I was on a simplex net tonight on Bainbridge Island. I was explaining what equipment I have and promised to email the net members with more details.
Once I wrote it, I thought it might be nice to post here.
My 25W base station radio is the Leixen VV-898E. I don’t like it because it doesn’t work with Chirp. The lower power VV-898 works with Chirp. It frustrates me to no end that one works where the other doesn’t. It scrambles the radio programming info on the 25W. I mainly bought these so that I could recommend low-cost solutions to new hams if they worked out. Now that I know about the Chirp problem, I’d probably recommend the BTECH 25×4 mobile for a high-power solution.
My antenna is this one. I bought it to get me over the hill behind my house so that I could check into the 9 O’clock Net. It did not disappoint. I also have a Arrow Antennas OSJ 146/440 that I just bought. I haven’t tried that out yet, but have high hopes. I’m planning to use it on my bus with my 25-foot mast that I use for Field Day dipoles.
My mast is something like this. I did not pay as much as Amazon is asking. I found it in a Boise Army Navy store for a much lower price.
Daniel Gregson 