SRHuston Dot Net

Invisible airwaves, crackle with life / Bright antenna bristle with the energy / Emotional feedback on a timeless wavelength / Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free — Rush, “Spirit of Radio”

Quite a few things happened recently. Maybe I should start posting here more often instead of doing rehashes of the last few days every time I come on. That *would* make more sense. But then when have I ever made sense? :>

Let’s see… last Monday, I went up to the Mercer County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and handed in my paperwork to join the local ARES/RACES group. It’s a group of hams that have interest in emergency communications, and should something happen we may be called in to supplement the ’emcomm’ systems already in place, such as the state’s 800MHz trunked radio system. The group meets at either the EOC, or the county Red Cross station, and the statewide net takes place that same evening. This is where each county in the state checks in to make sure their radios are functioning properly, etc. I personally think that more traffic handling should go on, instead of just “checking in”, as it would give the operators a chance to pass traffic as one would in an emergency, but that’s just my opinion. Perhaps there’s reasons for doing things they way they do (such as time constraints), I’ll have to ask around I guess.

This past weekend, Stephanie did a craft show down in West Deptford (where we used to live), and my father and I drove down to HRO. I talked with Bob again, and told him the radio I wanted (the Yaesu FT-7800R) but that I wasn’t sure about antennas. He steered me towards a Radiall/Larsen dual-band antenna that doesn’t sit too high off the truck (my one main concern right now), and a magnetic mount base for it (until I drill “the hole” sometime this summer). Figured out a mounting location Saturday afternoon, mounted it in the truck Saturday evening, and routed the antenna and power connections Sunday. Now, if you’re in the area, you know we had some pretty lousy weather on Sunday; lots of rain, some thunder, the works. If you’re at all into radio, you also know that there’s an old adage, “An antenna put up in good weather never works right.” Meaning more that the antenna will always require a repair when the weather is lousy. Well, the fact that I installed the radio almost in the dark, and routed the power and antenna connections in the rain, this sucker should work forever and never have any issues :>

I’m running low power on it right now (5W), only because I routed the antenna a little strangely (had some leftover wire, and wrapped it back onto itself once to take up the slack) and don’t want to find out after dumping the full 50W into it that it’s reflecting too much back at the transmitter and blows it up. But even at 5W, it works great. I can hear every repeater that I had programmed in the handheld, and then some; I can actually hear people on simplex now and then as I travel; and I can make both of the immediately local repeaters with no trouble. What do I think? I love it!

I’ve chatted with a few new people recently; Stan (KC2JRJ) helped me with testing the rig when I got it online Sunday, and I’ve talked with him a few times since then as well. Bob (AF2Q) and I chatted this morning on my way in to work. Good thing QSL cards aren’t usually exchanged for FM repeater operations, I’d already have a backlog of cards to start mailing.

Oh well, until next time I guess. Club meeting is next week, and I may meet up with Gary (K2GW) before then to borrow his SWR meter and check everything out on the rig. Depends on his schedule, he said he might be available today through Friday, so I’ll probably drop him and email and ask him to pick a time.

Doesn’t it just figure that I get into ham radio, where I could use an HT (handie-talkie, don’t ask why walkie-talkie isn’t used) or a moderate station in the truck to talk to various people through repeaters and such while driving in the car, *after* I move up closer to work and don’t have an hour long commute anymore? Ahh well…

On the way in today, called up the repeater that’s closer to work since I know I can reach that one all the way in from my house, and got an answer back from someone I’ve never met. This is what it’s all about :> We chatted about various things (the old drive-in theater in Palmyra that used to have flea markets every weekend in the summer, that the racetrack in Cherry Hill is being torn down and condos put in its place, computer shows, computers in general) from about 2 minutes away from my apartment all the way until I hit the back doors at work. Nice way to pass the time while in the car.

