amateur radio

[G0ldengirl68]

I took mine years ago. 25 bucks I think it was for the test.

I have to read the FCC regulations, but first, someone like me with no experience, and no knowledge of what equipment I need, I have a lot to read about.  Those big antenna's that are needed for one thing.  Maybe the CB radio is something I could do in my truck.  I am making some calls/connections if I find info in my area for classes, yes, then a test after I guess a few months of training.

 

[G0ldengirl68]

HAHAHA TOUCHÉ!


But where I'm planning on moving to is not mountainous exactly, but a lot like my home town. The foothills. Also very rural. I havent looked but I'm doubting that there is a lot of infrastructure in that area as far as repeaters go. So maybe I'll be granted a license for a repeater and help juice the infrastructure.... from the sun. How cool is that?!

LOL, well I'd be up for a "little" mountain climbing   and Solar anythings got my attention.  I'd like to have that on my Camper Shell!!

 

[XERTYX]

I grew up on a CB radio. Sometimes I ride with my brother hauling logs to the mill, or hauling gravel to a jobsite. The CB culture is dead. At least around here.

I forget where I studied. Online on some pretest platform. Over and over. The most complicated thing for me was remembering the formula to calculate the "wavelength" literally of a radio wave. I.E. 10 meter, 70cm, etc.

A lot of it was pretty common sense. Like list an example of how to keep a 12 volt radio powered during a natural disaster when you dont have a generator? Attach it to a car battery. Simple.

How many amps at 12 volts is recognized as the minimum needed to be lethal to a person? 3. That puts things into perspective for ya. 36 watts can kill a person. Yikes.

 

[Axel]

Been a ham since the 1970s, but haven't been very active during the past 10 years or so. I still maintain a station at home, and am putting a portable HF station together for the van. I've always had a 2-meter rig in the van and use it mostly for APRS and Winlink.

The HF station is very simple - Ten Tec Scout (SSB and CW) turned down to 25 watts to preserve battery power (only 1 s-unit below 100 watts by the way), an automatic antenna tuner, hamstick verticals for 20 and 40 meters that are quick to put up, but are not very efficient - especially 40, a hamstick dipole for 40 that takes a little more time, but a little better than the 40 vertical, and an 80 meter doublet/dipole fed with ladder line. The doublet is more trouble to put up and take down, but is much more efficient and works on 80 through 10 meters with the automatic antenna tuner. The tuner is an LDG that I put together as a kit back in the 1990s.

 

[tx2sturgis]

For portable HF I really like the end-fed HF wires...there are several on the market as plug-n-play, or you can DIY your own. 

A 66 foot length will cover 40-10 meters. If you have the room, a 132 foot (approx) will get you down to 80 meters. You can even set one 6 feet above the ground and parallel to the ground as NVIS and do pretty good working local out to about 300 miles or so. You wont be the loudest signal if barefoot (100w) power level, but you will be heard. 

Set-up is about as simple as a wire antenna can get, just find a way to hang the far end (using paracord or dacron rope) up in a tree or on a pole.

The feed point matching transformer can be mounted on a short extendable pole attached to your vehicle or a nearby fence post or similar. No center support and no adjustment of line length (usually) so just attach a radio and tuner and off you go...I have even used mine as a kite-supported wire antenna! (gotta have a bit of wind but it works well!)

 

[Axel]

Good idea with the EFHW antenna. Looks easier to put up than a dipole. Just have to come up with a 49:1 transformer. Do you find a current choke necessary to prevent RF in the shack?

I'll keep the doublet and hamsticks handy as well.

 

[tx2sturgis]

I have found that a feedline current choke makes no difference in low power portable operation. I was using one on my home station (800 watts) until I changed things around and extended the feedline and the choke is no longer needed.

What did help in this portable setup was using a combination of snap-on toroids and ferrite coil forms on the laptop charger...those switching supplies are NOISY on HF at close range. Killed my receive especially on 40 meters. 

With the chokes on the laptop charger input and output cables, the noise is almost all gone.

 

[Axel]

Yeah, a lot of people underestimate the importance of feed line length. Sometimes hard to get just right on a multi band antenna. I have some transient noise from my laptop charger as well, both DC and AC chargers, so might try some snap on ferrite cores.

 

[Varmint]

Axel wrote, in relevant part:
"Just have to come up with a 49:1 transformer."


No problem, Axel. A 49:1 transformer is accomplished with a 7:1 turns ratio. Choose your form wisely. Ferrite doesn't seem to handle power as well as powdered iron, such as a #2 mix (red toroid). a T68-2 will work at qrp levels, while you'll need much bigger and with corrrespondingly thicker wirre for higher power stuff. Build away!

 

[Axel]

Thanks! Think I have a big red iron core laying around somewhere.

 

[pearlog]

I've been doing tons of research on survival radios and things lately, it seems like a really neat hobby. So recently I decided to begin studying for my Ham radio Technician's license.

 

[sreesekelley]

KO4KCZ

For anyone thinking about studying for a license, I would highly recommend study guides 'All ham and no spam, the easy way' by Craig "Buck" K4IA.

Aside from concentrating on just the correct answers, he does a marvelous job of explaining complicated subjects. I used his study guides for technician, general and extra. ARRL study guides were harder for me to use efficiently. I also use the sample testing on QRZ.com and hamexam.com. both sites are free and you can take as many practice exams as you want.

