Radio Camp Part 1

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Congrats on general Dave!!

[@jacobcastro1885]

Yay! Congratulations Dave. Awesome.

[@michaelwoolums-music6650]

I miss the days of when radios were king… the best rig I had was a Big Stick strapped to the chimney of my old Pennsylvania home growing up, a converted Ranger 2950 using a Silver Eagle desk mic and 600 watts pushing me out. If the conditions were right, I could go 1000+ miles on a Skip. I’ve been a huge fan of your channel for years and thank you for all you do. Blessings to you and your family.

[@adamhinds8352]

Im a simple man, i see Dave upload , i watch

[@bothompson4911]

Dave, man you seem to be living the dream, an more importantly living it happy, I know no matter we all face our own hurdles. I thank you for sharing a little of your life with us. Peace upon you, an as always keep your powder dry, an your round aplenty!

[@bayoutrapper]

Thanks Dave, I've been watching your videos for about 6 years, and learned so much from you. I've been talking on CB for years on and off but am now studying for my tech class ham license, then general. Watching you learn helps me too. Thank you again, and God bless you and yours.

[@NickPixelTV]

Good to see new people getting into ham. The yaesu 857d is a great portable for consideration. 73’s

[@SALTYCOMBATDIVER-ExInstructor]

Agreed, definitely a great radio. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued. I have all Yeasu radios and as I look for a radio for my Jeep Gladiator I was disappointed that I couldn't get either Yaesu radio I have in my JKU.

[@HammockRadio]

Dave, you will want to have the coil on top of the extensions, not the other way around. You want the coil higher up (for elevation of radiation) and the whip directly connected to the coil. Putting the extensions in between the coil and whip will make your antenna electrically longer that it needs to be, if you're going by the chart that is. The BuddiPole was my first antenna too, so I've gotten lots of milage on it, and aquired tons of accessories for it. Welcome to Ham Radio though! I'm in Ohio too, I'd love to meet up and play radio some time and help you out!

[@DavidCanterbury]

That’s greAt info thank much

[@DavidCanterbury]

That would be awesome man

[@HammockRadio]

@@DavidCanterbury Yeah! Just let me know when you have some time and we can meet up and trade knowledge! I'm always up to hammock camp and play radio.

[@halledwardb]

Congrads. Cool! My 13yr daughter just got her technician. It's a worthwhile achievement. Hope to talk to you on the air someday!

[@murlock666]

Hi Dave I think you should look into End Fed Half Wave antennnas. They are much simpler and you can make them yourself out of anything. I've seen people use wire fences and a tuner in a pinch. You could easily have an attachment point on the corner of your vehicle and a single pole to hold the far end. Keep up the good work.

[@lancechristy2595]

Love the new direction of your channel

[@Qwiv]

Congrats on General! It brings the game up to 11. Have the same equipment plus a 705. Get yourself an end fed 1/2 wave and you are ready to rock.

[@garyeastman598]

End fed half wave cut for 80M and work the world.

[@Screamingtut]

Dave, Congrats on General I hope you got your Extra by now since you have done this video? maybe I'll catch you on 20M de Krisy - N6KV. That green wire you call a radial is called a Counterpoise. I use a 4' plastic electric fence post for the counterpoise

[@KM4ACK]

Been a fan for years. Good to see you getting into ham radio. 👍

[@snaponjohn100]

Dave. That is so cool that you got your Amateur Radio license. I am in southern Missouri and I decided once they dropped the code requirement, to get my license. Mine from 1976 had expired without ever being used. I sat in on a general class and I bought books for extra and took the test for all of it and got my extra. Having an extra is nice. however almost everybody is talking on the general bands, so it hasn’t gained me much. Lol maybe a little pride. Once again, congratulations my friend. I think you’ll have a blast working with your radios. I’m still having issues with my antenna, so I am not on the air right now. I have to get a better mast and put an antenna tuner right at the antenna instead of inside my house. I will look forward to a QSO sometime. I will send you one of my QSL cards. God bless you. John

[@graymadden8707]

Ham radio is a great skill to have to allow communication when nothing else works. I like your setup. I’ll have to check out that antenna. I think you meant to say HF. The bands and frequencies that allow you to go distance are HF. Technician allows you access to VHF and UHF. General unlocks HF…. 73s KN4PYU

[@kcarmical]

Yeah, I didn’t want to be “that guy” but you’re right.

[@graymadden8707]

@@kcarmical I didn’t either, but I love Dave and he asked for feedback, so….

[@JJ-JOHNSON]

Yep.

[@horsetrainingresources]

Congrats on passing your General ticket! I think you meant getting on the HF bands, not the UHF bands?

