What did you do for your comms setup today?

[NT2C]

Picked up a new SWR/power meter for mobile use.  Prime Day sale knocked 23% off the regular price so just $46.39

[Skidjit]

Been checking into the local net on the FT-818. Rubber duck antenna was not cutting it but the trusty N9TAX ladder keeps coming in clutch even with only 6 watts being pushed. Still haven't fired up the IC-7300 as I need a new power supply. I donated my old one to a buddy to get him up and running on 10M. 

And I swear, one day I will buy the Meshtastic devices that have been sitting on my wish list for two years...

[NT2C]

Been checking into the local net on the FT-818. Rubber duck antenna was not cutting it but the trusty N9TAX ladder keeps coming in clutch even with only 6 watts being pushed. Still haven't fired up the IC-7300 as I need a new power supply. I donated my old one to a buddy to get him up and running on 10M.

And I swear, one day I will buy the Meshtastic devices that have been sitting on my wish list for two years...

One of these and a used PC power supply makes a decent switched supply.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0liLCo

[Skidjit]

Finally making headway with APRS via DireWolf and Pinpoint. Good data coming in, along with setting up an iGate. Tested sending messages to SMSGTE with no luck so now to tackle that problem next.

[Skidjit]

IC-7300 is up and running on voice and JS8Call. Now the fun begins with antennas. 10M is solid 1:1-1.5 SWR, 20M is 1:2 but 40M is off the charts. In a challenging area RF wise but every day we are making progress.

[airballrad]

Got my Amateur call sign today. Pretty fast turn-around since I took the exams on Saturday and Monday was a federal holiday. Now to put some nicer HTs on my Christmas list than a UV-5R. 

[NT2C]

Got my Amateur call sign today. Pretty fast turn-around since I took the exams on Saturday and Monday was a federal holiday. Now to put some nicer HTs on my Christmas list than a UV-5R. 

FT-60 is an almost bulletproof workhorse of a dual bander. Just saying...

[airballrad]

I'm seeing good things about TD-H3. I know Chinese radios have a rep, but I am hopeful that I can get the features I want without breaking the bank. I also really like the idea of USB and Kenwood so I can keep accessories universal in my setup.

FT-60 is an almost bulletproof workhorse of a dual bander. Just saying...

[MacWa77ace]

Got my Amateur call sign today. Pretty fast turn-around since I took the exams on Saturday and Monday was a federal holiday. Now to put some nicer HTs on my Christmas list than a UV-5R. 

FT-60 is an almost bulletproof workhorse of a dual bander. Just saying...

$234 on amazon? i can buy a set of lvl III+ plates for less than this HT costs. It better be bullet proof.

$159 on HRO.

What's a good price on those?

[snip] I also really like the idea of USB and Kenwood so I can keep accessories universal in my setup.

I now have so many Baofeng accessories that any HT using other than K plug would be expensive just to get all acessorized. Baofeng was supposed to be an entry level HT story. 

[NT2C]

$160-$180 is a good price range, though I paid well over $200 for each of mine.  They saw me through a helluva a lot of public service events and various emergencies like hurricanes at Red Cross shelters.  They've been dropped, rained on, kicked, and one was dropped out of the bucket of a 50' manlift onto frozen grass.

The case is polymer but the inner chassis is metal and that makes a big difference.  The dial squelch is also a joy to use, especially when mobile (when you can't spare the attention to dig in a settings menu).  If they could cross-band repeat from U/V or V/U they'd be perfect but when used with a crossband repeater at an event they give you great mobility.

I worked as net control for many of my club's PS events and emergencies (club did and still does upwards of 25 PS events yearly, including major events like the USMC Historic Half Marathon) and my normal procedure was to park my truck at the NC station, raise a J-Pole on about 26-32" feet of fiberglass mast with LMR400 coax going back to my truck 50W mobile rig that could do x-band repeat and then just use the HT to reach the truck rig.  If I was doing NC duty at one of the canoe races on the river I could park the truck in a parking lot and walk the shores of the river and still do my NC duty.  I generally carried two spare battery packs on me, and had a drop=in charger setup in the truck.  Nice, solid little radios.

You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.

Now, that TD-H3 and the H8 are also fine little rigs, and I own several of them that live in the gloveboxes of each vehicle.

[Skidjit]

My FT-60 has been my go to HT since 2016. I can even check into my local net using it and a N9TAX J-Pole with no issues and a good signal report.

[Rednex]

Ok so i went and got an FRN and payed for the GMRS license. This site Midland cb's helped figure the application out. The FCC license manager page is acting up and won't load, so don't know call sign. When the Ms. wakes up i will go over the Amazon cart with her and get a pair of those BAOFENG GMRS Radio GM21's

https://midlandusa.com/blogs/blog/why-do-i-need-a-gmrs-license-how-do-i-get-it?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA3Na5BhAZEiwAzrfagJmjtkewZrTOfmywUWGQaJ1XCO4kmGWLScpnzA-AI-9Drdbb-bWI1BoCRUkQAvD_BwE

Quick edit got my call sign  WSFV989.

