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Jonny 290 posted:yah es'hail-2 is fuckin rad and it's a testament to how much american hams have fallen behind that we let somebody else beat us to a geostationary sat. Not that it's a contest, but. America have given us STARLINK so u can winlink telnet.
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Apr 26, 2021 17:43
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Big Mackson posted:America have given us STARLINK so u can winlink telnet. there's enormous ham interest in StArLiNk because so many of them are weirdo preppers in lovely backwoods compounds. 99% of them have musk brain. It's a sad fall from when this used to be "the EE's hobby"
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Apr 26, 2021 18:33
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Jonny 290 posted:there's enormous ham interest in StArLiNk because so many of them are weirdo preppers in lovely backwoods compounds. 99% of them have musk brain. It's a sad fall from when this used to be "the EE's hobby" I've been watching a bunch of videos on how to use and program the HT I just picked up and it was a roll of the dice whether I'd get a well informed radio enthusiast or weirdo preppers and HSLD larpers talking about poo poo like "tactical comms" with their Baofengs. I ended up going with that TYT TH-UV88 and it's been easy enough to use so far. The stereotype of it being old people talking about their ailments is hilariously true, but there was something endearing about the guy last night talking about getting the Lasiks and being so happy about being able to do stuff like again like... use more radios where before he was having trouble reading the instruments.
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Apr 26, 2021 20:07
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Jonny 290 posted:there's enormous ham interest in StArLiNk because so many of them are weirdo preppers in lovely backwoods compounds. 99% of them have musk brain. It's a sad fall from when this used to be "the EE's hobby" I think that Starlink is pretty cool, beating Hughes satellite internet is a pretty easy bar to clear though. Do you think it's just doomed to be either over-sold and completely useless, or end up massively expensive? There's only a set amount of RF spectrum, I do think it's insane to think it will appreciably replace copper or fiber, but there's a lot of places where existing infrastructure sucks and nobody's going to invest in pulling fiber out there anytime soon.
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Apr 26, 2021 20:14
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Big Mackson posted:i have set up satellite dish on my porch and can take in QO-100 but i have let it rot for 2 years because the equipment for TXing costs a lot (for me). This post about homebrewing amplifiers and antennas for it is very interesting. They're using some USRP N210s which weren't cheap at the time, but I wonder if you can use some cheaper exciters than that. Edit: Note the followup comment that explains how to build an SSB radio in GNU Radio for the SDR transmitter. Vir fucked around with this message at 08:47 on Apr 27, 2021 |
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Apr 26, 2021 22:52
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Twerk from Home posted:I think that Starlink is pretty cool, beating Hughes satellite internet is a pretty easy bar to clear though. Do you think it's just doomed to be either over-sold and completely useless, or end up massively expensive? There's only a set amount of RF spectrum, I do think it's insane to think it will appreciably replace copper or fiber, but there's a lot of places where existing infrastructure sucks and nobody's going to invest in pulling fiber out there anytime soon. It's a grift from the starting gate. Their big sell was that they were going to basically create a separate-but-equal Internet using laser links between starlink birds, so starlink user A sending data to starlink user B would never hit a ground station or a conventional transit pipe. The birds in orbit literally do not have any lasers on them that COULD do this, and SpaceX has never proven the concept of sat-to-sat point-to-point data transfer yet. They'd need to aim lasers at the equivalent of a strawberry at a mile, itself moving a mile a second, to execute their plan. Starlink is a make-work grift to keep SpaceX funded until...something about Mars. Sorry for hijacking with musky hate but he's ruining astronomy with his stupid vanity project
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Apr 27, 2021 00:50
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So I made this Internet-based morse code repeater and I'd love to get the feedback of any goons who have opinions. https://vail.woozle.org/ It's supposed to work like a radio works: there's no indication of who's listening, whether anybody at all is connected, no fancy stuff to display the letters being sent. It's just a $7 altoids-tin CW transciever, except on the Internet and you can use your phone. I can't copy morse code for the life of me, and it took me a full year to understand what this helpful Italian guy was trying to explain about how the Iambic input was messed up, so I really depend on the input of people who understand how things are actually supposed to work.
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Apr 27, 2021 15:01
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cruft posted:So I made this Internet-based morse code repeater and I'd love to get the feedback of any goons who have opinions. Awesome man, that's really cool. I'm also on a big learning CW kick right now so I will keep this around. The iambic paddles work as expected, I sent a bunch of really janky code trying to get used to doing it with a mouse.
