Hernandez Frank Williams Lisa Walker Timothy

Thank yoy

I am 71 with health issues I cannot remember half of that technicians license online stuff so its not as easy to learn school was not easy for me to begin with I learn by doing not by reading

I'm so excited for you. I know you've been through a lot since the accident; what a powerful way to tackle that experience. Best of luck!

I have always worried about not having my station properly grounded. When I first set up my station and had my tower installed we dug a five foot deep hole for the concrete base. At the bottom of the hole I drove an 8 foot ground rod into the ground so it goes down about 13 feet. The ground here is actually not very good. But also storms here are extremely rare. Anyway, then I ran grounding cable from the ground rod underneath my mobile home to go up through the floor to my station. The cable from the grounding rod was too short to reach. Then I attached another grounding cable to it with a clamp. Now the first part of the cable is about 2 inches wide but the added part is only an inch or so wide. I don’t know if that makes a difference or not. Then that was attached to a copper piece to which all of my equipment was attached with short pieces of cable. Then I heard that the station ground must be connected to the main electrical ground. I live in a mobile home and the main ground is almost at the other end of the house which is nearly 70 feet away. So since grounding should be as short as possible that doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. In 2919 I had to temporarily move out of state because my mom was not doing well and was in her last years. My sister was her 24/7 caregiver at that time. After she passed away I returned home in 2022. Other people had lived in my house while I was gone. I came back to find my station completely disassembled and much of my equipment gone. Even my chair and desk set up. The copper piece to which everything was grounded is gone the grounding cable had disappeared beneath the floor as well as coax from the my two VHF/UHF antennas (one vertical and one horizontal). Several years ago my Explorer-14 was damaged in the wind so now that is no longer up on the tower and some of the pieces are missing too. My rotator cable that also used to come up through the floor is also hiding somewhere underneath the floor. My OmniVII is gone. My Yaesu 736-R is gone. I do still have my old Paragon but the display no longer works. The only HF antenna I have is an 80 meter dipole hanging off the tower in sort of an inverted vee form. My LDG auto tuner is also gone but I have a small manual tuner. About all I do now is listen to Net on 75 meters. One question I have about grounding is how does grounding or not grounding affect transmitted signal or not? 73 DE KL7CH.

I've been considering returning to the hobby after a long absence, due the frustrations I experienced as a Novice ham operator. If you, sir keep making excellent videos like this one, I will definitely give it another shot. Finally, someone who translates Ham to English. Good job; or "Bravo Zulu" as we used to say in the Navy. Well done!

Great video as usual. I've had my Sig 9 up for about a year now. I'm thinking of pulling 30 meter as well. I'm wondering what you did about 40/15 ? Did you do the suggest coil idea at the top of the mast? I was considering pulling the 30 meter and giving 15 it'd own dedicated element. Keep up the good work. Always enjoy your videos. 73.

Great video! One more thing you can do is add a Farrel on the end that screws into the charge controller and it will keep the wires from breaking off when smashed. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for this video, sir! I’m in the beginning stages of retrofitting my shed into a new shack. As part of the thought process, I’ve been researching grounding and bonding and remarkably, I’m coming to the same conclusion as you! Disconnecting your antennas and ground in advance of a storm is likely your best bet. Beyond that, I don’t know what more you can do… a really close lightning strike might nuke your gear in spite of your best efforts. As you said, it simply isn’t worth losing sleep over. Thank you for the peace of mind and 73, Tim, VE1XR

Just came across your channel and found it very helpful. Great work, thanks.

On the 7300, it looked to me like you went from 5-7 swr on the meter, to 5-7 swr on the meter... : (

I was hoping that we would hear more specifics rather than you said that the General License allows you to user radios that have "features" and "Stuff"... Such as specifically? I don't have a first level tech license yet but still feel like other than playing the "make contacts" game ... what else specifically is there in HAM ? I use GMRS for practical communications but I guess I just don't get HAM.

That is not a half wave end fed, it is a 73 foot random wire antenna! The 2 are totally different antennas!

I have had my Mission Darkness bags for three years. i have the oneyou show in the video and two water proof type larger bags that were 90.00 each. the fabric STOPPED working - it no longer protects from the EMF - the phones ring in the bags....

