I've decided that I'm a hobbyist. I'm a jack of all trades kind of guy and I like to learn new things. My current "new thing" is actually an old thing. Amateur radio.
When I was a kid Wilkie talkies were one of the most fun toys we had. It was great to find out what kind of range they had. They were great for playing army, or police, or astronaut. We even got a pair of CB walkie talkies and had a great time listening to the "skip" transmissions from truckers hundreds of miles away.
In high school (before cell phones were common) many of us had CBs in our cars and would chat as we cruised "The Square" in Pipestone.
After listening to the HamNation podcast from the TWiT network I got out my scanner and bought a cheap shortwave radio. It's been a great learning experience to figure out what part of the ionosphere radio waves bounce off to find their way to my receiver. I've even heard a few satellites!
So far I've built a few antennae as my practical physics projects. I built a dipole out of some scrap wood and a couple pieces of tape measure. That antenna is tuned for the ISS frequency of 145.800 MHz and does really well on that band. I built a "J-pole" antenna out of some old twin lead tv wire and it performs exceptionally well on the 70cm (440 MHz) band as well as doing fairly well on the 2 meter (147 MHz) band.
I decided I wanted to transmit and the only radio I have is a handheld CB I picked up cheap a few years ago. The 8 AA batteries were going to get expensive if I used it very often so I soldered a connector to plug in to a car's cigarette lighter. The little "rubber duck" antenna wasn't going to transmit or receive very well inside the car, so I got a cheap magnetic antenna. The setup works good, but the band is full of truckers with illegal gear that puts out more power than it should and fills every channel with people you can't respond to.
So I decided on another antenna project. I built a replacement arial for the magnetic mount. This one is tuned to the 2 meter band. It works great. I was able to hear a train in Granite Falls from my parking spot at Camden. Practical physics is fun!
Disclaimer: It is illegal to operate a scanning radio in a moving vehicle in MN. I always park.
When I was a kid Wilkie talkies were one of the most fun toys we had. It was great to find out what kind of range they had. They were great for playing army, or police, or astronaut. We even got a pair of CB walkie talkies and had a great time listening to the "skip" transmissions from truckers hundreds of miles away.
In high school (before cell phones were common) many of us had CBs in our cars and would chat as we cruised "The Square" in Pipestone.
After listening to the HamNation podcast from the TWiT network I got out my scanner and bought a cheap shortwave radio. It's been a great learning experience to figure out what part of the ionosphere radio waves bounce off to find their way to my receiver. I've even heard a few satellites!
So far I've built a few antennae as my practical physics projects. I built a dipole out of some scrap wood and a couple pieces of tape measure. That antenna is tuned for the ISS frequency of 145.800 MHz and does really well on that band. I built a "J-pole" antenna out of some old twin lead tv wire and it performs exceptionally well on the 70cm (440 MHz) band as well as doing fairly well on the 2 meter (147 MHz) band.
I decided I wanted to transmit and the only radio I have is a handheld CB I picked up cheap a few years ago. The 8 AA batteries were going to get expensive if I used it very often so I soldered a connector to plug in to a car's cigarette lighter. The little "rubber duck" antenna wasn't going to transmit or receive very well inside the car, so I got a cheap magnetic antenna. The setup works good, but the band is full of truckers with illegal gear that puts out more power than it should and fills every channel with people you can't respond to.
So I decided on another antenna project. I built a replacement arial for the magnetic mount. This one is tuned to the 2 meter band. It works great. I was able to hear a train in Granite Falls from my parking spot at Camden. Practical physics is fun!
Disclaimer: It is illegal to operate a scanning radio in a moving vehicle in MN. I always park.
No comments:
Post a Comment