HAM RADIO SANITY - Simple Low Budget Stations, WORK !
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ต.ค. 2024
- You can have great fun from low budget stations. Spend what you can afford and let the "Big Guns"do you a favour into the bargain!
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Peter, Thank you (from Tennessee in the USA across the pond) for your down-to-earth videos! I’m one of those operating on a limited budget and in HOA-impaired neighborhood. I really appreciate the tips that you give in your videos for folks like me. With only 10 watts and an EFHW in the back garden, I’ve been fortunate to make digital contacts with operators in France, Germany and Italy in addition to the Cayman Islands, Chile and Venezuela. I’m hoping to reach the U. K. one of these days! (Bring on those sun spots!) Ham radio can be very rewarding even if I’m not one of the guys with high power and tall towers.
Great to hear from you. Nice to hear now you are still able to QSO. Yes indeed we need more sunspots. Now winter is upon us the bands are closing early. However, Spring is only a few months away!! 73 Peter.
I find it very rewarding to make nice contacts with "what you got".. I don't think I'll ever be one of those with an "antenna farm". I am using a G5RV in an inverted V, have made a fan dipole for 40 and 80. Hopefully get it up on the mast before too long.
Jay, K7WLE
Peter, having been licensed for 60 years but living in a flat with no permission to erect anything for an antenna, I appreciate your pep talk about hamming on limited means! It's always been a low-budget show for me, and it will probably always be such. I've only had a couple of opportunities to get new rigs, over the years (an HW-101 in 1974 when I re-enlisted in the Air Force, and an IC-735 in 1985, when I inherited some money). As a retiree from my day job, I eke out some extra bread as a musician, but it's a sometime thing for me. I greatly appreciate your videos for what they don't do: Yes, you are the proprietor of a major retailer, but your videos are about ham radio, not about the latest and most expensive pieces of gear. Whatever you've been doing, keep doing it! - AL7W
Hi Henry, some nice words and I am glad to hear from you. I am not sure of your location, but there are a number of internet receivers that you can log onto an tune around. I tried one on my smart phone recently. The advantage is low noise, no antenna needed etc. Ideal for listening in a flat. All you need is a WiFi signal. 73 Peter.
Thanks for this pep talk Mr. Waters. I just got into the hobby at 66. I've been doing POTA throughout the summer and throughly enjoyed it. But that gets me away from the home shack. I live in a townhome quad (four townhouses attached) in Maple Grove MN and don't have much of a yard to work with. But I have two verticals on my deck 8 foot off the ground. One is a Wolf River HF and the other is a 2m/70cm VHF/UHF. Sometimes I can get away with putting up my 80-10 EFHW for a few days, which I just did for the ARRL November Sweepstakes. As you said, the higher powered stations with better antennas can both transmit and hear better and that benefit those of us running 100 watts and a wire. I got 110 contacts by the way. I'm thinking I might be able to get a 40, 20, 10 dipole up on my little lot (maybe an off-center). Time will tell. It's a fun hobby and you encouraged me to keep at it. Thanks! -Dave, K0NOC
Hi David. Thanks for sharing that. Great to heea from you. 73 Peter
I had a contact a few months back with someone using a Wolf River Coil on 20 and he sounded great. I have had great success with an Alpha-Delta DX-EE as an inverted V with very limited space from 10-40m and can do 80m locally with a wide ranging tuner. I found that you can also save a lot of money looking for used antennas to try in limited space.
I really enjoy the pace, tone, and content of your channel. You seem as enthusiastic as you must have been when you got your start. Much respect from the other side of the pond. Cheers and 73 from North Carolina.
Lovely words. I do my best. Take care. Peter
Well put Peter, it's not all about how much you spend, it's about your quality as an operator. Knowing your system and it's potential and understanding how to operate properly. As an instructor i always told my foundation students that the most important piece of their equipment was their ears! Listen first and understand the conditions/propagation of the band you are on., i operate mobile and QRP portable and have worked VK2 and YB0 from my car at 100W on SSB, no beam on my truck!! 73 and all the best Dave M-0-FAZ/m
Yes all good points and advice. Well done on your instruction work with new students. Keep it up. 73 Peter.
My mother use to tell me to count my blessing too - with just a 100 watts and a wire hanging in a tree, I value every contact I can make.
I find that even 50watt is enough.
that's 10x greater than 5w but twice as less power consumption then 100w.
