Subj : Re: Baofeng UV-5R To : Vk3jed From : StackFault Date : Wed May 15 2019 07:10:28 Vk> St> I'll try to bring the youngests to field day at the end of june. Mayb Vk> St> score a couple GOTA points for the clud at the same time :) Vk> Vk> Cool, see if that gets their interest. :) Well, they are certainly curious. They have a hard time hearing faint SSB stations tho, and being french, this makes things even harder for them. With the help of a little script, they might be able to do some QSOs. Also, during field day, I may just try 6m or other shorter distance bands so they get to talk in french. Quebec is like in the middle of shakespearians, so it's kinda harder for that. Vk> Vk> First, I checked my Winlink email on 40 metres, running a mail sessio Vk> Vk> with Melbourne, 750km away. That impressed the others and the teache Vk> Vk> whose mobile phones weren't working (very remote area). Vk> Vk> St> I never got into these HF services things. Did a lot of PSK, RTTY, CW Vk> St> and a bit of VHF packet but that's about it. Vk> Vk> Has its place. Was a useful link hime while I was on that trip. :) Vk> Besides, in these days of wifi, being 700km from one's "access point" Vk> does impress the tech generation. :D I've red about it a little, will definitely give it a try sooner or later. Vk> Vk> Then once I had the mail out of the way, I switched to 20 metres, tun Vk> Vk> around and heard a Scottish station calling CQ. I answered him and w Vk> Vk> had a lengthy chat. Now that really impressed everyone, talking to Vk> Vk> someone on the other side of the world, when no one else had a Vk> Vk> connection to the outside world! :D Vk> Vk> St> Yeah, the wonderband is really easy to work and requires a smaller, Vk> St> more manageable antenna. Speaking of which, I'm just finishing up Vk> Vk> And in the outback, HF really fires up. Firstly, the very low noise Vk> floor - sometimes, I've had to check my receiver was working properly, Vk> it was that quiet, especially on the higher bands (10 MHz and up). :) Vk> Secondly, the ground is full of iron (that famous red dust). I suspect Vk> that helps, because I've had HF performance there that I've never been Vk> able to reproduce here, even with the same antenna (end fedz 40/20m dual Vk> band. The very low noise floor in portable operations is really nice. On the other hand, I built my new house in the mountains, far from the city. Which gives me a noise floor below S4 and even quieter if I turn off my plasma TV and the couple LED bulbs I have. I need to find some bulbs that are RF quieter than those. I've also deployed the antenna farther for the house, it's a little longer coax run but it cuts the noise quite well. Vk> St> building my mcHF rig and will be able to carry it very easily. I Vk> St> thought about getting an FT817 or something like that but just wanted Vk> St> to try building the kit and learn at the same time. My mobile kit, Vk> St> including the radio, battery, end fedz 20m antenna and coax would Vk> St> weight less than my I2RTF Simplex key, but a good amount. It is less Vk> St> rugged for sure but it's been really fun, now that the SM components Vk> St> are already soldered, these were a pest. Vk> Vk> Cool, I do like portable HF operation myself, though I don't often get Vk> the time these days. Maybe if I ever compete somewhere like Alice Vk> Springs, I might have to see if I can fit in a portable HF station. Vk> Will probably have to do that as a road trip. :) My most successful Vk> portable HF locations have been the outback and the beach, as well as Vk> the famous "blue lakes" at Mt Gambier, in the crater of a dormant Vk> volcano in the far SE corner of South Australia. I definitely needs to carry my gear more often, I find myself wanting to do radio but didn't bring it. I may add one of those telescopic fiberglass masts to my kit so I can deploy more easily. I guess one's kit is never complete :) Vk> St> I am also looking at replacing the mobile in my truck from an old Vk> St> FT2500M (ie reuseable catapult square bullet with a mike attached to Vk> St> it) for an FTM-100DR to try a bit of the newer digital modes like Vk> St> Fusion and Wires-X. This would also add dual-band in the mobile and t Vk> St> detachable faceplate would make it possible to mount higher in the Vk> St> field of vision. Vk> Vk> I don't use either of those 2 modes. I have D-STAR and DMR capability Vk> here. :) Yeah, these are Yeasu's modes mostly. Fusion is like the Icom's D-Star equivalent more or less while Wires-X can be compared to DMR. I still have to experiment with those modes. Cheers! |15 ß Þ |15StackFault |08<|03.|11.|15P|11h|03EN|11o|15M|11.|03.|08> |11 Ý ß |11The Bottomless Abyss BBS |03 ß Ýß |03ssh|08.|072222 |08/ |03telnet|08.|072023 |08/ |03https |08 ÜþÞ |08bbs|07.|08bottomlessabyss|07.|08net --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64) * Origin: The Bottomless Abyss BBS * bbs.bottomlessabyss.net (1337:3/106) .