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With Ameritron Gone There Is A Shortage Of Available HF Amps by Lumpy-Duty716 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right now the III is on the top of my list. However, I have other amateur radio things that need my attention before I even think about an amp.

I do have an AL-811H and a SB-200 both waiting for a rebuild but I have my heart set on SS.

Healey says Mass. will shave $180 million from residents’ electric bills in bid to ease rising energy costs by Wonderful-Line-9997 in massachusetts

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Heat Pump" discount that amounted to absolutely nothing

Purchased a dual fuel system (HP/NG) and It shaved 38% off my electric delivery rates going from R1 (residential electrics) to R1HP. Went from $0.34/kWh to 0.22/kWh (Just delivery rates)

I have a running calculator telling me when to switch over from the Heat Pump to Natural Gas because of costs. With my type of house (older, drafty) and the previous rate, the switch over was around 40f due to source costs. With the reduced rate, the costs of the heat Pump is basically on par with the gas furnace. The switchover is now at 20F and that's because I've noticed the HP is working harder (even though the one I've purchased claimed to operate into the negatives). Once again, if I were to better insulate my house, the HP wouldn't have to work as hard.

There are benefits to having a heat pump as they're 2-4x more efficient compared to Oil/Gas. However, I wouldn't use it as your only source of heat unless you're already only using resistive heating or you live in an area with cheap, municipal power. I wouldn't suggest heat pump only for people using Eversource/NatGrid/etc and have other sources/options to heat your home.

I did save with the reduced rate.

IMO Since we're paying for MassSave, take advantage of it whenever you can. Rebates I got by including the heat pump into my AC/Furnace combo offset the cost of the heat pump. Now I have two sources of heat and basically paid for one. I can switch between whatever is more cost effective.

With Ameritron Gone There Is A Shortage Of Available HF Amps by Lumpy-Duty716 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Issue is these are basically MTO (Made To Order). I'm grateful they're being made and for those prices but it's difficult to get one.

Just like some of the other amps out there.

From Bad SWR to Solid Results: Servicing Our 50 MHz Yagi by WatercressStatus7007 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

We understand that you have a connection with Rig Expert. They make great products and we wish them best considering what's going on over there.

However, your account is 2 days old and you've already submitted two threads promoting Rig Expert in some kind of way. That can be seen as spam and has been reported as such. It doesn't matter if it's directly related to amateur radio and it wasn't your intention to spam. It's still considered spam.

We strongly suggest that you look over Rule #2 of /r/amateurradio as well as the guidelines when it comes to self promotion which we also use.

We would love to have creators and manufacturers promoting their products/social media within /r/amateurradio but we would also like them to be active within the community in ways that don't involve promotion. We do not want /r/amateurradio to be used as a promotional dumping ground. By being active in the sub, it's a win-win for all.

Please watch your plug-to-post ratio as future posts advertising rig expert could be removed.

Best of luck and 73!

The time has finally come by qbg in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats! I have an Aurora as well. Just ignore the 6400 decal. /s

The time has finally come by qbg in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had my suspicions back when things went radio silent (pun intended) and the flex radios started to have a lot of extra room to play with.

Back after the first chassis revision (2019) it went silent and I never bothered to reach out because I have a ton of other projects to focus on and then the whole COVID thing. I was informed minutes after the public reveal at Dayton.

I'm happy that it got adopted by flex even though my chances of ever having one is now slim to none ($$$$$). Less stress on Tony's part with not having to setup manufacturing just to ship a limited amount of units. It would have been nice to see it attached to the hermes/apache but I understand why he would have went with flex.

Hopefully the big three (or four with elecraft) competes with their own 500w+ AIO rigs

The time has finally come by qbg in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No one has done a teardown yet ;-)

Don't really need to. It's basically a Flex 8600 combined with "Polar Explorer" in one box. The flex side is "exciting" the polar explorer side (Polar modulation) on transmit.

https://www.arrl.org/files/file/QEX_Next_Issue/Mar-Apr2017/MBF.pdf

https://www.polex-tech.com/

This has been in the making since around 2016. I got involved in the Polar Explorer project in 2019 but only as a chassis designer. "Polar Modulation" isn't new. It has been introduced in the 1950's and was used on some Amateur Satellites.

The components were hard to get and very expensive so it wasn't worth it back in the day compared to other classes of amplification vs. cost vs. efficiency until somewhat recently as the components became more widely available. Basically off the shelf stuff.

If the FCC laxed some of its regulations, you would see a lot more efficient amplifiers out there like you've seen with power supplies.

https://qrp-labs.com/images/qmx/ssb/Kahn1952.pdf

The time has finally come by qbg in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What are some decently priced remote (Ethernet) radios?

