2MT350 from the northwest corner wavin

[2MT350]

Hi all, I'm Mountain Thuder 350. My QTH is around 45-50 miles south of seattle. decent rural areawith low RF noise. I've been looking for a good HF radio related forum, and found this site. I found this site thru a guy's review on the galaxy dx 959 mobile. decent newer age SSB radio, but galaxy's are known for their drift.

I have a nice setup with an old 70's era classic, the Cobra 142 gtl :) good radio, decent power. great for the sideband for those new cb'ers who wanna rly look into it.

while this site looks to be more geared to amatuer radio ops, I hope that there is a decent collection of cb radio ops here :)

[gil]

Welcome aboard :-)

I started with CB in the 80s. CBers are welcome here too of course. It just happens that most members here do have a Ham license or are studying to get one. A radio is a radio, no matter what legal classification it falls into. Everything else is the same, propagation, antennas, etc. The advantage of having different bands of course is to be able to make contact more reliably at different times of either the solar cycle, season, or time of day.. For $14 and a bit of study time, a license gives you a lot more capabilities. CB though should be part of any radio preparations, as that band is widely used and radios are cheap. Even without a license, someone using a CB can learn much from Ham radio to use that equipment more efficiently.. I wouldn't go on a long road trip without a CB in the car!

Gil.

[cockpitbob]

2MT350, what's the CB community like up there in drizzle land?  I'm north of Boston and I never use my CB because 90% of what I hear is either low-lifes getting rude and crude or people skipping Dx out of the middle of the country.  I miss the usefullness it had in the 70s and 80s.  Speed traps are a part of daily life here in the east and I used to know where they were from the constant CP reports.  Now no one seems to use CBs on the highways here.

[2MT350]

the local sidebanders here on 38 are good, but the locals on 17 am, are dummies that fight just about every night over the cb.

597 and Motormouth maul get the worst of it.

there was one agitator that I liked, his handle was channelmaster, he kinda kept the airwaves clean, he'd drop his maul when needed. but now that he's gone, we got these backstupid idiots named shadow, and red that took over the channel. i dont even hear the local am girl any more.

ah, yea, ham radio is good too, I would like to maybe have a ham radio someday, but too high priced for me. I learned a few things from my local radio group here, like how to tune my 142 on frequency, lol. a good collection of them are ham ops :)

[White Tiger]

Welcome Mountain Thunder! I'm new to ham, but I'm barreling in as fast as I can!

I am drawn to HF due to the relative low cost...the rig is the most expense...and a friend of mine (longtime ham operator) on these boards got me interested in both - amateur radio AND Radio Preppers forum!

Have to say, the radio he suggested for a newbie was not a lot of money...and I learned a TON from him - WA4STO - studying for the licensing exam, and from a lot of members on this board. After about 60 to 90 days of study I earned a General class FCC license.

Jump on in...the waters fine!

[2MT350]

Thanks for the welcome tiger :)

yea, the rig is definitely the biggest expense, especially of ham radio, i've seen prices for a decent ham system go from 500, to 1,000 bucks, hehe.

mmm, cool, what radio did he help you find?

[gil]

You can find HF radios on Ebay for $200, or build one from a kit for as low as $29.

Gil.

[2MT350]

ah cool, i'll have to keep an eye out then :)

edit: how good are these heathkits?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heathkit-SB-634-Ham-Station-Console-/160918283577?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transceivers&hash=item25777a2539

[White Tiger]

Thanks for the welcome tiger :)

yea, the rig is definitely the biggest expense, especially of ham radio, i've seen prices for a decent ham system go from 500, to 1,000 bucks, hehe.

mmm, cool, what radio did he help you find?

I have some specific interests in comms for my local group, but also for news from around the country/world - see, I want to filter my own information - never have been very trusting of folks distilling information for me.

I have an older Ten Tec, went for between $300 & $350 - antenna set up (coax line, multi-band antenna, grounding strap) was another $200.

All-in price should be between $500 and $700.

The expense comes from always finding different modes, and the various equipment for the modes...

[gil]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heathkit-SB-634-Ham-Station-Console-/160918283577?pt=US_Ham_Radio_Transceivers&hash=item25777a2539

Heathkits are good but they are old. I am not sure the one you mentioned is actually a transceiver.. I wouldn't suggest something that old. You want a solid state radio for starters, Icom or Yaesu, Kenwood or even Ten Tec as Tim suggests.

You'd be better off waiting a bit and getting something reliable..

Also look at something like the MFJ-9420X, brand new is less than $280, but one band only.

Gil.

[2MT350]

@Tiger - ah, information is always good, especially when you know its coming from a trusted source :)
idk much about ham radios and if they have the full shortwave bands or not. if they dont, you could find yourself a nice Grundig SW radio :)

sounds like you got a nice deal on your radio, havent seen any ten tec's on ebay tho. yea, multi modes are definitely higher, but thats what i hope to get someday :)

@Gil - yea, idk either, it's probably just an antenna tuner, lol. im guessin the older ham's like that arent totally compatible with today's ham tech, like echolink?

there's some nice lookin kenwoods out there, so its between icom and kenwood, those 2 seem to be the best.

[White Tiger]

@Tiger - ah, information is always good, especially when you know its coming from a trusted source :)
idk much about ham radios and if they have the full shortwave bands or not. if they dont, you could find yourself a nice Grundig SW radio :)

sounds like you got a nice deal on your radio, havent seen any ten tec's on ebay tho. yea, multi modes are definitely higher, but thats what i hope to get someday :)

@Gil - yea, idk either, it's probably just an antenna tuner, lol. im guessin the older ham's like that arent totally compatible with today's ham tech, like echolink?

there's some nice lookin kenwoods out there, so its between icom and kenwood, those 2 seem to be the best.

If you're patient you will see Ten Tec's pop up on eBay, and at decent pricing. Around here we have some good - but infrequent - deals on Craigs List (populated areas tend to have better selections, and better pricing). I can keep an eye out for you if you're interested...otherwise Kenwood and ICOM are great rigs.

[gil]

im guessin the older ham's like that arent totally compatible with today's ham tech, like echolink?

You can... It's just a matter of getting the right interface and buying or making the right connectors..
The biggest problem with older rigs are parts breaking and electrolytic capacitors leaking.
I have an old Gonset Communicator, and although it works, I am replacing all those caps..

Gil.

[2MT350]

@Tiger - ok, cool, thanks :) i dont have the money right now, but if i ever do, i'll be lookin for one :)

@Gil - ah, lol, i know nothing about ham radio, so heathkit is out. thanks for the info :)