long distance hand held comunications

[ChevyGuy91]

The rubber duck supplied with the VX-7 does 6m.

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Unless you find an H/T that does SSB (or you want to use AM), you don't have to worry about what polarization the other phone station is using: the other station will be using FM, and it will be vertical.

And while most serious 6m base stations will be multi-band/multi-mode, note that most 6m-only [mobile/]base rigs are FM-only.

I know the rubber duck is supposed to do 6m, but from what I have read, it is basically a dummy load. I have been looking at the drawings for building a 6m antenna that will be a little more suited for actually using the 6m function of the radio.

 

[drgrant]

You'll probably need a tele whip, or that bigass tribander whip that Maldol makes thats about 3 feet long. That antenna works pretty good on 6M but don't drop the radio with it attached, it will probably shear the SMA connector right off the thing. I have no idea why some ****wit thought it was a great idea to use an SMA connector for ham HTs. rest of the radio can be bulletproof but every SMA based HT has that as a huge weak spot.

-Mike

 

[ChevyGuy91]

You'll probably need a tele whip, or that bigass tribander whip that Maldol makes thats about 3 feet long. That antenna works pretty good on 6M but don't drop the radio with it attached, it will probably shear the SMA connector right off the thing. I have no idea why some ****wit thought it was a great idea to use an SMA connector for ham HTs. rest of the radio can be bulletproof but every SMA based HT has that as a huge weak spot.

-Mike

That's why I made a 3 foot pig tail at work.

 

[AHM]

You'll probably need a tele whip, or that bigass tribander whip that Maldol makes thats about 3 feet long. That antenna works pretty good on 6M but don't drop the radio with it attached, it will probably shear the SMA connector right off the thing. ...

I got a couple of (advertised dual band: 2m/440) wire SMA antennas off of a tailgate at Dayton some years back. The element is concealed inside spaghetti tubing but must be some kind of steel piano wire. Ah, OD: 0.0465". It's flexible, but stiff; takes a real beating. Maybe with a little extra strain relief at the connector, the wire would be formidible at 6m. (And too long to poke your eye out with).

... I have no idea why some ****wit thought it was a great idea to use an SMA connector for ham HTs. rest of the radio can be bulletproof but every SMA based HT has that as a huge weak spot. ...

Could be worse. Rumor has it the VX-5R (at least) uses the body as a heat sink; certainly gets hot enough if driven from 12VDC. That's a pretty solid thing for the SMA to be snugged down to. (Pro tip: don't bring a skull to a VX-5 fight - the radio might only need a touch-up on the crinkle finish).

If the H/T's connector itself fails, well it's a mission kill, but at least it protected more expensive tidbits. Not every frob sticking out of a rig can make that claim.

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That's why I made a 3 foot pig tail at work.

You've crystallized my very thoughts.

 

[Realtor MA]

The satellites are great to play with but when they are in range the action is fast and furious. You may get a couple of contacts per pass which consist of an exchange of Call sign and location.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[blindfire]

Saw this video weeks ago.

 

[Madball13]

Ed,
You should have some cool opportunities to work the cubesats from the ship. If the boat has wifi there is a cool sat app that uses gps and wifi to assist with tracking.

Also,
This:
http://www.diamondantenna.net/srh940.html

With a pigtail will work an all bands. You could use a powerpole connection to snap on a pigtail for each band.

 

[ToddDubya]

Better late than never, I finally put together that 6m dipole today. I was able to hear a couple guys on a local repeater, but I couldn't get the tone squelch to work right. If I turned it off, I heard what I presume was the tone while they were transmitting. When I turned it on, the squelch wouldn't open. So I can either get into the repeater or I can hear it, but not both. I don't know what my problem is, but I suck at repeaters. I don't even want to talk on one, it's just a good way to know things are working.

Having 0 experience on 6m, it's something new to fool with. I was going to take a hike this afternoon and bring it along to try from a higher vantage point, but my hiking boots needed the soles epoxied back on so it never happened.

I see back when this thread was new I mentioned moxons. I brought my ghetto homemade 2m moxon out to my super secret squirrel location this weekend, climbed up to the top of a steep hill to pretty much the highest part of the property, called CQ on both the FM and SSB frequencies and got exactly 0 contacts. I gave nice long calls, said whether it was FM or SSB in case people monitor both, said I was just looking for signal reports in case people didn't want to chat, and tried it a few times each in the cardinal directions. Nothing.

 

[42!]

I know OP said hand held, but if you don't want to rely on something in between, 3rd party repeater or internet, this is going to be tough. Vehicle radio at 25, or 40w, or more might do it. Or setup a system like what the SPD used to use way back, a 5w portable to a vehicle mounted 100w repeater. They are old, completely analog, but they are out there and cheap. Does take some skill to make it work. Or even one of the smaller Motorola repeaters based on a couple mobiles. In the past I was able to pick up a couple of these at the MIT Flea in the right band so all they needed was programming and tuning the duplexer.

 

[ToddDubya]

I know OP said hand held, but if you don't want to rely on something in between, 3rd party repeater or internet, this is going to be tough. Vehicle radio at 25, or 40w, or more might do it. Or setup a system like what the SPD used to use way back, a 5w portable to a vehicle mounted 100w repeater. They are old, completely analog, but they are out there and cheap. Does take some skill to make it work. Or even one of the smaller Motorola repeaters based on a couple mobiles. In the past I was able to pick up a couple of these at the MIT Flea in the right band so all they needed was programming and tuning the duplexer.

Interesting about the vehicle repeater. Kind of a niche solution, but that might be just the ticket for someone.

I guess I ignored the handheld part . Technically I held my portable rig in my hand, stuffed the battery in my pocket, and hung the antenna on some branches.

 

[42!]

Interesting about the vehicle repeater. Kind of a niche solution, but that might be just the ticket for someone.

I guess I ignored the handheld part . Technically I held my portable rig in my hand, stuffed the battery in my pocket, and hung the antenna on some branches.

The Motorola PAC RT

 

[ToddDubya]

The Motorola PAC RT

I'm reading it, but for crying out loud why does every ham website look like it was made in 1996?

 

[one-eyed Jack]

If you are a ham you know what to do. 2M simplex for just two stations. If not a ham, try CB with good antennas. Jack.