One of the things I constantly hear, for example on Slashdot anytime ham radio and BPL (broadband over power lines) are mentioned in the same line, is the words, “Why not just use a cell phone, they work all over too.” Well, during normal circumstances, you’re right, a cell phone works just fine. However, there’s a couple reasons why this is completely different:

1) In a time of emergency, cell phone towers rely on two things. Electricity, and a hardline for communication transfer. Even if you call from one phone to another, it still has to go to the tower, out to a computer somewhere, back to the tower (maybe even the same one) and then to the other phone. A radio system goes from one radio directly to another one (or perhaps to a repeater which rebroadcasts the signal) and will work even if there’s no electricity. My only radio right now runs off a 7.2V LiIon battery, could be charged from my truck if I wanted. The rig I’ll have in the truck runs off of 12V, and doesn’t require any mains power. Furthermore, many home rigs run on 12V as well, partly because that’s what’s needed to power the electronics inside and partly because they can be removed from a house, put on a table in the middle of a field, and hooked up to a car battery to operate. Doubt you’re going to keep any kind of cell phone infrastructure running on batteries for very long.

2) Ham operators tend to follow a bit of order if something goes wrong. If I’m near a disaster area, and I can get my signal out to somewhere else, there’s ways of going about sending that information back and forth through the airwaves that keeps things moving in an orderly fashion. However, if something happens near any area, many times you’ll find that cell phones don’t work anymore. Why? Because everyone opens their phone and hits “send” at the same time. The towers quickly become overloaded with anything from emergency phone calls to “Oh my God, Betty, you wouldn’t believe what I just saw… Macy’s is having a sale!” The landlines tend to get jammed up just as much, and now traffic that could mean life or death to many people can’t get through. This is why sometimes in emergencies you’ll find that your phone doesn’t work at all, not even a dialtone. It’s not because something happened to the lines connecting you, it’s so the emergency traffic can get through!

3) Lastly, and the most important during times such as this morning on my way in to work, how else would I have had a conversation with someone I’ve never met? Sure, I could open my cell phone and dial a random number, but chances are more likely than not the person I called would not appreciate the interruption. I could’ve given this guy my phone number, and we could chat tomorrow at the same time on our ways through the traffic, but maybe tomorrow he’s not available? So someone else might answer my call on the air instead. Once you get into the HF bands, where radio signals travel great distances with very little effort, you could chat with someone in England, South Africa, Brazil… would you just randomly call a number in another country in hopes that someone will answer it? Not exactly.

So yes, while during “normal times”, ham radio might not have as much power as something like internet communications or cell phones/landlines, it certainly does have its benefits. And if an emergency comes to this area, I’d leave my cell phone at home before I’d leave my radio anywhere. I *know* I can reach someone on the radio, and that’s more valuable than any number of cell phones to me.

Well, I’ve been on the air a few times since the last entry. Monday morning as I went out for a morning smoke I jumped in on a conversation between to gentlemen, one of whom is in the same club as me (DVRA) and heard that I was coming in clearly on the repeater. Not bad for a handheld radio! After heading inside though, my signal dropped off almost into the noise level, so I cut it short and finished my morning routines.

Yesterday on my way to the truck, I called out again and another club member answered me. We chatted for a few minutes as he headed into work, and he suggested I look around hamfests for a used Icom IC-706 for home use (which covers the HF bands, and down to 2 meters, so I could still use it at home to hit repeaters and such). Later on, I heard Gary talking with another ham (Dave) and he mentioned going to the Mercer County Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and that there was a drill going on that was kinda interesting. Since I was in my office, I walked outside and thought, “Well, maybe he’s still got his radio on, and maybe I can hit that repeater from here,” so I called to Gary, and he answered. Ended up driving over there and spending an hour around the EOC, even got a tour of the county 911 dispatch center. Met a few new people there, as well as met Dave face-to-face, and we ended up standing outside for almost an hour chatting about radio ideas, mounting in vehicles, and various other things. Then last night as the Mercer County ARES/RACES net was going on, I heard Gary mention that he had a couple visitors to the EOC, including Dave and me (he even remembered my call, not bad since I only talked to him once so far), so I decided to check in to the net. Again I was heard clearly over the noise (though I was outside to make sure). This morning on my way to work, Glenn called me back again as he’d seen an Icom rig for sale in the area and wanted to let me know about it.

I’m sure at some point, the local chatter on repeaters and such will not be as exciting, but more of a routine that I do regularly, but I have to admit that yesterday morning, throwing my callsign out over the air and not knowing what would happen next, my hands were shaking a little. Funny since I used to work in radio for a short while, but at least then you don’t get instant feedback from your listeners since they can’t transmit back to you. But, once I upgrade my license and start off on the HF bands, I’m sure that feeling will return. Kinda like fishing, you throw your callsign out there and don’t quite know where it’s going to end up, or who is going to respond. Only instead of it being someone within 50 miles of the repeater, it could be someone on the other side of the planet.

