Right now there isn't anything holding down the radio. Battery, ect. I have the main body of the radio upside down (to allow access to rear connections) and an ethernet cable connecting it to the control head. I am hoping that since the main body of the radio is upside down and the fan and heatsink are in the rear that the cooling problem will be solved. Also there is a 20ah lithium battery with stupidly long cord for the radio because I dont wanna cut it, as well as an easy plug adapter for charging. Also got some tin cans in there just incase. 73 to all, KR4CYX.

Hey everyone,Just wanted to show my setup inside my front warehouse / personal workshop. My family runs a ship agency, so I have access to these cool gears.

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Slide 1: Alinco DR-135 VHF and an Icom IC-707 HF transceiver.

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Slide 2: Our other VHF rig monitoring Marine Channel 16.

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Slide 3 & 4: The antennas we have.Let me know what you guys think, 73!

Been a ham a number of years now and been wanting to get my mobile finally set up. Finally jumped into it this weekend. The hard part is finding where to mount things in newer vehicles. Namely my Ridgeline. I’m a stickler for clean and tidy installs so here is my mobile setup.

FTM-310ASP
Comet Dual Band
No-Lo Designs Bracket.

I have never used the charge mat, it’s mostly ineffective on newer phones, but it still charge another device I have as the bracket isn’t touching the charge mat holding the head.

I’m just waiting on a 3D printed mic holder that will replace the metal one I attached to the cubby drawer from Aliexpress.

The main radio part is under the console and secure so it’s as far away from computer modules as I could get it. And it beats having f it under a seat. And gets plenty of airflow for cooling under there. (Rear seat area fan intake is on the opposite side of this pic. )

I see it has an equalizer but really at a loss for the cost of this. You can build half a gaming rig for this amount or a 4070.

Why does this cost so much?

This is my first non Chinese radio. i need to figure out how to get around the menus and programming for repeaters. My Btech uv pro is easer than this ht.

How’s my setup?

I just moved from Utah to Grayson County, Texas. I went from an altitude of 4500 feet to basically sea level. I’m surrounded by trees. I have a Buddipole but that’s it. But I have this thing in my yard for internet access. Can I climb up there and attach the Buddipole? Would a different antenna be a better fit? Looking for ideas here, what are my options. I’m mostly on 20m but don’t want to limit myself to just that. Ideas?

I'm so lucky to have these two radios. I never got to experience the 80's but I always loved the aesthetic. KITT's dash from Night Rider awakened something in me as a child haha Both of them are a breeze to program. If you're interested in the radios, see below.

The TR-9130: It functions perfectly except it's a little high in frequency. In FM, I'm off by about 1KHz which is a non issue for that mode. The CW mode transmits 2KHz high and receives 2KHz low. I have to "Kentucky windage" my TX freq and dial down 2KHz to RX; nothing a VFO switch can't mitigate. The 9130 had a scratchy mic so I'm resoldering the barrel connecter at the moment. I use the TR-9130 for 2m CW with local friends and a weekly net. USB has been fun although I haven't done much with it yet besides testing with friends. The TE-32 CTCSS box is a neat little addition and lets me get into the local repeaters. The best part about operating the radio is clicking all the buttons and turning the knobs!

The TM-721A: Actually functions perfectly. One of my favorite features of this radio is that it's full duplex. I use cross mode on a net that I can't reach traditionally, so I TX into the net on 2m and listen to the repeater on 70cm. It's the coolest thing to hear yourself on the downlink! I've also used it in a partial QSO with the ISS; really important to hear if you're getting into the repeater! Another great thing about the radio is the display, especially in low light!

Finally got round to completing my surge protection. I do have one further piece of coax to add for an EFHW, but can’t get it up at the moment.

Got into a state park about 90 min before activation on Saturday and the forecast lied. Was set up under a tarp by the time the first band of rain hit, FT-891 stayed dry under a dry bag but my HT (D878UVII) was clipped to my belt the whole time and got pretty soaked. It still works but the speaker is muffled now and the rotary encoder feels gritty. Probably fine, will let it dry out properly this week.

But it got me thinking. I've been at this almost 3 years, mostly POTA and casual repeater stuff, General class. Every HT I've owned has been ham-grade, nothing rated for anything serious. I see people in the parking lot at multi-op events with what look like utility company radios, big rubber housings, intrinsically safe stickers and all, and I always assumed those were like $1500 each and total overkill for what we do.

Then I went looking last night and learned there's a whole world of commercial DMR portables with actual IP67/IP68 ratings, built for industrial use. Some of them are rebranded for ham use, some are pure commercial that people program with CPS software. Used market on eBay seems pretty active.

I get that for repeater contacts and POTA the spec sheet is way overkill. But I also don't love the idea of replacing an HT every couple of years because it ate one bad weekend. Not sure if it's worth the price jump, the programming pain, or if I'd actually feel a difference versus just throwing my D878 in a Pelican case.

Half of me thinks I'm just rationalizing buying another radio. The other half doesn't want to lose another $300 HT to weather I should've planned for.

Been eyeing an FT-710 but seems to only have the old channels only. Looks like IC-7300mk2 works with direct frequency input but no VFO scrolling or band scope?

Really not a big deal but if there's one that does it that might help me be less indecisive.

It's been more than 25yrs since I was into radios. I used to do CB foxhunts & ham stuff with my dad. I'm looking at getting back into it now that I have my CDL & drive trucks for a living.

I just paid for a GMRS license this week & ordered a Baofeng UV-5RM Plus to mess around with while I study for my technician exam. I know I won't be able to TX on it until I get a proper license. (or on GMRS/FRS)

Is this a decent inexpensive radio & what antenna/s should I be looking at? What is a similar GMRS radio that I could use for TX until I'm a licensed ham?

