/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Also if a signal is say for example 155.28000


I cant enter that in because the radio only has 6 digits to enter numbers.

for one, it's a shitty radio, with a shitty antenna, and a really shitty receiver circuit. Not very sensitive at all.
A ... Neosun? Pretty sure t's an N-something name, aftermarket antenna for about $20 will help. But it's still a real shitty radio.

Change the step size to 2.5k or whatever the lowest is. Should let you key in the freq after that. Might need to adjust the squelch down to the lowest number that mutes the noise.

imo you're better off buying an actual scanner if you just want to listen. baomemes suck as a scanner.

for one, it's a shitty radio, with a shitty antenna, and a really shitty receiver circuit. Not very sensitive at all.
A ... Neosun? Pretty sure t's an N-something name, aftermarket antenna for about $20 will help. But it's still a real shitty radio.

Change the step size to 2.5k or whatever the lowest is. Should let you key in the freq after that. Might need to adjust the squelch down to the lowest number that mutes the noise.

imo you're better off buying an actual scanner if you just want to listen. baomemes suck as a scanner.

>>1262048

If I scan on some channels I get little burts of static, almost like someone is talking, is this a person that is out of range?

>>1262048
Do you have the usb programming cable?
Can you hear fm radio stations, am?

>>1262079
I can hear FM stations, I ordered the programming cable.

>>1262049
>I cant enter that in because the radio only has 6 digits to enter numbers.

Did we pass fourth grade math?

155.28 = 155.280 = 155.280000000000

I thought those things did 12.5khz spacing anyhow.

I bought one too, absolutely no idea what I'm doing with it, I'm able to enter the NOAA weather frequency and hear it nice and clear, every other frequency I scan is completely empty.

>>1262072
That's the squelch being too low.

You should watch some videos and read some stuff. Study for the ham technician license, the point of the test is to give people base knowledge.

>>1262125
Look up local repeaters on repeaterbook. Your antenna is also quite possibly garbage. I get great reception here with a longer antenna on my baofeng. Look into antenna science, study for the ham test. This stuff isn't a mystery.

i had one in the late 90s b4 shit went encrypted...picked up phone from neighbors wireless handset...got to hear a conversation her talking to one of her students...apparently mrs prim and proper was bi...hot shit for the time.

I've been messing with it,mostly just letting it scan, I found a what sound like police radio for a town thats around 15 miles from me, it's the only thing I've been able to pick up from scanning.

you're not supposed to buy JUST one unit. you buy 2 and use it like a walkie-talkie, but with great range: 5 miles instead of 400 yards for the FRS shit from Best-Buy. you know the shit labeled ''16 miles'' that craps out after 200 yards line-of-sight, and that cant even go through a cement wall.

>>1262048
KEOK** here. You're right to buy a better antenna, once you do, that's a mighty powerful radio for the money. If you want to make sure it's working, try and pick up weather broadcasts (google it). If you're trying to use a repeater, remember that some require +/- 000.600 offset for VHF, +/- 005.000 offset for UHF, or a CTCSS tone for transmitting/receiving. Assuming you have your license that is.

>>1262048
What are you wanting to listen to?
If it's LMR (Land Mobile Radio) like the Fire and Cops use then you probably won't get anything. That's (U.S.) mostly P25 (TIA-102) and encrypted. You would be better off starting with aircraft AM frequencies. Go visit AARL.

>>1262442
>That's (U.S.) mostly P25
Yes.
>(TIA-102) and encrypted

Most likely not. Encryption introduces some serious failure modes in emergency comms that many police and fire agencies don't want to risk.

>>1262442
>aircraft AM frequencies

Does that thing even do AM?

>>1262453
>that many police and fire agencies don't want to risk.

The cops have done it here regardless. They did throw in a heap more base stations in their system.

>>1262442
>live in small town
>tune in to police frequencies
>hear everything loud and clear
Feels good.

>discover small-town police sound like the military
>patrol 'sectors' and 'quadrants' instead of streets and neighborhoods
>refer to their neighbors as 'civilians'
Feels bad.

