Anyone a HAM Radio Operator?

[Naperville]

Looking at all of the functions on mobile and handheld. Quite a few options. A lot of learning.

[Doc Dan]

I was just thinking about this the other day and wondering how one would get started in this. Are there portable models, now? I remember friends having to register with the government or something and erect a tower, or something.

[rangefinder]

I've been licensed for many years (since shortly after the tech license dropped the morse requirement), although I only have a tech license and am not very active.

I was just thinking about this the other day and wondering how one would get started in this. Are there portable models, now? I remember friends having to register with the government or something and erect a tower, or something.

Licensing varies depending on the country you're in. In the USA, to get a license requires passing some written tests on electrical/radio theory and FCC rules. There are currently three tiers of license: technician, general, and extra. Each tier grants more privileges on more frequencies. In the past there were more tiers and all tiers required morse code testing (in addition to the written test), but over the years the number of tiers has shrunk and the morse code test has been dropped for all license tiers. (Which is a long way of saying "you do not need to learn morse code to get a ham license".)

As for equipment, it really depends on what you want to do. You can get a basic hand-held unit for less than $100. On the other end of the spectrum are people who have $10K+ invested in their gear and antennas.

In the USA, the ARRL is main organization to check out: http://www.arrl.org/

Many other countries have some similar group. Japan (https://www.jarl.org/English/) and Britian (https://rsgb.org/) both have a lot of hams.

[Naperville]

I was just thinking about this the other day and wondering how one would get started in this. Are there portable models, now? I remember friends having to register with the government or something and erect a tower, or something.

I've only been poking around these technologies for a day or two. I am looking at them for prepper gear for family: myself, brother and mother. So far I've looked at ICOM and Yaesu. There are other brands that I have to look at.

In the "portables" area there are mobile and handheld units. Mobile units might go in a backpack and offer far more wattage for transmitting.

In both categories there are special "networking" protocols developed by the manufacturers that allow you to communicate all over the world. What these technologies allow is for you to contact a "base station" running hardware and software from the manufacturer of your HAM gear, and then they put your message voice/text/data on the Internet!

The problem with all of these networking technologies is market penetration. If brand A has 100 repeaters in your area and brand B has just 5, you are going to have to use Brand A's HAM gear to access the network technologies of that brand. The reach for handheld units is less than 5 miles in most cases.

Mobile looks good, but that is a backpack unit, because you have to lug quite a few batteries for the power output of your HAM gear.

[Naperville]

I've been licensed for many years (since shortly after the tech license dropped the morse requirement), although I only have a tech license and am not very active.

I was just thinking about this the other day and wondering how one would get started in this. Are there portable models, now? I remember friends having to register with the government or something and erect a tower, or something.

Licensing varies depending on the country you're in. In the USA, to get a license requires passing some written tests on electrical/radio theory and FCC rules. There are currently three tiers of license: technician, general, and extra. Each tier grants more privileges on more frequencies. In the past there were more tiers and all tiers required morse code testing (in addition to the written test), but over the years the number of tiers has shrunk and the morse code test has been dropped for all license tiers. (Which is a long way of saying "you do not need to learn morse code to get a ham license".)

As for equipment, it really depends on what you want to do. You can get a basic hand-held unit for less than $100. On the other end of the spectrum are people who have $10K+ invested in their gear and antennas.

In the USA, the ARRL is main organization to check out: http://www.arrl.org/

Many other countries have some similar group. Japan (https://www.jarl.org/English/) and Britian (https://rsgb.org/) both have a lot of hams.

I'm looking at this technology rather than a SAT Phone but that may be the only technology that works. My brother is around 45 to 55 miles away from me, and if the grid goes down, a SAT Phone may be the only option.

Like I said, my application is just prepper related at the moment. Cellphones are still the main means of communication in my family.

Trying to keep this as low cost as I can. It's just one area of prepping for me. Prepping is an all encompassing lifestyle. Self defense through the use of firearms and edged weapons is another area for example. I'm on the Spyderco forums for the knives!

[Naperville]

What kind of a satellite phone am I talking about? This is a good review of one system by Garmin.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/561269
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/561286

https://hikingguy.com/hiking-gear/in-de ... er-review/

Here is another brand....
https://gearjunkie.com/spot-x-2-way-sat ... ger-review

[rangefinder]

I'm looking at this technology rather than a SAT Phone but that may be the only technology that works. My brother is around 45 to 55 miles away from me, and if the grid goes down, a SAT Phone may be the only option.

Like I said, my application is just prepper related at the moment. Cellphones are still the main means of communication in my family.

Trying to keep this as low cost as I can. It's just one area of prepping for me. Prepping is an all encompassing lifestyle. Self defense through the use of firearms and edged weapons is another area for example. I'm on the Spyderco forums for the knives!

These days, most hams start out with a hand-held unit. These generally do FM on 2m with a max output of about 5w. (2m = 144MHz. Some can do other bands such as 70cm/440MHz, but few do other modes besides FM.)

2m FM is basically a "line of sight" mode. If you can see the other station, you can probably work it. Although you may need more than 5w depending on distance. This is why repeaters are commonly used. A club puts a repeater at the top of a mountain and even if the mountain stands between you and the other person, if you can both "see" the repeater then you can talk to each other. (And some repeaters are connected via an "intertie", so for example, a repeater in WA can connect to a repeater in MT.)

