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09-25-2008, 09:08 AM | #51 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Billinge, Wigan, UK
Posts: 45
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Re: Amateur radio
Does anyone know the difference between CB and HAM radio, and which is the better one to buy?
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09-25-2008, 11:09 AM | #52 | |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Caribbean
Posts: 375
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Re: Amateur radio
Quote:
HAM radio is more for individuals who are in the experimental and learning branch of this doing it as a hobby. Experimental may extend to a lot of things: self building electronics, experiment with antennas, studying propagation of radio waves etc. It's also not limited to 'radio'. Sometimes it's about data or telex transmissions or even television etc. This is the basic difference. Most of the times CB channels are more crowded. It may depend on your local situation. In HAM radio more frequency bands can be used all having different characteristics. How to get into this and where to buy is a local matter, I can't advise you on this. Success ! |
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09-25-2008, 09:58 PM | #53 |
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 345
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Info on amateur radio equipment
Here is some information that might help those trying to find radios.
I have picked out two models. One is more portable than the other, and I picked Yaesu brand as an example. Make sure you view the video links they give a really good feel for what to expect. These are not tube types but can be up and running faster that the tube types. Consider getting one of these to operate now and then learn how to protect them from EMP which is an inexpensive endeavor. Remember you do not need a license to get a radi Here is a link for a Yaesu FT-897D (D means deluxe an update to the original by adding the 60 meter band) A nice feature about this one is that there is space internally for optional battery power. For not just one but two internal batteries. Each battery is about $125... http://www.universal-radio.com/CATALOG/hamhf/1897.html http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=gYKLWDz9neM Here is a link for purchasing a Yaesu FT-847: http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/135F. It is HF (which means high frequency that can communicate worldwide) + 2M, 6M, and 70cm Transceiver This site has a nice picture of the Yaesu FT-847 front with easily readable controls. http://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/ft847.htm Here is a YouTube video of the rig in operation.... This rig may look intimidating but is easy to use. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS6weQiHmRQ Here are some videos showing a more portable radio, the Yaesu 857D. Here they are talking on 3.685.00 you can see the frequency displayed in the video http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=YNDwEOncc74&NR=1 Some folks are wondering what it might look like to set up and have a mobile unit. Here is a mobile setup not exactly a cross country lightweight backpacking setup and remember the music is optional lolol. http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEZAa...eature=related Many have an interest in being able to carry in a backpack a way of communicating worldwide so here is how you would set up for backpack use. http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=cV9iJI...eature=related One thing I would have added to this backpack for long term use is a roll up solar battery charger. Some portable solar chargers like the one you will see here is not a roll up. http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=nHbx_Qhc8mU&NR=1 http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=TdMIeABaH7Q&NR=1 The FT857D can be obtained brand new for $719.95 at this link http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/1857.html It is 160 meters through 6 meters with FM ability on 2meter and 440Mhz Here is demo of the FT-857 http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=eDbfzldRCY0&NR=1 In the demo they are operating on frequency 14.261 As you can see the 857 is very mobile, and compact. Last edited by Waterman; 10-14-2008 at 08:58 PM. |
09-26-2008, 03:46 AM | #54 |
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Elizabeth, CO
Posts: 9
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Re: Amateur radio
Hooray! My first Avalon post. As many of you may agree, this is all important stuff.
