Mobile Ham Etiquette Questions.

kidphc

Member
Hoping some of the more seasoned hams can answer a couple questions. I am a new Technician, less than 2 weeks and have some questions.
Unfortunately, I can't make the local ham meets or nets due to conflicts with time. My neighbor who was kinda my informal elmer has now moved cross country so contact with him is rough.

For the most part I will have the equipment in the burb. We do on occasion, 1-4x a year head to Toronto to visit wife's mom travelling from D.C. In my area it is mainly DSTAR, on the roads we travel (WVA, Mid Pennsylvania )funny enough it's largely Fusion repeaters/FM or nada. So I was going to go FTM 400 and ID5100a or TH-D74, 2x Pulse Larsen 270b antennas, possibly 280sh for intown, 2x Larsen NMO's and a Surface Pro 2 (for repeaterbook, aprs.fi etc.)

  1. Any input on the gear choices?
  2. In Canada would the call sign be like? ie. This VE3/ KC3NSR o KC3NSR /VE3 10 km north of GTA. What the heck do i just say slash VE3 ( in Ontario)?
  3. When is a QSL card a real nice should do when travelling on the road.

Thanks ahead of time for any input.
 

prerunner1982

Adventurer
Welcome to the hobby.
  1. All looks like good equipment. I don't have experience with any of the radios you propose so I won't comment.
  2. The ARRL says it should be KC3NSR/VE3. You can say slash or stroke,
  3. For VHF/UHF I wouldn't worry about the QSL card. If you wanted to I would make good notes about where you were when the contact is made to put on the card.
 

kidphc

Member
Welcome to the hobby.
  1. All looks like good equipment. I don't have experience with any of the radios you propose so I won't comment.
  2. The ARRL says it should be KC3NSR/VE3. You can say slash or stroke,
  3. For VHF/UHF I wouldn't worry about the QSL card. If you wanted to I would make good notes about where you were when the contact is made to put on the card.
Much appreciated. For the input. You have no idea how much it helps with this hobby.... it is deeper than the sea at times.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
There's nothing wrong sending QSL cards, if I got one from a new ham who was excited enough to send one I'd send one back. But my $0.02 is you want to confirm contacts that took some considered effort or leveraged a unique characteristic.

For example I would not personally send or expect a QSL card for a chat on a 2m repeater while traveling. I would QSL a 6m or 10m repeater contact that took advantage of a solar cycle. I was once able to open a repeater in New York from Denver in 2011 during Cycle 24 peak.

I would definitely QSL a 2m DX simplex, say perhaps using several element directional antennas or from a high point or doing a contest such as Summits On The Air or activating sparsely populated Maidenhead grids.
 

kidphc

Member
There's nothing wrong sending QSL cards, if I got one from a new ham who was excited enough to send one I'd send one back. But my $0.02 is you want to confirm contacts that took some considered effort or leveraged a unique characteristic.

For example I would not personally send or expect a QSL card for a chat on a 2m repeater while traveling. I would QSL a 6m or 10m repeater contact that took advantage of a solar cycle. I was once able to open a repeater in New York from Denver in 2011 during Cycle 24 peak.

I would definitely QSL a 2m DX simplex, say perhaps using several element directional antennas or from a high point or doing a contest such as Summits On The Air or activating sparsely populated Maidenhead grids.

Makes a lot of sense. I will keep that in mind. I guess if it is questionable in my mind I could just log it in eQSL.
 
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kidphc

Member
Oh absolutely, I would do the same. I like QSL cards and have a couple waiting at the bureau.
@kidphc I'm sorry if my comment came across wrong.

Learning, some of this isn't really published anywhere. You got ask from what I can tell. So any info is welcome. It didn't come across wrong in any way to me.

Things like will a pogo connector to Rj11 will work for a quick disconnect for the remote radio heads work well, or are the losses to high. To so many questions :)
 
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moose545

Active member
Learning, some of this isn't really published anywhere. You got ask from what I can tell. So any info is welcome. It didn't come across wrong in any way to me.

Things like will a pogo connector to Rj11 will work for a quick disconnect for the remote radio heads work well, or are the losses to high. To so many questions :)

Hey kidphc, I'm out in the NoVa area myself and about to test in a few weeks. Getting my equipment together as well and trying to decide on a good dual band 2m/70cm unit and antennae. It'd be great to get a local contact to practice out with and get more acquainted for sure. I try and hit some local trails and also get up the coast to fish in NJ between here and there. If you could check my thread and shoot me your info I'd like to chat and link up.
 

kidphc

Member
Hey kidphc, I'm out in the NoVa area myself and about to test in a few weeks. Getting my equipment together as well and trying to decide on a good dual band 2m/70cm unit and antennae. It'd be great to get a local contact to practice out with and get more acquainted for sure. I try and hit some local trails and also get up the coast to fish in NJ between here and there. If you could check my thread and shoot me your info I'd like to chat and link up.
Sure we can try to get a QSO. Although, mobile to mobile might be pushing it, since it is give or take 41 miles in a straight line. With a tons of trees between us.

I will say it will take me some time to be ready. I have the FTM400, the nmo and a 2/70b ready to go. Just need to rebuild the entire center console, since there is no space under the seats or inside of the console (support structures in the way) to mount the body of the radio.
 

moose545

Active member
Sure we can try to get a QSO. Although, mobile to mobile might be pushing it, since it is give or take 41 miles in a straight line. With a tons of trees between us.

I will say it will take me some time to be ready. I have the FTM400, the nmo and a 2/70b ready to go. Just need to rebuild the entire center console, since there is no space under the seats or inside of the console (support structures in the way) to mount the body of the radio.

Yeah good point, I'm still trying to decide on a radio myself, I like the TM-710GA but the ICOM 4100's look cool and have GPS too, 5100s have horrible screens, and I'm still trying to figure out if I want to go DSTAR or EchoLink, or down a level model wise. I like the GPS features. Not sure what you're driving but if you need a hand doing your install let me know, I have a rear bumper to put on my GX here soon myself, shoot me a DM if you want (y)
 

kidphc

Member
Yeah good point, I'm still trying to decide on a radio myself, I like the TM-710GA but the ICOM 4100's look cool and have GPS too, 5100s have horrible screens, and I'm still trying to figure out if I want to go DSTAR or EchoLink, or down a level model wise. I like the GPS features. Not sure what you're driving but if you need a hand doing your install let me know, I have a rear bumper to put on my GX here soon myself, shoot me a DM if you want (y)
I think I have the install. I do appreciate the offer and will keep it in mind.

It is an 02 burb, really wanted a hundy, alas dragging 10 or so cases of soda and such with a family of 5 for the store, the Land cruiser was a bit too small. No real overlanding for me at least for several years. Unless hitting fire roads and staying at hotels qualifies in anyones books.

I had the same dilemma all of the repeaters close by are Dstar. In retrospect I should have gone with a 710g. Touch screen sucks for operation blind, you kinda have to aim for almost all the operations. Where the 710g you can with time operate the menus without looking at the radio. Only reason the 400 was bought was because of APRS and the ability to do simple APRS messages from the head easily. In case the tablet takes a ********.

Really wish that there was a th74 mobile version... you know a radio with fully accessible TNC for APRS and DSTAR.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 

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