The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio

[mr_rye89]

I use one of those Nagoya whips with my UV-5R (8 watt version), it works great for UHF, less good but still good for VHF. I can hear all 2M/70CM repeaters that are within 30 miles. I also have the USB adapter for mine and programmed all the FRS/GMRS/MURS frequencies in with CHIRP. I also added the local repeaters as channels because messing with the offset/sub audible tone every time you switch repeaters is a pain. I also fixed the squelch values on it too.

I also have an old Realistic HTX-202 VHF walkie, but the battery pack on it is hosed.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by mr_rye89

I use one of those Nagoya whips with my UV-5R (8 watt version), it works great for UHF, less good but still good for VHF. I can hear all 2M/70CM repeaters that are within 30 miles. I also have the USB adapter for mine and programmed all the FRS/GMRS/MURS frequencies in with CHIRP. I also added the local repeaters as channels because messing with the offset/sub audible tone every time you switch repeaters is a pain. I also fixed the squelch values on it too.

I also have an old Realistic HTX-202 VHF walkie, but the battery pack on it is hosed.

I have a Yaesu FT-207R HT which still works, last time I used it, some years ago. The battery pack went West several years ago, so I discarded the pack and put the HT itself in storage; it is still in storage to this day. I can't use the Yaesu HT anymore anyway, since the local 2m repeater now requires a 110.9 Hz PL tone (the Yaesu HT does not have a PL tone generator; I don't know if I could get one for an HT that old anymore). I bought a used Icom IC-T22A HT some time in the 1980s, when AES was still around; this little radio does have a PL tone board, so I can now get into the local 81/21 repeater just fine (I live only about a mile or so from the repeater).

As for the UV-5R VHF-UHF handheld, I have one but it doesn't work well enough to access the above- mentioned 81/21 repeater. That is, I can hit the repeater OK from my location, but not solidly; the last time I tried, I received a report to the effect that my signal was extremely scratchy and, of course, all but unreadable. When I switched to my Icom HT, the problem was solved. The only things I can think of are the battery pack in my UV-5R must have been too weak, or perhaps I wasn't using the proper antenna (I was using a very short rubber-duckie antenna on the radio at the time).

[kf4rca]

If a rig doesn't have a PL tone generator, you can always roll your own:
https://www.cmlmicro.com/wp-content/...2/db315A-6.pdf
That's what I did to a GE that I had.

[zenith2134]

80 meters has been wild here and there....lots of fighting and name calling which, although a shame, can be hilarious! I enjoy my nightly scanning of the bands;

Modern rig: Tecsun S-2000
Solid state: Zenith Transoceanic Royal D7000Y
Tube: Hammarlund HQ-180

Best thing I ever did was install an attic antenna. 100' horizontal. Sometimes the built in whip antenna works better on battery power down on the beach though.
Great hobby.... they still haven't " squelched " us . . .

[ARC Tech-109]

Makes CB look mature

[nasadowsk]

Originally Posted by ARC Tech-109

Makes CB look mature

A few friends got their ham licenses a while ago. One gave me a demo of the stuff they were listening to - apparently a local repeater basically broadcasting some guy that made WABC sound off the deep end liberal. I'm sure the other side is out there too, though.

One DID suggest a use for it if we ever went hunting together - little rig under the treestand's seat to key back and forth to each other...

[ARC Tech-109]

I've been into amateur radio since about 1978 starting in the 3rd grade and have seen the ups and downs but nothing like what we're lacking today. A few of the MPLS/St.Paul area repeaters have some net traffic during the day, drivetime has a few die hard lids to keep the finals warm but the vast majority seems to be imported echolink & IRLP nodes. HF seems dead as well with only a few people on 40M.
As a youth I couldn't get enough of the HF bands. I'd spend the weekends with my Elmer working the stations on his Drake TR-4C, the Donald Duck of SSB and punchy AM signals from across the globe pulled me in while I worked the logbook, the really special nights were when he gave me the pilot seat and D104. I'm going on 52 now and have spent the majority of my life on or around the radio. Yes the smartphone is a transceiver but nothing like what it was when we had a real connection. Unfortunately we are losing amateur radio to the advances of technology, social media of the airwaves has become an app with the excitement of Facebook and google... echolink app anyone?

