Newbie with some equipment.

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Raptor05121

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I'm trying to go for my Tech license here in a bit with help from my local radio club. My grandpa used to be an extra so I went to go visit him and he gave me all his old stuff. Not sure what I could and could not use but I have:

Kenwood TS-940S HF Transceiver
Kenwood MC-60 Microphone
Yaesu FT-2400H 2M Transceiver
30A power supply
various SWR meters
and several 30' aluminum-pole antennas I have to get taken down and transferred to my house.


I know that this big old Kenwood radio is HF and I cannot use it with Tech but would it be best to trade it for something that can do the 146.000MHz or keep it and try to work my way up? Lastly, until I decide what to do with it, what would be the best way to listen to some morse code? Just keep flipping through the frequencies until I find something?
 
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LtDoc

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You CAN use HF as a technician class, but the mode and frequency ranges are very narrow, you would not be limited to just 6 meters and up. (You'll find that in the license privileges when you study for a license.) I think that keeping that equipment and getting a general class license would be a better idea! You could always use that 'Yaesu FT-2400H 2M Transceiver' until you do get a general. It may sound a little daunting right now, but that general (or extra) isn't -that- bad anymore.
- 'Doc
 

krokus

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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.973 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

I second the vote for keeping the gear. Your grandfather gave it to you, unless he said that you can do what you want with it.

Even if/when you decide to get rid of it, wait until you understand what you have. (Or at least someone that you can trust, for sage advice.)
 

OCO

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Add another vote to keeping the HF rig... Keep in mind that the TS940S is also a pretty decent general coverage receiver - string up a wire and do some SWL, too. Congratulations on keeping the family tradition going, I'll bet your grandpa will be proud!
 

Raptor05121

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So I guess I'll keep it then. He had a stroke and can't remember how to even turn it on. Its very sad, he was (and in some cases, still is) the smartest man I know personally.

I think I will go get a picture of the anntenas he has since I'm not sure what they're used for, but with a quick apology for not looking in advance, can someone tell me what "LSB", "USB", "CW", "AM", "FM" and "CSK" means? I think I understand the AM and FM part but USB has me thinking Universal Serial Bus lol!
 

John_S

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I'd pretty much hang on to everything until you know what you have there. If the 940 is running OK, you've got a great piece of gear. And you can use it on a segment of 10 meters using USB. You may find it a bit complicated to get everything set up. Sometimes that MC-60 mic can be problem to run...you might want to try a hand mic for it at first. Find a copy of the manual if you don't have one...definite necessity. Try to find a club in your area and look for some of the experienced guys that might have had one of these. Hopefully, nothing is wrong with it, as certain parts may be very difficult to find. Check the Yahoo group for older Kenwood gear. One of the top Kenwood repair guys...Clif at AVVID...(that's 2 V's,not a W) hangs out there and can be a valuable source of info. And if repairs or a tune up are needed, he's your guy. To locate CW transmissions, you should go to the ARRL website and download a copy of the bandplans and then you'll know where to check each band. CW portions are usually at the lower parts of each band. You should easily find action on 80 and 40 meters in the evening and 20 meters during the daytime. Electronic stuff doesn't like to sit around unused for lots of years. Disconnect the mic, hook up a piece of wire to the antenna lead and run it outdoors. Turn it on and let it run for several hours...tune around with the VFO / Main tuning and see what you can receive. Find WWV time signals on 10 or 15 mHz and if it's on, or near frequency then at least the receive may be OK. Don't try transmitting unless you have a proper antenna or dummy load. And if things aren't quite right, get it checked out. A proper tune up and check up would be minimum and worthwhile. Good luck with it. PS....LSB:lower sideband, USB:upper sideband,CW:continuous wave or Morse code,I believe that it should be FSK:frequency shift keying,which is one of many digital modes.
 
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Raptor05121

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Wow thanks John. I'll have it running all night then. I'll probably spend the better part of the day tomorrow and get those antennas moved over here. I'm wanting to hear this thing spit out some noise.
 