Thanks for sharing! 73 Peter
I have an Icom IC-718 and a DX Commander vertical and no amplifier. From my QTH in Arizona, with this modest little setup, I've worked stations in Russia, China, Japan, Australia, and South Africa. During the recent CQWW SSB contest, I was able to work many many stations under the noses of the "Big Guns", including a DXpedition to the Galapagos Islands.
It has taught me to be a better operator, not reliant on amplifiers and antenna arrays, rather relying on strategy and timing and listening and observation.
If you want to work DX and have a modest station, it can be done.
Great for newcomers to read. Many thanks. 73 Peter.
Thanks for an enjoyable video. I got into the hobby at 70. My station is simple - an icom 7300 and and end fed antenna. I’m having the time of my life. Everything you said is true.
Hi Don. Great to get your input. Enjoy HF even more as the sunspots increase. 73 Peter
Another pleasant chat and well-grounded thinking, thank you. And nice music too :-)
Glad you enjoyed it. 73 Peter
I live in VK3. South Eastern Victoria, Australia. I've only been licenced about 6 years. I still use a very budget set-up being a 5 watt FT817nd and an endfed halfwave for 40 meters (40 - 10). I get out to VK's 1, 2, 5, & 7 without any problems. I do get my home state. I sometimes get VK 4 and VK8. I have also worked VK 9 and at times ZL & VK 6. I once worked JA (very tough but it happened) and Spain (tough one too with my 5 watts). I also have a Qmac that's does up to 50 watts but I love the little Yaesu 817nd.
Hi Isn. Lways interesting to hear from down under! Sounds like a lot of fun derived from the challenge of low power communications. Keep at it. 73 Peter
Thanks Peter.
My previous house, I had a G5RV strung across the back yard. When it fell down in a storm, my wife requested I put up a vertical rather than repair it. We moved house last year, and the yard at the new place is quite small,mostly taken up by a swimming pool, so it was actually an advantage to already have verticals for HF, 6 metres, 2 metres and 70cm. This is a modest station, but I am making plenty of DX and local contacts.
It's much better to think about what you can put up than complain about what doesn't fit the space or budget.
Kevin, VK2YPZ
Sounds like good old common sense! Well done. 73 Peter
Very refreshing point of view from a professional. Long needed.
Thanks.
My current station in the US: a 5w Flex 1500 SDR qrp transceiver, a flat-top end-fed half wave at 50’. In the last 4 months, I’m confident I will win my state’s QSO party (qrp SSB division) with 250 SSB contacts in 8hrs across 38 states and countries (previous QRP SSB record is 10x fewer contacts), I’ve hunted 250+ POTA quo’s at over 200 parks across the USA, Canada - even one in Spain, random SSB contacts as far as Slovenia, FT8 reaches as far as Israel and VK-land (no QSO though), with one Mauritania QSO on FT8. It’s all about your antenna, play to its strengths. I will never break a dx pile-up, but I’m killing it with a $450 transceiver and a $40 antenna.
Great to hear your success. Many thanks and take care. 73 Peter.
So informative and a great presentation style if I may say so. As someone looking to take my novice license these presentations are so interesting and informative and easy to watch. Than you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience. Much appreciated.
Glad it was helpful! All the best with the Novice licence. 73 Peter
Thank you Peter
My first, and favorite radio is my Kenwood TS-570D and I have used a half length 40m home brew dipole in the loft, on RG58 coax.
All I could afford at the time. I have surprised myself on how far I can get using 10W on the system.
Even fully licensed, I tend to stick to less that 50W for all my contacts.
My other antenna is a half length home brew 10m dipole over the garage, and I have started enjoying using that one too.
I have looked at the more modern radios, and the only thing that I might miss off the new radios, is the waterfall feature. Having said that, it makes me scan the bands, to see what is there, and that is half the fun of exploring the hobby.
The other big part of the hobby, is trying to get make the best antenna, at the cheapest cost, to cover the bands you want to work.