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Apr 27, 2021 15:46
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Couple pics from my portable outing a couple of weekends ago. Overlanding is another hobby of mine and having a radio around provides some good entertainment especially when I am alone.   Pic of the power distribution, there is a 100AH battery under the shelf hooked up to a charger to get power from the alternator while driving. Also a 200w solar panel on the roof rack to power the fridge while stopped. A couple of anderson powerpole 20amp circuits to run radios and other accessories. Want to do a few POTA activations this summer and hopefully some SOTA from a backpack with my new QRP radio
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Apr 27, 2021 16:26
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It’s great because it works on an iOS Safari without zooming in or thinking I’m selecting text when I send dit dit. Instant 10/10. Iambic keyer works great too Edit: nobody home though...
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Apr 27, 2021 16:29
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thehustler posted:It’s great because it works on an iOS Safari without zooming in or thinking I’m selecting text when I send dit dit. Instant 10/10. I hear you, can't quite copy after cq cq cq though  still learning. But it seems to work!
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Apr 27, 2021 16:31
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After being shelved for a year, I decided to take out my only HF rig, a BITX I bought last spring, and see if I could get it working. Last time I couldn't hear poo poo, not so much as a CW beep. My antenna is an 84' end fed wire because I wanted something portable that I could take up and down easily while I waited for my radio shack to get finished. Originally, being very green and not having a strong grasp of antenna theory, I decided to ground the antenna with a copper spike. I think this was stupid and is what screwed me over last spring, as when I attached a ~40' length of counterpoise wire to the grounding nut on the box of the antenna and laid it perpendicular to the run of the antenna, I was able to finally pick up CW, data, and phone! Also, I cracked open the box at the base of the antenna where all the baluns are. Am I wrong or is this thing, with a counterpoise connected, just a poorly designed dipole? Ugh I need to get better at antennas...
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Apr 27, 2021 17:07
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Neat. This is easier to deal with than the CW-over-IRC solution that we've used before. Is it possible to change the key bindings for the keyboard keys?mycomancy posted:I attached a ~40' length of counterpoise wire to the grounding nut on the box of the antenna and laid it perpendicular to the run of the antenna, Also what kinds of baluns are they? Are they just 1:1 common mode chokes? Vir fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Apr 27, 2021 |
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Apr 27, 2021 17:08
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copen posted:I hear you, can't quite copy after cq cq cq though MM3IIG was the call with mangled variations of TEST thrown in Edit: yeah adding a keyboard option would be great thehustler fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Apr 27, 2021 |
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Apr 27, 2021 17:32
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Vir posted:Neat. This is easier to deal with than the CW-over-IRC solution that we've used before. Is it possible to change the key bindings for the keyboard keys? It's one of these.  I attached a length of wire to the nut that is just below the PL259 connector. The instructions suggest to do this if grounding isn't feasible, and it seems like it worked for me.
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Apr 27, 2021 18:52
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Jonny 290 posted:The birds in orbit literally do not have any lasers on them that COULD do this
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Apr 27, 2021 18:58
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Is that W0WFT calling me on the thing? That's basically all I know, I need to do some learning myself first, but this is so rad.
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Apr 27, 2021 19:50
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thehustler posted:Is that W0WFT calling me on the thing? That's basically all I know, I need to do some learning myself first, but this is so rad. W0TDF, pretty poor sending on my part though so good job hah. I really want to get the arduino controller to hook up my paddles now.
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Apr 27, 2021 19:56
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Seems to be a little bug sometimes where I trigger the iambic keyer with the keyboard when it isn't selected, cruft? Edit: Like in a loop Edit 2: Also a "cancel input" toggle would be fantastic if I just want to listen but open new tabs. That's how I may be toggling the loop. thehustler fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Apr 27, 2021 |
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Apr 27, 2021 20:00
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Weirdly it’s international morse code day apparently
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Apr 27, 2021 20:29
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mycomancy posted:Am I wrong or is this thing, with a counterpoise connected, just a poorly designed dipole? All antennas have two segments that radiate in opposition. They're not always equally sized. It's just that with these end fed setups all the kids are buying these days, their coax shield ends up being forced into doing duty as the 'other half' of the antenna. antennas are like a combo of a 4wd truck and the earth it's traveling on. If you're in slick mud that doesn't give you any traction, you don't go anywhere no matter how hard you hit the gas. The counterpoise is the terra firma your truck can actually push against.