Here's another consideration - not sure if it's been discussed yet. There are groups of hams that already have the HF gear in your local communities. RACES and ARES are emergency communication groups have organization by county and state. Here in CO these groups can be tapped to augment state emergency services. Now I haven't been directly involved with RACES or ARES, but I do know they practice their emergency nets (discussed in this thread) and adhere to some standard protocols for message traffic. That is to say, a Ground Crew member could hand a written message to a local ham operator who could transmit it to the Project Avalon 10m or 20m net, etc. Right now I've been focusing on 2m (VHF) and 440mhz (UHF) for local communication, and have not focused as much on HF, primarily because I only hold a Technician license from years past. I have a 2m/440 Icom mobile rig (intented for a vehicle), and plan to install in the basement for local communications. Hard to say how local VHF/UHF repeaters will will handle EMP or solar spikes. Timeout here for some basics, if needed: * The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelegth. Longer waves can bend more, so to speak. Think of a sine wave... if it's 10 meters long, the peaks and valleys are not as 'bunched up' compared to a wave where peaks are 70 cm apart (UHF). * Longer waves can curve around the earth, etc. But shorter waves can cut through buildings and stuff, although they have to be straight. Think cell phones and portable radios like half-watt FRS units commonly available. I'm gonna stop and just post this for now. I'm a ham but no expert, certainly not on HF topics. I'm really trying to consider the audience and share/ask on what is most needed, so i'll try to keep following this thread. I also emailed Bill and Kerry a couple months ago with some decent info about radios and EMP I found in a field manual - fm3-3-1 I believe http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...olicy/army/fm/ Last edited by Tyler Macmillan; 09-26-2008 at 03:50 AM. |
09-26-2008, 04:17 AM | #55 | |
Avalon Senior Member
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Location: Caribbean
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Re: Amateur radio
Quote:
Welcome to the forum and thanks for the added info. I am not familiar with the way those groups are organized but depending on the kind of circumstances it may be a disadvantage that they are 'known' to state officials. 1. Abuse of such a network to deliberate distribute (unnoticed) dis-info 2. Take it out before it's effective So be careful an let us be aware of who are to be trusted ... difficult task in difficult times ... 73 |
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09-27-2008, 08:53 PM | #56 |
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Location: Caribbean
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Re: Amateur radio
almost 9pm GMT ... somebody ready to rock 'n' roll ?
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09-28-2008, 01:54 AM | #57 |
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canary Islands
Posts: 38
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Re: Amateur radio
Hi everyone , i got my ham licence when i was 16 , a long time ago lol. I went into Ham radio because i started with CB, and caught the bug. I am an expat englishman and have not really set a station up down here in the canaries due to spanish paper work involved in changing the licence. But i have all the gear , hf up to 2 meters, and did operate for a short time here using my uk call sign with spanish prefix , None of the locals had a problem with that although you are not supposed to use a prefix forever lol. The radio autorities here are non existant, and practically every taxi driver uses 145.500 as a local chat channel with is completely against the rules. So i don´t see a problem firing it all up again. The last time was 3 years ago. Since i lived in a small apt at the time i built a small magnetic loop antenna for 20m and 15m. That was only 5ft in diameter and worked surprisingly well. It is also a great hidden antenna if you want to be clandestine.
But it might be worth researching packet radio and internet gateways, that way you could send a packet signal on hf half way accross the world , or to another country where the internet has not been closed down. Thus you could still send and recieve emails ( within reason , no 2 meg files here ) The international space station also has repeater facilities i believe , and ( its been a long time ) there were some ham satelites around that you could connect to . One of the last big fads was 2m internet repeaters where you can dial in using a tone mic to a particular output repeater on the other side of the planet. So converting a walkie talkie in a long distance comunicator , but this system assumes that you have a working gateway in operation. If the internet has been taken down for what ever reason , your handheld will be limited to standard local communications. someone might be more in touch with what is avalible nowadays. I will have a surf and see what is practical |
09-28-2008, 02:03 AM | #58 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Canary Islands
Posts: 38
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Re: Amateur radio
http://www.echolink.org/
A system where you don´t need a radio to talk on the radio , Basically you can use you pc as you transmitter , your voice travels over the internet then is broadcast at the gatway to a recieving station. Again , problem is the avalibility of the internet at the recieving end etc. but this would work crossboarder i imagine. Think no internet in the usa but access in mexico. Anyone along the mexican boarder could use a handheld to connect to an access point in mexico a few miles away, then dial in the where they want to come out. There are handeld radios out there that are licence free the PMR446 band comes to mind but these are basically toys, and range is limited to a mile at most. http://www.licencefree.com/ Here is a ham emergency network http://www.iresc.org/ and this system , but would they switch the servers off? http://www.winlink.org/node/12 The Winlink 2000 system is a "star" based network containing 3 mirror image, redundant COMMON MESSAGE SERVERS (CMS), one in San Diego, one in Detroit and one in Perth, Australia. These ensure that the system will remain in operation should any chunk of the Internet become inoperative. Each Radio Message Server node (RMS) is tied together as would be the ends of a spoke on a wheel with the hubbing being done by the Common Message Servers. Traffic goes in and out between the CMS and the Internet email recipient, and between the end users and the Radio Message Server gateways. Multiple Radio-to-Radio addresses may be mixed with radio-to-internet e-mail addresses, allowing complete flexibility. Last edited by Powerinourhandsl; 09-28-2008 at 03:19 AM. |
09-28-2008, 04:27 AM | #59 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 345
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Re: Amateur radio
Yes internet communications is really fun.