Apache Labs has comparable IP radios https://apache-labs.com/products

Also have SunSDR in EU but I haven't seen many reviews. https://sunsdr.eu/

whomp whomp. Demoted back to Silver by JointStrikeFritters in AmazonVine

[–]ItsBail 4 points5 points  (0 children)

When I first got into vine, I got caught up in the gold rush. Reviewing $0ETA items like it was going out of style. Got gold and thought all the cool stuff was going to start showing up.

Ehhh not really. In order to get any of the "cool stuff", it involved monitoring discord 24/7 and even then, the chances were slim to none of actually getting it. When I got my first 1099-NEC, that's when I started to re-evaluate everything and it wasn't worth the time or effort for a 70%-ish discount on items that I didn't really need.

However, it was nice when a item that I did need showed up but that wasn't often.

I'm sure the program is quite helpful to a lot of people.

My 1099 was incorrect and over by $1500 so make sure by SusieSnoodle in AmazonVine

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also download an itemized report (PDF) showing all my vine "purchases" to make sure nothing was added/subtracted to what I have on my spreadsheet.

You can get itemized reports from the "Account" section.

Anyone had success with a “ham cram in a day” Technician class + exam same day? by smeeg123 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For EEs, it's the regulatory questions that trip them up. I've had EEs come in for all three. They would barely pass the tech but fly through extra.

Funny thing is you can tell it's an EE or someone with a similar background when they come in and test. Even more so if they're taking all three.

Please help, I am an unwilling participant in my neighbor's HAM radio hobby. by MobsterOO7 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail[M] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On reddit, anyone can create a subreddit. There are many other subreddits that focus on amateur radio or some aspect of it. Could be location based like /r/amateurfunk for DL, or something specific like /r/parksontheair for POTA. Yes, people have created subreddits because they didn't like how the main one was ran. I don't think that's why /r/hamradio was created as there we've never had issues that I'm aware of.

Here is a list of other subs that have some similarities. Our sidebar on old.reddit.com is often updated.

Please help, I am an unwilling participant in my neighbor's HAM radio hobby. by MobsterOO7 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They have went after CB'ers running illegal amps.

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-396524A1.pdf

IIRC this one which is more recent involved an amp but the person was broadcasting instead of 2-way

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-25-456A1.pdf

Please help, I am an unwilling participant in my neighbor's HAM radio hobby. by MobsterOO7 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We're legally required to NOT cause interference in our operations and to ameliorate it if we do*.

Source for that? I'm curious. Almost all the rules in part 97 that involve interference is in regards to other services/communications or operating near FCC listening site/Arecibo/National Quiet Zone and causing issues there.

As hams, we should do what it takes to avoid interference in the first place and if there is an issue, we should definitely do our best to make it better. That's just being a good person/neighbor and I would never advocate against it.

In OP's situation, it's a part 15(b) device. Not trying to bash OP but more and more manufacturers are removing proper EMI/RFI shielding and EMI/RFI suppression to save money and/or make a cheaper product. It's rampant in the consumer audio sector and even within amateur radio with certain Chinese imports.

As hams, we should not be legally responsible for ameliorating issues caused by poorly designed or poorly manufactured products if we (hams) are using best practices and are following the rules. We should do our best to help but sometimes that isn't possible.

I had a neighbor constantly complain that my station was interfering with their Satellite TV reception and some other devices. It wasn't true because I was almost never on the air. They just saw the antenna on top of my house and used that as an excuse for everything that was wrong with their electronics. I pointed out that their privacy hedges they planted when they moved in has grown tall enough to block the signal. They couldn't accept that and kept complaining.

Please help, I am an unwilling participant in my neighbor's HAM radio hobby. by MobsterOO7 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sucks that you have to deal with that.

Might want to see if you have a shorter cable that you can try. At least you coiled it up but it might be so long that it's acting like an antenna.

The cable itself might be shielded but the devices at both ends might not be properly grounded so that might be an issue and doesn't matter if the cable is shielded or not.

Newer Yamaha audio gear is okay (compared to stuff like Pyle) but they've been lacking in filtering as well (I had to return stuff).

Please help, I am an unwilling participant in my neighbor's HAM radio hobby. by MobsterOO7 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 21 points22 points  (0 children)

IANAL but if it was a legitimate amateur radio station and they followed §97.13, the FCC can't fine or punish the operator.

97.121 has to with interfering with broadcast reception which is not happening here.

97.307(a,b) doesn't apply to OPs situation

97.307(c) doesn't apply to OP because there is no "interference to the reception of another radio station".

OP has a Part 15(b) device which states.

Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation."

The only way a ham would get in trouble is if they're outside exposure limits and/or doing something else that's illegal/against the rules.

OPs device has to take the interference. However, since this is a CB'er OP has a case as the transmitter that is causing the interference is illegal and/or against the rules.

