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@@wrscv41 it was my pleasure !! I'm glad it is working for you. Video 2 to follow shortly.

@@GreenLeefMusic Good luck. Make sure you keep the control board and swap to the new drive.

@ytuploader I don't think this thing has seen a sine wave ever in its lifetime. Lol.

Hi, you could try a tone generator program for a phone, tablet or PC, there are some out there. I believe you can download mp3 test files with many different sweeps and tone frequencies. I typically use a sine wave from a function generator. Almost any low frequency tone will work to center the cone for this process !

@@Allentox I'm glad I could help.

@@timmack2415 Thank you for your comment. Enjoy part 2.

@@malachid9298 Thank you for your thoughts and comments. 73.

@lapoint7603 Thank you for your comment. I'm happy to hear you have the club up and running again. 73.

@@w8lvradio Great ideas. Thanks for your comments. 73.

Wow, I'm very sorry to hear that. It does the Hobby no good to treat members in that way. Thanks for your comment. 73.

Ya I don't think it's just ham radio, it's all clubs, people, and I mean losers, form a group or join a group establish a pecking order ,and pound their chest and feed off each other's egos, for purpose in life, a lot of people retire and they have no power over anyone anymore, they are control freaks, and can't live with themselves or their wives, did I mention they are all divorced, ya I'll keep to myself, I am strong enough to deal with people like that, 4 kids 8 grandchildren I can laugh it off, good video, I hope they watch it, and realize their mistakes, 73s.

@daviddurflinger3104 I hope it gets watched also. I'm trying to help the hobby/service, but I probably won't make a difference, unfortunately. 73.

@@garycook5125 More good points, Thank you for your input !! 73.

This seems to be a common practice, hold a financial meeting and don't really DO any radio or talk much about actual radio itself. I try to provide a presentation for every meeting. Some are well received, sometime little to no interest. 73.

@@KB1UIF And, of course, there's always at least one idiot who waves around his dog-eared copy of "Robert's Rules of Order" like it was some sort of holy writ and wants to argue incessantly about "protocol" and "precedence of motions" and suchlike. The way we used to handle such people was to have the President say, "You know, that's a good question; why don't you write up a report and get back to us at next month's meeting?" Do that a couple of times and the idiot usually drops out and tries to form his own club...which invariably fails.

@brunnie These are good points you bring up for individuals. Do you mean these are club recommendations or enforcement? I'm a bit confused over your comment. It should be left to the individual to use proper procedures but not an enforcement by a club. I use different phonetics sometimes when other stations have difficulty copying my call correctly. I am probably guilty of saying my call too fast at times, too. Mostly on the local repeater. How were these things the reason to stop supporting your local club ? Sorry, I might be missing the point with respect to your club. 73.

@@KB1UIF ... I used "King" for Kilo, and Love for Lima as well as a few other phonetics that I started with and was chastised by an old (both age and licenseing) member that what I was saying was wrong. When I first got into amateur radio my mentor taught me to give the call sign not only as letters, but also as phonetic alphabet, that way any listening station would have a chance to scribble down the call sign so they could respond. Now days, call signs are rattled off so fast and letters sound similar (B=V or D) that it becomes very hard to almost impossible to respond... so why try? If I hear you say "King Bravo 1 Uniform Indigo Fox" that tells me exactly who you are instead of KB1UIF... or did he say KD1? Or was it KV1? Many hams in the clubs rarely use the phonetic alphabet for general chatter, so it becomes very hard to a new person to make a proper contact. One more club no-no I just thought of is "ignore the guys that only have a Tech License or 2 meter equipment." You don't know their situation, they may not have hundreds and hundreds of dollars to spend on equipment, and are using what they can afford.

@@KB1UIF When I was chastised for not using the proper phonetic alphabet, the person making the comment said "That's not the way we do things, use the correct alphabet." He was the club president, which made for a very unwelcoming situation. As for saying call signs too fast... I think it should be a reminder for clubs and members that new licensed people have a hard enough time learning things and trying to join in. Not getting a call sign correct can make a new person very uncomfortable.

@brunnie I understand. Yes, first of all, chastising someone on air is an awful way for anyone to treat a fellow Ham. New Hams sometimes need all the help and guidance that more experienced Hams can offer, but it all needs to be done the right way, politely and kindly in a manner not to upset fellow Hams. Some new Hams will also have skills that can be used by the club members to further their knowledge. Just because they are new Hams does not mean they are without knowledge of other subjects, possibly electronics engineers, have skills in fault finding or building and construction techniques, surface mount tech etc etc they may just want to experience another aspect of technology and communication. 73.

