WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Well I'm a professional so I should be calling them aerials I hate using antenna's I keep thinking I'm going to spell it wrong for some reason.

I agree with Wes. Antenna to me is the more correct.

Look at www.dictionary.com and type in aerial and then antenna.

For the explanation of aerial it says A Radio or TV antenna as the 11th definition.

A rose is a rose by any other name. I see arial/aeriel/ariel spelled wrong more often than antenna. I see antennas used more often than antennae as well. grr

I'm enrolled at Ham College in September to do the Foundation license

Picked up the radio from my workmate this weekend, I think it's waaaaay too much radio for me at the moment. It's a Yaesu FT-990 - 100 watts and doesn't seem to do 70cm or 2m. Also it's minus an antenna.

So, I'm looking at getting a cheap handheld 2m (possibly one of these Quangshengs)
http://www.hamshack.com.au/index.php?pr=Quansheng
and will move onto the Yaesu once I've got some more experience, and also I think I'll need more than a foundation license to use the >10m frequencies.

If anyone can recommend an antenna for the Yaesu please let me know, may start by just listening to it. Will have to figure out how to turn the power down on it too - it's adjustable up to 100w.

meg wrote:I'm enrolled at Ham College in September to do the Foundation license

Picked up the radio from my workmate this weekend, I think it's waaaaay too much radio for me at the moment. It's a Yaesu FT-990 - 100 watts and doesn't seem to do 70cm or 2m. Also it's minus an antenna.

So, I'm looking at getting a cheap handheld 2m (possibly one of these Quangshengs)
http://www.hamshack.com.au/index.php?pr=Quansheng
and will move onto the Yaesu once I've got some more experience, and also I think I'll need more than a foundation license to use the >10m frequencies.

If anyone can recommend an antenna for the Yaesu please let me know, may start by just listening to it. Will have to figure out how to turn the power down on it too - it's adjustable up to 100w.

Don't buy the Quansheng - they limit you to one band as I have been told by many Ham friends!

Check out - http://strictlyham.com.au/Icom/Handheld/IC-P7A.htm.

Cheers, CC

Thanks for that CC - I'm very keen for any advice!

I don't suppose you know of any handhelds that are D-star capable? As a computer geek at heart, I'm interested in this and the other digitl/packet stuff that's about.

Thanks

Meg

For antennae a lot will depend on space. If you can get a yagi or a cubical quad on a 45 foot mast then great - do it! If not maybe a multi-band dipole (eg Bushcomm make them) or nested set of delta loops might help. If all else fails try something like a TET vertical, Outbacker vertical or even a High Sierra style tuneable antenna.

Have a look at K7AGE on youtube. He has a few videos on PSK31 and Hellschreiber if you're interested in digital modes.

Currently Icom have 3 handhelds which can be DStar capable by the addition of the DStar board.

I believe Foundation License holders cannot use DStar or Digital Modes like packet psk31 etc but can receive of course. So to use them on transmit would require a Standard or Advanced license.

For an antenna as mentioned it depends on a lot of things. Space available, frequency you wish to operate, amount available to spend. Trapped dipole probably as good a starting antenna as any I suppose.

Thanks again for the advice all - I'll check out the Icom D-star handhelds (minus board for the moment!) and start investigating how I'll mount an antenna. We have plenty of space so price might be the big factor.

Hi
Good to hear another person is joining the ranks!
There is a wealth of stuff on this site.

http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Antennas/

Cheers
Martin

meg wrote:I'm enrolled at Ham College in September to do the Foundation license

Awesome! You'll have fun I'm sure

meg wrote:So, I'm looking at getting a cheap handheld 2m (possibly one of these Quangshengs)
http://www.hamshack.com.au/index.php?pr=Quansheng

The first radios I bought were the Quanshengs - as CC says, they're either 2m or 70cm, so if you want to do both bands you need two radios.

But for what they cost, I reckon they're pretty good as a starting out radio.

Thankyou all again

I'm now thinking perhaps the Icom IC-V82 - I'd like to have the future upgrade path for D-star, not really sure that having both 2m and 70cm is essential though?
http://strictlyham.com.au/Icom/Handheld/IC-V82.htm

Time to do more reading on the two bands!

Cheers to all of you!
Meg

How about an IC7800 for a starting radio??
http://strictlyham.com.au/Icom/Base/IC-7800.htm

Edit: For those not quite certain, yes I was being sarcastic then, look at the price!!!!! That cost more than my car!!!!!!

meg wrote:Thankyou all again

I'm now thinking perhaps the Icom IC-V82 - I'd like to have the future upgrade path for D-star, not really sure that having both 2m and 70cm is essential though? Meg

Different parts of Australia seem to prefer 2m or 70cm so having a radio that's capable of both is an asset. In Perth, 2m is significantly more popular than 70cm, although there's slowly more people jumping onto 70cm every now and then.

But I'm led to believe that on the eastern seaboard, 70cm is just as, if not more popular than 2m...

One of the things that 2m suffers from that 70cm doesn't is interference from pagers, which is bloody frustrating when you work in the CBD

But then again 70cm can also suffer interference from LIPDs, so I guess it's all horses for courses.

If you can get a radio that does both 2m and 70cm, it puts you in the best spot I reckon as you can jump between the two bands to suit wherever you are and what the local conditions are.

That's how I've organised myself anyway and it works for me ... but you'll have to decide if it works for you as well

Tyranus wrote:How about an IC7800 for a starting radio??
http://strictlyham.com.au/Icom/Base/IC-7800.htm

Yes please!!! Anyone who wants to buy me one is more than welcome to!