But isn't practical in an emergency. Ham radios are good because the power, receive, and transmit capability are under the control of the ham operator. There is no middleman. Waterman |
09-28-2008, 10:38 AM | #60 | |
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Location: Canary Islands
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Re: Amateur radio FREQUENCY COORDINATION - ASAP
Quote:
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09-28-2008, 12:43 PM | #61 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 17
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Re: Amateur radio
The first 'net' session last night was a bust. I started at 9pm GMT transmitting on 28.400 every minute for 10 minutes with no responses. Then, I switched to the secondary frequency of 14.292 for another 10 minutes. Global transmissions are very weak these days because there are no sunspots, but we should be getting to somewhere even regionally. Let's try again tonight, same time.
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09-28-2008, 02:31 PM | #62 |
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Re: Amateur radio
Ok SkyKing,
I will be listening again (cannot use my tranmitter yet) ... My 10 mtr band is as good as dead here ... So it will be 20 mtr where I might pick it up .... yesterday I heard a quite long conversation on 14.292 Mhz in Spanish so I tried +/- 10 Khz to find something else .... at 14.300 Mhz. there was a Florida maritime station with some official business I think ... 73 |
09-28-2008, 03:44 PM | #63 |
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Re: Amateur radio
Let's keep tying to put this together.
It might take a while for folks to catch on. We might also do some type of general post or have Bill post a sticky witht the schedule. waterman Last edited by Waterman; 10-02-2008 at 09:15 PM. |
09-28-2008, 05:54 PM | #64 |
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Re: Amateur radio
Yes folks - try to keep this alive!
I have just moved & am trying to get organized, but I pledge to make getting my radio license a top priority! I will do my best to gather the equipment & get myself setup a.s.a.p. |
09-29-2008, 12:16 PM | #65 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 17
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Re: Amateur radio
Another attempt yesterday (Sunday) at 9pm GMT yielded no responses on either frequency. I did chat with a regular HAM operator out of Florida for a bit, so I know I'm getting out to the south. I will not be able to try next Saturday, so I will try again next Sunday.
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09-29-2008, 12:27 PM | #66 |
Avalon Senior Member
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Location: Caribbean
Posts: 375
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Re: Amateur radio
Hi,
I was listening in again. 10 meters is dead as a doornail here ... Maybe I must improve the antenna or check the receiver. On 20 there was plenty of action. At 14.300 I heard the Florida base maritime station again. At 14.292 I heard again pretty strong signals in Spanish. They didn't repeat call-signs that much though ... I guess they are from Latin America. On other frequencies I hear quite a lot US stations so propagation wise it should be possible. 73, Frank |
10-02-2008, 10:53 PM | #67 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: USA
Posts: 4
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Re: Amateur radio
Why worry about getting a licence, when the **** hits the fan all is fair in Love and WAR... F**K the Licence.
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10-03-2008, 01:16 AM | #68 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Tampa, FL U.S.A.
