Well, I am now in the process of planning for a little ham radio activity. A big "to-do" on my list is get a new DC power cord for my Yaesu FT-8800R, and then the fun for me begins. You see, I am and have been a supporter of crossband repeater operation from home or in any portable situation. It has its uses, especially in an emergency situation, and I intend to experiment with this.
The plan is to get the FT-8800R set up to run crossband repeat much of the time, over 50%. For a local repeater or a repeater that covers a wide swath I plan to use lower power, likely in the 5 to 10 watt range. For more distant repeaters I will likely go to higher power. Then, I will move around my neighborhood with my Icom T90A HT and see how far I can move from my apartment without losing the coverage I'm trying to get. I'm sure I'll have dead spots here and there but this is an experiment that I think is worth the effort. 2 meters and 70cm will be the bands of choice obviously, and I plan to utilize both bands often. 70cm will be the input simplex band most of the time but I do intend to use 2 meters in the same capacity on occasion. I may even crossband repeat between 2 simplex frequencies. There are a lot of possibilities here and I intend to explore them.
I have more ideas coming, including weak-signal VHF/UHF (6 meters, 2 meters, and 70cm) work from my apartment. I just need to do the research on this idea. Ham radio is definitely a hobby where you can explore and learn what you can do and what you can't, and now I have a chance to do exactly that!
More to come...
WR1TX
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