baofeng/amp/antenna help please?

[BrettL]

My call sign finally posted a few days ago. I want to talk HF but for now as a start and to get use to things I purchased me a boating UV-5R and a magnet mount. I have the magnet mount outside the house. I reach several repeaters ok for what I have.

I already hate this itty bitty radio. It's not something fascinating to me. I have talked 11 meters for most of my life. I don't care to run 10 meters and would like to gain some experience with the vhf and uhf for its all I have at this time and would like to make the best of it.

I have a few questions......Do I need external Mic to give it better audio and if so what kind?

What is the best antenna / coax/ kind of adapters I need?


What is a good amplifier, if you can even drive one with this hand held?


I need some improvement and if you tell me it's not worth it and throw it away then it won't hurt my feelings. All help is greatly appreciated.

 

[teufler]

First you will need an adapter to take your sma antenna jack to a so239. Amazon sells them, about $6.00. DHT Handheld Antenna Cable for Wouxun Baofeng Quasheng Linton - Adapter for UHF Base and Mobile Antennas - SMA Female to UHF SO-239 Female Connectors 6''
by An amp, there are several, 5 watts 35 watts out. A Mirage b-34, $109.00. You will need a power suppy to power the amp, 20 amp switcher, about $90 dollars, Boafeng sells am external mic, aROUND $7.00 thats not bad. You are starting to approach, the price of a single vhf radio, thats more power, designed for mobile. HT's are good for talk around hamfests, 2-3 miles, sort of like a laptop computer. There are handy but home computers are more robust. You might try the sma to so 239 adapter for $6.00 and a base antenna that has some gain. Most base antennas are 6db gain. From ham classes, you studied 3db is double the power, then 3db more is double again so 5 watts becomes 20 watts ERP, (Effective radiated power) 3db is 1/2 s unit, barely detected by the radio. If you buy a 5 in 35 out amp, that runs on min dc power, thats 35 ewatts, noty much more than ypu base antenna that could be put up. You HT would work with a cross band setup. A home radio or your mobile radio, fort a short time, you run cross band. UHF in to VHF out. You can use low power on your ht and the mobile radio does the work. Ham radio is like other hobbies. Something else will do a better job, always more money. The external mic, $6-$7 dollars will reduce strain on the antenna jack. The radio can lay flat, because your antenna is tied into the radio. The mic is a speaker mic so it doubles for your radio speaker. If you are wearing the radio, your body will suck some of the RF energy so that can take some of your signal. The Baofeng mic, in the radio is fairly "a live mic" so talking on it at a 45 degree angle helps. Don't get close to it because you will over drive it. You can experiment with another radio tuned to what yopu are transmitting on. Better yet, another ham on the air can help. Congrats on the entry to ham radio.

 

[mikewazowski]

Moved to Budget and Entry Level Transceivers as the Baofeng isn't an amateur radio product.

 

[BrettL]

I thought about a 5-6 element beam and around 100 watts or whatever the maximum watt limit is. I have the power supply and coax. Just need the adapters, amp, antenna. If I can just get a better vhf/uhf radio with built in amp then I probably will go that route. I think I have a cheap rotor and control box somewhere. I also have a CDE and a 8 wire tail twister rotor but I'm sure I don't want to put that under the beam. I also assume that I will need to point the beam to each individual repeater( in farther distances) if I am trying to activate it.

So do you think I just need the beam and vhf/uhf radio with built in power or stick with the hand held and get amp and beam?

I want to be able to hit repeaters at further distances and want a good quality sound.

Here is what I was thinking of getting. The radio is probably overkill and I would need antenna switcher and other antennas to be able to resonate the other frequencies. I have always been a fan of a quality antenna with exceptional gain. The bigger the better.

A little over $400 I can get both of these sent to my door step. Is it worth it or can I achieve the same performance for less?

 

[WyoDuner]

Brett, I assume your goal is to talk to other repeaters in the general area and judging by your location, it's not a densely populated area so those repeaters are probably pretty far away.

First and foremost a handheld is not a good base station and no matter what you do, your $30 Baofeng isn't worth making into a base station. Use it for what it is - that's what it's good at.

Second, the legal limit is 1500 Watts, you should have learned that when you studies for your exam but there is no point in running high power if you won't be able to hear anybody answer back.

A beam is a good way to increase TX and RX but you have to rotate it when you switch repeaters.

Since you said you have a power supply, a dual band mobile with 50 watts or so should serve you well. Couple that with a good dual band vertical as high as you can get it and some LMR-400 coax and you should be good to go. If you are certain a vertical won't cut it then you may need a beam.

