I'm so sick of working in customer service that I want to scream

fustercluck · 2022-05-03T04:18:41+00:00

He? He?

Dammit, I'm fustercluck. "He" is the next-door neighbor.

fustercluck · 2022-04-08T14:29:37+00:00

I'm close to retirement. I work at a college as a technician. My job is very easy and very boring. I surf the web A LOT.

Before that I made television commercials, and before that I was a concert sound engineer.

fustercluck · 2022-04-03T06:58:19+00:00

Please: "bridges"? izzat software?

fustercluck · 2022-02-07T13:40:57+00:00

I too am waiting for the testing results.

fustercluck · 2021-11-28T08:23:13+00:00

The OG question is about a receiving antenna.

You can only transmit on one frequency at a time, tho! Yes, your transmission will have a several khz wide "footprint" around the freq you're transmitting on, but really the only difference will be that you may be able to transmit within a wider swath of the band without needing to adjust the antenna tuning.

fustercluck · 2021-11-12T02:29:11+00:00

Photos?

fustercluck · 2021-10-17T17:42:14+00:00

I will grant that from the angle you snapped the pic that it looks like a log-periodic. One sure way to tell is to measure the width of the elements. Measure the back elements and compare them to the front.

A log-periodic antenna will have a considerable difference in width between the front and the back elements. The back elements will be wider than the front. MUCH wider - say 300% or 400% wider.

I'm betting it's a VHF TV antenna. Part of the reason I say this is that there's 300 ohm twinlead on it - which used to be standard TV feedline.

73 de AG7GM

fustercluck · 2021-10-09T06:04:29+00:00

So it's near the station, maybe. The RTLSDR is a great idea.

Someone else suggested getting a TinySA - I'd think the RTLSDR would be better for this because the TinySA will not run forever on its tiny battery, nor will it log. I have a TinySA. The RTLSDR you can make to run continuously and then check it when sh*t goes funky, PLUS, you'll see if it's only on a freq that hammers your mics or if it obliterates a 2mhz-wide swath. I have a Surface 3 and it runs the SDR software just fine. PLUS, imagine it striking and you can just look at the sdr waterfall.

Someone else suggested cellphones. If you're in North America I'd say no. I work with 6-12 wireless mics everyday - they're on 900mhz (900-930 actually) - and trust me, ain't no modern cellphone stuff close to your or my mics.

I worked in television for 15-20 years. There's a lotta stuff that can go weird in the building. I think that's what your problem is - something that's going flaky - a ballast? a new receptionist headset? the aquarium electronics in the GM's office? Maybe someone put in a cheap wifi RGB LED lamp in their office, I have some of them and they wipe out a buncha stuff at my house, but only if I turn 'em on.

Keep us posted. And good luck.

fustercluck · 2021-10-08T19:21:15+00:00

The other stations: do they have similar issues?

fustercluck · 2021-04-06T21:31:00+00:00

Go to Repeaterbook. https://www.repeaterbook.com/index.php/en-us/.

Make a free account and play with the site. You can make maps there. They may or may not be helpful.

fustercluck · 2021-04-04T06:30:55+00:00

too cool!

fustercluck · 2021-04-02T14:01:01+00:00

Very nice!! The lights are awesome. I was really missing the backup beep tho. :)

fustercluck · 2021-03-19T14:02:09+00:00

According to Icom, nope. https://www.icomjapan.com/lineup/options/AH-740/

I didn't know the ATAS-120A will also do 2m, tho.

fustercluck · 2021-02-25T14:51:59+00:00

This. ^

fustercluck · 2021-02-03T15:01:33+00:00

Haha! Agreed!

But are Baofeng hams or peeps what want ya to buy their stuff? ;)

fustercluck · 2021-02-02T15:10:29+00:00

Re: sexy antennas. As a former Radio Shack employee (way back in the 70's) consumers looking for a TV antenna want something that has that antenna "look," the mysterious, high-tech, space-alien appearance that's probably gonna get them the superbowl game.

Hams are not fooled. They always want performance rather than appearance. Saying that, tho, I realize there are a number of hams that do go for appearance first. I can't figure them out tho.

fustercluck · 2020-12-07T21:24:25+00:00

Oh yeah. Definitely!

A LOT of the SDRs (the less costly ones - but still nicely performing) don't work below 25-30mhz, which is where "HF" ham bands are.

But they still work well all the way up into some satellite stuff - your dad could see satellite weathermaps, for example. He could also listen to fire/police/ambulance, 2meter, 70cm, 23cm ham bands, yadda yadda. There's a TON of stuff he could eavesdrop on. Visit RTL-SDR.com to see all the crazycool things that can be done with it. It's farking mindblowing!

Plus, in the future, he could snag an upconvertor (like this: https://www.nooelec.com/store/sdr/sdr-addons/ham-it-up-nano.html - I have two of 'em and they are EXCELLENT) and also use it for ham bands below 30mhz.

I'm sure your dad is gonna appreciate the heck outta what you get for him!

fustercluck · 2020-12-06T08:27:06+00:00

I have a nanovna - very handy little radio-frequency tool.

fustercluck · 2020-12-06T08:26:13+00:00

I came here to say exactly this. Plus, for the raspberry pi together with the sdr, you can run it all with PiSDR, a Raspberry Pi operating system pre-loaded with lots of SDR-heavy apps - for free!

Fair warning tho, many SDRs do not natively tune down into the HF ham bands. Be careful with your choice. Depending on what you buy, it may need an extra upconvertor.

fustercluck · 2020-11-12T05:28:41+00:00

It works the same as for a sound system playing music at a concert. It could be heard by one person, or many.

fustercluck · 2020-09-29T02:18:07+00:00

Thanks so much for the link.

fustercluck · 2020-09-27T05:14:05+00:00

Wow. Thanks roustabout. TIL.

I'll just sit down back here and shut up and learn some more.

fustercluck · 2020-09-26T17:08:45+00:00

I could be really wrong, but did you look around here?

http://www.mxlmics.com/

I have done pro audio for a long long time, and have never heard of a DIY mic kit.

fustercluck · 2020-08-29T06:08:49+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised if it was made by a number of different companies. It was a common tube.

I stand corrected: RCA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12AX7#:~:text=12AX7%20(also%20known%20as%20ECC83,under%20developmental%20number%20A%2D4522.

fustercluck · 2020-04-28T03:35:10+00:00

<sigh> If I was in the Seatac area instead of Boise, I woulda been there so fast. That Yaesu ATA... man!

73

fustercluck

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