First Contact

Using a cheap Baofeng GT-5R and a Signal Stick antenna, I made my first contact as an amateur radio operator. Using the local repeater, I was able to bounce over and make contact with K0TML. He gave me some great troubleshooting tips and some encouragement. I appreciate the help sir, thank you!

Getting that taste of free audio over the airwaves out of a B-M-B (see previous post) was absolutely exhilirating. I'm very excited to dive into this rabbit hole after just having a slight taste. With that said, here comes the hardware loadout from Gigaparts that left my credit card smoking...

I was going to go cheaper, but I ultimately decided on the Yaesu FTM-510DRASP. This radio has all of the features to do things both short-term and long-term. If I'm going to only have one VHF/UHF and one HF radio, this seems like the best option to fill that first gap.

Given that I used hamstudy.org to get my license, I wanted to contribute back and get both the 1/4 and 1/2 wave signal stalk antennas. At their cost, it was worthwhile for me to get both and be able to measure some qualitative differences between them (maybe, no SWR or power meter yet).

To power everything in a mobile configuration like I intend to use this gear for, I picked up a 12 amp-hour Bioenno LiFePO4 battery with a simple 120VAC to DC charger. Nothing extravagent, however it gets me on the air from more places than just at the house. Also, I ordered a Powerwerx inline DC meter to gauge just how much power I'm drawing from my gear.

The only part of this setup I'm a bit unclear on is the coax. I picked up a simple 14' RG-316 with PL-259 to NMO coax, and I'm hopeful I can find a way to hold the antenna upright without a costly mount. I am not initially going to mount anything to my vehicle, so maybe I can rig something up on a tripod.

So yeah... that's the quick overview of what I bought to get things 'started'. I bought a bit more than I probably should have, however stuff like the power equipment is applicable to my HF setup as well. I can already tell that this hobby is going to be rewarding and align well with my other interests. Money well spent, if you ask me.

Watch for another post soon, both with an update on the new gear and maybe a new callsign? :)