-
You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
-
The Retevis Holidays giveaway winner has been selected! Check Here to see who won!
My First Radio
- Thread starter Peter Walker
- Start date
Peter you can use your A-99 to work some HF. With a tuner it can work as far as 40 meters. You can work 10 meters SSB as a Technician class. Try Jetstream antennas. They are half the price of a Diamond a made by the same people. R&L Electronics sells them. I run Jetstreams Mobile & Base. And I've hit Salisbury, and Hagerstown, MD, and Harrisburg, PA from Baltimore on 2 meters with 50 watts. I run the JTB-4 at 20 ft. Going to get a JTB-1 and place it on my roof at about 40. One local Ham runs the JTB-2 and a 50 watt Icom. And he talks to Salisbury, and OC often. He does Fredericksburg, and Winchester, VA also.
http://www.randl.com/cgi-local/cart/cart.cgi?cart=Search&groupnumber=(1500)&nh=2
http://www.randl.com/cgi-local/cart/cart.cgi?cart=Search&groupnumber=(1500)&nh=2
Although it's a dual-band antenna (2m/70cm) you may want to take a look at the Jetstream JTB-1:
Jetstream
After a lot of review reading, inquiries on forums and talking to some locals I bought one and for the money it is (imo) a very good antenna. A lot of people told me they found it performs just as good as the more expensive Diamond X510HDM or Comet GP9. I'm in a hole (hills all around) at sea level and have no problem hitting repeaters over 50 miles away and have made simplex contacts as far away as 65 miles with 5 watts output.
Thanks everyone for the encouragement and excellent advice. I really appreciate it. I think I am going to go with the Jetstream JTB-1 as it will cover 2 meter and 70 centimeter nicely. I will be running them through a MFJ 941E and then on to my Yaesu FT 987D
Last edited:
The JTB-1 is a very good antenna. It's the same as the Diamond X-510. It's the BANG for the buck.
whoa!!! i don't think a 949e will tune VHF & UHF. only 10 - 160.
you really shouldn't need a tuner for vhf/uhf.
does the 987 have seperate vhf/uhf and hf outputs? if so run the vhf/uhf coax direct to the JTB-1,........ and the HF coax thru the tuner.
ok,..... i still don't think a 949e will tune VHF & UHF. only 10 - 160.
if you HAVE to run vhf/uhf thru the tuner,..... make sure the rotary knob is in the "UNTUNED" BY-PASS position
.
I'm a newly return Ham I had my license but it lapsed in 2004, I was a Tech. I decided after the death of my Wife to get back into the Hobby, going back to get my Tech and General License. I've been putting together my Shack, and I stuck with Yaesu, Bought a FT950 for 10-160, bought a FT-7900r Mobile for 2m and 440, and a FT-2900r for my Car for 2m. And Finally for a HT picked up the Yaesu VX-8Dr and the GPA add ons. I'm in the process of assembling my shack.
That tuner also only covers 160m-10m-not VHF or UHF.
I can honestly see no reason whatsoever you should ever need an antenna tuner for V/UHF. The antennas are wideband enough to cover the entire band with the exception of some really high gain long boom yagis meant for the low end of the band for SSB DXing which won't cover the high end for repeater FM work.
I agree - there's no need to use a tuner for 2m/70cm operation. The 897 has a dedicated 2m/70cm antenna jack (see page 18 of your manual, #8 in illustration) so you can plug the JTB-1 directly into that. I work FM and SSB on 2m and FM on 70cm with my JTB-1 and have an SWR of 1.3:1 or less without a tuner. You should see similar results.
