I've got my first rig up and working

[KQ9U]

I have my J Pole antenna in the attic leaning against the rafters. It's too tall to stand upright. And too slick on the roof to install it correctly.

I've talked with several other hams and they say I'm coming in good and clear. I've still got to figure out how to save the frequencies that I enter. Guess I need to read the manual some more.

 

[n0zna]

congrats on getting the

radio up and running.If the radio is a new yeasue like 2800m or 2900m or 7800 or so...they are hard to program...73s de n0zna/John

 

[Moleculo]

Which radio did you get? Also, with that J-pole, make a coax choke at the feed point to de-couple the coax shield from the antenna. You can get away with not doing that (I am on my 220Mhz J-pole) but it's not really recommended. On my J Pole, i didn't have quite enough coax at the time to make a choke...I do now but I'm too lazy to get on the roof

 

[wavrider]

Congrats on being on the air.

Since you are limited in space for antenna you may want to look at a 2 meter bobtail or a moxon antenna both good performers.

 

[KQ9U]

Which radio did you get? Also, with that J-pole, make a coax choke at the feed point to de-couple the coax shield from the antenna. You can get away with not doing that (I am on my 220Mhz J-pole) but it's not really recommended. On my J Pole, i didn't have quite enough coax at the time to make a choke...I do now but I'm too lazy to get on the roof

I got the FT-7900R. I have enough coax, but I've got snow and ice on my roof. It's going to have to wait for a while.

 

[74IN]

I found it harder to figure out my first 2M rig than it was to pass the Tech test.

 

[KQ9U]

I found it harder to figure out my first 2M rig than it was to pass the Tech test.

I think I did too. I can program a computer and do almost anything with it including building my own. But this radio has lots of gizmos on it that I haven't figured out how to operate yet.

Sure ain't a plug in and turn on and use thing.

 

[W5LZ]

Oh ain't it awful! Yeah, but ain't 'cha glad you're getting to have all that awfulness??
- 'Doc

 

[N0NB]

Welcome to the on-the-air fraternity.

But if you put that antenna up now, it will work so much better!

 

[W4KTL]

My first 2 meter rig in 1976 had 3 controls, vol/sq/freq selector. Same with my first HT. Now, I use my HT so infrequently I have to glance through the manual to remember how to switch freq banks. If it weren't for the fact that I travel every week on business I'd stick with my Motorola stuff and be happy with fewer bells and whistles.