>>1262465
Lots of small town cops are retired SF/SP or got their basic training there. We have one bubba that is a reserve sheriff on the weekends. Bit of a power tripper.

Oh.. and P25 trunked vs. conventional. Conventional is easy, you just listen to one freq.
In trunking the frequency will change. Normally it's stable for a conversation, but once someone stops talking for 10 seconds or so, the next call may not happen on the same freq. They make scanners for that, but they are more expensive and you have to program in the control channels.
Yes, I'm a radio fag.
No, I can't share pictures. $dayjob owns my nuts.

>>1262153
Not encrypted, just digital. There are encrypted talkgroups, but in general most of them aren't.

>>1262238
>or a CTCSS tone for transmitting/receiving
CTCSS is just a filter that limits what your radio unmutes. If you're using it as a scanner, leave that (and DCS) off to pass everything.

If there's a station you want to listen to and know its PL/DPL, key that in for that channel. If the input needs PL to unmute, obviously you'll need to TX the appropriate tone/code to get in.

>>1262442
>Go visit AARL
ARRL. http://www.arrl.org/getting-licensed

>>1262453
>>1262480
Really glad i'm not the only one that understands concepts of digital radio here.
>No, I can't share pictures
I can though!

>>1262497
Mototrbo
haven't seen those in a long while.
All my stuff is GTR-8000 with a few sites that are still Quantar/Intellirepeaters.
Just got a system replaced that used the Smartnet II trunking system.. 6809! Bullet proof tho. Might have a pic of that...... got to dig through the "pile o pics"(tm)

>>1262506
I wanted to take this home.
"for scientific purposes"

>>1262048
Go here: http://www.miklor.com for all things Baofeng. Download Chirp. Watch teh Yootoobs. Get your Tech Class license and operate legally.

kek
msf5000
toooooob radio.

>>1262064
>neosun

You mean Nagoya? Yeah they're decent but there are a lot of counterfeits out there. Baofengtech is a authorized importer though, so if you buy through them you should be good.

Another alternative is the SignalStick, which is cheap and also made out of titanium. Waiting on mine but apparently they're very good.
https://signalstuff.com/antennas/

>>1262125
Generally radio traffic will not be outside of it's assigned frequencies. Cops/EMS, department of transit, power company, get assigned specific frequencies. Amateur radio operators get a entire band, but generally stick to repeaters on VHF/UHF, I've only ever heard people 146.520 a couple times.

As such, the baofeng makes for a terrible scanner because of how slowly it scans through channels.

>>1262509
Yo ham bro, howsit?

>>1262602
>Nagoya
that's the one.
Haven't heard of the signalstick before.
Bought that UV5R for $40, and that's all the more i'm going to put into it. Radio, ant, batt/beltclip, charger/ps, and programming cable. I think i've charged the battery once since i've had it (2 or 3 years now).
Should be obvious why I never use it....

>>1262602
>baofeng makes for a terrible scanner because of how slowly it scans through channels
This.

>>1262614
Yeah I got one of the newer UV-5s (green buttons, no band select button) as a gift and also got a F8HP. The green button one seems to have problems with signal rejection and will randomly start breaking squelch in a rapid popping manner. The F8HP is fine but really, 8 watts will not give you any real performance boost over a standard 5 watt radio.

However I am primarily interested in HF so this is fine for me. The only way I'm getting another handheld is when I graduate and if I get a good job I'll probably get a VX-8 or TH-D74 or something.

>>1262637
Meter that "8 watt" on a power meter sometime.

My UV5R that's rated at """""5 watts""""" actually spits out 3.6 at the jack, on a calibrated Anritsu power meter.

I had an FT60 years ago, great little radio. UI was kind of clunky, the newer Yaesus are a lot better.

5 watts is more than enough in a portable; an increase in power output doesn't give you a proportional increase in range. I don't think i've ever kicked my mobile up above 20W.

>>1262510
Is that the exciter/pa on top? I have a feeling I've repaired on of those before!
The bottom being that strange 7.5V 14V split power supply.

I even own own of those locking cases on the right!

Fucking motorola!

