my call sign at aol.com if you want to talk or do something: yospos radio thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > my call sign at aol.com if you want to talk or do something: yospos radio thread

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Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

A Yolo Wizard posted:

I have an audio line I don't use (who wants audio from the underside of a multirotor lol) would that be easier.

oh yeah do that. just have it beep out CW

# ? Jul 24, 2014 18:05

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 22:18

Bloody: Mar 3, 2013

spankmeister posted:

huh? Answer B is a perfectly valid 23cm freq

yeah but in the hf bands things get stupid iirc idk i got mad while studying the general because of how frequently it didnt make sense

# ? Jul 24, 2014 19:40

atomicthumbs: Dec 26, 2010; We're in the business of extending man's senses.

Jonny 290 posted:

voting we start the YOSPOS Ordained Society for Promotion Of Signals radio club

voted 5x5

# ? Jul 24, 2014 20:08

moron izzard: Nov 17, 2006; Grimey Drawer

got me tech license. Maybe should have studied for / done the general too.

The testing area had both a Krystal and a White castle less than a mile away from it it was amazing

# ? Jul 27, 2014 04:56

Sniep: Mar 28, 2004; All I needed was that fatty blunt...

King of Breakfast

A Yolo Wizard posted:

got me tech license. Maybe should have studied for / done the general too.

The testing area had both a Krystal and a White castle less than a mile away from it it was amazing

i have only seem tests administered in churches, fire departments and schools

# ? Jul 27, 2014 05:02

atomicthumbs: Dec 26, 2010; We're in the business of extending man's senses.

the amateur radio society near me that does testing has an entire house to itself (they may or may not rent out the apartment on top, idk)

# ? Jul 27, 2014 05:15

sleepy gary: Jan 11, 2006

I have an RTL SDR and I live in a tiny apartment with windows only in one direction. I would like to be able to receive airband but the included antenna doesn't seem up to the task. Is it possible to get a worthwhile signal without an antenna outside? What kind of antenna would you recommend (preferably one I can build easily with very basic supplies)?

# ? Jul 27, 2014 06:05

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

Sniep posted:

i have only seem tests administered in churches, fire departments and schools

I took my gen/extra in the hangar of the old fayetteville airport which is 20% charter flights and 80% museum
weird to be thinking about radio stuff with a cessna hanging over your head on wires

vov it worked tho

# ? Jul 27, 2014 07:55

longview: Dec 25, 2006; heh.

DNova posted:

I have an RTL SDR and I live in a tiny apartment with windows only in one direction. I would like to be able to receive airband but the included antenna doesn't seem up to the task. Is it possible to get a worthwhile signal without an antenna outside? What kind of antenna would you recommend (preferably one I can build easily with very basic supplies)?

you won't have room for anything much larger than a half-wave dipole in a window, that's what most airports seem to use anyway. I'd design it for around 120-130 MHz.
I wouldn't try tuning it, air band is one of those serious business bands where even owning transmitters tends to be illegal

any more gain in an omni antenna and they become extremely tall, or you have to build a yagi
2-3 element yagi could play, just add a reflector to the dipole afterwards

and check the RX gain setting on the dongle first

# ? Jul 27, 2014 09:14

atomicthumbs: Dec 26, 2010; We're in the business of extending man's senses.

longview posted:

you won't have room for anything much larger than a half-wave dipole in a window, that's what most airports seem to use anyway. I'd design it for around 120-130 MHz.
I wouldn't try tuning it, air band is one of those serious business bands where even owning transmitters tends to be illegal

any more gain in an omni antenna and they become extremely tall, or you have to build a yagi
2-3 element yagi could play, just add a reflector to the dipole afterwards

and check the RX gain setting on the dongle first

in the us you can own any sort of radio transmitter for any frequency, including government or military.

Try transmitting, though, and

# ? Jul 27, 2014 10:18

Bloody: Mar 3, 2013

if i wanted to play around with an sdr would i want/need an LNA between my antenna and my sdr box

# ? Jul 27, 2014 15:58

Bloody: Mar 3, 2013

for listening, that is

would prob want a PA for txing

# ? Jul 27, 2014 16:11

spankmeister: Jun 15, 2008

Bloody posted:

if i wanted to play around with an sdr would i want/need an LNA between my antenna and my sdr box

Nah it's got plenty of gain

# ? Jul 27, 2014 17:27

Bloody: Mar 3, 2013

cool, just gotta design/build/acquire some antennas and go hog wild with some gnuradio neckbeardery

# ? Jul 27, 2014 18:43

Korean Boomhauer: Sep 4, 2008

so i guess they regrounded the local repeater wrong and now the repeater is playing FM radio.

# ? Jul 27, 2014 19:43

Pham Nuwen: Oct 30, 2010

Korean Boomhauer posted:

so i guess they regrounded the local repeater wrong and now the repeater is playing FM radio.

call the DJ and ask what kind of radio he's using

# ? Jul 28, 2014 19:08

moron izzard: Nov 17, 2006; Grimey Drawer

Sniep posted:

i have only seem tests administered in churches, fire departments and schools

it was at a community college in somerset.

