Repeater/Licensing question

If I want to intermittently set up a mobile rig as a repeater with which to use my HT, do I need a separate license for that? Or do I just have to make sure the band I use is clear?

What I would like to do is walk around the house with the HT, and maybe even drive around the city with it. The mobile rig would have a better, higher antenna, so it would have a much longer range.

Also, this is for VHF/UHF. I would configure the mobile unit for whatever repeater I wanted to use, and use the HT to communicate with the mobile unit.

EDIT: I just want to clarify, I have my General class license. My question is, do I need to license a separate call sign if I want to set up a repeater as described above.

I know this was probably in the materials I had to study for the test, but I don’t recall, and I don’t know where to look or what search terms to use to find a specific answer.

submitted by /u/Myntrith
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First HF QSO!

Aced my general exam a week and a half ago and have since been working on getting a beginner home station setup. The VHF/UHF antenna was easy, but deciding on my first HF antenna was considerably harder.

At first I decided to try a multiband antenna like the Maldol HVU-8 but gave up when the one I bought had one incorrect part, some damage, and required spending so much additional money on an analyzer/tuner.

I decided to go much simpler and get a Buckmaster dipole. I found that I had just enough distance between some trees next to my house and was able to get it up high enough to be useful. LMR-400 sends the signal into a Yaesu FT-991 which so far has been a joy to learn to operate.

I have called CQ several times and not gotten any responses. Partly due to current band conditions, partly due to the fact that no one happened to be listening. That changed about 30 minutes ago when an operator picked up my CQ and called me back.

What a thrill!

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Rigol on RF Basics

Here’s a white paper on basic RF measurements from Rigol, a manufacturer of oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, and signal generators. It does a decent job of explaining topics like the difference between time-domain measurements (that you’d make with an oscilloscope) and frequency-domain measurement (that you’d make with a spectrum analyzer).

In addition to explaining how scopes and spectrum analzyers work, there are chapters on component tests, transmitter tests, and receiver tests. The third chapter, for example, explains how to use a spectrum analzyer (a Rigol, of course) to measure the bandwidth of filters, connector and cable insertion loss, and antenna VSWR.

An idealized view of a filter’s frequency response.

What you might actually see on a spectrum analyzer when measuring the frequency response of a filter.

I’m a little surprised that they didn’t more information about their latest signal generator, the DG1022Z. At $360, this 25 MHz signal generator looks like a great deal. It offers two output channels that you can program to output a wide variety of waveforms, and modulate those waveforms in many different ways. And, if you don’t find any of the pre-programmed waveforms to your liking, you can create an arbitrary waveform of up to 16 Mbytes long. It also includes a 200 MHz frequency counter.

I’m not sure how much I’d actually use it, but being the test equipment geek that I am, I’m really tempted. I probably should get a spectrum analyzer first, though.

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from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8212326 http://www.kb6nu.com/rigol-on-rf-basics/
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