Amateur Radio

[DamonL]

I used this for exam prep and it worked.

https://www.hamradiolicenseexam.com

[Drang]

Well, that was disappointing.
Thought we had a guaranteed site.
Fell through at the last moment.
There was a backup plan, but that fell through, too.
Well, crap.

Now, Washington State conducts an emergency communications drill on the fifth Saturday of the month, which, if you check a calendar, happens quarterly. Fifth Saturday is next week. Well, experience shows that doing Fifth Saturday the weekend after something like Field Day is a waste of time, so they decoded to move it to the 4th Saturday.
And I volunteered to be Net Control for the Voice Net.
Christ, what a waste of time.
A total of 6 or 7 check ins, the (out going) club president was the only officer to check in, a handful of other members, all of whom are "regular" check ins on the weekly net, and NO other members, or visitors...
Either no one GAF, or they were all looking for an active Field Day site.
OTOH...
The club's EmCom Lead was helping staff the county EmCom trailer at Ft. Flagler, 56 straight line miles from here in the 98 double-ought 3, and we talked like we were next door...

Got skunked checking in with other EOCs. Possibly they were operating simplex, to comply with Field Day rules, which I wasn't. (Which, I suppose, could explain the lack of check-ins, others were operating HF or simplex.)

Gave the YL some crap because she headed out to the Farmer's Market without grabbing an HT and checking into the net.

[DacoRoman]

Hello all.

I found this thread when I searched for Ham on this site.

I want to get into it. I found the link to the study site here, and I want to get my Technician's license.

Any recommendations on an a handheld unit and on a mobile unit?

I would like a handheld, like a Yaesu FT60R for backpacking/bug out etc., but a mobile unit for my 4Runner would also be intriguing..but then I'd have to stick an antenna somewhere I guess.

I've thought about starting off cheaper with a Baofent BF-F8HP, or UV5R, but my budget is about $400-450, and for this I was thinking of getting two handheld units, extra battery, AA battery pack, programming cable, from a reputable company that has reliable equipment. I am a bit weary to get Baofengs, although I understand that they are very popular.

What are your thoughts? Hep' a Brother out .

[mtnbkr]

Hello all.

I found this thread when I searched for Ham on this site.

I want to get into it. I found the link to the study site here, and I want to get my Technician's license.

Any recommendations on an a handheld unit and on a mobile unit?

I would like a handheld, like a Yaesu FT60R for backpacking/bug out etc., but a mobile unit for my 4Runner would also be intriguing..but then I'd have to stick an antenna somewhere I guess.

I've thought about starting off cheaper with a Baofent BF-F8HP, or UV5R, but my budget is about $400-450, and for this I was thinking of getting two handheld units, extra battery, AA battery pack, programming cable, from a reputable company that has reliable equipment. I am a bit weary to get Baofengs, although I understand that they are very popular.

What are your thoughts? Hep' a Brother out .

Get a good Yaesu or Icom radio (for HT and mobile) and avoid the non-compliant Chinese junk.

The FT60R is probably a fine radio, though I haven't used it. I have owned and used the Yaesu VX7r for about 12 years now. The original battery is even going strong. I have an aftermarket spare and the AA adapter.

For mobile, I have a Yaesu FT-2900 (the current version is 2900R) in my 4Runner. I selected that because I only wanted 2m capability and the lack of any moving fans seemed to be a benefit in an offroad vehicle. It is fairly large with it's heat-sink enclosure, but it has been reliable in a relatively harsh environment.

For the antenna, I use an external mount and Larson NMO antenna mounted to the hood on the driver's side.

Chris

[ST911]

Hello all.

I found this thread when I searched for Ham on this site.

I want to get into it. I found the link to the study site here, and I want to get my Technician's license.

Any recommendations on an a handheld unit and on a mobile unit?

I would like a handheld, like a Yaesu FT60R for backpacking/bug out etc., but a mobile unit for my 4Runner would also be intriguing..but then I'd have to stick an antenna somewhere I guess.

I've thought about starting off cheaper with a Baofent BF-F8HP, or UV5R, but my budget is about $400-450, and for this I was thinking of getting two handheld units, extra battery, AA battery pack, programming cable, from a reputable company that has reliable equipment. I am a bit weary to get Baofengs, although I understand that they are very popular.

What are your thoughts? Hep' a Brother out .

I posted earlier in the the thread about the Baofengs, and would echo that again.

A little more than you're asking about licensing, but for the benefit of all:

Getting licensed is easy. There's no reason not to do it if you have a few hours to study. The entire entry-level test bank is published online and there are several free websites for practice tests and study sessions.