73 M0LKN
Many thanks. Great to get your news. 73 Peter
It takes a Big Man to step up to the plate and make a video like this, when he is in the very business of retailing radios. For me, QRP and amateur radio in general is a lifestyle that goes beyond our avocation. I am the father of six children, and while I indeed make a good income, I MUST factor Amateur Radio into the household budget! I wish someone would do a cost factor analysis on amateur radio. Lacking a spreadsheet for such at the handy? Wire MUST win over towers in any such analysis. With a little inginuity, one can even build a directed array out of wire. Wire is cheap, portable, rapidly deployed, repaired, or replaced! It will stand up to a hurricane. A tower? Maybe, or maybe not. A decibel to S-Units spreadsheet would no doubt rule out an amp. Or am I Pennywise and pound foolish? I am voting for No POURING OF CONCRETE, NO CLIMBING (I'M 61) AND NO 240 VOLT LINES (We only have 120 lines here unless you've already put 220 in the garage shop or barn for a welder...) ;-) 73 DE W8LV BILL
M an y t hanks I ll. 73 Peter
"Photographic icon Henri Cartier-Bresson was known for using only one camera, a Leica rangefinder, and one lens, a 50mm, for almost all of his life’s work"
Yes, a great example. 73 Peter.
Hello, wonderful videos. Very helpful. Getting back into ham radio after 35 year absence. Have log books from silent key uncle. His first log book from 1930s!... Lots of cw contacts, many from our city or nearby ones! Short range dx! Lol. but they loved it, based on number of contacts in log.. you're right, don't need dx. Thanks again.
Hi David. Sounds an interesting log book! Those enties are 90 years old! 73 Peter.
My first visit to your channel. I'm brand new to all of this and am thinking of becoming a HAM. Just wanted to say I really enjoy your music at the end of the video.
Totally agree as they say keep it simple and safe no need to have BT tower in the back garden plus it will annoy the neighbours I run 1 of your G5rv s and I've had no end of contacts operating it from the loft.also run a multiband vertical HF 360 in the house works well for me 👍
Many tganks for sharing. 73 Peter
One thing about contests as a minnow playing in a field of big guns, is that there's a lot more minnows than super stations, and eventually they need you, too. I'm happy to say that I've come top 1/4 in my class SOLP SSB unassisted (worldwide) in IARU HF with a simple wire dipole and 100W (no waterfall display). Raw scores looking good for CQ WW, too, from my garden end-fed. It is possible to have fun and do ok as well. Great video, Peter. Hope it enocourages those who think there's no use in trying.
Many thanks for your contribution and well done. I am sure it will encourage others. 73 Peter.
you are so right Peter, The older I get I just sit back and get just as much enjoyment as I did when I first started like you many years a go. I use a 40 meter half wave end fed and i get some great contacts running through a IC 7300.
Thanks Brian. Similar setup to me! Take care. 73 Peter
Thank you for an excellent presentation.
Hi Peter, thanks for your thoughts. I only have space for Vertical antennas and rarely run above 10 watts, so any contacts are very welcome and enjoyable !
Thanks for sharing William. 73 Peter
Well said. I have a ft 891 for hf, and a tyt dual band for vhf/uhf. Other than an ht and a sdr play, that's the total if my station. Resides compactly on the home office desk shared by all the family.
For antennas I have an endfed for hf, and j- pole for vhf/uhf.
Many thanks. It underlines the fact that you don't need loads of gear to have fun. 73 Peter.
Great video Peter , I was recently on 17 m using a pair of ampro whips phased with another 2 ampro whips very simple , I was using 50 w calling a station in the USA who had a huge pile up i kept calling when I heard a voice say that 2e0 are you hearing south Africa, I replied yes please qsy which we did , I was well chuffed had a great qso with a fantastic station in Cape town received a qsl card too , this is a great hobby and you're right because the big guns exist we don't need super stations a pair of hamsticks or a end fed half wave and you're away , 73 de 2e0nbk
Well done Nigel. Interesting story. Take care., 73 Peter
Bravo. Well said. I'll pass this along to the new hams in my club!
Many thanks. 73 Peter
You make some very valid points. Thanks for sharing this information and pep talk for those who think HAM radio is too expensive to get involved in and requires massive towers and acreage for long wire antennas. I myself have never had and probably never will have an antenna on a tower or full legal limit amplifier. Due mainly to living in the city in HOA controlled neighborhoods. 100 watts and a wire have been my go-to for over 29 years with much success and satisfaction. Even more so I enjoy my mono band, battery powered, QRP CW rigs. Merely putting out 2-5 watts through a short wire antenna all total costing around $125. Now subbed...73!
Many thanks fir sharing. Nice to get your inour. 73 Perer
I make Homebrew Beer. I wish there was someone like yourself to inject similar down to earth comment on that subject. For something where you can brew beer with £20 of equipment there is stuff available on the hobbys market at lots of £'000s.
Oh I am a Radio Ham as well with a garden and antenna limitations as you describe.
