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Quoted: Went there and saved the page. Is the study guide just the practice questions? I'm trying to learn what I need to learn and less just recall the answer. Not that it won't be a strategy that gets used as well. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: The hamstudy.org study guide is free. Went there and saved the page. Is the study guide just the practice questions? I'm trying to learn what I need to learn and less just recall the answer. Not that it won't be a strategy that gets used as well. I don’t know about others, but you can click on answers on ham study & it will give you more detailed information on how the idea works. |
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Quoted: Went there and saved the page. Is the study guide just the practice questions? I'm trying to learn what I need to learn and less just recall the answer. Not that it won't be a strategy that gets used as well. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: The hamstudy.org study guide is free. Went there and saved the page. Is the study guide just the practice questions? I'm trying to learn what I need to learn and less just recall the answer. Not that it won't be a strategy that gets used as well. Find some of the YouTubers and learn the theory portions. KE0OG was my go-to, but there are no shortage of great lessons online. Worst case just ask in the Ham forum on here. |
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Quoted: I just kept nagging my friends to buy Yaesu Fusion radios . The reduction in static from a weak signal is simply amazing, but the big advantage is no one using a Baofeng can hear what you're saying . View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: I haven't played with fusion, it's not that big around here. My FT-25 is an APRS node and I use an Anytone 878 as my daily HT. The BF and FT-470 mostly collect dust. I just kept nagging my friends to buy Yaesu Fusion radios . The reduction in static from a weak signal is simply amazing, but the big advantage is no one using a Baofeng can hear what you're saying . DMR is the big digital mode around here. I have an Icom with D-Star but haven't used that mode very much to be honest. |
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My and a guy at work did some test and figured stuff out on our own and with YouTube vids.
What we learned. The upgraded whip antenna transmits much better that the stock rubber ducky. Those big tactical folding antennas work great too. I feel the bigger ones will give you high SWRs and will heat up your radio faster tho... Transmitting for a long time on high (8 watts) will get it hot. Learn how to use CHIRP program. Lots in info on YouTube. It has preloaded channels that come in handy. I have two programming cables. One of them is defective. This is Chinese shit, you might get a dud with some parts. Transmit distance depends on how high (elevation) you can get your antenna. We have done about 5 miles away with decent conditions. Buy more than one so you can test things out with a friend or family member. |
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Quoted: At the beginning of the pandemic there was a lot of talk about online licensure and Alaska or something offering it. Has there been any movement towards more widespread online testing? I found a few places that do it via Zoom, so that could be a nice option. View Quote I did mine via Zoom, early in the Covid, there were about 20 of us in a meeting, some new Tech, some upgrading, there were about 8 VE who were monitoring each test, seemed to go pretty smooth. you can find TESTING here Quoted: Hamstudy.org is what you need. My son and I studied at a slow pace for two weeks and each scored high on the test. He was 12 at the time. View Quote hamstudy.org ... is really a good place to start to study, they also have an app for your phone, costs a few bucks but well worth it |
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couple links for the BaoFeng radios
UV5R Menu Programming the UV54 but for real.... download CHIRP and get a legit cable , use Radio Reference and Repeater Book for Public Safety frequenies to listen to *make sure you are locked out of transmitting, and the local 2M / 440 repeaters, add in the national calling frequencies, maybe NOAA, etc, I have USCG added to mine also |
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Quoted: Imagine someone posts that they just bought a car, and they want someone to tell them briefly how to get from LA to DC. They've never driven before and don't know what a road is. Licensing is for suckers, and they have no interest in blinkers, or rules like stopping at red lights because that stuff is for nerds. All they want to do is drive across the country to meet their friend. View Quote Yeah I get that. Good point. But what it feels like from an outsider is: Instead of a cool guy saying "hey flip on your blinkers before you change lanes" feels more like this guy: Attached File Saying "ackshewalee, in this county the operator of a motor vehicle above 49cubic centimeters of displacement must signal intent to leave his designated lane of travel no later than 4.738 seconds prior to inputting steering correction. The signal needs to be amber wavelength of 87lumens or greater, which a 1996 Toyota Corolla is ayckually not capable of. Therefore any said corolla driver should always use the appropriate hand signal to comply with regulation 43-xxzed.3R/niner2" (Said with a sort of internal pleasure tone from knowing and following obscure code.) (That said, you and mike and ed and bryce have not been like that to me) |
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Quoted: I understand that. But in my limited experience/ exposure, it "feels" different than just that. It feels like they actually enjoy and like the whole rules and procedures thing. Not that they just do it out of necessity. Like they thrive on it. Hard to explain. Again... I have almost no knowledge and experience on it just what I have observed in the testing and brief reading and video watching I've done. View Quote They don't want it to become like cb radio. That was a shit show of galactic proportions. I have no problems with having and following rules. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I'm that guy who bought two Beofong's, charged em, and stuck em in a drawer. Being able to use them in SHTF interests me. Fiddling with, learning their complicated operation does not. Looking VERY forward to this thread. Worth repeating. 100% this. i want a basic working knowledge for emergencies not a 2-4 hour a week "hobby" from it. i'd be willing to pay 50 bucks for a 10 hours of youtube content of this is exactly how you set everything up and make it work. |