Posts: 28
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Re: Amateur radio
Tell you what, I'm sure glad I looked into this forum. I have been looking into the "Ham Radio" stuff and they won't sell me anything. They say I have to get the 1st of three licenses before they can sell to me. Either way I'm going to learn this whole thing as I plan on going on some continental excursions sometime in the near future. Thanks Yall!!!
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10-03-2008, 01:18 AM | #69 |
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Re: Amateur radio
You're right, D.o.M.F. - I can't argue with that a bit, but -
It seems that we're already having an affect on possible futures & one possibility is that the **** may not hit the fan at all. I know that's a slim chance, but I try to consider all possibilities. Another consideration is keeping yourself off "their" radar. Some have expressed that can be done by not getting a license, yet knowing how to operate a radio. That's certainly one way to do it, but in that scenario, you run the risk of calling added attention to yourself if you should operate that radio without "authorization" before the chaos breaks out. At least if I'm licensed, I can get hands-on experience without risking "the authorities" trying to track me down (for that, anyway). It's just one way of going about it ... certainly not the only only way, and maybe even not the best way, but that's how I intend to do it. Heck - if some of the folks here are right, we won't need radio at all, we will eventually just communicate telepathically ... but ya know - I'm studying for a licensing exam in the meantime, anyway. |
10-03-2008, 12:18 PM | #70 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 17
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Re: Amateur radio
You do not need a license to purchase ANY radio equipment - not sure who 'they' are that you are talking to. Try http://www.aesham.com for online ordering and look at the Yaesu FT-857D as it's a nice compact lightweight unit if you are going to be moving around a lot. Also look at the Buddipole as a good portable antenna system. These two pieces will cost you $1100USD but are worth the investment. Different equipment is more appropriate if you are setting up a more permanent 'base' station.
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10-03-2008, 01:04 PM | #71 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Tampa, FL U.S.A.
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Re: Amateur radio
Skyking,
Appreciate the knowledge, however AES in Orlando are the people who explained to me that I had to go through this process. As I investigate more, everyone is always asking do I have a license? Even after I explained to them that I just want to listen in. Maybe I will try the website you suggested and see if I can order online and cut out the BS. One last ?, why do you recommend this piticular equipment? Just curious as I was looking to buy equip that had the most range as far as bandwidth and also portability is key. Your help is greatly appreciated. Man Love! |
10-03-2008, 06:43 PM | #72 | |
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Re: Amateur radio
For those that know their equipment ... how does this setup look?
Ebay Link Quote:
How much operating time and output power would those two batteries afford with that setup? |
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10-03-2008, 06:53 PM | #73 |
Avalon Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 345
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Re: Amateur radio
That sounds like an excellent setup!
The only thing I would add is a rollup solar panel to recharge the batteries. Other than that this is very good. The life of the batteries depends on how much it is used for transmitting that is when watts used goes up. Either way that is why I recommend the flexible rollup solar panel, which I believe will add about another $125 to that price. |
10-03-2008, 09:03 PM | #74 |
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Tampa, FL U.S.A.
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Re: Amateur radio
Sounds like a good setup for the long haul, RZ & Waterman. Appreciate the input. Will certainly make the selection when I order my setup. Will be meeting with a 74 yr. old vet on Amatuer radio. Will have him review the setup and see what he has to say. Gentlemen, again a million thanks. I can certainly afford that amount. Sounds alot lower then I thought I would be spending.
Way to start this forum Bill. I thought I was the only one going through this mess and did not know who to trust. Love Yall!!! |
10-04-2008, 03:47 AM | #75 | |
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Re: Amateur radio
Quote:
If you're going by the $875 figure I posted earlier - I have to apologize ... I later went back to see that that particular number was just a starting bid & the seller's reserve had not been met. I should've edited my post to reflect that, but didn't think it had much bearing on the conversation at that point. Skyking's $1100 figure is probably more realistic. |
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