[@terryqueen3233]

Not too bad at all. That radio can come in handy in an emergency. Dang Dave that beards almost as white as mine. I'm looking forward to part 2. Have a great day stay safe and keep your powder dry!

[@SALTYCOMBATDIVER-ExInstructor]

Both of you have nothing on mine. The radio and antenna are great for more than just emergency use.

[@debrown4093]

Hi David Welcome to the Wonderful World of HAM. It is alway great to get your first QSO soon yoh will have many more. One of the most important pieces of equipment yoh can have is an antenna analyzer it will help you adjust you antenna. The second is an antenna tuner for time your SWR is to high for the radio, it will help to protect your radio. Have fun, hope to hear on the air soon. Doug de AG7KU

[@amateursandairwaves]

Great video Dave. Been a fan of your work for years and it’s awesome to see you jumping feet first into ham radio!

[@marvegner2272]

Hi David your video is explained nicely and you are well spoken . N8ryb here. I have done a lot of HF work 95% of it mobile when I was hauling automobiles around the eastern half of the country. The bigger the net the more butterflies you will catch. Same thing with the antennas. UHFVHF height makes all the difference. Similarly on HF The larger the antenna the better. So mobile or portable we are already working at a bit of disadvantage because of the smaller size of antennas. But there are ways to help overcome some of this size problem. Height again is important but also a better ground plane. If you for instance had several ground radials cut to the desired band length laid out or stretched out under the vertical buddy you might see some better performance. I am pretty sure you’re going to get some interesting comments. I’ve had a lot of experience with this kind of thing in mobile application But I won’t blab on too much here about it. Signal loss due to not having sufficient grounding is our biggest enemy when concerned with theportable or mobile. I also have a buddy pole & HF rig w antenna trimmer built in. I have purchased it from a friend that just really didn’t want it anymore and I have yet to set it up and try it. So maybe I can learn something from you! 40 & 75 were my favorite bands . Both of these covered the area that I trucked in quite well .. I spent a lot of time on East cars and mid cars on 40 and then in the afternoon late or early evening I jumped on 75 meters . Met a lot of good people out there. 73

[@gearlist]

Awesome work Dave, looking forward to watching Pt.2!

[@jamesdarrow1415]

Pretty cool setup Dave. The station that you were trying to work was part of the Route 66 On The Air special event. The event had a total of 19 stations along or very near old Route 66. If you worked all 19 you could get a certificate. From what I could hear all of the stations were pretty busy. I managed to work only 3 of them. I managed to work Ground Zero on 911 it took awhile to make it with all of the stations trying. Hope to talk to you on the air someday!!

[@StuartM0TTQAmateurRadio]

Been following your channel for a long time Dave, great to see you get involved in ham radio and be making such great progress

[@TheQwik512]

You might try a DIY 20 meter dipole. Made one from speaker wire and it’s less noisy and better overall RX/TX than the commercially available snake oil antennas.

[@babaluis]

When it comes to mobile HF, the coil efficiency is very important, especially on the lower frequencies like 40 and 80 meters. More efficiency means larger diameter coil, bigger wire gauge, and more space between each turn.

[@dennismiller6935]

Great little rig, congratulations on your general and welcome to ham radio.

[@luisreynoso1906]

Im going to start to study. Great for emergency preparedness.

[@donniedickson9353]

Dave, I love the stuff you put on youtube...this is another great series of videos. Thank You.

[@gm743633]

Green wire is the counterpoise and can also be the coax shield too. Great video I am a general license too.

[@randalltom9750]

QRP in the field is by far the most challenging and rewarding aspect of ham radio for me…. I’ve sold my other radios…. I own an Elecraft KX2, and two CW only MTR3b…. Nothing beats a well situated wire antenna… an End-Fed half-wave for 10-20-40m… The trail friendly LNR precision, or a 9:1 Unun with a random wire (35’) is easiest to deploy… I follow Gil, the Radio Prepper… he’s very minimalistic in his operations… but my experience validates his SHTF practices…. 72! Hope to hear you down the log… de W7UDT Rand. PS. I loved the IC-7200… I’d by another…. The Buddipole is a great antenna… I prefer an end-fed… and a 10m spiderbeam mast, leaned against a tree, or stuck in a drive-on base…

[@ammocraft]

Congrats on your General. One more to go! BTW, a cheap analyser in your travel kit makes tuning antennas like these a breeze, as even radial placement can impact tune depending on other factors. I keep my spare NanoVNA in my bag for the Wolf River coil and for troubleshooting.

