I just wanted to be the first to post a message here. So this is it. The coolness already wore off before I finished typing this.By the way, I am a ham and enjoy reading everything I can about radio. That's what originally brought me to this site. I like to be among the first to know what's happening with broadcast radio as well. The contributors to this site make it one of the best.C-Ya!
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FIrst Post
- Thread starter kd5pck2
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I mostly stick on 11m...Except im getting tired of the careless operators that dont care how much they splash...Theres a couple idiots running 1000watt kickers near me (Or more) and 1 of them splashes me like crazy!!!!!! (And they dont care one bit when you try and talk to them) Its times like this that make me think i'd be happier on 2m,where i could talk to most of the same people as i can on 11 (w/o the trash operators) Alot of people on 11 in my area are also hams,so i would still have all of them and i'd lose the idiots who splash.......Lately though my antenna has gone bad (My 11m stick) I cant recieve hardily anything and my match is well over 3.. I dont know if its an open coil or something else on the antenna......Anyone know how i would check into it?? I have hooked up another antenna as a test and it works,so THANKFULLY it isnt the radio. (Kinda depressing though,antenna has only been up there 3 years)
It is rather amazing some of the audio one hears on 11m.. if these guys are wanting to actually talk to people, it would make a lot more sense to back off on the modulation & run a clean signal. I mean, many of them are simply difficult (to impossible) to understand. I suppose some like it that way...The Dude said:
Are you sure it's the antenna - and not the feedline - that's bad? (when you tried the other antenna, did you use the same feedline?) Antenna problems are *usually* apparent in a visual inspection. Loading coils can be a problem though, but you can measure them with an ohmmeter. The resistance across a coil should be close to zero. If it's more than a handful of ohms, you have a problem. What kind of antenna is it? (please describe it physically, I'm not familiar with the model names of CB antennas..) Is the match better at some channels than others? (for example, does the match improve as you go from channel 1 to channel 40?)
If you have an ohmmeter (you can get them at Home Depot among other places) you could disconnect the coax at both ends. Check the resistance between the plug shell and center pin. It should be infinite. The next check is for continuity: check between the center pin on one end and the center pin on the other end. Likewise, between the shell on one end and the shell on the other. Unfortunately this is often physically impossible! - in which case one way to test it is to have an assistant short-circuit one end of the coax (maybe with a screwdriver?) while you measure the resistance between the pin and the shell on the other end. While the far end is being shorted, you should read a very low resistance at your end. There *are* feedline failures that won't show up this way, but those that will show up are far more likely.As for the antenna itself, usually a 5/8 antenna will show continuity - if you connect the coax to the antenna, and then measure the shell<=>pin resistance on the other end, it should be very low, 20 ohms at the most. You should also show continuity between the center pin and the upper metal whip of the antenna. (this is probably easier to measure with the feed not connected)The other possibility is that the antenna is way out of tune. Usually there's a way of sliding the upper whip up & down, often after loosening a setscrew or two. Pulling the whip up - making the overall antenna longer - will lower the resonant frequency; pushing the whip down - making the antenna shorter - will increase the resonant frequency. If the match is better at channel 40 than it is at channel 1, then the whip needs to pull up; if it's better at channel 1 than at channel 40, the whip needs to push down. The 25.5-28.7MHz band indicated in the link is pretty wide, and I would *expect* an antenna resonant at 25.5 or 28.7MHz to show a 3:1 SWR at 27.2MHz in the middle of the CB band.The Dude said:
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Podcaster Pat
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FIrst Post On Ham Board (WAS Re: First Post)
Hi everyone:Lately, I've been hanging out on EchoLink quite a bit (Call is KB0OXD BTW
). I'm logged on as a PC user, though I do have conferencing mode enabled so that groups of guys (or gals or kids for that matter) can get on if they want. I have an ICOM IC-706 MKII-G, but have no working mic for it (It got busted somehow while it was packed away in a box when I was in the hospital last summer). Other than that, the radio itself works just fine (Near as I can tell that is). Just need a mic for it is all. HRO quoted me a price of $75 (Can't believe they still charge that much for a mic for a rig that's at least three years old ).It should only cost $20-$40 IMO.Thoughts anyone?Just my $.02 worth Cheers
Hi everyone:Lately, I've been hanging out on EchoLink quite a bit (Call is KB0OXD BTW
). I'm logged on as a PC user, though I do have conferencing mode enabled so that groups of guys (or gals or kids for that matter) can get on if they want. I have an ICOM IC-706 MKII-G, but have no working mic for it (It got busted somehow while it was packed away in a box when I was in the hospital last summer). Other than that, the radio itself works just fine (Near as I can tell that is). Just need a mic for it is all. HRO quoted me a price of $75 (Can't believe they still charge that much for a mic for a rig that's at least three years old ).It should only cost $20-$40 IMO.Thoughts anyone?Just my $.02 worth Cheers Re: FIrst Post On Ham Board (WAS Re: First Post)
Any standard mike should work, if only you can get it wired to the RJ-45 plug. I wired a box for a local that allows attaching a computer multimedia headset to a 706, it works fine for her. If you can get a hand mike for some other rig, you could cut one end off a Cat-5 computer patch cable & wire it to a female inline mike jack to serve as an adaptor.Podcaster Pat said:
Icom makes an adapter to fitt a standard mic on the 706. You might want to check the Icom website (www.icomamerica.com) as they have a chart that will tell you what mic fit what Icom radios. Also, check Ebay or your local hamfests for mics. I bought the backlit DTMF mic for my 706 several years ago and I think I paid around $50 for it. Sorry, but if I still had the old stock mic for that 706 I would let you have it cheap but it and 90% of my ham gear got ruined in Katrina.Good luck.DonAE5DW
i'm also a ham and i work in broadcast (call is k6ngg) i also use echolink...
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