Any Ham Geeks Here?

I got started in electronics from CB and RC electronics. I got the geek/ham radio license myself, but never use it. I have a friend in the 10/11-meter business :wink: . Recently, I designed a simple circuit that can draw 800 amps for about 30 seconds from a 100-amp car alternator without damaging the alternator. It's basically a capacitance multiplier that takes two 12V batteries and puts them in series through relay/solenoids upon keying. I recently added common emitter, which has much less loss then emitter follower. The CBers call it a motor maul.

I'm AC6GQ, rusty key also.

I used to play with 10.5m stuff back in the '70's.
Cell phones and the internet sort of took a lot of the fun out of ham.

LOL, now that I think about it my dad is kinda into that. He has one on his work truck (delivers snacks for Keebler. Garbage bags full of freebees, FTW 8)).

He has this bit he'll do sometimes. I don't remember the details but it involved I think a gay cowboy and a total redneck (who was a genius). He did it at our house once and it was freaking hilarious. Sometimes other truckers will chime in and say stuff like it's a talk show. He does such a good job on the voices people think it's actually two people.

Had an old Ham radio receiver when I was a kid. Thats as far as it got. Sold it back to the used electronics store years later.

Hey Fetcher, Looks like my father picked up his Advanced license around the same time you did. Callsign AC6FR, up in Sonoma county.

I had a no-code technician class license (KE6AXE) back in my 20's, but I let it lapse a long time ago. I still have some 2-meter handhelds in a closet, but the batteries are long since defunct. I stopped using them when we moved to England, as we were told we couldn't use them. Found out at the end of the time we were there that our ham band license was valid there through a cross-licensing agreement of some sort.

Eh. I just want to learn about radio technology so I can wirelessly send data to/from tiny and small mobile platforms(like robots). It seems the most informative sources I'm finding are "ham"-based guides, so I guess I'm starting out there! :lol:

(According to one guide, the length of the transmitter attenae should be at least 1/8 the size of the wavelength so I'm guessing high-frequency/micro-strips circuits are in my future, FTW! But... will the FCC allow me without paying humongous fees? )

Depending on the 'content' and purpose of the data transmission, it may not be allowed in the ham bands. There are public frequency ranges you can use without license. For that kind of data transmission you could use something in a 802.11x device or Bluetooth.

I saw a ham SUV yesterday with enough antennae to put a porcupine to shame.

I couldn't tell if there was a driver, or if the rig was being run remotely.

studying for my license. got a yaesu vx7r

Well I'm also guilty as charged, KD4KEB here. Also started in 11 meters, matter of fact learned most of my electronics from repairing 11 meter rigs. Used to repair ham rigs cause many of the locals were EO's instead of Ham Operators. Not to mention all the fun I had with those open 11 meter phase lock loop chips that would go places. Also one of the first in the area to make a 11 meter AM rig go FM. Learned a lot from CB rigs, they were surprisingly ahead in communication technology. When I took my test I went all the way to general, took me all but 15 minutes lol, but let the general laps cause I hated code, and of course now they finaly got rid of the CW requirement, I need to go and redo my general, still have a Yeasu 757, and assorted 2 meter and dual band rigs.

73's

Roy

AA1TH here.

Have not been active for about 5 years but can still copy code at 13wpm.

73
Bill