Newbie Alert

[OCMike]

I am a newly-licensed ham (KK6JOT) and I live on the other side of the hill (east) from Laguna Beach. I am able to hear the repeater just fine from my QTH, but transmitting is a no-go. The only equipment I have (and will for the foreseeable future) is a Baofeng UV5R+, a NagoyaNA701 dual band rubber duck antenna and a Workman 2m/440 mag mount antenna for the vehicle. I was able to hit the repeater this morning with the rubber duck while driving (thank you to the gentleman - didn't catch his call- who confirmed this for me) on my ride into work. Thanks also to Daryl DTO for confirming that I was hitting it but not holding it when I keyed up a couple of hours later outside the car in the parking lot at work in Tustin.

I am looking for antenna ideas to work with the UV5R+ that I have for now so I can tx at the QTH. I am in a condo association, so outdoor antennas are a no-go. Perhaps I won't have enough power to get out, or maybe I am too far from the repeater. Anyway, I would really appreciate some ideas and input from you veterans. For the record, building things is not my strong suit.

p.s. - the reason I got into amateur radio was from monitoring you guys/gals on a scanner app I purchased 5 months ago for my iPhone. It listed 449.500 MHz SCRAP Repeater and I was like, "what the hell is a SCRAP Repeater?" I began listening. I liked what I was hearing so much, I bought a HT and started studying to get my tech ticket and am currently studying for my general. Sorry for the long post but I am new and excited to start playing radio.

73's - Mike

 

[K6BIG]

Welcome to the Hobby and to the SCRAP repeater....

Get active in your HOA and convince them that HAM RADIO is the ONLY
means of communication that will work in emergency.....

....but until then

Get yourself a good dual band base antenna....
(like diamond or comet)
paint it flat black

get a chunk of chain link gate pole... 20ft or so...
or conduit.... and paint it flat black

make a base from 5 gallon can with pipe just larger than mast
cemented in with a couple bags of quickcrete...

get some good coax from me or one of the others here....

and an adapter (3-6 ft) from baofeng antenna to SO239
like this one...
http://www.jefatech.com/product/100SMAFUHFF19
Wouxon / Baofeng HT Saver: SMA Female to UHF Female (SO239) - RG316 - 19 inches

tilt that antenna up at night and come out and play !!!

Big B
K6BIG

 

[KF6IRK]

For condo applications, check out the Ventenna VT-22 dual band antenna ($130.) ... Click here

... and welcome to the madness

 

[OCMike]

Thanks Captain Irk!

I appreciate the reply. I purchased a roll up slim jim and will be giving that a try. I like BIG's idea and may give that a go. 6GUN (Rob) told me about the tape measure yagi, which will be my weekend project.

I failed to mention that I am on the ground floor of a 3 story building and roof access is not possible without some serious ladderage or a scissor lift, neither of which I have.

Mike

 

[Flug]

Check this out, might work well outside , and its only 30 inches tall.
440 MHz Amateur Radio J-Pole Antenna | KB9VBR J-Pole Antennas

I have the 2 meter version of this and it works great.

 

[K6BIG]

Check this out, might work well outside , and its only 30 inches tall.
440 MHz Amateur Radio J-Pole Antenna | KB9VBR J-Pole Antennas

I have the 2 meter version of this and it works great.

Although a J Pole offers a cheap alternative...
a J pole offers very low gain. and is pretty narrow banded
I would go discone before Jpole....

consider a comet GP 3 or equiv for instance,,, dual band ground plane
offers dual band and over twice the gain
of the Jpole on 440 is about 60-90 bucks... much more bang for the buck!

JMHO :closedeyes:


Big B

 

[Flug]

Totally agree with you , just looking at his options considering the amount of space he has to work with.

When I get the money saved I am going for the Triband Comet 333 or whatever it is.

 

[FatHam]

The Superloop is pretty stealthy. Especially if you hang a bunch of tomato cages off the neighbor's balconys. It'll blend right in.

BTW, be sure you get the motor drive option ironed out before you take delivery.

:bdh:

 

[Crash Ash]

Motor drive, what the hell is that!

 

[KF6IRK]

I run a Comet CX-333 at home. I recently purchased a Jetstream JTB2B dual band base antenna for my shop. Approx $65. shipped, from GigaParts.

If you can get away with installing a Comet CX-333 and you're not planning on running 220 mHz, why spend the extra money? (the 333 is $208. shipped).