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Quoted: They don't want it to become like cb radio. That was a shit show of galactic proportions. I have no problems with having and following rules. View Quote I know it's different , but look at texting and social media. My 9 year old niece was facetime calling her neighbor friend at Christmas. They were all texting each other. Anyone can jump on social media and DM someone and coordinate meeting and community effectively. Millions of people do it with zero knowledge of the internal workings or rules about it. But hammers gotta ham. (I know they are apples and oranges, but to me, Interesting dichotomy amplified by the personality that ham draws to it) |
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Quoted: Not exactly true. As a ham you are allowed to build and modify your own radios. Someone with only a GMRS license cannot use a Boafeng on GMRS channels, but a ham can if he has a GMRS license as well. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: They're not legal for FRS/GMRS because they have a removable antenna and exceed max power on some channels. <---not a ham nazi Not exactly true. As a ham you are allowed to build and modify your own radios. Someone with only a GMRS license cannot use a Boafeng on GMRS channels, but a ham can if he has a GMRS license as well. Untrue. Amateur license means nothing on GMRS or anywhere else other than amateur. Amateurs can use non type-approved radios within their licensed privileges on the amateur bands. To be legal on GMRS requires a GMRS type approved radio, with the exception of some much older Part 90 LMR gear. To be frank, nobody will care if you use new Part 90 radios on GMRS if you do it and keep your mouth shut and don't cause problems, but it's technically not legal. One of the problems with Baofengs is their technical performance is generally very poor, they generally can't even meet the tech specs for amateur much less for LMR or GMRS, so can cause interference issues even if programmed correctly. Quoted: Rugged race radios for the win Alex Who just got cited and/or fined by the FCC for advertising and selling non-type approved radios. Quoted: Quoted: They don't want it to become like cb radio. That was a shit show of galactic proportions. I have no problems with having and following rules. I know it's different , but look at texting and social media. My 9 year old niece was facetime calling her neighbor friend at Christmas. They were all texting each other. Anyone can jump on social media and DM someone and coordinate meeting and community effectively. Millions of people do it with zero knowledge of the internal workings or rules about it. But hammers gotta ham. (I know they are apples and oranges, but to me, Interesting dichotomy amplified by the personality that ham draws to it) It's exasperating to have to keep going over this with people who don't know what they're doing and insist on putting down folks who are knowledgeable about communications, some of whom are amateurs, some not, but all who tend to get branded "ham guys". Those things work because there are armies of technical people behind the scenes making them work and keeping everything humming along mostly in harmony. In amateur radio, it's dependent on EVERY INDIVIDUAL AMATEUR OPERATOR to be their own technical person and make sure they aren't causing problems, and be accountable if they are. This responsibility and accountability is the only reason they get the freedom to do what they can do, ie, "this is why we can have nice things". If your goal is radio antifa and wantonly destroy the nice things, then yes people are going to try to correct your behavior. The amateur service is different than Land Mobile, Marine, Aviation, CB, GMRS, FRS, Broadcasting, or anything else, it has both unique privileges as well as unique responsibilities. Either accept them or don't. If you want the privileges, put in the work. Until then, STFU about those who have. Buy some legal consumer communications, turn them on and use them, and leave the technical stuff to others. If there is anything about amateur radio, it's that you have to be self-motivated and self-accountable. Insisting that other people need to instruct you on how to do whatever you want to do is the complete antithesis of the spirit and purpose of the amateur radio service. |
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Quoted: I know it's different , but look at texting and social media. My 9 year old niece was facetime calling her neighbor friend at Christmas. They were all texting each other. Anyone can jump on social media and DM someone and coordinate meeting and community effectively. Millions of people do it with zero knowledge of the internal workings or rules about it. But hammers gotta ham. (I know they are apples and oranges, but to me, Interesting dichotomy amplified by the personality that ham draws to it) View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: They don't want it to become like cb radio. That was a shit show of galactic proportions. I have no problems with having and following rules. I know it's different , but look at texting and social media. My 9 year old niece was facetime calling her neighbor friend at Christmas. They were all texting each other. Anyone can jump on social media and DM someone and coordinate meeting and community effectively. Millions of people do it with zero knowledge of the internal workings or rules about it. But hammers gotta ham. (I know they are apples and oranges, but to me, Interesting dichotomy amplified by the personality that ham draws to it) That cell phone works because people are following spectrum licensing rules. And that DM works as long as the people who run the network are able to (see AT&T after the RV) and allow you to (see tech companies blocking users and content). Just like some shooters like reloading for various reasons, some people like the art that is amateur radio. |
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Quoted: I know it's different , but look at texting and social media. My 9 year old niece was facetime calling her neighbor friend at Christmas. They were all texting each other. Anyone can jump on social media and DM someone and coordinate meeting and community effectively. Millions of people do it with zero knowledge of the internal workings or rules about it. But hammers gotta ham. (I know they are apples and oranges, but to me, Interesting dichotomy amplified by the personality that ham draws to it) View Quote When they face time, it is just them. When they text, it is just their group. If you get on a repeater, everyone on the repeater can hear you. It is completely different, and requires different protocol. Hell, there are people on this forum who pay zero attention th nfa rules, and others who would drop a dime on you if they knew you were violating them. |