[@richardpalmer4471]

A tuned antenna is what you want. I highly recommend all Buddipole products. There isn't any better for the field. I have sandwich bags to cover the coils if there is heavy rain (which could short a coil) and communications are required. I have gotten great insight from you in the past. I hope you find this helpful.

[@ssbfmcw]

Congratulations on your general class license. Ham radio is a great addition to outdoor activity, look into SOTA and POTA adventures.

[@radscientist]

Nice! That antenna seems to be really well thought out and falls in with the Canterbury Creed - one antenna, multiple bands.

[@jeffallen6459]

Great video dave. Keep in mind just because you can hear them doesn’t mean they can hear you if they are inside your skip zone. This is common on the higher bands.

[@jenniferlong9012]

Hi Dave, you should look at the Chameleon MPAS 2.0, as for field power look into the Bioenno batteries, or build your own battery box from a plastic 50 cal ammo can., for solar powerfilm foldable panels. The MPAS is a much simpler set up, military grade. 73, KD2WRM

[@P_RO_]

I had the first gen Chameleon- a good 'skyhook' for what it did. Lost it to a tree in a storm.

[@tom-ehill2713]

A nice set up indeed. No rough'n it here! Ive got the ingredients for Pathfinder java now😎 73 and Ham on-✌

[@resilientfarmsanddesignstu1702]

Just found your channel. Great stuff and no BS!

[@reggiehodges6784]

Congratulations Dave on your General !

[@foggymountainoutdoors9638]

It’s cool watching you evolve. Never knew much about radios

[@mlewis4919]

Hi from Australia. Found your video very informative, educational, inspiring. Am now thinking this would be an interesting thing to try out myself. Thank you David.

[@jimmycarter2492]

Dave 2 way radio can be a lot of fun at times , it's a better way to communicate than a cell phone, as a retired truck driver saved my butt a few times, have a great time, have a hard time speaking now due to a genetic disease , or I'd be trying to catch a skip and talk to you, your a wealth of knowledge, keep up the great work Center Line out.🇺🇸🇺🇲🇺🇸

[@stevenwilson3368]

Great job on getting your General.

[@thebear6751]

So glad you got into radio it’s a valuable tool

[@erikmckaygunsmithing6470]

Cool im also a ham operator, first mos was 31c and 31k in the signal corp before going into infantry and then reconnaissance. While in recon id help our rto get comms when he had proplems. I end up making antennas for every recon team in our battalion. I didnt use a coil my elements were adjustable for lenght per freq. Deployable in less than 5 min run em up a treee done

[@williamwhittom2973]

Congrats on getting general I to have the 7200 it's a great radio de N4VDJ

[@dartagnantaft5918]

Both my grandfather and father are hams. I'm thinking about getting mine. This was a very interesting video. Thank you for your time.

[@jmatonis]

Good job Dave! Hope to hear you on the air.

[@heathwhittle4514]

Congratulations! So excited for you! Ham radio is definitely a skill every prepper should have! Great simple video! 73, Heath N4TWT

[@akivaliaho5166]

Great to have you onboard the hobby! //OH2CFA, 73

[@hook2364]

Great work on the video and making your first QSO - 73. See you at the Basic course in November

[@timothysampson4944]

20m is my favorite band - Congrats on the General ticket. Great to see your a ham as well!

[@darylsarbaugh3491]

Reminds me of my LRS days in the mid 90s. We humped in 3 radios FM for ground to air and between radio and scout elements of the team, sat com, and AM. AM was our primary since you can send around the world with the correct dipole, V, or inverted V with the correct leg lengths. Very similar to your antennae. Ours was a little more portable and required 2 pieces of 550 with a weight to hoist up the ends or center of the dipole in the jungle. All together with radio, antennae, and coax about 35lbs plus extra batteries. We didn't use voice, we did bursts of text trough a KYK57 I think. The original text messaging.

[@jchd2004]

Congrats Dave on your General glad to see you out and doing radio that is my favorite way to DX. Great looking setup. Take a look at the super antenna setup similar to what you have but will do it all even 2m 70cm it works great. KX4XT

[@woolmanoutdoors6225]

Dave if you're interested in a portable multi band antenna a wire windom antenna will get you on to most bands. Just toss a rope into two tree's, hoist the antenna up and there you go. A full size windom will get you 160-80-40-20-10M Packs light. There are shorter versions I use for 40 and 20M. DIY= a 44ft length of wire, a 22ft length of wire, connect both to a 4 to 1 balun, connect your coax and you're off to the races. All for less than $20. Congrats on your ticket, welcome to the hobby. Hope to meet on the air.

