Ah, better spending money on ham that cigarettes. Healthy hobby. You should have seen my 9 yr old daughters face when she witnessed her voice cross two hand helds. I saw 'the spark' in her eyes. Now she wants her basic license. Awesome feeling. It was amazing to see something like this interest her in a world filled with iPads and apps. We're now talking about her first 40m dipole. I've told her she must build it herself including the balun, do the math and shop for her first HF rig. She's watching this video now. Thank you for helping others.
Great advice here! I always look for "stock" photos, where someone grabbed a pic of the equipment they are selling off the internet or the manufacturer website. These days, there's not much of an excuse for not having good, clear pictures of the item being sold. And of course, watch out for the old "no way to test, I don't have an antenna, turn it on and the lights come on" = this thing is junk. :) Most of the honest sellers out there will even take more pictures if you request them (I like to see the inside of the rig, and pics of the rig powered up). I also like it when the seller puts one of their QSL cards, or at least their call sign in the picture. And last but not least, local clubs are often a great source of inexpensive equipment that you are able to actually go to their QTH and take a test drive, AND save on shipping costs. 73, Brett KF5WXP
Never buy a radio you see on ebay when the seller says they have no idea what it is and you see it switched on.....most probs been keying the mic up and no antenna plugged in......this is my top tip !!
I bought my KX3 exactly that way, with no guarantee. I bought it for $900 with the ATU, battery charger, and roofing filter. I'm the exception, it works perfectly. Once in a while you get lucky on eBay.
I have learned so much from you, thank you for your efforts. I have been away from radio for 20 years and now you have given me the impetus to start back.
Bob, I've seen on QRZ a lot of guys getting scammed by using PayPal "friends & family". I don't know anything about it, but as I understand it, there is no buyer protection using that "version" of PayPal. I'm enjoying your channel! Been a ham for about 4 months. Thanks for all the info.
Ah, thats what I forgot to talk about. Don't use Friends & Family to buy stuff. Sellers & scammers alike ask for a friends & family payment to avoid the 1.5% fee charged to sellers. Scammers love it it because theres no protections.
What's your opinion on buying old HF, concerning the rx parameters? The "Sherwood goodies" like selectivity, dynamic range for ssb or cw of certain radio DOES decay over time, doesn't they? So something like ts-930s, a dxpedition radio back in the day, wouldn't be that great now?
Thanks for your advice. I'm new to amatuer radio and it's to have people like you out there to help us get started. Keep up the great work mate. Andrew(ZL4IW)
Hi Bob, my name is Bob also. Lol Have you ever done a review on the stryker sr-94HPC? I bought it and the matching A-10 antenna. Had it for about10 days , haven't heard a voice over it other than from my
I'm looking for a used HF transceiver that works. The last one I bought at a show only worked on 1 band. I can't find a repair shop in Florida to fix it. Guess I have a door stop. I do like your channel, lots of good info. KM4BAP
Thanks brother. My father would be proud of me. Wish I spent more time learning from him. He was a senior design engineer for several electronic companies; Eldec corp. Wa state , Sprague industries, and several others. Mostly military sub contractors. Power supplies. One last question. Are there companies out there that sell kits for building all your own test equipment? Scopes, signal generators, linears, ect?. Thanks for spending the time for a new-be like myself. RJL
-frommy own cb, from the same car. Swr is great on both rigs . Just wanted to know what you think of that radio. I'll have my license this month. Got a Radioddity Qb pro-quad for a starter radio. Hard to finance better living on disability.
Honestly, I haven't seen the mobile but it looks interesting. My biggest concern in mounting cheaper radios in vehicles is heat issues . Where I live temperatures inside parked cars can get upwards to 160 degrees. Radios can get a little funky in those extremes.
I am 22 and got an Icom 706 mk2, MFJ 25 amp switching power supply, digital interface, ldg z-100 plus tuner radiowavz pathfinder MKI 350 pep and 100 pep cw antenna for 650 us the cost of the radio alone! good deal?
My general rule of thumb is start at half the retail cost and negotiate down from there. Unless it’s something I just have to have. Then refer to rule #1 and work up. If you’re happy with your new station, you did great.
Ah, thats what I forgot to talk about. DO NOT USE Paypal Friends & Family to buy stuff unless you know & trust the seller. Sellers & scammers alike ask for a friends & family payment to avoid the 1.5% fee charged to sellers. Scammers love it it because theres no protections & your SOL when you get a box of rocks.
Paypal has cone through for me when I was scammed by a seller, and the only time that I had a problem was with a guy in another country, he did not get paid for some reason (most likely something on his part) and the seller blamed me for not getting paid by paypal, yet at first he claimed that he was out of stock. There are some that just scam people on Ebay, and if it were not for the buyer protections I would have to resort to other methods to get parts for equipment. Just because someone has a 100% on their profile does not mean they can be trusted, as they could just be disappearing and leaving with peoples money that last month. If they have consistent sales and a good rating they are usually always good to deal with. I have bought many radios and equipment along with parts on Ebay and many other sites since all of my local stores that I bought from in the past have all closed, there was no other choice for me. There are very few electronics stores in the Los Angeles, Orange County area, and in the largest county in California you can just forget trying to find even a Frys Electronics. There is one Electronics store in Riverside and one in San Bernardino, and they are all that is left. The other stores have some parts, but anything surface mount needs to be ordered and shipped in.