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Quoted: 100% this. i want a basic working knowledge for emergencies not a 2-4 hour a week "hobby" from it. i'd be willing to pay 50 bucks for a 10 hours of youtube content of this is exactly how you set everything up and make it work. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I'm that guy who bought two Beofong's, charged em, and stuck em in a drawer. Being able to use them in SHTF interests me. Fiddling with, learning their complicated operation does not. Looking VERY forward to this thread. Worth repeating. 100% this. i want a basic working knowledge for emergencies not a 2-4 hour a week "hobby" from it. i'd be willing to pay 50 bucks for a 10 hours of youtube content of this is exactly how you set everything up and make it work. The information in this thread will give you the info you need to get a license and program a baofeng. But ham isn’t plug and play. You’re going to have to go hands on a little bit to figure things out. For instance, there’s 3 repeaters in my area. I can hit one from my house, one east of town, and I’ve never hit the third one. It may not even actually exist. There’s another repeater north of town that’s pretty awesome, but it’s not listed in any book. I had to find out about it from another ham that does disaster relief. If I had stuck my radio in a drawer and never used it until the blue helmets came rolling through the neighborhood, I’d have never known that & been SOL. If all you want is to be able to talk to someone radio to radio, you might as well get a blister pack radio at Walmart. Honestly I use my blister pack radios more than I use my ham, there’s nothing wrong with them. But if you want to be able use repeaters and know who to talk to when things go sideways, you’re going to have to play with them a little bit. |
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Quoted: Yet if you ask nicely people are happy to help. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: ... Insisting that other people need to instruct you on how to do whatever you want to do is the complete antithesis of the spirit and purpose of the amateur radio service. Yet if you ask nicely people are happy to help. Spent some time last night typing out some lengthy answers to someone who wanted to get started - "I want to learn how to accomplish this". Gave them some tips to get there. Lots of people in the ham forum will help with all kinds of things. Constant complaints by people who don't like the rules or that rules even exist are a different matter. We don't make the rules, don't blame us for pointing them out. Some are there for good reasons which people may or may not understand. Some are just a matter of accepting the natural laws/physics of radio communications. Quoted: But ham isn’t plug and play. You’re going to have to go hands on a little bit to figure things out. But if you want to be able use repeaters and know who to talk to when things go sideways, you’re going to have to play with them a little bit. Exactly. If you want to do *amateur radio*, you're going to have to build a skillset to know what you're doing, or it's just not going to work. There isn't any way around that. Not only will it not work, you may well screw up other people inadvertently. If all you want is your baofengs programmed to talk to your kids at the park, you don't need an amateur license, you just need some help getting appropriate frequencies (like GMRS/FRS) programmed into the radios. And sorry if it offends anyone that we point that out, that you can't/shouldn't just use any frequency you want. Quoted: I bought a pair of them for SHTF... figured I would ask some questions and learn a thing or 2. Despite the help from many people here I feel dumber than ever.... My plan now is to toss them in a drawer. When shtf I will pull them out and scream HELP into them. I think it’s a good plan. I just bought a GUN. It looks scary. I don't know how it works or what I need to do with GUN. It's all way to complicated. Why does GUN have to be so difficult, and those snobby people that already have GUN are so annoying with their rules like "treat every GUN like it's loaded". I'm just going to put it back in the box. If I really need it someday I'll give it a go, after all, if it's that bad I can't make it any worse, right? Oh yeah, I got this box of ammo, says "300 Blackout", that sounds cool. I think it'll be great with my GUN, if there's ever SHTF and I really need it. I'm not trying to make fun of you distortion, just offer an example that radio communications is a technically intensive pursuit, and some level of knowledge and skill development is simply necessary. Consumer products that don't require technical knowledge to set up and use are vastly easier in this regard. |
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Quoted: It's exasperating to have to keep going over this with people who don't know what they're doing and insist on putting down folks who are knowledgeable about communications, some of whom are amateurs, some not, but all who tend to get branded "ham guys". View Quote I get the argument that government has no inherent right to regulate airwaves. That's a rock solid point and I won't pretend otherwise. But I also understand that we aren't going to change that here. Apart from the FCC it's entirely possible that best practices and spontaneous order might develop (just like a 4-way intersection when the red light goes out) but we don't know that, and this thread isn't going to change it. I really wish people would just move past that and focus on the tech side of things. I'm learning a lot here. I genuinely appreciate all the info that's been posted (or pointed to) here so far. |
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Quoted: Example - if you are holding a HT radio (like a Bfeng), your antenna is about 5' off the ground which gives you a 2.7 mile LOS before it is cut off by the horizon. Get that antenna 10' off the ground on top of your truck and now your LOS to the horizon increases to 3.9 miles. If you get a short mast up in your back yard about 25' high it can see 6.1 miles out. A repeater antenna 400' up has a 24.5 miles LOS to the horizon and some repeaters are higher. One repeater in my area is 730' up on a TV tower, so it has a 33.1 mile LOS. View Quote Keep in mind your values are assuming the receiving antenna is on the ground. LOS between two people (1.8m tall) is roughly 6 miles, almost 7miles for Max VHF range. |