I'm sorry you are having these issues. I hope you find a better club that fits you better. Thanks for your comment. 73.

That's great, I'm glad you got your exams passed, and congratulations on being self taught!! Well done !! Thank you for your comment ! 73.

One of my suggestions is to make a call through your local repeater a couple of times a day. So many people just listen and then wonder why there is no activity. Thank you for your comment. 73.

Our closest repeaters are connected to Hubnet and Freestar, there is obviously activity on them because of the coverage. Not really my thing but they are okay, certainly a good starting point for anyone if local simplex is quiet.

@user-id9tv8ok9l Hi, I don't really know what you are referring to. Can you elaborate a little, please?

@baronedipiemonte3990 remember you can use the radio in an emergency life and death situation also without a license. There are plenty of very nice hams out there. If you listen around, you will find there are still good, friendly folks out there. Don't let the bad ones put you off getting on air. Be a good example to others and show them how it should be done. All the best. 73.

@KB1UIF I'm also licensed for GMRS, and have those, FRS, MURS... as well as several other local frequencies that aren't trunked or P-25 programmed (with permission from the agency/licensee) in case of a "life or death" situation. I'm a cardiac patient who lives in "hurricane alley", in an area where cell service is sometimes mediocre - even on sunny days. I've never had to use them & hopefully never will, but I have them. 73s

@baronedipiemonte3990 You are wise to have every means possible to call for help in a desperate situation. One instance, this failed me. I came across a fire at a local sports club. I was monitoring an active local repeater at the time, and I called for help only to be ignored. I tried the repeater as cell service was weak at best. The next fiasco was the 911 service insisted on knowing the exact town I was in before they would dispatch any Fire trucks. As I was not so familiar with my location I said I was between town A and town B. Apparently that's not good enough as they need to dispatch the trucks for the exact location I was. This frustrated me as I could not tell them, and they were holding up a response. I gave them the name of the club from the board at the entrance but that wasn't enough. Fortunately, a state police officer turned up and called it in. This was many years ago. I'm sure it would not be an issue today with phones using GPS. I suspect it was to do with billing the services correctly. But that delay could have cost lives. Crazy.

@KB1UIF I can imagine how frustrating that must have been. Being a retired command level l.e.o. in a major metropolitan city, I can tell you that not everyone who works in the public safety/service field does so because of altruistic ideals. That includes 911 operators. About a dozen or so years ago, the city 911 center had a "house cleaning" because fires burned, crimes committed, and people died... while 911 was on the line. Right now, there's an investigation of why a legitimate AMBER Alert was delayed by over an hour before it was broadcast. There's good and bad in every profession. But it's like Forrest Gumps' box of chocolate... you never know what you are going to get. Anyway, what I was going to suggest is that radio operators who have an interest in ARES, or just happen to live in a disaster prone area, order from the U.S. Govt Printing Office the DHS 3"x5" booklet * NIFOG - National Interoperability Field Operations Guide. It lists thousands of national communications frequencies for public safety (VHF low & high, UHF, 700-900mhz conventional, trunked...), Civilian (Amateur, GMRS, MURS, FRS, 27mhz CB, VHF & SSB Marine, VHF AM & SSB Aviation, Railroad ops...). It's a handy reference to have, especially when you don't have Wireless Internet. It also lists phone numbers that can be dialed to avail oneself of "backdoor" SMS cellular service when the main ones are down. Radio Reference dot com is also a trove of frequency information with a back door to the FCC ULS where you can find some "curious" frequency lists... 😉. ATB 73s

@baronedipiemonte3990 Thank you for this information and comment. It's good to know. I subscribe to Radioreference.com and use the FCC ULS site quite often for finding various details of local frequencies, etc. I have a scanner running 24 hours to keep updated on the activity in my area. I even responded to a call of a car crash with a trapped driver and engine fire and put out the fire before emergency services arrived. It was literally about 100 ft from my house. No, I don't drive around following fire calls. Lol.

Sorry, I have no idea what that means.

@rtpman1953 Yes, unfortunately, many hams prefer to just operate from home and not go into the community to practice their skills at setting up temp stations so they are prepared for any emergency situations and natural disasters. Most Hams consider it's more of a hobby, than a service if required. 73.

@perryallan3524 Very true, it applies to many groups and organizations. I just concentrated on one that I'm concerned about right now.

