Newest MJR HAM's

[Roger]

That's KJ6 "Great American Boy" and KJ6 "Great American Chick"

[sarah]

Hey Sarah, Congrats on becomming a HAM. Too cool that Roger was your first QSO. 73, W9ECV.

Indeed! He's such a great Elmer

[Russ Chung]

...I confess that I've had this radio for two years, but have yet to use the cross band repeat function....

I finally got a chance to use cross band repeat last week. I was with two other hams and we were exploring the Tucki Mine area of Death Valley National Park. All three of us had hand held radios in addition to the mobile radios in our Jeeps. One of the hams stopped to explore the mine buildings while the other two of us continued about a mile to the end of the trail to a viewpoint overlooking Death Valley. As long as we were in our Jeeps, our mobile radios had enough power to communicate with the other ham's HT on simplex, but when we got out of our Jeeps, our HTs were masked by the terrain and our HTs didn't have enough power to communicate with the other ham's HT on simplex. So I pulled out the instruction manual and figured out how to setup my mobile for cross band repeat. I set my HT to transmit on 70cm simplex at low power, and my mobile retransmitted on 2m simplex at medium power. I was relieved when everything worked as intended and we were able to communicate with each other. Problem solved.

[Roger]

Russ,

I'm regretting the fact that I did not buy a radio that can cross band repeat. I didn't think I would ever need it. Since I made the purchase, I reserected my old Kenwood handheld. I now realize what a great feature that is.

Live & learn...

[sarah]

Hey Russ! That's great! My new home base station has that feature... it will go between the office and the jeep. Haven't had the time (patience) lately to try setting up the xband repeat yet, but what a nifty feature.

[Roger]

Sarah, If you set up your base station in the cross band mode, you can be anywhere in the house or yard and talk on the hand held. It would have been perfect for Rick in the kitchen last night!

[SAR Jeeper]

We have a Yaesu VX-6 so far...

Do you like the VX-6? I was probably gonna buy that very soon. My other dual band HT is taking a dump.

[Russ Chung]

Sarah, If you set up your base station in the cross band mode, you can be anywhere in the house or yard and talk on the hand held. It would have been perfect for Rick in the kitchen last night!

????? What was Rick DOING in the kitchen last night????

[sarah]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.. Russ... he was eating, of course!

I love the Vx-6, but then of course, I know no other. Once I got the hang of what the buttons do, I don't even need the manual for basic operation (something I wasn't expecting) including switching freq's, setting the tone, squelch, memory access, etc.

P.S. We got the x-band repeat set up, and wowie! that's neat!!

[Materdaddy]

I moved. I'm now in Kentucky (KY), Virginia (VA), Tennessee (TN), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Alabama (AL), Georgia (GA), or Florida (FL). I choose FL. Miami to be exact. Home of my Miami Dolphins!

MaterD4DDY is now WD4DDY...

[ocTJ]

Did you get some say in your HAM Handle? WD4DDY? so right now you exist in several different realities at once?


Why change your HAMdle?

[SAR Jeeper]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.. Russ... he was eating, of course!

I love the Vx-6, but then of course, I know no other. Once I got the hang of what the buttons do, I don't even need the manual for basic operation (something I wasn't expecting) including switching freq's, setting the tone, squelch, memory access, etc.

P.S. We got the x-band repeat set up, and wowie! that's neat!!

Even before you answered, I went out and bought it. I like it. I like the wide-band receive. This is my first dual band that does not have dual receive, so that will take a little getting use to!

I bought the programming software and cable. The cable works with my VX-170 also, so thats cool. I went ahead and got the software and cable for my FT-8900. Since they are all from RT Systems, I can copy and paste freq. from all my radio's.

[Materdaddy]

Even before you answered, I went out and bought it. I like it. I like the wide-band receive. This is my first dual band that does not have dual receive, so that will take a little getting use to!

I bought the programming software and cable. The cable works with my VX-170 also, so thats cool. I went ahead and got the software and cable for my FT-8900. Since they are all from RT Systems, I can copy and paste freq. from all my radio's.

The VX-7R has dual receive.... return policy?

[Materdaddy]

Did you get some say in your HAM Handle? WD4DDY? so right now you exist in several different realities at once?


Why change your HAMdle?

After being issued your sequential call sign you can apply for a 'vanity' call sign.

I changed my HAMdle (I like that) because I didn't really like my sequentially assigned one. Most people get something they can easily make an easy-to-remember acronym for. N6 U Just Missed, KJ6 Great American Boy, KJ6 Great American Chick, my wife's KJ6 Fix Your Zipper. The best I could come up with for FZA was Frank Zappa Aficionado... so I decided to apply for a vanity sign.

With a technician license you can apply for a 1x3 call sign (beginning with prefix N, K or W), or 2x3 call sign (beginning with prefix letter K or W). They do not limit your number which is based on your region.

Some reading: http://www.arrl.org/vanity-call-signs

[SAR Jeeper]

I'm in the process of doing a vanity call now...I'm going to vanity my old Novice call of KA6OPX. Been wanting to do this since I got my KG6DFH call 9 years ago.

Unfortunately, the VX-7 was slightly out of budget.