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>>2939599
Radoe

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Don't go throwing your money to the antenna jews just to DX.

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I have a 102” whip. I was trying to tune my SWR earlier, and channel 1 is reading 2.0 and ch 40 is about 1.5
I also have a barrel spring. How am I supposed to fix my SWR?

>>2939614
How are you grounding it? Does it stay like that consistently (e.g. same on sunny and rainy day?) Unless you are transmitting often, 2.0 is not really that bad.

>me and my bud buy cb's at radio shack when we were 16
>start talking on the cb channels to each other while delivering pizzas
>BRAKER 1 9 BREAKER 1 9 THIS HERES DUBYA D 40 COME IN
>the truckers start getting mad and yelling at us on the radio
>we keep trolling them for a week until we get bored of it
good times

>>293962
I am grounding it. How well the connection is- I don’t know.
Ch. 1 reads 2.0 and ch. 40 reads 1.5
I thought you had to have those 2 pretty much the same.

>>2939620
This was for you. >>2939622

are there any bands that you arent supposed to listen in on? aircraft/military/etc? or is it pretty much public domain but illegal to transmit anywhere outside hobby bands

>>2939614
From Cobra's Website

>Check the SWR on channels 1 and 40.If the SWR is lower on channel 1, then the antenna is too long. Make the antenna shorter. If the SWR is lower on channel 40, then the antenna is too short. Make the antenna longer. Continue to adjust the antenna until the SWR is approximately the same on channels 1 & 40 AND is less than 3. The antenna is now properly tuned for the CB band.

I added 12" to my 102" whip to get 1:1 on 19 lmao

>>2939651
>>2939614

Using something like Picrel will get your 102" to 108", the true 1/4 Length of 27.185

>>2939651
I’m sorry- a foot? How in the world am I supposed to add a foot to my antenna?

>>2939648
As far as I know, it's only illegal to listen to analog phone calls (which have not existed for well over a decade) and to decode pager messages (which are surprisingly common)

>>2939653
This is why I'm purposefully not buying an SWR meter I'd rather just live in ignorance and pretend that everything is all good on both of my rigs

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>>2939653
>>2939655

>Adding one foot

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>>2939656
1:1 Getrdone

>>2939656
I’m sorry- like literally mounting it a foot higher?
>>2939655
Can’t you damage your radio though?

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breaker 19 this here's swollen prostate!

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the chad scanners

>>2939614
cobra SWR meters in their radios are notoriously off.

>>2939746
I know, that’s why I bought an external one.

>>2939735
I guess if I was going to damage one of them it would have happened by now, it's not like it's anything crazy, just a van with a cobra 26, 15 ft cable, and a fire stick mounted to the ladder on the back door, and a cobra 3 in my car with another 15 ft cable and a $15 Walmart CB on the trunk lid.
Like, I'm hoping it's all standard enough to just work as-is.

>this is w1cum with the Hurricane Watch Net. Do we have any emer-
>CQ POTA CQ POTA

>>2939735

Yessir, do the math to figure out 1/4 Wavelength of 27.185MHz

It is around 108.35" or so(Number off the top of my head) but in my case, the rear door of the truck messes with the antenna and that's why I needed more than the spring and six inch extender.


>>2939746
As to the SWR Meters in cobras, they are junk and purely Gimmick but I tuned my Whip with a Nano VNA

>>2939808
Man, I didn’t know antennas were that sensitive. That’s absolutely insane. I really don’t want to add another foot to my antenna.

>>2939758
gay
kys

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>106.7 FM braudcast way down at 33.107mhz
harmonics? or is this that "DX" thing?

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>>2939874
>rtl-sdr
not sure about your question, but i just got 2 of these things and have been listening to the cops in my area with them
its pretty entertaining listening to them
>negress in a mercedes license comes back suspended
>cop lets out big sigh on radio
>you can hear his fatigue is maxed out off the chart
lmao i feel bad for the cops i hear sometimes.
any other cool shit i can listen to with them?

>>2939880
planes and shit at around 127 mhz (AM, they all seem to use a push to talk system, so its a waiting game), and the national weather service radio stuff (NBFM, ~162Mhz, should see them around there) parently you can also pick up weather satalites but i havnt been able to pull any in through the window yet tho, may need a diffrent antenna or an amp and a filter

>>2939874
I’d guess it to be your SDR is seeing an image of a powerful signal out of your mixer, which is likely the case since I believe cheap SDRs use square wave mixers with all the 3rd 5th etc. harmonics that entails. If you can find out what your local oscillator frequency is set to, you can calculate what images such a mixer would create. The LO is probably 30-36MHz judging by the RTL dongle bandwidth, putting its third harmonic in the 90-108MHz range, slap bang within range of the FM broadcast band.

>>2939887
>artifact of the archatecture
ah ok

>>2939886
>planes and shit
yeah i have listened to them but im not close to a busy airport sadly
I didnt know about the national weather service stuff tho, thanks anon

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>>2939648
That depends on your region. Some countries block segments of the RF spectrum or outlaw it entirely from it's citizens. Here in Canada you can receive any RF signal you detect. The only stipulation is that you can't reveal the contents of the signal except when subpoena'd by the Crown or as requested by the Communications Minister, and you cannot benefit from the communications heard.

>>2939880
How do I find out what channel the cops are using around my area? Maybe I could add it to my GMRS radio and snoop on em sometimes

>>2939648
It depends on the laws in your country, it can be forbidden to listen to some bands, or legal to listen but forbidden to retransmit by any mean (youtube, broadcast, discussion, etc.) what you listened to.
I don't think that, in the western world, someone gives a fuck as everything that shouldn't be listened to by civilians is ciphered

>>2939891
>yeah i have listened to them but im not close to a busy airport sadly
No need to, you can listen to the air traffic control specific areas, you can use https://skyvector.com/ to find these areas and the frequencies in the VHF band are indicated on the map, use the different levels of fly (world hi, world lo, VFR...)

>>2939603
Why would you use this instead of a 4:1 or 1/4 wave of 75 ohm line to a tuner with an actual resonant loop? You already have the height. Could also do a horizontal loop on 80m and have 10-80m virtually resonant or within 3:1. This vertical is dogshit. You can make a fan dipole and configure it as an inverted V too on 5 bands that would blow this dogshit random wire vertical out of the water. Or do an extended double zepp, or any kind of doublet.

>>2939874
Harmonics and dogshit unusable front end filtering.

>>2939898
i used radioreference.com/db/browse/
it has pretty much everything you would need to know

>>2939910
stale

>>2939966
>Harmonics and dogshit unusable front end filtering
I think it's the harmonics of the square wave local oscillator, hard to filter those out when the LO can go from 25-1700MHz.

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Stop creating hurricanes just to make yourselves look important.

>>2939599
why dont you guys just use cell phones

>>2940079
We're autistic.

>>2939614
2 is ok.
Allegedly you wont damage your equipment until closer to 3.
I mean it lowers your range, but w/e you dont seem like a minmaxxer

>>2939648
If its old analog, they wont know if you passive listen
If its new digital, it'll be encrpyted & you wont be able to listen

> as everything that shouldn't be listened to by civilians is ciphered
lol. govts live off reputations far more than reality.

>>2939874
I dont understand what the context for this image is. Is Transmit power -60, and off band is -70? Offband noise level should be ~70db below transmit level, not 10.
There definitely do look like some periodic spikes; I'd zoom in on one see how bad it is.

>>2939898
Easiest way is to know somebody
Second way is FCC license search.
3rd way is govt. agencies publish stuff all the time; in a mountain of paperwork

i have a bunch of rtlsdr's
sdrtrunk to listen to p25 police
kismet for adsb
its nice listening without all the fuckin broadcastify ads and they have some nice software for streaming

>>2940082
>2 is ok
Thanks anon. That’s what I read as well. I’d like it to be at peak performance, but I really don’t know how I could raise it a whole foot.

>>2940089
Its an inverse relationship, so more return loss doesnt help you a lot.

At VSWR of 2, ~90% of your power goes out.
Lets say you bump that up to 100%. Thats less than 1db of gain.

Id be more worried about damaging the equipment, which you prob wont. Look for gains elsewhere.