Technician class license privileges: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Tech%...Privileges.pdf
Test bank, 428 questions: http://www.arrl.org/files/file/VEs/2...h%20errata.pdf
Study guide: https://www.kb6nu.com/wp-content/upl...guide-v1-1.pdf

I really liked this website for test prep. It will walk you through all of the questions and as it identifies your strengths and weaknesses it will target particular content areas. If you take the test enough, you can simply learn every question and answer: https://hamstudy.org/tech2018

The proctored test you ultimately take for Technician level is only 35 questions and you can miss 9 of those. I think it was about $20.00. It took me longer to sign in and walk to the room than to take the test. I'm currently working on my General class using the same methods. I may do the Extra class, just because.

[schüler]

I would like a handheld, like a Yaesu FT60R for backpacking/bug out etc., but a mobile unit for my 4Runner would also be intriguing..but then I'd have to stick an antenna somewhere I guess.

Yeah, I'm not a Baofeng fan but they I have their place. The FT-60 is a solid classic but the FT-65 bridges the FT-60/Baofeng price and quality gap.

I like your plan for two handhelds if you keep both handy everywhere except the trail. The national simplex calling frequency is on 2 meters of course, good if you think rhe "Wilderness Protocol" has any viability.

If you are fine with 2m only mobile look at two FT-65s (has 440, weather radio and FM radio) and an FT-2980. That might leave enough money for an SWR meter, mag mount antenna. I'd add $ for a roll-up J-pole for your hiking HT and a few SMA->SO-239 adapter cables (N9TAX Labs has done some nice custom jumpers for me out of LMR 195, since I really like his Slim Jim roll up Jpole).

If you want serious weatherproofing on a handheld... I'm not sure who still builds a suitable budget ham radio and accessories like a speaker mic.

I have HX400s for serious/weather use (marine, LMR, ham) but they're VHF only, no VFO keypad.

[DacoRoman]

Many thanks for the input fellers. I'll have to study your answers and mull this over, but I'm excited to get into this thing.

Any thoughts about spending a bit more and getting a DMR capable radio such as the AnyTone 878? It is supposed to be a quality radio and have a great battery life, speaker, and be very easy to navigate and use, so it has me intrigued even though I may not use the DMR feature too much, at least at first.

[Clusterfrack]

Late to this set of posts... and not much to add. With a bit of studying you’ll have no problem with the Tech exam. If your math skills are strong, it will be easy. I ended up passing the General in the same session without additional study.

I have a Yaesu VX-8 handheld. It’s about as good as a HT gets,’and is very rugged. Unfortunately, it’s no longer in production.

I like BaoFeng F8HPs for a lot of uses. Signal quality isn’t as good as a Yaesu, but it’s fine for simplex and most close in repeater use. They’re cheap, easy to program, and pretty tough. There’s no excuse for not having a few around just in case.

I have no use for digital at this point.

[Duelist]

I have an FT-60, and like it quite well. I can hit any repeater in my area, and our repeater system has me talking to, or at least monitoring traffic, all over Arizona.

I got into it for back country comms, and it works for that, as well as local chat nets and emergency preparedness nets. I’ve used it for back country comms once - got into a place chasing a deer I couldn’t call out from with my cell to let anybody know I was okay but going to be late getting back b/c dead deer.

Radio picked up an active net as soon as I turned it on, one of the fellows on the net called my wife to relay the message.

Got an Extra ticket for some dumb reason. Technician level equipment and bands is all I ever use.

[Boxy]

For all looking to get into Ham Radio I offer a few key points as a HAM Extra ticket holder.

The test for each ticket have a limited number of test questions. If you locate one of the many websites with online practice test you can take test over and over to learn the test bank. This will help you obtain the license but you may need extra study to learn the various modes in how you wish to operate. I used ARRL Test Pools here http://arrlexamreview.appspot.com.

If you choose a 2M or dual band hand held be sure to upgrade the antenna from the rubber ducky supplied. I have a recently obtained a Yaesu FT3D which I very much endorse for ease of use and features. There are many reviews of this and other HT's online.

For a new Tech license ham a dual band mobile radio would be a good home setup with a DC power supply and short run of coax to an antenna that may be propped up in a room corner. No need of external mounting etc particularly when operating on repeaters. I have HOA restrictions that limit how I can use antennas.

If venturing into the HF bands there are several 100W radios available to enter into this area. If you are limited like I am in antenna infrastructure consider magnetic loop antennas as an option. There are limits to power and lower bands but the are great for apartments or attics. Right now the HF propagation conditions are poor as you may learn or know.

What is great about HAM radio is that you can dig as deep into electronics and antenna design as you wish and time demands are dictated on how you wish to operate and what you wish to learn.

One other item is to find what is termed as an Elmer which is a coach or mentor who has some level of experience to pass along lessons learned or knowledge regarding the art of radio operations.

I hope this general thumb nail helps new folks entering HAM.