qrt
parent
eb2d53ec78
commit
b3e096b1c0
@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
title:
|
||||
layout: post
|
||||
date: 2024-06-29 16:05:32
|
||||
tags: Off The Air (For Good)
|
||||
excerpt_separator: <!--more-->
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Due to various issues, I have once again been forced off the air.
|
||||
|
||||
I have decided it will be a permanent change. The decision is not easy
|
||||
and has largely been done by force.
|
||||
|
||||
It has been fun. Hopefully one day I will return to the hobby.
|
||||
|
||||
73,
|
||||
Jay/NQ4T
|
||||
@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
|
||||
<dewdude> you faked that didn't you
|
||||
<luldangs> you can't tell shit from a pasted back
|
||||
@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
layout: page2
|
||||
title: NQ4T's QRZ Profile
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
<div class="message">Yes, I literally just embedded my website in to my QRZ Profile. But I also wrote a special QRZ Profile page specifically for the task. You can <a href="https://nq4t.com/qrz/" target="_blank">pop-out</a> the page and read it in a normal browser window, along with the rest of my website. Or you can check out the rest of the website from within QRZ.
|
||||
|
||||
A lot of formatting is probably screwed up. I'll get around to fixing the CSS at some point. 73.</div>
|
||||
|
||||
<div class="message">I got back on the air but I've yet to update the antenna pictures. Just picuture the same thing, because it's just wire.</div>
|
||||
|
||||
In case you couldn't tell from the menu on the left; handle is Jay. I'm located in Manassas, VA; about 25 miles S/SW of Washington DC in grid FM18. I was originally licensed in 2015 as a General with callsign KM4JOJ. I upgraded to Extra in 2016 and received NQ4T in 2017.
|
||||
|
||||
I was in to shortwave radio as a kid, played around with CB when I was probably too young to have done so, and meant to get licensed much earlier in life than I did. It was something I had planned to do in my 20's; but I knew HF was where I wanted to be and BPL was a thing being tested in my area. I then got busy with what would be a 20 year career of fixing coin-op equipment. But, as I mentioned; I finally did so in 2015 while recovering from the spinal injury that would cause me to eventually leave my career. I joined the local club, <a href="https://w4ovh.net" target="_blank">Ole Virginia Hams</a> after getting licensed and discovering they were nothing like the horror stories I'd read about other clubs.
|
||||
|
||||
I've done a couple field days in California with some friends at an isolated off grid site; which made me realize half the fun of this hobby was leaving the shack to go do things and meet other hams. Pandemic put a damper on it for a few years; but I did manage to make it to Hamvention in 2022...which was something else. I'm planning on going for 2023 and hopefully making it back out to California to hang with those guys.
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="https://nq4t.com/images/award.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="wrap-left" src="https://nq4t.com/images/thumbs/award2.jpg" /></a>From 2020 - 2022...pretty much the hardest portion of the pandemic; I served as president of OVH. I was both not-ready to run a club and surprised the membership entrusted me with the task. It worked out because not only did I have no clue what to do; having to go remote for everything meant no one else did. I managed to get the club in to remote meetings using a self-hosted video conferencing platform that was "easy to accidentally get in to" and keep things together; though the club members are about 75% responsible for making it work. They gladly followed what I felt should be done and supported me through all the bumps along the way. The club actually grew in membership during this time; so all and all it was a success. I didn't run for a third term as I wanted to cut anything holding me here as I really had planned on moving; and almost did in August of 2022. But all of that fell apart at the last minute.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="https://nq4t.com/images/ic7252.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="wrap-right" src="https://nq4t.com/images/thumbs/ic7252-2.jpg" /></a>I got my first HF rig just a few months after getting licensed and played around with various HF antennas. I was more interested in building things than buying them, so I played around with all manners of end-feds and OCFDs with some success. A year later I'd return to that same hamfest I got this IC-725 at and upgraded to Extra, as I quickly realized if I wanted all the fun 40m DX; I had to get get out of that tiny 25khz DX window. About a year after that, I managed to snag NQ4T through low competition. I upgraded the station to an IC-7300 in 2018, but had to sell the radio due to some circumstances 10 months later. I also had an IC-7100 for about 2 years...before I had to sell it (and pretty much my entire shack).
