I've recently upgraded my VHF transceiver capability, and it has made a huge difference. We ask everyone to have a radio of some sort, and the cheapest Ham radio that works is the Baofeng UV-5R. I don't want to ask people to spend a ton of money, but from my own experience I do think upgrading is worth the extra expense. The receive electronics on the UV-5R are low-quality so they don't seem to work well with external antennas. A lot (or all) of the advantage you'd get from putting an external antenna up on your roof is lost when you plug it into the UV-5R.
The tranceiver I bought is the Yaesu FT-2980R:
https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-015771
Unfortunately they just raised the price by $20, but it's still only $150 (or closer to $170 with shipping and tax). Note that it's a VHF only radio and is very simple compared to the more expensive models, but it is a beast of a machine that can dump 80W of power if needed.
This radio works well with every external antenna I've tried, and it's well suited to being installed in a vehicle also. You do need to supply it with 12v power somehow, which you can do a number of different ways. For my home use, when it isn't hooked up to the solar generator, I bought a cheap 12V lead acid battery (any car battery will work) and a cheap battery trickle-charger:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/UPG-12V-35Ah-AGM-Sealed-Lead-Acid-Battery-UB12350-U1-Group/168009742
https://www.walmart.com/ip/BLACK-DECKER-BM3B-6V-and-12V-Battery-Charger-Maintainer-BM3B/21721663
This gives you multiple days worth of radio runtime if power is down, as long as you aren't blasting 80 watts constantly. From my home I've typically used it at 5 or 10 watts and it works great.
If you don't already have an external antenna, you'll need one. I'm a fan of the Fong DBJ-1 antenna:
https://m.ebay.com/itm/DBJ-1-Dual-Band-VHF-UHF-2-meter-70cm-ham-base-antenna-/113516146770?
And a cable to connect your antenna to the tranceiver:
https://usacoax.com/cables/coaxial-antenna-cable-rg-213-pl259-cb-base-station-coax-uhf-vhf-35ft-usa-made.html
Or a low-quality, Chinese-made version sold by the richest man on the planet:
https://www.amazon.com/Coaxial-RFAdapter-Antenna-Cables-Analyzer/dp/B07ZYDRY78
Also, think about getting that antenna up as high as you can. Get it up to a high part of your roof somehow, and then run the cable to a comfortable spot inside where you have the radio and battery.
Total cost is something like $170 (transceiver) + $93 (battery/charger) + $51 (antenna) + $32 (cable) + ~$20 (antenna mounting hardware) = $366
That's a lot more than the baseline cheap UV-5R and solar panel to charge it, but it's a huge jump in functionality and is also just less frustrating to work with. If you want reliable local comms, I think upgrading is necessary.
If you want to install a transceiver like this in a vehicle, there are many options. The easiest thing to do is get a magnet base antenna and stick it to your roof with the cable sticking through a door somewhere, and then power it through the 12v outlet. That's not ideal for many reasons but even with a basic install like that you'll be better off than you would be if trying to use a UV-5R in a vehicle.
I've included a few images of my own, half complete, truck install. Even in its current state, this setup has been amazing. Even in hilly areas with poor line of sight I was able to stay in contact with another vehicle ~12 miles away during a test.
Pictures of a bunch of this stuff is included. I'm sure we have people who have more experience and better setups than this, so feel free to post some of your own info!
[I'm reposting this to the top because we have a number of people who still need to get their ham license!]
For anyone near Tucson who hasn't already gotten your Ham license or is interested in upgrading what you already have, here is some info based on my experience of getting my Technician and General licenses recently:
- Free testing is available monthly in Tucson. Next event is March 8th @ 7PM . https://k7rst.org/testing.html
-- There is no preregistering. You just show up, but I highly recommend being there a half hour early to get in line. I was there 15 minutes early and waited a little more than an hour before it was my turn to take the test, and then there's more waiting in between exams if you take more than one.
- There is also an online testing option available now. It generally costs ~$15 and you need fairly decent internet, a computer with a webcam, and a phone with a camera. (Thanks to @freebirdie for sending me the info on this).
-- Look here to find a session that's open: ...
I've been meaning to document this for quite awhile but things kept getting in the way. I've been writing this slowly over the past several weeks now, and am finally ready to post it!
I've created a simple automated planter for low-effort food gardening that seems to work pretty well for a a decent number of different plants. This was originally inspired by Larry Hall's "Rain Gutter Grow System", and then I fused it with the general concept of bottom-watered reservoir planters, which you can find everywhere.
Larry Hall's video should show up at the end of this post:
One implementation of a standard, non-automatic, bottom-watered reservoir planter:
https://www.amazon.com/GroBucket-Watering-sub-irrigated-Container-portable/dp/B079CT29RZ/
My goals were to keep costs relatively low, minimize water usage, and minimize the weekly time I need to put in to maintain the garden. I don't mind spending a bit more time to get something set up if that means I don't have to remember to do another ...
Our next event will be this Saturday, December 4th, at 9:00 AM. One of our members has experience with bee keeping and is going to be doing an introduction for us! (No bees will be present). Keeping bees for honey is a very interesting option for being able to produce more of our own food and medicines.
This week we’ll be back in Reid Park location #2, which is at the pavilion that is just to the east of the western-most baseball field, and just south of E Camino Campestre. Ramada 28 on the park map. There is parking just north of that baseball field, or another lot just to the east, or you can park on the street. Street parking is the closest to the pavilion. If there’s another group that reserves that pavilion and is there in the morning, we will instead set up under the big trees just to the east.
There is a chance that we won’t be able to use the ramada, and if that’s the case we’ll move under the trees to the east. I recommend bringing a folding chair in your vehicle to ...