 

[teufler]

well the sound you get will be affected by how far the repeaters are and how good of speakers you have. I have use Moltorola external speakers and they can't be beat. They are about 5 " across and they are , or can be very loud. Only speakers I found they were louder were Johnson speakers. They were 4 ohm speakers and fed with a 8 ohM LOAD, they produce plenty of sound. Now you won't find a 1500 watt 2 meter amp as the power supply will be just too large. I've seen some 1000 watt GE amps, that were surplus. If you decide to go with a mobile radio, a mirage 30 -in 150 out and a 30 amp power supply, an Astron suplly, now you are getting serious. Most of the beams you will look at are vertical poloirized as fm comms are vertical, not horizontal. A 3 to 5 element is about right as you wsan't have to move it much as its beam width will provide about a 90 degree lob. The mobile, if it will do cross band, your existing HT will come into great use around the house or away from your vehicle like when you are out shopping. You have 4 or 5 repeaters in Anniston which would nor require amy amp. Montogomery is 50 + miles, and depending on your height, maybe you can reach. Albertville, to the north, that too is about 50 miles. Alexander city, to the south, you might get into. Now if you drive alot in your truck, you wan't be home that much. You won't do much "dx" on uhf so you can save money by concentrating on vhf.

 

[KK4TTR]

He may have been referring to the load limit of the antenna.

I use a Baofeng around town with a mag mount and no issues. For public service events in the boonies, I add a Mirage BD-35 dual band amplifier and Diamond X-30 ground plane antenna.

The Quad band will do nicely for you. If you build a case for it to make it portable, in and out of a vehicle, would be nice. I'm considering doing the same with my 2m mobile, just need to run a power cable and add some connectors.

You'll definitely need to increase your output, and db gain. I prefer omni-directional, but I hear people talk about 2m yagi's with good results.

I haven't found an external speaker mic that sound's better than the internal, based on modulation reports I've received, and don't use one for that reason. You can always tell if someone is using an HT and external mic, unless you spend more than what you paid for the radio on one.

Welcome to the hobby, 73's!

 

[Blackswan73]

Take a look at a Kenwood TM-281a. Front firing speaker, two selectable output power levels, 25 and 65 watts, and standard SO-239 antenna connector. All for just $142 and free shipping at Ham Radio Outlet. The 281 is built to the same mil spec as their commercial radios. In other words, like a tank! Only drawback is they are 2m only. Around here that is fine since no one uses UHF.

 

[KK4TTR]

There's lot's of UHF around, and in areas with VHF saturation, new repeaters are going UHF.

If your area is 2m only, go for the TM-281a, and hang on to the HT, you won't be disappointed. If your area has UHF, consider the TM-271a, or the Wouxon. I don't think you'll be disappointed, either way. Just understand the quality of the chinese stuff is hit or miss, even though everything's made there nowadays anyway.

 

[BrettL]

THanks for the input. I run around a lot from county to county working. I travel a lot on Mt. Cheaha with hunting and hiking. I thought the boafeng would be great for that. And with the Nagoya mag mount antenna. I'll be on the highest mountain in Alabama. Just 12 miles south of me. I don't mind having a omi to get accustom to people and where they are located , but I really would like a beam to get out there and see what I can receive and maybe activate.

I'm new to all of this but grew up in 11 meters with the big boys. My father always had 8 elements horizontal, stack moon raker 4's vertical and 8 3-500z or more. I've been around some old radio station FM amps with some huge tetrodes. Eimac 2cx 20,000 A. But this don't mean anything to me. I have a general understanding about how some of this works.

I am a big fan of having a BIG antenna. Antennas to me is the #1 in any radio hobby. I know what it is like to have 50 watts on a 8 element beam and talk farther than a station with 3,000 watts on a ground plane. This is why I wanted a beam.

Now as far as the radio I thought the quad band would be good because it allowed me to have a more broad freq range even though I will lose wattage or have more external antennas to talk those freq's.

This was my thinking when I posted the pics.

I am learning from you guys and anything you have to offer is absorbed and taken into consideration.

On a side note I was told if I hit the repeater in my back yard with a couple of hundred watts I would mess it up. I don't know this?

I would rather have a radio with SO fitting without adapters. I think the less connections you have Is less room for error.

 

[mikepdx]

If your area is 2m only, go for the TM-281a, and hang on to the HT, you won't be disappointed.
If your area has UHF, consider the TM-271a, or the Wouxon.

The TM-271A is a VHF rig - the predecessor to the TM-281A

 

[KK4TTR]

The TM-271A is a VHF rig - the predecessor to the TM-281A

Thanks, I meant the TM-V71A.

 

[WyoDuner]

Well, about the Wouxun quad band - it is only FM so 6 meters is probably not going to be too useful and 220 Mhz is pretty dead at least where I live. I would put my money into a better dual band rig like the Kenwood TM-V71A. Or... If you are interested in DXing on 2 meters perhaps a SSB rig... It's really about how much you want to spend on radios and antennas I guess.

 

[BrettL]

I'll just build a 6-7 element quad and make me a jpole to save me money. I'll just use the 4 watt baofeng till I get me something better. They are going to put a UHF repeater up behind my house very soon. I was told several UHF were going up in the surrounding areas. Gotta start somewhere....