Amateur Radio

Vanity | Sep 11, 2009 | Self

[elpinta]

Thanks!

[William of Barsoom]

Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. Try RACES and also ARES on wikipedia for more.

What’s “big.” Nobody knows for sure. General wisdom today is a presidential declaration and silencing is unlikely in the extreme. Besides, as I said, 99.99% of good intel comes from listening. Only.

Vietnam, Korea, the World Trade Center, Iraq, and everything else since WW2 haven’t caused a presidential declaration. As a practical matter there’s no way it could be enforced anyway. Perhaps our current president would send you a very sternly and firmly worded letter.

[bikerman]

Where’s the key????

[Fresh Wind]

Ham radio was shut down totally during WW-I and WW-2. Nothing would stop Obama from shutting it down again in a “emergency” situation.

[William of Barsoom]

Let him try.

[steve86]

Only issue is that if something ‘big’ happens, the air waves are off-limit to hams as well (perhaps some RACES traffic, that is all). That said, one could still remain on the air regardless.

I have considered purchasing a used 2M portable to use (for transmitting) ONLY during emergencies (unlicensed). Who cares if I have an FCC license if WW3 or CW2 is going on? Especially if a totalitarian government is making the rules! Good thing about analog radio -- there is no IP/ethernet address to trace, and if you are on the move, no usable triangulation.

[William of Barsoom]

Trangulation needs a trianglaTOR. Trust me: they’ll be busy with Other Stuff unless you ARE that Other Stuff. (Unlikely.)

[elpinta]

‘I have considered purchasing a used 2M portable...’

Lots of inexpensive gear out there as the new/spiffy ones come out.

Some people I talk to from time to time are thinking the same. For years folks from Mexico have used 2m rigs illegally over there, so is not a novel idea, but is effective.

[William of Barsoom]

Wanna hear something crazy? Wanna know why I picked William of Barsoom?

“Barsoom” is Edgar Rice Burrough’s name for Mars — the thing the actual Martians called themselves.

Since I was a kid, and a new Novice ham, I wanted to talk to Mars — humans on Mars — before I passed away.

I still have that hope.

With each passing day these days that seems less likely. But I’ll hang on as long as I can...

[GOPJ]

Thanks to both of your for the information. Years ago I considered Ham Radio - but being a typical impatient kid, I didn't make enough effort to learn Morse Code - my bad. Now, I'd just like to listen in...

[elpinta]

C’mon, go all the way, no morse code needed!

[William of Barsoom]

let me tell you two other interesting (to me, anyway) things.

1) Some 18-wheel truckers — prefessional drivers — have ham licenses. Actually, quite a few. I do not know if they have an on-the-road ham frequency.

2) There’s an overnight trucker’s radio talkshow called “America’s Trucking Network.” You wanna know what a lot of regular working stiffs (like me) are thiking about and talking about over coffee at the travel plazas? Tune in to WLW, Cincinatti, 700 kHz AM from 1 am to 5 am EDST.

Now, what group could literally stop America cold if there was a General Strike in protest to — whatever? That’s right. Truckers. It’s important to know what they’re talking about.

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America’s_Trucking_Network

[Bobalu]

For an apocalyptic scenario one would want these radios.

-HF ham rig, 100watt, operable from low end of AM band to 30mhz. Most HF rigs can be made open in the entire range by clipping a diode internally...info found on internet.

-CB radio, still widely used and indispensable in an emergency situation.

-Tri-band 2m, 220, 440 ham radios...one for the car, the home and a handheld.

-VHF AM Aircraft band transceiver...these can be found new and used on ebay....coverage of the military aircraft band is also nice. A quick shout on 121.5 will be heard by all airliners within several hundred miles....they are all listening on this emergency frequency. 121.5 is also monitored by satellite so you will be heard no matter where you are... 243mhz is the military aviation emergency freq.

-VHF Marine radio...you can get these cheaply from many sources.

-FRS, Family Radio Service...the little 1/2 watt walkie talkies... many people will only have access to these so it’s nice to be able to talk to them. Mounting an external antenna or remote mounting a rig at the antenna feedpoint will give enormously increased range. In this band line-of-sight is everything...for instance, the frs frequencies are pure bedlam on board the space station...1/2 watt is easily enough to talk to the station when it is line of sight from you.

Some thought should be given to an emergency source of power for your radios. One solar panel and a deep discharge marine battery will suffice, you won’t have a lot of talk time at 100watts but at least you will have some.

