Hello! I got my fist radio!

[KK4OYS]

Hello everyone!

I was on the forums a while back asking some questions, I didn't have a radio yet, but had my licence.
I now have a radio, a friend gave me a 10M Realistic HTX-100 SSB/CW!
I've had my licence since 2013, but haven't used a radio yet, I hooked up the radio to a CB antenna I had and listened, I was able to hear Hams from Norway, India, and the UK! I didn't even hook up the mic because I need to review the rules before transmitting, and I need to build a 10M antenna. (Should I not even TX with the CB antenna because bad enough SWR can hurt the transmitter right? Or would the CB antenna be close enough anyways?)

I plan on ordering a SWR meter and building some antennas, my first antenna I plan to build out of coaxial cable, and pull it to the top of the tallest tree I have, it is about 20 feet taller than all trees for about a mile, and I am on a hill, so it should work pretty good.

Anyways just wanted to let everyone know whats up, and want to hear any tips!

Jonathan
KK4OYS

 

[mb91w126]

build a moxon before you waste the coax, they are easy and quite efficient, google search for moxgen to get the calculator,
best wishes

 

[w9cll]

Put up a 10m dipole and listen in. Study the rules and stay between 28.3 and 28.5 and you will be happy. If you want you can run CW below 28.3. The maxon is a good suggestio but this early on a dipole will do just fine ans with 10 being open you will work the world. 10 will close up soon so study for the general ticket.

 

[fourstringburn]

The HTX100 should be a fine SSB radio. I have a couple of President HR2600's which like the HTX100, is also a fine radio made by Uniden which are kind of similar.

You didn't mention what type of CB antenna you had because CB antennas can be trimmed or tuned depending on what it is and will work just fine on 10 meters.

As W9cll mentioned, a dipole will work fine and they are cheap to buy or easy to build if you desire.

Since it seems you have trees, that's a good starting point. There are different configurations of dipoles that you can experiment with like an inverted V, or sloper if you only have 1 tall tree like you mentioned. Experimenting is part of the fun and frustration of ham radio!

Be sure to string a dipole north to south so the antenna is broadside east to west and enjoy the DX!

 

[Ham Man]

The HTX100 should be a fine SSB radio. I have a couple of President HR2600's which like the HTX100, is also a fine radio made by Uniden which are kind of similar.

You didn't mention what type of CB antenna you had because CB antennas can be trimmed or tuned depending on what it is and will work just fine on 10 meters.

As W9cll mentioned, a dipole will work fine and they are cheap to buy or easy to build if you desire.

Since it seems you have trees, that's a good starting point. There are different configurations of dipoles that you can experiment with like an inverted V, or sloper if you only have 1 tall tree like you mentioned. Experimenting is part of the fun and frustration of ham radio!

Be sure to string a dipole north to south so the antenna is broadside east to west and enjoy the DX!

Find yourself an Elmer and ask for help.
There isn't much of a difference between a 10m and a 11m antenna.
You didn't say which antenna you have.
For a quarter wave dipole with a piece of coax cut at increments of electrical half wavelengths, you can use a simple SWR meter to check resonance.. Most times if you trim 4 inches off the whip it should match up between 28.300 and 28.500 Mhz.
Unfortunately - your transceiver does not have a built in antenna tuner...

All that the rules say is that you have to stay under 200 watts and you cannot go out of band and you have to identify once every 10 minutes with your call sign and again when you sign off...

10m is neat because you don't need a whole lot of power to talk both locally or half way around the world.. Use your new TRANSCEIVER as a building block for bigger and better things! Once you get hooked on HF, you won't want to play around on the chicken band ( 2m) anymore.. It will also be a good incentive to upgrade your license to General and do more things with amateur radio..

It is sad to hear that you never bothered to purchase your own equipment or upgrade your license... One of the pitfalls of people getting their license that doesn't really want to be a ham! The license ( especially with a hamcram - in a day class ) is very easy to get these days....

 

[Ham Man]

Hello everyone!

I was on the forums a while back asking some questions, I didn't have a radio yet, but had my licence.
I now have a radio, a friend gave me a 10M Realistic HTX-100 SSB/CW!
I've had my licence since 2013, but haven't used a radio yet, I hooked up the radio to a CB antenna I had and listened, I was able to hear Hams from Norway, India, and the UK! I didn't even hook up the mic because I need to review the rules before transmitting, and I need to build a 10M antenna. (Should I not even TX with the CB antenna because bad enough SWR can hurt the transmitter right? Or would the CB antenna be close enough anyways?)

I plan on ordering a SWR meter and building some antennas, my first antenna I plan to build out of coaxial cable, and pull it to the top of the tallest tree I have, it is about 20 feet taller than all trees for about a mile, and I am on a hill, so it should work pretty good.

Anyways just wanted to let everyone know whats up, and want to hear any tips!

Jonathan
KK4OYS

A 10m antenna doesn't have to be very high..
36 - 40' off the ground is plenty high enough to make some contacts.
Sometimes there is advantages to using a vertical antenna instead of a dipole on 10.
A dipole antenna is only about 17.6 feet long - depending upon the wire and balun you use.. Even more important is to use some good low loss coax for your feed line.
Any coax more then 10 years old should be thrown away, coax does get old and it does go bad! Use Belden 9913 , 9913F7, or LMR 400....

Your 25 watt radio will thank you and reward you with better reception..
No use throwing away a portion of your signal - both transmit and receive in the coax.

 

[Mudfoot]

Very nice radio, it's one of my favs. Big fun can be had running a little rig like that with a dipole.

 

[Ham Man]

A friend of mine calls me almost daily to tell me about the contacts he made with his Radio Shack 10 m / 25 watt SSB radio and his quarter wave ground plane antenna up about 16' off the ground, at a location that is almost 1450' amsl, with average terrain somewhere around 1400'...
This morning his first contact was with a guy from Bulgaria that was using old Russian tube type equipment.

 

[Moleculo]

Should I not even TX with the CB antenna because bad enough SWR can hurt the transmitter right?

I would be very surprised if that radio had the necessary circuitry to protect itself from a high SWR condition...but I haven't studied the radio so I'm not sure. The safe thing to do is to wait to TX until you know the SWR is where you need it.