>>1263159
Yep PA.. I brainferted on teh toob radio. Know I have a pic around here. really similar.
I have the diagnostic panel for that. It's sitting in the display case at work.
bullet proof radios given the dust and rust I've seen on them.

>>1262048
If you are not picking anything up, you could try configuring smaller scan steps in the options. .10 or .05 perhaps. It also probably depends on how dense of an area you live.

I have the same radio and live in a large metro. None of it is super interesting, but I get multiple taxi dispatches, courier dispatches, garbage hauling. Once I picked up a stores loss prevention frequency, and another time got a drive-thru window.

Like I said, mind-blowing stuff.

UV5R is a great handheld to start with.

I was just listening to the ham through the AO-85 satellite earlier today with my UV5R and a regular 17cm antenna.

You can check for repeaters in your area, emergency services (if analogue), satellites, etc.

It's no good for scanning, though, get a Rtlsdr for that.

Is it still interesting to invest some radio gear to stalk people around ?
Police no longer clear here (tetra shit etc since terrorist attacks)
Still amusing things to hear with std electronics knowledge & budget ? Or defo nothing left and do something else

>>1262048
the it look like u wasted your money then u DUMB...... INSIGNIFICANT little sucka...............

PAY attention next time

>>1264107
There is loads of stuff to do with radio, just Google Rtlsdr, they're like 20 usd

>>1262509
>>1262130
>>1262130
>>1262238
>license
That crap is the biggest meme ever coined

>>1262048
>Manual baofeng português envio gratuito
Alberto Barbosa?

>>1264565
it exists as a barrier to keep random idiots that don't know what the fuck they're doing out of the spectrum. Do you really want the airwaves to turn into how the internet has become since normalfags got their iphones?

>>1264755
would you need a license if you are just going to listen, but use a radio that can transmit?

>>1264755
>muh secret club
if it will help bring some life back into the whole thing then yes.
The larger market also would help fix the cost of all of the equipment just like how it lowered the prices of decent computer hardware.

>>1264836
Newfags wouldn't be buying anything except baofengs anyway. It's so easy already that you're juts keeping the complete illiterate faggots off at this point anyway.

>>1262465
>Live in small town
>Dispatch is nothing but kitchen fires and old people falling over, changing to car crashes and overdoses at night

>>1262510
You haven't seen TUUUUBES until you've checked this place out.

>>1264807
>>>1264755
>would you need a license if you are just going to listen, but use a radio that can transmit?
I'm still working on my license, so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that is ok as long as you don't transmit.

>>1264879
Same but for the first week or so of November there's almost nightly calls for chimney fires as it gets colder and people forget they didn't sweep it in spring or a bird built a nest in it or something.

>>1264565
the ticket serves as a requirement to learn. can you imagine a community where all the new influx doesn't know that say, 440 means 70? The basic knowledge is important, and the fee is only part of the incentive.

The public database is the larger issue.

>>1264892
no one cares if you only receive, it's when you transmit that basic understandings of interference and common etiquette apply. Hence the license.

What are some good youtube channels for learning radio stuff/living vicariously because I don't have any equipment? Right now I've been watching Dave Cassler's stuff, guy is enthusiastic, doesn't ramble that much, and kinda reminds me of Jack Horkheimer, STAAAAR GAZER!
https://www.youtube.com/user/davecasler/videos

I've also got this guy bookmarked but he doesn't update that often (right now because I think he's a woodlands firefighter in California or something) and is more prepper-focused.
https://www.youtube.com/user/GUERRILLAGEEK/videos

>>1264836
it's not secret, it's exclusive, and the mentality of "bring life back into it" is always short sighted and backfires everytime when morons, soccermoms, corporate fags and every idiot under the sun jumps in the hobby and fucks everything up for everyone else.

I've wanted to get into amateur radio for a long time but

>Don't know how to get license or how hard or expensive it is to do so
>Don't understand how you can find anything if it's all encrypted now anyway

>>1264836
That's not how radio works you fucking retard. If the band restrictions are not properly enforced it quickly becomes literally fucking impossible to use. You have free bands and power levels you are allowed to use without a HAM license. Use those.

