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HAM radio, anyone?

Welcome to 2020 grandpa :oldman:just go with the program, I simply crammed for 3 days and got it done. Id probably fail it today. Hopefully you find a test available asap and open the Pandora's box its fun having a new hobby to explore.
Lol.... ill deal i suppose.

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I used to have a ham operator as a neighbor back in the 70s. I was into CB at the time, a whole different world. He used to be up late at night talking , or coding, to people hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away. If I remember Ham, I think it is shortwave, can skip off the ionosphere when conditions are right. I might have some of the details wrong but the basics are there.

Anyways, he had this antenna on a 50 or 60 foot tower. It dominated his back yard.
 
I'm kinda looking into getting into this, as of about 5 minutes ago hehe. Anyone know where I could get some good information? Just kinda looking for an overview of the hobby before I dive into the details. Also, is there a decent radio under $100? I'm looking for about 10-15 miles at least, just to monitor and coordinate with local traffic. If I can modify it to increase performance the better.
Really just looking for ways to better my prepping repertoire, if you've read my CBRN thread you know what I'm talking about.

EDIT: when I say modify I really mean the ability to fit different antennas without chopping the thing apart.
 
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Information is life in a crisis, Comms provide information. Get aggressive on your journey. Id surely get that Ham ticket sooner than later. Depending your location ,,ie the repeater network in your area GMRS license is fast and easy and covers entire family. In my area GMRS network is very solid for a longggg way multistates via a simple handheld repeater capable radio.
I encourage to get that ham ticket and the GMRS license both.
Reach me on the airwaves KO4EDK
Dave out
 
Information is life in a crisis, Comms provide information. Get aggressive on your journey. Id surely get that Ham ticket sooner than later. Depending your location ,,ie the repeater network in your area GMRS license is fast and easy and covers entire family. In my area GMRS network is very solid for a longggg way multistates via a simple handheld repeater capable radio.
I encourage to get that ham ticket and the GMRS license both.
Reach me on the airwaves KO4EDK
Dave out
I live in LA so the repeater network is fairly extensive, if anything were to happen I would likely try to get out of the Basin into the High Desert somewhere and wait it out. The network up there seems pretty good too, Victorville has a ton. That's Edwards AFB country, lots of Air Force guys up there.
What radio do you recommend? I'm looking for something cheap but reliable, handheld is actually preferred for portability.
 
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I haven't had a transmitter since the 70's, it was just CB, 5 watts, and I never was legal.
but, up in the Rockies I could skip all over the country.
Literally, from Utah to Florida or Mexico on just 5 watts.

I had a basic radio from Radio Shack and one of those whips that knock down lightbulbs, on the roof.

I got such good results that I never bothered to boost the signal or anything else.

Then I moved to California, which was impossibly cluttered, and gave it all up.

I did own a shortwave receiver, but then the internet came along . . .
 
I live in LA so the repeater network is fairly extensive, if anything were to happen I would likely try to get out of the Basin into the High Desert somewhere and wait it out. The network up there seems pretty good too, Victorville has a ton. That's Edwards AFB country, lots of Air Force guys up there.
What radio do you recommend? I'm looking for something cheap but reliable, handheld is actually preferred for portability.
Like guns maybe worse, radio recommendations online can get testy......,,,,, so il give ya a link to watch and enjoy.
I will also say I started HAM with a Baofeng (cheap china) uvfxp and a yeasu 4x??. I sold the Yeasu , I own 4 Baoefeng tribands(cheap) and 3 Kenwoods(not cheap) those are all 2M and 70M capable the baefengs have some other freq abilities also..
For GMRS we bought 4 BTECH dualbands.
Plan on antenna upgrading to include a roof mount for vehicle use, your car is a Faraday cage for handheld they will work and i still do it but a roof antenna really gives ya better ears and legs.
 
I live in LA so the repeater network is fairly extensive, if anything were to happen I would likely try to get out of the Basin into the High Desert somewhere and wait it out. The network up there seems pretty good too, Victorville has a ton. That's Edwards AFB country, lots of Air Force guys up there.
What radio do you recommend? I'm looking for something cheap but reliable, handheld is actually preferred for portability.

Ps if ya are remotely addictive personality disorder HAM is dangerous. 2 years ago I had nothing, now I think 11 handheld, 2 of my vehicles with mobile mount radios n them, a base unit in house with a big antenna outside, plans for another base unit in house this year and hopefully our own repeater on property LOL
 
Like guns maybe worse, radio recommendations online can get testy......,,,,, so il give ya a link to watch and enjoy.
I will also say I started HAM with a Baofeng (cheap china) uvfxp and a yeasu 4x??. I sold the Yeasu , I own 4 Baoefeng tribands(cheap) and 3 Kenwoods(not cheap) those are all 2M and 70M capable the baefengs have some other freq abilities also..
For GMRS we bought 4 BTECH dualbands.
Plan on antenna upgrading to include a roof mount for vehicle use, your car is a Faraday cage for handheld they will work and i still do it but a roof antenna really gives ya better ears and legs.
Thanks, I watched most of it and then things started getting way out of my price range. I think I'll probably be looking at a Baofeng right now, I like the UV-82 because it's 8w, they're only slightly more expensive than the UV-5R right now. Definitely looking at new antennas, looks like I could get a decent 16" whip for about $10 and car antennas for the same price as well as battery adapters. Might be able to put together a decent budget setup to start reaching some of the local repeaters, something to add to my bug out gear.
 
