HAM Radio Starter Kit - Information for Beginners

[Starkypdx]

hamwhisperer.com great set of videos for the tech course.

 

[Navman]

Thank you Jack Thompson for all your hard work and starting this informative thread

After procrastinating for about 50 years I got my Tech about a year ago followed by a Baeofang radio.

I've been listening on the now discontinued ICom W32A so long it needs a new battery.

So many multi-purpose buttons that it's been a difficult radio to learn at least for this newbie.

Curious if anyone else has this radio and your opinions of it vs the newer radios?

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/297

 

[TapRackNGo]

Thanks guys for the quick responses.

 

[Kruel J]

QRZ.com is a good site for practice tests. If you have a smartphone there are a few apps to help as well. I downloaded an app on my iPhone and studied for about a week in my spare time. Passed the technician's license test last night with a 100%.

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

I want to get into this soo bad!
100.7 KQRZ is all I listen to around town.. Really makes me want to get my license.

 

[Kruel J]

I want to get into this soo bad!
100.7 KQRZ is all I listen to around town.. Really makes me want to get my license.

My dad has been a ham since before I was born and he always wanted me to get into it. I finally decided to do it and it was fairly easy to study and pass.

 

[teflon6string]

As part of some ops-based duties at my job, I recently attended a day-long emergency communications seminar with some heavy hitters from all over the NW. Much talk in the morning included routine use of internet and phone resources to share vital information, which, to be fair, might well survive a significant number of hits. And that's all fine for planning now.

After lunch, talk turned to more SHTF scenarios, and I was glad to see several expert ham enthusiasts speak up about how we might all end up communicating on battery powered radios - for quite awhile - in the wake of a real catastophic "doozy." I'm going to learn more.

 

[erudne]

If one were to perform even a shallow search as to the capabilities of a regional Federal Fusion Center one would quickly note the total monitoring of all civilian band widths which are streamed through filters and redirected to Tac-Ops

 

[JackThompson]

If one were to perform even a shallow search as to the capabilities of a regional Federal Fusion Center one would quickly note the total monitoring of all civilian band widths which are streamed through filters and redirected to Tac-Ops

Good point.

I'm working on a similar setup myself

For me, the goal of building an emergency communications plan isn't so I can sneak around behind someone's back and have clandestine conversations. (I'll just stick to doing that in my living room)

My goal is to be able to get status updates on events during emergencies, to potentially provide status updates to local emergency workers during emergencies, and to coordinate getting my children to me in a SHTF scenario...

 

[pokerace]

this should be pined to the top.

 

[The Heretic]

Good point.

I'm working on a similar setup myself

For me, the goal of building an emergency communications plan isn't so I can sneak around behind someone's back and have clandestine conversations. (I'll just stick to doing that in my living room)

My goal is to be able to get status updates on events during emergencies, to potentially provide status updates to local emergency workers during emergencies, and to coordinate getting my children to me in a SHTF scenario...

Yeah, like anything else, I would maintain a low profile, only using unsecure wireless coms as absolutely necessary.

 

[Sodbuster]

If you want some really good materials that teach you about ham radio and the specific license, then I recommend those found at http://www.hamradioschool.com/. I like their style of actually learning the information and not so much the memorization of the test questions. They have info available for Technician and General classes.

Sodbuster

 

[JackThompson]

If you want some really good materials that teach you about ham radio and the specific license, then I recommend those found at http://www.hamradioschool.com/. I like their style of actually learning the information and not so much the memorization of the test questions. They have info available for Technician and General classes.

Sodbuster

While I share your passion for learning, I personally don't agree with the idea that radio operation should be a privilege and not just a right. (The only caveat being that you should either learn about the harm you can cause by transmitting with too much power, and where your signal goes, or be prepared to be fined if you stomp on critical services with your broadcasts.)

I've seen a pretty good number of resources in my searches, and provided links in the article to the ones that seem to be industry standards. (ARRL/eHam.net for instance)

I will check out Hamradioschool though.

 

[bwchase]

So you would like the ham frequencies to be like the cb band? Is that what you mean?