>I should be able to transmit on air traffic control frequencies if I want this is such a meme meme meme nice meme such meme wow
Fuck yourself. Both for being an idiot and misusing the word meme.

>>1265247
1. Google exists you fucking idiot
2. Encryption is illegal

>>1265263
And you wonder why people dont take you seriously

>>1264882
Sagemore Hill :)
I like Sunspot Arizona.
The largest effing tube I ever saw was for a VOA (Voice Of America) radio station in Panama. Water cooled.
That or the guts from a Rockwell Collins HF-80.

>>1265263
>wow why is the HAM radio community so small and shrinking
>>"1. Google exists you fucking idiot
>>2. Encryption is illegal"
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

>>1265247
Go to ARRL website, research technicians license. You can take test at local chapter, the book is 30 online or there are prepared courses.

I'm studying book now for test in November. You don't need to learn Morse code anymore or go to one place in state to test... it's much easier now.

>>1265247
Getting a tech license is easy, it's basic rules and regulations and electrical theory like diodes and ohm's law. General is a little harder but more of a sideways shift to more electrical theory and shortwave stuff. Extra is harder.

There's a wide variety of study material. Personally I've used the Gordon West study manuals and the KB6NU No Nonsense guides, with Hamstudy.org to take practice tests.

License fees are generally $15.

You can't do crypto on the ham bands legally. Basically only the government and state agencies can do it, and only in their own bands. The gear is expensive (Motorola has a monopoly) and mostly incapable of doing things amateurs do with the advanced handhelds available. Most state/local communications aren't encrypted though, the vast majority of police/fire/medical services still use regular analog or unencrypted P25 digital transmissions. At worst you might need to buy a scanner with P25 and trunking capabilities.

Ham radio on the other hand currently has something like 4-5 competing digital standards, the big 3 radio makers each have their own while the Chinese and Alinco (Japanese budget radios) use the open source DMR standard and Alinco also offers something called GMSK for some of their mobile (vehicle/base station) VHF radios. Plus P25 for the EMCOM people who have reprogrammed Motorola equipment via their work with emergency/disaster preparedness services. Recently there's been work in developing microcontrollers/SDRs to bridge the standards and develop open-source access equipment for the big 3 standards. However overall digital is still a minor field and most regions will standardize on one type to prevent incompatibility issues.

>>1265790
Ah I should note that these are just digital standards for VHF/UHF FM voice. "digital digital" modes like PSK31, WSJT and FT8 number in the tens and are done through programs like FLDIGI, hook your radio up to a computer and have a IRC chat over shortwave. ("chatroulette but the ionosphere determines which electronic old man you're talking to.")

>>1265853
HAS SCIENCE GONE TOO FAR?

>>1265790
>generally $15.

I wish it was in my country. More like $2-300 first up. The Russians have it good I've heard - free.

>>1265880
>free
kinda makes you think

Would anybody happen to have the current (23rd) edition ARRL Antenna Book and mind uploading the CD? I found a torrent for a ISO elsewhere but it looks like it's corrupt.

>>1265853
>>1265872
>mfw you knew HAARP was up to something but I never suspected they were sharing cute cat pictures without using the internet

>>1266996

I found this in the thrift store for 30 $ is it a good deal ?

>>1262048
I've got myself a RTL-SDR.
Anything that I should know?
I've got it working great on the SW frequencies and all the way up to 1.x Ghz
However I do need a better antenna, right now I've ghetto'd one out with some wire attached to the antenna that came with it

>>1267373
yes that is a direction finder they used them on boats and planes to find a radio signal and follow it. that one was probably for a boat.

>>1267373
Back in the day before GPS you had to use paper charts dead reckoning and a sextant star charts to find your position. This device used radio for navigation.

>>1267517
>>1267520
Yeah basically it's a AM/LW radio with a rotating antenna. Tune to the radio to a beacon, then rotate the antenna until you get the strongest signal from it. Then do this with multiple beacons and do some basic math to figure out where you are.

Fancier "automatic" ones would spin the antenna themselves with a motor.