|
||||
|
||||
Now I have this:
|
||||
|
||||
<p><a href="/images/ft1000mp.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ft1000mp.jpg" style="width:100%" /></a>
|
||||
My main HF rig is a Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V with a MFJ-974HB Balanced Tuner. I built both a digital interface to the DVS-2 port as well as a TinyFSK keyer for FSK. It's on "extended loan" (I think it's a loan) from KG4NXT and N7QLK. I can see why people still use these things; for a couple generations old it's still a fine radio and some of the tweaking I can do to signals is just as good, if not more flexible, than I could get with even the 7300. (But I still miss that 7300.)</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<div class="img-row">
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/doublet-day.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/doublet-day.jpg" style="width:100%" /></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/doublet-night.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/doublet-night.jpg" style="width:100%" /></a></div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<p>With the MKV I'm driving a 72' long doublet up at about 50', with balanced line all the way to the shack. I built the first doublet in 2015 after playing with end-fed wires and OCFDs; but the doublet blew both of them out of the water. I called CQ once on 30m JT65 (that's how long ago it was) and spent what must have been an hour or more getting working half of Europe. I've been part of the doublet club ever since. The current one broke just before Hamvention and stayed down until I got the Yaesu just after Christmas; other than that it's been up since 2018. I kept good notes of the failures/issues I had with the first one and fixed them with the second one; it's paid off.</p>
|
||||
|
||||
<div class="img-row">
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/ft2d.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ft2d-2.jpg" style="width:100%" /></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/dmr.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/dmr.jpg" style="width:100%" /></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-">
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<div class= "message"> I don't do YSF/DMR or digital modes on V/U anymore.</div>
|
||||
|
||||
I have issues keeping a VHF antenna in the trees, so I mostly just use my HT's through a Hotspot. I used to have a couple of them, including a fancy full-duplex for actual Tier2 DMR; but...like the rest of the shack, they all got sold for a few bucks. I did manage to keep ahold of my first Zumspot and a RPi. At some point I'll get the mobile setup back in the car; which is just a
|
||||
I did manage to snag my mixed WAS in 2021, my WAC sometime back in 2017, and after years of trying and missing the event; got the full sweep of 13 Colonies (all 13 and 3 bonus stations). It was 13 Colonies that made me want to get extra just to have better luck nabbing GB13COL. In the end...I don't think I had to use any of the extra portions to get it. But hey...any reason to upgrade is a good one.
|
||||
|
||||
I do enjoy a good contest when I'm in the mood. This past RTTY contest was a disaster of technical issues from not a lot of testing with a "new" rig and just being rusty. I'll get the next contest I'm home for (I think I'm out of town for the next). I do plan on operating VAQP in mid-March.
|
||||
|
||||
## Outside of Radio
|
||||
|
||||
Now that I'm not working on pinball machines...I'm doing IT contracting. Playing around with servers is something I did after I stopped doing electronics as a hobby for the 20 years I was doing it for a living. I wish I had a larger homelab in my rack; but I do have a couple of servers in my basement keeping my entire network humming and hosting a few things. I have two external VPS systems...the one literally just runs nq4t.com email. I've been known to dabble with VoIP; I run my own Asterisk PBX and I do have trunks in to Hamshack Hotline and HamsOverIP...but I don't think either one works right and I've yet to determine if it's my end or theirs. It's low priority since my IT gigs are all in phones, lol.
|
||||
|
||||
I love music. I enjoy all genres but primarily listen to classic rock with a heavy dose of yacht rock. I'm also a hi-fi enthusiast; which is how I really got in to electronics. I started fixing the junk I picked up, started fixing stuff for other people, and started discovering there was a whole world of really good sound out there. Of course...then came the insanity of collecting different releases, comparing masters, high resolution, and even higher resolution digital audio. Don't ask me which release of The Beatles catalog I prefer unless you want me to go off on tangents. ;)
|
||||
|
||||
Thanks for reading. Feel free to check out the rest of the website. Hope to work you at some point in the future.
|
||||
|
||||
73,
|
||||
Jay/NQ4T
|
||||
@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
|
||||
---
|
||||
layout: page2
|
||||
title: NQ4T's Station
|
||||
sidebar: 1
|
||||
order: 4
|
||||
---
|
||||
You can skip to any of the following sections you'd like:
|
||||
- HF Rigs
|
||||
- <a href="#currhf">Current HF Rig</a> (Although it's literally right here.)
|
||||
- <a href="#pasthf">Previous HF Rigs</a>
|
||||
- V/U Rigs
|
||||
- <a href="#currvu">Current V/U Rigs</a>
|
||||
- <a href="#pastvu">Previous V/U Rigs</a>
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
|
||||
<a id="currhf">
|
||||
## Current HF Rig: Yaesu FT-1000MP
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="/images/ft1000mp.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/ft1000mp.jpg" style="width:100%"></a>
|
||||
My main HF rig is a Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark-V with a MFJ-974HB Balanced Tuner. I built both a digital interface to the DVS-2
|
||||
port as well as a TinyFSK keyer for FSK.
