kidphc

Almost all pellet guns require some testing to find "the" pellet. Even some of the choked ones. Keep with it can be very rewarding with a springer when you master it. Me, I avoid break barrel and springers if I can. Hate to have to relearn how to shoot.

Yup. Did it last night on my ft991a. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Terrible.. you are on the beginnings of buying something like an fx impact ot auschund now.... j/k.. Yeah, break barrell springers are tough because of pellet seat constitency and artillery hold. Actually, impressed if you are grouping 1.5" at 44yrds with the gun. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I pump she shoots. Really 1322 was just a pinker where I did not have to use the hpa tank or co2. Personally, it cuts my right hand behind the thumb. Since I grab the grip when I pump. Hoping the tippman stock is strong enough to be used as a lever. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

You are well on your way. Soon all the towers with antennas you never saw will start appear in your vision no matter where you look. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Congrats on the ticket. When ever that was. Now to fully be a ham. You will need to adopt the round plump size which can correspond with you personal knowledge base. Or conversely you can adopt the skinnier eccentric body/personality type. Personally, I choose the former rather then the later. Took me a while to figure it out why I couldn't lose any weight anymore. Wife promptly informed me it was because I was on my fat ass playing with radios or electronics instead of running around with the kids anymore. ROFLOL.. Actually, realized it was true and made me almost cry, not....

Lol... wife and I had a conversation about the flag pole antenna last night. She said she should have ok'ed it. She doesn't like the idea of the bird feeder attracting deer and pest. Her: was the feeder because you want to watch birds? Or was it always the antenna? Me: Antenna of course... Her crap should of just bought the flag pole. At least I could of chosen some flags. Trust in the fact your wife knows that it is a new radio... lol.... It has just entered the rolodex for potential memo later. I am looking at alternative mounts and antennas. The general ticket is on the back burner for a bit. Here is the conversation with a fellow ham last night. Him: So why not just a straight HF rig in the truck Me: only a technician Him: get the ticket Me: too lazy Him: Oh one of the 4 banes of the amateur radio operator. Me: 4??? Him: Yes. 1.) Not enough money for the toys 2.) Too lazy to do it right now 3.) XYL 4.) HOAA Me: so many abbreviations in amateur radio Him: QRM, 73 Me: WTF, QRM??? you are standing in front of me.. hey get back here.

I would not want that for the GMRS service. The truckers that use CB end up running illegal amps not all but you would be shocked by how many will openly admit it. Quite a few users splatter across adjacent channels, rendering them useless. Or they free band into Ham 10m bands, because of course no one is using them right? Now imagine that mentality in the beloved GMRS service. Where the 1kwatt amp is splattering across all the frequencies. In the sake of getting more distance out of a service that was implemented as a hassle free close coms. The biggest problem would be the FRS/GMRS bands are in most places adjacent to license business operations or EMS/Police/Public sector bands. The service is awesome for short distance coms. The ability to walk into Target or Walmart and pickup a radio for a caravan without going through the installation of a mobile or any real training on radio operations is incredibly awesome. As far as the FRS in the campground shops. Makes sense. Kids can play with it. Mommy and daddy can keep tabs on Billy without having to stare at him. You start to see GMRS mobile units in off road shops. Where the user normally doesn't want to fumble around with an HT while being tossed around in a truck. Been there done that, no thanks.

***UPDATE After 2 days or so. The reports I was getting have been decent. Some of the signals I am receiving are absolutely beautiful. One issue has raised its head. It has to do with the bracket. The combo of the hustler disconnect, whip and nmo adapter maybe too much for the L shape of the bracket. It just rocks the entire mount on some bumps. Even if we removed the fender and tapped another hole for a bolt. Where the NMO attaches isn't rigged enough and bounces about a 1/8th of an inch at times. I am definitely not going to pursue putting a Little Tar Heel II on that particular mount. I may have to invest in another mount further down the hood. The issue is most hood mounts are L shaped. So I don't expect for it to get better by much. I hope a bit since the other location for the hood mount and style is more compact.

