Posted: 9/17/2009 8:07:42 PM EDT
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I one of those weird guys who need a constant flow of info in my life. Been listening to my $99 scanner for about 2 years now. It's ok, I think I want to mount an antenna on the roof and try to pick up more stuff. Of course the whole idea of HAM radio comes up. Guys in the HAM forum talking about using $99 2 meter handhelds. Is there much traffic on these around DFW? Would I be wasting time with a $99 handheld?
My business owes me for 3 MURS radios, so I'll have a little money to reinvest for something more entertaining. |
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I'm a HAM too 2M sucks in my opinion. I have found that it is like listening to CB traffic. People just get on there and talk about their dogs, the rain, their doctor's appointment last week, who died this year, etc. It can be boring in my opinion, and not much different than a chat room for middle-age and retired folks. But if you start getting into the lower frequencies like 6M through 80M, things start to get interesting because you find yourself making radio contacts with people across the country and in some cases halfway around the globe. It becomes a fun hobby at that point, becasue you have to get into antenna theory, AC/DC issues, noise filtering, and you start learning about the real HAM hobby. You asked about how much traffic there is around Dallas on 2M; Not that much actually. I'm in the North Dallas area and often found myself chatting on a Ft. Worth 2M repeater because I couldn't find anything in Dallas consistently. I did get bored quickly with 2M though, as I stated. From Dallas on 6M, you can reach south florida with a good vertical antenna, which is amazingly fun! If you do decide to go 2M only, and want to use an inexpensive hand-held radio, try running a quality Mobile or Base antenna and use an amplifier. You'll be amazed! You'll get varying opinions about 2M, so take this one with a grain of salt :) |
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Having a dual-band rig (i.e., one that covers both 2M and 440 MHz) helps a lot. Most of the regional and statewide repeater networks are on 440, which means that there's usually something happening somewhere in the state. Things get a lot more interesting on 440 during a hurricane or other regional emergency, too.
Dual-band HTs start at around $160 - not much more than a 2M-only HT. BTW, many of the dual-band HTs are also capable of receiving most of the other public service bands, which means that you may be able to offset part of the purchase price by selling your scanner. |
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2M-440 for me is just not much fun. Like Mega said above it's pretty much idle chatter. Every now and then there will be something interesting, usually when a storm blows in. I've had my ticket for a few years now and really only use 2m for personal comms at my farm. Now if you DYI a multi-band antenna and chase DX (on bigger bands, HF), you might have some more entertainment there. |
There is no "DFW ham scene". 
It kind of sucks really... Being 5th largest metro area and all... Lot's of folks will talk EMCOMMS with you though 
I'm ready to drop ALL of my emergency management affiliations (except RACES... gotta keep working NASCAR & INDY  )
It's a joke really. You can't imagine how warm my heart was as I read all the complaints about the recent FCC ruling re: professional responders using HAM for work stuff 
It's supposed to be a HOBBY!!! And HF sucks too (horrid propagation). I remember almost 10 years ago working the world with a Hamstick. Now? Pfft 
Now is just not a great time to be a Ham 
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| Got my Technician Class ticket when I was 11 and I'm 30 now so I've been in Amateur Radio for a while now. 2 m / 440 was the place to be before cell phones became popular IMO. Now its pretty much good for emergency communications and keeping up with your friends on the commute home if they happen to have their ticket as well. I'd never discourage anyone from getting their ticket because its a hobby that still has a valid place but the idle chatter of local repeaters can get boring after a while. |
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get a yaesu (vertex standard now) vx-7 and download vx7commander and get the programming cable. you can get the software online with a google search and texas towers has the radio and the cable.
the software can "softmod" the radio to have extended transmit into a lot of frequencies including GRMS, FRS, MURS, etc. Just keep your eye on your power settings and stay within the law. The nice thing about the radio is that unmodified its already a quad band radio (50/220/440/140) and has GREAT extended receive range all the way from down in the am broadcast and shortwave bands all the way up into the 800 police frequencies including air AM and other useful bands. It also has the ability to do two frequencies at once and the ability to cross repeat from one to the other. It also has DCS and Tone squelch so its compatible with the GRMS/FRS/MURS "privacy codes" the extended transmit outside of the legal frequencies is there if you do the softmod, but its not illegal to have, just to use. But if your life is on the line and for some reason you need to transmit on the aircraft bands or the police HT frequencies you will want to have it. I will *happily* pay a fine to the FCC if it means that I was able to get some help that saved my life or the life of a loved one. heck, if the shit hits the fan you can even transmit on the weather frequencies and nearby weather radios will be able to hear you. the radio also has scanner functions and memory groups so you can still scan for the stuff you usually listen to. The only thing its really missing is a trunk tracking feature. While 2m is dead right now... 440 is pretty active, there are plenty of sites and lists of the frequencies and tones to get on those repeaters. |
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Quoted:
I'm a HAM too 2M sucks in my opinion. I have found that it is like listening to CB traffic. People just get on there and talk about their dogs, the rain, their doctor's appointment last week, who died this year, etc. It can be boring in my opinion, and not much different than a chat room for middle-age and retired folks. But if you start getting into the lower frequencies like 6M through 80M, things start to get interesting because you find yourself making radio contacts with people across the country and in some cases halfway around the globe. It becomes a fun hobby at that point, becasue you have to get into antenna theory, AC/DC issues, noise filtering, and you start learning about the real HAM hobby. You asked about how much traffic there is around Dallas on 2M; Not that much actually. I'm in the North Dallas area and often found myself chatting on a Ft. Worth 2M repeater because I couldn't find anything in Dallas consistently. I did get bored quickly with 2M though, as I stated. From Dallas on 6M, you can reach south florida with a good vertical antenna, which is amazingly fun! If you do decide to go 2M only, and want to use an inexpensive hand-held radio, try running a quality Mobile or Base antenna and use an amplifier. You'll be amazed! You'll get varying opinions about 2M, so take this one with a grain of salt :) Always wanted to get in to HAM. Especially now they've waived the morse requirements for some of the more advanced licenses. What else would you talk about since you can't use HAM freq's for business purposes? I thought chatting it up was sort of the point? |
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Quoted: Quoted: I'm a HAM too 2M sucks in my opinion. I have found that it is like listening to CB traffic. People just get on there and talk about their dogs, the rain, their doctor's appointment last week, who died this year, etc. It can be boring in my opinion, and not much different than a chat room for middle-age and retired folks. But if you start getting into the lower frequencies like 6M through 80M, things start to get interesting because you find yourself making radio contacts with people across the country and in some cases halfway around the globe. It becomes a fun hobby at that point, becasue you have to get into antenna theory, AC/DC issues, noise filtering, and you start learning about the real HAM hobby. You asked about how much traffic there is around Dallas on 2M; Not that much actually. I'm in the North Dallas area and often found myself chatting on a Ft. Worth 2M repeater because I couldn't find anything in Dallas consistently. I did get bored quickly with 2M though, as I stated. From Dallas on 6M, you can reach south florida with a good vertical antenna, which is amazingly fun! If you do decide to go 2M only, and want to use an inexpensive hand-held radio, try running a quality Mobile or Base antenna and use an amplifier. You'll be amazed! You'll get varying opinions about 2M, so take this one with a grain of salt :) Always wanted to get in to HAM. Especially now they've waived the morse requirements for some of the more advanced licenses. What else would you talk about since you can't use HAM freq's for business purposes? I thought chatting it up was sort of the point? Give it a whirl; you'll see what I'm talking about. :) |