New User - Hello Everyone!

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KM4GGD

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Feb 9, 2015
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12
Location
Franklin, NC
My name is Jim, I’m a Technician since December last year and I live in the mountains of NC. I have a couple of radios that I’m currently playing with, a Yaesu FT-450D and a Yaesu FT-8800. I also have an assortment of the usual Baofeng and Wouxun HT’s. My base station antennas are a 10 meter dipole and a Diamond X300a.

When I first started playing with amateur radio in December my primary interest was in long distance QSO’s but lately I have taken more of an interest in the local 2 meter contacts. I’m at approximately 3,700’ elevation level and while pretty much blocked by mountains to the North, I have a good shot out to the South. My 2 meter antenna is hanging about 60’ up a tree so I have some good height and it’s surprising how well my signal gets bounced between the mountains and into areas that you would just not think possible. Normal 2 meter contacts for me are anywhere between 15 miles and 150 miles, but I can hear repeaters as much as 240 miles away that I’m working on getting in to.

I’m retired for the most part but when I worked (2 years ago) I owned a software company that wrote and supported specialized software designed to move and track money through the ACH network. My current interests (besides amateur radio) include solar power generation, heating/cooling with natural/passive sources, and GSD’s.

If this hobby sorts out like the others I’ve had, I’ll have lots of questions so please bear with me. At 62 I take constructive criticism fairly well, so don’t be afraid of hurting my feelings. :)

Hello everyone!
 

robertmac

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Jun 6, 2005
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Welcome to amateur radio. I do have a problem that this thread is for new users but states scanners. There is an amateur radio thread further down that may give more input into operating within the amateur bands. A moderator could move it down for you if you would like it to appear in the amateur radio area.
 

SCPD

QRT
Joined
Feb 24, 2001
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0
Location
Virginia
Welcome and enjoy the hobby.I'm not into Ham Radio, just scanners. It's nice to see that someone is taking an interest in some form of the radio hobby.
 

KM4GGD

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 9, 2015
Messages
12
Location
Franklin, NC
Welcome and enjoy the hobby.I'm not into Ham Radio, just scanners. It's nice to see that someone is taking an interest in some form of the radio hobby.
Thank you EJM. And I'm sorry guy's for putting this in the wrong place. I saw "New User" heading and figured this was where I should post.

PLEASE MODERATOR(S) will you move this to the correct place? I'll do better in the future, I promise. :)
 

krokus

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Jun 9, 2006
Messages
5,964
Location
Southeastern Michigan
Welcome to the site and the various aspects of radio.

If you want to try and reach the further away sites, check in to putting up a Yagi antenna. With a Yagi and a rotor, you might be surprised at how far you can reach. (Especially if you branch into using SSB, which is typically done with horizontally polarized antennas.)

Sent via Tapatalk
 

KM4GGD

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 9, 2015
Messages
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Location
Franklin, NC
Thank you Krokus! I've considered a Yagi and I may still put one up. But I'll never be able to get a Yagi anywhere near as high as the vertical is now, not without spending a small fortune anyhow. And I'm afraid that a Yagi 40' lower than my vertical probably wouldn't perform any better.

Here is the view from the tip of my vertical. The mountain straight across is what I have to get over and my guess is that a Yagi would shoot right into the side of it whereas the additional height of the vertical allows me to get over it, or at least through the pass. So for now I'll just have to tweak the vertical with some LMX400 and maybe a little power somewhere along the line.
 

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