The Cyclechat Radio Shack

[Bobby Mhor]

i got a 10m telescopic which covers multibands for portable work but i think it is a bit big to fit on my trike hi hi, i am thinking of putting a 80m - 6m aerial on i use for mobile which has a fly lead to change bands and only just over 5ft tall but i will devise a small mast say about 4ft or so to fit on trike

I bought a 6m fibreglass pole out of Decathlon which breaks down into a 63cm pole but thats for VHF but I still have to carry it in a rucksack along with my 2m delta quad beam.
Just a thought but I was surprised at how well it worked on HF.
Sotabeams do some good portable HF stuff and bits to build same.

 

[Drago]

Now got 2M VHF in the Smart car. Mal, keep an ear out on the GBVA repeater, and 145.500 for me (2EORGJ).

 

[mybike]

Now got 2M VHF in the Smart car. Mal, keep an ear out on the GBVA repeater, and 145.500 for me (2EORGJ).

Used to be able to hear VA, not for a long time though.

 

[Drago]

Now then, now then, I'm thinking of getting a cheap DMR to experiment with. My only reservationnks difficult they may be to program, cos I ain't very good with pooters. Do any of you lot in the CycleChat Radio Amateurs Programming Society (CRAPS) habe any experience of this?+

 

[classic33]

Now then, now then, I'm thinking of getting a cheap DMR to experiment with. My only reservationnks difficult they may be to program, cos I ain't very good with pooters. Do any of you lot in the CycleChat Radio Amateurs Programming Society (CRAPS) habe any experience of this?+

Paging Mr @Bobby Mhor.

 

[Drago]

Thanks Lance O'Classic. I struggle with CycleChat, so you can imagine how I'd struggle connecting a pooter to a radio.

 

[Bobby Mhor]

Now then, now then, I'm thinking of getting a cheap DMR to experiment with. My only reservationnks difficult they may be to program, cos I ain't very good with pooters. Do any of you lot in the CycleChat Radio Amateurs Programming Society (CRAPS) habe any experience of this?+

@Drago
Haven't dipped my toes in DMR more as VHF is dead in this area...
too much going on fad wise, D-Star, Fusion, DMR and now Network Radio is the latest fad.
I assume lots of activity VHF wise near your QTH?

If going the Chinese radio route, luv those radios,
watch out as some earlier ones aren't what they seemed to be...

MIKLOR HERE
is a site which has lots of top info

plenty of Chinese choice unless you can pick up an old Motorola and get it programmed..

Programming?

'Chirp' (on the Miklor site) is your go-to software for Chinese and other handhelds..
If you buy any of the models mentioned on MIKLOR ,they'll more likely tell which programming cable to use, most Chinese use USB Kenwood compatible cables, reasonably priced on eBay...
I find Amazon is just as good as anywhere for buying radios, I used to use 409shop in HK but Amazon has to be watched as it isn't clear if they send from the UK or Asia...at least you get he backing of Amazon, some chanty wrasslers about on eBay.....

Let's know how you get on...
I'm off to shoot fish in a barrel (known as FT8)

 

[Drago]

Aye, I use CHIRP for my Bumfengs on analogue. After days of painful fanning around with drivers I got it working, and it's then fairly simple to use.

I'm thinking of a proper Tier II set, such as an MD-380. There's some VHF and UHF activity around here. Not so heavy, but steady. I'll also write up a plug for the Lowland Rescue LRnet, so I can use it for that too.

I'm also thinking of trying a bit of AMSAT work too. That'd be good, could talk to you on V or U if we synchronised ourselves.

 

[dodgy]

This thread brought back some memories. I operated as a VP8 (Falkland Islands) back in 1991, I was one of very few (possibly the only) morse operators on the Islands and because of that I had to have a QSL manager in the UK to handle all my QSL exchanges (there was usually a dollar or two in each envelope which he kept). I was pretty popular, I don't mean I as in ME was popular, but getting CW contact into the Falklands was apparently a big deal. I used to call into the weekly QSO for people from the several Liverpools (not just England) around the world and I would have to break the rules slightly by only saying the last 3 letters of my callsign, because if I mentioned the full VP8 XXX, the frequency would just get hammered with people wanting contact. I can only imagine what it was like to be somewhere really remote.

Mad days. I haven't touched it again since, though as retirement is not too far away, I'm considering it again.

 

[Bobby Mhor]

Aye, I use CHIRP for my Bumfengs on analogue. After days of painful fanning around with drivers I got it working, and it's then fairly simple to use.

I'm thinking of a proper Tier II set, such as an MD-380. There's some VHF and UHF activity around here. Not so heavy, but steady. I'll also write up a plug for the Lowland Rescue LRnet, so I can use it for that too.