>>2940090
Oh wow, that’s basically non existent then.
I really appreciate that. I guess if I’m still into CB’s in a year, maybe I can buy an amp.

i hear we might be getting a near 6meter freq for gmrs

>>2940097
Only proposed. It's be great if they added in digital modes to GMRS and ability to legally link repeaters. Maybe if they add 6m to the license, they can legally crossband link the repeaters together using one of the 6m channels. Not that any of that matters here since everything is dead except for the ham repeater with the same asshat OMs using it all the time talking about their last medical appointment.

>>2940079
because cell phones are radios used to talk very long distances, these idiots want to use RADIOS to talk long distances... maybe... if the weather is good... if there is someone on the other end... if their prostate isn't acting up.

>>2940133
>if their prostate isn't acting up.
Fuck. Thanks for reminding me that I need to take my finasteride, anon!

i agree ham is largely gay af i dont want to talk with random men let alone a bunch of boomers cause that was all the rage before computers and internet in every home the rules governing it are ancient and overly restrictive id much prefer a chunk of every ham band be sectioned off for unlicensed anarchy then it might get some use

the only time theres real activity outside a few rag chew repeaters is during faggy contests where reddit-esque normies try to collect the most callsigns/hellos in a weekend

no one want to make random statements over the radio while also doxing themselves with every fucking thought

>>2940079
decentralized communications that can't be censored by corporate monopolies
communications that are resilient during emergencies without requiring infrastructure
scientific purposes like communicating to amateur weather balloons, satellites, ROVs
scientific studies of things via radio propagation, like weather, sunspots and the ionosphere, or tracking mh370 or bouncing off the moon
learning about radio itself by way of making and upgrading your equipment for greater signal strengths and distances

the first point is half moot because you are compelled to identify yourself and to not obfuscate information, but there are definitely ways around that second point on digital modes by hiding encrypted data within common compression methods
as for your identity, ham radio isn't the only method for transmitting information wirelessly, you can use existing protocols that don't need a license like lora
if you're extra paranoid you could write your own lora-like protocol with a significantly different chirp-style and frequency range so you can transmit long distances below the noise floor without anyone having the idea to look for your signal, just avoid the deep space network

>>2940248
>decentralized communications that can't be censored by corporate monopolies
laughs in squarey wavey broadybandi jammies

>>2940249
governments can do that sure, but corpos probably won't
both govts and corpos can control your internet and phone comms

>>2940079
That's just radios + repeaters.
>>2940133
>if the weather is good
HF is not effected by weather.

>>2940146
Kek!

>schizo larper had a melty because he wants to shit up the ham bands with him and his group of larpers
>they're always too scared to memorize a set of easy questions and answers, and take a test
>he's so paranoid that people go out of their way just to dox their information when no one gives a damn and only wants their location for some obscure award
>he'll spend thousands on a few equipment citing the quality of equipment is important all while limiting his comm equipment to a $18 chinese radio (which was made in a country he is afraid and paranoid of)
Can anyone tell me why no one takes larpers seriously? Oh wait, no one does. They need to bring back Doomsday Larpers to remind people again how they need medicated. I always love making fun of them and much more so when they have meltdowns when it comes to hams.

>be me
>set up CB
>”auuudddddio”
Don’t think anyone could hear me. I tried asking people if they read me, but I don’t think they could hear.
Also- if I can pick up someone loud and clear from California for example, could they hear me if I’m all the way on the east coast? Or would I need an amp?

>>2940279
>HF is not effected by weather.
ever heard of space weather? dipshit.

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>>2940302
>Can anyone tell me why no one takes larpers seriously? Oh wait, no one does. They need to bring back Doomsday Larpers to remind people again how they need medicated. I always love making fun of them and much more so when they have meltdowns when it comes to hams.

>>2940336
CB is dead, the only traffic is from the superbowl channels with illegal amps. I don't care if CB is not dead where you are, CB is dead.

no anon they cannot hear you.

>>2939599
>[YouTube]
phonefag deadbeat

>>2940397
Guess I should just sell it then.

>>2940404
where I live, I have left my CB on all day for weeks on all the popular (non superbowl) channels and hear almost nothing. I've gone on trips and almost nothing even from truckers.

>>2940448
yes you will get more contacts putting a phone number on a rest area stall than a cb radio in 2025 just do that

>>2940401
Ah shit. Not a phoneposter, I got the (dead) and (embed) bullshit out but forgot about the youtube link.

Thinking about mounting a CB in my house with the microphone rubber banded on next to a bluetooth speaker or some shit playing music from my PC and then driving around in my car and seeing how far away I can hear it.
Not like anyone's gonna give a fuck I've had the radio for months and never hear anything, not even near the highway on Ch19.

>>2940448
Should I just sell it or get an amp?

>>2940395
>propagation for 10m is down
>move to 20m
>propagation for 20m is down
>move to 40m
>propagation for 40m is down
>move to 80m
>propagation for 80m is down
>move to 160m
>propagation for 160m is down
>ragequit and bitch on 4chan
>no internet access because it's extra rainy and broadband wireless won't get a signal from the tower 7 miles away

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>>2940590

>>2940590
How about the 630 m and 2200 m bands?

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>>2940674
>2200 m
Good luck with building this dipole!

>>2940571
use your own brain and decide.

>>2940674
Never used them, even with an acre of land I couldn't possibly reasonably string up a 630m antenna.
>>2940676
You really won't be using a dipole for 630/2200. Because the signals are so weak, and because you'd need such insane height, most agencies that use these frequencies use some type of curtain array or good old beverage antennas for reception. Otherwise, you won't hear jack shit.

>>2940676
I think in an earlier thread we found that the Golden Gate bridge would be an excellent base for such a dipole. What could possibly go wrong?

>>2940706
Hams will always experiment. One of them should do it even just for the lols.

theres already a jewtube ham fag that hikes around and uses anything metal as an antenna to transmit on

>>2940770
Yeah, ham radio tube with a G90 as an experiment to see what the G90 cannot tune up.

Has anyone tried Baofeng radios? Are they good? I wanna get started in amateur radio and they told me Baofeng radios are cheap and effective and have low power.

>>2940901
qansheng are better

>>2940901
kys schizo

>>2940901
I have some put up for emergency use in the neighborhood like the time a guy had a hunting accident and the time when the power was out for along time which I handed out for the old folks if they needed anything. Otherwise, they're absolute shit.

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found some non english speakers using what i presume is a miltary sat as a repeater lol

>>2940986
Eastern Russia and South America are nicely covered by the couple remaining ones

>>2940901
Any walkie talkie is shit, get on HF.

>>2940986
'found' LOL
thats just the old P-band satcom
meritards figured it would be a good idea to launch sat repeaters that cover from 240MHz to ~300 or so, without authentification and just bank on no one ever noticing.
Well that aged like milk so they launched new ones with auth.
They either cant derail the old ones of keep some backup. It's not really like you interfere much if a warship poibnts an antenna up there and blasts it.

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>>2940302
Lol you fucking faggot. Its called "pirate radio" for a reason. Think i give a fuck if some boomer triangulates my nazi propaganda? He can look down the barrel of my shotgun as I tell him to get the fuck off my land. Only faggots register with the government. And yes I do play hitler speeches overpowering the local NPR and liberal media. ;)

>>2940901
>>2940902
both are great affordable entry level radios to realize that the only people you will hear from are boomers in assisted living homes with nothing to do and no friends and it only costs you sub 50$ (to buy both) and not 500$ super het kenwood/icom slop

>>2941158
You're better off getting a real scanner, because all you'll hear are old fuck boomers, and that's all that will hear you as well.

>>2941159
If they go with a scanner, might as well go up and get one that can all band and SSB so he can hear the dumb boomers on 80m talk about their latest colonoscopy and antennas. But at that point, might as well get an SDR and listen to it from his computer.

>>2941160
Most scanners will do ssb, and he really wants p25 phase 2 simulcast compatibility so he can hear all the feds, cops, and wendys employees.

>>2941162
>Most scanners will do ssb
not only will they NOT do ssb. they also don't receive below 54mhz.