[Never on my watch]

When the barak hits the fan, I don’t need no stinkin’ license.

I am not going to wait for a government permit to aid in the presevation of our nation.

[Clinging Bitterly]

I’ve been off the air for several years

I have been licensed for 31 years. In early 2000 I put everything away and took a long hiatus (but at least I kept all my gear).

Earlier this year I decided to start getting back into it, and that was actually sparked by a thread about SWL radios right here on FR. I had a Technician license that was first issued in 1982 so I was entitled to element 3 credit, a "free" upgrade to General. I went to a VE session to get the upgrade and the guys suggested I (and anyone else who got what they came for) take the successive exams. So I did, with no studying beforehand, a borrowed pencil and no calculator, take the Extra exam and I passed it. I was so jazzed.

And since then I have been having a ball with the hobby, especially my project assembling and perfecting my portable HF station. Also getting all the gear repaired, cleaned up, and tuned up after all those years of storage in the dusty garage.

Your point about not putting your call out on the public forum is good. I would never do it. I don't know if you are aware but 8 years ago or so (the last time I processed a renewal on the FCC site), I was surprised to learn the publicly accessible database had EVERYTHING, including SS and date of birth. NO GOOD. They have taken those out, and also you no longer need to provide a physical address - but in lots of cases street address and mailing address are the same, but you can use ANY type of address that receives mail - a UPS store or whatever. I don't have anything to hide, but when it comes to internet forums I still don't put out clues to my real identity.

[charmedone]

A good, used 3.5-30 mHz Transceiver (transmitter-receiver) can be gotten for under $2-300. As you have been told, 144 mHz gear is easily available.

Antennas can be horizontal wires or ‘beams’ or vertical antennas, 33’ or less. Rule of thumb-the more metal in the air and the higher in the air, the better.

Currently, propagation conditions (atmospheric factors that determine to a great extent, the range of communications) are at an all time low making long distance communications unreliable. The study of propagation can be a lifetime of work.

Strangely enough, these factors also determine weather patterns, e.g., global warming/cooling.

Anyway, you can, at times talk at great distances.

I have been operating ham radio since 1956. During that time I have had contacts with 356 “entities”. An entity is ham nomenclature for ‘country. The reason for so many more than actual political countries is that islands separated from the “mother country” are counted separately. E.g., USA and Hawaii and Alaska count as 3 different entities.

Finally, getting a ham ‘ticket’ (license) is a good idea no matter the reason. It is a fun, great hobby!

[_Jim]

HF ham rig, 100watt, operable from low end of AM band to 30mhz

The magnetics in the transmitter will saturate much below 1.7 or 1.8 MHz (the 160 M band), so, maybe that should be:

HF ham rig, 100watt, operable from low high end of AM band to 30MHz ...

(Note also the use of "MHz" vs mhz; mhz being undefined in terms of units and the scaling prefix.)

[Moose4]

One of the club officers in Virginia where I first got my license was a truck driver, but not long-haul...he worked for a Pepsi bottling company, and drove a rig from Lynchburg to Petersburg, picked up a load of syrup, and drove it back to the bottling plant in Lynchburg. Five days a week. Heck of a commute.

For a while I woke up listening to him and a few old-timers on a local repeater that had great coverage to the east. He could hit it from 75 miles away, so they had some nice long ragchews as he was driving back around 7 am.

My HF experience is very limited. I used to own an old Yaesu FT-101E in fair shape, but donated it to a local club when I moved a few years ago, we didn’t have room for it. Living in an apartment now, no room for an antenna and no time to operate, and only a little 5w QRP rig (Yaesu FT-817) to play with, that all equals no DXing for me!

I never could pass my 20 wpm code test. I always wanted to get Extra when 20 wpm was still the requirement, before they lowered it to 5, but I barely scraped through the 13 wpm to get my Advanced in 1995 and couldn’t hack the 20. Since I never took the exam, with the new license changes I’m not completely sure what privileges I have. My ticket still says “Advanced” on it but I think I have General privileges under the newer system.

}:-)4

[_Jim]

1) Some 18-wheel truckers — prefessional drivers — have ham licenses. Actually, quite a few. I do not know if they have an on-the-road ham frequency.

There are one or two that check in on 3840 in the morning; it is impressive to hear a transmission on 80 Meters mobile from half a state away (and that state be Texas)!

[elpinta]

Interesting stuff, to me too!