I'm also thinking of trying a bit of AMSAT work too. That'd be good, could talk to you on V or U if we synchronised ourselves.

I'm doing small steps on the Amsat stuff but more in the decoding of APRS (ISS) and 1k2 on Funcube1(AO-73), Nayif-1..
I receive the signals and have some decodes but I'm only using the colinear in my loft space..
I keep an eye on the FoxTelem stuff, once again, I rx the signal but not in any strength..
I'm using a SDRPlay RSP1a (worth a look)....
Once I finally move, I'll rig up something proper for an antenna for it....

This thread brought back some memories. I operated as a VP8 (Falkland Islands) back in 1991, I was one of very few (possibly the only) morse operators on the Islands and because of that I had to have a QSL manager in the UK to handle all my QSL exchanges (there was usually a dollar or two in each envelope which he kept). I was pretty popular, I don't mean I as in ME was popular, but getting CW contact into the Falklands was apparently a big deal. I used to call into the weekly QSO for people from the several Liverpools (not just England) around the world and I would have to break the rules slightly by only saying the last 3 letters of my callsign, because if I mentioned the full VP8 XXX, the frequency would just get hammered with people wanting contact. I can only imagine what it was like to be somewhere really remote.

Mad days. I haven't touched it again since, though as retirement is not too far away, I'm considering it again.

Hello..
It's still nuts out there,
a VK9 or someone is clogging up the data bands just now..
Everybody is doing FT8 data..

I didn't like the mode when it first appeared and continued to just use WSPR but I succomed and spent my time there now..
1,200 contacts in just over two month and that could be doubled if I put my mind to it and I use a (inefficient) stealth dipole..
Bottom of the sunspot cycle so if you return in the near future, hopefully it will be heading back up by then...

I'd gladly park myself on a remote island and gratefully accepted USD for postage, it is frowned upon but it does go on..
I think one of the mid Atlantic islands, one station was asking for four USD for a card...but that was a few years ago..
with LoTW and eQSL nowadays, paper cards are falling away....

GM7 here, by the way..

 

[Drago]

Sweet. Not done the funcube, but had a play with SER on SDRsharp. I've never tried APRS. It does look appealing, but always passed me by. I quite like PSK31, use MultiPSK on 40 and 8)0M at QRP levels.

I've done some WxSat decoding in the past, but those old analogue birds are dying off now. Plan is to build a small array for AMSAT voice work and progress from there. I've a good view of the horizon from my shack...whichnis a real shack!

 

[m6mal]

i have all 3 digital voice modes which i can take out on my trike etc. but then don't forget good old echolink as it is voip and could be useful to hams without access to a local repeater 73

 

[m6mal]

Sweet. Not done the funcube, but had a play with SER on SDRsharp. I've never tried APRS. It does look appealing, but always passed me by. I quite like PSK31, use MultiPSK on 40 and 8)0M at QRP levels.

I've done some WxSat decoding in the past, but those old analogue birds are dying off now. Plan is to build a small array for AMSAT voice work and progress from there. I've a good view of the horizon from my shack...whichnis a real shack!

i love psk31 as i live in a ground floor flat and only have a hf aerial 9ft otg and horizontal made of 60 odd feet of speaker wire and a 9 to 1 unun i still manage to work europe etc and beyond with 10w, i used to get VK and ZL when i first got licenced 10 years ago but i had a proper aerial then in a garden instead of on a wall in the parking lot

 

[Bobby Mhor]

i love psk31 as i live in a ground floor flat and only have a hf aerial 9ft otg and horizontal made of 60 odd feet of speaker wire and a 9 to 1 unun i still manage to work europe etc and beyond with 10w, i used to get VK and ZL when i first got licenced 10 years ago but i had a proper aerial then in a garden instead of on a wall in the parking lot

Go for your 2EO, 50 watts available...
You should try FT8,
I'm QRP and on most bands running only a couple of watts,
my home antenna is a 40m half wave dipole, 18 ft either side in my loft and the rest running down behind the outside downpipes.. I just recently changed the wire (coating) from white to brown, the white blended nicely with the white PVC pipes.
I've operated radio in one form or another from here for almost 40 years and some of my neighbours still don't know about HF, they know I use a 2m beam which I throw up occasionally to pick up distant SOTA stations...

 

[Drago]

I'm a big fan of QRP. By the time you start using a gazillion watts and huge Yagi is it becomes about as technically challenging as picking up a mobile phone. Conversely, I've done Japan on 5w using PSK on 40M and I nearly farted with excitement.

I've recently relocated out doors. I've an active Watson vertical for HF Rx, but no transmitting antenna yet. Dual band J pole for 2/70 And 446 which works very pleasantly. Widebanded 2M FT1802 in the car (covers the analogue land SAR freqs) and various dual band hand held, and the odd converted PMR.