HF'S ON AM

[DainBramage]

... the more I read the QRZ forum man most of those guys have a hard on for anything not ham....

what ever led you to believe that QRZ reflects the opinion of most Amateurs?

I won't advertise other forums that don't play the QRZ game here on this forum,..... but,.... there ARE other forum options available

 

[2RT307]

LOL at QRZ... agreed, DainBramage.

At one time I was trying to get my license .But the more I read the QRZ forum man most of those guys have a hard on for anything not ham.. So I said never mind radio is no fun anymore .................

Please don't base your decision to not pursue a ticket because of comments on QRZ (or any other forum, for that matter). Since I passed my tech and general, the ham community both on air and off have been very helpful, and provide lots of encouragement to learn more. See if you have a local club, and look into taking a class for your ticket. LOTS of the guys in my club are former/current CB'ers, and they certainly don't spend all their time bashing them. I see growth from CB to Ham as a natural progression into the radio hobby, and both are certainly a lot of fun.

Stellaisstillarat, I'd say you can't go wrong with that 1000, and you should not lose money on it if you decide to sell. You are right about the AM thing not being the performance focus for newer rigs, and a Johnson Ranger might be just the ticket for you if you still have the interest later.

73,
Brett

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

You dont have to agree with what I know to be true.

I agreed with it because I agree with it and it had nothing to do with whether you believe it to be true or not.

I think you and I have a different idea if what good audio sounds like. Communications grade audio makes some people happy but sounds terrible to me. Some people think wideband audio is stupid and they have a right to an opinion.

Having worked in an engineering dept. in commercial AM/FM broadcasting for 22 years I do know what good audio is believe me. It was my job to achieve that very goal. There is communications grade audio which is not what I call good audio. It does the job of establishing and maintaining contact with the best clarity and that is it. Wider audio, especially on AM, is what sounds really good however there is a point where extending the bandwidth does little more than occupy bandwidth and does nothing for the sound quality especially if the receiving station does not have the ability to take advantage of the wider audio bandwidth. The human voice, especially male voices, have little to nothing to offer at 8KHz and really roll off around 5 KHz yet some attempt to boost the highs so far that all they really do is create HISSSSSSSSS that occupies bandwidth and little more. You cannot boost something that is not there to begin with. I'm not saying that YOU do this but just making an observation of what SOME operators do. I cannot judge you or anybody else until I hear you or them on the air and see their signal on my 'scope.

I sat my phone down I. The middle of typing so you slipped post #38 in without me noticing. I don't really care to get into the cb vs ham deal...Nothing to prove on my end.

My first post was not directed at you. If you notice it was directed at someone else hence the quote I made. It had to do with a statement that said "CBer tend to blow shit up. They run out of money, then they learn how to fix it. Or give up and become hams." insinuating that CBers fix their gear while hams do not. My post quoting you in regards to that issue was to explain the history to you. There have been a lot of shit-shows here over the years.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

At one time I was trying to get my license .But the more I read the QRZ forum man most of those guys have a hard on for anything not ham.. So I said never mind radio is no fun anymore .................

QRZ is like the Mauldroppers or CB Retards of amateur radio. I am registered there and I post there but rarely. I read a lot as there is good info to be gleaned from there however I avoid the "elite" posters. Stick around there for a bit and you will quickly learn who I mean.

 

[undertaker]

Yes sir understand

 

[Mustang 131]

OK This sounds like it is turning into another CB versus ham thread and it will NOT end well.

I will answer the question "How many ham do you know that build anything short of an antenna. Please be honest." The question was regarding owning a soldering iron I believe. A great deal do even if it is just an interface cable that needs to be soldered up.A lot of ham clubs have project nights where the members bring in projects they have started and need help with or just plain show off a completed project.

Now that that has been answered I see no further need to continue with any ham versus CB'er stuff. It has been addressed MANY times before and it NEVER ends well and this will be no exception.

Let me clarify, some of the most respected hams on happen to be still on CB. I got nothing against hams, hell I've been active ham since '85. I've been luck enough to hear some of those beyond AM broadcast quality transmitters on 11. Where you don't have that boring round table crap.