Now that’s cool.

Well, I woke up this morning (Saturday, it’s Sunday now because I can’t sleep) and hit “refresh” on my web browser again, looking in vain to see if there was a new name on top of the FCC’s list of licensees in my zip code.

And there was my name on top :>

So doesn’t it just figure, that I get my license when I’m up at my parents, without a list of repeaters, 20 miles from the nearest Echolink I could hook up to and transmit down where I live, and with nobody around here to talk to? Ahh well, Steph and I already decided we’d head back home somewhat early tomorrow (like 5ish, which is early for us) so maybe I’ll catch some people on the local repeaters on my way home. Will have to fire up the scanner and see how well I can reach the repeaters from the apartment with just a hand-held, at least until April when I can go pick up my mobile rig.

So last weekend Steph and I went down to HRO and I talked with one of the gentlemen there about the Icom IC-T7H that I’d been looking at. He said that while that is a good radio, he thinks I might be happier with the Yaesu VX-5R for a few reasons. For one, it also has 6m capabilities, though there’s no 6m repeaters around here so I probably won’t use it much. It also has a much longer battery life, and one of the semi-important features I like is that it’s manufactured to military specs. The entire body of the radio is solid metal! While the whole thing fits in the palm of my hand, it weighs a good amount. Kinda refreshing from the tiny plastic electronics I’m used to seeing.

So, I bought one (it was only about $40 more than I planned on spending). I’ve already got all the local repeaters programmed in, as well as the local police and fire frequencies which are fun to listen to. Now I just have to wait until I take my test, and then see my license posted in the FCC’s database, before I can push the little “PTT” button on the side. Now *this* is a true test of one’s willpower :>

So I’ll be taking my Technician Class exam two weeks from this Saturday, and at this point it’s almost guaranteed that I’ll pass it. Then once the FCC grants my license, I can start transmitting (though I’m probably going to file for a vanity callsign, and might wait to make contacts until that goes through; we’ll see :> )

These last few days I’ve been doing a lot of research on radios, trying to find the most bang for my buck. Since I live in an apartment and don’t want to go all-out on the more expensive HF gear yet, I’m planning on sticking to VHF/UHF to get started. In that vein, the ICOM IC-T7H looks like a good deal. The folks over at eHam have rated it pretty high, and it will do the 2m and 70cm bands just nicely. I was originally looking at the IC-T90A, but it’s about $100 more, gives access to another band which is nice, but it also wasn’t rated as well on eHam, so I’m not sure that I want to get one. I think I’d rather spend the $170 on the well-rated dual HT than $270 on a moderately-rated tri-bander.

So that covers the hand-held radio, but what about something more powerful? Well, I was looking at a model from ICOM (the IC-2720H) but it wasn’t very well received by the folks at eHam at all. A lot of people complaining about the radio, and for my first rig I thought it better to go with something about which people raved (or at least they didn’t pan the thing). It was then that I found a model from Yaesu, called the FT-7800R which seems to be just what I’m seeking. 1000 memory channels (wow), easy access to WiRES repeaters, decent power output (50W on 2m, 40W on 70cm) and a pretty wide receiver coverage. Sounds good to me. Best part? The price from HRO (the local amateur radio store, with a convenient branch in sales-tax-free Delaware) is only $279. Add to that about $40 for a glass-mount dual-band antenna, and maybe a little more to get the remote head mounting kit (where the radio sits in the back of the truck somewhere, and only the faceplate and mic are up on the dashboard) and I’ve got a lot of gear for around $500. Schweet.

So I’ve been studying for my amateur license again, and this time going to another guy’s house once a week to help with getting the concepts down. Not sure how much I need the help right now, every test I’ve taken on QRZ so far I’ve passed just fine, but the extra information that I get from him that isn’t on the exam makes it worthwhile.

Also found out that ‘W2SRH’ is an available callsign. So once I get my license (next month I take the exam, so probably will be in the FCC’s database around the end of March) I might just file for a vanity call. Why not? :>