Wednesday, October 25, 2017

So far with our Baofeng UV82-HP ham radios

    We have both of our new Boafeng UV82-HP radios programed and working.

    For much of a day I spent trying to get a tail back from repeater and was unable.  Although our simplex tests worked, my main hangup to getting a tail back from the repeaters I found was I needed to reduce the squelch so as not to block the weaker signals of our repeaters.  I had been setting a squelch of a level of 5 as I have always used on other radios I have had, but found for this radio a level of 1 is best as programmed.  The squelch range is programmable on this radio and I had changed it as suggested by Maklor.com to a different range.  If I find I do not like the range suggested by them as I become more experienced as I use the radio with varying signals I have the opportunity to change it.
 
    A local ham operator "Matt" from the Eugene 145.45- T123.0 repeater has welcomed us to use his repeater that sits on Blanton Heights 7 miles away.   The signal is a bit weak from our HT (handhelds) and so we need to use all 7 watts to give the repeater a decent signal.  The owner reports that as long as we speak up and directly to the mic it gives an adequate signal.  As far as receiving, I do wish his signal wasn't buried in the white as it is, but it is a lower power repeater.  I do hope to get access to a repeater that does not require full power to use and has less white noise, or better antennas. This repeater will do quite nice tho for practice with using a repeater before we add a higher power repeater to our goto list.

    I am finding that I am using two of the stock 2800mAh batteries for all day listening with very few short 7watt transmissions.  I am happy that when I bought the radios I purchased an extra battery pack for each of them.  I also purchased 1(one) Alkaline battery pack for when away from power and a car power pack adaptor.  So we hope we are all set for our emergency radio power needs.

    I am considering some sort of dual band J-antenna to use with our radios to help in emergency situations to get out.  I may just set one up here on our porch for better local communications. The disadvantage of a J antenna is it would need to be stationary to use.  I would need to find one with a Male Female-SMA connector (Why can't there just be one standard so it is not so confusing) 

   For mobile use Baofeng suggests these Nagoya antennas that I am looking at.  I am considering whether an 8.5 (more mobile) or a 16" (better range, but pretty long) antenna is wanted for better mobile operation. The radio came with an 6.5" antenna which in of itself is said to be an already a good stock antenna so I don't know that 8.5 inch is much better than the stock 6.5". Will 2"antenna difference really matter that much?

Also available is a 4" antenna that extends to 15.6" for transmitting. (Can not transmit when collapsed). I have used a 2m extendable antenna before with good success (It is mobile + some length for more distant reach). So many options to consider, I'll let you know if I ever pick one. For now the initial radio purchase is enough.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

A couple hams that we am once again.




We had a couple of these Baofeng UV-82HP HAM HT radios that shipped in blue from Baofeng USA yesterday.

  We have been away from ham radio for many years and are getting back into it using the Baofeng UV-82HP radio's and plan to use them enough so that we are comfortable with them and review general HAM radio practice so we are ready as possible to use them just in case for emergency usage.  Their strength is in being able to reach out further, and use repeater systems in an emergency over our GMRS radios to use with our non ham friends and family. 

We also picked up a couple of inexpensive open box MSC-20C straps for them from ebay. I do not pick up a lot of open box stuff other than when it is non electronics. Update:10/25 My reason for not usually getting open box stuff was emphasized as Both pouches need some sewing repair on the stitching of the fabric holing the plastic clip to the flap cording, very repairable as it is not an electronic device but a distraction from being able to putting them to use non the less as we will need to get some heavier duty black thread to repair.

This is another part of our continued effort to update our emergency Go-Packs we have been trying to do over time.

73's K7VIQ and KD7PJW (GMRS family call - WQYS231)