I made my first contact on the local receiver yesterday. I started monitoring the repeater on my way to work and spoke with Bob, W1URV from a town about 5 miles away. We could only chat briefly, because I lost the repeater with my stock rubber duck antenna. I need to order a magnetic mount antenna for my car next so I get decent range. I have read that the stock antenna has a -3db gain. Most car antennas I looked at have a +1.5db gain.
I also want to get an antenna for my house. I have been looking at J pole antennas which can be placed at the top of a telescoping pole. I need to figure out where to place the antenna at home to minimize the amount of coax cable. I understand that coax cable goes for about $1 per foot.
My next step is to learn how to use the USB cable and software to program a number of local repeaters on my HT. I also need to learn how to use the scan function as well as seeing how much traffic is on the 70 cm band.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
New ham radio operator
I took my Technician exam 3 weeks ago at my local VE test center. I used the "No Nonsense Technician Class Study Guide" by Dan Romanchik KB6NU. This guide contains the answers to all the questions, but it presents the material in a tutorial format which makes a lot of sense. After studying this, I reviewed all the Technician questions.
I am also learning the Morse Code, using the Koch method. I run a program on my PC which sends me 3 characters of code at 15 WPM. Once I achieve 90% accuracy, the program adds another character and I practice some more. I now can copy 22 characters at 15 WPM. My long term goal is to do low power CW communications. I would eventually like to build a TenTec transceiver kit.
I ordered a Wouxun KG-UB3D HT transceiver to work on 2 meters. Once I received, it I had some trouble getting it to work on the local 2 meter repeater. Some kind hams on the Yahoo user group, walked me thru the process. It turned out I had the PL code set on receive mode instead of transmit mode. I didn't even know there was a PL receive mode!
I am also learning the Morse Code, using the Koch method. I run a program on my PC which sends me 3 characters of code at 15 WPM. Once I achieve 90% accuracy, the program adds another character and I practice some more. I now can copy 22 characters at 15 WPM. My long term goal is to do low power CW communications. I would eventually like to build a TenTec transceiver kit.
I ordered a Wouxun KG-UB3D HT transceiver to work on 2 meters. Once I received, it I had some trouble getting it to work on the local 2 meter repeater. Some kind hams on the Yahoo user group, walked me thru the process. It turned out I had the PL code set on receive mode instead of transmit mode. I didn't even know there was a PL receive mode!
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