Rant on
With the pressure from commercial and government wanting the band width, our organizations are fighting constantly to preserve the bands and power restrictions we have now. Amateur Radio does a good job of self policing and compliance to rules and regulations that we wrote. Seldom does the FCC have to get involved with problems.
There are lots more reasons why ham radio is a privilege and not a right.
Personally I think it is a great hobby, with practical, technical and public service aspects that few other avocations can embrace.
Of course in the case of emergency anyone can use ham frequencies for help.
A few months ago on the way back from the coast, I used 2 meter 146.520 to report an accident. Able to get a ham in Lincoln City and relay to the police. Cell phone was out of range. Other hams heard the call and were within range for cell coverage and called 911. I usually monitor 2 meter and 440 simplex when driving.
Generally, hams are a great bunch of people. They paid a big price of studying long hours, especially for the more advanced licenses, and purchased the radios and equipment, and put it all together. Freely give away all that work to help their neighbor.
Hate to think of what would happen to ham radio if it was just another cb channel.
Rant off

 

[Sodbuster]

Thank you. You took the words out of my mouth, bwchase. I may only have a Tech license (right now) but I appreciate the effort it has taken over 100 years worth of ham's to accomplish. And the fight that is on-going to keep what we already have, let alone to expand the airwaves to include more frequencies and privileges.

I was around when CB's WERE licensed and had a license for CB use then. They removed the license requirement and it turned into even MORE of a free-for-all. I would not like to see the ham frequencies go that route. Now, CB is a dead zone.

Sodbuster

So you would like the ham frequencies to be like the cb band? Is that what you mean?

Rant on
With the pressure from commercial and government wanting the band width, our organizations are fighting constantly to preserve the bands and power restrictions we have now. Amateur Radio does a good job of self policing and compliance to rules and regulations that we wrote. Seldom does the FCC have to get involved with problems.
There are lots more reasons why ham radio is a privilege and not a right.
Personally I think it is a great hobby, with practical, technical and public service aspects that few other avocations can embrace.
Of course in the case of emergency anyone can use ham frequencies for help.
A few months ago on the way back from the coast, I used 2 meter 146.520 to report an accident. Able to get a ham in Lincoln City and relay to the police. Cell phone was out of range. Other hams heard the call and were within range for cell coverage and called 911. I usually monitor 2 meter and 440 simplex when driving.
Generally, hams are a great bunch of people. They paid a big price of studying long hours, especially for the more advanced licenses, and purchased the radios and equipment, and put it all together. Freely give away all that work to help their neighbor.
Hate to think of what would happen to ham radio if it was just another cb channel.
Rant off

 

[JackThompson]

So you would like the ham frequencies to be like the cb band? Is that what you mean?

Rant on
With the pressure from commercial and government wanting the band width, our organizations are fighting constantly to preserve the bands and power restrictions we have now. Amateur Radio does a good job of self policing and compliance to rules and regulations that we wrote. Seldom does the FCC have to get involved with problems.
There are lots more reasons why ham radio is a privilege and not a right.
Personally I think it is a great hobby, with practical, technical and public service aspects that few other avocations can embrace.
Of course in the case of emergency anyone can use ham frequencies for help.
A few months ago on the way back from the coast, I used 2 meter 146.520 to report an accident. Able to get a ham in Lincoln City and relay to the police. Cell phone was out of range. Other hams heard the call and were within range for cell coverage and called 911. I usually monitor 2 meter and 440 simplex when driving.
Generally, hams are a great bunch of people. They paid a big price of studying long hours, especially for the more advanced licenses, and purchased the radios and equipment, and put it all together. Freely give away all that work to help their neighbor.
Hate to think of what would happen to ham radio if it was just another cb channel.
Rant off

First, I'd like to point out that you asked a question, then began your rant as if I had answered it.

I believe slightly differently than you do, but I wouldn't be a fan of the "Mad Max - Beyond Thunderskip" world that you describe.

In one sentence you mention a tiresome fight with commercial and government over keeping the tiny slices of bandwidth we've been "Gifted" with...

(HAM radio spectrum is like the 1% versus the 99% argument, and you're acting like we own the world with our 1% license. We do not.)

