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Ham Radio
Lucky_Lefty
Member Posts: 7,971
a friend at work is a tech, and showed me some info on it. it seems pretty cool, do any of you do this or is this a past time?
Comments
his icom radio, no antenna, but its a 100 watt radio, seems
like a good deal. but I would have to drive 179 miles to check
it out.
I will try to get me another tri tower, I might go with another
antenna, the last time I had a set of moonbeams stacked rotor.
I passed the test and have my technician's license but I'm still figuring this thing out. A friend loaned me a radio and is helping get the hang of it.
I enjoy listening to HF, air and local stuff as well.
K1KWD
my gear:
yaesu ft-7800r
yaesu ft-8800r
yaesu vx-177
yaesu vx-170
(can ya tell i like yaesu?)
i dotn have a real fancy radio room set up. most of my airtime is spent in the truck. some people go all out and designate an entire room to it. thousands of dollars for that type of setup. im fine operating mobile. anyway, feel free to pm with any questions.
an example of a real high end radio room:
sure do
K1KWD
my gear:
yaesu ft-7800r
yaesu ft-8800r
yaesu vx-177
yaesu vx-170
(can ya tell i like yaesu?)
i dotn have a real fancy radio room set up. most of my airtime is spent in the truck. some people go all out and designate an entire room to it. thousands of dollars for that type of setup. im fine operating mobile. anyway, feel free to pm with any questions.
an example of a real high end radio room:
what would be a good radio to start out with a handheld or tabletop model? and by the way what is all that in your pic?
a good radio to start with, well my 7800r is dual band(vhf and uhf) so it will handle all your basic coms. there are a hundred different brands and if you get into it you'll find what you like. but thats a pretty good starter radio. nothing incredibly fancy. you can talk on vhf or uhf from one radio. it can be home mounted or vehicle mounted. its an all around good radio. its not the cheapest on the market but you'll still be talking on that one in 10 years of you keep with it. but a cheapo and you'll be shopping again in a year(then again, if you get really into it you'll be buying a new radio every year anyway so maybe it wont matter....)
you'll need a power supply if your going to operate from the home or you wire it to your battery(through a relay or at least direct wired with a fuse please).
you'll need an antenna. a mobile antenna mounted to the side of your house/roof will get you on the air for cheap. wont be the best reception and you cant really tune it for maximum efficiency but its cheam, easy to install, doesnt require any sort of permit and if you decide you dont like ham radio, its easy to remove. if you get into it, you can upgrade.
most importantly, you need a license. hefty fines accompany fcc violations. your best best is to pick up the book "now you're talking". it has all the information you need to pass your first license exam and get on the air. its not too much. lots of laws, some electronic theory, more laws etc. just the basics. if you decide to go for a more advanced license(general or extra) you'll get real deep into the electronic theory.
a little anecdote as to the first step in licensing. i was tapped several years ago to do rolling medical coverage for a charity bike ride. the event was a 175mile ride through country for charity. cell phones didnt work. normal commercial radios didnt work. so they had tried ham radios in the past and they worked great. so i was informed 2 weeks before the event that it would be "really helpful" if i had my ham license for the event. so i bought the book on a saturday, read it in between call on the ambulance monday through friday and took the test that saturday. one good read through the book a total of maybe 10 hours scattered throughout the week and i passed the exam first shot.
I have a tech license. It's fun, mostly 2 meter mobile stuff. I'd like to learn code and upgrade my license, so I can work some of the long distance frequencies with low power.
they dropped the code requirment for all licenses a while ago. you can get an extra class with no code. all code does for you now is allow you to operate on a few very limited parts of the band. oh, and send code of course.
i will be taking the basic test and i started looking on ebay for some deals. i think ill start out with a handheld.
definitely get the book. you'll coast through the test. id offer you mine but aside from the fact that im almost sure the last guy i loaned it to never gave it back, its out of date anyway. which reminds me, make sure you get the current edition
a handheld is a great place to start. i cant believe i skipped right over that. mea culpa. when looking for a handheld, you should be looking for a few things.
one, output power. a radio that has an output of 1.5W isnt going to get you far. you could have trouble talking to the guy on the otherside of town if the conditions arent friendly. 5W is where you should be looking.
second, band selection. if you get a dual band, you've got your bases covered where as a single band radio will do you no good if most of the hams in your area hang out on the other band.
the third thing is programmability. make sure your radio is field programmable. what that means is you can enter frequencies and tones on the fly right from the radio without any extra stuff. some radios require a computer and cable to program so watch out for that.
if you want a recommendation, id be happy to put together a short list of handhelds great for beginners.
Coolest feature about being a Ham is that when the lights go out, and the cellphones in the affected area go out, you can still dial phones/call for help. That feature has really come in handy a few times in the intervening years.
I have 100W Mobile rigs in our cars, and when we are convoying, I put the Wife and Daughter each in a different car (often their own) and then we can keep the group together (Both are Hams - KD7QBH, and KD7QBI).
For walking/shopping/camping, etc, we have Standard C108 hand-held radios - not much bigger than a Deck of Playing Cards, runs off two AA cells. Low power, but very handy. They are 2-meter rigs only. I also have a Standard C308? that is a 2M/440 rig, also Low Power.
Ham Radio community is a nice group, and the Hobby cuts across a lot of other hobbies/pursuits. There are Special Frequencies for Radio Control hobbies, only for Hams. Makes it nice if you go to a meet of R/C hobbyists, there is almost always a Frequency free for Hams, where those who are not Hams have to wait their turn.
So few folks get their Licenses for Ham Radio - it is nice to be in a crowd situation (Game Stadium/RaceTrack) and not have to compete for airspace with all the FRS/GMRS radios, and CB crudzola.
We use the heck out of our C108s. They are NOT the best to get started with, however. Get a Handy-Talkie that has 3-5 watts output, and a DTMF dialpad for your First Radio. Buy it used, if you are short on money. Pay attention that the unit you buy has a Battery pack/holder that uses common AA cells, if you can, as the tiny packs that have nicads or LiIons are spendy, and they soon fail/get weak.
Just like the Gunbroker Community has generous and helpful folks, you will find that Ham Community Boards are full of Generous and helpful people. They have give-aways too!! Hint-hint. Go to: www.QRZ.com and look at their Classifieds.
A couple of hunting buddies in the woods have soo much more fun and get so much use out of Ham Radio, that I don't understand why more don't do it.
Best of Luck in your new interest! Want to talk more? Feel free (Anyone) to call/email/Snail-Mail me.
73s, de KD6RGZ!!
Guy