Yes you got to go to menu 17 I think turn your mic gain up to nine it'll be nice and full and loud yeah buddy Go to😂 Mike gain setting I think it's 17

Most importantly you need to run to LMR 400 if you want a really good signal no loss LMR 400 is the way to go

You're going to cause it to build condensate inside your antenna will sweat not good for your connection take the condensate off and that tape😮😮😮😮

Don't be paranoid it's Overkill GP 9 is designed to keep water out that's why it cost $200 🤗

Love your presentation😊

Sounds good, Scott. I’m actually in the lowest spot right I’ve ever been in my tire life.

Hmmmm a real life Sad Ham? Not everyone can afford a $100+ radio. I bought the TidRadio TD-H8 and I am very happy with it. I installed an SMA -> BNC converter and two Nagoya antenna. It comes with a 2500AH battery (16 hour continuous and 60 hour listening time), wireless programming, wireless channel copy, color screen, no spurious transmissions, one click repeater importing, color screen and high impedance antenna, and speaker mics for 165 for myself and my wife. Here in Colombia there are about 6500 HAM radio users so I think having hundreds of channels is a waste. And the company is doing updates to the firmware almost every month either fixing issues or adding new features.

On your grounding rod/connection. I would typically dig a hole and hammer the 8’ rod 2”-3” below grade. Then use a 6” or 8” diameter valve box to avoid creating a trip hazard (also looks much cleaner). A single clamp is all you need, but it doesn’t hurt to add more.

I am with you on this. I’ve seen a couple incidences where all this extra grounding makes for another path to equipment that it would otherwise be isolated during a lightning strike.

For 20m I use the 28'8" length and use a 25ft coax on the ground, no choke, into the radio, and seems to work fine.

Hi Scott, nothing wrong with helping people. Congratulations on the book! KC3UWT 73

Wow! Looking just like that older guy up in Maine. 😎😁

August 9, 2024 not yet on Amazon.

That’s why I like this channel… you show positivity! Looking forward to reading it..

Glad to have you back!

How do I get it autographed?

Congratulation on the book! 73!

Good luck with the book! I will be buying itnew authours deserve a leg up if I can give it! I have been writting one for 40 years, some day I will get past chapter 1, Seriously I have rewritten the start numerous times and then a better idea crops up, possibly my mind is to active and I see possibilities around me to much. 73 Jim M7BXT

The power of positive thinking congratulations

Looking forward to your book!

I will buy your book just because of how much you have enriched my new ham radio ambitions. I'm an old writer, but a new ham, and both continue to be challenges. Looking forward to your observations and advices. Cheers!

Are you going to have your book in audiobook format?

First

I’ve got a Xiegu G90 coming and a POTA-ble EFHW. I’d like a recommendation for a battery charger, got a 6Ah LiPo to take with me, since it’s only 20w. The difference between 20w and 100w is roughly a single S-unit, so I felt for a first time, the Xiegu G90 is an okay start. I’d also like to experiment in my apartment using a coax modified as a dipole and see what contacts I can get from that. Thank you so much for your recommendations!

Is there one for Gmrs Repeater ?

My rfinder stinks , i hear good on it but as i talk they say i cut in snd out , did all updates, good idea but still has bugs

I've cut it twice and it's still too short

Just had to get the Harley in the picture....don't blame you!

Ham radio BY non-techies by the sound of it.

I was replacing my FT-857D, the 7300 doesn't do above HF and, as a result, doesn't even do D-star. I do not regret getting the 991-A with C4FM HF, 6M plus 2m, and 70cm. The receive is far better than my 857D, it seems to me. I keep looking at Icom, Kenwood, and others in a similar price range and keep landing on Yaesu.

I agree with how you did your grounds. I also unplug everything during thunderstorms. Somewhere I read that if you disconnect your coax cable and drop the end into an empty glass jar, it will prevent a direct lightning flash coming through your coax into your house from arcing out to anything in the room? Your video is great, I follow the same procedure.

Thank you for consolidating all of this into a single video. Information rich and greatly appreciated.

Its been 2 years since u published this video. My question to you do you still like the antenna? I am considering buying one. Thanks 73

What do you do when you need to mow your lawn??

Very nice video. Thank you for sharing. Just one question: is it possible to put the dx commander up in the air, or is this impossible due to the need of the radials? 73s from Germany, Uwe (DC5FI)