Posted: 1/21/2005 8:15:21 PM EDT
| I was listening to the amatuer radio freqs today on my new air-band radio, and i realized everyone has an alpha-numeric code that they identify themselves with??? What is that shit!! secret society or license number, club number # ??? I dunno - looking for answers 223haiku |
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There is nothing secret about it at all. If you want to find out who you are listening to you can go to QRZ.com. They are licenses issued by the Federal Communications Commission. You are required to be licensed to use the amateur bands by international law. I have had mine for 35 years now. I have met interesting people from all over the world. It is your best bet for emergency communications too. Depending on your license you can use frequencies from just above the AM broadcast band to the microwave region. It also makes it legal to listen to police scanners in my car. If you want to know more you can go to the American Radio Relay League. www.qrz.com/ www.arrl.org/ |
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You can look them up in the database and discover who you're listening to and where they're at. That's why those of us here with licenses don't give out our numbers here. More than half the guys in my ham club have their call letters on their car license plates. KG6xxx |
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And just frequencies was it that you were picking up? If they were between 144 to 148 Mhz or 440 to 450 Mhz, those were "HAM radio" frequencies. HAM radio is amature radio or a bunch of hobbiests. the call signs like WD0DMU or Na7cs are call signs that the FCC assignes to amature radio operators. You must take a test to gain a license to operate on those frequencies. There are also tons of other frequencies that amature operators use from those 2 for mentioned bands , the first being 2 meters and the second being 70 Centimeters band. the bands go all the way down to 160 meters. A HAM radio operator can talk around the globe with very little power, even as little as 5 watts on an AM radio transmission on say the 40 meter band with almost total clarity. Now, there are lots of other than "amature operators on many other bands operating out there. There are a ton of illegal operators trolling around on the 10 and 11 meter band. Those guys just make up call signs and operate illegally there. And the FCC has been tracking them down, taking their gear and issuing fines of $10 K or more to some violators. Just because you buy a transmitter doesn't give anyone the right to maske a transmission. Amature radio is a blast. and yes, I am a licensed amature operator. Radio can be used in many places where cell phones won't work. Thats why I got into it. Also my Sports Car Club uses commercial band radios for use when operating a roadrace at local tracks like Phoenix International Raceway or Firebird International Raceway here in the Phoenix area (SCCA events). |
| I got a vertex 700 air band radio, mainly cause i can use it as backup when i'm flying, but it also has HAM freqs. Earlier when i was playing with it I kept on hearing a bunch of douche bags talking about theirs wifes in spanish(i speak it) and then a little later some guys talking about freemasons ....whatever, i'm just geting into it thanks for the help -223haiku |