>>2941162
>Most scanners will do ssb
name them

>>2941165
the expensive ones only boomers can afford saving a few months of ss checks

>>2941163
Most scanners do ssb AND receive well below 54mhz.
>>2941165
BCD325P2
SDS100
SDS200

Basically any SDR you'd hook to your computer (RLT-SDR being the cheapest I know of) will also handle full blown trunking as well as ssb. That said, the front end filtering is non-existent and the knowledge curve for operating sdr software is extremely steep.

>>2941163
>they also don't receive below 54mhz
Don't most scanners receive cb radio? That'd be below 54mhz.

>>2941170
Name them.

>>2941172
>most scanners
can only list 3 of hundreds.

the 3 listed cannot do SSB.

meanwhile a 20$ dvb usb dongle can do just about anything

is there a readable table of frequencies that weather satalites downlink on that satdump can decode?

>be me
>listening to CB
>channel 38 USB
>hear moris code and some weird noises and faint voices
>cant tune in
>skip to another channel earlier
>hear what can only be described as a helicopter flying over for a second or 2
Have I broken into ham territory?

>>2941207
https://www.satdump.org/Satellite-List/
literally my first jewgle hit

>>2941183
All 3 can do ssb, in fact my bcd325p2 does it from the box. Try again.

>>2941219
Nope, either sound boards or hearing digital modes illegally used on cb. It happens all the time, none of the cbers give a shit and neither does the fcc.

>>2941219
They're freebanding by going between the CB frequencies.

>>2941239
the sds100/200 and your bcd325p2 cannot do USB/LSB/or SSB. they can do AM, FM, NFM, WFM, or FMB)

your bcd325p2 cannot even tune anything that would be transmitting SSB.

there are no scanners that can do SSB.

>>2941299
Scanners only do AM on the aviation bands and CB.

going to an airport event this weekend got my cheap laptop, 2 rtlsdr's 1 scanning the airports tower/ground/approach+departure freq's using rtlairband and a 2nd dingle listening and plotting ads-b transponders using kismet

>>2941339
and if i add up the costs of this setup its like 150$ dongles+laptop just need to pickup a cheapo inverter to keep the laptop charged and a large microsd card to record it all to disk using obs

>>2939599
I wish Ukrainians would bomb that piece of shit

>>2941160
>so he can hear the dumb boomers on 80m talk about their latest colonoscopy and antennas
Would you hear an 80m signal with a cheap scanner antenna? Probably not...

>>2941395
uhm... idiot... it's in Ukraine.

>>2941302
yeah no shit.

>>2941403
So many ways. The easiest: long wire crimped onto an alligator clip onto the metal antenna. String up the wire. It doesn't have to be high to receive. I've ran it through some low bushes before and got 80m. Mine? I just have my SDR attached to my rain gutter. I just took a SMA male jumper, split it in half, spliced a long wire onto the coax wire itself, soldered it, taped it, heat shrink, ran it through the hole fir all my cables and attached it the gutter. Attach the sma connecter to sdr. Audio received. It's not good, but it does the job.

Shit is not complicated if you are just listening and don't care much for audio quality.

>>2941408
I was clarifying for the trolls and retards, assdick.

hell, finding a cheap cb radio with ssb was a bit of chore last time i tried

>>2941480
no one could tell that.

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OK, I said fuck it and pulled the trigger on an SI-4732 thumbmaster 3000 and a connector SMA->BNC->BNC->Screw terminal block for shits and giggles.

How good are they compared with full size "real" radios like the PL-330 or so?
I'll upgrade the firmware and I asked a bro with a 3D printer to print me a lime green shell. Anything else I could/should do?

I mainly bought this for quick & dirty experiments with nigger-rigged wire and other antennas. Like
>get 30 feet of thin braid wire, wrap it around a Harbor Freight bucket and see what happens
>Jumper cables - your truck's unlikely loop antenna
>Doc Shortwave live from the local iron railroad bridge

Also: Does anyone here know why the Lilygo T-Embed SI-4732 has LW too but no SSB while the ATS-Mini SI-4732 has SSB but no LW?

>>2941586
probably a different chip or missing software chinkshit isnt known for quality control and not cutting corners to save yen im not familair with this soc myself

>>2941436
So the answer is no, you wouldn't hear 80m with a cheap rubber duck scanner antenna, and would need a long antenna capable of receiving a decent 80m signal. Got it.

>>2941612
generally yes need a very long wire (away from any interference producing electronics) and a propper ground things that handhelds are very poor at

notarubicon told me that gmrs is the way for portable handheld comms

>>2941617
For ease of use? Sure. You can put up a repeater as well. I think GMRS is great for family comms.

As for Randy, I like him, but I hate his fanbase. Esp when they misuse terms. Now, apparently pointing out anyone who is wrong is a "sad ham." One video I watched recently, all the hams calledout the guy about his Baomeme repeater saying he'll have desensing issues and won't work well. The guy? Called everyone sad hams. He'd said he release a video showing he is right a few days later. It's been six months and he hasn't made the video.

>>2941674
hes not wrong though some ham's are a bit overly zealous with the craft and anyone on jewtube is far from being a master at their topic of choice its just a shit job ever look up the requirements to start monetizing videos? its bad no one does that shit quality content will get absolutely burried under the people doing it as a job

>>2941617
Portable handheld comms are just that, line of sight vhf /uhf comms. Use whatever you want, ham, marine band, gmrs, 900mhz, fuck who cares? Get some FRS bubble pack radios and send it. Get some cheap baofeng or anything else off amazon and send it. The people listening to these aren't tracking you down offroad to send your license plate to the fcc, they'd have to get off their fat wrinkled asses to do so.

>>2941586
those are shit.

>>2941586
>>get 30 feet of thin braid wire, wrap it around a Harbor Freight bucket and see what happens
>>Jumper cables - your truck's unlikely loop antenna
>>Doc Shortwave live from the local iron railroad bridge
Is a random wire of any length not good enough for you? Anything that isn't a proper resonant antenna will sound like shit and only receive strong broadcast signals.

Enjoy brother stair.

>>2941718
let me rephrase that meaning the gmrs freq antenna length is more conducive for hand held use as apposed to sad hams using lower freqs like 2meter, while propagating through and around obstacles unlike higher frequencies and smaller antennas

>>2941796
gmrs behaves the exact same as 70cm which sad hams also use. Just get on shortwave.

>>2941586
>>Doc Shortwave live from the local iron railroad bridge
Okay, I have to experiment with this. I don't expect much, but curiosity got me. I've done steel wire fences with bad results transmitting (I did make contacts!) and receiving.

>>2941828
Think of transmitting swr for a moment, and what your tuner functionally does. As we transmit a signal, say we have 5:1 swr, about 44% of your signal is lost. That signal is reflected back down to the tuner, which then sends it back up to the antenna. Eventually, the full signal and power is transmitted out of the antenna, but with numerous trips down the feedline and through the tuner, you have loss. Without the tuner, you simply have loss, 44% of your signal is heat, enjoy. This doesn't account for ground losses, etc. Especially since your bridge or fence is grounded.

So we hook up to a bridge or fence. 9:1 swr. 64% of your signal is lost, and due to ground losses because of low height (for a fence especially) and other resistant factors, you probably lose closer to 80% of your transmitted signal strength. Okay, so you still have 20w to work with, right? Sure, but because your radiation pattern looks like an egg exploding under a spatula, you might have a usable 10w of power.

If you experiment with antennas long enough, you eventually learn why matching networks and baluns actually aren't as good as you'd think. A full wave delta loop for example has an swr of around 200ohm. Your coax and radio expect a resistance of 50ohm. You take a 4:1 balun and match the antenna to the coax, and therefor the radio, and presto you have a low swr full wave loop antenna. But that high current maxima still exists in the loop. The antenna doesn't stop being a 200ohm antenna, and it doesn't stop resisting at 200ohms.

So you look at that same swr number and imagine it for receiving. A 5:1 swr antenna is resisting the frequency you're putting through it, and as such, resists the frequency on receive as well. It's not a resonant antenna, so instead of 100% signal strength of a given station (for example) we calculate the loss as 44% of expected signal strength. But wait, we don't have a near resonant dipole losing 44%, we have a chainlink fence. -cont

>>2941852
So instead of losing 44% of your signal on send and calculating equivalent loss of gain on receive, we're looking at much higher (and impossible to accurately calculate for a bridge or sloppy rigged antenna) amount of losses. So instead of hearing potentially 100% of stations that you'd hear on a resonant dipole, you could probably expect to hear 10% of those station, if that. Only very strong signals.