 

[543_Dallas]

I agreed with it because I agree with it and it had nothing to do with whether you believe it to be true or not.




Having worked in an engineering dept. in commercial AM/FM broadcasting for 22 years I do know what good audio is believe me. It was my job to achieve that very goal. There is communications grade audio which is not what I call good audio. It does the job of establishing and maintaining contact with the best clarity and that is it. Wider audio, especially on AM, is what sounds really good however there is a point where extending the bandwidth does little more than occupy bandwidth and does nothing for the sound quality especially if the receiving station does not have the ability to take advantage of the wider audio bandwidth. The human voice, especially male voices, have little to nothing to offer at 8KHz and really roll off around 5 KHz yet some attempt to boost the highs so far that all they really do is create HISSSSSSSSS that occupies bandwidth and little more. You cannot boost something that is not there to begin with. I'm not saying that YOU do this but just making an observation of what SOME operators do. I cannot judge you or anybody else until I hear you or them on the air and see their signal on my 'scope.



My first post was not directed at you. If you notice it was directed at someone else hence the quote I made. It had to do with a statement that said "CBer tend to blow shit up. They run out of money, then they learn how to fix it. Or give up and become hams." insinuating that CBers fix their gear while hams do not. My post quoting you in regards to that issue was to explain the history to you. There have been a lot of shit-shows here over the years.

Those impressive credentials would surely make most people take your side if we were in a debate. I hope you get to hear me some day. Depending on what radio I'm using I may or may not impress you.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Let me clarify, some of the most respected hams on happen to be still on CB. I got nothing against hams, hell I've been active ham since '85. I've been luck enough to hear some of those beyond AM broadcast quality transmitters on 11. Where you don't have that boring round table crap.

Well I offer my apologies IF I was mistaken in the idea behind that post but it sure looked like you were saying that CBers fix their gear but hams do not because they do not even have a soldering iron. The Dave Made in your avatar speaks for itself as well and I would have never taken you for a ham considering all that. I have no problem with someone being on CB and ham as long as they separate the two on the air and leave the stereotypical "all knobs to the right" way of thinking and the CB lingo back on 11m. I could care less if some one is freebanding and on ham as long as they leave the crappy 11m amps off the amateur bands.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Those impressive credentials would surely make most people take your side if we were in a debate. I hope you get to hear me some day. Depending on what radio I'm using I may or may not impress you.

Not impressive, just a job but a job where I learned a lot and acquired a different level of standards towards a lot of things radio related. I am pretty much QRT right now but hope to remedy that with a major antenna installation this summer. Hopefully before next winter I will have my AM station back up and running. It's nothing special just a Heath DX-60B with a few mods to the mic input circuit. I use a Sennheiser MD-421 microphone with a Radio Design Labs preamp. Usually this feeds a Urei EQ and lastly a speech compressor sometimes but not always. My former boss in broadcasting, an engineer himself, gave me rave reviews on the audio so I am confident it sounds good. Now all I need is more power. 12 watts carrier peaking to 50 watts just does not cut it too well on 80m other than early morning local round tables.

 

[543_Dallas]

Not impressive, just a job but a job where I learned a lot and acquired a different level of standards towards a lot of things radio related. I am pretty much QRT right now but hope to remedy that with a major antenna installation this summer. Hopefully before next winter I will have my AM station back up and running. It's nothing special just a Heath DX-60B with a few mods to the mic input circuit. I use a Sennheiser MD-421 microphone with a Radio Design Labs preamp. Usually this feeds a Urei EQ and lastly a speech compressor sometimes but not always. My former boss in broadcasting, an engineer himself, gave me rave reviews on the audio so I am confident it sounds good. Now all I need is more power. 12 watts carrier peaking to 50 watts just does not cut it too well on 80m other than early morning local round tables.

I hear you. An HF amp is in my future plans but I do what I can with what I've got for now. I finally got all the cb stuff I'll ever need now I'm starting all over on different bands.