For every reason you can give that it is a privilege, I can give counters that it's a right.

It SHOULD be regulated, because it can be harmful. Beaming harmful radiation is bad.

That and standard harassment and copyright laws already take care of threats and people using radio waves to broadcast copyrighted materials. You know as well as I do that it's quite simple to locate an abuser and their equipment and shut them down.

I think UHF and VHF should be very much like 11 Meter (CB).

You mentioned also, that you were driving from the coast (a place with notoriously bad Cell reception) and you ran across a car accident where the injured folks most likely couldn't make a cell phone call to get needed emergency help.

So in that sentence, you closed the lid on my argument.

How many accidents happen along that corridor each year? How many times does a HAM operator happen to pass by to graciously offer assistance and reach out to people with his magical VHF radio? Probably not as many as are needed... I imagine that most people just suffer, crawl out of their broken cars and start to limp down the road, looking at their cell phones and praying to see a single bar of signal, or hope that a car comes by and actually stops for them.

In my world, everybody can have a VHF radio (Or a VHF channel in their cell phone) that can reach out to a repeater for help when needed, and we would have public service repeaters to cover all "Dead zones" where cell phones don't work.

In fact, make standard FM car radios capable of picking up some emergency VHF calling frequencies so motorists can pick up distress calls.

I would even allow public radios to have access to that little sliver of 10 meter that Technicians are granted.

RF opened wide when television went digital. Problem is most of it went to the highest bidder in auctions, making the FCC billions of dollars...

Now if we would come up with creative solutions to a lack of bandwidth, instead of making it an exclusive men's club, I could get behind that.

In your world, that ONE person was lucky that you took the time to study and pass an exam for the privilege of providing them emergency help, at the cost of forcing you to broadcast your call sign, which links to your name and home address for everyone listening (licensed or not) to hear. It's the most insecure system I know of. I can browse the internet for all licensed HAM operators in a given town, and have their names and home addresses and license class for free.

Here's a smart solution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi

(Excerpt)
Li-Fi, as coined by Prof. Harald Haas during his TED Global talk,[1] is bidirectional, high speed and fully networked wireless communications, like Wi-Fi, using visible light. Li-Fi is a subset of visible light communications (VLC) and can be a complement to RF communication (Wi-Fi or Cellular network), or a replacement in contexts of data broadcasting.

It is wireless and uses visible light communication (instead of radio frequency waves), part of Optical wireless communications technology, which carries much more information, and has been proposed as a solution to the RF-bandwidth limitations.[2] A complete solution includes an industry led standardization process.

 

[JackThompson]

Thank you. You took the words out of my mouth, bwchase. I may only have a Tech license (right now) but I appreciate the effort it has taken over 100 years worth of ham's to accomplish. And the fight that is on-going to keep what we already have, let alone to expand the airwaves to include more frequencies and privileges.

I was around when CB's WERE licensed and had a license for CB use then. They removed the license requirement and it turned into even MORE of a free-for-all. I would not like to see the ham frequencies go that route. Now, CB is a dead zone.

Sodbuster

CB is a dead zone because it's limited to 1 mile in town, 5 miles in the country if you follow the regulations.

 

[bwchase]

Sodbuster

Brings back memories, yep, possessed a cb license too.

For many years had a technician plus license prior to upgrading. Had just as much fun with the tech plus.

Lots of talk about upper freq here on the forum, in an emergency I can see hf use being very important.
Your tech license gives priviliges on some of that spectrum.
Having a station set up including hf could be useful.


Jack
Thanks for a glimpse into your world.

 

[powersbj]

In an emergency the license is not relevant, the knowledge and shack is pretty much required though.

 

[CoastRange57]

CB is a dead zone because it's limited to 1 mile in town, 5 miles in the country if you follow the regulations.

Unless of course you have 2 bilateral linear amplifiers good for about 150 watts with 2 - 102" whip antennas and you get to a logging landing on top of a hill about 1,800 feet and sit up there all night and drink beer and smoke cigars and run CB smack on the flatlanders and listen to them lose their minds.

I knew some guys who did that many years ago and said they had fun.