"line of sight" can be carried to extremes. People use 2m FM to communicate with the ISS when it passes overhead. After all, from ground level straight up to the ISS there is a clear line of sight! (https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html)

So if there is a clear line of sight to your brother's location, then you could both get a fairly cheap 2m mobile unit (meant for a car installation) that can do 50w and get a directional antenna (e.g., Yagi). You point your antenna at your brother's location, he points his antenna at your location, and you should be able to communicate over 50+ miles.

If you upgrade to general or extra class, you get privileges on HF. Normally HF operators set up their antennas to skip the signal off the ionosphere. This is how someone in the USA can talk to someone on the other side of the world. But this won't work for talking to someone who is close by. However, there's a method called NVIS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_vert ... ce_skywave) which lets HF signals reach closer locations.

So yes, if you and your brother both got ham licenses and set things up right, you definitely could communicate with ham radio in a grid down scenario. Cost could run from fairly cheap to very expensive.

But since you said this is for prepping, the real answer is to eventually get both ham gear and a sat phone. "Two is one and one is none", layering, redundancy, however you want to put it -- you don't want just one way to communicate and have a single point of failure.

And writing all this makes me realize I should really go ahead and upgrade my license. I've passed the general class written tests before, but couldn't pass the morse test. But the morse requirement was dropped years ago, so really the only thing that's keeping me from upgrading is sloth. :)

[chuck_roxas45]

I am actually. Extra class. Some countries have dropped the morse code requirements but we still have them in the Philippines for extra class. I've been on and off with radios since high school. My call sign is DU7DVE. Each licensed ham radio operator has a call sign unique in the world.

For anyone who wants to just get a radio for preps, I really do suggest you study up to be an amateur. It's like a gun. You get a gun and you just keep it in the drawer, by the time you need it, you're not familiar and comfortable using it. Just like radio. You'll know how to make antennas from scratch, you'll know how to make minor reapirs. You will know what you need to do for different kinds of communications and who you want to get in touch with.

[chuck_roxas45]

I am very active and very passionate about ham radio. I am very active in HF and the digital voice modes.

This is my HF setup. Old radios but they still work ok. Very humble really in ham radio.


These are my handy talkies. Both digital and analog.


And these are my hotspots. My digital gateway.

[Naperville]

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!

The comments are helping me to learn this technology.

[chuck_roxas45]

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!

The comments are helping me to learn this technology.

If you have any questions, I might be able to help.

[Naperville]

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!

The comments are helping me to learn this technology.

If you have any questions, I might be able to help.

It is too early now, but I might have you on speed-dial after I start down this road! :D

[chuck_roxas45]

...

It is too early now, but I might have you on speed-dial after I start down this road! :D

No problemo. :D

[Naperville]

These days, most hams start out with a hand-held unit. These generally do FM on 2m with a max output of about 5w. (2m = 144MHz. Some can do other bands such as 70cm/440MHz, but few do other modes besides FM.)

2m FM is basically a "line of sight" mode. If you can see the other station, you can probably work it. Although you may need more than 5w depending on distance. This is why repeaters are commonly used. A club puts a repeater at the top of a mountain and even if the mountain stands between you and the other person, if you can both "see" the repeater then you can talk to each other. (And some repeaters are connected via an "intertie", so for example, a repeater in WA can connect to a repeater in MT.)

"line of sight" can be carried to extremes. People use 2m FM to communicate with the ISS when it passes overhead. After all, from ground level straight up to the ISS there is a clear line of sight! (https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html)

So if there is a clear line of sight to your brother's location, then you could both get a fairly cheap 2m mobile unit (meant for a car installation) that can do 50w and get a directional antenna (e.g., Yagi). You point your antenna at your brother's location, he points his antenna at your location, and you should be able to communicate over 50+ miles.

If you upgrade to general or extra class, you get privileges on HF. Normally HF operators set up their antennas to skip the signal off the ionosphere. This is how someone in the USA can talk to someone on the other side of the world. But this won't work for talking to someone who is close by. However, there's a method called NVIS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_vert ... ce_skywave) which lets HF signals reach closer locations.

So yes, if you and your brother both got ham licenses and set things up right, you definitely could communicate with ham radio in a grid down scenario. Cost could run from fairly cheap to very expensive.

But since you said this is for prepping, the real answer is to eventually get both ham gear and a sat phone. "Two is one and one is none", layering, redundancy, however you want to put it -- you don't want just one way to communicate and have a single point of failure.

And writing all this makes me realize I should really go ahead and upgrade my license. I've passed the general class written tests before, but couldn't pass the morse test. But the morse requirement was dropped years ago, so really the only thing that's keeping me from upgrading is sloth. :)

Sounds like fun!

"2 is 1, and 1 in NONE" for sure, so I will do both when I can. I need to continue to dig...

[chuck_roxas45]

...
And writing all this makes me realize I should really go ahead and upgrade my license. I've passed the general class written tests before, but couldn't pass the morse test. But the morse requirement was dropped years ago, so really the only thing that's keeping me from upgrading is sloth. :)

You really should check out the digital voice modes. Radios and hotspots aren't that pricey, you don't need an external antenna, and you get to talk all over the world with your HT. A bit of a learning curve but lots of info on youtube and on some facebook pages.