This is why the meme of a 49:1 with a long wire doesn't make sense to me. If you've run with big loops and random wires before, and ran a side by side against a center fed resonant dipole, you'd see what I mean. Vertically polarized and oriented loop antennas have a mean elevation of the current maxima, so they need significant height to out perform a dipole. Horizontally polarized and oriented loop antennas work great, but they are not mono-band antennas, and resonate on multiple frequencies, allowing the antenna to pick up more harmonic frequencies from noisy sources. A resonant dipole is only resonant on it's own frequency and possibly the third harmonic, which for all but 40m are typically unused by hams and are seldom used by their actual designated operators. That or the third harmonic simply doesn't propagate well enough to generate a significant amount of noise. So our 20m dipole will have a lower noise floor and sound better than a 20m delta loop that's vertically polarized, and will often sound better than a 20m delta loop that's horizontally polarized when both have an apex of the same height.

Whenever you use matching, you're decreasing the amount of signal traveling to the radio. A balun or tuner, doesn't matter, because the antenna isn't as resonant as it could be at 50ohm. This is why dipoles, yagis, and hexbeams work so fucking well. They're ~50ohm antennas, so the coax and radio are all in happy unison. If you decrease resistance further, it could be a better receiving antenna (think a vertical with way too many radials).

>>2941854
But even a lower resistance vertical will often perform poorly compared to a horizontally polarized dipole at a 1/2 wavelength high. Vertical polarization is unfortunately very noisy, even in the boonies, but is an acceptable omni-directional alternative to trying to put up a dipole 60-100' high, especially on low bands. But, my point is that with low resistance it picks up signals better than it would with high resistance, even if it doesn't perfectly match the radio and coax. Your main issue starts coming from velocity and shit, so a tuner in line works to make the antenna function the way you need it to with the radio. Too little resistance isn't a bad thing with verticals either, slam all the radials you can on it, it'll still perform better with them.

So no, a 49:1 with a random length wire, a bridge, a fence, none of that shit will ever make a good antenna. "Doc Shortwave" would get laughed at, but nobody can hear him transmitting effectively QRP into a bridge.

>>2940248
I think what you guys are missing is the software component.
Some protocol that maintains your decentralization but makes routing more seamless. Also auto transit Closer to a mesh network. That would make you rival cellphones.
As is whole things unwieldy. HAM rivals LINUX for how much you gaslight users on how 'easy it is to use'.

Pretty obvious why there's no research on the topic; threat to corpos.

>>2941852
>>2941854
>>2941855
Okay, OM. I didn't ask for a thesis. All I want to do is test it for myself for shits and giggles like several youtubers have done. Our hobby is one of experimentation, which is fun. It was neat that I was able to make a few contacts on the steel wire fence and get some lols out of it. Chill out and take some Valium.

>>2941870
Why not test usable and effective antennas designs then? You could spend that money that you're burning on wire around a bucket on a helically wound vertical. LOTS of wire antennas make excellent antennas even with small setups. Look at spiderbeams and hexbeams, or folded dipoles, or lazy H phased dipoles. There's a ton of easy to make and install antennas that don't need a ton of height, and you could experiment with designs. I've heard guys on the air with horizontally oriented bruce arrays strung out between random ass trees on their properties that would make Art Bell blush. Just be creative and work within the actual functional limitations and physics of antennas, and you can create some pretty ridiculous shit.

>>2941876
spoken like a true ham experiementer in 2025 "JUST BUY PRODUCT LOL"

>>2941876
Because I just said for lols. Get your reading glasses on. I already have a fan dipole up that I made from just scrap wire from devices people were just throwing out like vacuum cleaners on a 1:1 balun.

>>2941885
>JUST BUY PRODUCT LOL
Never said once to buy a product, I was using a handful of designs as an example. I'm not even sure you can buy a bruce array or lazy h, you have to make one.

>>2941885
In fact, my main point was to experiment using radio and antenna physics we already know as a base point for your designs, instead of chucking wire around a bucket and having 99% ground loss.
>>2941888
>hahaha guess what, I'm actually using a railroad track to contact you! That's so funny huh! HAHAHAHAHAHA
>huh? Can anyone pull him out?
>relay
>go ahead relay
>yeah he said he's using a railroad track with 100w and a tuner as an antenna
>oh, okay, well 73. Anyway back to my colonoscopy
I fail to see the humor.

>>2941888
I like how you call yourself doc shortwave and then come up with the most retarded shortwave antenna designs. Then argue with prof retard that actually knows about antennas trying to help your goal.
>>2941892
You're being trolled faggot, they don't even own a radio. If they do it's a baofeng.

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>>2941892
You fail to see it because you are autistic.

>>2941893
>I like how you call yourself doc shortwave
You are confusing me with the other guy. I'm >>2941828, not >>2941586.

>antenna design
I literally have a fan dipole.

>they don't even own a radio. If they do it's a baofeng.
Uhh, okay?

its getting a callsign worth it?

pls respond

>>2941876
>dipshit doesn't understand that SI4732s are RX only.
They are tiny SDR receivers you mong. Your monologue about TX energy getting reflected back and NO FUN ALLOWED MKAY?! was completely useless

>>2941923
I made the comparison so you'd understand resonance and resistance works both ways, but apparently you're too retarded to understand that.

>>2941856
You mean something like Lora with Meshtastic/Rnodes, but where you’re allowed to transmit with more power than 1mW? Yeah that’s what I was thinking too. Looks like with something like FT8 on HF you can probably communicate around the world without repeating nodes, but it seems you’d have to seriously design around band-crowding if everyone can receive everyone’s signals. You’d also want the modulation method to not result in unreadable signals when a weaker transmission interferes with the stronger one you were listening for.

>>2941913
fuck you

>>2939599
>>The FAQ is now back:
>>https://wiki.cybsec.io/index.php/HamFAQ
>>OP, the cybsec domain is gone.
>>NEW FAQ is updated to preview 15
>https://files.catbox.moe/aftx43.htm
OP, a more convenient site is here:
https://sizeof.cat/post/cyberpunk-faq/files/radio_FAQ_Preview15.htm

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Not a ham question but this is a kind of radio theory problem.

What kind of pattern of cables or threads becomes a coil?

I have a 4 meter (12 feet) long welding cable that is turned around of flexible hose that has 16 millimeter (5/8") diameter. Maximum current in the cable is 250 Amps DC. Frequency is unknown since the voltage source is inverter type and there is 15 rounds around the flexible hose. Cross section area of the hose is of course one thousandth of that which occurs between a ground cable and the welding cable but it still feels uncanny to use coiled cable in this kind of purpose. Coiled cable makes the welding hose flexible and ergonomic to use and easier to store than a straight cable one.

Pic has 4 different ways to tie the thread around the hose. Uppermost pattern is worst coil in this case but is there any difference between that and the second and the third patterns when it comes to magnetic field strength? Lowest of the patterns should reverse magnetic field as it induces two fields against each other.

>inb4 buy a ready cable
I should buy a ready mag welder but I need a compact one since I have no room for old big one.

>>2942043
I will guess the individual conductors aren't insulated, 1 and 2 will make kind of a coil, 3 and 4 won't. Anyway 15 turns is nothing so you shouldn't worry
All will make an antenna

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>>2939599
I remember hearing the russian woodpecker in late 1987? I thought it was ignition noise. Wasn't until years later I found out what it really was. At my QTH I think I was hearing the pacific Duga (Duga-2?) in the russian far east. Which reminded me of a device I saw in one hams shack shortly after. I did some searching around and found it: a Datong SRB2. I remember asking about it and he explained how it worked but by then 1991 the Duga OTH radar was gone. I do remember him saying it worked quite well but required the person who was talking to speak slower than usual to be understood. Subsequently found this youtube video showing it in action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmBUHvFi6Ew

Anyone know of any good technically detailed book about the Duga OTH system?

>>2941586
>How good are they compared with full size "real" radios like the PL-330 or so?
The original firmware ist shite, make sure you update to 2.30 asap. And there are three versions afaik. Yours in the pic is V1 made by mutiple companies. The Amnvolt V3S is the best one right now. It's got an injection molded shell and there's an amp behind the 3.5mm jack that makes it actually usable (earlier versions have a very weak headphone jack signal).

