Taking the plunge into Ham Radio

[randy]

OBTW, when you get to that point, don't transmit when connected to the wall wart. There's reports that radios have been damaged doing that.

[Rustyv]

I use the repeaterbook app on my phone for finding nets while traveling. Not a lot of activity during the day, but the morning and evening drive times can get busy depending on the location.

https://repeaterbook.com/index.php/en-us/

[Weetabix]

However, feel free to program in local repeaters etc. You can still listen all you want.

Check the local club website to find nets as well. Those can be fun to listen in on, and you know when they'll be active.

[SoupOrMan]

There are supposed to be two nets tonight in the area, and hopefully I can pick some of it up. I'll also get to see how well this basic antenna works in town. One is listed as ARES Simplex, the other just as a net. They're over at svrc.org/upcoming-nets. I think I have them tuned in properly.

Speaking of antennas, it looks like most people go with a Diamond antenna, though there seems to be one that works from MFJ. I could be reading it wrong, though. I just want to make sure I'm getting a proper tri-band antenna for the radio.

[randy]

I'm in repeater/APRS digipeater saturated area so have been using the stock antenna. I've heard good things about the Diamond antenna and would always go with them over MFJ if given a choice. The Diamond model you heard about was probably the SRH320A

I have been looking at the Comet HT224 for possible future purchase for the go kit.

I also have a good base station set up and mobiles in all of the family vehicles, so I don't often get into situations where the performance of the stock antenna is an issue.

[randy]

The simplex net may be a little tricky as they will not be going through a repeater and you will only hear stations near you with line of sight. (of course depending on how spread out that group is that might be all of them). Will be educational to see who you can and cannot hear.

Your radio will not be able to monitor the Illinois Link Net as it apparently uses every digital mode except the DStar your radio has.

[SoupOrMan]

Simplex worked pretty well, I could tell I was out of range for many of the call-ins. The other net on the 400hz range is much easier to hear full conversations, so I'm assuming they're using repeaters?

And for that matter, what connector does the TH-D74 use? I want to make sure I don't pick up the wrong version of the antenna.

[randy]

Simplex worked pretty well, I could tell I was out of range for many of the call-ins. The other net on the 400hz range is much easier to hear full conversations, so I'm assuming they're using repeaters?

Per the website you referenced yes. The way you can tell is the "+" after the frequency number in their listing.

That indicates a positive offset. For the 440 band the offset is always positive. The US standard is 5MHz. So, when you get licensed and are using that repeater you will be listening (for example) on 443.000MHz and transmitting on 448.00MHz. The repeater is always listening on 448.000MHz and retransmits it's received signals on 443.000MHz

(For 2Meter or 144MHZ, the repeater can be either positive (+) or negative (-) depending on the section of the band, and the standard offset for US systems is 600KHz.)

The tone they list (94.8) is to help keep interference from getting into the receiver. It doesn't affect your listening, but you will need to have it programmed into your radio in order to use that repeater, or it will ignore your signal.

[randy]

And for that matter, what connector does the TH-D74 use? I want to make sure I don't pick up the wrong version of the antenna.

The antenna connector on the TH-D74 is an SMA Female, so the antenna needs an SMA Male connector (the center connector is in the antenna).

Diamond SMA Male Antenna.jpg

As stated before, if you decide to use the D74 with an outside antenna (vehicle or house) you will need an SMA-SO239 adapter. Get the kind with a length of coax between the connectors to provide strain relief on the radio connector. (SMA connectors are relatively fragile compared to what they replaced. <Insert 10,000 word rant on the stupidity of the amateur radio manufacturers replacing BNC connectors with SMA here>) Example found here

SMA-SO239.jpg

[SoupOrMan]

Thank you for the clarification.

And as Columbo says, "Just one more thing."

On the local repeater list, http://svrc.org/area-repeaters.html it shows the D-Star repeater with a frequency of 443.78125. I had to go find it through Kenwood's digital repeater list on board the radio, but is there a way to tune in manually via the enter key or tuning knob on the top? I'm guessing I will need my callsign before I go any further into D-Star.