>>1267373
If there are any radiobeacons in your area

bought a bitx40 a while back and about to finish assembling it. What's the simplest/smallest antenna (with proper impedance matching, power dissipation, etc) I can use? I don't want to set up long wires or have them run outdoors if possible.

I've also got two Pixie boards and two 3W dummy loads. I

>>1268250
Don't worry I recently received my General license so I think I'm okay as long as I only listen or CW certain places

>>1268250
Remember that it's 234 / f (megahertz) for a quarter wave and 468 / f for a half wave

I will use 7,150 khz as that's right in the center of the 40m band, which gets you either 32 feet or 65 feet. Slightly longer at the bottom and slightly higher at the top of course. Smallest physical footprint would be a inverted V dipole, simplest would be a end fed antenna with a 9:1 matchbox (I have a Nelson Antennas one from eBay, it's good).

If you're feeling adventurous you could try building a magnetic loop antenna or the mini dipole at the second link:
http://www.kk5jy.net/magloop/
https://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/frank_radio_antenna_KGD.htm

>>1262130
Baofengs squelch is really just a meme. Not real squelch

story time

>at work
>we get a hold of a cb
>can hear two truckers talking in the area
>truckers are obviously black guys
>signal is weak but we can hear them fine
>ask them where theyre from etc friendly chat mode
>3rd guy cuts in, clear as day
>must have had a serious transmitter
>"neeee-geeer neeee-geeer neeee-geeer"
>black truckers lose their shit
>fun time had by some

>>1265263
Illegal above 1 watt, yes

>>1265263
>2. Encryption is illegal
This is why ham radio is a fucking joke.

Serious question, what does the FCC hope to gain by not allowing encrypted signals? A lot of the internet is encrypted and almost any cellphone has access to it, what's the difference?

>>1268974
>why would a government want to ban private, infrastructure-free, global communication

Want to see some serious encryption on radios check out commercial fishing boats. Some of the guys use airplanes for spotting fish like tuna and swordfish. The planes have a stack of radios to match the boats. each one has multiple levels of encryption with filters and numbered settings plus trunking. sometimes the guys will transmit on one band and receive in another anything to keep conversation secret. They don't generally use ham bands they are on business uhv VHF am ssb sometimes CB and Marie VHF.

>>1268974
You can send data packets and use email services on ham so in a way that encryption in that it's not voice comms.

>>1268974
The best reason I've heard is so that it's less attractive to be used by businesses and other users who are supposed to use business bands. It would be a problem in cities more than anything.

>>1268974
Let me quote the specific rule:
>§ 97.309 RTTY and data emission codes.

>(b) Where authorized by §§ 97.305(c) and 97.307(f), a station may transmit a RTTY or data emission using an unspecified digital code, except to a station in a country with which the United States does not have an agreement permitting the code to be used. RTTY and data emissions using unspecified digital codes must not be transmitted for the purpose of obscuring the meaning of any communication.

So for example, I could make a mode that transmits encrypted user-identification info along with the signal so that somebody can't impersonate K420GOKU's transmissions. Or like D-STAR/System Fusion it could use proprietary closed-source hardware for voice encoding or whatever. Both of those would be legal because they're not obfuscating the content of the message.

But generally >>1269064 is the biggest reason. The amateur radio bands are intended for people with (paraphrasing the FCC and ITU) "personal and non-financial interest in radio communications and to allow self-training, communications, and technical exploration" and not for companies to go and use encrypted equipment for free and without regulation. You want to see how bad that gets, just look at all the Russian taxi drivers and pirates that show up.

>>1269198
>Russian taxi drivers

We have she RF shitposters from south east asia too.

https://vocaroo.com/i/s1f7df7lbf9R

>>1268974
It may have something to do with "intelligence", spys etc

>>1268986
>will transmit on one band and receive on another

Some Hams around here have been crossbanding for years but they make no secret of it. They have been known to TX over 10 hours non stop. Typically one will TX wile taking "callers" on other frequencies as if it was talkback radio but its via RF. The callers need to listen on the "studio channels" via headphones. They have sometimes taken callers via other means too.

>>1262106
The spacing is variable

>>1262463
They do not do am

Who here participating in the very bad day scenario Nov 4th ? post up those MARS HF frequency's.

