Hi, my name is Matt and I've been an occasional lurker of this board for several years, figured I'd join up and say hi.
Some of you may know me elsewhere as "zombie" (I'm looking at you, Gavin )
My main interest is the aviation band - I'm close enough to the airport to pick up most of the traffic, and I'm a frequent listener to numloxx's liveatc feed.
Within the last year I discovered the wonders of ADS-B and the likes of flightradar24.com and planefinder.net and I've been hooked ever since.
I treated myself for xmas with a shiny new ADS-B receiver/decoder and now spend even more time glued to the screen watching planes arrive and depart while listening to the ATC.
I enjoy CB and use a Oricom UHF 5500 5 watt handheld with a rubber ducky antenna (Yeah yeah yeah, I'll buy some coax, terminate with SMA Male, and then attach the other end to a decent antenna.) I like using the repeaters at night when all the idiots are passed out drunk or high on drugs. You get to talk to all-sorts of folks. I can't wait until I can book into a Foundations Course next year.
I also use a Uniden EZI30XLT UHF/VHF scanner. It lets me scan the usual DFES VHF, but as an SES volunteer, it also lets me scan the SES channels. It's useful to have on a callout, as I can monitor one channel with my scanner, and the main one with the Vertex Standards we use on calls.
My neighbour has loaned me a USB DVB-T dongle, and I use my Linux box with GQRX to listen into the airwaves. I have just made a 500mm coat hanger antenna. Works pretty well.
It scans from 24 mhz to 1.9 GHz. Not bad for a $15 investment.
I have ordered a Baofeng UV-5R, but I won't be touching that until I get licensed.
)