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Apr 27, 2021 23:06
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Jonny 290 posted:antennas are like a combo of a 4wd truck and the earth it's traveling on. If you're in slick mud that doesn't give you any traction, you don't go anywhere no matter how hard you hit the gas. The counterpoise is the terra firma your truck can actually push against. I'm stealing this for next time I try to explain how things work. Might work better than my usual waving hands.
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Apr 28, 2021 00:51
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Oh, whoops, I posted to this thread and then immediately forgot I'd done so. Today I added "virtual" repeaters that send fortunes with various inter-letter gap spacing multipliers, hoping maybe I could use this thing to try and not suck at copying. I probably did some other stuff, too. I forget now. Vir posted:This is easier to deal with than the CW-over-IRC solution that we've used before. Is it possible to change the key bindings for the keyboard keys? What keys did you have in mind? I'll just add them on the sly. You can spin up new repeaters just like IRC channels. Just type a new name in for the repeater name, and then you can share that URL. I think I added this today. thehustler posted:Seems to be a little bug sometimes where I trigger the iambic keyer with the keyboard when it isn't selected, cruft? I bet you were holding down shift or Ctrl, which this morning were like straight and iambic keys, but I have since unbound. Let me know if it keeps happening and we can begin the debugging dance, which everybody hates. Those keys would sometimes get hit, and then you move away from the window while they're still down, and it never gets the "I let go of the key" event to stop sending. There are ways to deal with this but it's easier to just disable those keys, which hopefully works. But you don't have to select the Iambic tab to send it, you can just start wailing away on your preferred keys as soon as the page loads. That tab is mostly there for mobile devices. copen posted:W0TDF, pretty poor sending on my part though so good job hah. I really want to get the arduino controller to hook up my paddles now. The arduino thing makes it way cooler: you don't have to keep the browser window focused and you can open an editor or whatever. If you have a USB musical keyboard, you can use that too: C - straight key C# - dit D - dah You can also use a gamepad. I've tested with an XBox controller, Logitech somethingorother, Nintendo Switch Pro, and an 8bitdo tinything. I'm pretty sure nearly every USB gamepad will work. But the MIDI instrument (which the Arduino thing shows up as) is the A+ pro interface since it lets you minimize the browser if you want. thehustler posted:Weirdly it’s international morse code day apparently .-.. --- .-.. cruft fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Apr 28, 2021 |
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Apr 28, 2021 02:51
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cruft posted:You can spin up new repeaters just like IRC channels. Just type a new name in for the repeater name, and then you can share that URL. I think I added this today. The reason I mentioned this is in case someone wanted to make a Goon CW repeater.
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Apr 28, 2021 04:10
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cruft posted:The reason I mentioned this is in case someone wanted to make a Goon CW repeater. Can I post this to #AmateurRadio #HamRadio Twitter yet?  Edit: Iambic keying is so much nicer than straight oh my GOD.
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Apr 28, 2021 13:43
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thehustler posted:Can I post this to #AmateurRadio #HamRadio Twitter yet? Of course. Please tag me so I can follow, i PMed my Twitter username. The main complaint people seem to have is that there's nobody to talk to. I just don't know where to post the flyers to get attention. I'm an asocial computer nerd, see.
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Apr 28, 2021 13:56
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cruft posted:Of course. Please tag me so I can follow, i PMed my Twitter username. I'd put it on Reddit too, I don't think you'll get swamped. The subreddits for amateur and ham radio there are popular but not THAT popular. Also some Facebook groups if you're into that. It's on Twitter now, though! thehustler fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Apr 28, 2021 |
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Apr 28, 2021 15:08
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thehustler posted:I'd put it on Reddit too, I don't think you'll get swamped. The subreddits for amateur and ham radio there are popular but not THAT popular. Thanks! Maybe we'll get a few more users; but we need two people actively hoping to have a conversation I've been listening and it sounds like there are several people connected, but nobody wants to venture talking. I expect this is similar to the actual airwaves. Speaking from personal experience, I'm not comfortable trying to talk to somebody who's clearly sending 8-12 times faster than I can copy. I decide I need more practice, resolve to practice more, other stuff happens, and I'm forever lurking on my own repeater. Like, someone just sent a CQ on General Chaos that I only understood because I've heard CQ so many times. I have no idea what came after that, and the mental hurdle of engaging that person in a conversation was just too great, so I stayed quiet. This may be why things like morsecode.me and vband have more users: they ease barriers to entry. Last night my dad suggested a toggleable thing to highlight on the dichotomous key what's being sent. I feel like that might help.
