WILDWOOD RIDGE RADIO NEWS &
INFO FOR
AMATUER RADIO
What to expect from the 10 meter band
The 10 meter ham band can be very exciting with worldwide communications or more down to earth with just local QSO's. It mostly depends on the 11 year solar cycle and whether we are at the bottom, peak or on the way back down.When the cycle is at it's peak, worldwide propagation prevails with very minimum power levels required. At times, 5 watts SSB can get you into Australia, the Far East, Europe and many other countries or just around the U.S.!
FCC INFORMATION FOR HAM RADIO
SHORT WAVE RADIO LISTENING
SAMPLE SHORT WAVE BROADCAST
HF, THE SHORT WAVE RADIO LINKS
LISTENING SANGEAN SHORT WAVE LOW COST RADIO
7 BAND SEMI VERTICAL TRAP ANTENNA
VEHCKY CALL LETTERS
7 BAND ANTENNA
RADIOS
2, 6, 10, METERS ARE MOSTLY USED. 11 METERS IS CB BAND. MULTIBAND RADIOS ARE AVAILABLE LIKE THE QUAD BAND YAESU VX-8DR SUBMERISBLE VHU/UHF AMATURE RADIO TRANSCEIVER, ABOUT $515.00 OR A YAESU FT-897D MOBILE MULTIBAND TRANSCEIVER. ABOUT $900.00
FREQUENCIES ARE 150, 50, 30 AND 27 MHZ RESPECTIVELY NOMINAL .
MOST MULTIBAND TRANSCEIVERS RECEIVE OVER MORE THAN THIS RANGE, AND MAY INCLUDE STANDARD BROADCAST AM/FM FREQUECIES AS WELL. OTHER FEATURES MAY INCLUDE INTERFACE WITH COMPUTERS, USB, CW, AIRCRAFT AND GOVERNMENT BANDS, WEATHER NOA, ETC ON SOME RADIOS.
THE MOBILE RADIOS OPERATE FROM AUTOMOTIVE 13.8 VDC, FOR LOWER WATTS TRANSMISSION, AND MAY BE POWERED BY A BENCH TOP AC POWERED POWER SUPPLY TO 100, 200 W OR MORE CAPABILITY. USE HEAVY COPPER WIRE CABLES FOR YOUR AUTOMOTIVE MOBILE POWER SUPPLIES, SINCE 100 W AT 12V = MORE THAN 8 AMPS.
ANTENNAS FOR MOIBLE ARE TYPICALLY 1/4, 5/8 WAVELENGTH MADE OR TUNED FOR YOUR TX/RX BAND THAT YOU ARE USING. THE HIGHER THE FREQUENCY, THE SHORTER THE ANTENNA LENGTH. HIGHER FREQUENCIES CAN TRANSMIT MORE POWER, BUT A USALLY LINE OF SIGHT, WHILE LOWER FREQUENCIES CAN SKIP OR CURVE AROUND THE EARTH FOR LONGER RANGE TRANSMISSIONS AT IDEAL TIMES. SKIP RANGES CHANGE WITH WEATHER, SUNSPOT ACTIVITY QUICKLY, AND ARE NOT USUALLY VERY PRIDICTABLE OR RELIABLE. HIGHER TRANSMISSION POWER WILL INCREASE SIGNAL OVER NOISE IF DONE PROPERLY, BUT JUST RAISING POWER ALONE WILL RAISE NOISE LEVELS AS WELL, AND MAY NOT PRODUCE THE BEST RESULTS THAT YOU WANT.
ANTENNAS WITH HIGHER GAIN ARE AVAILABLE OVER THE SIMPLE DIPOLE, AND USE ANTENNA ARRAY DESIGN TO FOCUS ENERGY IN A SHALLOW BUT WIDE LOBE, AND INCREASE DIRECTIONAL GAIN SIGNIFICANTLY.