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Quoted: Keep in mind your values are assuming the receiving antenna is on the ground. LOS between two people (1.8m tall) is roughly 6 miles, almost 7miles for Max VHF range. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Example - if you are holding a HT radio (like a Bfeng), your antenna is about 5' off the ground which gives you a 2.7 mile LOS before it is cut off by the horizon. Get that antenna 10' off the ground on top of your truck and now your LOS to the horizon increases to 3.9 miles. If you get a short mast up in your back yard about 25' high it can see 6.1 miles out. A repeater antenna 400' up has a 24.5 miles LOS to the horizon and some repeaters are higher. One repeater in my area is 730' up on a TV tower, so it has a 33.1 mile LOS. Keep in mind your values are assuming the receiving antenna is on the ground. LOS between two people (1.8m tall) is roughly 6 miles, almost 7miles for Max VHF range. Assuming.....many things. |
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Quoted: I get the argument that government has no inherent right to regulate airwaves. That's a rock solid point and I won't pretend otherwise. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: It's exasperating to have to keep going over this with people who don't know what they're doing and insist on putting down folks who are knowledgeable about communications, some of whom are amateurs, some not, but all who tend to get branded "ham guys". I get the argument that government has no inherent right to regulate airwaves. That's a rock solid point and I won't pretend otherwise. It's not rock solid at all, it's a ludicrous excuse for ignorance. The reason your cell phone works, your GPS works, your key fob unlocks your car doors, why the ambulance telemetry makes it back to the hospital, why the volunteer fire department can get dispatched, and a million other things in modern life work at all, is because there is a degree of order imposed on the radio spectrum and on the people that use it. Someone puts their Baofengs on the wrong frequency, the person who might save your life doesn't get their fire page. It's that simple. Without some order, the radio spectrum becomes downtown Portland, and civilization ends. It's that simple. And none of the above have anything to do with the amateur radio service, but somehow "ham guys" are responsible for all these ridiculous rules and need for order. |
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Quoted: It's not rock solid at all, it's a ludicrous excuse for ignorance. The reason your cell phone works, your GPS works, your key fob unlocks your car doors, why the ambulance telemetry makes it back to the hospital, why the volunteer fire department can get dispatched, and a million other things in modern life work at all, is because there is a degree of order imposed on the radio spectrum and on the people that use it. Without some order, the radio spectrum becomes downtown Portland, and civilization dies. It's that simple. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: It's exasperating to have to keep going over this with people who don't know what they're doing and insist on putting down folks who are knowledgeable about communications, some of whom are amateurs, some not, but all who tend to get branded "ham guys". I get the argument that government has no inherent right to regulate airwaves. That's a rock solid point and I won't pretend otherwise. It's not rock solid at all, it's a ludicrous excuse for ignorance. The reason your cell phone works, your GPS works, your key fob unlocks your car doors, why the ambulance telemetry makes it back to the hospital, why the volunteer fire department can get dispatched, and a million other things in modern life work at all, is because there is a degree of order imposed on the radio spectrum and on the people that use it. Without some order, the radio spectrum becomes downtown Portland, and civilization dies. It's that simple. That said, I personally believe the FCC and FAA should have constitutional amendments giving the federal government the power. |
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Quoted: It's not rock solid at all, it's a ludicrous excuse for ignorance. The reason your cell phone works, your GPS works, your key fob unlocks your car doors, why the ambulance telemetry makes it back to the hospital, why the volunteer fire department can get dispatched, and a million other things in modern life work at all, is because there is a degree of order imposed on the radio spectrum and on the people that use it. Without some order, the radio spectrum becomes downtown Portland, and civilization ends. It's that simple. View Quote Let's just focus on tech stuff. This thread has a lot of good info. Much provided by you. Let's not ruin it. |
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Quoted: Untrue. Amateur license means nothing on GMRS or anywhere else other than amateur. Amateurs can use non type-approved radios within their licensed privileges on the amateur bands. To be legal on GMRS requires a GMRS type approved radio, with the exception of some much older Part 90 LMR gear. To be frank, nobody will care if you use new Part 90 radios on GMRS if you do it and keep your mouth shut and don't cause problems, but it's technically not legal. One of the problems with Baofengs is their technical performance is generally very poor, they generally can't even meet the tech specs for amateur much less for LMR or GMRS, so can cause interference issues even if programmed correctly. Who just got cited and/or fined by the FCC for advertising and selling non-type approved radios. It's exasperating to have to keep going over this with people who don't know what they're doing and insist on putting down folks who are knowledgeable about communications, some of whom are amateurs, some not, but all who tend to get branded "ham guys". Those things work because there are armies of technical people behind the scenes making them work and keeping everything humming along mostly in harmony. In amateur radio, it's dependent on EVERY INDIVIDUAL AMATEUR OPERATOR to be their own technical person and make sure they aren't causing problems, and be accountable if they are. This responsibility and accountability is the only reason they get the freedom to do what they can do, ie, "this is why we can have nice things". If your goal is radio antifa and wantonly destroy the nice things, then yes people are going to try to correct your behavior. The amateur service is different than Land Mobile, Marine, Aviation, CB, GMRS, FRS, Broadcasting, or anything else, it has both unique privileges as well as unique responsibilities. Either accept them or don't. If you want the privileges, put in the work. Until then, STFU about those who have. Buy some legal consumer communications, turn them on and use them, and leave the technical stuff to others. If there is anything about amateur radio, it's that you have to be self-motivated and self-accountable. Insisting that other people need to instruct you on how to do whatever you want to do is the complete antithesis of the spirit and purpose of the amateur radio service. