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Author Topic: 2M SSB  (Read 10909 times)

Matt285

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2M SSB
« on: May 20, 2019, 1834 UTC »
Anyone here on the site work 2M SSB or CW? If you do or have please post comments. Thanks

Offline ThaDood

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2019, 1914 UTC »
I did heavily in the mid-1990's. At a hamfest, I bought a 2nd hand TS-711A 2M multi-mode rig and a modified 140W Mirage 2M repeater amp, (Modified with T/R switching and SSB delay.), then bought a Hamtronics 2M +18dB 2M RX amp. For a beam, I built my own 5 element copper and PCV beam, matched at 144.200MHz. That set-up talked all over the Northeast USA and Ontario and Quebec, Canada. I could talk anytime to the NE states and NJ from WNY. Weekly weekend mornings, there was a group up in the Canadian St Lawrence Seaway, so I shot my beam up there and had some neat QSO's. I'm trying to get back into 2M SSB again. For now, I have a TS-2000X to a homebrew 2M Delta Loop. About the only time that I hear anything around 144.200MHz is during contest times, like the January, June, and September ARRL VHF Contests and ARRL Field Days. I've had local 2M SSB QSO try-outs, but few here are set-up for 2M SSB / CW antenna-wise. Anyway, I want to do it again as well as 432.100MHz SSB again. It was fun and worked distances when HF F2 and Sporadic "E" would be dead. A decent 2M SSB station could reliably work +300 miles anytime. Open some Tropo enhancement, and the sky's the limit, literally.
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Matt285

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2019, 2237 UTC »
Thanks for your reply. I am thinking about selling my current rig to buy an Icom-7000. I know 2M weak signal work is not that common, but I wouldn't mind eventually having a small/med size Yagi set up horizontally for 2M. I used to work a fair amount of  6 meters with my Yaesu FT-817 and occasionally I would hear some 2M SSB/CW activity. I also know that the guys that are big into it run a fair amount of power, use preamps and run very low loss hardline to large arrays. It would be an expensive investment and im not sure if it would be worth it. I suppose I could try dabbling in it with a modest set up and see what I think.

Offline Josh

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2019, 1919 UTC »
I doubt there's much activity in 2m ssb anymore but you can always try and see. I had a Ic210 or whatever it was in the 90s and with a Cushcraft 2m beam could talk within a few hundred miles when there was no tropo ongoing, when tropo was going it was amazing.

A IC7000 is a worthy rig, they used a lot of tech from the IC7800 program to devise it. One could consider the IC7000 to be a mini IC7800. The IC718 is a worthy rig too, but the IC7000 offers so much more versatility. No filters to buy, amazing dsp filtering you can just dial in, etc etc.
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Matt285

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2019, 1117 UTC »
Yeah. I love the simplicity and feel of my 718. However I need a cw filter and by the time I pay for that I would have put enough money into it that I could have purchased a number of rigs that already have filtering and 6M capability. At least HF rigs have come down in price finally.

Offline Josh

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2019, 1859 UTC »
Even new 7300s are going for insane prices. Reason mention is made is the hf performance of the 7300 is far superior to a lot of rigs, 7000 included. The 7300 does not do 2m however. This low cost in the new and used market for the 7300 crashed the used market for the pro series as well as pretty much everything else, but my current pro was gotten for a song so that turned out ok. Case in point, saw a 756pro in great shape for 550 delivered the other day. 550 is down around the "if it works and looks good it's at least worth 500" zone in the used hf rig market. If I didn't want/need 2m and 70cm in one box with hf thrown in, I'd head straight for a 7300. Oddly, 7000s seem to be holding steady in the used market. Also, read the eham reviews for the 7000 and pay attention to the ones with low scores, the same issues come up frequently.
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Offline ThaDood

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2019, 0344 UTC »
Anyone into a 2M SSB revival? I've just read, and even posted, about the weirdness on the posts about 75M crazies. Thus far, (Knock-knock, on this wooden table.), everyone that I've worked and QSO'ed with up there has been fantastic. Let's keep it that way! Oh, and no lightning crashes, until they are under 100 miles from ya. That in itself is keeping me off the lower HF bands now, lightning crashes.
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Offline Josh

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2019, 0517 UTC »
I think the norm is about 150 miles for 10w ssb into a beam, sometimes 300 miles depending on power out, elevation, etc. Then there's the aurora and meteor scatter that come into play at 6m and up. I tuned in some aurora (ssb and cw), wich is really weird sounding, but with only 10w couldn't play.
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Offline i_hear_you

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2019, 1302 UTC »
Anyone into a 2M SSB revival?