GOOD NAME BRANDS OF RADIOS ARE KENWOOD, YAESU, ICON, AND FEW OTHERS. THERE ANY MANY LOW WATTAGE 1-5W HANDHELD RAIDOS AVAILABLE AT AFFORDABLE PRICES. THERE ARE LINEAR AMPLIFIERS, WHICH CAN INCREASE THE RADIATTED POWER TO SEVERAL THOUSAND WATTS, BUT MOST RADIOS ARE IN THE 50 TO 200 WATT RANGE FOR MOBILE OR DESKTOP USE. THE CB RADIOS ARE 1-5W LIMITED POWER RANGE. LINEAR AMPS ARE ILLEGAL FOR CB USE OVER 5W.
THERE ARE SOME RADIOS THAT CAN BE USED FOR INTERNET RADIO TRANSMISSION USE, AS MODEMS, USING TWO RADIO STATIONS MILES APART. MOST LIKELY, IF YOU CAN THINK OF A NEW APPLICATION, OR PROBLIEM NEEDING A SOLUTION, SOMEONE HAS DONE IT, SO GOOGLE FOR IT ONLINE.
SOME APPLICATIONS MAY PREFER TO USE A WIDE BAND RADIO SCANNER TO LISTEN FOR EMERGENCY RADIO TRAFFIC, AND ONLY USE A FIXED BAND LIKE 2, 6 OR 10 METERS FOR 2 WAY COMMUNICATIONS. SCANNERS ARE MUCH LISS EXPENSIVE THAN MULTIBAND TRANSCEIVERS. YOU MIGHT BUY A USED FIXED BAND KENWOOD FOR UNDER $200 ON EBAY, THAT WILL DO A GOOD ENOUGH JOB FOR YOUR OCCASIONAL OR EMERGENCY BACKUP USE WHEN CELLS PHONES MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE IN YOUR AREA DUE TO OUTAGES OF TOWERS, ETC. TRANSMISSION RANGES OF 10-40 MILES LINE OF SIGHT, TO SEVERAL THOUSAND MILES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE RIGHT RADIO, ANTENNA AND WEATHER CONDITIONS, AND ANTENNA HEIGHT OF COURSE. IF YOU CAN GET TO A MOUNTAIN OR HILL, TOP, YOU MAY FIND THAT YOU CAN COMMUNICATE AT VERY LONG DISTANCES VERY SECURELY, TO ANOTHER HILLTOP.
If you have 2M and 70CM/440 capabilities (either “split frequencies” in one HT, or two radios), you can work FM amateur satellites! For example, for satellite SO-50's VHF/UHF (V/U) mode, the UPLINK frequency (to SO-50) for FM voice is 145.850 MHz*. The DOWNLINK freq (from SO-50) is 436.795 MHz*.
amsat.org - or - heavens-above.com
BUILD CHEAP YAGI FOR SATELLITE
You need to tilt your HT’s
antenna so that it is perpendicular to the airborne satellite
For example, here’s how I have programmed my radios for AO-27*:
Ch # Name TX Freq CTCSS RX Freq CTCSS
101 27 +2 145.850 None 436.805 None
102 27 +1 145.850 None 436.800 None
103 27 MID 145.850 None 436.795 None
104 27 -1 145.850 None 436.790 None
105 27 -2 145.850 None 436.785 None
And here’s how I have programmed my radios for SO-50*:
Ch # Name TX Freq CTCSS RX Freq CTCSS
201 50 +4 145.850 67.0 436.815 None
202 50 +3 145.850 67.0 436.810 None
203 50 +2 145.850 67.0 436.805 None
204 50 +1 145.850 67.0 436.800 None
205 50 74 145.850 74.4 436.795 None
206 50 MID 145.850 67.0 436.795 None
207 50 -1 145.850 67.0 436.790 None
208 50 -2 145.850 67.0 436.785 None
209 50 -3 145.850 67.0 436.780 None
[
Clint Bradford, K6LCS
AMSAT area coordinator
NASA / ARISS school technical support
www.work-sat.com
clint@clintbradford.com
Skype, Twitter: clintbradford
Updated 01/26/2012