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Apr 28, 2021 15:29
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cruft posted:Thanks! Maybe we'll get a few more users; but we need two people actively hoping to have a conversation I keep calling CQ randomly to see if folk reply. I had one person reply this morning with nothing useful so that was probably off Twitter. You probably heard me and I am very happy to go much slower as I just know that CQ call off by heart and I really don't rattle the rest off that quick :p Sat on now if you want... Edit: Your Dad is clever, very good suggestion for learning, along with a local-sounding option only "Inhibit PTT" or something. thehustler fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Apr 28, 2021 |
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Apr 28, 2021 15:35
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thehustler posted:I keep calling CQ randomly to see if folk reply. I had one person reply this morning with nothing useful so that was probably off Twitter. The new "Fortunes" repeaters are local only. Once a fortune is done rattling off, you'll have up to a minute of empty time to play around.
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Apr 28, 2021 15:42
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Guys I caught the ham bug again, this time though I caught a digital mode variant. Since my lovely end fed antenna and underpowered BITX will probably preclude phone contact, I decided to look into digital mode. Even broke out the old breadboard and tackle box to build a prototype VOX circuit, though it was buggy and I don't have a function generator to test it. I can't wait to get my new job and move so I can rebuild my electronics workbench and buy a real radio.
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Apr 28, 2021 16:00
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What’s the best cheapo upgrade for the Baofeng UV-5r antenna? I’m sure the stock one can be improved upon. I’m feeling like messing with it again and I’m the city, an antenna upgrade might be helpful
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Apr 29, 2021 14:34
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:What’s the best cheapo upgrade for the Baofeng UV-5r antenna? I’m sure the stock one can be improved upon. I’m partial to the Nagoya NA-771.. if you don’t mind a 16 inch whip for 2.5db of gain. ~$20
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Apr 29, 2021 15:11
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:What’s the best cheapo upgrade for the Baofeng UV-5r antenna? I’m sure the stock one can be improved upon. The super elastic signal stick makes a noticeable improvement, is almost indestructible, comes in a variety of fun colors, and the proceeds benefit free ham radio testing resources: https://signalstuff.com/product-category/antennas/signal-sticks/ Edit: this is the one with the correct connector for your uv5r: https://signalstuff.com/product/super-elastic-signal-stick-sma-female/ Walrusmaster fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Apr 29, 2021 |
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Apr 29, 2021 15:53
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ickna posted:I’m partial to the Nagoya NA-771.. if you don’t mind a 16 inch whip for 2.5db of gain. ~$20 I've heard good things about the Nagoya, but the problem is that there are so many counterfeits out there that it can be a hassle to get your hands on a real one. The Super-elastic Signal Stick seems like a similarly good upgrade for an HT, and you're buying them directly from the guy who makes them so you know it's not a bootleg. The profit goes towards funding HamStudy, I believe. As soon as a couple of my friends also get their certificates and first radios I'm going to do a bulk order, since they no longer offer the $1 shipping to Canada unfortunately.
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Apr 29, 2021 15:54
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The signal stick is great. But you might end up overloading the poor ‘feng’s receiver with a good antenna.
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Apr 29, 2021 16:05
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Walrusmaster posted:The super elastic signal stick makes a noticeable improvement, is almost indestructible, comes in a variety of fun colors, and the proceeds benefit free ham radio testing resources: Nice! Purchased! Amazon seems filled with knockoffs. The reviews on the foldable antennas have more than a few pictures of antennas who’s guts are tape measure tape.
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Apr 29, 2021 16:05
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manero posted:The signal stick is great. But you might end up overloading the poor ‘feng’s receiver with a good antenna. I never knew that was a thing that could even happen
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Apr 29, 2021 16:06
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:Nice! Purchased! Did you get a fun color though??!!??
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Apr 29, 2021 16:12
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Yes, green! Because black was sold out and glow in the dark is more expensive
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Apr 29, 2021 16:22
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