I looked at a IC7100 for the shack. Wife hated spending over 1k on an alarm clock. Plus for mobile everyone has bitched the form factor of the head can make mounting difficult. So she bought me the FT991a as a B-day gift. Love the shack in the box in the house. I would never use that radio for mobile driving operations. The menus require some thing most of the time. I hate doing Mars Mods. I am terrible with surface mounts. Only time I want to put a soldering iron to them is to see how many I can round up into a ball when a device is unsalvageable. Hence the FT991a is stock. The FTM is CAP modded for emergency GMRS usage. CF4M wide sounds fabulous, most natural sounding. CF4M narrow sounds like every other digital. Robotic with the added sound of a stuffed up nose. The nearby repeater feature I want, again for road trips into unplanned areas and such. I am finding with the FTM400 the same frequency pair and tone is being used for repeater up and down the east coast that I have programmed. So I need to delete some. In comes the character limitation. How so, how do I know the callsign of the repeater I am on? Won't be able to. This is where I would find it useful.

That is my 1322. My 1377 was at home with the others. My daughter wanted to shoot. Her LOP is incredibly short so I ended up with a lot of air rifles. More then I thought. Setup a 5m/10m range in the basement. 1322 and 2240 1322 the adapter came in finally. Waiting on the Tippman 98 AR stock. 2240 Bugbuster side focus scope on Intermod rail. British AR stock adapter (Ebay). With XTR AR15 stock with cheek riser (glad i got it with the riser) her sight picture is about 2 inches lower then me or my wife. Moderator is a TKO slip on. CMP853 (left) and Daisey Avant 449b (right) CMP 853 OMG. This has been the best buy so far. mm peep sight. Single shot around 450 fps. Its a 10m used by JROTC\CMP for marksmen ship training. Comes from the factory with a Lothar Walther barrell. I was sighting it in and it looks like a worm crawling up the target. Highly recommend . Highly recommend Match Grade wadcutter. Only 2 negatives. 1) Used 2) that pellet tray. Cost about $120 shipped. Yes CMP refurbishes them a bit. You also get a new rear peep, target sling and globe inserts with each. Really, only one you can buy without being a CMP affiliate program. https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/sporter-air-rifles/ My REDDIT thread on it. Lastly My rat gun. Nova Vista Liberty in .22. She is my only PCP. Really hard hitting and amazingly accurate chinese gun about $300. But that is like saying a radio is $300, its the support equipment that gets you. The second gen is the renowed known and loved Air Venturi Avenger. 10/12m radio is to listen to CB(11m) for any reports on the road (mostly on ch 19. Emergency coms quaternary backup (lol so not likely). Primary, cell. secondary, 2m/70cm/aprs, tertiary GMRS. Have done some 10m SSB work. But not getting a lot. Not sure if I don't hear anyone or no one hears me. To be frank lot more traffic on 11m then 10m so far for me. Plus Super Bowl "ch6" can be entertaining with the WTF moments.

Not a terrible radio. But it isn't fabulous. For what I wanted great, well till I get my general ticket. Then an nice HF mobile, really waiting for a replacement for the FT891 or an amp package for the IC705. A screw driver, with controller. Going to cost some. So need to start saving. The FTM 400 can decode and send packets. It can not digipeat without an external TNC. Part of the reason it was chosen over the Kenwood was the touch screen. The ability to use SMSGate and Winlink without the need of a laptop. Two things have me not raving about it. 1.) Please Yaesu implement the near repeater feature like Kenwood and Icom. This would be fricking killer. 2.) No body does it but how awesome would a map display of APRS objects in the head be.

Didn't get the Fox Delta kit. Kinda, wish I had. The RS-70 was more compact. Doesn't have a peak hold, which would of been nice for mobile. Nor does the RS-70 do SSB real well, (lack of the carrier to measure). However, it came down to really to 3 things. 1.) Money the RS-70 was cheaper. 2.) Didn't want a project on top of a project. 3.) Did not have the space in the console for it. It's a lot more compact.

