I got my technician license in Feb this year and my general in March. I have been unable to get on the air and actually transmit. Local clubs (I belong to three) have not been any real help. Many promises, little action.I am tired of listening only on everything lower than 2 meters, my two meter rig does work well. Other than eBay are there any other sites to sell nearly new HF equipment?KN4KGF

georgelesley wrote:I got my technician license in Feb this year and my general in March. I have been unable to get on the air and actually transmit. Local clubs (I belong to three) have not been any real help. Many promises, little action.I am tired of listening only on everything lower than 2 meters, my two meter rig does work well. Other than eBay are there any other sites to sell nearly new HF equipment?KN4KGFbunches of them.- QRZ.COM- eham.net- QTH Swap Meet- Radio Reference (mostly scanners)- ARRL Classifieds- or this google searchgood luck and congrats on earning your ticket.

First your clubs should be able to point you to swap meets in your area. Ask them if they don't know then drop 'em.Second google Ham Nation. it is an on-line "TV" show and they too talk about some of the MAJOR hamfests. For example Dayton Ohio in may and Huntsville. Right about now (not sure if past or future in fact it's that 'Right about')Next All the ham radio stores. DX Engineering, Giga parts. HRO or is it Amateur Radio Outlet. Even some you've never heard of like the one near my insurance agent. (http://www.adamselectronics.net/home.htmlall have "used" though you may have to e=mail 'em to find the listings. QST has a "Classified" section. though it's been a while since I reviewed it and you can sometimes fine dealers there.I do not have a lot of info on Tn. but I do know there are a couple of swap meets around Atlanta GA. (I hang in Upstate SC in the wintere about an hour out of Atlanta). Also you may find info on the ARRL web site regarding swaps and clubs in your area.

rk911 wrote:georgelesley wrote:I got my technician license in Feb this year and my general in March. I have been unable to get on the air and actually transmit. Local clubs (I belong to three) have not been any real help. Many promises, little action.I am tired of listening only on everything lower than 2 meters, my two meter rig does work well. Other than eBay are there any other sites to sell nearly new HF equipment?KN4KGFbunches of them.- QRZ.COM- eham.net- QTH Swap Meet- Radio Reference (mostly scanners)- ARRL Classifieds- or this google searchgood luck and congrats on earning your ticket.Thanks for all the great links! I am sad to be quitting, I gave it a good hard try. Two months of hard study for both tests, and over $2000 spent on good new equipment, but it just has not worked out for me at this time. Time to cut my losses, recover whatever I can, and move on.Thanks again.

georgelesley wrote:I got my technician license in Feb this year and my general in March. I have been unable to get on the air and actually transmit. Local clubs (I belong to three) have not been any real help. Many promises, little action.I am tired of listening only on everything lower than 2 meters, my two meter rig does work well. Other than eBay are there any other sites to sell nearly new HF equipment?KN4KGFSad to hear your local club has not been of much help, my DW and I was very lucky to have some very wonderful "Elmers" in our local club. Sadly, they are now Silent Keys.Kind of puzzled as to why you are not able to "get on the air"??Does not take much work to setup a transmitable HF or any other band antenna..For HF, a simple long wire with the wire cut close to the band length you want to use, good ground and a basic manual antenna tuner will easily have you talking around the world on 100W..My DW and I have used a G5RV antenna with a MFJ manual tuner and with 100W landed contacts all over the world..G5RV uses two lengths of wire at about 51 ft each length, you can use pretty much any type of wire as long as it has the strength to support the weight. It is center fed with 34 ft of 450 ohm ladder line and the ladder line is connected to your 50 ohm coax (make a simple decoupling loop of several loops of the coax).The ends of the wire are then supported via rope into a tree or pipe.At one place I put up two 1" pipes about 15 ft in the air, putting pulleys at the top of each and a pipe at the center point with a pulley..Used ropes to pull the antenna to the tops of the pipe then used TV wire standoffs down the center feed pipe to hold the ladder line away from the steel pipe.HERE is a website that gives info on building your own G5RV..Or you can buy one premade, the expensive part is the 450 ohm ladder line.For 2 mtrs 1/4 wave magnet mount wip or even a handheld should get you into most any repeater local to you within 20-50 miles..When we moved into our current home, I never got around to putting the HF antenna back up.. Life kind of got into the way and eventually we sold the HF rig.. Still kept 2mtr and 440 stuff and we still use that now and then.

Selling ham radio gear | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

georgelesley
Explorer
Aug 26, 2018
rk911 wrote:
georgelesley wrote:
I got my technician license in Feb this year and my general in March. I have been unable to get on the air and actually transmit. Local clubs (I belong to three) have not been any real help. Many promises, little action.I am tired of listening only on everything lower than 2 meters, my two meter rig does work well. Other than eBay are there any other sites to sell nearly new HF equipment?

KN4KGF

bunches of them.

- QRZ.COM
- eham.net
- QTH Swap Meet
- Radio Reference (mostly scanners)
- ARRL Classifieds
- or this google search

good luck and congrats on earning your ticket.

Thanks for all the great links! I am sad to be quitting, I gave it a good hard try. Two months of hard study for both tests, and over $2000 spent on good new equipment, but it just has not worked out for me at this time. Time to cut my losses, recover whatever I can, and move on.

Thanks again.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Aug 26, 2018
First your clubs should be able to point you to swap meets in your area. Ask them if they don't know then drop 'em.

Second google Ham Nation. it is an on-line "TV" show and they too talk about some of the MAJOR hamfests. For example Dayton Ohio in may and Huntsville. Right about now (not sure if past or future in fact it's that 'Right about')

Next All the ham radio stores. DX Engineering, Giga parts. HRO or is it Amateur Radio Outlet. Even some you've never heard of like the one near my insurance agent. (http://www.adamselectronics.net/home.html
all have "used" though you may have to e=mail 'em to find the listings.

QST has a "Classified" section. though it's been a while since I reviewed it and you can sometimes fine dealers there.

I do not have a lot of info on Tn. but I do know there are a couple of swap meets around Atlanta GA. (I hang in Upstate SC in the wintere about an hour out of Atlanta).

Also you may find info on the ARRL web site regarding swaps and clubs in your area.
Mandalay_Parr
Explorer
Aug 26, 2018
Call me.
rk911
Explorer
Aug 26, 2018
georgelesley wrote:
I got my technician license in Feb this year and my general in March. I have been unable to get on the air and actually transmit. Local clubs (I belong to three) have not been any real help. Many promises, little action.I am tired of listening only on everything lower than 2 meters, my two meter rig does work well. Other than eBay are there any other sites to sell nearly new HF equipment?

KN4KGF

bunches of them.

- QRZ.COM
- eham.net
- QTH Swap Meet
- Radio Reference (mostly scanners)
- ARRL Classifieds
- or this google search

good luck and congrats on earning your ticket.

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Selling ham radio gear

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