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: They're not legal for FRS/GMRS because they have a removable antenna and exceed max power on some channels. <---not a ham nazi Not exactly true. As a ham you are allowed to build and modify your own radios. Someone with only a GMRS license cannot use a Boafeng on GMRS channels, but a ham can if he has a GMRS license as well. Untrue. Amateur license means nothing on GMRS or anywhere else other than amateur. Amateurs can use non type-approved radios within their licensed privileges on the amateur bands. To be legal on GMRS requires a GMRS type approved radio, with the exception of some much older Part 90 LMR gear. To be frank, nobody will care if you use new Part 90 radios on GMRS if you do it and keep your mouth shut and don't cause problems, but it's technically not legal. One of the problems with Baofengs is their technical performance is generally very poor, they generally can't even meet the tech specs for amateur much less for LMR or GMRS, so can cause interference issues even if programmed correctly. Quoted: Rugged race radios for the win Alex Who just got cited and/or fined by the FCC for advertising and selling non-type approved radios. Quoted: Quoted: They don't want it to become like cb radio. That was a shit show of galactic proportions. I have no problems with having and following rules. I know it's different , but look at texting and social media. My 9 year old niece was facetime calling her neighbor friend at Christmas. They were all texting each other. Anyone can jump on social media and DM someone and coordinate meeting and community effectively. Millions of people do it with zero knowledge of the internal workings or rules about it. But hammers gotta ham. (I know they are apples and oranges, but to me, Interesting dichotomy amplified by the personality that ham draws to it) It's exasperating to have to keep going over this with people who don't know what they're doing and insist on putting down folks who are knowledgeable about communications, some of whom are amateurs, some not, but all who tend to get branded "ham guys". Those things work because there are armies of technical people behind the scenes making them work and keeping everything humming along mostly in harmony. In amateur radio, it's dependent on EVERY INDIVIDUAL AMATEUR OPERATOR to be their own technical person and make sure they aren't causing problems, and be accountable if they are. This responsibility and accountability is the only reason they get the freedom to do what they can do, ie, "this is why we can have nice things". If your goal is radio antifa and wantonly destroy the nice things, then yes people are going to try to correct your behavior. The amateur service is different than Land Mobile, Marine, Aviation, CB, GMRS, FRS, Broadcasting, or anything else, it has both unique privileges as well as unique responsibilities. Either accept them or don't. If you want the privileges, put in the work. Until then, STFU about those who have. Buy some legal consumer communications, turn them on and use them, and leave the technical stuff to others. If there is anything about amateur radio, it's that you have to be self-motivated and self-accountable. Insisting that other people need to instruct you on how to do whatever you want to do is the complete antithesis of the spirit and purpose of the amateur radio service. I knew someone would dispute him. Never mind that he'd be over power by 1/2 watt on channels 8-14. |
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Just .25 worth. Real repeaters are fairly complicated devices. They have to have serious filters to be able to be able to transmit and recieve at the same time on the same band without interfering with themselves. A much simpler route (which is apparently a feature built into a lot of mobile radios) is to Transmit and receive simultaneously on separate bands. While simplex is probably iffy from one corner of my ranch to another (due to trees, hills, valleys, etc... If I have a decent antenna on top of a hill, it would go a long way to bulletproof those communications.
A response team I am part of I think is doing something similar, with a trailer mounted comms system and a telescoping antenna to get up above ground clutter. They had had issues with HT's usable range sometimes being less than 2 blocks. That said, I think it is more likely that they set up teams to work on one channel, with a separate channel to talk to the trailer and relay between teams. |
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Easy to use, automatic repeater memory, 65 watts, external antenna, etc
https://hamcity.com/best-sellers/tm-281a.html |
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Quoted: Just .25 worth. Real repeaters are fairly complicated devices. They have to have serious filters to be able to be able to transmit and recieve at the same time on the same band without interfering with themselves. A much simpler route (which is apparently a feature built into a lot of mobile radios) is to Transmit and receive simultaneously on separate bands. While simplex is probably iffy from one corner of my ranch to another (due to trees, hills, valleys, etc... If I have a decent antenna on top of a hill, it would go a long way to bulletproof those communications. A response team I am part of I think is doing something similar, with a trailer mounted comms system and a telescoping antenna to get up above ground clutter. They had had issues with HT's usable range sometimes being less than 2 blocks. That said, I think it is more likely that they set up teams to work on one channel, with a separate channel to talk to the trailer and relay between teams. View Quote While I haven't had a chance to play with it, my Anytone 578 can do DMR repeating on a simplex frequency by receiving on one time slot and transmitting on the other. Makes for some pretty interesting use cases. |
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Quoted: Easy to use, automatic repeater memory, 65 watts, external antenna, etc https://hamcity.com/best-sellers/tm-281a.html https://hamcity.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/900x600/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/t/m/tm-281a_1.jpg View Quote I have one of those that once ham fests happen again I'm going to get a TNC and turn it into a packet station. |
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For giggles I'll do my best to answer. Original questions are in red.
