Still a lot of grumpy old men there, it seems.
..... 2 meter voice is still in good use.....
Not here.
....I've always been an HF geek, and would like to get back into code keying again....
ACK! Code! Run away!
I don't mess much with the exotics anymore. After playing around with telemetry and microwave and such for a living, it's fun but not as much as just jabbering.
That's exactly the space I'm interested in - ad-hc digital networking.
That VX 5 is a sweet little unit. Run it into a tri-band mast and at that AGL you should have pretty darned good coverage. Is that a TNC or an SMA female as the antenna jack?
TNC. I've always been frustrated with the VX 5 interface. What I want is a device the looks like and is as easy to use as a smart phone. All the Yeasu's have these 10-layer meta functions on the keys..."HOLD down the FN and the 8 Key While Standing on one foot, jump up twice and power on the unit whilst still airborne to change the Narrow Band Squelch level. Hold down the FN SHIFT and Power Button for 4.567 seconds and then press the "2" key to change from Narrow band Squelch to Wideband Squelch"
I would recommend nothing less than RG-214 for antenna cable for 5/2 Meter ops, and LM 400 flex if you can afford it for the 440 Mhz ops.
That's what I've got - two runs of 300' each N connectors at both ends. Also have a lot of quad shield RG-8 in various lengths from 50' to 200'.
TO be honest, since I posted the message, I've been kind of discouraged by what I've seen. It's like the whole of all digital communications is commercial now and the stuff that used to be leading edge experimental is nowhere to be seen on the ham radio sites. I guess my 8 years off, like so many other people, left little incentive to really innovate.
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