Playing radio today with my portable tripod (an all-aluminum stand usually used for scene lighting on emergency vehicles). My Comet GP-3 (VHF/UHF) antenna is mounted instead. Tripod is about 12' (3.66m) where the antenna mounts.
I set up cross-band repeat on my Kenwood TM-V71A and was able to operate the local repeater from my Baofeng(s) so I call that a successful afternoon. There was only one person on the repeater and he said I sounded "scratchy" which was disappointing, but at least I know how to set it up now.
@K3LTC I occasionally do this with the TM-D700A in my truck so I can hit the repeater from a Baofeng HT in my office. I'm working on setting up an Allstar node right now, though, so I may end up just voip-dialing into that in the future.
@kr4dio that sounds like a better option, frankly. Do you have a post someplace about your AllStar project yet? I've read its like asterisk which I set up once at work (was just messing around with it) but that was years ago.
@K3LTC I was able to get a node up and running really easily using the RPi image from https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Main_Page. I plan to write up my build as soon as I finish the enclosure, but it’s basically just a pi, a Baofeng 888, and a modified USB sound card.
@K3LTC I used the following references for the radio and sound card mods:
http://crompton.com/hamradio/baofeng888/
http://crompton.com/hamradio/baofeng888/New-888-mods.pdf
http://squirrelengineering.com/ham-radio/build-a-portable-allstar-link-hotspot-part-1-intro/
http://www.garydion.com/projects/usb_fob/
Ham drama note: many of these links refer to hamvoip.org, which was the first org/guy to get allstar running on rpi. However, they distribute a modified binary package with no source in violation of the GPL. AllStarLink.org now have their own rpi distribution and publish code on github.
@kr4dio that first link provides a really good walk through of the setup! I think a project like this is a bit beyond me at this point but I would still like to read about yours when you're finished. Thanks again!
@K3LTC I’d hoped to be finished by now, but the mechanics of fitting it into the cool enclosure are more difficult than all the electronics and software work.