I'm taking down a neighbor's old VHF/UHF TV yagi and plan to use the material to build a 144.2 VHF yagi this summer.  I'm also about two beers and a smart phone surfing session away from purchasing the ft-857d that I've lusted after for years.  I'm interested in some weak-signal VHF work.

Is 50w enough for acceptable 2m SSB? Is the ft-857d good enough on RX to try?

Offline ThaDood

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2019, 1840 UTC »
I had an FT-857D multiband rig, and had fun using it for ARRL VHF Contests as a rover station with it. Why I got rid of it was it was a terrible AM QSO'er on TX. The Kenwoods, and even Icoms, kick its butt there. Anyway, I find the RX in the FT-857D not the best, and you will want a +20dB RX preamp with it, especially for 2M SSB, and you'll really want one for 432MHz SSB work, if ya ever do that. 50W 2M SSB is doable, with a decent beam out in the clear, and especially above trees and houses. 20W on 432MHz is challenging, but still doable on that rig, especially hill topping it or by a lake shore. The 1st thing that you want to try, when ya get it all set-up for 2M SSB / CW, is to see how many 2M beacons you can RX from 144.275MHz - 144.300MHz, then find out how far they are. When ya get Temp Inversions and Tropo enhancement, 2M SSB and 432MHz really can come alive with nice distances with just 10W, or less. I did a great QSO with just 4W 440FM back in that super band opening in September 2004, WNY to London, ON, Canada for hours. Oh... I remember a SK'ed friend of mine QSO'ed daily on 2M SSB with just 10W, 10 element beam from Penn Yan, NY to NJ, back in the 1990's. Hope this somewhat helps. 
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Offline i_hear_you

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2019, 1853 UTC »
What I'm hearing is that the ft-857d is _not_ the rig for this kind of stuff!


Offline MDK2

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #11 on: June 20, 2019, 1449 UTC »
The Icom IC-7100 covers all the ranges that the FT-857D does (160-6m + 2m and 70cm). It has a notorious issue where it won't output 100 W SSB when set to 100 W output. There's a mod for that, though.
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eQSLs appreciated wickerjennie at gmail

Offline ThaDood

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Re: 2M SSB, made it to "E's"!!!!
« Reply #12 on: July 21, 2019, 0608 UTC »
WOW!!!! Sporadic "E" was so intense, that a friend of mine DX'ed a 93.7FM from North Dakota! So, I checked 10M, 6M, and then 144.200MHz USB. Heard a bunch of super quick, partial "0" calls from 19:00 - 19:40UTC. Almost like meteor scatter quick. 6M and 10M stayed open into the evening, when I had to shut down for work.
I was asked, yet another weird question, of how I would like to be buried, when I finally bite the big one. The answer was actually pretty easy. Face-down, like a certain historical figure in the late 1980's, (I will not mention who, but some of you will get it, and that's enough.) Why??? It would be a burial that will satisfy everyone: (1) My enemies will say that it will show me where to go. (2) On the same point, I can have my enemies kiss my butt. (3) It will temporarily give someone a place to park a bicycle. See??? A WIN / WIN for everyone.

Offline WA4FHY

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #13 on: July 21, 2019, 1828 UTC »
"Hey, Dood",
There's some kind of V/UHF contest on this weekend and that
always seems to bring people out of the woodwork. Unfortunately,
some ops believe that contest mode means all knobs to the right! :(

Six has been open most of the weekend here; including a lot of SSB and
even some CW. I checked ~144.200 yesterday and heard some sigs
but I have some wide RFI ~144.198 and that plays havoc up to almost 144.210
so didn't make out much in the way of calls.
SDR-IQ / IC-R70 / IC-735 / FT-817ND / FT-991A, RSPduo,5 band vertical
Near Music City, TN

Offline Josh

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Re: 2M SSB
« Reply #14 on: July 21, 2019, 1901 UTC »
Also don't forget to try aurora mode. Pretty much have to be in the northern half of the US to use it if stateside but it can be a neat mode.

https://www.amateur-radio-wiki.net/index.php?title=Aurora
https://www.qsl.net/ve6bpr/page4.htm
https://www.qsl.net/ve6bpr/aursnd.htm
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