I really only got this for legal reasons w/r/t rc / fpv stuff but I guess I should look into talking to other people.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 06:19

moron izzard: Nov 17, 2006; Grimey Drawer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmUD9Vmjj4E

# ? Jul 29, 2014 06:21

Bloody: Mar 3, 2013

tot he top

# ? Jul 31, 2014 03:51

atomicthumbs: Dec 26, 2010; We're in the business of extending man's senses.

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?445092-Amateur-Radio-Superstation-K3LR

ham posted:

I recently had an opportunity to visit the station of Tim Duffy, K3LR of West Middlesex, PA. Tim has been a ham since 1972 and in 1987 he bought an 11 acre, 1860's farm property and immediately started setting up his dream station. Today, 27 years later, it has become that and much more. Simply stated, the K3LR station is one of the number one Multi/Multi contest DX stations on the planet. Tim engineered and built the entire station and its massive 11 acre antenna farm of 13 towers, including its Yagi's, directional arrays, and switching systems that give it capabilities that are seldom seen in the amateur world.

The photo above shows a partial picture of the layout. The operating positions are in the basement of the old farm house (the white building) and nearly every antenna is fed with 1 5/8 inch hardline in uninterrupted runs that span as much as 1500 feet from the antennas to the shack. Why hard line? Although very expensive new, most of the line Tim used was obtained used as surplus from cellular or two way antenna companies at a fraction of its original cost. The towers are also from cellular and broadcast surplus sales.

One of Tim's crown jewels is the 20 meter stacked Yagi array. Situated on one of the tall towers, it includes 4 full sized, custom designed 20 meter Yagi's that Tim built himself. Spaced exactly one wavelength apart on the tower, they can be operated either individually or in various phased combinations. Each antenna has its own separate ring rotator. When all 4 are fed in phase and pointed towards Europe, signal reports are 5/9+ on a bad day . With a total of 24 elements in phase, the array sounds like a 1500 watt linear, even when running only 100 watts.

Tim has multiple Yagi's on all bands from 40 through 6 meters however most of his favorite and challenging operating is done on the lower bands with vertical arrays.

Looking up from the ground you get an idea of just how much is going on up there. this could be the 40 meter tower, or perhaps the 20, I couldn't keep track of them all.

This is the base of one of the towers showing all of the switching and control circuits.

This picture shows how the scale of the tower distorts your perspective. At the very top is a full sized, 102 foot, 80 meter dipole. Below that is a 20 meter monoband Yagi. It's worth noting that all of the antennas are monobanders and that there are multiple choices for every band. SWR is never a problem as each antenna is specifically tuned to provide less than 1.2:1 across the design operating band.

[FONT=arial]At first glance, this looks like a tower that is under construction. What it is, however, is a full sized 160M vertical Yagi antenna. The center tower is the radiator (driven element) and it is surrounded by 4 vertical "T" wires that can be switched in and out to provide reflectors and directors in 4 directions.[/FONT]

This picture was altered to highlight the vertical T-wires of the 160 meter vertical Yagi. Note the shorting relay boxes at the base of each wire, used to direct the beam.

Base of the 160M vertical. Note the clear insulators below the supports, and the 1 5/8 Hardline feed. The radial system is also quite massive and uses over 20,000 feet of tinned copper wire that is soldered to the main connector ring, shown above.

This is a 20 meter directional receiving array. Tim has arrays like this for all bands, 80-10 meters. Each antenna consists of a 1/4 wave vertical, spaced 1/4 wave apart.

Let's have a look inside the shack. First, however, you should know what a multi/multi station is used for. A multi/multi station is a Multi-operator / Multi-radio contest station. In the large DX contests, these large stations are in a separate category. Four times per year, Tim invites a dozen or so of the best contest operators from around the world to join him in his shack to work the contests and have fun. The K3LR station has an impressive track record of success, having won (#1 in the USA) an impressive number of DX contests in the multi multi category, especially since 2004. Tim has hosted over 100 different contest operators during the 22 years they have competed in Multi Multi.

This is an excerpt from a chart showing just how winning K3LR has been in the ARRL SSB contest.

Tim, in the shack showing the operating positions. Each operating position works just a single band.

Tim, K3LR and Fred, AA7BQ standing before a few of K3LR's grand prize trophies.

[FONT=arial]Two of the many single band 1500 watt amplifiers that are used at K3LR using a single 8877 tube. No band switch, just pure legal power on a given band.[/FONT]

Another pair of amps, as well as a matrix switch used to configure the receiving antennas. Above to the right is where some of the hardline enters the shack.

A typical operating position. Note the four rotators for a stack of antennas. Every position has either an IC-7800 or an IC-7700 radio. In all, there are about 10 IC-7800's in the shack, including a hot spare. While heavily recognized by ICOM, there is no corporate sponsorship whatsoever. Tim buys nearly all of his gear used, at bargain prices.

