Ham Clock setup page

A very long time ago I purchased a Raspberry Pi3 and at the time I was excited about experimenting with it but work got in the way, and it was put on the self. About 4 years ago and retired, I blew the dust off it and loaded Ham Clock on it. I have been using it ever since and found it has some very handy information for when I am contesting. The other day I turned on the Pi3, and it started to load, but I was then met with a black screen and the message "unable to load". I turned it off and back on and this time everything loaded except Ham Clock and for some reason it reverted to the setup page. I tried again to reboot, but Ham Clock still showed the setup page. I entered all my information again and was good to go...until I started the Pi3 the next day, when I booted the Pi3 nothing appeared on the screen and the LED lights on the Pi3 were flashing on and off very erratically. I changed out the SD card, reloaded the OS and after some investigation, I concluded the Pi3 was done. I now have a Pi4b on its way here and should be here on Sunday.

Ham College episode 129 is now available for download.

Technician Exam Questions Part 16
T5B – Math for electronics: conversion of electrical units, decibels.

Download
YouTube

Hello and welcome to the 595th installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short topics episode, the hosts discuss that latest ARRL campaign to defeat HOA antenna restrictions, a new DXpedition to Bouvet Island, amateur radio in Equatorial Guinea, Hacktoberfest, a new paradigm in kernel per-CPU assignment, SkyRoof and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

I came across this new antenna, the TWAYRDIO RH 660S, mentioned in this Ham Radio Crash Course video. I have previously been recommending the TWAYRDIO TH770 antenna via this post. The RH 660S is a newer dual-band 2m/70cm telescoping antenna from the same company.

For Summits On The Air (SOTA), I generally take along such an antenna. The performance of any half-wave antenna on a handheld radio is always much better than the standard rubber duck. Although a 3-element Yagi antenna provides even better performance, it has to be pointed in the right direction. Sometimes, we will set up the RH 660 or TH 770 on a small vertical pole (actually a camera monopod with a homebrew BNC attachment). This allows us to monitor and work the band with an omnidirectional antenna without having to hold or point the Yagi. Much more convenient while sitting there eating lunch.

A key advantage to an omnidirectional antenna is that it is always pointed in the right direction.

The RH660 is available with the three standard connectors: BNC, SMA Male and SMA female. Make sure you pick the right one that matches your radio.

On our most recent SOTA activation, I did a quick comparison between the old TH 770 and the new RH 660 on 2 meters. The RH 660 seemed to perform ever so slightly better, but that was probably within the measurement error of the test. It certainly was not worse than the TH 770. I only did the comparison test on 2 meters, as that is the GO TO band for VHF SOTA. However, the antenna seemed to work OK on 70cm as well.

The packaging on the antenna indicates 3.0 dBi gain on 144 MHz and 5.0 dBi gain on 430 MHz. Do I believe those numbers? Not really, but they are probably close. (An ideal halfwave radiator has a gain of 2.2 dBi.) Note that the newer antenna does not have the magic tuning lump in the middle of the radiating element, which simplifies the mechanical design. This is the main advantage of the new antenna: no lump in the middle, resulting in a slimmer and sturdier design.

Summary

I am pleased with this new design, and I now recommend it as a good compact antenna for portable use. As with all telescoping 2m half-wave antennas, it is long and should be handled with care. Otherwise, you can poke someone’s eye out, break it in two, or snap the connector off your HT.

The RH660 antenna is available at Amazon for ~$17. At this price, why wouldn’t you have one in your backpack or Go Bag?

73 Bob K0NR

The post A New 2m/70cm Telescoping Antenna appeared first on The KØNR Radio Site.