"old man yells at open-source standard"
http://blog.icomamerica.com/2017/10/30/is-your-digital-repeater-ham-friendly/

>>1264034
>garbage hauling . . . loss prevention . . . drive-thru window
>mind-blowing stuff
Do you have to shut off the radio because it's too exciting, sometimes?

>>1264034
>>1270803
RadioReference has a huge database of transmitters for various comercial/Public service traffic that you can search with a location based query, Baofengs suck for scanning so your better off letting someone find the frequency for you and then picking where you want to listen for traffic, plus if you set up something like RTL-SDR there are ongoing projects to decode most trunking systems so you can listen to those with ease, if you live in a city the police dispatch is usually reasonably interesting.

>>1270835
Police is encrypted in my city. They were good listening before that.

what's a good, cheaper radio that can be used for scanning and finding popular frequencies? I have a UV5R and yea, it's really fucking slow at finding new shit. used chirp to plug in everything listed on RadioReference/RepeaterBook but I've found a few unlisted frequencies.

I ordered the Technician study book and will be getting that license soon. Not really sure what I'll be using it for because I don't know any ham people, but it's fun.

>>1271455
An sdr. You can see transmissions happening.

>>1268971
Why in the fuck would you want to encrypt anything on the amateur band? Encryption defeats the entire point of making random contacts.

If you wanna secretly talk about your drug dealing or shooting cops or SUPER SEEKRIT HACKER PLAN with your buddies across town or any other illegal shit that you'd use encryption for, there's no reason to use the Amateur bands anyway. Hell, why the fuck would you want a government license in the first place?

>>1268923
>cb
mfw I know that feel

>be me, kiddo abt 8-10yo
>got a pair of walkie-talkies for me and muh brother for christmas
>stuff happens to be in the 27mhz band
>notices that's the same freq as daddy's "don't touch it" cb stuff
>reads dad's books about radio, how to use swr meters, antenna mating and shit
>figures out walkie talkie use a BNC connector
>use some of my tooth-fairy money to buy one of those BNC to F adapter
>try plugging old dad's cb antenna into wt
>instant hear load of truckers and weird people (looking behind those may have been fagggots) on different frequencies
>listen then try to speak but seems like nobody hears me
>starts yelling at arabs for being kebabs and shit
>some of the fagggots finally responds that it's not appropriate for a kid to say such things
>trucker cuts in, being like way more appropriate than being such a sisssy fagggot
>...
>shitstorm ensues on the waves
>me calls bro to listen shitstorm and keks all the afternoon
>repeat until being caught because dad heard us on his cb
>was about to be grounded hard, until dad notices that I've done a fine job hacking the wt such a poor hardware base and harsh knowledge of radio stuff
>dad so proud, finally don't ground me, but takes it's antenna back, because "Arabs are such kebabs you know".
>feelsgoodman.jpg
>???
>I'm a telco engineer now
>pretty sure I still have that wt somewhere in my room

>>1269354
>RF shitposters
mfw there is a lack of death penalties in those sub-countries

>>1268923
>>1272050
kek
time for another CB story
>be me
>driving home from class last month
>quiet on ch 19
>few truckers chime in and start to talk
>some base stations are also come in range and can hear them talking about cops arresting one of them when they we're younger
>truckers talking about someone eating shit on the shoulder and complaining about cars not using blinkers
>all is good
>then some other trucker with an obvious like 1KW amp walks all over ch 19
>"Suck my dick"
>"hey faggots suck my dick"
>repeat for like 5 minutes
>starts playing faggy club music
>starts saying "suck my dick" to the beat of the music
>goes away for a minute
>base stations butthurt raging about "walking all over us" and "illegal amp!"
>truckers are keking
>conversation between truckers turn to base station operators being faggots and probably want to suck his dick
>guy comes back on and continues singing "suck my dick" for another 30 minutes until I got home and turn the car off
it's things like this that keep me from taking my CB out of my car

>>1272650
>>1272050
There is a guy on our local UHF repeater who likes to whisper "suuuck the glaaaass coooock" every now and then. He has been active for fucking years. We thought it might be a voice recorder playing back at random intervals, but, unless he's got about 30 samples rotating through, its definitely live, it's always different. Dedicated shitposters are everywhere.

