunes 10 -160, and I will feed with a dipole or an EFHW.

According to the ARRL in QST magazine, it has a great tuner and antenna analyzer too.

USD $425, CDN $675

QYT KT-8900R

I have been playing with this radio for about a month now. It seems to work fine. I am not sure about the long range, but for $82, it won't bother me if it melts. I bought it from amazon. Reviews are mixed, but for me, nothing bad to report. I am using a Comet SBB-7NMO antenna and a cup holder mount. This thing is small.



For those who are considering a radio with a small footprint, this might serve. As you can see from the pic, it doesn't get in the way. For those of you with small cars, this works. I have this one in my Ford Escape. It would also work well at a hunting camp. O/P is approx. 25 watts and that can be run with a deep cycle battery. Combine it with an inexpensive vertical, and you'll blow away GMRS and CB radios for range. Even better, if you can hit a repeater!



The programming software from the QYT site works just fine as well. www.qytradio.com It is dead easy to use. The only problem I am having is not he fault of the software. I wanted to be able to have the repeater name displayed under the freq. I don't know if it can be done, but it's a minor inconvenience. Presently, it is a channel no. which isn't of much use.

Like many radios these days, it is easier to program using software rather than manually inputting everything. Just keep the manual in your car.

Hello all ,VA7ASJ here , only using the 2m band mostly for 4x4 trips, works much better then cb .

Welcome to the board. Where are you located? I used to live on the Island. I was stationed in Comox and got my license there in the dim times.

Yes, VHF/UHF is much better than CB for range. I have been running Yaesu radios almost exclusively for many years. They are built like a tank, but the other radios are stout as well. What are you using?

New ham here, KC3PJG. Got my ticket in June and taking the General exam this Saturday. Bought a set of twins for at home, IC-9700 and IC-7300 , have a 2 meter IC-2300h in the truck.



Running two multi band verticals at the moment. Thinking of going with a 3 band, 10-15-20 meter Yagi when I get more HF privileges.

Nice radios. Good luck on your test!

It's always nice to hear about more people getting involved in radio.

Passed the General exam today which gives me HF operating privileges in the General and Technician portions of all the bands.

Congratulations!! You must be feeling great this morning. Have you fired up your rig on one of the "new to you" bands yet?

No, things to do this morning, will try 20 meters when I get back. Need to add the special identifier "AG" till the FCC puts me in the data base.

How long does that usually take?

I should be in by this Thursday as long as the examiners submit the information this Monday

You'd think with modern computers that the examiner could go online and make the notation. Regardless, it's done!

With all this COVID nonsense going on we took the test outside at a picnic pavilion with no electricity. As long as I have my dated certificate of completion and add / AG to my call sign it’s perfectly legal to use the HF privileges. Made my very first DX contact yesterday! Moscow Russia of all places. LOL!

Congratulations! You are going to love General class privileges and the 7300 changed amateur radio in a way no other radio ever has... I invested more money with a Flex 6500... I love SDR being able to "see" all the signals is amazing... a few years after I bought a Flex the 7300 came out and provided most of the same performance at maybe 1/3 of the cost..... They sound great right out of the box with the stock hand mic....

I'm in NC and retired If you would like to pick a time and frequency to set up a QSO I'd be happy to do that. Send me a PM or my email is good on QRZ if you would like to make a campfire contact

KK4FZI

John

Will do! I had no idea the popularity of the 7300 until I started making contacts on 6 and 10 meters.

It's not very popular with Hams that spent 8000 to 9000 on flagship analog transceivers a few years back..... suddenly their value on the used market crashed.... Hams are like rifle loonies always trading gear to get the next best thing.... software defined radios are now that thing.... you did great!

Just ordered a Mosley tri band classic 33 . They have to build it, won't see it till October they claim. Making DX contacts into eastern Europe and South America with the vertical when the conditions are good on 20 meters.

If you are looking at trying out SDR radios, Xiegu makes a 20 watt version, the G90. They retail for $500 USD. It's a less expensive option for field days or your vehicle.

You have really done your research Mosley make fine antennas... only complaint is they are often not in stock and ready to ship.... You will be amazed at what you can do with a beam antenna... Australia and new Zealand on 20 Meters. beam heading about 270 to 240 degrees from the East coast.... They start getting strong about 11:00 PM Eastern. There is a regular net with lots of stations calling in but that one is in the Extra class portion of 20.... still lots of Hams up and down 20 Meters with their beams headed our way....

After you get your antenna the next step is an amplifier.... again there are a bunch of used amp on the market now because solid state amps are what many of the "Ham loony" type want now. Our 80 something first "Elmer" was all bah humbug when I started talking about an auto tune amp... mine has a tube but I can switch bands and be tuned up to transmit 1500 watts in less than 10 seconds... He called me about a year ago and asked how I was liking my Acom 2000. I told him I was very pleased so he ordered one because he had missed an opening to get one of the last Countries he had not worked yet into his log book....

