There's no such thing as too many radios! Keep one in a coffee can in case of emergency, or keep one in the car and one at home. Between my wife and I, I have 4 HTs, 2 HF radios (one of them a boatanchor), and I almost bought myself another this weekend. I've experimented with all sorts of fun digital modes using my *HT's*, just to help ensure my PCs are setup correctly without having to actually transmit on HF. You can setup a quick little repeater with just 2 HTs, even.

Quote from: KK0G on November 15, 2013, 11:24:20 PM
So Gil, any progress on your Arduino projects? Anyone else do any cool ham related stuff with them? I see Chinese knockoff UNO boards freakin' dirt cheap on e-Bay for only $10/free shipping. I may get one just for the hell of it for something to play with but for the life of me I can't come up with an Arduino based ham project  that I just can't live without or that I can't build easier, better, more efficient, simpler, etc using traditional methods.

I wrote a CW-keyer on mine as the big one out there (I forget where to link to) didn't seem to work for me. You would just connect to the serial interface, type what you wanted, you could even change speed (to a point, mostly from 12-30 wpm, any higher and the relay I was using just couldn't adjust quickly enough), but it didn't interpret CW, just key it. So I'd use fldigi to read the morse for me. I haven't played with it in months, though - I recently had to move my ham shack into my unheated garage. :(

I flew this January, with my HT and had no problems in DIA or LAX. I did have some local repeaters programmed in, and the whole thing in my carry on bag. Wasn't a problem. That said, I detest the security theatre at the airport. There is some real, good security, but there's plenty of bunk too.

Okay, now I know what to get, and it's not for portable operation, my TS-820 really does earn the name boatanchor. I will try to get that capacitor in the next month or so and start building the rest of the loop now. Thank you gil, for the help!

With the CAV 12-23, it doesn't look like it would have a high enough capacitance (110pf max) for 40m (which, according to rjeloop1 calculations, would require 222pf). Also, as I play with reducing the circumference of the loop, the more capacitance I would need. Would it make sense to have two of them, and have a switch to put one in parallel or bypass based on which band?

Can someone verify I'm heading down the right path with my rjeloop1 calculations? I want to build a magloop for 20m and 40m (if possible, but definitely 20m) in my patio. Due to HOA restrictions, magloop is probably the best antenna for me, I can't have an antenna above 12' AGL. If I've figured right, at 3m (~9' around, or ~3' tall) loop circumference and 1" copper pipe I need 53pf (20m, 14.090) - 223pf (40m, 7.090) and up to 4kv if I pump in 10-15w with a significant safety margin.

20m


40m


Does this sound right? If so, from the linked page http://www.surplussales.com/Variables/AirVariables/AirVar1.html it sounds like a (CAV) 12-53 would work, yes?

I appreciate any direction you guys can give, I'm definitely not the worlds electronics expert, I'm more of a software guy.

Quote from: Quietguy on July 24, 2013, 09:00:05 PM
Anyway, it looks like the VHF packet capability of Airmail could use some improvement, but it is not likely to happen.  Airmail has been flawless - for me - on HF and that seems to be what the author was concerned with.  The WL2K people have moved away from Airmail and strongly endorse RMS Express... but RMS Express does not support peer to peer on VHF packet, although it does on HF.  That's what put my friend in a bind - RMS Express doesn't support VHF peer to peer but Airmail does... but Airmail seemed to be buggy on the VHF side.

My humble self just pulled up his RMS Express client and was able to select Packet P2P under his Open Session dropdown. In fact, it appears the only P2P they haven't (finally) implemented is Telnet.

Or am I misunderstanding? I haven't used it, yet, I don't know anyone else here who would use P2P packet as they would either use Winmor P2P or WL2K, or they would use Packet WL2K.