[@garyeastman598]

IC-7200 is my go to 100 watt field radio. Fits great inside a Harris Falcon II radio backpack. You're learning fast Dave. 73, K4RRK

[@DavidCanterbury]

Have a Harris Pack for mine actually 😉

[@mrwdpkr5851]

I like that antenna rig .

[@Aduhwan]

Dave: Congratulations on getting your General ticket! Both of your IC-7200 and IC-705 radios operate on the HF (High Frequency) Bands. The UHF (Ultra High Frequency) Band is further up the radio spectrum from HF. 73.

[@PabloP169]

Keep at it Dave it can get you in that is for sure. I have never got my ham licence but worked in the radio industry maintaining transmitting gear for most of my working life. I guess that working on it day to day turned me off doing ham after working hours.

[@N4TNA]

Awesome congrats on your first HF contact. The guy who had our radios wasn't using the stock handmic. So you might want to make sure your mic gain is set properly. Refer to the manual and set the mic gain according to recommended settings. This might be why you were having problems being heard.

[@ArkJohn]

Congrats on getting General. Happy Birthday!!! We share the same day..... you've just got a couple years experience!! KE5NAR 73!!!

[@phillully4472]

Best wishes David on your radio endeavors!

[@lukewebb96]

I used to play cb radio had a blast,,,Had a northstar 9500 with a thunderbolt 125 talk all over the place

[@andyontheair7827]

Awesome! Had a buddistick that worked pretty well! Add a few more tuned radials and it will work a little better. Hope to hear you on the air! N4LAZ

[@P_RO_]

Ham radio is easy, can be relatively cheap, and licensing isn't hard anymore. I've used several portable HF antennas but now I just string up a dipole cut for 80 and take off. Mine is 62ft of lamp cord, split and direct center fed with plastic end insulators. Hang however possible, doesn't need to be straight or level, plenty of trees to help here in the east. Might not do so well on 15M. A slingshot with a cheap spinning reel attached and many assorted old nuts from the junkbox gets a line up, which gets some 550 up, which gets the dipole up. Lots of those nuts/weights- you're going to lose lots of them. It's about as fast as portable antennas, if cut right doesn't induce a lot of SWR, and can handle any reasonable power level fed into it. Plus it works better overall than any store-bought portable antenna does. Can be purpose-used for NVIS if arranged properly. And if you get bored with radio you're set up for slingshot&lure fishing. Also I never go far from civilization without an HT; from a mountaintop you'll get someone and usually lots of people and repeaters. I used a 200mW Rat-Shack 2M pocket rig with it's supplied 2 1/2" antenna to work a mobile station 125 miles away through clear airspace once. Line-of-sight and no obstructions is the key at VHF and up. Ham radio is the best thing to combine utility and pleasure I've ever found. 22nd year in the game, General w/CW here. 73 from 4-land!

[@mrcommonsense1529]

Congratulations Dave, I have always loved the way you teach from the TV days..some advise try a wolf river coil antenna, very adjustable for multi bands and better range for portable operations. Hope to see ya on the HF bands now that you got your general. 73 my friend K4MIQ

[@lancewillard]

Your counterpoise can be used to radiate your signal in specific directions. Typically, pointing the counterpoise in a North or South direction will radiate and open your signal up to the East and West Coasts (and DX to Europe and Asia), and pointing East or West will open up Canada and South America QSOs.

[@DavidCanterbury]

That’s good information

[@alexandermatthews145]

It looks like Dave traded in his long hair for a long beard. Lol I miss U on TV but I'm glad I found U on here keep up the good work Dave ! ! 👍👍

[@mike333h]

Congrats on general! Technician here, have still yet to make a contact on my limited equip. 73’s W4MAH

[@timnicely1579]

Congrats on the General AC8VQ, down in Lawrence County Ohio Southern Ohio Amateur Radio Association (SOARA) we meet @ FatAsh Cigar Lounge a few weeks ago.

[@millcreekbushcraftsurvival2074]

You’ve been on here long enough to know not to pay any attention to the naysayers, Dave. Self reliance is just that. The more tools you acquire - the more you have available to rely on in times of trouble. Knowledge and broadening your skill set should be priorities for all of us. Considering that for less than $100 you can get your amateur license…and an amateur HT its really a no brainer. My Baofeng goes with me every time I go out bushcrafting. Nice setup BTW! 73s KC4EVR

[@jamesvickery308]

Look at Chameleon Antennas EMCOMM-III portable antenna when you get your IC-705. I have used one with my FT-818 and LDG tuner for 10 meters on QRP.

[@DavidCanterbury]

You will see one in Parts 2 and 3

[@erica-bl7pf]

I have a chameleon emcom II and the emcomms are awesome antenna systems. I've been able to get dx stations at 100 watts.

