Passed my Technician exam last week

[madlabs]

Jeff, with the UV5R you need to set three things:

Menu 13 - T-CTCS = set to local repeater tone
Menu 25 - SFT-D = Set to + or - offset, depending on repeater frequency.
Menu 26 - Offset = Set to .600 for 2 meters.

When you key up, the display should show the correct input frequency.

I have the same NA771 antenna. Works pretty well but boy does it make the radio top heavy.

For a QTH 2 meter antenna, do the JPOLE if you want to build and save some bucks. A Diamond X50 is good for $100. Get your general class ticket and it sounds like you have the room for a dipole. Can't beat the old dipole for cost and performance and ease of installation.

Have fun making contacts!

[jr_tech]

This is the programming guide that I used when I got started with the UV5R makes more sense to me than the instructions in the manual.

http://www.hamuniverse.com/w7dtguv5rprogramming.html

jr

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by madlabs

Jeff, with the UV5R you need to set three things:

Menu 13 - T-CTCS = set to local repeater tone
Menu 25 - SFT-D = Set to + or - offset, depending on repeater frequency.
Menu 26 - Offset = Set to .600 for 2 meters.

When you key up, the display should show the correct input frequency.

I have the same NA771 antenna. Works pretty well but boy does it make the radio top heavy.

For a QTH 2 meter antenna, do the JPOLE if you want to build and save some bucks. A Diamond X50 is good for $100. Get your general class ticket and it sounds like you have the room for a dipole. Can't beat the old dipole for cost and performance and ease of installation.

Have fun making contacts!

Thanks much for the info. I saved the entire page with the programming instructions to my hard drive for future reference. I could not, for whatever reason, copy just the text; it was either the entire web page or nothing.

I am somewhat limited as to antennas, since I live in an apartment building on the first floor. Not the best location for ham radio, I am aware, but when I moved here 17 years ago I wasn't concerned about anything other than getting settled (I had moved here from a three-bedroom house in a Cleveland suburb). That and I don't want to get into trouble with the landlord. I am on very good terms with him, and I'd like to keep it that way. Yet another reason I don't want to use outdoor antennas is the risk of lightning strikes.

BTW, I can get into a repeater about 1.5 to two miles away with no problems, using my 1.5-watt Icom IC-T22a 2m handheld rig and a 3/8-wave telescoping 2m antenna (not to mention having a fully-charged battery in the HT). I am a member of the radio club (the Lake County, Ohio Amateur Radio Association in Painesville, Ohio, 30 miles east of Cleveland) which owns and operates that repeater, and have been since 1987, which reminds me. I haven't checked in to their weekly 2m net for the longest time; I probably should do so this Thursday (the net meets every Thursday evening at seven p.m., except the first week of each month).

I have had a General class amateur license since 1985. Upgraded from Technician class, which I held from 1975-85, and began my ham career in 1972 with Novice license WN8NHV.

73,