Picked up a heathkit sb 200 from a local ham. Made a confirmed contact to Hawaii at 200 watts, Australia was a little out of reach.

Again very well done.... info about possible upgrades if they haven't already been done... is there a local ham club near you?

https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=1162

I have a Heathkit SB 220 that needed a "soft start" modification to interact well with a modern transceiver..... Much of the below is way above my pay grade but it "sounds like" bad things could happen if the proper modification have not been done... PM inbound

John
KK4FZI


An Aging Icon of a Bygone Era Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The Heathkit SB-200 is an iconic amateur radio linear amplifier first introduced in 1964 with the last unit delivered in 1983 as the SB-201 (minus 10M) – a phenomenal 19 year production run. It was designed to be affordable at $200 in 1964 (rising to $479 in 1983) and to be small and light. Compared to AM amplifiers of the day, which were huge and expensive, it was tiny and provided a significant 1.3 S-units in signal improvement at a very affordable price. Even better, you could build it yourself, with Heathkit standing by to help every step of the way. This was the golden age of electronics kits. Optimized for SSB phone, a relatively new mode in that era, the designer(s) minimized weight, bulk and cost by sizing the power supply, tube dissipation and cooling capability to meet the relatively low transmit duty cycle (about 30%) and average power characteristics of SSB. With 1000 watts input into its twin T160L/572B tubes, it could reliably produce 450 to 650 watts output CW and a bit more on SSB phone, depending on band and state of tune, all on 115 volts. Designed to be driven by the adjustable, tunable output stage of a tube based exciter that could tolerate the variable input impedance and SWR of the SB-200, it was an ideal match for the Heathkit HW-100, HW-101, SB-400 and many other transceivers and transmitters of the era, most of whom used and tolerated control interfaces running at 100 or more volts. If it had any real flaws, they were that the tuned circuits and tubes were marginal on 10 meters, and to a lesser extent, 15 meters, making power output lower on these bands and causing tuning and loading to be VERY touchy on 10 meters. But lots of the tube rigs of that era had the same flaw, and this was expected. A second set of flaws was caused by the very design choices that made the SB-200 so inexpensive and light – it just could not dissipate much average power continuously. RTTY, a 100% duty cycle early digital mode using the now antique Baudot code, stressed the SB-200 to its limit and could easily destroy the tubes and damage other parts in an extended QSO at 500-600 watts out – especially on 10 meters, where the amplifier was at its weakest. Power had to be dialed back to about 300 watts and TX periods kept short. Despite this, the design was and still is elegant, simple, and effective on SSB and is easy to work on and tune due to its intelligent design, layout and minimal component count. Many, many SB-200s were built and hence many still survive to this day, all in various states of modification (good and bad) and repair.

So why give the SB-200 two stars when this obviously was a 5-star amplifier? “WAS” is the operating word.

Back in the day, a half-century ago, when this amplifier was designed and produced, nearly every amateur was familiar with the dangers, performance characteristics, use and repair of tube equipment. This equipment has no safety circuits other than a circuit breaker or fuse and uses high voltage connections to other equipment for signals and control. That was normal, back in the day. Expectations and skills are different today, as is the age of the equipment – new vs. 40 to 50 years old. Even then, electronics were not generally expected to last more than about 10 years. Who knew you’d be looking at this review 50 years later, while contemplating purchase of a “cherry” SB-200 from the last century, at the local or world-wide-web swap meet - certainly not the SB-200 designers, or its component manufacturers.

Fast-forward to today where the majority of exciters have solid-state control and driver circuits that begin output power fold back nearly instantly with SWRs over 2:1 and expect low-voltage, low-current ALC and keying interfaces. Not a tube to be found. The SB-200 is not natively compatible with modern exciters and will very predictably damage or destroy them if directly connected, unmodified for the modern world. In addition, it is often difficult for a modern exciter to drive the SB-200 to full output due to very fast exciter fold-back in the face the SB-200s variable input impedance, so it’s best to have modest expectations, or an inaccurate wattmeter, or a poorly matched load, which can cause the same optimistic readings. And there is at least one company today that provides very affordable watt-meters that give wildly inflated readings (you know who they are). The average amateur never complains about readings that are too high, so many meter makers believe it’s better to read high than low, hence some reports of 900 watt SB-200 CW power output. That’s just not going to happen, even on its best day.

The next issue is simply age. How many cars, appliances and even people last 50 years without having issues ranging from minor to fatal. None. Zip. Nada. Same with the SB-200. If you are looking at a beautiful all-original SB-200 that has somehow eluded the well- meaning performance modifying amateur, it WILL have issues – like corrosion, dried out capacitors, bad diodes, drifting carbon-comp resistors, sticky meters, flat tubes, RF blasted band-switch. If no one has addressed these issues, it’s up to you to fix, which is great if you love electronics projects, are very familiar with tube gear and its dangers and have plenty of time and soldering skills. By the time you are done, you will have at least doubled your initial investment in the amplifier.

