I finally finished my install today that I started back up during the Boeing strike in Sept. of 2008.
I lost interest after awhile, but after getting it all buttoned up today with the help of Cartoys, I am going to strudy again.

There is a test this Saturday in Renton, but I am not ready yet.
Maybe I will be by October.

Anyways, it is a Yaesu 857D, a duplexer, and the ATAS-120 antenna, hence the duplexer.

I messed around today flipping the dial around on am, fm, usb, lsb, dig, cw, cwr, and I could hear no one.
I could hear some carrier waves and tones (not morse code) but no voice.

I am not sure what to listen in on to hear anything, and what mode to be in.

When I first got the radio a ham friend from work and I wired it right to the battery to test it out along with his coax and ATAS-120 on my rig.
It worked, I heard him talk and others too.

Anyone know what freq. I can try and listen ( I know better than to talk until I get my technician license) in on for Auburn and beyond?

PS, why do the sites that list your call sign also list your home address?
I feel that is an invastion of privacy.
I can plug in someone's call sign, and I know exactly where they live.
Is there a way to opt out of that when you pay after completing the exam?
It does not seem right to me putting people's addresses out there for all to see.

Grats on finishing the install and prepping for your license...just do it! Hit that hamtestonline site a few days in a row and you'll be ready for the test no problems. Good luck.

As far as listening to voice, put it in FM mode and scan 144.00 to 148.00 for ham folks or just let it scan as much of the band as your radio can listen in on.

Try picking up the seattle NOAA broadcast on 162.55

or Fed Way repeaters : www.fwarc.org/

Thanks Ben and jay for the info.
I was on that ham test site a few years back, great site.
I just need to make the time, as I am at work close to 12 hours a day, pretty burned out when I get home, then I have to manage online stuff, it never ends.

On vacation all this week, so maybe I can squeeze back in some study time.
I will check out those freq too.
Not sure how to put the 857D into scanning mode, still reading the manaul :)

If any of you are going to the Bill Burke bash at ARB headquarters in October, I will be there if you want to try the radio out.

Not that I have anything to hide but I really don't like making it easy for anyone to get my home address.  I use a PO box for all my mail and the PO box is what shows when you search my call sign.  It provides a safe haven for all my bank statements too.  More importantly for me it is a location for my tenants to send the rent check with out getting my personal address...

Thanks Ryan for info on the PO BOX,.
Never had one, but it seems like it would be worth looking into.

Thanks Mike, I have that yellow technician class book I bought off of Amazon a few years back.
Would it be worth to spend $20 on the general class one?
Or just using the hamsonline link to study be good enough to pass the general one too?

I look forward to using this radio too when camping next year.
I can setup times and the freq. I will be on when camped, and then see if anyone can reach me.
Up where I go at Greenwater in the mountains it will be interesting to see if it gets out.
I have seen that Buddy Pole thing a few years back, that might be worth setting up at camp to see how it gets out with it.

Ooops, just saw another general class one at Amazon by the same author of the technician class book I have.

Thanks Mike.

Orderd the book as there were only four left, will read that after I do the exams.

Fiddled with the radio a bt ago to listen in one 162.55 for NOAA, on FM, but the radio only does .50 or .60, and not .55.
I will have to read up on how to make the big dial do increments when in FM mode, as from the factory on am and fm, the big dial is turned off for tuning, but I read last night there is a way to turn it on via the menu.
Otherwise the big dial works when on SSB and CW modes.

Thanks, I was looking up the address yesterday, not to far from the Boeing Renton plant, so I should be able to find it, er my Droid will help me find it.

A few pics cross posted from some other forums I am on.

My ham radio setup:
Yaesu 857D
ATAS-120 antenna
Diamond Duplexer MX62M for the antenna
Diamond GLP58 mount for the antenna
I had the faceplate for the 857D mounted long ago, and the antenna mount, but not the rest.

Faceplate mounted on dash.

Did not have to drill for the mic mount, as I just used the left side of my Cobra 29 CB to mount the mic, and I added the mic mount that came with the Yaesu to the right side of the CB to hang the CBs mic from.

Shot of the ATAS-120 antenna.
This antenna is made specifically for the Yaesu 857D, and it raises/lowers the whip automatically when you change frequencies on the radio, pretty trick.
You need to run the duplexer though and takes its two ends and put them in the radio for the VHF and UHF sides, and then the ATAS-120 plugs into the end of the duplexer.
This way one antenna does the job of two antennas.

Rear view of the radio and duplexer.
Both are mounted with heavy duty Velcro to the floor.

Side view of the radio.

 Not seen in the pictures is a Big Mouth external speaker that is used with the radio.
It is mounted to the right of the CB underneath the dash.

I also like how the radio displays your battery voltage so you can keep an eye on it if using the radio with the engine off.
Fire up the engine, and the voltage immediately goes up.

Now back to my studying...