Puely for interest sake (mine), the first time I spoke into an HF microphone it was held by the father of my School Friend, he was G5RW. Until fairly recently you had to wait until the Call Sign came up to get your preferred. I just realise that G5RW was grateful to G5RV for taking out his Call Sign. His was a Sommerkamp rig and a bit of wire strung across the back garden.
Interesting story James. Many thanks. 73 Peter
I really enjoy your videos Peter. As a newly qualified radio amateur slowly but surely building up my station , your insight is invaluable. Keep up the good work de Gerry EI7IFB
A wonderful presentation Peter and a very interesting perspective on the receiver benefitting from the transmitter’s antenna (or vice versa).
Many thanks. 73 Peter
Wow - finally I know what it was. Back in the 1960's I was in the school CCF and I would go in the signals hut and play around with what your video shows me is a R107 receiver! Been wondering for years. There was also an AR88, beautiful thing. I remember the first time I resolved an SSB signal, fine tuning the BFO frequency and amplitude, great thrill! Today I have an Icom IC-7300 and much as I love those old radios I wouldn't want to go back! I remember too you could buy old HRO's for £10-£15........
Ah yes - HROs. I never did own a working one! 73 Peter.
Thanks for the video - its good that people start simple and later in such a mature hobby people can find things to develop into and swap as they feel in the future. BTW I still have the Telford TC7 transmitter.
Wow, I remember Telford! Thanks gpfor sharing. 73 Peter
@@watersstanton I mentioned it some time ago and I think you said you might be interested in it for your collection - I was going to donate it to a museum but they're never replied to me. its unrestored
73 Dave
When you have less resources you become more resourceful - I heard someone say once
How very true. 73 Peter
Cheers Peter. Excellent video. This video could have been made to address my comment in your last video on big beam antennas. I have a modest 1/4 multi band vertical antenna plus a 22m EFHW over the garden. Thx. Mark, 2E0MSR.
Hi Mark. I have a similar setup. 73 Peter
Well put. You definitely can have great fun with very little.
Definitely! 73 Peter
Thank you. I enjoyed the chat! I haven’t found the video you mentioned where you addressed vertical antennas’ takeoff angle. Would you post a link?
Hi there. The link is below the video. 73 Peter
Another good video Peter, using even low power, 20 watts, I can work many stations, sometimes the way to do is to make oneself the 'DX' by operating portable with SOTA HEMA WWFF or English Castles. This way the stations come to me! 73, G8XDD
Very true. Many thanks. 73 Peter
Good stuff Peter, I've been licenced since 1984, and in that time sampled most aspects of the hobby, when I passed my Morse test 1988, with a homemade rotatable Dipole for 10 metres, and 10 watts from a converted CB, I worked the World, never have I really enjoyed radio so much as then. Nowadays with quite so many UK stations on the bands, it seems I'm just another one of a hoarde of G and M stations calling everywhere on HF, and I'm not inclined to join the throng, but on VHF and above there is virtually nobody unless the band is open, and then not too many, If I had a better VHF site I'd sell all my expensive HF kit tomorrow.
Well you could re-live your 10m times as the sunspot numbers increase? 73 Peter
Thank you Peter.
What a great video.
Very well said.
73 from down under.
73 de Kevin, VK4KK
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks Peter and a very happy new year to you and your family.......still looking forward to the next spy issue video :)
Thanks Andy. Might be one coming up soon about an unsolved mystery. 73 Peter
@@watersstanton look forward to it Peter:)
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.
Bruce Lee
Interesting quote!
Peter, what a great video, well done.
I appreciate this.
Glad you enjoyed it. 73 Peter
Hi Peter, very good video, have you produced any videos about grounding? My main problem is an unavoidably long earth, about 40 ft. The shack is on the top floor, etc. I am told it can resonate. There is a solution using a coax and a capacitor between braid and centre apparently, although I have not tried it yet, but it would be helpful to hear what you think
Thanks for the suggestion. I may visit that topic in the future. 73 Peter
Thanks Peter! Yes! I really struggle with the people who whinge about how ham radio is an expensive hobby. no, it can be, but it doesn't have to be. You can do an awful lot with very little. As to your points about ham radio being different things and it doesn't have to be about big gun DX, I like to say that my ham radio may not be your ham, radio. There's plenty of activities and enough to interest just about anybody. We don't all do the same ham radio activities, and that's OK. Inch deep and a mile wide.
