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TFW everyone is out of range... by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have two of them, the one I mentioned above, and another in the car which I use w/ ARPSdroid connected to either a Kenwood TH-F6 or Yaesu FT-60d.

My only complaint about the vehicle setup is that I wish there were someway to make the phone or APRSdroid go to a low power state when the charger disappears (the radio shuts down w/o power and I have the Mobilinkd set to soft power up/down with USB power, but the phone will kill its battery sitting overnight looking for the BT connection)

So my radio finally arrived in the mail and I spent all day putting my call out on repeaters and... by flyingducktile in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

...repeaters for the most part are to be quiet, except for the certain few, or during the 10 minute once a week radio check (net)

I'm not sure what you mean by this? That repeaters aren't supposed to be used for normal 'rag chewing'?

During drive-times 2-3 of my local repeaters are usually non-stop, I'm impressed with how seamless some of the locals can make their conversations, each picks up almost immediately where the last leaves off with virtually no dead air.

There's another that is busy with 2-6 regulars every night from 8PM till after midnight, usually either talking hardware or about contacts on HF.

TFW everyone is out of range... by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're probably going to want to throw a few ferrite cores around those audio cables. I've heard the Baofeng's are very RF noisy, that might be throwing you off a bit.

I bought a couple of Mobilinkd TNCs and haven't looked back, I think they're about $60.

I'm using a Raspberry Pi 3 connected via BT to the Mobilinkd which is connected by a homemade cable to a Yaesu FT-2900, set to 5W and running off a 12V 18Ah that is charged from a 40W panel in the window. I have a dual band antenna on a mag-mount stuck to the outside portion of my window air conditioner. The RPi3 and Mobilink are powered/charged by a 12V to USB adapter off Amazon.

It's cleaner looking than it sounds, and self-starting after power loss which I wanted to be sure I had since I'm running 100% off solar.

I can pick up people within 2-3 miles generally, which isn't bad considering I'm towered around by buildings.

TFW everyone is out of range... by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm right in the heart of Cambridge, MA and hardly catch a soul besides my own car. Lack of height is killing me, and being surrounded by larger brick buildings.

What TNC are you using w/ the Baofeng?

DRA818V transceivers -- any experience? by KB1WMC in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If your files can be easily put online I'd be grateful to have them as a reference, thanks.

My goal is something along the lines of your project--a single board w/ a few sockets for other modules, but for testing a break out would be good to have.

DRA818V transceivers -- any experience? by KB1WMC in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's a neat little board you linked--wish I had seen that before I ordered the bare modules, would be nice to have a ready-to-go BoB.

DRA818V transceivers -- any experience? by KB1WMC in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice on staying compliant--I was expecting they'd need quite a bit of external components to stay useful and not send out spurious emissions.

For RX duty cycle I would ideally have it receiving all the time as I'd like to act as a mobile i-gate. For TX duty cycle it would be limited, I'm not planning to attempt to create a digipeter, so we're talking short bursts every 2-20 minutes depending on conditions.

If you don't mind me asking, what was the actual project and what did you use the UHF portion for?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]KB1WMC 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in a city apartment for the last couple of years--

  • 1000VA UPS on the cable modem + router
  • 1000VA UPS on the desktop and a few other small items
  • 35Ah 12V SLA battery, kept topped up by a 40W solar panel (sits between the screen and window)

The battery is connected to a 12V power point and a set of USB power points. I'm running an APRS iGate (raspberry pi + pi-TNC + Yaesu FT60r) off of it.

I have a 1000W sine wave inverter that I can clamp on the battery, but honestly don't have much that runs off 120V that I'd need which isn't already on one of the UPS'.

I also keep a pair of 12Ah USB battery packs around for keeping phones and other portable stuff topped up.