My Ham Shack- Yaesu FT-2900- Icom IC-7100, and a leap into the digital world of radio

[Ubiety]

Raspberry Pi and an SDR - download and run free open source software. Been using mine as a temporary APRS gateway and as a weather balloon tracker. Lots of neat possibilities for less than a hundred bucks. NanoVNA - analyzer for homebrew antennas for around a hundred bucks. Very cool tool if you want to build antennas.

 

[J.W.]

@Greg Eigsti glad you mentioned that one! SDR dongle is an absolute must have for any shack. Lots of cool things you can do with them.

 

[Ubiety]

@Greg Eigsti glad you mentioned that one! SDR dongle is an absolute must have for any shack. Lots of cool things you can do with them.

Glad you asked! ;)
Was on vacation last week and had my HT and Ras/Pi/SDR running as an APRS iGate. Was checking out aprs.fi and noticed a lot of WX balloon activity nearby. A little research led me to the auto rx project which I loaded onto the pi. Next thing you know my setup was receiving WX balloon telemetry and updating the internet. Pretty cool! Having the pi/sdr with me allowed me to setup an iGate and then quickly pivot to balloons when the interest struck.

We have A lot of fun dipping our toes into projects that use the SDR! Easy peasy to setup an ADSB receiver and watch the airplanes fly by!

@M Rose, or anyone, you can PM me at any time for more info.

 

[Ubiety]

A Linux computer, be that a ras/pi or old laptop, or whatever. There is a ton of free software that runs on Linux and not Windows. You could run a VM for free to get Linux running under Windows. And you can use an SDR on Windows or Linux (You don’t have to have the ras pi). This is a good starter SDR, recently purchased the $32 kit with antenna. Works well. There are more advanced SDRs for different uses (SDRPlay, Ham it up front end) that allow more advanced stuff like HF RX but the rtl-sdr is a great starter.

Buy RTL-SDR Dongles (RTL2832U)

Login to your account Where to Buy RTL-SDR RTL2832U DVB-T Tuner Dongles At RTL-SDR.com we sell significantly improved premium RTL-SDR dongles but keep our profits low and offer free shipping in order to maintain low retail pricing. We strongly believe that our V3 and V4 dongles are currently the...

www.rtl-sdr.com

 

[M Rose]

A Linux computer, be that a ras/pi or old laptop, or whatever. There is a ton of free software that runs on Linux and not Windows. You could run a VM for free to get Linux running under Windows. And you can use an SDR on Windows or Linux (You don’t have to have the ras pi). This is a good starter SDR, recently purchased the $32 kit with antenna. Works well. There are more advanced SDRs for different uses (SDRPlay, Ham it up front end) that allow more advanced stuff like HF RX but the rtl-sdr is a great starter.

Buy RTL-SDR Dongles (RTL2832U)

Login to your account Where to Buy RTL-SDR RTL2832U DVB-T Tuner Dongles At RTL-SDR.com we sell significantly improved premium RTL-SDR dongles but keep our profits low and offer free shipping in order to maintain low retail pricing. We strongly believe that our V3 and V4 dongles are currently the...

www.rtl-sdr.com

I think my old desktop (not that old, but I haven’t seen it in 2+ years) was running a dual boot Windows 10/ SuSe Linux Distro.
Pi-SDR... going to look into that...

@J.W. great ideas... thanks to everyone’s input... keep the ideas flowing.

 

[M Rose]

Radio should be here Friday. Ordering my antenna parts today.

 

[M Rose]

Ordered antenna parts... they should be here by the end of next week. Gives me a few days to build my radio shelf...

 

[Prerunner1982]

What antenna are you going with?

 

[M Rose]

What antenna are you going with?

Home brew J-pole

eHam.net

 

[Prerunner1982]

Should be a fun project.
I am planning on building a roll up J-pole for portable/camp use.

 

[M Rose]

Should be a fun project.
I am planning on building a roll up J-pole for portable/camp use.

Ohh you have my attention

 

[Prerunner1982]

Ohh you have my attention

Here is a popular purchased version of a slim jim ( a little different than a J-pole): Slim Jim Info
Here is a calculator (in metric) for both a slim jim and a j-pole: Slim Jim / J Pole Antenna Calculator
I am going to try and make one out of speaker wire since I have it more readily available than ladder line....we shall see.

 

[M Rose]

Here is a popular purchased version of a slim jim ( a little different than a J-pole): Slim Jim Info
Here is a calculator (in metric) for both a slim jim and a j-pole: Slim Jim / J Pole Antenna Calculator
I am going to try and make one out of speaker wire since I have it more readily available than ladder line....we shall see.

I might have to look into the Slim Jim as well. Thanks for the links.

 

[M Rose]

I got my radio today... and coax crimping tool set yesterday.... just waiting on connectors and coax and I’ll be all set.

 

[M Rose]

How do I access EchoLink Grits N Gravy on my Yaesu 2900? I know my repeaters freq and node number... but what do I need from here? Or will I get this all figured out after I get setup with an antenna?

@TerryD @Prerunner1982

 

[Prerunner1982]

See below, obviously would use your local repeater frequency.
I don't have an echolink repeater close enough to connect so I haven't tried that route yet.

EchoLink Via DTMF | Sullivan Amateur Radio Club

A brief guide to using EchoLink on the 146.805 repeater.

www.sullivanradio.net

 

[PNW EXPLR]

The solar idea is great, but big problem where I am parked... the tree in my front “yard” shades the East, South, and west sides of the trailer.

I gotta chainsaw you can borrow.....

 

[M Rose]

I gotta chainsaw you can borrow.....

Let’s cut down these two trees :)

 

[M Rose]

So from my digging I found that my “house” 12 volt converter is unfiltered DC voltage, and that is why my Hz is all over the place while under load, mixed with the fan motor running... I’m going to wire up a standard 3 prong 110 VAC plug on my “spare“ converter and see what it puts out without load... and test my CB on it to see what kind of noise I hear as well as see.

Well got around to messing with my spare converter today... guess what... my Hz are zero point zero zero. Plugged my radio in and zero noise. Now for my coaxial cable to show up and I can finish installing my Radio and hit the air waves.

 

[M Rose]

A white Jeep some how snuck past me today. They left a small package in my box. Thank you USPS for keeping the deliveries coming. I got my Coax Cable, Brown truck stopped by with all my connectors. Spent a couple of hours assembling the last little bit to my Antenna this afternoon. Then spent some quality time programming the FT-2900. I got my second contact out of Kennewick, Washington. My first contact was the president of the Grand Ronde Radio Amateurs (KI7FXJ) who helped me dial in the local repeaters. Thank you everyone who helped me get here.
Talk to you all on the Friday Night Net.