I would recommend the JTB2B for both price and performance.


Features:

144-148Mhz 440-450Mhz
6 db gain on 144-148 Mhz
8 db gain on 440-450 Mhz
Connector: SO239
Impedance: 50 ohms
Length 100"
Mast size: 1.5-2 inch
Max power: 200 watts, sum of both bands
Max wind rating: 90 MPH
Construction: Fiberglass
One piece construction

.

 

[OCMike]

Thank you Captain

Many thanks!! I appreciate the thoughtful and explanatory reply.

 

[OCMike]

So, I just took delivery of a TM-V71A. I purchased it from MTC after listening to all of you talking about them and found them to have the best price. Hopefully I will be able to wade through the Youtube videos and get this station on the air (finally).

Captain IRK, after much deliberation, I will be unable to make a 100 inch long antenna work and have opted for a Diamond 37 inch dual band mobile antenna. I know I am giving up gain by going that route. Worst-case, I will have a mobile rig, though I really only have time to play radio in the evenings and on weekends. Hopefully this will be sufficient to hit the machine from my QTH, given my restrictions relating to antennas.

In any event, I hope to be on the air this weekend. I didn't buy the programming cable, so manual entries here I come.......Fingers Crossed.

Mike
KK6JOT

 

[kk6hdu]

Hey Mike -

The programming on the V71A is pretty darn easy. In fact here are some links on how to program the radio:

- repeater programing = Programming a repeater into a Kenwood TM-V71 Amateur Radio - AF5DN - YouTube
- setup cross band repeater = Setup the Crossband Repeater on a Kenwood TM VT71A - AF5DN - YouTube

Also, if memory serves correctly, I seem to remember you mentioning that you were talking from your balcony? You could put together at 70cm yagi, set that up temporarily on a camera tri-pod, and place that on your balcony facing towards the repeater when you want to communicate? The portability of it should trump your HOA's stupid rules as you can take it down when not in use. Just a thought...

 

[K6BRY]

So, I just took delivery of a TM-V71A. I purchased it from MTC after listening to all of you talking about them and found them to have the best price. Hopefully I will be able to wade through the Youtube videos and get this station on the air (finally).

Captain IRK, after much deliberation, I will be unable to make a 100 inch long antenna work and have opted for a Diamond 37 inch dual band mobile antenna. I know I am giving up gain by going that route. Worst-case, I will have a mobile rig, though I really only have time to play radio in the evenings and on weekends. Hopefully this will be sufficient to hit the machine from my QTH, given my restrictions relating to antennas.

In any event, I hope to be on the air this weekend. I didn't buy the programming cable, so manual entries here I come.......Fingers Crossed.

Mike
KK6JOT

You should not have a problem getting in with that setup at all depending on the location in Laguna beach, if that is correct location from your call sign look up.

I am in the City Of Orange and that is between Laguna beach and the repeater. I do have my station set up in so I can remote into it and that send my signal from my house to the machine on the ridge with much more power. So, if you are having trouble reaching the machine from your home I can give you the input to my machine here in Orange and then you will surely have a good signal to the repeater (assuming you can hit my station)

So get your stuff up already! :-D Try the machine, if it doesnt work well let me know and we can work on getting you into my machine in Orange.

Talk to ya soon.

Bryn
K6BRY

 

[OCMike]

Thanks Marc and Bryan (not to be confused with those dudes from KLOS)

Marc - Thanks for the advice. I am going to go portable for sure while on the air at home. I will look into the yagi once I see how the setup I have works (or doesn't). I plan to take down the antenna when not in use. I also need to figure out where my shack is going to be and I have a 20 foot run of RG8X which should get me where I need to be in the house.

BRY - I am hoping what I have works to get into the machine. Thank you for your offer. I will set up my station this weekend and see if I can get in good. If not, I will absolutely take you up on your offer. I actually live in Aliso Viejo, but my condo's location and the proximity to the buildings, walls and trees is what I am concerned about regarding my signal. If the wall outside my patio (10 feet from where the antenna will be placed) and the trees (right behind that wall) were not there, I would see Santiago perfectly. Also, my patio is enclosed, so I am blocked on both sides and have a ceiling above, so I really have one way out and as mentioned that path is blocked by trees and a wall. Hopefully that does not pose too much of an issue, but there is only one way to find out, right?

73's guys!