|
||||
|
||||
<div class="img-row">
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/doublet-day.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/doublet-day.jpg" style="width:100%"></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/doublet-night.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/doublet-night.jpg" style="width:100%"></a></div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
My antenna is a 72' (21.9m) long center-fed doublet. It's about 50' (15.24m) up in the air supported by trees. The feed-line held mostly vertical from the feed-point about
|
||||
6' (1.8m) from the ground using a line attached to the house. I originally built this doublet in 2018, and it stayed up until 2022 when the line hung up during a wind-storm
|
||||
and it tore the loop at the end. The feed-line has had a few patches and pieces spliced in to it; but it's window-line so it doesn't affect performance. One leg had a
|
||||
cut/tear in the insulation close to the feed-point, so I did some pre-emptive work to prevent this from getting worse. It really shows up in the night shot as a
|
||||
blurry white spot.<br><br>
|
||||
|
||||
<a id="pasthf">
|
||||
## Previous HF Rigs
|
||||
|
||||
### iCom IC-725
|
||||
<div class="img-row">
|
||||
<div class="img-column-3">
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic7251.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic7251.jpg"></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-3">
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic7252.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic7252.jpg"></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-3">
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic7253.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic7253.jpg"></a></div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
|
||||
My first HF rig was an iCom 725 I picked up at the Berryville Hamfest in 2015. I'd only been licensed for about 4 months and hadn't expected to get an HF rig that quickly. I had
|
||||
a small budget from a surprise influx of cash the night before and had been making rounds looking at boat anchors. A friend found this radio on the floor from a vendor that was
|
||||
selling surplus radio equipment; the type of setup where it looked like a truck just dumped random gear everywhere. I made the usual mistake of buying an untested radio; but my
|
||||
friend told me the old iCom's were pretty tough. It came with the PS-55 power supply but no mic. I talked the guy down to an agreeable price because of these two factors. Despite
|
||||
looking like it came right out of a barn, the radio fired up when I got it home. I bought an 8-pin mic plug, a random microphone from a $1 bin, and spent my last $20 on a MFJ-16010
|
||||
long-wire tuner. I made contacts that night. While I may not have kept the power-supply, I kept the radio. Not only because it was my first; but because it's a tank.
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
### iCom IC-756
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic756.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic756.jpg"></a>
|
||||
|
||||
A year after getting the IC-725 I picked this up at the Berryville Hamfest. It was actually tested and working at the hamfest; and when I was the first to throw my money down there
|
||||
was both sighs of disappointment and slight applause from the small crowd of OM that'd gathered. But, don't get too excited. What started off as a few bad lines turned in to a fully
|
||||
dead display in about a week. It came with a replacement; but after some work I wound up blowing it up. Thanks iCom for numbering your connectors backwards.
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
### iCom IC-728
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic728.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic728.jpg"></a>
|
||||
|
||||
I wound up trading my half-dead 756 for this 728. Was it a good trade? Probably not. But at the time, I was defeated and didn't care. The 728 didn't suffer from the filtering
|
||||
issues the 725 did; plus it had a speech processor, something the 725 lacked. Don't get too excited. A few months later the RX lost all sensitivity. I sold it for parts at a
|
||||
hamfest and managed to recover $75, putting me in the hole for $425 between it and the 756.
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
### iCom IC-7300
|
||||
|
||||
<div class="img-row">
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/radiofam.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/radiofam.jpg"></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic7300.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic7300.jpg"></a></div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
|
||||
In keeping with the trend of acquiring iCom rigs; I bought this brand new from HRO in August of 2018. I'd wanted one since they came out, so I drove down to HRO that day and
|
||||
bought it. Fantastic rig. I owned it all of 10 months before a serious accident forced me to sell it. I still miss this radio for many reasons. In fact the one picture is the
|
||||
one I used for the emergency sale since I hadn't owned it long enough to take many.
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
### iCom IC-7100
|
||||
|
||||
<div class="img-row">
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic71001.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic71001.jpg"></a></div>
|
||||
<div class="img-column-2">
|
||||
<a href="/images/ic71002.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/ic71002.jpg"></a></div>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
|
||||
In mid-2020 I picked up this IC-7100 from a friend on IRC. I'd put my 725 back on the air a couple of months earlier after, but was quickly reminded at how annoying that thing
|
||||
was with it's barn-door-wide filtering. I quickly fell in love with it. Almost as good as the 7300 RX wise with the advantage of the remote head and 2m/70cm. I didn't use those
|
||||
much due to the inability to keep a VHF antenna up in the trees; but I had a hotspot, so it served as a D-Star radio for that. I did an RF tap for my SDRPlay for a nice big
|
||||
waterfall. I sold it in the summer of 2022 after yet another situation forced me to sell the shack.