At a minimum, expect the following potential repairs:

1. New power supply board with new capacitors, diodes, resistors and metering resistor string. Harbach makes a drop-in replacement kit that actually improves on the original.
2. New electrolytic capacitors under the RF deck
3. New carbon-comp resistors throughout
4. New TX relay
5. New tubes
6. Input network retuning (on rearmost band switch wafer) – it often shifts on 10 and 15 meters after 40 years, reducing power output to a trickle (you’ve done this before, right?). You will probably need to order a variety of 500 volt, silver-mica caps to do this. They are not cheap.
7. New output bandswitch wafer (call Harbach or ask on the on-line forums – hard to get), often destroyed by poor tuning/loading, bad SWR match or too much sustained power output causing a cascade failure.

Then there are the inevitable “Mods” done to these amplifiers – some necessary, some poor and all pretty much undocumented. Consider that quite a few SB-200s have been converted to 6 meters (where they don’t work terribly well) or changed to use a single (often Russian) pentode power tube in a process that can never be duplicated nor reversed easily, or “converted” to cover the WARC bands at the expense of performance on every other band. It’s not that every mod is bad, in fact some are brilliant. But how do you know? The unknown “golden screwdriver” that made them has often passed on to a better place. And then there are the many safety, compatibility and stability mods discussed on-line, some of which are needed and many of which are dangerous. How do you decide? Hmmm.

Well, in general, the following mods really are needed for compatibility and safety, IMHO – but you need to decide for yourself:

1. Perform a soft-key mod to convert the 120 volt keying input on the SB-200 to a few volts at a few milliamps, letting a modern solid-state radio key the amp without damage. If you can’t “roll your own”, Harbach makes a nifty soft-key kit for the SB-200 that is a real time saver. Just do it. And its backwards compatible with older tube rigs that expect high voltage keying. If you don't do this mod, at least use an external buffer interface relay or box that does the same thing - several manufacturers make them.
2. Swap out the funky RCA RF input jack for something that is positive locking, like an SO-239 or female BNC jack, otherwise the cat and you will have a shocking and possibly smoking experience when Mittens pulls the plug on your next DX QSO. I DO NOT know what the engineers at Heathkit were thinking when that made an (audio-standard) non-locking RCA jack a high-power RF port standard for their equipment. Bad engineer! Bad! Go to bed right now!
3. If you plan to use the ALC input with a modern exciter, look up the Heathkit factory bulletin that recommends installation of an 8.2 volt zener clamping diode to avoid damage to your solid-state rig. And put it in.

Mods that may be useful and at worst are harmless:
1. “soft-start” mod that reduces inrush current (and stops the lights from dimming) when the amp is turned on. Harbach makes a nice kit for this. Not needed, but nice to have.
2. Back to back meter protection diodes. A replacement SB-200 meter is hard to find, and if an HV resistor fails the resulting voltage and current can destroy the meter. This rarely happens, but if it does, you’ll probably wish you’d sprung for the $1 meter protection diodes.

Mods that are likely unnecessary and may be problematic:

1. Replacing the power supply caps with units having twice or more capacitance. Just don’t do it. The resulting inrush current will dramatically increase, possibly popping the circuit breakers every time you turn the amp on, and certainly increasing stress on the amp.
2. Adding a “glitch resistor and fuse” to the HV line. This on-line legend will likely react too slow during a fault to prevent damage, or will cover up a more serious issue, will fail itself during an event, and will add impedance to the critical power supply to the tubes – never a good thing for performance. Your choice, though.
3. Modified anode resistors/inductors and other mods to “improve stability” and guard against VHF self-oscillation. Some of these suggestions and mod kits are harmless while others actually degrade the stability of the SB-200, whose gain falls off so rapidly above HF that its stability is quite good to begin with. Caveat Emptor.
4. Bias scheme modifications, anything that changes the tube type, or the power transformer (dramatically) and anything that adds new bands. These usually result in an un-maintainable amp, or causes unexpected/degraded behavior, or even “It’s dead, Jim” syndrome. Plenty of posts about this on-line.

So… that’s why the SB-200 gets two stars and not five, in the 21st century.

If you’re new to amps and amateur radio, consider purchasing a relatively new tube amp with modern protection circuits, solid-state exciter compatibility and ready support from the manufacturer. Even better – get one with a warranty, because you’ll need to learn how to tune and load a tube amp, and this can be an unforgiving procedure.

If you have the means, consider a no-tune, feather-weight (relatively) low-voltage solid state amp instead. Because this is, after all, the 21st century, and it will likely have a dedicated microprocessor and circuitry dedicated for amplifier/exciter protection – and yours too. It can make operating a lot more fun.

But if you really love projects, and “boat anchors” ( I do), the SB-200 may still be a decent and INFORMED choice.

Lastly, this review is my opinion only, and you need to think carefully through all the options and take responsibility for your own actions and safety.

Best Regards,
Brian- K5BRN

The modifications were done on this amp.