Had trouble with pay pal won't use them again. You should mention the consignment section of the reputable dealers like HRO. Sometimes they have good stuff and your not taking any chances.
+K6UDA someone logged on to my account as a guest and made a bunch of purchases. Pay pals customer service would not return the sellers fees that got charged to me. It seems my account got hacked through gmail. I got most of my money back from my credit card company. But PayPal would not return the sellers fees. I didn't end up loosing to much. Luckily I was alerted by my bank notifications as soon as the transactions were made. PayPal customer service was offshore witch did put me off a little bit. I do like eBay have got some real bargains and hard to find stuff there, it is hard to use eBay without a Paypal account, I may open another one if I see something on eBay I just have to have, and can't live without.😉 thanks for your videos es 73
Great tips. Can you do an episode from a sellers point of view? I rarely sell, but when I do I am afraid of using Ebay because I have heard stories of buyers taking parts out of radios and then saying the radio doesn't work. The seller than gets back his which no longer functions and is out of the money. What protects the seller? 73 de N2LRB
Very quickly, as a seller I take detailed photos, showing damage & imperfections. You can also video tape the item in operation, then pack it with the buyers address and seal it on video. That way if you have an issue you can provide the buyer and eBay some evidence that you did it right. eBay is pretty fair about things when they investigate and there aren't to many buyers there for long that get away with that scam. eBay looks at their prior claims and takes that into consideration. Good Idea on the video, I'll put it on the list.
eBay caveats: *"..removed from a working environment.."* So? *"..was working when taken out of service.."* But, in taking it from the shack to the post office, I treated it like Ace Ventura delivering the package to a customer. *"..powers up/lights up but have no way to test it.."* Written as eBay description with pictures of device on a workbench loaded with DMM, signal generator, O-scope, etc. *"..tech special.."* Needs no explanation.
" BONAIRE " damn is this the station that broadcast in the 70 ts from the Dutch lesser Antilles ? I remember that name as a kid , my dad has a Blaupunkt stereo that we listen to at nights.
Sometimes you have to actually call them to get help, and it is not so easy to get those numbers to call in. There were a couple times that I thought I was out, but had to word things just right to get refunded what I was cheated out of. The worst ones are those that are selling only a few items and have not bought much over time. Also they have items listed at different locations for no obvious reasons, such as it says USA seller and they are shipping from the Russian Republic. The key thing is that we only have 30 days for a refund from Ebay, and it is only a couple of months for PayPal. That being said, it is a gamble like you said and this is obvious if the item has not shown in longer than 2 weeks, even if it is marked shipped. Just because it is marked shipped, unless you can see that it is moving with the tracking you could be on the way to getting ripped off. This is how I have been able to get a refund more than once, as it was marked as shipped, but never entered the carrier so that it was showing tracked or that it had actually physically been shipped. This is where I have been ripped off most of the time, but with careful checking you can get hold of them before it is too late.
Nice to meet you just got my Ham License a Month a go need to change my old CB Antenna to Ham antenna ant Suggestions on a antenna for the Home Roof Reply back Victor in Hawaii Aloha 73 LOL
Only real problem I have had with buying things from Canada is the cost of shipping. I have had it where the shipping from FedEx is more than the cost of the item.
I did NOT register on the site nor do I want the radio.I'm a Die Hard ICOM Man & have Zero room for a K2,K3,KX3 or any other radio that they build.Not my thing& not worth registering on anyone's web site for it either.Hope somebody wins it that will keep & use it & someone who actually needs a new radio but some clown with 10 rigs or more will win it & brag about having another radio they did not need & how they kept someone who could really make use of it from winning because they registered & won.
Must admit been on a buying spree myself upgrading my 2m radio to a yaesu from 100 and the wires 200 box next on the agenda is upgrading my yaesu 450d to something bigger
Have you ever seen them on an oscilloscope? They throw RF everywhere. I'm not saying they're worthless but it definitely isn't close to a good HT from a major manufacture. They don't hear nearly as well either. I'll prove it one day. 73, Bob K6UDA
For occasional transmissions they work OK, but heavy duty usage is where they usually fall short. That and it's almost impossible to program the darned things even though most hams won't admit it. ;-) A good Icom, Kenwood or Yaesu is worth a wheelbarrow full of those cheap Chinese knockoffs.
Again, I respectfully disagree. I have two, a BTechMini and Baofung HT, I use them heavily, they keep on working well. I suspect the big three are going to have to reduce their huge profit margins, or the the less expensive Chinese stuff will eat them up. Programming is very easy, Chirp works for all of them.