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
### The QRO Station I Never Got To Use
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="/images/qro.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/qro.jpg"></a>
|
||||
|
||||
I don't even want to talk about this. I made my first trip to Hamvention in 2022 for the sole purpose of buying the SB-201 and tuner off a friend for a ridiculously good price. The
|
||||
amp was in fully working condition and had all the major mods done by someone who knew what they were doing. I never even got this on the air. By the time I got the rest of the
|
||||
parts to let my antenna setup do kW; that situation arose and it went out the door. I was so heart-broken after everything that I had zero intentions of getting back on the air
|
||||
until the current rig was bestowed upon me. On the flipside; the shelf I had to add to the station location to accommodate that beast wound up being needed to hold the Yaesu.
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
<a id="currentvu">
|
||||
## Current VHF/UHF Radios
|
||||
|
||||
### Yaesu FT2D
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="/images/ft2d.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="wrap-left" src="/images/thumbs/ft2d.jpg"></a>
|
||||
For Christmas 2016 I bought myself a little gift, a Yaesu FT2D. The club had recently taken the deal on the System Fusion repeater, so I figured I might as well get over the pain
|
||||
of paying over $300 for an HT. I bought it along with a Mirage BD-35 amp; my reasoning being it would allow me to use the HT as a mobile radio with the option of plugging up a
|
||||
different mobile radio in the future. Though I was very unimpressed with System Fusion and WIRES-X as a whole, it's been a damn good radio. It's been dropped and beaten to hell,
|
||||
but it fires up every time I need it to (provided it's charged).
|
||||
<br><br><br><br><br><br>
|
||||
### DMR HTs
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="/images/dmr.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/dmr.jpg" width="80%"></a>
|
||||
- #### TYT MD-380
|
||||
|
||||
This one was on "extended loan" from a guy as no one else had a use for it, he wanted me to give a presentation on MMDVM hotspots, and the only mode I didn't have a radio for at
|
||||
the time was DMR. It's an OK radio, I guess. I don't really use it much these days, it's more of a backup. I do have the battery eliminator for it, which I used for mobile use with
|
||||
the hotspot.
|
||||
|
||||
- #### Radioddity GD-73
|
||||
|
||||
I was looking for a hotspot radio, and I bought a hotspot radio. The one thing I like about it is the use of standard USB for charging and programming.
|
||||
|
||||
- #### Cotre CO01D
|
||||
|
||||
This, at the time, was a $16 DMR radio. No display, one zone, few buttons...but it was $16. How bad could a $16 DMR radio be? I bought it to find out. I was surprised to find other
|
||||
than the horrible interface, it too made a decent hotspot radio; and it actually does Tier2. I still have it, but have completely misplaced it and haven't seen it in quite some
|
||||
time. It'll turn up one day.
|
||||
|
||||
<a id="pastvu">
|
||||
### Previous VHF/UHF Radios
|
||||
|
||||
#### Kenwood TR-7850
|
||||
|
||||
<a href="/images/7850.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="/images/thumbs/7850.jpg"></a>
|
||||
A friend from an audio site gave me a Kenwood TR-7850 2m monobander after hearing I'd gotten my license. It belonged to his father and was just sitting around. He included another
|
||||
2m rig; an even older Kenwood monobander. It's....somewhere around here in storage. I only briefly used the rig because of the 2m antenna issue I mentioned. I'm pretty sure I still
|
||||
have it...again...in storage. After 8 years it's hard to tell where it's gone.
|
||||
<br><br>
|
||||
#### Kenwood TH-D74
|
||||
<a href="/images/d74.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="wrap-left" src="/images/thumbs/d74.jpg"></a>
|
||||
Yes, I bought one of the D74s. I bought it the same day I bought my 7300 at HRO. Nice little radio. It saw very little use and sold it after selling the rest of the shack. One of
|
||||
the nice things about it was it's general coverage receive would actually do sideband modes; and it actually had a ferrite bar antenna for AM BCB. Mine did suffer that issue where
|
||||
the internal charge controller died; so the power jack on the radio was 100% useless. But it was my first D-Star radio, the one I first used with a hotspot, I used it for a couple
|
||||
of foxhunts, and it did send an <a href="/images/aprsiss.jpg" target="_blank">APRS packet through the ISS</a>.
|
||||
<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>
|
||||
#### Baofeng GT3-TP
|
||||
<a href="/images/potato.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="wrap-right" src="/images/thumbs/potato.jpg"></a>
|
||||
Look...I was a new ham and broke. I bought one of these and made use of it; but it was a pretty lousy radio overall. Tons of front-end overload issues. It's final resting place
|
||||
is a field in California. That being said, I did make a magmount for it and beaconed a lot of APRS with it while I did own it. I think I even did an event or two. The few comments
|
||||
I got on repeaters were complmenting me for having "good deviation" as most of them shipped FMN by default. I later stole the crystal out of it's programming cable to fix the dongle
|
||||
for my HF digital interface.
|
||||
|
||||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue