Is anybody here a HAM?

vanguard

vanguard

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Location
Apex, NC
You can't read about radios without hearing how much better the sound and range of a 2 meter radio is compared to a CB. I was just wondering if guys that run URE/Tellico have 2 meter radios in their rigs.

PS I posted this on NCTTORA too. Please forgive the duplicate.
 
Yes, many of us do, and it's like comparing coal to a diamond. CB is AM and 2 meter ham is FM or Single Side Band. Just make sure you're totin' a license before you use the radio. Not that I think you're gonna do without one, but some haven't bothered with the license, and you wouldn't like what hams do to unauthorized users when they catch 'em. They turn 'em in to the FCC, and the FCC makes their lives miserable. Riley Hollingsworth ("The Enforcer") is the name to remember, and he is not a nice man when it comes to enforcement. The fines can be as much as 5000 bucks per incident per day, but I digress.

I can say from experience that the difference is huge, and that you can talk farther with 5 watts than Good Buddy can with his 9 megawatt illegal "leenyar amplee-far", but on the extremes, you've also got to put up with some of the same kinds of obnoxious goobers that are on CB, as well as tolerate the stereotypical geek crowd that sport heavily loaded pocket protectors and/or never bathe and who wear hard hats with antennas on them to hamfests. Thankfully, most hams are not of that ilk, but the reputation is stained.

On a more positive note, the scope of amateur radio is so wide that there is a whole world of fun to be had, like being on Trail 11 at Helicopter Pad and hearing the hams on the International Space Station jawjacking with stations on the ground from all over, and then actually getting a word in edgewise with them, or hearing an active SKYWARN net giving you a heads-up on approaching bad weather.

The tests are pretty simple, the question pool is legally readily available from several sources, and putting a copy of the question pool or the study guide in the "library" will get you prepared for the test in less than a month. Just don't get confused and use yer only copy for toilet paper.
 
The book is good. More than enough information to get you through the exam (like Radioman said -- it's pretty easy), and plenty of solid background info to help you understand how the radios work and what they're capable of doing, etc.
 
Guess I left off the part about 146.580 csq simplex being the unofficial Uwharrie freq.
WX4CBH
 
From everything I've heard, he was exaggerating somewhat. The FCC really doesn't prosecute many "illegal" ham or tweaked cb radio operators...that doesn't mean you shouldn't get your license though. My grandfather was a radioman in the air force for 28 years and had some good stories involving that stuff. It's also how he talked to my mother/aunt while in vietnam and korea. One of these days I'll try and get some of his stuff going again.
 
That was absloutely no exaggeration, and the documentation is there to back it up. Yes, the fines are ridiculous but seldom actually imposed, and no, the FCC doesn't give much of a damn about your tweaked Billy Bob dumbass radio. What usually happens is that they take your radios, your license (if you have one), and reduce the fines to something within your income level or drop them altogether for a first offense and a promise to not own or talk on a radio for a set time period. If you violate the agreement in any way, the original penalties go into effect.

Ask the non-hams using ham radios in middle TN, or the hunting clubs in Wyoming(?) that ignored the cease and desist order, or the hunters using ham and marine freqs in Southside VA, or the fire department in Alabama that figuratively gave the finger to the FCC. Just read the enforcement section of the FCC site if you don't believe they mean business.

A few years back, I helped a fellow emergency services worker from SE NC install a ham radio in his Dodge pickup during a staging in Raleigh for a hurricane just because I thought he was a nice guy. The members of his department later got fined for modifying and using ham radios for fire service, and I got questioned about my assistance. The only thing that saved my ass was that he held a ham license, too, so I pleaded ignorance to the radio mods and use on the fire/rescue freqs, which was true. He lost his license and all his radios. He can still not talk on any radio except for official departmental activities.
 
And I'm about tired of this site provider repeatedly telling me I'm not logged-in when I try to reply to messages.
 
I've thought about getting a HAM license myself. What are your looking at as far as cost? How much to take the test, apply for the license, and a good entry level radio?
 
The license and test is one fee... it's pretty cheap. $15-20 for 10 yrs, IIRC.

Radios will run about $350 for a 2M/70cm with antenna, or about $200 for a 2M with antenna.
 
The radios don't tend to be entry level as such, they're more like how much do you want to spend for useless bells and whistles to get what ya need. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few 2M single band radios, in order to get some desirable functionalities, ya gotta spend more bucks on more useless bullshit geek functions. That's why I use "pre-owned" Motorola commercial gear, but those ya have to know pretty well to know which ones to pick and what to do to make 'em fully useful on ham channels, and it requires a computer to program 'em.

With a coupla exceptions, most of the low end dual banders and single band 2 meter rigs are in the range of 35 to 45 watts. Anyway, one of the best low end radios is a single band 2 meter ICOM V8000. 75 watts, 200 memory channels, yadda yadda yadda, and it's about 190 bucks. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do own one of these little jewels and I like it, a lot. It doesn't waste time with aircraft band receive or a bunch of other scanner geek jump monkey crap, and it does not do 70 cm (UHF) receive like some of the 2M radios. If 70 cm is important, then you need to think about lower priced dual banders.

And no, I'm not on AOL and wouldn't be if your life depended on it. J/K. :D The cookies are OK according to my computer guru, and I'm only having the problem with this site. This post required a re-log to get it accepted, too.
 
My book hasn't arrived yet so please forgive the beginner questions.

See, I *think* I get what the various bands are like. 2 meter is easy to get into but only goes 50 miles or so. Because it's easy to get into sometimes you get more CB-like chatter and not a couple of harvard grads on each end. That can be good and bad.

As you get toward 10 meter and up you gain the ability to bounce off the atmosphere which allows you to broadcast around the world (on a good day). Tha's cool but it requires a very large antenna so you would have to be a pretty serious ham to do that from your truck.

Back to the beginner questions:

1) Does a technician's license allow me to use both bands?
2) What does the 70 cm band get me? Who's on it? How far does it go? etc.
3) Would a dual band radio require a larger antenna?

Thank you in advance.
 
vanguard said:
Thanks for the reply. I'm just about out of websites to read and I have a book on the way. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0872598810/002-5516357-5467246?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance (reviews don't get much more glowing than that so I thought I'd give it a try)

I just thought I'd ask around. As neat as a 2 meter radio might be in the truck it's only so interesting if I'm the only guy with one.
Click to expand...


BTW..that is the book I used to study and pass the HAM exam about 2ish years ago? KI4ARL is my call sign..

I have found my best investment in equipment to date was the ICOM IC-T2H Sport, which was actually designed to "military specs" This little hand held radio has been a real wonder and pretty decent for the trail system too.

http://www.gigaparts.com/parts/profile.php?sku=ZIC-T2H-SPORT

You might like a Dual band HT, and then a crossband repeater rig in your trail rig, this has some good potential. That is my "future" setup.
 
vanguard said:
My book hasn't arrived yet so please forgive the beginner questions.

See, I *think* I get what the various bands are like. 2 meter is easy to get into but only goes 50 miles or so. Because it's easy to get into sometimes you get more CB-like chatter and not a couple of harvard grads on each end. That can be good and bad.

As you get toward 10 meter and up you gain the ability to bounce off the atmosphere which allows you to broadcast around the world (on a good day). Tha's cool but it requires a very large antenna so you would have to be a pretty serious ham to do that from your truck.

Back to the beginner questions:

1) Does a technician's license allow me to use both bands?
2) What does the 70 cm band get me? Who's on it? How far does it go? etc.
3) Would a dual band radio require a larger antenna?

Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Ok, gonna show my ignorance here but will try to answer the best I can. Radioman is the expert here, I am just a tech!

Essentially we get 6m, 2m, 70cm (and maybe some other obscure stuff) as Techs. 2m being the one that is really used...

