Highlights of the 20-meter band: Ask Dave Episode 2 

David Casler Take a look at AG6IF Talented Balun for you 80m loop. I use it and do not need a tuner for 80,40,20,17,15,12 and 10. It works great.

Thanks for the info about the AG6IF balun. Looks interesting and has great reviews on eham.

David Casler he is also on RU-vid. Also thanks for your videos. It has helped me pass my Tech and General and gave me a better overall understanding of Ham Radio. Keep up the great work! Ryan W6ZAR

+Ade Larsen I am watching this again. I must be a full call amateur......

Patrick Slevin Hi Pat, sorry to hear about the difficulties. It sounds as though the storm damaged the antenna. Getting water into the feedline could create a resistive path to bleed off some signal, which would show up as a lower SWR. And when it dries out, there might be an open circuit somewhere. I would suggest taking the antenna and feedline down and examining both carefully. SWR will vary a bit with weather, but shouldn't vary that much. Good luck! 73, Dave

I have never been able to learn it due to loss of hearing in one ear. I just enough hearing in that ear to interfere with the other ear. but daves Videos has got me interested

Hopefully someone from your club can help you out, either at your place or theirs. Maybe you can take your radio to their house and hook up to their antenna and power supply for some training. When someone is showing you how to operate your radio, take good notes and make good drawings. Somehow some button will be pushed that your fingers never went anywhere near, but it changed all your settings. (Ask me how I know this) While you're trying to figure it out at your own residence, you can just do a lot of listening. Play around with the dial and see what you run across. Do you know that with most HF bands they are primarily operated on SSB - with certain ones using upper sideband and others using lower sideband? You can find which is which easily enough online. Though I've never heard anyone say it, there may be some out there not wanting newbies wasting their time when they're trying to make a lot of contacts, but I get the general idea most are welcoming and helpful of newcomers. Just answer a CQ ("calling any station" - and you're one of those stations) with your own call sign then tell them you're new. They'll give you a signal report - how readable are you (on a scale of 1 to 5) and how strong is your signal (from 1 to 9). They probably also want to know where you're located. If they're just trying to make a lot of contacts, say thanks and sign off (after giving them a signal report also - there are probably meters on your radio that give you those numbers when they're talking). Also, have a notebook handy to making a record of that conversation. Or - most modern people log it on a computer. Or, you might stumble onto a conversation in progress. Feel free to listen in. If you're in a conversation on the radio, don't say anything about politics or religion someone can take offense to. "I love America" is fine - "I hate the guy in office now" isn't. "God bless you" is fine, "All members of this denomination are going to Hell" isn't. An argument over which caliber is best against wild hogs is fine if the conversation is about hunting wild hogs, arguing over the morality of guns and killing animals isn't. You might find a "net" starting up with people reporting in. Is it something open that anyone can join? It never hurts to ask - the worst that can happen is they tell you no. What is the net for? Maybe for people to discuss some particular activity which happens to be your favorite hobby. As for figuring out the radio itself, if you can't get help from a live person, then yes, open the manual but also with the radio on so you can experiment. One never knows ... someday I may even follow my own advice. Just remember that this is what radio clubs are for - to put together people with questions and people with answers (and people who need help putting up antennas)

I feel your pain. My experience has been that among Ham Radio operators, the longer they've been doing this and the more they know, the more difficulty they have in realizing they're using a language the people they're talking to can't understand. So ironically, your best teacher might be someone who hasn't been involved in Ham Radio very long. If you're lucky you'll be in a club where there's at least one member who realizes this and knows how to explain things to new people. I know this is almost a year after you posted, but hopefully you've figured it all out. If not, hang in there and it will come eventually and be worth the wait.

Good luck with your studies!

My best bands for calling CQ are 20 and 40.

That’s up to you. Before you even apply power, consult local hams who have done restoration work, or you can damage it. You will likely find that a more modern radio may make your on-the-air time more enjoyable

Welcome back to ham radio!

Thanks for the reminder. I'll make sure 40 meters is on the list of topics to cover.

Getting set up for digital modes for the first time can be frustrating. Generally, digital software is designed to do digital modes only, and won't allow you to route the computer microphone to the soundcard output, because all the vendors figure that you'll plug the microphone directly into the rig. I'd suggest you use the radio's mic for SSB and the rear input for digital modes. Take a look at the Rigblaster Advantage (www.westmountainradio.com/product_info.php?products_id=rb_adv). It allows you to plug in your microphone, and easily switch between digital and analog.

If you're using single sideband, simply ask if the frequency is in use. If nobody replies, go ahead and call CQ. Don't worry about making mistakes is a newbie. Just get on the air, be patient, be forgiving (both of yourself and others), and persevere.

Wow, that would really take a couple videos to answer. I love the RX in the 3000--I've never had a better one. The TenTec Orion is a great radio too, though I've never operated one myself.

That’s why I’m buying one. The quiet RX in it. You might want to think about a video that talks about “hearing loss from the volume being too high overtime.“ When I was in professional radio, my program directors would always remind me to “keep the cans low.“ i’ve talked to a few hams that have been in the hobby for many years and now only do digital because they can’t hear phone. That’s too bad. My way of fighting that problem was to get a 3000 so I have a much quieter front end.

Darrell Harris Hi Darrell. The 11 Meter Amateur Band was turned into Class D Citizen's Radio Service (Citizen's Band, or CB) back in 1958. CB enjoyed quite a vogue, then settled down. Truckers today are major users of CB. CB equipment is still available and may be used by anyone. With the advent of the Family Radio Service (FRS) and General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), most people looking for easy "walkie-talkie" type radios have abandoned CB. There's a nice article on CB on Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_band_radio.

The first rule of antennas is that everything affects everything. Antennas like to be in the clear with nothing around them. Good luck with your studying!

For anyone reading this years later -- I'm not familiar with this radio but I think it is a 10-meter radio (HAM band) that can be convereted to 11 meter band (CB Radio). If someone is talking on 10 meters without a license, they're wrong. Now, on to the technical part -- The antenna needs to be right for the band on which he's talking. 10 meter antenna for 11 meter frequencies won't work well, and vice versa. Also, if he's in a metal building the antenna won't be as effective. Try moving the antenna outside with the coax running through a window or a hole in the wall. Try moving the antenna around. If it's not near a window, try moving it close to a window. Try moving it up, but also try moving it down (so the tip is closer to the window.) Move it away from the computer and the television. I presume this is a magnetic mount antenna on a metal toolbox? Try setting it on something else - like a pizza pan. Etc, etc, etc ...

In general (and there are many exceptions), it means both stations are in daylight as is the entire path between them.

Thanks David.

Check out the list of General videos at www.ke0og.net/general.

***** They're in the queue. So many things to talk about in the Ask Dave series! There's lots of interest in grounding and antennas, so those may dominate for awhile. 73, Dave

No. On 20 you need a General or above.

David Casler How about 30 and 40 meter?

15, 40, and 80 meters - refer to the chart at 1:23 @@bobdemartino9752

+Seth B Each band has not only different propagation characteristics, but different usage patterns. 60 meters consists of only five channels and sees very little activity.