Aside from that: Especially considering the price tag thery're remarkably neat little radios. Especially since the latest firmwares fixed stuff and added more they are really fun to play with. Just as you described: They are top tier if you want antenna experiments and just have easy, headache-free SWL fun for a very small buck. Sure, 'real' radios got more options, filters, better reception but they also cost a lot more. Depending on where you buy you don't pay more than 35 bucks tops for an SI4732 and still get all the features you want in a shortwave radio.

>>2939614
If you are talking about CB radio channels, they are in the 10-meter range (300MM/~30MM~=10).
Your antenna is at about 1/4λ for CB. If your SWR worsens at lower frequencies, your antenna is electrically short and capacitive, so you need to introduce more inductance. If your antenna is telescoping, stretch it. If you have an adjustable tuning coil at the base, set it so more turns are connected between the feedline and antenna.
1.5 SWR is about the "acceptable" limit which introduces about 5% mismatch losses, and not bad at all. At 2 SWR you risk shortening the lifespan of your radio final amplification stage.

>>2940079
1. Faster to use when coordinating a multi-car trip.
2. There isn't always cell phone reception in the middle of nowhere.
3. Electronics/radio is fun.
4. AUTISM

check out 7200 right now if you want to hear a boomer melty happening

>>2944247
He has one of those older mobile antennas with a spring coil base. I've long wondered how you tune one of them without resorting to a antenna tuner. Near as I can tell it's not like the antenna can be lengthened easy. And I wonder if his mismatch is because it's too close and parallel to the carbody?

>>2944318
>And I wonder if his mismatch is because it's too close and parallel to the carbody?
Maybe, but at this wavelength it would have been way more catastrophic, like 5:1, 8:1 SWR.

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Did Andy and Barney do this properly?

>>2944367
I want one of those antennas but they just don't exist anymore

>>2944375
I'll make you one, give me a fake account for contact I'll send you one for free. 8.5' whip easy to make.

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What do you guys think of the QMX+ 160-6m Tx ?
https://qrp-labs.com/qmxp.html

I am looking for an affordable setup for portable, I am tired of carrying the FT-891 and it drains at least 1A when receiving, the FT-818 is severely heavy for the little power it provides

>>2944508
>QRP
Not a fan of QRP. Why waste money for less power? If I wanted less power, I can turn down the power on any 20w or higher rig. It's why QRP rigs like the IC705 and FTX-1 are stupid. Pass.

>>2944515
NTA but QRP are lighter, more mobile when you are trekking in themountains, and the lower power consumption makes batteries last longer.

>>2944651
If it's just a few lbs make you that much less mobile to trek a radio and a slightly bigger battery (or a portable solar set-up like Powerfilm roll-ups and tiny charge controller) up some mountain, then you are out of shape. You are already lugging antenna equipment along with coax and all that other stuff, so a slightly bigger battery or a rollable solarpanel isn't going to be an issue. Lift more and do some cardio.

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>>2944673
Sure, anon. Show us all a picture of you, your rig, on a mountain top.

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no clue what sat these are from, really strong signal
>9 foot dipole in the yard with 16AWG magnet wire
>homemade FM bandstop filter
>BNC cabler from the anntena to filter to the lna
>LNA 'salvaged' from a trashpicked "window mount" TV antenna , modified to work from the bias-T power
doesnt seem to like passing anything from aroynd 900MHZ and up though...

Okay, I have to ask the stupid question here: Why haul an HF radio to the top of a mountain? Where are you stringing your antenna?

I get it with VHF/UHF/EHF, I used to take my Yaesu FT290R with me. Sensitive receiver and only draws about 65mA using the internal 'C' batteries.

>>2944718
Is there any doppler shift? I want to say that's a signal from an ORBCOMM satellite.

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>>2944777
>has never heard of summits on the air
>not using it as an opportunity to ruck (great workout!), see nice scenery, and practice radio
Unlike the other anon that's so out of shape an additional 4lbs means he's going to die of exhaustion.

>stringing your antenna
Tree branches. Behind me in this photo is a tree I threw my wire over one of its branches and just let it hang down the cliff. If I had more than 20 watts and a bettee llr efficient antenna since I was using a G90 with an efhw antenna, the contacts would have been easier, but w/e.

>>2944790
Ah okay. I warned ya it was a stupid question. :^) Nice pic btw. The mountains in my region don't have trees near their peaks & are rather exposed. Fun times trying to keep a 2m beam on a tripod stable and trying to log contacts in wind, rain, etc on an exposed peak. I do IOTA not SOTA or POTA, even though I enjoy checking into VHF nets from the few peaks I've camped on. Surprising to me is that in spite of SOTA's supposed popularity i've only been bagged a couple of times by people collecting peaks.

I bought a Tokyo Hypower HT750 in 1994 and took it on a couple of climbs. Was disappointing as 15m was in decline, 40m dead during the day, and no one on 6m & it ate batteries like crazy. I sold it in 2000 now I kind of wished I had kept it, they're sort of rare now.

In the mid-90's a buddy built a 5 watt 80m SSB transceiver about the size of a cigarette pack. We took it backpacking several times and I remember hauling one of those black 7AHr gel cells to power it. Heavy thing. Lithium batteries are a godsend compared to those.

>>2944777
I have the DX wire fiber glass pole, 10m, 1,25 kgs, I can put a FD3 on that or a vertical dipole. I also have the JP7 / APC12 whatever with the 5m collapsing whip, I like to do portable because I live at the bottom of the little mountains that are around, I have obstructions at 25° above the horizon, so I can't have antennas with an angle of attack suited for DX. Not mentioning VHF / UHF...

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>>2944800
>Tokyo Hypower HT750 in 1994
https://www.rigpix.com/tokyohypower/ht750.htm
> 40, 15 and 6 m in three bands
neat, you can suppose that at least one of these bands will work

>>2944818
Indeed. I should've used custom built dipoles or something rather than use the whips that came with it.

Just an interesting idea came up after having to unplug my antenna due a storm. Would it work to have an antenna switch have an empty slot just to switch to during a storm? Or would the contact points in the switch be too close that lightning would make the jump anyway?

>>2945429
I put a neon bulb across the center conductor and shielding. during some storms the neon bulb will flicker. This allows any charge that builds up to discharge to ground safely when it exceeds 55volts.

>>2945429
Samefag here. Just looked it up. Unfortunately it doesn't work. I was hoping it would. I already have multiple things in the chain like lightning arrestors to prevent this in case I'm not here to disconnect, but I thought I could have another method without disconnecting. Oh well. It was a nice thought.

>>2945435
Interesting.

is it okay to talk about meshtastic in here

>>2945465
Yes. But Rnodes is technically more powerful.

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>>2945465
>meshtastic

>>2945466
ehh doesnt matter for my usecase.
i'm going to stick a chinkshit "meshtastic router" on a really high place and use it for sensor data and trackers. just lora is fine.
kinda waiting for that shit to show up first before I poke more at it

>>2944779
>not listed in satdump
damn, so they are all S and L band nowadays

>>2944790
>summits on the air
You need to up your game, my man!
https://qrper.com/2025/09/behind-the-scenes-at-first-u-s-tota/

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>>2939599
Does anyone have any hands on experience comparing the IC-7300 and the FT-991?
I have a 7300 and a Yaesu VHF/UHF in the basement.
I'm kicking around the idea of getting another HF radio plus running a few more coaxes so I can do digi on one radio while working CW/SSB on the other.
I"m fed up wasting too much time trying to jump from WSJT and N1MM chasing different dx stations.
Would dedicating the 991A to FT8 make sense, then I have the 7300 for the human interactions?

>>2945814
* I was eyeing the 991A because I could put it in the space of my current VHF/UHF FM radio which I use from time to time to hit repeaters - plus I could add VHF/UHF SSB or FT8. Maybe some meteor scatter??

>>2945808
Reminds me of when Walmarts on the air was a thing.

>>2945814
>>2945816
Or do I go with another 7300 and revisit VHF/UHF at another time? It seems like the 7300 is superior to the 991A in terms of HF and the 7300 is cheaper ....

