How many hams do we have on the Forum - Revisited?

[LDB415]

I have my favorite uncle's call. I wish I'd gotten my license when he was alive so I could have talked to him. I don't have a radio room and am not active but maybe one of these days.

[tyree]

My dad has had a ham license since he was a teenager. He's helped people during many natural disasters and continues to lend assistance to staff and EMTs during bike races, etc. I've put it off for many years, but intend to have my license within the year. It's an absolutely vital tool when people need help the most (especially when it's you!)

[knotquiteawake]

I just got licensed last weekend! Passed the Tech and General License in one attempt.

For now I've just got a Baofeng and a mag mount antenna in the car. Its really limited, I was just barely tapping the Sachse Radio Clubs Repeater last Wednesday night from my place in Rowlett (about 2 miles). I'm working on getting all the parts needed to build a j-pole out of 3/8th aluminum rods. Maybe Santa will get on board this year and get me a Yaesu mobile unit with ~50Watts if i'm really lucky.

Really looking forward to eventually saving up enough to get a HF rig.

[Charles L. Cotton]

I just got licensed last weekend! Passed the Tech and General License in one attempt.

For now I've just got a Baofeng and a mag mount antenna in the car. Its really limited, I was just barely tapping the Sachse Radio Clubs Repeater last Wednesday night from my place in Rowlett (about 2 miles). I'm working on getting all the parts needed to build a j-pole out of 3/8th aluminum rods. Maybe Santa will get on board this year and get me a Yaesu mobile unit with ~50Watts if i'm really lucky.

Really looking forward to eventually saving up enough to get a HF rig.

Welcome to the hobby and congratulations.

Using a mag mount antenna, your Baofeng should hit a repeater 2 miles away without any trouble. There must be some issue with the repeater or major shielding between your home and the repeater. Do you have that problem at different locations?

I have a Baogeng and can hit a 2 meter and a 440 repeater in downtown Houston from my backyard 24 miles away. Granted, both repeaters are on tall buildings and I'm using a taller antenna than the stock rubber duck that comes with the HT.

Are you building a traditional J-Pole or an OSJ? I've built an OSJ with a friend and they are great antennas. This one is also a dual band antenna -- 2 meters and 70 centimeters. 1/4 wave ground plane antennas are also easy to build. If you want to build a yagi, then have a look at the designs by G0KSC. I've built the 5 element LFA for 2 meters and it's an excellent antenna. I'm going to build his 7 element 2 meter OWL yagi.

Chas.

[Charlies.Contingency]

Eventually I'll have my base set up and get licensed, but I've got a few things to do first... Actually, a few things to build first, but I'll get around to it.

[knotquiteawake]

Welcome to the hobby and congratulations.

Using a mag mount antenna, your Baofeng should hit a repeater 2 miles away without any trouble. There must be some issue with the repeater or major shielding between your home and the repeater. Do you have that problem at different locations?

I've only had occasion to use it once, during that net. I'll try again maybe on the drive into work or on the drive back, or maybe try and hit up the Plano repeater during lunch. I was in my driveway and my house (which is a single story brick facade) was between my car and the repeater. I was thinking that might be part of the issue. I was considering driving around the corner for the next Net, hopefully the neighbors don't get too suspicious when my camry with an antenna pulls up in front of their house and parks there. I might even get better signal if I just pulled away from the driveway and over to the sidewalk.

I have a Baogeng and can hit a 2 meter and a 440 repeater in downtown Houston from my backyard 24 miles away. Granted, both repeaters are on tall buildings and I'm using a taller antenna than the stock rubber duck that comes with the HT.

Are you building a traditional J-Pole or an OSJ? I've built an OSJ with a friend and they are great antennas. This one is also a dual band antenna -- 2 meters and 70 centimeters. 1/4 wave ground plane antennas are also easy to build. If you want to build a yagi, then have a look at the designs by G0KSC. I've built the 5 element LFA for 2 meters and it's an excellent antenna. I'm going to build his 7 element 2 meter OWL yagi.

Chas.

I'll try hitting various other repeaters. As with many new Hams I think I'm a bit mic shy.

I am building that exact antenna! http://nt1k.com/blog/2011/open-stub-j-p ... any-times/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I have ordered the aluminum rods, will be borrowing a friend's tap and die set to add the threads. Just need a angle bracket, a hacksaw, pl connector, rg-8, and I'll be ready to put some big ugly antenna on my roof. My wife is "thrilled" about this new project...
After building the OSJ antenna I was going to build a 1/4 wave ground antenna like the one you linked. The idea being it could fold up and go in the trunk. Then with a couple lengths of pvc pipe I could erect a small ~10ft tall "tower" on top of my car to get some extra reach out of the handheld if needed. Or to use while camping.
After the ground plane antenna a handheld Yagi was also on the list because I wanted to reach out and make contact with some satellites... I mean, who doesn't want to communicate with outerspace?!

I grew up a computer tech guy (i'm 30). Computers used to be nerdy, and building computers was nerd-cool... now nobody builds computers, powerful computers are a dime a dozen... basically they're no big deal anymore... Ham Radio seems like the last tech frontier to me! Building things yourself. Using both old and new technology to do amazing things. Talking to people across the world or in outerspace with small lower powered devices not needing the internet. Its my next geek/nerd/techy frontier.

[knotquiteawake]

Also, before I went and started ordering the parts of that gigantic j-pole I kind of wish I would have seen the plans for the 1/4 wave groundplane... would have been a better starter project. Little bit easier to get going and much easier to find a mounting location. I might just build a 1/4 wave first anyways and finish up the j-pole afterwards. Depends on part prices and tool availability.

[n5wd]

Also, before I went and started ordering the parts of that gigantic j-pole I kind of wish I would have seen the plans for the 1/4 wave groundplane... would have been a better starter project. Little bit easier to get going and much easier to find a mounting location. I might just build a 1/4 wave first anyways and finish up the j-pole afterwards. Depends on part prices and tool availability.

You'll find that the J-pole works much better than a 1/4 wavelength ground plane. Mounting shouldn't be too much of a problem, a couple of U-bolts to mount a flat bar to a pipe or TV mast, and mount the j-pole to the flat bar.