Well said. Many thanks. 73 Peter
@@watersstanton Thanks Peter! BTW, really enjoy your videos from this side of the pond. Also thanks for (even if unconsciously) making an effort to be verbally descriptive. Helps us blind hams to follow along. Vy 73, de KB5ELV
This is so true, thank you for the video.
I've "downgraded" to a Xiegu G90 and a simple end fed wire and I'm having the time of my life.
Thanks for sharing. Take care. 73 Peter
Great advice! Even "Vintage" was NEW once upon a time.. I use a G5RV, it works well!
Cheers, Jay K7WLE
Great to hear! 73 Peter
Thanks Peter
your videos are among the most professional and best👍
73
Rob G3RCE
Many thanks! 73 Peter
In .my eyes the fun is i the simplicity.
Thanks for the video. I am recovering from PTSD and lost my confidence as a result. However you talk a great deal of common sense which is helping me back to the hobby. Keep up the great work and keep the videos coming. Thanks
Hello Eric. Nice to hear from you. I am so glad that the videos have been some benefit to you. I do hope that you continue with your recovery and I will do mt best to continue the videos. Take care. 73 Peter.
PTSD effects people in many different ways and if I can help in any way, even just moral support, I will give it. Radio is a great hobby but it still has a mixture of human beings we rely on for a positive interaction. Baby steps and I wish you well with your recovery. Kindest regards 73 M0AZE Mike
@@mikes6844 thanks for the reply. It has been a bad couple of years but hopefully the corner has been turned. Just trying to get going again. There seems to be a great deal of opinion out there and I think I got confused with it all but the videos from sensible people are putting things back in place. Thank you again for your offer of help. Best regards and 73’s Eric 2E0EEW.
@@EricThresher stay safe and don’t be afraid to reach out. My details are on QRZ - we have FaceTime and Zoom and of course good old fashioned telephone if needed. I was a Radio & Line Transmission engineer for 45 years and every day is a learning day with amateur radio and the practical resolution does not necessarily match the theory. So if you want someone to discuss radio with please feel free. I’m an instructor at my local Radio Club so don’t be afraid to ask questions as the one thing I learned from my students was the need to show them how to make things happen to get on the air once they had passed their exam. 73 Mike
Hi,good interesting video,,,you made some good points 👍, thanks from Rotterdam.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by. 73 Peter.
Build it, break it, fix it then QSO - nothing better !
Just buying stuff isn't the same.
The wind snapped the string (yes string) on the earth side of my inverted V last night.
Made a QSO with Oz (17,500km) this morning with 60W and nothing else broke, including the homebrew linear.
Amazed that it all worked and nothing broke !
EA7KNW
There is a lesson there! 73 Peter
One thing in ham radio that I have learned is that EVERY station is different down to common factors.
The location
The equipment
The terrain
The weather
The time of day
The time of year
The band being operated
Finally for this list,,,,,,
The operator and their capabilities.
This list could go on for a long time and is quite possibly inexhaustive.
All of these factors have lead me to my conclusion that"unless you try it for yourself", you will never know how well it will work for you.
Therefore listen well to good advice but be prepared to be disappointed and ready to move on to the next test/trial/experiment.
Don't forget to take and make notes, so as not to conduct the same test twice(this is where stupidity is born)😂🤣.
If you change any of the factors of your station ie. Location or licence class. Then be prepared to conduct ALL of your previous tests again, and again take and make notes for comparison to your previous tests as changes may have occurred in the test due to the changes you have made. This is not stupidity as the changes make it a NEW test.
73
2E0LFD
Hi Barry. Yes some wise advice there. 73 Peter.
Wisdom, indeed.
There's a few ego-hams on this side of the pond that need to watch this video.
Ah well - easy yo their own! 73 Peter.
Any antenna is better than no antenna
Yep, agree on that!
How to you know if your radio has been hacked in too....?
Few radios are cobbected to the internet in a way that would make it either possibke or worthwhile.
Yet another great video
Thanks again! 73 Peter.
COULDN'T HAVE BEEN SAID BETTER 73S
Excellent radio philosophy! One does not need much to have a lot of fun on the airways. -- John, N0BUP in Denver
Many thanks John. Good to hear from you. 73 Peter
FB I'm the same way. Ron W4BIN
Thanks Ronald. 73 Peter
some of those stations are full of heirlooms for the trash man.
Yes you are right. 73 Peter
Very good video❗️
Thanks for the visit. 73 Peter
Thank you Peter, some great information to take onboard. Much appreciated.
Regards
Terry 73s
(M7LCS)
Very welcome 73 Peter