[@staticinteger]

Congrats on General! I’m also a General and it’s so cool to see you get into Ham Radio! Welcome to the community! Let me know if you have any questions :)

[@mapintil]

Congrats on your accomplishment. My two cents, if you want to work across HF without fiddling with the antenna get an EndFed antenna for field work. Also, figure out what operation ( QRP or full power) you want to run before you buy any more radios. Don't ask me how I know:-) Your 7200 is perfect for field work unless you want to go QRP. 73's

[@jackharness8061]

Dave, you metal detect, love the outdoors, and now you're ham operator! 😎 We think similar. With portable operation, try to get an antenna as high in the air you can. Use a slingshot to heave rocks over the tops of trees to get the ends of your dipole up in the air. A G5RV is a nice multi-band dipole 😁 You will enjoy Field Day! 73 de N8EYF

[@thestig007]

Love the radio videos, keep em coming!

[@najruqwi7008]

GREAT video! I learned a lot. Thanks for sharing this with us 👍

[@eren_1oglu]

Nice entertaining video, 73!

[@canacka1]

Pretty sure you meant HF bands and not UHF. Keep up the great work, enjoy your content! -W8MU

[@mattfoley599]

That buddipole works the best on eBay sell it or it will add to your frustration a long wire can’t be beat for portable ops. When you get your 705 a great rig it’s my main rig at my qth you will get almost zero contacts on 10 watts. I have 110 countries on a long wire and 5watts cw and 10WATTS SSB

[@colt10mmsecurity68]

KE8SPS. Congrats Dave!

[@scottodonahoe9505]

2 feet off the ground is the reason you probably can't reach out and touch some one . Go high . Also research long wire antennas and how to set them up . I use one every time I go camping . Great job on the General . N9RWJ 73 ..

[@clivewilkinson5394]

Dave, Welcome to Ham Radion. Best 73's.

[@Stevenfclark]

Congratulations on the General Dave! 73 de N1AD

[@feartheduck6664]

Coil up higher Dave! The higher you can erect the antenna the better! I went Yaesu with FTDX10 for HF. For field work I use a very reasonable priced DX Commander antenna from the UK. An excellent multibander for a vertical and easy to put up and pull down after some practice. Icom are very good too. 73s.

[@DavidCanterbury]

This is HF I just misspoke so not line sight thought

[@feartheduck6664]

@@DavidCanterbury Yes! I realised after I posted. Edited!

[@kylefreemason]

Center load that coil to change Q and your take off angle will be more productive for dx.

[@space_lab]

those compact multi-band antennas are great for receiving but dont really get out. just carry some ladder line or speaker wire, a PL259 connector and and measuring tape to cut the antenna to exact length for the band you want to chew and get to the highest ground you can see around you. sling it over a tree and hoist it at least 30-50 feet. use an swr and check to see how much of that 100w is being reflected back. use a balun.

[@medicbear]

great information, outstanding work, and congradulations on the upgrade. 73's from the west Texas badlands. KB5RRW bear

[@michaelbowdler8464]

Congrats on your General! Long time follower and exciting for you joining the hobby! If you don’t have an antenna analyzer yet, check out the RigExpert Stick 230-stupid simple, compact and rechargeable. 73! N3MTB

[@snovak89]

Love that you're going down a rabbit hole. Worry that in doing so, you will lose people who follow you for "common man"-simple outdoors-advice.

[@stevederjones7340]

Dave looks as if you are getting to radio pretty heavy . 😁😬 Me too it all started with a 5watt GMRS HT. I’m still learning

[@lilbitofeverythingz]

Nano vna antenna anilyzer is a good one

[@wj4ckhamradio341]

I have the Icom 7200 as well. Good solid radio.

[@whitepunch1392]

Been studying for my Technician. Hopefully soon .

[@JReed305]

If you are looking for a truly back pack friendly antenna it's hard to beat an End Fed Half Wave.

[@DavidCanterbury]

I have a couple love them

[@wild-radio7373]

Radio!!♡♡♡ nice. great to hear from you :)

[@rickmckee6698]

The wire bypasses the turns not used, so you are using the 13 turns on 20 meters.

[@dustinperry7146]

Congrats on the ticket upgrade , KM4UBG.

[@donniejobe5662]

Dave … a little off subject here but is your video on survival straws still available? Please advise.

[@jenniferbauman4802]

I have a tenway hand held raido. It's frustrating trying to figure out how to use it. I guess I need someone to help me understand what is what. Great video good job well done. Keep the raido videos going. From Glenn CATT in Massachusetts.