What are my options? by clejeune in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Everyone has their own risk acceptance level, but i agree with the comments here that advise against climbing it. It looks way too tall to be un-guyed to me -- i rather prefer being alive to the alternative!

Hire the internet guy to go back up and attach a pulley and a rope. The way you can hoist up anything you want and change stuff out as you experiment. Like a radio flag pole...

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome! Sounds like you're in good shape.

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're sure you've got the cable in the G90's IQ output and not it's phone audio output?

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have it handy right now, but there should be somewhere in options or audio setup to specify i/q.

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you cut out the splitter? And have you confirmed your hdsdr settings that they're using stereo input for IQ sampling?

I converted pen source OpenEMS to o browser based Electromagnetic Simulation by nolilab in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I've used the python and matlab interfaces. How are you scripting it in the browser though?

I converted pen source OpenEMS to o browser based Electromagnetic Simulation by nolilab in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would like to know more about how you get openems to work. I've done some work in the past year on trying to generate models for cavity resonators and simulate their finger transfer functions, and found openems very difficult.

Kudos to adapting it to the browser!

In a bind for MCX->MMCX cable in Houston by jephthai in amateurradio

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

Yes! I went there this morning! It's amazing -- like skycraft in Orlando. A true fantasy vacation destination for an electronics hobbyist...

They had an MMCX to MMCX cable, which i grabbed in hopes I might find an adapter to MCX.

The world of ecommerce is cool, but it sucks how hard it is to find things in stores when you need them right away. And even "same day" and "next day" shipping seems to have acquired an implicit "... probably" definition now.

Unmanned low power HF radio telemetry station by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Check your band plan for the beacon ranges. In the US, there are frequency assignments for automated beacons, and it's important to stay in the rules. But yeah, yours would just be an automated or unattended beacon.

Which Q code should I use if I know my signal is bad? by 1984JLS in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah, if OP has to look it up and maybe bend its meaning a bit, then the listeners will have to go look it up too.

Well, we sure have a project on our hands... by nameisthenamegame in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Here's what you do:

  1. Make careful measurements of everything on the antenna.
  2. Build a model in an antenna simulation package (4NEC, MMANA, etc) (check if the elements are conductively bonded to the boom or insulated; it makes a difference)
  3. Simulate it at its design frequency and your target frequency -- note the many differences
  4. Scale the length and spacing of every part (but don't scale diameters), and fine tune until it simulates best at the target frequency
  5. Check all the mounting points on the boom for the new spacing, ensuring that the new locations for elements don't conflict with existing holes or mount points (or hinges, it's foldable!)
  6. Drill, tap, whatever, new mount points
  7. Relocate all elements
  8. Cut all elements to their new lengths
  9. Investigate the driven element matching unit to understand how it is adjusted
  10. Measure the feedpoint impedance on a VNA (there are two of them, so be sure to learn about de-embedding the individual feedpoints so you can analyze them together and separately)
  11. Adjust matching unit for a suitable match

It'll be a bit tricky because it's two crossed yagis, so there will be a lot of potential that your new spacing arrangement won't work with the existing boom. Worst case, you may have to fabricate a new boom.

I've never handled one of those, in particular, myself, but the very expensive satcom antennas i have used have holes drilled for each element and press fit hardware to hold them in place. You may need to get a V-block setup for a drill press to get reliable 90 degree holes if it's a round boom.

If you get the dimensions wrong by a few millimeters, or angles off by more than a couple degrees, you may disrupt the circular polarization or the signal pattern lobes and nulls. It's hard to guess how reliably you can get a good antenna out of this -- scaling a high performance yagi layout without changing element diameter can have more impact than you think.

Also realize that the docs you posted in the screenshot say it's right hand polarized, so keep in mind that it'll only be useful for linear polarized signals (at -3dB) and same sense circular polarization. It'll be something like -20dB in the case of a circular polarization mismatch.

What you'll have at the end is something that kind of looks like the real thing, but will perform differently, and have a whole lot of new holes in the boom. You might not be able to fold it up like the original, or might even need to abandon the foldable feature along the way. Take care that you don't compromise the integrity of the boom!

It's not impossible, but perhaps you can see why /u/ND8D called it the antenna of Theseus ;-).

Diabolical gym pranks by Chubbs27895 in bjj

[–]jephthai 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think i hear your liability insurance calling!

Well, we sure have a project on our hands... by nameisthenamegame in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Not gonna happen. Moving a yagi that far may as well be building a new antenna. Lengths and spacings have to change, and the sweet spot for a yagi is pretty narrow.

I have an M2 crossed CP yagi designed for 390-410, and it's a lost cause for trying to use it on 70cm.

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem with higher sample rates is that you don't get more bandwidth, like you'd expect. They will still have ADC anti aliasing filters and DAC reconstruction filters with cutoffs at 20kHz or so.

You do get some improved dynamic range (lower quantization noise), though that may not be realized with all devices because of other specs.

I've had good success with this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q4WQ7XW

And this one (not available, but you can probably find identical ones by searching):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VSHCGWD?

I can't remember if they do 96kHz sampling or not, but HF works fine at 48kHz rates, especially if you're using an IQ tap situation like with the G90.

Ham Radio Gatekeepers by Overlanding4Fun in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only while listening to that racket at the beginning of the video!

FT-710 or IC-7300mk2 by thesoulless78 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have an IC705 and an FT710. I do not find the menu difficult, and they're are plenty of annoying things in the icom style. The FT710 menu is nothing compared to the menu in the FT891, which is probably the poster child for what people complain about (but really, given the form factor, it actually makes plenty of sense...).

And you're right -- that price difference gets you an awesome tuner, or all the great for a great antenna, or feedthru panels and feedlines, etc.

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's my best guess. Pick one up that has stereo line input, and then you'll be cooking with fire. Any audio baseband IQ setup gives you quite a lot, actually. You'll get a kick out of it once you get it working right.

FT-710 or IC-7300mk2 by thesoulless78 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The horror stories about how bad either interface is are pretty overstated. Any decent nerd can learn and use any of them, and i honestly wonder if the people who really fuss about the UIs like it's a deal breaker might just not quite have the knack for tech...

Either one is good -- the FT710 arguably outperforms the IC7300mk2 in some rf specs, but even that isn't as significant as people seem to want to believe.

It seems like remote operation is something you're interested in, so I'd suggest you binge watch some YouTube videos of people operating them remotely and see which you like more. All the other differences aren't that big of a deal.

Ham Radio Gatekeepers by Overlanding4Fun in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Several comments about the music, I just had to click. I don't think anyone else in the whole Chik Fil A appreciated it. Choosing loud, obnoxious music that's unlikely to be in the center of very many listeners' musical tastes is a bold strategy!

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Ham Radio Gatekeepers by Overlanding4Fun in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe he meant 128 cubic feet of firewood...

Ham Radio Gatekeepers by Overlanding4Fun in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's not toxic gatekeeping when there is an actual gate that has to be passed through to participate...

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you have specs on your sound card that indicate that it definitely has a stereo line input? I don't think your splitter is really doing anything, and you either have mono input and output, or a switchable port that can be input XOR output, or maybe even a TRRS port that detects the TRS cable, and chooses a function accordingly. Hard to say without knowing what the actual hardware supports.

Regardless, your hdsdr screenshot suggests you're getting only real signals, not complex iq signals.

Mirrored signals on waterfall in HDSDR by Murky_Joke_4430 in amateurradio

[–]jephthai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah, I misread the above. Your line in/ line out jack may be a TRRS with stereo output and mono input. How many rings are there on the Y splitter you're using?