Thanks for the great info Doug! I'm a fellow hiker/backpacker and am just getting into ham radio for backpacking in the Pacific Northwest. Your videos are perfect for a beginner ham (Just upgraded to General). Currently I have no equipment, and my first plan is to buy a FT3DR and also look at getting into SOTA. After that will be a base station (still researching which one to get). I'll be watching more of your videos for sure! Thank you so much!!!! Brent
Hi Brent! Welcome to this great hobby and welcome to my channel. I must warn you, SOTA is addictive. It truly is so much fun. You get to mix your love of the great outdoors with radio. And the radio could very well save your life someday. As far as base stations go, you have gotten into the hobby at a great time. There are many great radios available, for not much more than ham radios cost in the 1950s. For under $1,500 I would suggest looking at the Yaesu FT-991A, Icom IC-7300, or Kenwood TS-590SG. My favorite of those three is the FT-991A. It also has 2 meters and 70 centimeters, and the Yaesu DSP is best in class, IMO. For CW, the Yaesu filters, combined with the Audio Peak Filter, is unmatched. The digital noise reduction in the Yaesu radios is best in class. If you want a base station on a budget, look at the videos I made about the Yaesu FT-891. Under $650. I carry one as my SOTA HF radio. It’s a couple of extra pounds more than the QRP rigs, but I have 100W available when needed. The FT-891 works well with the Yaesu MD-100 desk microphone. I shot a video showing how I take my FT-891 from base station to backpack. For under $2,000 you might want to look at the soon to be released FTdx10 from Yaesu. Its big brother, the FTdx101, is rated number one by Sherwood Engineering for its receiver selectivity. Again, welcome! 73, Doug
I didn't see you mention it, but if you don't turn the APRS off you will still have APRS settings and modem active on VFO-B no matter what memory or vfo freq you have it set to. Good video. I'm trying to work out sending preset messages via the ISS ARISS digipeater. This was not it, but still helpful.
How far we can get some transmit from another aprs position? Because my HT never recieve anything with all right setting. Maybe because to far from my position? I got 12 - or full gps
It depends upon the terrain and your distance from a digipeater and/or an iGate. Some areas don't have enough coverage yet. Individual operators can set up a digipeater at their home, but there aren't enough in some areas. From some mountain summits I'm hitting an iGate 70 miles away, with no help from a digipeater. If I'm not on the mountain peak I cannot hit the iGate. 73, Doug
@@n4hnhradio thanks for your reply. So we need to close iGate or Digirepeater? Is it possible for got signal from satelite as digirepeater like IO-86 ? Thanks bro
I haven’t tried this myself but I read that you can spot for POTA via APRS by sending a message to POTAGW. You must send the message in the following format: Activator ParkID Frequency Mode Comments 73, de N4HNH
Great vid. I do not have the FT3DR, but I am doing APRS. I didn't know that about being able to SOTA spot with APRS. Question, is there a similar way to POTA spot on APRS???
I don’t know about POTA spots. I have asked a friend who has a FT3DR and who participates in both SOTA and POTA. I will let you know what he says. 73, Doug
I heard from my friend, N1RBD, who participates in both SOTA and POTA. He said that APRS spotting for POTA is under development, and it is available in some areas. If you wish to try it out, format the APRS message as shown below. Send to: POTAGW Use the following format for the message: CALL REF FREQ MODE COMMENTS Be sure to put a space between CALL REF FREQ MODE COMMENTS. I hope this helps. 73, Doug
I normally use a Diamond SRH770S. It’s a high gain flexible duckie. I use it when maximum range is needed. For around the shack, I use the Diamond SRH77CA or the Signal Stuff antenna. In the video I have the Signal Stuff Antenna attached. The Diamond SRH77CA and the Signal Stuff antenna are about equal in performance. The Signal Stuff antenna is made of piano wire, so it is lighter and less bulky. The Diamond SRH770S is approximately twice again the performance of the SRH77CA or the Signal Stuff, but also a little longer. All of these antennas outperform the stock duckie antennas. Thanks for watching and please subscribe if you haven’t already. 73, de N4HNH
I’m sorry if the information wasn’t valuable. I don’t have a camera crew. I just try to put out the best information the best way that I can. I invite you to become a Patreon and help me be able to afford more production gear.