Bobster, CB is still alive. Probably not like the 70s.

That would be a good thing. By 75, in CA, a CB was almost useless on the highway without sidebands.

Lots of high power transmission was just blanking anyone out of your immediate vision, and that was choppy.

I built an (by then quite archaic) Motorola hand-soldered vacuum tube AM radio Kit when I was a paperboy, about 1968. There were transistor circuit boards back then, but this had a traditional heavy steel chassis with Bakelite sockets and stand-off soldering lugs.

I had an obsolete oscilloscope bought for $20 from a neighbor, and a small VOM from the Shack, $13 new. Could not afford the coveted VTVM in 1969.

I had sold that AM radio at the swap meet about 1982.
 
Interesting this came back up. I had started researching ham radio some time ago and just pulled the certification study guide off the bookshelf the other night.

Thinking of finally following through with it.
 
I havnt given up on getting mine. Just havnt found time to prep. Although with current events its bumped up the priorities list a little bit. It didn't make my goal list for 2021, I think it will be on my goal list for 22.

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Ps if ya are remotely addictive personality disorder HAM is dangerous. 2 years ago I had nothing, now I think 11 handheld, 2 of my vehicles with mobile mount radios n them, a base unit in house with a big antenna outside, plans for another base unit in house this year and hopefully our own repeater on property LOL

What kind of output power are you allowed to have on those mobile units?
 
Power limits vary by radio and service type...at least in the US. For example, MURS [multi0use radio system] is a channelized service in the 151 – 154 MHz spectrum range and the handhelds are limited to 2W. The little bubble-pak 2-way radio sets that you buy at Wal-Mart or Bass Pro are FRS [family radio system - another channelized venue and all 22 channels are shared with GMRS radios. Initially, the FRS radios were limited to 500 milliwatts across all channels. However, after May 18, 2017, the limit is increased to 2 watts on channels 1-7 and 15–22.] and are limited to 2 W also. Now with GMRS the power limit is 50W, but most of the handheld units are around 5W. RadioReference.com is a great place to jump down most any radio-related rabbit hole. :)

In reality, anything greater than 4-6 Watts on a handheld is not safe as the antenna is too close to the body and unsafe RF levels will do damage to tissue. If you have ever grabbed an antenna while it is being transmitted on, you'll know why they don't make 50 Watt handhelds.

I can attest to the addictive properties of radio. I should say my expenditures can attest to the addictive properties of radio. ALMOST as bad as firearms. :)

I'll go full disclosure and post my ham call sign: KF0BSQ My GMRS call sign won't do anyone any good unless you live in the greater Kansas City Area.

The real irony for me was getting completely immersed in radio and finding out that there really wasn't anyone that I wanted to talk to. There are thousands of HF voice "nets" scheduled regularly across the country, but I'm mostly using the digital modes these days for HF. I joined the local radio club and while there is a lot of knowledge there, they are more into local VHF/UHF repeater-based comms and DX [long distance outside CONUS] contacts. Not for me.
 
Wow! 3 years ago I asked DJ that question. Haven’t seen him in 3 years.

I had a 5 watt Radio Shack unit back in 1972. That was my only transmitter except for kiddie stuff we did in school.

I gave up the CB when I moved to California. Traffic made it worthless.
 
As a relatively new ham, I can't resist the chance to demonstrate all of the wordily knowledge I've accumulated while chasing license requirements and test prep. 90% of which you see above. :laugh: Actually the real education starts after getting permission from the feds to use certain parts of the radio spectrum. The most significant thing I've learned is to listen 99.9% of the time.

Living in the Midwest, CB is still fairly popular, with some renewed interest due to the FCC opening up part of the FM band for CB. I agree with you, though: in higher populated areas CB is almost unusable. Sheer traffic volume, an unlimited supply of a-holes that use mega power to mess with everyone else, etc. etc. CB is one of the radios that I don't own. If I'd ever want to listen in I could use my other radios which have the appropriate MARS modification to dial in the various channels.

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but like I said....I just can't hep myself. :)
 
I had a neighbor years ago that was a Ham operator. That was when CBs became popular, early 70s, which I did get into . To say the least I was impressed with his setup. However, it was beyond my financial ability at the time.

@Cadd, I have wondered what ever happened to Djcala. But I also wonder what has happened to others that just disappear. We don't have a system in place to remedy that.
 
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