>>2945910
>do I go with another 7300
MK2 will arrive soon and the plain 7300 will fall in price.
https://www.icomjapan.com/news/4411/

>>2945985
I saw that today! Plus dual COM ports!
Hopefully my idea overarching idea made sense. I've been chasing the following DX stations for a few days while trying to work them in all modes and on all bands, and am beat hunting on just one radio. I could add some SDR receivers, but swapping from FT8 to CW or SSB is getting old. I'd much rather run 2 radios on the same PC. Throwing in upgrading to also do SSB VHF seems like a no-brainer which makes me lean towards the 991A.
>E44OM
>FP5KE
>PJ7K
>OJ0YL
>VK9/SP9FIH

>>2945989
>I saw that today! Plus dual COM ports!
Use of modern interfaces was way overdue. Yaesu was roundly criticized for using ancient graphics ports. This is 2025, USB is where it is at.
So they need a major refresh on their line, like 991B, FTDX-10A etc. And hopefully a FTDX-9000F.

>>2946171
Absolutely not. You ever written a USB driver? You ever see how much work goes into writing one? COM is way more preferable.

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What do i use my SDR dongle now for?

>>2946302
injecting goatse images into encrypted government channels until they reactivate the NOAA satellites

>>2946299
All they have to do is replace the RS232 to UART chip they're using with a USB to UART chip that has prolific drivers

>>2946323
not them, me. now in order to use the thing i have to implement a usb stack for the fpga i'm using to control it. do you have any idea how much of a pain in the ass that is?

>>2946328
Why are you doing that? Genuinely curious.

>>2946299
The idea is not to write a USB driver, that has been done before. You just buy the IP. And with USB-c you get high resolution video, networking, mouse and keyboard. A COM port can give you 9600 bps which was fine 20 years ago.

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>>2946340
>I need that 4k video and mouse support for my ham transceiver

>>2946347
From experience, a 4K waterfall is wonderful. A mouse if far quicker in selecting an interesting signal than first reading off the frequency and then keying it in.
Anon, this is the year 2025.

>>2946347
Angry boomer detected. Stop talking about your prostate issues on 80m.

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>>2946347
>I need to spin that dial!

>ham thread on 4chan, the anime fansite from 2004
Do the /jp/ hams talk about their failing marriages and kidney stones on 40 meters too?

>>2946302
Well that sucks. I'm going to miss it. :-(

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I snagged this 1 metre HughesNet dish off the roof of a Howard-Johnson that was being demolished this summer. I've been looking for technical info or schematics for the feed and transmitter which appears to operate in the Ka band, but so far no luck. A shot in the dark here but if anyone knows where I can find it, it would be much appreciated. I was told that this particular unit was used for credit-card transactions or internal HoJo network room bookings.

>>2946387
So do I. And knobs and push buttons too. Screw that multi-layered menu shit.

>>2946361
>A mouse if far quicker in selecting
Precious 4 seconds saved by using a mouse interface, right.

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>>2946470
Four seconds times 30 times means two minutes saved. That's two extra minutes of QSOs. Add that to events like FD whivh last awhile. That's a lot of QSOs plus higher score. Time is precious, boomer.

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>>2939896
>the Crown
Canada is still beholden to this faggot cuck king?

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>find laptop in the trash
>dead hard drive
>screen "works", no picture
>webcam was killing the 3.3v rail
>unplug it inside, now turns on
>throw in "new" hard drive
>install windows
>"hmm this would make a great portible SDR rig, dispoite being a first gen i5"
>battery seems okay too
>install vc++
>grab SDR++
>see this
>???
what do /diy/? HDSDR works fine, but doesnt have NFM

>>2946578
idk bro i use gqrx, just works even on a raspberry pi

>>2946483
You'd save even more time if you used VIM keybinds instead of a mouse.

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>latest version SDR Console
>SDRPlay RSP2
>all drivers up to date
>fire up Console
>select radio -> definitions
>"SDR Play" ... "V2" or "V3" ?? try V2 first
>fails
>try "V3"
>fails
Does this mean my RSP2 is dead? I did try another cord and got the same result.

>>2946606
You'd save even more time not being a cranky ass OM.

>>2946649
it's not dead but they are a bitch to use with their weird drivers

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>>2946465
Yeah i got some copper wire to make some proper antennae for 137 just to read the news. I guess that the fucked transmission i received a year or more back has something to do with picrel. If i find the audio file i will post it here. Its quite the interesting oddity.

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Anybody here got experience with exotic, high performance corpo equipment?
This thing seems kind of cool:
https://www.ettus.com/all-products/x310-kit/
https://www.ettus.com/all-products/obx160/

But how does it justify being half the price of a new car? The only other gear I've seen in this range are SAs with a working range from Hz to GHz

What is the best low cost sdr to use to build a personal websdr?
I was thinking a clone of a hackrf one if it works the same as my real one at least on receive

I got a decent deal on a Sony AIR-8 after years of lusting after one (and being too poor to afford a Pro-80 but that's beside the point) but it doesn't have an antenna.

Am I overthinking it and any whip antenna will be gud enuf for 88-175MHz or should I be trying to hunt down something specific?

>>2946751
>any whip antenna will be gud enuf for 88-175MHz
Probably, since you are not transmitting.
>or should I be trying to hunt down something specific
Make it 1/4 wavelength and you are good. that is about 0.75 m for FM and 0.5 m for air band.

>>2946733
>justify being half the price of a new car
When you are the only game in town and you are aiming for the professional market, you charge what the market can pay, not what it costs to build it.

>>2946737
define best.

>>2946737
A lot of people use KiwiSDRs for HF use, any clone of an SDR that can transmit probably isn't going to be very cost-effective.

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>>2946468
hughesnet I think has been defunct for 15+ years.

do your own research.

>>2946752
How is it the only game in town? It's barely different from a hackrf one

>>2940674
>2.2km band
>mfw

>>2946779
>hughesnet I think has been defunct for 15+ years.

You think. You "think"?
hehheh! Dunno, man. I don't believe you do think. That google search you recommended, you should try it. It shows them very much active. Something I knew when I started researching back in May. :-)

Eh it was a shot in the dark anyways. But thanks for your friendly input.

>>2946468
>I've been looking for technical info or schematics for the feed and transmitter
What's your goal? Call hughsnet and ask if they can set up your salvaged piece of shit antenna for internet instead of a fresh one for a 5% discount.

Considering your research is in it's 4th month, are you asking what the feedline is? What are you hoping to obtain with a "transmitter" hooked up to this thing? If you tell me your goal with it, I can assist you in formulating a plan to achieve it.

>>2946867
>I can't be bothered to google something, but will berate anyone who doesn't google it.
if you are whoever posted the other post can't be bothered to google it why should anyone else? arrogant moron.

>>2946828
>It's barely different from a hackrf one
Corporate users have different requirements such as helplines, whitepapers, technical assistants, drivers and other support.

>>2939599
gm saars I just took my tech exam and passed this evening. I should have my loisence soon! I'm toying with the idea of exploring my limited HF privileges, anyone play around with a portable 10 meter setup? I realize it won't be the most man portable setup in the world, but I like the idea of playing with HF while out and about.

>>2947072

Just get yer general sonny

Why would my baofeng have clearer reception when my hand touches the base of the antenna? Am I grounding out noise?

>>2947315
Your hand is acting as a counterpoise. This is why people make pigtails for their HT's.

>>2946687
Thanks for this. We screwed around with it for a couple of days and didn't get it to work. Even though drivers were up to date and the computer could see the device. I gave it back to the seller and going for a more traditional scanner. My interest is more vhf and uhf anyways.

>>2946935
I grabbed the dish on a whim and about to use it to monitor some sats. I'm interested in the tranceiver/amplifier parts that came with it. I know it puts out approx 20 watts RF and wondered if this could be used on the 24 GHz amateur band. I don't want to blindly start applying voltage to it and blowing the components up before I can reverse engineer it. I once blew up a 10 GHz gunn diode years ago in a WBFM unit I was building when I over-voltage it. It had a narrow 2 volt safe range. I'm trying to determine the voltage and current requirements first, and then go from there. I have access to T&M equipment..

I just found out the other night that I have a relative that lives in a semi-remote area that has a neighbour who uses HughesNet for internet. I'm going to see them this Christmas and will check their unit out. The coax connector should say how much voltage is being injected to the transverter-RF sections.