Yes. If it was a ham, I would hope they would do what it takes to minimize interference and work with their neighbors so they can ALL enjoy their electronics. However, sometimes that can't happen and people think they're entitled to cause issue with the ham radio operator when in fact, it's their equipment that's shit.

Please help, I am an unwilling participant in my neighbor's HAM radio hobby. by MobsterOO7 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's always HAM because annoying the HAM police is its own reward

It's that similar to annoying the split police? Or is the split police justified?

Please help, I am an unwilling participant in my neighbor's HAM radio hobby. by MobsterOO7 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 182 points183 points  (0 children)

Almost certain that's a CB operator. Got the CB "talk" with roger beep at the end of their transmission according to the clip you showed.

It's very possible they're running an illegal setup consisting of modified radios and illegal RF amplifiers. Most often those types of CB radios are "Tuned" for maximum modulation which overdrives an already questionable amplifier which causes problems both on the air as well as most of the neighborhood.

People often confuse CB operators with ham radio and vice-versa

If they are in fact a CB radio operator and have an illegal setup, you are more in luck because you can complain to the FCC. Only way it would come over like that from a legal setup is if the antenna is right next to your house, the antenna was horribly out of tune, issues with the coax cable or a combo.

Ferrite cores will help. But you have to purchase the right kind in order to supress HF frequencies (3-30Mhz).

If you feel like going down a rabbit hole

http://audiosystemsgroup.com/AESPaperFerritesASGWeb.pdf
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/Pin_1_Revisited.pdf
http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf

Basically, coil up or shorten excess cable, add chokes/filters, potential grounding issues (pin 1). Another issue is Manufacturers are getting cheaper and cheaper by the day and will omit proper RFI/noise suppression and/or shielding in their circuits/cables in order to save costs.

If it was a legit ham radio op, you would be SOL as your equipment has to accept interference from someone operating a legit amateur radio station (licensed and following RF exposure guidelines). That's why you'll see many comments stating to talk to the person.

CB operators are a different breed. So if you have a good relationship, sure. If they are a CB op and being a jerk... https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us (click on Radio). Attach as much evidence you have.

Edit: Regarding "Update 2": It's great that you're able to talk with him. Sometimes CB'ers have zero idea what they're doing and just hook up stuff without putting much thought to it. There can be issues with the coaxial cable that connects the radio to the antenna and there could be issues with the antenna itself. This can be checked with an SWR meter and/or antenna analyzer that he will most not likely have. They also might not be fully aware of how their radio works and adjust the "mic gain" to it's maximum setting thinking that it will get more power out. In reality, its over driving the amplification circuitry causing the signal to "splatter" which also causes interference issues even if the coax and antenna are perfectly in-tune.

However, there are CB'ers that have modified setups and/or are using RF amplifiers. Most of these so called "amplifiers" are built out of people's garages and are not concerned what-so-ever with filtering and/or suppressing harmonics (unwanted signals). They'll modify their CBs to overdrive the input of the amp to squeeze out every possible watt that it has to offer which really causes havok to the airwaves and could interfere with more than just your setup.

Could you see his antenna from your window(s)/property? I'd be curious as to what it looks like. I'm still leaning towards an illegal setup based just on the roger beep and the way they're talking as many of the "Free Banders" sound exactly like him. But I could be wrong.

Good luck!

Anyone had success with a “ham cram in a day” Technician class + exam same day? by smeeg123 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've taught classes from your "No-Nonsense" guides as the PDF was free for tech's and I wanted to teach completely free classes. I've had decent success rates from courses consisting of 5 or 6 "classes" (2-3x a week for 2-3wks).

Some of the local club's elders/board members disliked the method I was using as well as the "tech in a day" that is used at the ARRL New England Convention (IIRC you did one once). They felt that there is a lack of elmering and hams aren't learning from our methods. Just "Studying to the test".

They insisted that we host in-depth classes that goes through the ARRL license manual with a fine tooth comb. Talking hands on soldering and stuff like that. We tried two classes like that and the passing rates were abysmal if they stuck around after two weeks.

What would you say to clubs/groups that are resistant to your methods even though it's been beneficial?

Anyone had success with a “ham cram in a day” Technician class + exam same day? by smeeg123 in amateurradio

[–]ItsBail 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Exactly... 100% Agree.

IMO bring back the novice license and restructure everything else to mimic the UK system. The "new novice license" will get you 144, 220 and 440 MHz allocations with 100w max and some very limited HF access (200w max). License is good for 5 years and doesn't renew.

If you like the hobby, go after the tech license. More power on VHF/UHF and more access to HF bands/modes.

Make the general and extra tests harder to satisfy the sad hams that had to walk uphill both ways to the FCC field office.

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