DMR can get you talking around the planet and you don't have to sling wires or poles up. During the pandemic DMR has been a great source of information on what has been going on around the world.

73's

 

[[email protected]]

I just bought a inexpensive CD hand held this week. My intent is to use it while on the road when I go camping. I read a post here in 2017 that said CB aren't being used much. I have a memory from the 70's driving cross country and the chatter on the CB was informative and fun. Should I return it

 

[tx2sturgis]

CB was in it's 'heyday' in the 70's.

Now...not so much. They do come in handy for some things, like a wreck up ahead on a major highway, and if the traffic is backing up, you can listen on CH 19 and hear what is going on...which lane is moving up ahead...that sort of thing.

But day to day use? Fuhget-about-it unless you have some fellow travelers with CB's and you want to keep in touch during your trip.

 

[Louis Wu]

"Lady Ada" (adafruit) let her ham license expire, then years later took all the exams and got an extra in one sitting. Videos on youtube.

My dad was a ham for many years (1947-2017) . I'm in the process of selling off his gear, mostly tubes so far. (50 sold, 10000 to go.) I'll probably keep the nice VHF handi-talky. Unfortunately, much isn't worth shipping and there is little local demand.

Lady Ada (Limor) is one smart cookie. She would have no problem passing the exams any time.
But, even if you are not an engineer like her, the tests are not that difficult anymore.

 

[Louis Wu]

I was inactive for quite a few years until someone told me about Summits on the Air (SOTA), a worldwide program portable ham radio operations from mountain summits. I was already an avid hiker and the SOTA program rekindled my love of ham radio. My radio equipment provides me with countless hours of enjoyment whether I'm hiking or at home.

Paul K9PM


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SOTA and to an even greater extent it's complimentary program POTA (Parks On The Air) are perfect hobbies for Nomads and VanDwellers.
POTA encourages Ham Radio operation from state and National Parks, and wildlife refuges, trails and some BLM land. The places designated as "Parks" for POTA purposes are give unique numbers and awards are based on working them, whether you are the Ham activating the park, or just the guy hunting them.
Thousands of eligible locations are found in the US and many more all over the world.
I've been activating parks near my home so far, but am on this forum because I'm outfitting my minivan for longer distance, overnight and multi-day trips with POTA as my main activity.
Lots of information at parksontheair.com and pota.app

Al AE2T

 

[wb8vyn]

I grew up on a CB radio. Sometimes I ride with my brother hauling logs to the mill, or hauling gravel to a jobsite. The CB culture is dead. At least around here.

I forget where I studied. Online on some pretest platform. Over and over. The most complicated thing for me was remembering the formula to calculate the "wavelength" literally of a radio wave. I.E. 10 meter, 70cm, etc.

A lot of it was pretty common sense. Like list an example of how to keep a 12 volt radio powered during a natural disaster when you dont have a generator? Attach it to a car battery. Simple.

How many amps at 12 volts is recognized as the minimum needed to be lethal to a person? 3. That puts things into perspective for ya. 36 watts can kill a person. Yikes.

Name is Ken. Call sign is wb8vyn. I grew up before CB radio. Years of work, study and practice, then a test before the FCC to make a transmitter and receiver from a box of random parts including the ability to send and receive Morse code. 5 words per minute up to 20 words per minute for the various license classes were required to become a ham. Then more work to stay current in both skill and knowledge, including public service.
It was a very prideful thing to a ham. You were an asset to your community, your country.
Over the years the requirements slipped. No longer was Morse code required, No longer was testing of skill and knowledge required, only a paper test by volunteers which could be fudged from a ready book of answers. Roger Beeps soon appeared, and vulgar language was popping up on local net works.
No longer was real work required to become a ham, thus the value of being a ham was diminished. No longer was being a ham an asset to neighbors and community's valuable.
Now for a few bucks anyone can use the spectrum which was so hard earned over generations.
The need is still there. Ordinary people still Need some one to be ready to provide communication during times of stress, disaster and emergency. That requires a knowledgeable sender and receiver who is ready, willing and able.
Known by those near by and distant. Reliable in times of need.
Be one of those.
wb8vyn k

 

[Headache]

When you're in Quartzite keep an eye out on Desert Messenger and on Facebook for the Desert Amateur Radio Club announcements. They do HAM in a Day classes and testing. I got my tech then general that way.

Headache aka WA7MRL

 

[Ripper238]

CB was in it's 'heyday' in the 70's.

Now...not so much. They do come in handy for some things, like a wreck up ahead on a major highway, and if the traffic is backing up, you can listen on CH 19 and hear what is going on...which lane is moving up ahead...that sort of thing.

But day to day use? Fuhget-about-it unless you have some fellow travelers with CB's and you want to keep in touch during your trip.

GMRS has been the Go To more and more. I use a GMRS radio in my 4Runner, not a ton of people on it ether but i like it better than CB.

WRMF544

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Wow hadn't thought about this in years.
When I was a kid I saw the movie Convoy (stay on topic, talking about Kris Kristofferson here)
and was bitten with the CB bug.
My uncle was an electronics nerd so he wasnt going to let me just get a CB.
He had me study and take the amateur radio operators test. Which I passed easily.
Then I got completely bored with CB after a while because I mostly just had grown ups telling me to get off the radio, or truckers who thought I was a girl.
Still it got me started on electronics and audio engineering type stuff.