I did contact an installer locally but he said he only knew how to set it up. A letter to HughesNet, both e-mail and a written one with an official looking header failed to elicit any response.

>>2947330
First thing first, hook up a VNA to it and check where it resonates.

>>2947027
Yeah, and it's because the tech is doing special stuff and thus it's more complicated than your typical SDR silicon blob. A hackrf one is simple enough that your average engineer will chew it up and spit it out. There's something this device does that makes it require more than just the engineer using it. No clue what it is though, that's what I'm trying to find out.

>>2947409
It doesn't have to be more than support and duration of support. Raspberry Pi, to take an example, is super popular in professional embedded work simply because they are guaranteed a long, long produciton run and that the RPi Foundation has honored their promises so far.
I used to do programming for embedded stuff, and the VME processor boards were way slower than your average PC. that didn't matter, it was support duration that mattered. And when the boatrd was retured, we were promised a smooth transition to a newer model that still was old. Unfortunately, the BSP (board support package) was rotten, and this nearly killed the company.

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>invest a bit into meshtastic
>throw a node up on a tower
>get exactly 1 (one) node
>mesh out from there to like 25 other nodes
>0 hop node claims to be a router
>thisisfine.jpg
>node fucks off after just 14 hours
>no more nodes at all for 40 hours so far
>own node stops even showing up on maps despite being network connected
>still connects to cheap second node so it is working fine
Waste of money and time I guess

>>2947580
I am creating my own network, it's for my own use as I am in an isolated valley

>>2947581
I just wanted to contribute to the cause while also using it for iot data but I guess it's just me
Like I can't even connect to my parents house 30km away because of a hill in the way. The whole point of a mesh is to solve this but if there isn't any nodes then it's gg.

>>2947583
put a MQTT gateway with a good antenna and maybe some guys will join in

>>2947585
It is, it's a rak4631 and it should be fucking set up to connect to mqtt according to my googling but on the map it didn't say mqtt connected and that is probably why it's now gone without the other node so I don't know what else to do.

>>2947592
I don't know what this map is, the one I use for where I am loves long lasting things and it needs weeks to appear and stay there as reliable, if you don't see other nodes, your node wil not be reported so no worries anon, put it there, make it work, control it works with another mestastic thing, like a T-echo or something like that and be patient

>>2947595
Wait yeah I can just cheat and leave my shitty node near it powered.
My only hope is if it shows on the map (meshmap) then maybe other potential users will see it in their area now and make it spread

>>2947598
it's not cheating, my t-echo has the temp humidity and pressure sensor, the gateway hasn't.

>>2947549
Thanks for the answer anon, I feel more informed now.

>>2947600
I found the issue was just that it wasn't getting GPS signal inside the metal enclosure on the tower so I set a static location. However it only shows up on one map so idk what the scrape interval is like on the other ones.

Kinda mad now my basedtec v3 can receive messages from the not local mesh but not transmit to it. I'm like 15km to the nearest node with confirmed los, however I can travel to my node and send messages to the channel just fine into it. But it's isolated because someone's node is broken

i just bought a Nooelec RTL-SDR v5 and it comes with 2 fixed length antennas and one telescoping one. The 2 fixed length antennas have a pigs tail spiral in the middle of them

do you count this in the antenna length when figuring out the best one for the frequency or just go from bottom to top? And I assume the antenna wire is shielded and not counting towards the length?

(im listening to my 433mhz soil sensors just fine and it was picking up FM stations well too, im just curious about the other ones if i start to mess around with other ranges)

>>2947951
>The 2 fixed length antennas have a pigs tail spiral in the middle of them

If you mean they have a coil in the middle, they are most likely dual-band with a resonant trap. Don't quote me on that, but from what I've seen, the bottom part length is measured without the coil, and the total length (used for another frequency) should also include the coil.
Best thing you can do is measure them with an SWR meter or VNA.

>>2947951
https://antenna2.github.io/cebik/content/vhf/cc.html

Why is it so difficult to find mast clamps for 2-7/8?
I got a 21ft stick of it for free and was gonna bolt it to my stub tower as a big penis extension and it's like a u-bolt desert out here.
I finally found some galvanised 2-15/16 that should work and I bought some 3in axle spring perches that might work for the smaller diameter but I would have rather used something more like a full aluminium block style clamp
Fuckin spent over a hunge on bolts and stuff

Meshtastic niggaz, anyone got a good build recipe for a solar-powered node?

>>2948478
I was just looking into it today and was meh
What is your budget/skill?
The cheapest option is a heltec v4 and a u.fl to n female, cheap omni, any lithium battery, and a couple of 5v vmp panels in parallel.

The better option is a real 12-18v panel and one of these https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808709363147.html
Just plug a node in it with its own battery.

A weird third option is a heltec meshsolar, and a 18v vmp panel and a single 3.2v 100ah lfp cell. It's the most expensive but also by far the most fuck it I want to set and forget option.

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>>2948478

Austin Texas nerds have a Good solar setup on their website.

Austinmesh, shit is gas

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Is my math right in that the limits of LoRa are more cucked by PSD rules (8dbm /3 KHz) and so if my math is correct here, which may or may not be the case, the real limit of conducted power is 27.21dBm on 250khz wide channels, (long_fast to short_fast)
With long_moderate and lkng_slow being 125KHz and having a lower 24.2dBm, and short_turbo being no factor, you can use the full 30dbm.

Secondly if I understand the 6dbi antenna limit correctly, you are allowed a higher dbi antenna but you take dBm off of the conducted power at a 1:1, so 11.1dBi (9dBd) antenna on 250KHz channel would need a conducted power of 22.11dBm.
You also cannot substitute cable losses in this, so you must 1:1 remove dB and the losses are the hit you take additionally.

So with this theory, I believe I am safe in using a 3 meter tall 11.1dBi omni on a node using the full 22dBm tx power?
So many people are claiming the max eirp is 30 when it's actually 36 in the US, and the conducted power would be 30 but PSD is what is capping most radios at 22.
However the 22 reasoning doesn't work when you can break PSD limits with longslow by 3dBm, unless this is accounted for in firmware?

>>2948480
>What is your budget/skill?
I'd say $50-$100 per node, skill is level is not retarded I have a few LoRas that I got running without issue a few years back, I cen solder and have a decent printer so should be able to do whatever's needed.

>>2948597
The go with the first option. All in everything should be 100
Heltec v4
5.0v 7-10w solar panel
U.fl whatever to n female
Cheap "5.8dbi" omni
Cheap 3000mah lithium batter bare cell no bms
Some ip68 enclosure

For the panel you can either just plug it in to usb or cut the end off the panel and solder it in to the solar panel connector. I'm not sure which is better desu. The panels on amaz are all fro like ring or ect. The bare cells are too expensive there and rated low like 1w each, you really want like 7+

>>2948622
Do I get anything by spending a little more, say $150 a node? I'm an adherent to the "anything worth doing is worth doing right" school of thought.

>>2948684
The more you spend the more robust your power supply is basically.
If you don't want to fuck around, buy the heltec meshtower, like it's a meshsolar already assembled, I like those because you can do some interesting battery configs like using a cheap leaf cell with it, it has a bms and a mppt onboard.

Can someone help me please, I'm looking to get into radio and also want to use it to transmit on walkie talkie frequency whiles at work. I'm looking for an unlockable radio. I've tried 2 different uv-5r models that I was unable to unlock, I'm not sure where to try next

>>2948725
I forgot to mention im in England, United Kingdom

>>2948725
try a qansheng UV-K5 or similar, what frequency you want to use ? PMR 446 ?

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I got an extra license, now what?

>>2948736
Enjoy listening to nothing on the extra frequencies you have since no one uses them except in contests. Almost all stop at General for a reason. Extra is just a circle jerk.

t. someone who has Extra

>>2948733
Tried the ukvr same thing it won't let me unlock them, its some UK or EU regulation preventing unlockable radios being sold. Yes I'm looking to transmit on pmr446. I've just ordered a tidradio td-h3, it's coming tomorrow. I believe this radio is able to be unlocked

>>2948756
I don't understand that "locking" thing, it's locked on ham bands ? I am in France, I bought baofengs, qanshengs, they are can transmit on anything but aviation band

>>2948756
Also did you bought it on aliexpress directly ? They don't give a shit what they send you

>>2948758
I've tried one from AliExpress too

Would anyone happen to know the diameter of conduit I'd need to run 3 lines of LMR-400? All I can see online is it requires a 1" bend radius.

