ICOM IC-25A 2 meter mobile radio
Here's a picture of the radio I bought at the hamfest.
You can get more information about this radio at EHam.net.
I got my technician class amateur radio license in March of 2006. I don't have a lot of extra cash to throw around on yet another hobby so I set about building as much of my equipment as I can to help keep cost down. I've also found out it's a great way to learn the real nuts-and-bolts of this hobby.
At the same hamfest that I took my test, I bought an ICOM IC-25A 2 meter mobile radio. With the memory backup module, it set me back $75 which is a bit more than I might have found it on eBay but I didn't have to wait for shipping. I power it using an old computer power supply which gives more than the power needed to run this radio.
Naturally, you can't run a radio without an antenna. This build diary will document the first antennas I built (simple half-wave dipoles), how I found better designs and the final antenna that I'm using. It will also include a little antenna theory.
The information here applies to a 2 meter J-Pole antenna.
Caveat Lector! This diary only documents the process I went through to build my antenna. It makes no guarantees, implied or direct, that what it contains will be applicable to your own project. This means that if you burn out your $1400 Yaesu transceiver with a $20 antenna, it's your responsibility.
My radio
My ham shack
My setup for weather tracking and reporting
It's not so much of a ham shack but a corner of my home office that I dedicated to my radio stuff.
The computer is to help me track weather patterns. Sometimes, in an emergency, ham radio operators are the only means of communication in or out of an area.
My bulletin board has the frequencies of the repeaters I use, a map of the state so I can keep track of where my QSO's are and a list of the phonetic alphabet used internationally by ham radio operators.
I have a notebook to use as a log of all my contacts. Got quite a few callsigns in there already. I can only imagine what it will look like when I can start working world bands.