-What's a watt of transmission power? one volt-Ampere of power. What's the difference between 5w and 8w? 3 Watts. In practical transmission terms there isn't much difference except the 8W radio burns through it's battery faster. Do antennas matter? Probably THE most important part of your radio that you can control. But to work optimally the antenna should be tuned to the individual radio (generally that isn't done with HTs, but as with everything there are exceptions). -What are shortwave, cb, ham, frs, or gmrs bands? Who/how are they regulated? In the US the FCC regulates them all and sets up the rules. FRS and CB don't require any kind of license, GMRS requires a license (that can cover your entire family) and allows for more radio mods, HAM is a nickname for armature license radio operators. Shortwave is a range of frequencies/band that cover HF to UHF. It's an old term that was coined to separate the modern frequencies we use from the really long waves of early radio. -What's a transmit frequency? What's a receiving frequency? Why are they different? Transmit frequency is the radio frequency you broadcast on. The receiving frequency is the one you are listening to. Sometimes they are the same (like with FRS radios or when you use CB). When they are different, it's so when you are broadcasting you can still receive (for example with repeaters). When you don't use different transmit/receive frequencies that is called simplex communication. -What's a tone? Why do we use tones? A tone is a signal attached to the transmission. It's used to turn off the squelch of the receiver. That allows your radio stay quiet when you're not receiving a broadcast. Otherwise you have to deal with static. -What's a repeater? Why are repeaters so important? Where do I find their physical location? That really 3 questions. A repeater is a radio that receives a transmission and rebroadcasts it on a separate frequency (usually). They can also have special features like tying into the phone network or connectable via the internet. Repeaters are usually setup so the transmit/receive frequencies are a set distance apart on the same band. However there are cross band repeaters that may receive on one band (2meters) but transmit on another band (70cm), this feature is included in some dual band radios. They are important because they allow VHF/UHF radios to broadcast over much longer distances as they are much more powerful and will have a superior antenna that is much higher (see that earlier post). So 2 guys with HTs can talk, under optimal conditions for 6 miles, with a terrestrial repeater I can contact people tens or even a hundred miles away if it's high enough. Using a satellite repeater (and yes they exist) your HT's broadcast range is now roughly 1000 miles. How can you find them? There is a website, repeaterbook.com, with the locations of repeaters that clubs want to share, they also have an Android app you can use. But if you're a good HAM with a directional antenna, some driving and map skills will allow you to DF the site.... -How do I set my radio up so I can hear people I know, when they talk, from half a county away? Set it up to the use the local repeaters. For that I'd suggest using CHIRP, a programming cable, and the help of a local HAM -Where do I find local emergency frequencies? Talk with your local Ham, join the local Ham club (you don't have to go to all the meetings but it will give you access to more info), or contact your county EMS to see if they have setup public frequencies. If you're LDS, see if your parish has a armature radio group. I know the local LDS guys have a great network and they have generously incorporated our small Lutheran group. Note the ARFCOM survival forum has their own emergency frequency list and you might go there to get the frequencies. At this time I'll note in an emergency most repeaters I know of are taken over by the club that owns them and they set up a rigid net. You must ask permission to join and have a valid license to enter the net. Some clubs limit the net to their members. We have a local club that has 4 repeaters during an emergency 1 UHF and 1 VHF are setup with these emergency nets, the other 2 are left open (however those are the two that don't have generators so if the power goes down...). Again I will say this club was cool with us (Nerdy Lutherans) run a quick net during a snow emergency so we could check on our congregation (we have lots of elderly). In my experience most hams are cool guys in an emergency and want to help, as long as you are licensed and follow the rules. -I bought a BaoFeng radio. I charged it and stuck it in a drawer. What does it do? Collects dust and provides false peace of mind. If one doesn't know how to use it or what frequencies/tones to set it on then it's just a brick. Knowing how to use is not just turn it on, set a frequency and push to talk. If you want to take advantage of repeaters (esp. in an emergency) you need to know how to deal with a network. In my area the clubs run a practice net on most repeaters weekly at a set time. It allows everyone a chance to practice and/or test their gear. Sessions are usually short, and discussions that may come up might include what IPAs are on tap at the local pub, or what antenna should you buy for your Chi-Com HT. |
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Can a baofeng be used as a repeater ? Tape baofeng to drone. Fly drone at 500m when communicating, profit ’’yeah, I understand none of this is legal.