We have "hit"/talked to Winston-Salem's 2m repeater from the top of Crackers Neck (Mtn City TN) which is about 100+ miles. (Was using Tim's Icom 7xx series radio..$700 radio)

I "hit" the local stuff out about 30+ miles with my little 6 watt SPORT HT that I linked about, not bad for $95 and a rubber ducky antenna. If I put the nice external antenna on it, I might even go further than that. (That is pushing it btw...)

I don't think 50+ miles is all that unusual for a decent 2m rig (40+ watts) with a good antenna. And since most of us talk on a repeater, that means inside of a 100 mile circle you can be talking with folks! (I can hit Greensboro from Uwharrie with my 40+ watt rig at times, and thus talk to someone in VA from URE)

Ok...the cool geeky, talk to space station stuff is reserved for the Expert and General class guys. (Which reminds me I need to get off my lazy butt and study and get my General...you actually have to pass 5wpm Morse for this, last I heard)

Once you get to that level the whole world is really opened up...there is 'talk' of opening up some of that to techs and to be honest I think they should open up "limited" sections of most of that stuff just to get more interest.

I got "bored" with the ham stuff being trapped down in the lower 2m stuff, started working on morse code, got distracted and haven't worked on it a while and haven't been "on the air" in 6-8 months now I bet. (Well, opening weekend at URE I think Bruce was there...?)

So...yes it is worth it...but the "really" cool stuff is for the big boys, but 2m is "WORTH" the time / investment, just for 4x4ing!!! Plus it would be nice to have more of you to chat with, CBs are a pita and HAM is SO SO SO SO MUCH nicer to listen to.

Edited to say, I bought a NICE dual band 2m, 70cm antenna, that is maybe 3' or less...so no, they won't be too long for trail rigs. (Radioman told me the one to buy and I got it, with the spring base plate like his)

Sam
KI4ARL
 
So what are some of the advantages of having one of these radios on the trail other than the cool/geek factor? Any practicle use for trail riding?

Gary
 
OBX Fisherman said:
So what are some of the advantages of having one of these radios on the trail other than the cool/geek factor? Any practicle use for trail riding?

Gary
Click to expand...

Best example of that was 2ish years ago when they had a work day getting that blazer/bronco off of Dutch John. I was leading the trail ride and we were "thinking" of going down Dutch John.

We were on Falls Dam and couldn't reach anyone on CB to see if they were done/trail was cleared, but I used HAM to ask Bruce. He came back, we talked, found out trail was still blocked and we went out a different way.

Another practical use, that I haven't HAD to do yet thank goodness, is call out for help. I think there are 2 repeaters in the URE area we can hit, and thus "shout out" for help in a large 100 mile circle.

I haven't looked it up, but some repeaters allow you to get a telephone dial tone, which can then be used to dial 911 or make a PERSONAL phone call from places the cell phones don't work. (This is not abused...and NICE feature to have)

I can hit the Gsbo repeater from our property in Caswell County, and it has the dial feature on it. I wrote up instructions on HOW to use this feature and have explained it/showed it to my dad/brother.

In an EMERGENCY they could call for help/ambulance if needed. (I am trying to get my dad to get his license too...but I wanted him to have it in case he turns the tractor over on himself or something.)

So...the ability to yell for help REALLY far, is the #1 feature for us.

Sam
 
OBX Fisherman said:
So what are some of the advantages of having one of these radios on the trail other than the cool/geek factor? Any practicle use for trail riding?
Click to expand...
Well, I don't even have one so I'm far from an expert but the things that attract me are:
1) Much better sound quality. Comparable to your FM radio.
2) Much greater distance. If you're alone and stuck a CB might not help you and you wouldn't want to count on it. But a HAM has a much greater distance and a community that would be more than willing to make some phone calls for you, get you help, etc.
3) I could take or leave this one but I'm told that HAM has a classier group of guys. The entrance barrier of a test keeps away the guys that spend their time on the radio talking about off-color stuff. Personally, I think off-color stuff is kind of funny when the kids aren't around. :)

2 meter ham is basically a better version of CB radio. If everybody was on it 2 meter it would be the no-brainer choice but it seems like you really need both since more people have a CB.

Edit: It looks like I was way to slow in answering. Shinton got there first.
 
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