Kenwood TS-820 and Yaesu FT-757GX: 2m antenna to listen?

[mrstangblb]

My Uncle went into a nursing home today but let me buy his Kenwood TS-820 with VFO-820 remote and SP-520 speaker. He also sold me his Yaesu FT -757GX with FP-757GX power supply and FC-757AT antenna tuner.

I would like to turn these radios on just to listen to them. I have no antenna other than my magnetic mount for my 2m transceiver.

Can I hook up the 2m antenna to listen only without messing anything up? I am a new ham and am studying for my Tech license but excited to get started.

Literally anything you guys can inform me of would be incredible. Looks like the Yaesu unit will work since the power supply is connected. The antenna tuner has a coax cable out but there are no other wires in the connections, so I wouldn't connect the tuner.

Thanks for your help!

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Barry

Jeremiah 29:11-13 / John 3:16

 

[AK9R]

Neither radio mentioned, the TS-820 or the FT-757, will receive 2m. Both of them are HF radios.

 

[mrstangblb]

Neither radio mentioned, the TS-820 or the FT-757, will receive 2m. Both of them are HF radios.

I understand that fact. I just wanted to see if there's any way to pick up anything on the 2m antenna that I have. I hooked it up tonight and did get a few signals that were very distant.

 

[mancow]

Sure, hook it up and try. Of course your signals will be severely degraded but you will still hear something. Grab a piece of wire 20 ft or so long and hook it to the 2M antenna and string it up on something. That will help quite a bit for simply listening.

 

[mrstangblb]

Yes - it was really hard to pull anything in, but I did hear a little last night. I will try the wire trick!

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Barry

Jeremiah 29:11-13 / John 3:16

 

[W2PMX]

Any wire, as long as it's not near a powerline and can't be hit by lightning will work. The better the antenna, the more you'll hear, but 2" of wire won't damage anything, it'll just mean that all you can hear is the guy down the block running 500 watts.

If you want to use the 2 meter mag mount, just plug in the center conductor, don't let the ground touch the ground of the radio. That way, the entire length of coax, probably about 15 feet, will be your antenna.

And with a good enough antenna tuner (like an old Johnson Matchbox) you can even use a few feet as a transmitting antenna. You won't get out very far, but the transmitter will be as happy as being connected to a 6 element beam. (We actually loaded into a bobby pin on 20 with a Matchbox. 1:1 SWR. Didn't get out as well as a 100 watt light bulb, but it worked.)

 

[mrstangblb]

I bought 75' of bare stranded copper wire and have it nailed to a tree about 10' up. I put it into a banana plug and I'm listening to a couple of conversations in Alabama - and I am in South Carolina. Pretty cool!

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Barry

Jeremiah 29:11-13 / John 3:16