How many hams are on the forum? Provide your station photo. Here is mine. Ant are DX Commander Signature 9,Delta loop. 73 de DJ6JH 
Pipes and Ham radio
- Thread starter Roach1
- Start date
I have a passing interest and my brother has long been a ham. @telescopes is for sure, with his home blends 73 and 88!
Yes, 73s and 88s are definitely home radio inspired and harken back to the 60s when my father would sit at his radio talking and listening for hours. My home blends of Telescopes and Lazybones also are found on the QSL card and inspired similarly, all of course using the KBN-3989 call sign.
I’ve never became a licensed HAM operator but since when I got a CB radio about fifty years ago the subject has interested me.
My first question is, since I do not have any kind of HAM radio set up, what is a basic starter home radio and antenna and approximately what does it cost?
And do operators still transmit in Morse code, or is that dying out?
My first question is, since I do not have any kind of HAM radio set up, what is a basic starter home radio and antenna and approximately what does it cost?
And do operators still transmit in Morse code, or is that dying out?
The sky is the limit when it comes to Equipment. I think it would be possible to put together a modest 100 watt home station with a wire antenna and buying good used Equipment for about 500 Dollars. It depends where you live there are Hamfests year round with flea markets and you can usually test everything when you buy from a serious ham operator. Morse Code is still alive and well bit no longer a license requirement.
I've been interested in ham radio since grade school in the late 70s, but didn't get my license until 1995. I haven't been as active as I'd have liked over the years, but it's been a good hobby.
I don't have much of a dedicated station, but I'm working to improve the space I have. My antennas are dipoles for 80m and 17m (FT8), and a J pole for 2m.
73 de K8KT
I don't have much of a dedicated station, but I'm working to improve the space I have. My antennas are dipoles for 80m and 17m (FT8), and a J pole for 2m.
73 de K8KT
Yup, I'm a licensed Amateur Radio geek. I don't have a picture of my current iteration of an indoor "shack", but I'll take photo at some point and post it. It's not really a permeant setup anyway, just my main gear on the corner of the table.
Below however, is my portable setup that I used for a backyard radio/smoke session over the summer. With this low power setup and a simple wire antenna, you can potentially work other stations all over the world. For several years I used that little radio as my main station and never felt I was missing out on anything. All of my HF antennas have been home-brewed wire antennas of some sort. Amateur Radio is a great pastime and combining it with a pipe is very enjoyable.
Below however, is my portable setup that I used for a backyard radio/smoke session over the summer. With this low power setup and a simple wire antenna, you can potentially work other stations all over the world. For several years I used that little radio as my main station and never felt I was missing out on anything. All of my HF antennas have been home-brewed wire antennas of some sort. Amateur Radio is a great pastime and combining it with a pipe is very enjoyable.
First licensed 2004. Current radios include Yaesu FT-847; ICOMs 7300, 2370A, ID-51A; a couple SGC tuners for an 80m dipole and HF vertical wire; Comet 333 on one peak of the roof and a dual band VHF/UHF J-pole on the opposite peak. Involved with local ham club, but no contesting and rarely seek HF contacts abroad. Occasionally spin though shortwave but so much less there than when I was a kid. Wish list is an ICOM 705, but hearing about a new Yaesu FTX-1F that is rumored to be a 705 killer...
73 de W7SLM qth CN88no
(As yet only abysmal failure learning morse.)
73 de W7SLM qth CN88no
(As yet only abysmal failure learning morse.)
Not a ham, but a shortwave listener to some of your conversations. My radio is a Hammarlund HQ-100 identical to the one shown below:
Cross post to Helene thread:
Hurricane Helene Story :: General Discussion
Man, this hurricane has wrecked havoc. Over 200 dead and counting. Asheville will be without water for……months? No power, cell service or internet for a lot of folks. Radio is the only info for some. This we mostly know but here is a story you haven’t heard. My son and his family lived on the...
pipesmagazine.com
I have a listen sometimes, Xhdata D-808 (amazing receiver for the money). Somewhere I have an old Yupiteru MVT-7100 handheld scanner which has the most awesome sensitivity, but it needs servicing and brought back to proper life.
Oh, just realised that I'd already commented. Well, there's senility right there.
Oh, just realised that I'd already commented. Well, there's senility right there.
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I don't have a Ham radio but just got into SW radio.
Yes, Morse is a very popular mode today and the only mode I operate. I can be found on 20 and 30 meters.
Cost can be minimal or you can spend 10’s of thousands depending on your interests.
You can purchase a fine modern rig new for under $600.00. Along with that you’ll need a power supply and an antenna. I would say you can easily be up and running a respectable station for under $1000.
I am licensed Extra Class, but have no station equipment, merely a handheld transceiver. Used to do a lot of listening on shortwave when I was in college in the early 90s, finally got around to studying and taking the tests about 7 years ago. 73 de K3KJH
I listen to short wave occasionally and have picked up some Hams from time to time.
Way, way back in high school I joined what was going to be a ham radio club, but it was scrapped because not enough students signed-up (sigh...). At the time I dreamt of earning my license (Morse code only for beginners at that time) and then purchasing a Heathkit QRP "flea-power" transceiver (CW on the 80, 40, 20, and 15 meter bands) coupled with a Vibroplex semi-automatic "bug" key, and then DXing the world with the help of atmospheric skip.
Images of both pieces of that dream are shown below:
Images of both pieces of that dream are shown below:
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I was wondering if anyone had made a Morse code translator, and sure enough I found several on the Internet. These programs allow you to type in plain text which is then converted to Morse code or vice-versa. As Morse himself said, "What hath God wrought?"
Those machines are fine for sending, but nothing beats the human brain for receiving.
And nothing translates a sloppy fist. In other words, a poor code sender.
I can send clear code at 30-35 wpm. If the other OP is a skillful and clear sender, I can get most on receive.
But I prefer to both send and receive at 20-22 wpm and adjust to the skill level of the contact.
30 wpm sounds like lightning to the uninitiated, but since we are spelling out each word letter by letter, it truly becomes just a comfortable, ordinary speaking voice.
In fact, s l o w senders become harder to copy and many advanced Morse operators won’t bother with them. Which is a shame, but it’s not intended to be rude.