Established My Base Station Today.

[Wingfoot]

Hi everyone.

I had a busy day today instaling an antenna mast onto the side of my house,

Its only got a Diamond X50 white stick on it for now for 2M & 70cm but the amount of signals im pulling in now are way better than I could have hoped for.

I'm really itching to get going but still cant transmit yet as Im waiting to take the foundation licence course in early September, but I thought there is no harm in being ready for when I finally get my callsign.

The X50 is atop a 4M mast fixed at the highest point on the house using a pair of T&K brackets & a 15M feeder of RG213 connects it to my cheap chinese radio

Just need to put some cash aside now for a decent base radio, but not decided what to get yet & wont rush to buy, as ive still got a hell of a lot to learn.

Wf

edited to correct spelling.

[Wulfshead]

Good luck for your Foundation Exam.
Sounds like you have the radio bug, I do weep for your credit card , my wife weeps for ours !

Are you booked onto a forthcoming course ?

Wulfshead

[HBP]

Good for you, nothing wrong with getting ready in advance. Enjoy the signals coming in. Height is always better when it comes to antennas.

Also, the longer its up the better if it ever came to a planning issue. Take a picture of the house with something in it to date it in the foreground (Kids etc.) just in case you ever need to say "but mr planning officer, its been up there for 7 years!"

Hi everyone.
The X50 is atop a 4M mast fixed at the highest point on the house using a pair of T&K brackets

I am guessing you may have thought of this but make sure that the brackets are well spaced and that the wall they are attached to is sturdy. 4m of mast and a vertical antenna will have a reasonable wind load and it would be the first gable end thats been pulled down in high winds.

[Wingfoot]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I think radio "comms" are a vital prep & I also find it very interesting finding out how it all works, Its no use having a ham radio just in case the SHTF if you don't learn how to use it to its best effect before you need to rely on it.

I expect the credit card will take a bashing just as soon as I get my pass certificate !

I have joined a club that is local to my work location rather than where I live, so that I can easily attend the evening course times after my work day is done, the course is in early September, as a pre curser to the course I took the on-line foundation course offered by Essex Ham that was advertised in the RSGB magazine, it is a modular course that is well put together & has given me a head start along with reading the foundation now book that the course is based on, hopefully all will go well in September.

Before starting work on my antenna project I got some advice from a TV antenna installer friend of mine who has seen a few disastrous installations in his time, my brackets are reasonably well spaced & mounted with some good quality mounting pins, the gable end brickwork looks in good condition so ill keep my fingers crossed come the autumn gales

My home location is not at a particularly high elevation but its not bad & I'm within an hour or two's walk of a listed sota summit that can give some longer range contacts should they ever be needed.

If you guys are on the radio I hope to make contact at some time in the future.

Cheers
Wf

[The-Mendologist]

Good luck with the foundation exam, its really easy.

Once you have got your foundation licence the world will be your oyster so to speak.

[Briggs 2.0]

Good luck with your lessons and exam!

You may already know of this but the RSGB do a book called Radio Exam Secrets. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Amateur-Radio-E ... 1905086482

It's great for revision of the Foundation and also covers Intermediate and beyond.

[Wingfoot]

Thanks for the comments guys

Briggs, I had not seen that book, I will get one on order A.S.A.P.

Cheers
Wf

[Briggs 2.0]

Thanks for the comments guys

Briggs, I had not seen that book, I will get one on order A.S.A.P.

Cheers
Wf

I am quite certain you will breeze through your foundation exam. When I went along to my local club there was only me wanting to do foundation and the only training course was halfway through the intermediate. I took the intermediate after the foundation and I managed to get through both exams by reading that book from cover to cover. My pass mark on the intermediate was not great, I tripped up on suffixes and skip distance but did well enough to get my 2E0. Maybe you could ask if there's an intermediate exam after your foundation? It's worth it for the extra power.

At home I've given up on getting a decent HF rig set up, I'm plagued by noise which I've identified comes from the TV boosters fitted as standard to my house and my neighbours so I'm mostly on HF portable nowadays. UHF/VHF there's no noise and great reception from my 2M antenna so I'm tempted to splash out on Yeasu's new FT2DE or an Icom IDE51E to try the digital repeaters around me. Digital is sacrilege to hardened ham buffs I know, but in my defence, I do still do old-school HF with my trusty Clansman.

[Wingfoot]

Thanks for the advice Briggs, I may well do that, the extra power on offer is certainly attractive which is obviously there to encourage the newcomer to progress, ill see how it goes next month & I would think the club will have plans to offer us the next level course once we have dipped our toe in the water at foundation level.

That Yaesu handheld does a hell of a lot in a very small package, im impressed, one of my friends swears by Yaesu & ive been looking at the FT817ND because he has one & I've had a chance to handle it & listen to him operate with it, again its a lot of radio in a small package, but I dont want to rush into things, I think it could be easy to get carried away & possibly end up buying the wrong thing.

I like spending time outdoors & I'm lucky enough to have some fantastic countryside on my doorstep & so the idea of doing a few S.O.T.A summits in the Welsh borders area or the brecon beacons as well as the southern pennines appeals to me greatly, they are all do able in a day or as an overnighter from my home QTH

So a mobile set up on VHF/UHF seems a sensible place for me to start, im sure I will dabble a bit with HF as well, seems rude not to but my primary objective for now will be on perfecting the abilty to make regular & reliable comms with others around me localy & then out to as far as is possible using simplex, I know its hardly cutting edge but ill be taking it one step at a time & see where I end up

I'm certainly finding it interesting & enjoyable so far & most people seem very happy to help explain stuff to a new convert, unfortunately ive also heard a numpty trying to goad people on a local repeater but he was ignored & seems finally to have gotten bored & moved on, I have a handful of repeaters that should be within range of my new antenna so that will get me a few extra contacts hopefully & extend my range although I realise not all of them can be relied upon should the power go down.

Again thanks for taking the time to comment, as a newbie I apprecate the advice.

Cheers
Wf

[filsgreen]

Hi Wingfoot, reading through this post you say that you are due to do your Foundation course in early September. Have you done it yet, have you passed?

Phil