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Newbie needs help (1 reply and 2 comments)
Hi,
it depends on your location relative to the repeaters if you are using the basic stubby antenna that comes with it it don't have to much range, VHF / UHF tend to be pretty much line of site so if you are in a dip or surrounded by tall buildings it will affect your reception
one option is listen to the ISS as it flies over several times a day you can receive it on 437.800mhz look at https://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=51.4&lng=0.74&loc=qbr&alt=3&tz=GMT then click on the "passes to include" from "visible" to "all" to get the pass times, look at the "highest point" you should be able to hear any passes over 50-60 degrees elevation / highest point
if your interested in listening then a RTL-SDR.com dongle with free SDR# software (get a genuine dongle from technofix) not a dodgy chinese knock off to save and a wire out the window you will be into HF ham bands, weather satellites, VHF / UHF ham bands
my QSL dot net page will give you an idea of frequencies and software M0PWX Mode and Frequency Page (qsl.net)
73
Peter M0PWX
(not pete M0PSX that runs this site)
Hi mate,
Thank you for your reply, I have tried the standard stubby antenna and it also came with a long thin one aswell. Tried that still nothing.
The closest repeaters to me is wallington and morden. it's my fault as wanted to try it out without spending too much cash in the beginning in case it turn out to be a 5minute wonder.
Check the 2m and 70cm beacons. They will not sound much of anything as they are SSB rather then FM but it will tell you if you stand a chance of hearing anything.
The UV-5r is a basic 2band radio.
2m beacon GB3VHF 144.430
70cm beacon GB3UHF 432.430
This will tell you how good your little anennas are in your location. All you will hear is the FM noise pulsing up and down, but check the receiver signal level, rthjat's all you need to know.
Handhelds on small antennas really don't work that well and unless you have some very local stations things will be very quiet.
As Peter says, monitoring with a SDR is a good way to start in the hobby, but there are lots and lots of things to get interested in.
Handhelds don't work too well indoors as well, Radio at VHF an UHF is very much a line of sight operation, so that's something you need to remember.
Obviously I don't know your location or where you are using the radio from, but get as nhigh as possible, and next to a window facing the beacons (In Wrotham) or the repeaters and see what you can hear.
Get an adapter for the radio that allows you to connect a BNC cable to it rather than the provided antennas. The make up a simple dipole each leg should be 19.5 inches / 495mn long. A coax with a BNC at one end and just coax at the other. Connect one arm of the dipole to the centre and the other to the braid. Tape to a dowel, bamboo cane or something no conducting and poke it out of the window. That should get you a much better signal - cost almost nothing to make just a few scraps of wire and a length of coax. Worth trying. If you get some improvement, conrtagulate yourself on your first bit of "home brew" radio :-)
Online groups are ok, but if you have a local radio club that you can get to that would be better and you would be able to see what other people are doing.
Andy
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Hello all,
I am a 51yr old newbie in South London and looking to start a new hobbie, so brought a baofeng uv-5r handheld. Followed a couple of youtube videos and programmed in a repeater that I got from repeaterbook manually on the radio. But I am getting literally nothing coming through on my radio. I have scanned through the preset channels that are already programmed in but still getting nothing. Can someone kindly help me please?