OK, this is cool :)

Earlier I had tried NOAA Weather on 162.55 (maybe I was suppose to add the 0 onto Jay's 162.55?) , but the dial would not go there.
I enabled the big tuning dial, but looks like I may not have had to do that.
As I was flipping through the freq. and I got near 162.475, I could hear NOAA come in.
It actually works on .470 and .480, but clearest on .475.

This was for the South Puget sound South of me, so I tuned up some and found the Seattle area weather on 162.550.
I tired it on the DIG mode, very weird sounding, and also worked on both USB and LSB, CW, and AM, but FM was clearest.

Now I have to find out how to bookmark these so I can get back to them, that is if it is possible.
I wish I had this installed long ago, I am like a kid in candy store right now :)

I listen to NOAA on my family radio units, but it is cool listening to it over the Yaesu.
I have much to learn...

So frustrating, I can not turn on the ATAS-120 antenna to self tune.
I activated it via the menu, but after that you have to select "row K" from the menu, and I do not see it.
I have read the manaul over and over on how to do this, but I see no way to get those letters to appear at the bottom of the LCD when in function mode and turning the select knob.
I just see the normal things to select which total up to 91 options.

PS, here is what the manual says, but no row K is showing when I rotate the selct knob.

Automatic Tuning
1. Press the [FUNC] key, then rotate the SELECT knob as needed, to recall Multi Function
Row “k” [TUNE, DOWN, UP].
2. Press the [A](TUNE) key to turn the ATAS-100/-120 on (this action only supplies voltage
to the antenna at this point; re-tuning does not begin). The “ATAS” will appear on the
LCD.
3. Now press and hold in the [A](TUNE) key for one second to initiate ATAS-100/-120
tuning. The transmitter will automatically be activated, a carrier will be sent, and the
antenna’s length will be adjusted for best SWR.
4. If the microprocessor determines that the antenna’s length is radically incorrect from the
optimum value, no carrier will be sent out. Instead, in the receive mode, the antenna will
retract to its longest or shortest position (this may take up to one minute). While this is
happening, do not press the [A](TUNE) key again.
When the ATAS-100/-120 reaches its minimum length, automatic tuning will be initiated,
and the transmitter will automatically shut off when a satisfactory SWR is achieved.5. On the 144 MHz and 430 MHz bands, the ATAS-100/-120 does not require a tuning
process. SWR will be satisfactory when the antenna is fully retracted.

That is where finding an 'Elmer' - someone from a local ham club - to really help you learn the specifics of your radio.
I had mine all figured out then didn't even touch it for 2 months, now I have to start over with the manual. It's like math, use it or lose it!
 

*edit - oh make sure those books you ordered cover the new questions, I think they went into effect this summer?

On the whole address thing, I agree it's more exposed than I would like but its the price of admission by the Feds for use of the spectrum, so that in a National Emergency they know how to piece together some kind of communications network.
I believe it says you have to list your home address or address where your station is primarily located. Just wanted to give an FYI that while folks might get away with using a PO box, technically it's not legit.
But then if someone is determined to find your personal info, they can find it. There are so many documents we use that are matters of public record it's crazy how easy it is to track people.

Thanks Jay, I think I need a ham tech right now.

I figured out what I was doing wrong to access the one menu, I was holding the function key in for two seconds, and when accessing the menu, you only push the button once and not hold it.

But I have another snag now, I can not power up the antenna.
I get scratchy static when on the two NOAA channels, and when I access the menu to apply power to the ATAS antenna to tune it, the word ATAS is suppose to appear on the LCD, then you push the button again to start the auto tuning process.

The word ATAS does not appear on the screen, only a beep.
I am betting the tech at Cartoys may not have the two ends of the coax soldered right, so I am going to have to hook up with a ham that knows their stuff including testing my radio and coax to see if the ends were done up right.
That is all I can figure out now, and maybe why I can not hear anyone broadcasting except for NOAA.

Yeah, I guess I will just submit my address the normal way...

You might consider a stop by truckcitycbgps.com/index.html  While they mainly advertise CB work, I'm betting they could square away your antenna situation ASAP.

Though if you aren't afraid of a little road trip to Portland, stopping by www.hamradio.com/locations.cfm would certainly fix you up.

It could be the antenna is grounded incorrectly or not at all, you'd be amazed at how confused non-radio guys get when they are given a nylon spacer and figure they are doing you a favor by using a lockwasher instead.  I will add I know nothing about your specific antenna.

If the antenna raises and lowers as you change freq I'm assuming it requires its own power lead, perhaps that wasn't installed correctly?
Just throwing out some ideas to check on.

Stop playing with the radio, posting pics of your install, and hit hamtestonline.com. Until you get that license it's just an expensive brick.  :)

Jay, I did an experiment and pulled the antenna off, and no NOAA came in.
Put it back on and NOAA worked, so it is not the connectors, but could be a ground issue still.
I have an email into Yaesu tech support on this.

And I did a scan and found a few talking this morning finally up around 440 MHz or so on FM.

The antenna requires no power other than the coax to make the internals of the antenna change inside.

Craig, I would love to study for the test today, but the GF is dragging me out of here later. for the day, so that shoots that all to hell :)