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OffRoaderX

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Posts posted by OffRoaderX

  2. What's with the repeater drama?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    16 minutes ago, WSAK691 said:

    Hams don't like to be told that they're out of line in the world of radio because they've been used to being the "radio dudes". In this case they're actually the away team. This is actually not a ham band. It's not for hams. 

    I know it's crazy to imagine. But there do exist radio people, who know and do radio, who don't hold a ham ticket. Our idea of applying radio as a hobby doesn't require it. But we do have wives, sons, daughters, brothers, sister, etc who we'd like to be on the radio with. ,....and we don't want to always be like "WHISKEY TANGO BRAVO ZULU 554!!" on the radio all the time just to get on.. We don't call out CQ to eachother..

    Some of the parties on the license might not even know what kind of radio they have when colostomy bag Larry asks, and I don't think they need to feel weird about that. They're just trying to relay a practical message to another party on the license when someone else in town hears traffic and thinks it's the 440 net.

    I cant put my finger on it, but you sound very familiar and I think I like you.

  5. Counterpoise

    in Technical Discussion

    Posted

    I've tested this 100-ways to Sunday.. and even Monday..

    My results show that it might help.. a little.. maybe?.. on some radios.. I think?  Basically, any improvement was so slight, i wasn't even sure if it was an improvement or just my very vivid imagination, and it certainly wasn't worth risking my reputation by looking dumb walking around with a piece of wire wagging from my radio.

    It should be noted that it almost always did show an improvement in SWR on my meter - but, a slightly lower SWR does not necessarily mean more farz

  6. Antenna mount type and position

    in Technical Discussion

    Posted

    1 minute ago, nokones said:

    It would be easier to just tuck the excess cable under the carpet/mat or into an interior trim panel than whack off the connector if you are not comfortable with crimping/soldering on a new connector.

    and for deconfuckulation: You will experience zero noticeable degradation in performance if you roll-up the extra few feet of cable and tuck it away somewhere, vs shortening it, in-despite of what "some people" will try to tell you.

  11. Budget friendly SWR meter

    in Technical Discussion

    Posted

    Warning: Do NOT listen to the "experts" that love to spend your money - for occasional tuning/testing of your antenna you do NOT NEED a $500+ SWR meter.

    Normal people use inexpensive meters like the Surecom SW-33 or SW-102, and they work just fine.

    If you plan on testing/tuning antennas professionally or as some kind of a hobby, then by all means get one that costs much more and is *slightly* more accurate.

  13. Antenna mount type and position

    in Technical Discussion

    Posted

    Unless you are trying to bounce your signal off the moon, just mount your antenna in the best spot you can, as high as you can get it, and it will work fine for for highway/trail comms.

    My antenna is mounted above the rear tail-light/rear fender of my jeep, below the roofline, where many "experts" warned me it "will not work". and while it certainly does not work as well as it could, it works just fine. I can hit a repeater with it at 92 miles and regularly get 20+ miles on simplex and have never had issues on the trail where i could not hear someone that others could, or they could not hear me.

    My two words of advice are:

    1) ignore the 'experts'

    B ) - dont over-think it.

  17. Radios For Forestry Work

    in Guest Forum

    Posted

    I was also going to suggest a Business (LMR) license - If you pay a service to do the application for you it is actually a very simple process and most only charge a couple hundred $$ - I just go my own LMR/Business license and 5 authorized frequencies from a place called Kemp Wireless in Oregon (yes, I paid full price) - I all needed was a credit card, 15-minutes on the phone with them, and I had to sign one form.  But many radio-resellers can do it for you.

    With the Business/LMR license, you just use the radios on your assigned frequency(s) - no need for callsigns or anything.

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