>>1272669
Of course there have always been shitposters on all media. Hell, I remember an old story of some fucking around with telegraphs. Since we're on CB stories, I'll share one of mine, that kinda got me interested in radio

>be 10
>with parents hitting up a thrift store
>knew about CB radio but never had one
>find radioshack TRC-234 haldheld transceiver
>missing battery door
>didn't know if worked
>pull 9 AAs from different toys and such
>it turned on
>weather channels came through
>begged parents to buy at $3
>they eventually do
>at home randomly scanning
>hear someone talking about a car crash
>traffic backed up on expressway for miles
>randomly key and ask where
>they hear me and say
>parent leaving for work, night shift
>tell them about crash because it was on their way
>explain how I knew
>parent avoided and made it on time
>one of the few to make it on time
>got thanked for info

Fast forward a few years and I was shitposting with the rest of the CB crowd. I decided to get a license to shitpost longer distances a couple years ago. Turns out, you can't legally. I just keep the occasional comment to 14.313. Other than that, I use my general license legally Halfway to DXCC

>>1272669
>Dedicated shitposters are everywhere.
I swear some of them on CB are more dedicated than the ones on 4chan

>>1272714
You could probably easily rile hams up legally by doing SSTV QSOs using lefty twitter themed images. The antifa are sending their supersoldiers to DX on weather net frequencies!

>>1272714
>14.313
Why add to that dumpster fire?

>>1262048
Are there any radios that looks like childish walkietallkie bue still can work thru the walls within mile range? I'm working at a military objects and staff there is quite suspicious when they see bulky black radios with buttons and so. Watching at picrelated now is it any good?

>>1273260
>radios that looks like childish walkietallkie
get something like >picrelated.jpg
then l2mod for range like I did when I was a fucking 8-10yo kid, see >>1272050

On the other hand, if what you're looking for is a radio scanner, consider buying one of those "All American Five" vintage radio sets, whose guts are no longer safe to plug on mains anymore and covered radio bands mostly obsolete, and adapt it to your needs
Nobody will be suspecting such an old lady, either to be working, either to serve as a fucking scanner.
Bonus points : you now have a fancy loudspeaker to plug your gayphone in.

>>1273260
Why not get an entry-level commercial radio?
They're cheap on the used market. Tough as fuck. Plain/simple enough for idiots to use (usually just volume/PTT/monitor buttons).

Plus you get nice options like drop-in multi-port chargers, headsets/speaker-mics, surveillance headsets, etc.

>>1273153
Said the guy posting on 4Chins

If there a way to decrypt or hop on hidden cop frequencies?

>>1273732
Sure.
Get frequencies, get keys and voilà....

>>1262641
>My UV5R that's rated at """""5 watts""""" actually spits out 3.6 at the jack, on a calibrated Anritsu power meter.
I will take mine to work. I will probably need to buy an adapter. What kind of connector is on the radio?

Am total radio noob, picked this up lost at ft Hunter ligget training site. Still powers on and does the do but I have no idea how to radio.
>has read through entire thread
>seen all posts covering this question
>asks anyway because bump and too lazy to read through again

>>1275744
>GMRS/FRS
Camper walkie.

>>1268971
There's no reason for encryption on amateur radio frequencies anyways. Unlike the internet, you can't set up an encrypted connection with people on the fly so you'd just be limited to you and the friends you've met up with beforehand when programming your radios. Also, if encryption was allowed you'd see a fuck ton of businesses breaking the rules and using amateur radio frequencies for business purposes, flooding the limited available bandwidth.

I'm willing to bet that most of the people who bitch about encryption not being allowed on amateur radio wouldn't even be on the air using it if it was legal.

>picked up a uv5r last week
>can't listen to police because trunking
>listen to basement dwellers talk about nothing and emt's respond to overdoses

>>1276151
If your PD uses P25 Phase I, you can listen with a $25 RTL-SDR USB dongle and free SDRtrunk software.

