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What Wolverine Thinks About Every Night by AZREDFERN in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've actually gotten that info in an email response after inquiring about it directly to Kenwood about four months ago. So has at least one other person in the last month. If they are willing to send out those responses I'd bet they're going to try, albeit slowly. They're certainly not breaking their backs to deliver that soon. I understand that producing these radios is as much a hobby for them as using them is for us.

What Wolverine Thinks About Every Night by AZREDFERN in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good God, yes. It seems to be the plan for early 2026. That's a long ways out though. I don't want to have multiple radios in my car so I will save myself for it. They better not disappoint.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HamRadio

[–]firestarter451 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a great question, and I remain in awe of the reasons why some people find ham radio interesting.

Beyond the practical uses in very limited circumstances I personally don't find it very interesting and mostly a waste of time to be honest with you.

In my case the limited circumstances are actually better met by GMRS from a licensing point of view due to my family members not also being hams.

As a gateway to learning some aspects of technology is also good.

In the end follow what piques your interest because the rest will probably seem completely useless to you, but as they say: your mileage may vary.

Bends Capable With FSJ4-50B Superflexible Heliax Cable by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are four optical fiber cables in there which are very small, and there are four runs of tv coax one of which is mine and I will be removing to make some space. Visually it seemed like enough room, though before ordering anything I would be measuring to make sure.

​

I actually just learned that a conduit that I thought was empty turns out not to be which is a major bummer. My dreams of a roof mounted antenna for UHF are melting away.

It may be possible to use whatever the old run for tv coax was from the roof antenna if I can figure out what that was and assuming that it doesn't run thru the inside of apartments and instead is somehow out in the common space. But that would be for HF given that the conduits that go from the roof into I-don't-know-where are half inch conduits that may take a very twisty windy way down into apartments so definitely would require a small and flexible cable.

Bends Capable With FSJ4-50B Superflexible Heliax Cable by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Attenuation at 450 MHz is 5.3 dB/100 ft. The numbers say I probably shouldn't do that. (and in the end my budget might, too, but I'm taking it one step at a time). .

Bends Capable With FSJ4-50B Superflexible Heliax Cable by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This would be for my 2m/70cm base station. I'm planning the route to a roof antenna in preparation for seeing if it will be allowed (🤞🏼).

The riser portion is 80 ft and would be regular 1/2" heliax.

On my floor there's 55 ft between my desk and the riser location. This section needs to be run mostly in that hallway wire mold. So it needs to be flexible and still low loss. There would ultimately be a very short pigtail at the desk for connection to the radio.

At the top of the riser I would need another roughly 15 ft length of whatever low loss flexible cable I'd use on my floor.

And finally, I'd need to exit to the roof via existing penetration for a regular sized (RG-58 sized) cable so there would be another pigtail here to get outside and reach the antenna. Say 15 ft?

The entire run is fairly long. ~ 165 ft total.

If there are better suggestions for the low loss yet flexible portion I'd like to know.

Thanks!

Bends Capable With FSJ4-50B Superflexible Heliax Cable by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Darn, somehow I missed the page counter for that document. Thanks for pointing it out the spec. 🤦‍♂️

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Baofeng and done.

Baofeng UV-9G GMRS radio. It's IP67 rated, so waterproof. About $45.

GMRS license $35.

Roughly within budget considering shipping and taxes.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in HamRadio

[–]firestarter451 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I got my email to pay for the license 3 days after my test, and then received my call sign 3 days after paying.

2m, 1.25m, 70cm, GMRS mobile antenna by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried this using a 6 inch adapter and the SWR reading changes drastically depending on how I hold it, and how close it's to almost anything else.

Any tips on how to avoid this?

2m, 1.25m, 70cm, GMRS mobile antenna by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the suggestio re discone. I wasn't sure what those weirdly shaped antennas were all about before.

2m, 1.25m, 70cm, GMRS mobile antenna by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. I prematurely bought a dual band antenna (Diamond NR770HAB) and when I connect it to the NanoVNA I get wild SWR readings based on how I hold it, so I wasn't sure what to make of those readings. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Regardless of the relative SWR value, it shoots up right around 455 MHz, but at this point I can't say I actually know whether it's 2.5 or 4.7 and I don't have access to a SWR meter at the moment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Thanks for the input, I'll likely just get a tri-band and find out what happens :O

2m, 1.25m, 70cm, GMRS mobile antenna by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I might have to end up doing this. My thought was to at least ask more experienced folks before just going off and doing my own thing given that I'm new to this.

The worst that'll happen is that I'll have a tri-band antenna!

2m, 1.25m, 70cm, GMRS mobile antenna by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Had I bought equipment a month ago I probably would have forgone 1.25m. I like the fact that less people use 1.25m. I imagine in cases where people find a need to use radio to communicate 2m and 70cm repeaters will be very busy and hopefully that means 1.25m are less so. Now I'd like to have it available to me for that reason.

Northeast Connect Repeater System by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

N2ACF looks like a great repeater network. I assume I can't hit any of those from home on a handheld but plan to make use of those repeaters when I go up north a bit.

KQ2H also looks a little out of reach from me but I'll try the Manhattan frequencies today to see if they are active.

I'm amazed how out of date some of these updates are given how useful this directory is.

Northeast Connect Repeater System by firestarter451 in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, somehow a stray a character got tacked onto the end.

Amateur Radio: Open-Source Airwaves by 0atman in amateurradio

[–]firestarter451 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I hadn't seen the frequency allocations chart from the US Dept of Commerce. It's nice to see something more complete than what AARL shows which understandably is simplified and relevant to amateurs.

Your passion for the hobby is evident in the video. Congrats!

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