>>2948985
1.5" if you don't account for connectors

>>2948757
Quansheng on custom firmware doesn't give a fuck about aviation bands, but you can't tx am from them, you can key up while listening to am but it is fm.

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>>2939599
how does the transformer of a bruene directional meter work? i get that the coax is acting as a single turn primary as it passes through the toroid, but HOW? i was under the impression that coax shielding acting as the return path would materially cancel out the electric and magnetic field of the inner conductor. if this is the case, then how is the magnetic field penetrating the coax shield and coupling to the ferrite?

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>>2949051
>this is an excellent way to gape your ass
>Tx an FM carrier on the AM aviation bands with your $30 china radio

>>2949150
No one gives a shit. Unless you live 4 inches from an airport your shitty 4w handheld won't even be heard from atc and you're at the discretion of some boomer pilot to even A: notice it, and B: identify it as FM interference and not just bullshit like a distant plane or people talking over each other, and C: know how to even report it
Everyone loves to be all cool like haha that would be immediate jail lol but no, it takes at least like 600usd to actually disrupt at in any jail worthy way.

>>2949153
K, bro.

>>2949319
I'm just saying is all.

Also I forgot about one critical thing.
Airband is so far outside of the radio's resonance that your tx is at like 12mw.
I was like testing it with my spectrum analyser on a bunch of different bands, it really only does 70cm and 2m. It has very little capacity outside that and some of them can do some euro slop in 300.

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sqtddtot:
i have a baofeng uv5r, as well as a motorola xts 2500 like picrel. because of reasons, i really need to find out what frequency the motorola is programmed to, which is unknown to me. is there a way to use the baofeng to determine the motorola's frequency?

>>2949478
get a RTL-SDR anon

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>>2949478
Depends on the model. ChatGPT is your friend.

>>2949481
>ChatGPT is your friend
no it's not, faggot

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>>2949478
look up the FCCID (if it has one), the manufacturer HAS to disclose all operating frequencies

>>2949652
>>2949481
I think he wants to know the channels that are programmed into the radio by scanning the bands

Is Meshtastic based or cringe

>>2949675
It has it's use cases. I like that you can have texting ability without being cucked to the cell network. However, that depends a lot on if there are other nodes near you, and everyone you want to contact being on board with it. But, I don't like how it's shilled so much. The only ones who shill things as much are soicucks. Also, I'm not tethered to one single mode of operation. Then like above, it's very dependent on other nodes being near you, and other nodes being near them, and so on. There's not enough around here to justify it, but I have used it in areas which had plenty of nodes available.

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Hello chat, retard here
I just had the dumbest idea. So I get a hot air balloon, and retrofit it with an electric heater instead of fire, then instead of a basket I hang a BIG antenna and radio gear.
Then I tether it to the ground with a really long cable and run a power cable as well to it for the heater and the equipment.
Then I power the whole thing with redundant power so it's semi permanently in the air at ~500 meters altitude above my property. And just connect to the equipment with point to point wifi or something


Would this work? How many laws would this violate?

>>2949675
It's only worthwhile if there is already hella other people using it near you.
It does have some uses though in telemetry and iot data. Like you can just start writing code to message your master node values based on gpio inputs or even something else like modbus/can messages over meshtastic.

You would have to build your own mesh for it but the hardware is like dollars cheap

>>2949767
People already use (for decades) balloons for antenna supports.

If I was to put up my own private websdr, what should I use or do?
I don't really like doing things twice so not a rtlsdr

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>>2949767
US does that but you need a helium balloon, because electric heaters powerful enough to warm the required volume of air will be insane. Hot air balloons burners are in the MW order.

>>2949767
Easiest mode would be to use a kite.
Another route would be to sweet talk a hot air balloon club to permit you to place a relay under the basket, or a HF aerial along the side of the balloon envelope. With a 40 m tall ballon plus 40 m hanging down, you can get a full vertical dipole for the 160 m band. Your reception would be splendid.

>>2949842
Or use hydrogen gas. Combined with high powered RF gear you will truly live on the edge.

>>2949767
>so it's semi permanently in the air at ~500 meters altitude above my property
The FAA, or whatever entity governs your nations' airspace, will have an issue for sure. Will need inspections, licencing, warning lights if permitted.

>How many laws would this violate?
Even one felony is too much. Fed time usually involves long sentences and large fines.

I wonder how much a 500 metre long extension cord would weigh? And you'd have to factor voltage loss over that distance so to hell with using cheap 16g and 14g cord. And you'd have to calculate the sail area.. i'm almost certain a slight breeze and winter storm would tear out any anchoring system you envision. And I doubt there's an electric heater that even puts out enough btu's to overcome the heat loss for the size of the ballon you'd need to keep all that weight aloft.

On the plus side: your radio horizon would be excellent in the wifi frequency range you desire.

last night some retard on frs/gmrs channel 2 was on a (at least) 30 minute rant about someone named pete xxxx and how much he wanted to suck his dick and play catcher with him. seemed really angry. anyone who tried keying up on the freq he accused of being his lover. really cringe stuff. borderline babbling.

and now the CB channels are full of the usual superbowl joggers speaking CBonics.

>>2949767
>So I get a hot air balloon, and retrofit it with an electric heater instead of fire
correct this is a retarded "idea" the cord would be so heavy it wouldn't get off the ground.

I really wonder what they are teaching people for the last 30 years.

A mylar balloon filled with helium and the lightest wire you can get Away with is what you would use, and as long as it doesn't go high enough to interfere with air traffic, or fall on to power lines only your HOA or karen would give a fuck.

What is operating the reciever of a high power station like?

>>2950247
>What is operating the reciever of a high power station like?
you want to try that again? The receiver? Station? receivers aren't high power.

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>>2948985
Ditch is dug for the conduit. How would you terminate it for 3 connectors for antennas in the tree?
I was going to use a 6"x6" PVC box but am second guessing

>>2950253
>How would you terminate it
not telling you, this is /diy/ figure it out and learn something.

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>>2950253
Some sort of waterproof junction box yes. make a hole in it and put some mosquito net, it will allow moisture to come out, otherwise it will just come in.
for the cables descending from the antennas, make a half loop so water can drip off : they have to go to the bottom of the box too

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>>2950253
>>2950259

You can put the box on top of the conduit to not have to bother having rain entering the conduit, put some foam, mesh, whatever to block insects, rodents from using the conduit

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>>2950259
>>2950261
This is what I had in mind, but am second guessing if I have room to terminate 3 LMR-400 connections. In looking at it again, I probably also should have drilled on the side of the box

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>>2950265
Here was my first run. It's cramped.

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>>2950266
man...

>>2950265
maybe put the entrance for the 3 cables for the antenna on each corner of the box on the side where you put that pipe ?

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>>2950265
>>2950268

>>2950267
Kek. It got snipped and has been neglected for about 5 years. I moved the OTA TV antenna closer to the house.
>>2950269
I like your idea minus doing a U-turn with the thick LMR-400, but I guess I could make some short jumper cables with rg-8x. . That idea is starting to take shape. Add another 4"x4" post, solder connectors, then add the box (which would give me added room to solder, screw the box to the 4"x4", and then add some small shrubs and nobody will be the wiser. The shrub and tree can also act as a weather shield.

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>>2948736
>>2948737
I went 0 to extra and I haven't really used my license yet. I have an HT and there are some nets here, seems kinda boring tho.
I also got an elecraft, but I can't use it in my apartment since transmitting sets off the breakers [mine and neighbors]. I guess I'll have to ride/hike somewhere until I get a house.

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>>2950275
Whelp, drilled and threaded for 4 SO-239 bulkheads.
I may update in a week if/when I'm done.

>>2950248
Yeah the thing that receives instructions and turns them into radio waves

>>2950018
so this wack job gets on 462.575 every night and rants about his former lover:

https://youtu.be/BmUp0mR8lFk?t=29

>>2950327
do they protrude enough ?