Saturday, October 5, 2013

New Radio


 Its been a long long time but I actually purchased a new radio the 2m Yaesu FT1900.     Add a 5/8 NMO trunk mounted antenna and presto I am on active.    Figured why not ,   the car is the one place I spend a tone of time so it only made sense to add some Ham Fun to the journey.   The Ham hobby has always been on the back burner but its a deep rooted joy that will always be there.

 Went to Maplecom.com and picked up a 5/8 Antenna with a NMO Mount.     Drilled the hole in the trunk but I have some doubts as to wether the oh so thin sheet metal can support this monster.   I may go to a 1/4 Antenna but I really like the 3db gain with the 5/8's.

 There isn't a ton of activity on 2m  but there is a small group of really active amateurs that keep things interesting.   Gary VA3FV monitor the Paisly repeater closely and  often comes back to my calls.    Met Bill from Mildmay ,  Bills electronics ,  Adam the GBARC Pres and a few others.    

 Its really interesting always monitoring the propagation and the different signals I pick up as I roll over the hills of Grey County.   I often hear Michigan Hams coming in across Lake Huron.   This eve on my way to work I heard VE3RPT the Toronto repeater on the CN Tower. Every now an again when there is an inversion VE3III from Windsor comes booming in.  

 I want to get another run of LDF4 to the top of my Hill.   I would like to rig up a 2m setup to monitor the local repeater.