LtDoc

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If you can, go 'pick' your grand-dad's brains about that/those radios. I'll bet he'd be tickled to explain things.
The advice about the manuals is very, very good! That '940 isn't a simple radio, there's lots of things that can be adjusted, or used to make things 'better'. Those same things can be a total mystery, and really screw things up if mis-adjusted too! So, find out what things do before messing with them, and that manual can make it easier.
- 'Doc

(And to show you what a good person I am, if you decide you can't work that '940, I'll let you send it to me free of charge... and if you take me up on that, your grand-dad will scream, yell and call you all kinds of uncomplimentary things. ;))
 

Skypilot007

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You CAN use HF as a technician class, but the mode and frequency ranges are very narrow, you would not be limited to just 6 meters and up. (You'll find that in the license privileges when you study for a license.) I think that keeping that equipment and getting a general class license would be a better idea! You could always use that 'Yaesu FT-2400H 2M Transceiver' until you do get a general. It may sound a little daunting right now, but that general (or extra) isn't -that- bad anymore.
- 'Doc

Technician class can use 10 meters now also....28.300-28.500 USB voice.

Have fun with 940, its an excellent HF rig.
 

W2NJS

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If you need code practice, use the ARRL transmissions which are done at various speeds. Info about frequencies, times, etc. is available at American Radio Relay League | ARRL - The national association for AMATEUR RADIO. That's one definite use you'll have for the HF radio. Throw a wire out the window that you've attached to the transceiver and you'll hear them fine.

"LSB" is lower sideband, "USB" is upper sideband, "CW" means code and stands for continuous wave, "AM" is amplitude modulation, "FM" is frequency modulation, and "CSK" should probably be "FSK" and stands for frequency shift keying. All this stuff should be in whatever book(s) you're using to study for you license.
 
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Raptor05121

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Hey guys I went and got the antennas and threw what I guess was the HF antenna (used a CB stick on a 20' pole with a tiny antenna on top of that) on top of my roof. I'll throw some pics up in just a minute. I'm picking up some crystal clear voice on 14kHz from Galveston, TX (I'm guessing the HF is loving those open waters), and I can very faintly hear the other guy he's talking to. Thanks for the notes, skypilot. I'm picking up some morse on 28.300.20 This is cool stuff!
 
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Raptor05121

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Here are some cell phone pics. Sorry for the quality. If you guys can identify these and tell me what bands they cover, that would be fantastic.

Looking down the top of the big (30') antenna. Had a thick wire coming off this.:

antenaa1.jpg


another shot of the same section:

ant1.jpg


The second section off antenna 1:

baseant1.jpg


The top of antenna 2. Looks like one of the ground planes is broken off. Is this VHF?

ant2.jpg


Antenna 3: Guessing this is HF since the antenna looks like a CB antenna and those are on the higher end of HF. Hooked it up to the 940 and picking up some crystal clear voice from Canada too:

HF.jpg


Radio:

KW.jpg
 
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mancow

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2 is a RadioShack ground plane often referred to as a Sputnik.

I would keep the HF rig. Hook it up and tune around. It looks like a nice rig and you can have quite a bit of fun listening to all the stuff on HF.
 

Raptor05121

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So they are all HF? Our radio club just got the repeater up and working on 2m so I want to be able to get out on that with my -2400H here soon enough. I don't think I'll be able to get all three of those poles put up so which would be the best to put up, and is it a possibility of putting a VHF antenna up without desensitizing the rest of the equipment?
 

LtDoc

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The large antenna in the first picture is a Cushcraft 'R-7', a 10 through 40 meter vertical antenna (HF).. One of the others appears to be a 2 meter antenna, of a VHF/UHF scanner antenna. The third appears to be a mobile antenna, no idea what that is.
The 2 meter antenna shouldn't 'desense', or have any significant affect on the HF radio.
- 'Doc
 
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