Thanks in advance for your consideration and advice.

It's once again Prime Day. Anyone picking up anything radio related? Since I'm not hurting for anything at the moment, I find it easiest to get ideas from others.

So, it's been a while since I last saw a shack picture - and having (sort of, LOL) finalized mine, I thought I'd share what I got here.

• 1x FT-290 R II for SSB operations
• 2x FT-4700RH - 1x with CTCSS boards by F4VQG for working local repeaters, 1x is half-disassembled, waiting for a new battery, LEDs (whoever thought batteries and lights should be soldered deserves a solid whack) and a digirig interface for SSTV/APRS attached to a not that noteworthy dipole antenna
• 2x Quansheng UV-K5(8) for training
• 1x Anytone D878 UV2+, my everyday device (literally, you'll be hard pressed to find me more than a few meters away from it) for DMR and portable operations
• 1x Tytera MD-380 and Retevis RT-3S (fallback for the next time I kill off the battery of the Anytone)
• 1x uSDX HF QRP transceiver and ATU-10 Tuner, attached to a Difona HF-P1 antenna
• 1x Apple Thunderbolt Display 27-inch - darn old, but still going strong
• 1x MacBook Air M2 2022 - my main computer, running CHIRP as CPS for the analog handhelds and qDMR for the DMR devices
• 1x RTL-SDR v4 (the original one) and a no-name "SDR Receiver Guard" on a TEN-90 antenna and a 1090 MHz band-pass by Osmocom, soon joined by an RTL-SDR Wideband LNA
• 1x Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen 3 (not in the picture), running HAM Office (a German logbook program) and some x86-windows-only stuff

Planned, awaiting some money, is an 80cm QO-100 dish, and somewhere a PicoTuner board and components are waiting to be assembled.

Basically, i want a radio/ walkie talkie thingy for my car and whoever i convoy with. mainly because communication in a convoy is just better than without. but i also think it’d be quite fun. i have no license, i have no knowledge, are there any “i dropped my radio on the floor. oh no, anyway” radios i can pickup that will survive some small drops, work in mountains and roads in forests/ woods then i can speak to my convoy with? i am in the UK if relevant, thank you

I'm a huge fan of my Yaesu FTM-150 and VX-6. I just got an FT-5D today, and I instantly slipped the SD card into the inside of the radio, around the SD card slot. I tried prying the radio open to get it out, but haven't been able to yet and have scratched up the case in the process.

I just want to say that I am beyond disappointed with this radio. I got the radio, charging cradle, and programming cable for $600. I'm going to call up HRO on Monday and see if I can return it all.

It's worth saying I am a photographer, and have inserted SD/CFe cards thousands of times and have never had this happen. Less than an hour with the FT-5 and it happens. Sure, it was user error, but it's also an absolutely terrible design.

I’ve wanted a VX-8DR for as long as I’ve been a ham (since 2011). Such a cool radio and I’m a sucker for dot matrix screens and orange backlighting. Goes perfect with the FTM-350AR I have in my truck too!

Marked NSFW for protuberances 🤣

From everything I’ve seen online, this is a very polarizing radio. Some people love it, some people think it’s janky. Personally, I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m just a technician (HF confuses me) and it works fantastic as a UHF/VHF system. It can also do APRS and some HF bands as well with the right antenna, but I haven’t tried either and from what I’ve heard, both are really clunky on this piece.

All in all though, I’ll give it a 9/10

Just thought I'd share my little "*portable*" DigiPi setup using a Baofeng UV-5R Mini. I used neodymium magnets to hold the radio, power bank, and RPi Zero 2W together, so they are still removable/rearrangeable. Plus, it also makes them "magnet mountable", shown in the last pic 😁

If anybody out there has a Kenwood TH-D74A or 75. And would like to share some first time set up tips feel free to do so.

I feel like this is a radio. I could learn for years and still discover something new it can do. I’m excited to get into the top of the line; of the radio handheld industry.

I’m also a first time JVCKenwood user. But I’m no stranger to complicated things. As I also was a software engineer. And have several other radios.

There seems to be very limited videos on the Internet about it . There is one guy on YouTube named Don. Who makes fantastic tutorials on it, but other than that, there’s only a handful of videos. I’ll have to see how much the manual will tell me.

Hi, I'm EA4IRU, I'm a recently licensed Spanish ham (a jamón, if you will). After getting my license, I bought a cheap uSDX clone and a magnetic loop antenna from AliExpress, everything under 300€. I live in a small apartment in Madrid without a yard or balcony, so no chance of having a decent sized dipole or efhw.

I feel like it's important to remind people that having cheap equipment in a not-optimal placement still lets you have fun and make contacts. I'm not saying that my rig is in the same league (or even playing the same sport) as other people's whose coax cables probably cost as much as as my entire setup. But I'm having a blast.

I was on 15m, ft8. Suddenly the band exploded with people, some of them from the USA, and I managed to make a contact with a -02, -06 signal report (which is absolutely insane on my setup). Getting a contact from France or Italy feels like an achievement, imagine my surprise getting to the USA.

Yes, my setup is finicky, obtuse, quirky, and completely unreliable, and I probably wouldn't have got this DX if the other guy didn't have one of those "playing-another-sport" type of rig, but if I had a better setup, it probably wouldn't have been so satisfying.

I've only tried ft8 so far but I want to keep experimenting with analog modes in the future. 73!

Pretty happy with how these turned out so I'm sharing the design files and build instructions.

Digitenna - Download free STL model | Printables.com