The Unofficial iPad Amateur Radio Club

[twerppoet45]

Thanks. If the code was still a requirment I'd have probably been a Tech forever.

 

[twerppoet45]

I've discovered the matrix.

 

[RudyN]

I got my Novice license in 1989. Then I got on the air and studied some more and had my Extra by 1991. It was fun copying code at 20wpm! I have dropped down to about 15wpm now, but it is still fun.

 

[twerppoet45]

I've been playing with a SDR (Software Defined Radio) for a couple weeks now. I bought an SDRPlay RSP Pro, a Wonder-Wand HF tuner/antenna, an MFJ-9232 loop antenna tunner, and lots of other odds and ends.

Turns out that like most other radios, the antenna is the most imporant part, epspecially on HF. I've experimented with a couple, and so far a loop conected to either the Wonder-Wand or MFJ-9232 has worked best. So, I decided I wanted something portable, easy to take on the road and set up anywhere.

I built this. It kind of portable, in that it only takes me about 15 minutes to tear it down or set it up, and I it will find in the back seat of hte car when in pieces.

 

[Wing rider]

You built a single element quad!

 

[twerppoet45]

You built a single element quad!

It looks similar because of the way I constructed it, but it's a loop. Ideally the loop would be a circle. I'm loosing a lot of it's performance with the top part being angular, but getting a perfect circle (or even close) is more than I've got the time or supplies for right now.

Loops are substantially smaller than quads. About ⅓ of a wavelength in circumference.

The theory behilnd loops, well, I haven't read up about that yet. I tried one because I've read that they get low noise recpetion at near dipole sensitivity wihout the need for a ground. What you give up is bandwidth. A loop pertty much has to have a tuner attached, or you'd be stuck with a very narrow operating range.

 

[appleboy60077]

KC9MSG. Technician since 2007. Our club has an awesome repeater system here in Chicago and I do the skywarn nets when we have imminent severe weather which we had plenty of during March and last Thursday thru Friday. The main issue I have with our club is there is a member who chooses to cater to certain members over others when giving out high dollar radio equipment like Motorola and such. Mainly to disabled members or ones in nursing homes and expects the other members to be willing to pay for it if they want it, and that would mean putting effort into a job which unless I am paid straight cash I will not do.

 

[twerppoet45]

It's been a while since this thread was active. Much has changed.

I managed to get my Extra license (almost by accident). I now have a home HF station. An Xeigu 7200 with an Xeigu VG4 antenna. Also a 100W RF amp that I haven't set up yet. That's about the max antenna I can set up with my Travel Trailer and it's small spot.

My current mode of interest is VarAC. I've made a dozen or so contacts at 5W at home, and several times that at the club station. It's a very rag-chew sort of mode, so I'm not always in the mood.

i'm making the umpteenth attempt to learn CW. I've remembered more than I thought from the last attempt. My goal is to be able to operate CW on Field Day. Whether I'll meet that goal is anyone's guess.

I'm still involved in the local ARES, though our membership took a huge hit during COVID and hasn't really recovered. We'll be supporting the Walla Walla Onion Man Triathlon the 18th of May.

Oh, and of interest to radio enthusiastic iPad owners, there is a new app called Echo on the App Store. It adds a native (mostly) UI for KiwiSDR and other web available SDR radio stations. You can listen to almost any radio station from anywhere in the world. It's free, with extra paid features coming (soon?) in a Pro version.

 

[twerppoet45]

Caved into my base (base station) nature and bought an Icom 7300MK2, and a new power supply to support it. This is my new home setup. First time the desk has been dust free(ish) in a long while.