The horizontal pieces are an artificial ground plane. Generally, most vertical perform better with a ground plane. That goes for even antennas marked as no groundplane antennas. You get better swr matches when they are normally about 30-40 off angle from the horizontal axis. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Yeah. Good cables that conduct signals/electricity well. Do well in doing so in both directions. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Thank you I like to try and plan for changes in the future and try to do it right the first . Great then you have more then half of the foudations down just by experience with an electrician. Especially, if you get a ham ticket and start experimenting. Like many hobbies there is a lot to learn. The quality tools are expensive but worth it. Part of the fun is learning. Good luck and have fun. ** edited because I thought his son was an electrician. Did not realize he was the son of a master electrician, and helped dad out growing up. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Usually, yes. Each antenna could be different. It is a recommendation only. I actually use so239/pl259. Since all of my stuff has that connector. They do sell a version of my ham radio in Europe where the uhf/vhf port is n-style. In the US it is so239. I can deal with the losses, especially since the run of coax is short, and didn't want to deal with adapters or buying new polyphasers and such. Btw. Polyphasers are dc blocked. Not a problem with your current antenna choice. But some hoops ( if you get a ham ticket and want to reuse the gear for ssb work), don't work well with dc blocked arrestor. Most of the hoops were not dc blocked to deal with common mode noises. Or if you get a yagi, on unblocked setup yo can use the same coax to feed commands to the rotator. But I am getting way ahead of your build. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Yes. Don't daisy chain. Each peice of equipment should be ground to the buss individually. The buss/ground bar to the outside ground. How are you entering the house. Window pass through? Ribbon cables? Drilling a hole? I use a mfj window pass throughband dxengineering ground box. Lighting protection is a misnomer. It is more for static build up discharge and near strikes. A direct strike is going to wipe out tons of gear and maybe parts of the house. I like many hams usually disconnect everything for lightning storms. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Also for the antenna have you thought about an Ed Fong jpole cut/built to GMRS? Just need to slip it in a PVC pipe. Use muffler claps with some tubing to avoid cracking the PVC. The muffler clamp should be large enough to slip over the mast and PVC. He makes great antennas. If you don't know about him. He is a professor in antenna theories, builds them with his students. Well known in the Ham community. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

For 440 mHz and higher generally recommended to use n-style connectors. For heat shrink outside use UV rated marine style. Marine shrink wrap usually has glue built into it. Also most all coax seal is not UV stable. So you will need to wrap coax seal in UV electric tape. Keep in mind, that the hammer drill will work for smaller rocks. Larger rocks like some small boulders that I run into when digging in WVa will not work. You are still trying to drive a soft copper rod, doesn't matter if it is 1/2 inch wide or not. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I am curious also why? Plus what in the world are you guys using for duplexers? Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Didn't see the part about the coax. As far as guy wires. You should be able to skip it, if the pole is secured to the frame of the house. Since, the house essentially becomes the guy wires. I had thought you were placing it in the yard. Impact hammer drill. They sell the attachment for ground rods for some $50. With you don't have to worry about blowing out the head (expanding) as you drive it. Yes, it will cost money to do it this way. But it will be a lot easier. NEC says you can bury it horizontally, for instance where bedrock won't allow you to drive it vertically. Do read up on it if you choose to go this way since they are specific on how to do it. Worst comes to worst pay an electrician to drive the rod and do all the bonding work. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Really suggest the guy wires. Even 21' fiberglass poles get wobbly. A steel push up will start getting wobbly as you exceed about 10 feet. Nothing worse then all your antenna gear getting trashed if it were to come crashing down. My Diamond x200 at 8' starts swaying badly enough with modest winds. I know it is fiberglass but can be a worry at times. Part of the reason it is in the attic. Depending on the distance from your houses electrical service ground you may need multiple 8' ground rods. Make sure to bond it to the house. Also consider renting a impact hammer from a hardware store to drive the ground rod. The recommendation of using water to drill the ground rod has resulted in some very condesending conversations with electricians. Lastly, think about the coax hard. It can easily be one of the most expensive parts of the install. The db loss in coax over long runs can add up quick. Nothing like having a 8db gain from a great antenna being eaten all up by coax loss. Unfortunately, stuff like LMR400 really should only be used for GMRS at under 100 feet. At that length I want to say it is a 6db loss (actually think that was for ham 70cm which was 440mhz). Yes, jumpers, swr meters and connectors add up in the loss department. Depending on designs and such probably less the 1db or so. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Thanks. Moral of the story. Don't get to ambitious and the more expensive route might be easier and actually cheaper Thought about that ball mount. Too bad the tank is on the right, since that would have been ideal having it on the rear right. On the left side I was worried about clipping trees and such. On the right, at least I can move to the center of the lane to clear stuff. Not so much wiggle room with a left rear ball mount. Lots of low hanging trees in Potomac and Tacoma Park, Maryland.

From what I read. CB is ok. We have land in Capon and Mineral county. Always wondered why I couldn't get anything on my ham radios. Now I know. In all honesty I thought it was because it was a radio dead zone because of the mountain ranges.