[Skidjit]

I got a few Radiodity GM-30s on the way from their BF sale. Looking to pick up a portable mast this week. Going to check the HRO local to me on Friday (Highly, HIGHLY doubt there will be raging crowds at an HRO on BF). If nothing is in stock there, I'll order from DXEngineering.

[Braums]

Our group went with the GM-30s and the Baofeng version. I wanted them to have something with NOAA and basic functions while we get a few more to get their ham ticket.

I'll be making the trip to HRO later this month for a new HF rig.

[airballrad]

New mobile install.

[airballrad]

Inspired by my recent foray into mobile GMRS and VHF/UHF radio comms, I dug out my old Cobra 75 WX ST radio. Damned if the rubber coating on the main wire isn't rotting away. 

Of course, this radio and its accessories were discontinued years ago and are now unobtainium. Fortunately there is a guy selling a homebrew replacement on eBay for $12, so at least I have an option. The connection is still solid for now, and it fired right up when connected to a 12V source. Even picked up some chatter from the Interstate right away!

[NT2C]

Purchased a new $500 router system for UFoZS HQ.

I've been a TP-Link fanboi for a lot of years now, our last three routers have been from them, one extender is from them, and all of the hubs/switches are from them.

Early this morning the news broke that the US Govt. is about to ban the company's routers.  Oh. Crap.

I immediately went router shopping and settled on a system by Linksys.

After discussing it with She Who Pays The Bills, she agreed we had to replace the system we have but wanted to wait until Saturday when she got paid. I agreed with that but then gave the matter more thought back in my office and changed my mind and pushed to buy it immediately.  My reasoning is that this news only broke this morning, it's Thursday and the week before Christmas.  Most people are pretty tapped out on disposable income at this point, but many get paid tomorrow.  Tomorrow the tech-savvy will lead the rush and routers will quickly sell out.  What will remain will have overly inflated prices due to the sudden buying spree.  What I just paid $500+ for will likely go for $700+ by Saturday.

The new system is a Wifi 7 mesh system (which I'm not a big fan of but there's no escaping them these days) that will help, hopefully, to eliminate the garage area dead spot we have (hard getting a signal from my office on the extreme opposite corner, through a firewall and two steel fire rated doors) yet still allow me to direct wire a lot of stuff in my office that only has direct, no wifi, such as our NAS.  It will eliminate our current access point in the laundry room and replace it with a node that will serve that end of the house.  I'd love to put another node in the garage itself but at $300 ea. I can't currently justify the cost.  At least the system is easily expandable.

Edit: I'm not aware of any ISPs currently using TP-Link-branded or manufactured routers, but if there are, this is going to go "'Tickle Me' Elmo" nutso. Router prices will be in the four-digit range for even basic models.

[MacWa77ace]

Why don't you like mesh? I set one up at my FIL's last year and it works great compared to my router and extender setup at home. Which for some reason my phone seems to like to auto connect to the one I'm farthest away from. So I have to manually switch moving from one side of the house to the other etc. 

I'd love to set mesh up at my house but can't afford it.

TP-link, TP-link ...



I'll have to look what one of my old wifi routers was, might have been that. But got replaced for newer tech.

Funny story:

I have a NetTalk wireless Voip. And had it auto connect to that old router i'm thinking of cause that was what I was using for internet when I got the NetTalk. Then I got a new router and had the NetTalk conntect to that. We'll I hardwire as much as I can and I needed a hub. So I used that old wifi router as a hub hardwired to the new router.

The new router was setup to reboot weekly to self heal. But every week I'd lose my NetTalks connectivity. I tried a bunch of stuff to fix this, thought there was something wrong. So I set it up with a permanent IP on that router. No Joy, then changed the routers schedule to 2 week reboots. Lost NetTalk every two weeks then.

Fiiiiinally figured out that when the new router rebooted the NetTalk would auto connect to the old router which had no internet connection.    I got a small switch and used that instead of the old router and that fixed the issue.

[EBuff75]

I've got a Netgear Orbi mesh system (2 nodes, wifi6) that I use here.  I picked it up about a year and a half ago to replace a really ancient router that topped out around 38Mb/s (IIRC the newer system is rated for 5.7Gb).  It's worked great so far and it made all of my dead spots go away.  Heck, I can walk half-way down the street and still use my network now, whereas the old one required an add-on booster just to get to the basement!  One of the reasons that I picked a Netgear router was that it's a US-based company and they don't use China for manufacturing. 

[EBuff75]

Follow-up question to the group:  Does anyone know if there are issues with WiFi7 and home automation equipment?  I know that several friends of mine had to run secondary wifi setups using old routers for their automation equipment (lights, switches, thermostats, etc) because they wouldn't work properly with newer routers (and this was with WiFi6).

Might be something to watch out for if you have that kind of stuff set up at your house.