@SpeccyMan I agree you do have skills that are valuable. Today, lots of people in the hobby will only buy black boxes to use for communication. They are not really interested in knowing how the guts of the transceiver work. In the past, folks would build their radios, but that has mostly died off. Transceivers are so complicated today that most would not even think about building anything so complicated. Radios used to be easy to repair with though hole or wired components, but today, they are becoming almost throw away even when they cost anywhere from $500 and up for a base station for HF. Hand-held radios are throw away now and almost the price of a visit to a fast food restaurant for two, unless you buy high end Handheld radios. Possibly, the answer is for you to find a group that meets online, maybe use Zoom or another form of social media. You may have the ability to teach some subjects in Electronics to stem groups or other youth groups. You may even find a group that pools transport to face to face meetings. I will often drive two other guys to our face to face meetings. We also meet on the air via our local repeater. Another idea, do you make TH-cam videos to show your skills to others? Good luck 73.

@SpeccyMan Do you have radio equipment ? I provide a kiwi radio for folks to listen to shortwave using a browser on any device phone, laptop, tablet, computer, etc. It's free to use and supports up to 4 users. Either search kiwisdr or my call sign KB1UIF for more information. You can contact me directly if you want, I would be happy to give you information about Ham Radio and get you further into the hobby. 73.

@summerwindcharters1326 That's too bad. I'm sorry you had that experience.

Thank you for your suggested addition to the sort of bad behavior that occurs. Thank you also for the comment. 73.

NICE!

@johnnorth9355 It's certainly not required to belong to a club. I know some Hams are lone operators, which is perfectly OK. I like the aspect of passing on experience, and I give presentations that are typically well received. I hope you have made many friends on Ham radio. I certainly have. Thank you for your comment. 73.

Yes, its common, and its sad. Thank you for your comment. 73.

This is all too painfully true. Far more emphasis is put on sharing stories with one another than imparting knowledge upon those newer to the hobby.

@@MIKROWAVE1 Haha, very true. I didn't mind the hams being older. I looked up to them like my grandfather.

You're exactly right. 5 years ago this video would have resonated with me. Today? I'm on the other side. Have some patience, education takes time! Be a part of your learning experience. Ham radio is a collection of hobbies. If you want to learn something, open your mind.

@@r_kuhl Just be an elmer. There won't be much of a future without helping the new hams learn to be GOOD hams.

I am glad to hear that. may I ask what area?

@@stevemorse5052 Central Illinois area

This too is a don't. Ham radio isn't political and politics should be left at the door.

Thank you for your comment. Yes, unfortunately, there is a lot of truth in the satire. It's very sad. Maybe point out this video to open some folks' eyes ! I dont believe every club is like this, but unfortunately, I'm sure there are many. 73.

@@KB1UIF I went to high school in Handsworth!

@stevemorse5052 Oh wow, I used to be the computer services and network manager at Handsworth College. I also worked at BT in Bordesly Green and a TV / electronics repair shop on Warwick Rd. Also, have the call G6JVS. Small world !

@@KB1UIF Handsworth College, cannot place it. Soho Rd by the library? I went to school at Handsworth Wood Secondary Modern on Church lane (End of Oxhill Rd, the number 70 bus), graduated in 1964. I also worked for the GPO, I think it was called Post Office Telephones at the time, that was in Leicester, in the '70s. BTW I have watched some of your videos many years ago, the one that caught my eye was the Arduino TFT one, I thought I recognized the call sign. OK mate, 73, G8OTV / KI6HGH

Opps, my mind is going... I said Oxhill Road, I meant Grove lane. I've got 6 years on you.

@@JorgeSantiago-s7f Lucky, who wasn't robbed on eBay ? I buy off eBay often and don't have issues. I'm not telling you to, but I got this second hand part at a much cheaper price than a new one.

Thank you for the nice comment. 73.

Yes, go to Aliexpress and search for "On air ham radio sign" they have lots to choose from for color, sizes and country power plug type etc. BE CAREFUL, AND BE SURE to order the CORRECT ONE you want. Multiple suppliers and many versions !! You provide your call sign for them to customize. I am NOT associated with the sellers, so I am sorry it's not on me if you are not happy with your purchase and don't get what you expect. Mine is a muti color version and came with the hanging hardware, remote control, and USB power plug. Good luck.

You can try this link, but again, double check what YOU want. a.aliexpress.com/_mMLg1Vs This link only takes you to one of the sellers. You still need to decide which of their units YOU want. So be careful what you order. Mine was in the region of $25-28 or so. I also requested the cardboard box for shipping and better protection. Mine was sold as 24key and plug 40x30cm.