[OZAPRS] How much power do you use while HF mobile?

Kevin kevcav at bigpond.com
Sat Jun 11 09:09:54 EST 2011


Any Codans 8528 for sale?

Kevin VK4SP

On 06/11/2011 08:38 AM, Ray Wells wrote:
> Don't overlook some hardware store, welding supply stores or 
> engineering works for bronze brazing rod
>
> Ray, vk2tv
>
> On 11/06/11 08:09, Damien Gardner Jnr wrote:
>> Ahhh, if only Kmart still sold such things!  I scoured homewares, 
>> then autos, then camping - and my three possibilities were a dish 
>> drainer from homewares, a bread toaster thingy from camping, or the 
>> little fly netting thingy from camping..  If i'd had a heap of spare 
>> time, a 4mm tent peg could have been made to work, with a file ;)   
>> But a crocheting hook, awesome!  I'll expand my search criteria a bit 
>> while I'm out around nowra this morning :)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> DG
>>
>> On 10/06/2011, at 9:35 PM, Bob - VK5FO wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Years ago, we lost the tuning tip from our Terlin HF antenna.
>>>
>>> We went to K-Mart and bought a $2 crocheting hook from the 
>>> haberdashery section.  It worked for over 10 years like that!
>>>
>>> So, don't dismiss the simple, cheap solutions like this :)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 10/06/2011 7:57 PM, Damien Gardner Jnr wrote:
>>>> True I think - having pulled into Nowra, and (temporarily) fixed my 
>>>> antenna, with it lightly raining, and very overcast, I can't get a 
>>>> packet out even on 100W!  I even sat there for five mins turning 
>>>> the OT1+ on and off every 30 seconds, so it would keep sending 
>>>> posit packets, but not a brass razoo ended up on the APRS network!
>>>>
>>>> --DG
>>>>
>>>> On 10/06/2011, at 8:06 PM, Gordon VK4VP wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Damien,
>>>>>     I usually run about 70W mobile, but there are certainly locations
>>>>> where it doesn't make much difference how much power you run, you 
>>>>> have
>>>>> trouble getting in.  The band conditions are what makes the 
>>>>> difference I
>>>>> think.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Gordo VK4VP
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au 
>>>>> [mailto:ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au] On
>>>>> Behalf Of Damien Gardner Jnr
>>>>> Sent: Friday, 10 June 2011 18:35
>>>>> To: Australian APRS Users
>>>>> Subject: [OZAPRS] How much power do you use while HF mobile?
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Folks,
>>>>>
>>>>> So I dug out a spare welding rod, and made a new tip for the 30 
>>>>> metre whip
>>>>> on the the car, so I could run HF as well as VHF while we're away 
>>>>> this long
>>>>> weekend.  Didn't last long, it disappeared somewhere through kangaroo
>>>>> valley, but we did get excellent coverage all the way down till 
>>>>> then :)
>>>>> Will go hunting around nowra tomorrow and see if I can find a 
>>>>> source of 3mm
>>>>> welding rods, or (haha not a chance) 3mm stainless rod, but for 
>>>>> now I picked
>>>>> up a $4 fold-out mosquito net thingo from the camping section at 
>>>>> kmart, for
>>>>> putting over a plate..  That had about 1mm rods in it, cut it to 
>>>>> the 152mm I
>>>>> usually cut to, but it was centered about 300khz too far up the 
>>>>> band..  cut
>>>>> a new one 3cm longer, and bingo, 1.1 swr on 10.1mhz :)  Gotta say 
>>>>> having the
>>>>> LCD backlight set to go from blue to red on SWR during transmit is
>>>>> absolutely fantastic - you know straight away if something's wrong!
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyway, my question - While i was giving the car a test-drive with 
>>>>> the
>>>>> antenna on, on thursday morning, I had my HF SSID appear on my 
>>>>> D710 - seems
>>>>> it was picked up somewhere and gated around about and ended up out 
>>>>> on VHF
>>>>> via an igate...  What did surprise me, was I still had the 857 set 
>>>>> to 5w,
>>>>> from tuning in the antenna!  Now I usually run 50w on HF, but 
>>>>> having done
>>>>> lots of playing with PSK31 and the like recently, I'm realising 
>>>>> that power
>>>>> really doesn't make a whole lot of difference on HF, and having 
>>>>> landed in
>>>>> noosa on 5w, I'm wondering if I need to be running 50W..
>>>>>
>>>>> Sooo - what power do folks usually run on HF APRS? :)
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>
>>>>> Damien
>>>>>
>>>>> VK2TDG
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> OZAPRS mailing list
>>>>> OZAPRS at aprs.net.au
>>>>> http://lists.aprs.net.au/mailman/listinfo/ozaprs
>>>>>
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-- 
Kevin Cavanagh



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