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Quoted: It's not rock solid at all, it's a ludicrous excuse for ignorance. The reason your cell phone works, your GPS works, your key fob unlocks your car doors, why the ambulance telemetry makes it back to the hospital, why the volunteer fire department can get dispatched, and a million other things in modern life work at all, is because there is a degree of order imposed on the radio spectrum and on the people that use it. Someone puts their Baofengs on the wrong frequency, the person who might save your life doesn't get their fire page. It's that simple. Without some order, the radio spectrum becomes downtown Portland, and civilization ends. It's that simple. And none of the above have anything to do with the amateur radio service, but somehow "ham guys" are responsible for all these ridiculous rules and need for order. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: It's exasperating to have to keep going over this with people who don't know what they're doing and insist on putting down folks who are knowledgeable about communications, some of whom are amateurs, some not, but all who tend to get branded "ham guys". I get the argument that government has no inherent right to regulate airwaves. That's a rock solid point and I won't pretend otherwise. It's not rock solid at all, it's a ludicrous excuse for ignorance. The reason your cell phone works, your GPS works, your key fob unlocks your car doors, why the ambulance telemetry makes it back to the hospital, why the volunteer fire department can get dispatched, and a million other things in modern life work at all, is because there is a degree of order imposed on the radio spectrum and on the people that use it. Someone puts their Baofengs on the wrong frequency, the person who might save your life doesn't get their fire page. It's that simple. Without some order, the radio spectrum becomes downtown Portland, and civilization ends. It's that simple. And none of the above have anything to do with the amateur radio service, but somehow "ham guys" are responsible for all these ridiculous rules and need for order. Came to post this but you explained it better than I could have. THERE IS A FINITE AMOUNT OF BANDWIDTH/FREQUENCIES that everyone has to share. Everyday there are more and more devices out there, and more and more devices are going wireless, which means they use radio waves. Private or .gov, radio waves MUST be regulated for everything to work. Like it or not, this is the reality. Amateur Radio in the U.S., aka ham radio, is regulated by the FCC. To date, the FCC has been fairly hands-off and allowed hams to self police. We have a decent amount of privileges as far as licensing, bands and power we can TX on/at. If a bunch of tards with cheap Chinese radios create a bunch of interference and problems because "fuck the rules, bunch of nerds", we WILL lose those privileges. That's why you get the hall monitor attitude from lots of hams. Just take the freaking test, get your license, go use your radio and learn. |
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View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Assuming.....many things. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/162/indeed-1031212.jpg ETA - there, I have put more qualifiers and exemptions in my post. I feel like a lawyer. |
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Quoted: Can a baofeng be used as a repeater ? Tape baofeng to drone. Fly drone at 500m when communicating, profit ’’yeah, I understand none of this is legal. View Quote Theoretically.....you could use a simplex repeater controller. Fun story, 20 years or so ago when I was in Civil Air Patrol there were a couple planes in the state with repeaters in them. For an exercise or mission a couple guys would go park at about 5,000 and give coverage over a lot of ground. |
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Quoted: Just .25 worth. Real repeaters are fairly complicated devices. They have to have serious filters to be able to be able to transmit and recieve at the same time on the same band without interfering with themselves. A much simpler route (which is apparently a feature built into a lot of mobile radios) is to Transmit and receive simultaneously on separate bands. View Quote Yes that is much simpler Buy a Kenwood V71A Then watch this so you can set the radio up as a crossband repeater (which any of the dual band HTs could work through. Setup the Crossband Repeater on a Kenwood TM VT71A - AF5DN |
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Quoted: Yes that is much simpler Buy a Kenwood V71A Then watch this so you can set the radio up as a crossband repeater (which any of the dual band HTs could work through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdQS7ZcZXAE View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Just .25 worth. Real repeaters are fairly complicated devices. They have to have serious filters to be able to be able to transmit and recieve at the same time on the same band without interfering with themselves. A much simpler route (which is apparently a feature built into a lot of mobile radios) is to Transmit and receive simultaneously on separate bands. Yes that is much simpler Buy a Kenwood V71A Then watch this so you can set the radio up as a crossband repeater (which any of the dual band HTs could work through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdQS7ZcZXAE I know there are also a couple of Kenwoods that have a nice feature where they will Morse ID on UHF when they are cross-banding to keep you most legal. |
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Quoted: Can a baofeng be used as a repeater ? Tape baofeng to drone. Fly drone at 500m when communicating, profit ’’yeah, I understand none of this is legal. View Quote No. But two of them could be setup as a crude dual band repeater. Set up a Baofeng UV-5R Repeater System |
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Quoted: I know there are also a couple of Kenwoods that have a nice feature where they will Morse ID on UHF when they are cross-banding to keep you most legal. View Quote The one I posted will do that, he shows how in it. That's the radio I had mounted in my Jeep, till the 3rd rainstorm w/o a top killed it. I need to replace or fix it. |
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Quoted: Can a baofeng be used as a repeater ? Tape baofeng to drone. Fly drone at 500m when communicating, profit ’’yeah, I understand none of this is legal. View Quote I believe you can link two Bfengs together to make a crossband repeater but the weight would be too much for the drone. There are single HTs with a crossband repeater function, but you'd still kill the drone battery very quickly and probably burn the motors out. Crossband repeat also kills the radio's battery faster than normal simplex use. Also, technically crossband repeating is illegal with most radios because the outgoing transmission from the crossband repeater doesn't have an ID unless your radio has that feature to self ID. |
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Quoted: Theoretically.....you could use a simplex repeater controller. Fun story, 20 years or so ago when I was in Civil Air Patrol there were a couple planes in the state with repeaters in them. For an exercise or mission a couple guys would go park at about 5,000 and give coverage over a lot of ground. View Quote That is freaking cool. |
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One of the reasons amature radio people might seem a bit different, is some like to explore just what they can do with equipment. A HT might not have much of an antenna, but a slingshot, some rope and a correct length of wire can make a reasonable intimation of a base station antenna in a couple minutes at a remote location. Then you might not be 6' tall anymore, but 30 or 40' depending on how high a branch you can get your string over.