Tim at the 20 meter position. We fired it up and were able to work a station in Sweden right away. The operator on the other end refused to believe that we were "barefoot", running 100 watts. You can't understate the power of a 24 element array!

There are also some great videos including a drone fly-over that is impressive. Check out:

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

K3LR Icom video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlXu7Q3h8RI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo2mCNJdvdk

K3LR Fly By videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMzdTQzJjSc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kimSQsEKqGE

K3LR QRP QSO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tk4kz5OeIE

More photos in larger formats are available on my Google+ page here

Also, for the detailed (accurate) specs of the station and it's history, see http://www.k3lr.com

# ? Aug 2, 2014 10:02

Zap!: May 15, 2002; Nuts.

This guy has beat the ham radio game. That 20m phased antenna array is simply amazing.

# ? Aug 4, 2014 15:25

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

contest stations are technically amazing but fulltime contesters are tiny dick nerds

# ? Aug 4, 2014 18:06

PuTTY riot: Nov 16, 2002

that setup has to be approaching 7 figs

# ? Aug 4, 2014 18:39

Korean Boomhauer: Sep 4, 2008

i like ham radio when its making contact across the globe with an antenna hastily made with cheap speaker wire and PVC pipe versus perfectly calculated multi thousand doller setups.

# ? Aug 4, 2014 20:07

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

Korean Boomhauer posted:

i like ham radio when its making contact across the globe with an antenna hastily made with cheap speaker wire and PVC pipe versus perfectly calculated multi thousand doller setups.

Yep, that's the poo poo right there.

Speaking of which, I'm going to finish some radio wiring this week and should be on the air by the weekend. The HF antenna got wanged on a tree when I was backing out so I gotta straighten one section, but other than that ive got all the really important gear.

# ? Aug 4, 2014 20:08

spankmeister: Jun 15, 2008

jonny what would i need to talk to you from across the globe?

# ? Aug 4, 2014 20:14

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

spankmeister posted:

jonny what would i need to talk to you from across the globe?

a shortwave (HF) transciever, the right antenna and the right conditions

Best bet would actually probably be a digital mode on the 20 or 30 meter band. You can get out pretty far without needing shitloads of power.

# ? Aug 4, 2014 20:16

atomicthumbs: Dec 26, 2010; We're in the business of extending man's senses.

Zap! posted:

This guy has beat the ham radio game. That 20m phased antenna array is simply amazing.

my favorite is the 160m yagi

# ? Aug 4, 2014 21:08

Zap!: May 15, 2002; Nuts.

atomicthumbs posted:

my favorite is the 160m yagi

On second look, this is pretty awesome with the four directors/reflector wires.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 13:27

PuTTY riot: Nov 16, 2002

can't hit the drat 440 repeater w/ my uv5r anymore. maybe it's the new QTH but it's def annoying. someone was able to listen in reverse or w/e and copy my checkin but ugh. I'm just a few miles from the repeater.

# ? Aug 11, 2014 01:38

PuTTY riot: Nov 16, 2002

kinda wondering if the mic is hosed. I remember I had roger beeps on my first checkin and they couldn't hear me well but beep came thru loud and clear

# ? Aug 11, 2014 01:39

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

There is a Ham Radio Outlet in town.

I am about to go broke as hell

# ? Aug 19, 2014 23:15

PuTTY riot: Nov 16, 2002

have you ever been to microcenter jonny? looks like denver has one of those too

# ? Aug 19, 2014 23:20

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

nope theres a vast array of retail establishments that i need to go throw money at

sadface at no Fry's though

# ? Aug 19, 2014 23:22

spankmeister: Jun 15, 2008

I had half a chance to go work for Echostar in Englewood a couple years back and although the adventure would be cool I'm glad it didn't happen because I checked glassdoor and gently caress.

Living in Denver was really tempting tho.

# ? Aug 19, 2014 23:26

Bloody: Mar 3, 2013

Bump.

# ? Aug 21, 2014 04:25

Bloody: Mar 3, 2013

Bloody posted:

Bump.

# ? Aug 30, 2014 17:13

Jonny 290: May 5, 2005; [ASK] me about OS/2 Warp

Thanks, guys.

I have a "visit ham radio outlet" item on my evernote, and have money in my pocket. hrmmmmmmm

# ? Aug 30, 2014 17:18

PuTTY riot: Nov 16, 2002

ur checking account

# ? Aug 30, 2014 17:49

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 22:18

Jimmy Carter: Nov 3, 2005; THIS MOTHERDUCKER
FLIES IN STYLE

ugh I used to have an FT-857D and I sold it because money for college and now i'm feeling so much nostalgia/regret

# ? Aug 30, 2014 17:54

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > YOSPOS > my call sign at aol.com if you want to talk or do something: yospos radio thread

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