[Jeffhs]

I live in an apartment building, so cannot use my HF gear. I stay somewhat active in the hobby, however, by using the local 147.81/21 repeater, which is about a mile or so from my apartment. I am a member of the local ham club, the Lake County (Ohio) Amateur Radio Association; have been for many years. I check in to the club's weekly 2-meter net, which also runs on Echolink. I cannot use EL with my computer at this time, however, since the program was erased from my system the last time I had it in for repairs; I am still trying to figure out how to reinstall EL on the computer since I switched to Ubuntu a few years ago, but I can still use EL and check in to the net using my 1.5-watt Icom IC-T22A HT with a 1/4-wave telescoping portable antenna.

Amateur radio is changing, to be sure, but it isn't dead yet, not by a long shot; I honestly do not believe for a second it will die any time soon, not as long as there are local FM repeaters and services such as Echolink. At nearly 65 years of age, I have no intention of moving from my apartment, so EL is allowing me to stay active in a hobby I have enjoyed since I was 16 years old in 1972.

Certainly, running strictly 2m FM and Echolink is not the same (far from it) as working the world with an HF station, but, my situation being what it is, I have pretty much resigned myself to it and am fairly used to it by now. Running an HT with Echolink and through my club's 2m repeater is nowhere near what I was running when I lived in a Cleveland suburb, but I am still somewhat active in the hobby, which is all that matters to me.

I will not let my license expire, or become completely inactive, just because I cannot use HF as I had been accustomed to when I had my HF station. One big advantage to running strictly 2m with a handheld is I no longer have to be concerned about losing antennas in windstorms (I lost at least one all-band HF dipole in high winds and snowstorms when I was active on HF), or having to worry about lightning striking the antenna.

One other tradeoff is I cannot use CW on the local FM repeater (or any such machine, for that matter), so I am resigned to using voice on that repeater. I wish I could use CW as I formerly did, but my circumstances, again, are such that I am more or less forced to operate FM voice, or nothing.

Using a local ham's station is out of the question as well. I say this because one local amateur, who lives only a block or so away from me, will not speak to me or have anything to do with me; the reasons for this are a mystery to me as I never did or said anything, that I am aware of, anyway, to cause him to shun me as he has been doing, literally for decades. I do not know any other amateurs in my area either (I live in a very small town, population 3109); I do not want to pester or to be a nuisance to anyone in the club I belong to, so when the person I just mentioned started ignoring me, I just gave up. That is, I will (and do) still occasionally check into my club's 2m net, but that's all.

I never thought after almost 50 years in ham radio it would come to this, but....oh, well. I guess if I had moved to a large city rather than to the village I relocated to 21 years ago (the reasons I moved from the Cleveland suburb in which I lived and operated my station until then are immaterial), things would be quite a bit different, but I am here now, and, given my age, I am in no position to move again except in case of a dire emergency.

73,

[zenith2134]

Anyone been cruising the bands lately? Some interesting content. Wish I spoke about four more languages though!

[mr_rye89]

I haven't fired up my rig in a few weeks, last time I did I made a contact in Chile on 17m I think. That horizontal loop I put up last November really rocks despite only being 20' up and me only running 100 watts. I also have a (tr)usdx kit coming in the mail. I'm looking forward to building that.

[zenith2134]

That's a cool looking kit. Now I'm tempted to order one. I build tube hifi in my free time. Was supposed to be a business endeavor but I've kept 90% of my builds for myself so far.

I'll be firing up my Hammarlund HQ-180 this evening. Fully restored and aligned, these perform quite well for an antique. You have to be accustomed to twiddling knobs to use one properly. I think a lot wind up dumpstered or Ebay'd due to lack of operator knowledge on antenna design and such.

It is a cool night here and pretty humid. Just feels like a radio night.