Hello Ttabs,

Welcome aboard. I visited your state last year, and It was one of my favorites! I have read "Patriots" also  ;) I am even contemplating spending next summer there. Ray here suggested McCall...

On top of the IC-7000, you might want to get a radio with a very low current draw on receive... Maybe an MFJ-9440, or an Elecraft...

Gil.

Quotehttp://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.

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

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.

QuoteA disaster might just be a 'correction' in the gene pool.

I also came to the conclusion that it the long term, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
That said, I certainly do not want a disaster to happen!

Gil.

I wish the M151A2 wasn't so rare...

I used to have a Honda 600XL. That bike could go anywhere! Then someone cut me off and I landed almost 40ft beyond the car. Now I trigger metal detectors  ::)

Gil.

Notice the fashionable welding gloves!

Don't beat yourself up Tim, nothing to be embarrassed about.

The SW+40 is finished! Well, sort of... It does receive fine, but does not transmit and there is no sidetone. I received some troubleshooting tips from Dave Benson the designer, so it shouldn't be a big deal to fix. In the mean time, I completed a small audio amp for it, and received the touch keyer (see photo attached below). So, there are four circuit boards I will add to the main one: The digital display, audio amp, touch keyer and battery indicator, which I haven't built yet. Hopefully there will be enough space in the box, or I will have to use a different one. Each option will have a separate on/off switch to save batteries when needed.

The new audio amp is not the one I mentioned previously, with a filter. Since the SW+ has a 400Hz filter built-in, I decided not to use the Nescaf one, but a smaller, filterless model: http://rainbowkits.com/kits/ap-1Wp.html. I will use the filter for another project, a battery/filter/amp/speaker all-in-one box for my Rock-Mites.

So, my next step is to fix the SW+40 transmitter section, then box it up with the chosen options, and if possible, batteries.

Stay tuned  :)

Gil.

The tone thing is fairly simple once you learn about it. A repeater receives on one frequency and transmits on another. The displayed frequency on your HT is the listening frequency. The frequency you will transmit on is offset, usually by 600kHz above or below the listening frequency. So, for example the Verna repeater on 145.43: The repeater listens on 144.830, so you need to transmit on that frequency. Usually, HTs do that automatically. On your IC-271A, you press +DUPLEX or -DUPLEX, in this case, minus.

Now the tone: Some repeaters require a tone to trigger the transmitting. That's because you don't want them to transmit on band noise, interferences, etc. So, your radio needs to transmit a sub-audible tone mixed in with your audio. You can't hear it but the repeater does and starts transmitting when it receives a transmission containing a tone. I don't know how to set tones on your HT, but with the 271A, you need to enter a code for the correct frequency (100Hz for Verna). There is a table and instructions in the manual. Then you press the tone key to turn the tone on.

When I mentioned the 146.640 repeater, which should be close to you, this one has no tone requirement. So, you either just press -DUPLEX on the 271A or just set the frequency to 146.640 on your HT, and hopefully it will deduce the offset automatically (my FT-270R does it). If not, the manual should tell you how to set that up.

I hope this helps  :)

HF is simpler!

Funny thing is, some people don't even know how to use simplex anymore on VHF!

Gil.

Well, given the choice between a 2m HT or a CW HF radio, I'd take the later any day...

Gil.

HF can be as cheap as a Chinese HT. It does involve learning Morse code however, but I would suggest any Ham to do that anyway...

Gil.

Not sure, it's 21' of 1" tubing plus 45deg elbows. I have a torch, solder is pricey too, but I don't think it would be too much. Much much less than the MFJ antenna in any case.
What's needed for the antenna is four 5' 1" tubes. You cut them in half to make the eight 2.5' segments. I have two ferrites for feeding the loops.

Gil.

I haven't finished it yet, no money for the copper...

Gil.

Quoteread MacPherson?s ?Battle Cry of Freedom?

I always love a good book suggestion, thanks!

Gil.