Ham Radio Help Desk » HT

Ham Question: Yeasu Manual wanted for c508a

kx4o — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 21:12:36 +0000

Bob asks…

“I am looking for a Yaesu Manual …..model # c508a its small hand held. any ideas … thanks”

Can anyone help Bob out?

Ham Saves Self with HT While Hunting

kx4o — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:09:22 +0000

Early one November morning an amateur radio operator was patiently waiting for morning to break in his tree stand in Rappahannock County, Virginia to get in another chance at a deer. Then tragedy. The tree stand broke sending him down to the ground and, we are not sure how, onto a board with nails leaving him near motionless with six nails in his back.

About 6am a call for help came in on the Warrenton, VA repeater… quite likely out of range from Rappahannock County using an HT. However, the victim managed to hail help from listeners on the repeater including folks named Randy, Frank and Tom. Authorities were called by the Warrenton operators who then talked with the hunter to encourage him while he drifted in and out of lucidity. Before sunrise, help arrived to the hunter who drew the attention of the rescuers to his location by swinging a flashlight beam through the trees.

A quick visit to a hospital addressed his wounds and he is already out and recuperating at home.

Great news…

There just one question though… How did the hunter use a small low power HT to access a repeater several counties away?

It turns out the hunter has a 2M/440 FM transceiver in his truck which can be set as a cross band repeater. This is exactly how he had it set up this particular morning while he carried a 440 FM HT with him. The mobile radio was tuned to the Warrenton 2 meter repeater.

So, the hunter relayed his signal from his HT to his truck and, in turn, to the repeater and finally to the hams listening during their morning commute.

Sure a cell phone would provide the same results, but there is a real chance they don’t work in the back roads of Rappahannock County and this was the case for Steve. Plus the cell phone would not allow the vocal support from a variety of concerned friends listening in on a party line.

So Steve relied on his amateur radio equipment to keep him “connected” to the world. Good thing he did. Here is the pathway Steve’s call for help took to bring the first responders to his side…

Entire communications path for ham requesting ambulance.

Steve’s equipment includes:

Yaesu VX6R hand held transceiver
Kenwood TM-708A mobile transceiver in cross repeat mode

This is an excellent example of how a hunter prepared for the worst using the best capabilities our amateur radio gear can provide. Thankfully, the morning commuters knew just what to do and helped keep up the spirits of the hunter.

This is real EmComm…
…and it didn’t even require a uniform.

Long HT Antennas May Harm HT Radios

kx4o — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:33:22 +0000

If you are like many recently licensed Amateur Radio operators your first purchase may well be a good Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu or other brand Handy-Talkie or HT two way radio. These are most frequently for the 2 meter and 70 centi-meter bands (144 and 440 MHz).

The antenna that comes with your radio is probably about 8 inches long and is a compromise between convenient length and performance.

After market antennas are available and just a quick turn away from installation to your radio’s BNC or SMA antenna jack. Some are very short and provide the worst performance. Some are quite long and provide some amount of gain.

Problems may arise if you use a long antenna on a radio that is mechanically design to handle the stock and antenna.

I have an Icom Z1A HT that is broken at the moment because I used one of those 18 inch or so antennas on it. The strain of that extra length loosened the antenna jack’s grip on the case and eventually caused the conductor between the antenna center pin and the HT circuit board to break.

I still have the radio in pieces, but cannot quite find an easy way to access the point where re-soldering is needed.

If I had it to do all over again, I would not put that long whip on a consumer grade radio like we have for our ham radio hobby. To be honest, I think the performance of the stock antenna was just as good or better on 2 meters.

The moral of the story is to think through the mechanical realities of putting an after market accessory on your expensive radio gear. If you do, you may well decide that what you have is good enough.