At the ham radio store getting an antenna today

@MLE_online Okay, now I'm truly jealous. Haven't had a walk-in ham radio store in the Detroit area in well over 15 years. Nearest is Akron, I think?

@MLE_online What kind of antenna?

@JohnS_AZ comet GP3

@MLE_online you consistently make LA look amazing.

@smellsofbikes it's not. LA is awful and nothing I portray says otherwise

@MLE_online wait we have a local HAM radio store?

@cta If you consider Anaheim local, yes

Antenna is up

@MLE_online nice aerial!

@h2onolan thanks!

@MLE_online Wow, those ground plane radials are small! What kind of antenna is it?

@trcwm It's a Comet GP-3

@MLE_online hihi, I was looking for something more technical :) 😂️

@trcwm I dunno, lol. Look it up. I'm sure there's technical data for it online

@MLE_online Not much I can find online :(
I think the small radials mean a relative high impedance of the antenna at that point, so my (semi-informed) guess is that it's an off-centre fed vertical dipole of some sort.

@MLE_online Nope!

Cebik (http://on5au.be/content/gp/gp5.html) says it's probably a variation of the 3/8 wavelength ground-plane.

@trcwm This says the radials are 1/12th

https://n5txl.com/comet-gp-3/

@MLE_online He claims: "The Comet GP-3 is a 1/2 wave antenna on 2meters, but the radials are 1/12th wavelength." but I'm skeptical about the 1/2 wavelength claim.

@trcwm The antenna itself is labeled 1.78 meters in length

@MLE_online Neat! What brand and model is it? I've thought about getting a Diamond X50 and it looks similar to yours.

@raek Comet GP-3!

@MLE_online is this how it works?

@misternineham yes! the radio waves heat the ham until it's delicious and delectable!

@MLE_online what'll they think of next

@misternineham nuclear powered hams on the moon!

@MLE_online

Well silly me, when I saw your post the other day I never imagined you would be using it for actual radio!

What piqued your interest? I've been poking my toes into the ham world recently, for emergency preparedness stuff. Currently on the local GMRS net

@NilaJones It started because a coworker and I do emergency comms for work. We were going to get our licenses. He didn't end up doing it, but I mentioned it to a a friend and he got really excited and said we should get our licenses together.

@MLE_online

Oh that's great! (I want to ask more questions but I don't want to intrude:)

@NilaJones ask away!

@MLE_online

😂😂 I was just wondering where you work (I probably should know but I have brain fog), and what kind of emergency comm

When I got started with the neighborhood emergency preparedness net, I hadn't used a radio in I don't know how long. It seemed like magic, that I could hear someone miles away!

Have you checked out the LGBTQ net weekly, listed on Mastodon?

@NilaJones I work at an institute focused on technology, located in a certain large west coast state.

I haven't even heard of an LGBTQ net weekly. What's that

@MLE_online

I wonder if it's the same place another friend works? 🙂

People check in and chat. Let me see if I can find you a link. They also have a web page so you can listen online. I was hearing a guy in Australia!

@MLE_online

Argh, no luck

I will try to remember that you are interested, next time I see them post

@NilaJones thanks!

@NilaJones @MLE_online I suspect it's @PrideRadioGroup?

@kg6gfq @MLE_online @PrideRadioGroup

Yes!! Thank you so much!!

I did a web search, and I saw something called pride radio, but I went to their website and it didn't seem to be the same thing, so I figured I had the name wrong...

@kg6gfq @NilaJones @MLE_online Yep! 02:00 UTC on Sundays, hosted by @KJ7OMO

There is a YouTube stream of the nets too :)

@PrideRadioGroup @kg6gfq @NilaJones @MLE_online

Oh, hi! You can get more information about our net and our network by going to https://prideradionetwork.weebly.com

And if you'd like more information about the Pride Radio Group, visit https://prideradio.group

@MLE_online ahhh HRO! Neat.

I actually worked at the one here for a couple of days. It was pretty neat.

@vxo only a couple days? What happened?