Likewise, understanding voice over skip might not always be the easiest thing, but AM pulses, with far less bandwidth than voice might be much easier. Don't want to learn Morris code, no problems - a simple computer attached to radio can do the work for you. While unnecessarily complicating simple things (such as trying to see how far you can get a signal with 5 watts), the ability and knowledge might come in handy latter when all you have is a small battery to power your rig. So trying to talk around the world with a couple watts and a portable antenna becomes a game. Meanwhile doing the same thing with 100watts and a tower and voice is a different game. Triangulation with directional antenna and finding a hidden tx becomes a different game. Learning how to communicate accurately and concisely for an emergency becomes a different game. So while what you might be hearing is a bunch of old men talking about their latest knee pain, what is actually going on is a bunch of people perfecting a communication system that can be rolled out quickly when necessary as opposed to reinventing the wheel after the shit hits the fan. --- tones can also be used to activate repeaters. If you don't have the correct tone, you don't get repeated. |
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Quoted: The Boafeng is an incredibly powerful communication network. This is the place where they send out the target lists and strike orders. When SHTF Trump won’t be sending out tweets anymore, but will instead send out chirps over Baofeng. Because the ham nazis don’t want you to have this powerful tool they have unconstitutionality restricted your access to it via a set of incredibly complex and expensive exams. View Quote Please tell me more about these “chirps” |
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Quoted: Yes that is much simpler Buy a Kenwood V71A Then watch this so you can set the radio up as a crossband repeater (which any of the dual band HTs could work through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdQS7ZcZXAE View Quote My TYT TH-UV8000D Ht can do that. Only 10 watts, but self contained, and easy to hide in a tree, or other high spot for a temporary repeater. |
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Quoted: My TYT TH-UV8000D Ht can do that. Only 10 watts, but self contained, and easy to hide in a tree, or other high spot for a temporary repeater. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Yes that is much simpler Buy a Kenwood V71A Then watch this so you can set the radio up as a crossband repeater (which any of the dual band HTs could work through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdQS7ZcZXAE My TYT TH-UV8000D Ht can do that. Only 10 watts, but self contained, and easy to hide in a tree, or other high spot for a temporary repeater. My old as heck FT-470 can do it too. |
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Quoted: Ham radio is one of those things you need to do hands-on to really learn, so I would suggest getting your Technician AND General license first. You can take both tests and get your General the same day. Also, nothing is stopping you from also taking the Extra and getting an Extra license if you pass the General and also take and pass the Extra. People take and pass all three tests the same day, not that uncommon. Ham radio has more to do with the regulation of frequencies and transmit power, so there is no such thing as a specific "Ham radio", there are many different types. The main two types of Ham radios are radios that transmit on VHF/UHF (or 2m/70cm) and those that transmit on HF, which stands for high frequency. VHF/UHF radios work on line-of-sight (LOS) propagation, which makes their range relatively short. The main factor that determines the maximum range of a VHF/UHF radio is how high up the antenna is, not transmit power. Repeaters serve the purpose of extending the range of these VHF/UHF radios by putting a shared antenna very high in the air which greatly increases LOS. Example - if you are holding a HT radio (like a Bfeng), your antenna is about 5' off the ground which gives you a 2.7 mile LOS before it is cut off by the horizon. Get that antenna 10' off the ground on top of your truck and now your LOS to the horizon increases to 3.9 miles. If you get a short mast up in your back yard about 25' high it can see 6.1 miles out. A repeater antenna 400' up has a 24.5 miles LOS to the horizon and some repeaters are higher. One repeater in my area is 730' up on a TV tower, so it has a 33.1 mile LOS. Keep in mind, radio waves do travel further than physical LOS. You will typically get 10%+ past LOS. This is called the radio horizon. Also keep in mind that LOS/radio horizon formulas are based on nominal conditions - terrain, buildings, even rain can reduce range. Handheld radios are VHF/UHF and typically have 5-10 watts of transmit power. Mobile rigs are typically VHF/UHF and normally have around 50 watts of power. The main advantage of VHF/UHF is that they are small, have small antennas, are lightweight and relatively easy to use. EDIT - To keep Forest and SmilingBandit happy. I should have also mentioned that the LOS heights/distances above are from a single POV. The calculation is based on your height all the way down to 0', or ground level. The receiving antenna will obviously be higher than ground level, increasing range. The calculations I gave were to make the very general point that "height is might" when it comes to VHF/UHF antennas. There are MANY other factors at play that affect your max range. HF is more complicated, but can give you much more range. Hundreds to thousands of miles is very doable with a man portable setup (I'm on the east coast and just had contacts in Alaska, California, British Columbia and Texas this past Saturday with a man portable HF setup). The antennas are also much larger. Keep in mind there are many different modes of transmitting your signal as well, not just phone (voice). View Quote Someone’s a ham I see lol /AE |
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