>>1276158
>dongle
*child like snickering*

Has anyone considered using a higher power 2 meter mobile radio in a bag hooked up to a battery as a man pack radio for portable use when hiking with some sort of small 20'-30' collapsible/easy to disassemble mast to get more range vs an HT? Doing some quick radio horizon calculations, the 20'-30' mast would allow one to communicate a good 9-10 miles on a perfectly curved section of the earth to another person with an HT rather than just the 6 miles one could get between 2 people using HTs, and I have regularly heard about how mobile 2 meter radios are capable of much longer ranges than an HT anyways when they're normally used on a vehicle without a 20'-30' mast.

Is the Baofeng bf-f8hp a good radio to get? I'm completely new to radios and I wanted to make sure I don't waste me money on some garbage. I only plan on receiving, so I'd like to get a radio with good range. Also, any books, videos, links on how to use a radio and whatnot would be greatly appreciated.

>>1265081
>https://www.youtube.com/user/davecasler/videos
just watched one video but he is the definition of a shill for whatever manufacturer that gives him radios

>>1264565
Oh? Ever heard about harmonics?

>>1265247
>I've wanted to get into amateur radio for a long time but
https://pastebin.com/9uYXMhVm

>>1267373
>is it a good deal ?
Yes.

Collectors will pay a LOT more than that for it.

>>1275987
>>1268971
>>1265263
>non-encrypted medium
>coded messages
really tingles your synapses

>>1276729
>Baofeng
>good radio
kek

"Good radio" as babby's-frist-ham-radio, absolutely. It's $30, so you're not out a lot of money if you find out it's not a hobby you're interested in.

"Good radio" as far as the hardware goes? It's shit. The receiver sucks, transmitter doesn't even come close to rated output. The UI is shit, at best. Real slow to scan. Not very durable. Barely passes FCC spec.

>>1276729
>I only plan on receiving
Personally I'd spend $30-50 on a real scanner. You'll get way better performance and sensitivity/"range" out of that than a baomeme.

tl;dr:
>First ham radio? Buy it.
>Otherwise, buy something else.

>>1276936
>not durable
c'mon anon. they are though as nails

>>1268974
>not allowing encrypted signals?
Cold war rules.

>>1276941
I have two Motorolas on the end table next to me. I could use the XTS as a wheel chock for my truck, forget about it and drive over the thing, and it might have one or two new scratches on it.... but it'd keep working.

Dropped my XPR 30 feet down a granite rock face. Didn't even reboot. There's one small ding on the bottom corner. That was two years ago.

I've seen a 6550 fall from a tower, hit a rung and explode into pieces... reassemble, and it kept working.

The manual for my radios say if they get dirty, "just wash it off in clean water".

Baomemes are great for a $30 chinese ham radio, but when you've used something decent (not necessarily PCR equipment, but even a halfway decent yaesu/kenwood/icom ham radio) you'll realize just how shitty the baofengs really are. But they're $30, so buy a few of them.

When I'm on the top of a tower on the top of a mountain, I need to be able to trust my equipment. My Motorolas satisfy that need, the baofeng does not.

>>1276977
well fag I dropped mine off a cliff and it works ok. checkmate atheists

>>1276977
This post paid for by our friends at Motorola: Focus on your mission. Not the two-way radio.

>>1276977
Which is the difference between cheap tools and expensive ones... durability

>>1275744
Are there any of these FRS radios that don't suck?

>>1276936
What would you recommend I buy?

>>1277217
Time to move to a country with UHF CB.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UHF_CB

>>1254945

>>1277341
Hmm. Main thing I’m seeing here different from FRS is more channels, 5w vs 2w, and allows repeaters. Seems like US could rewrite own rules to allow on same bands... FRS was just kicked up to 2W but now shares with commercial service.

>>1272050
Can you share wt model you had as kid? I don’t recall ever seeing one with BNC connectors... always the crummy screw in antennas.

>>1277277
He just recommended the Baofeng or a scanner.

>>1277422
>Main thing I’m seeing here different from FRS is more channels, 5w vs 2w, and allows repeaters
You missed how they allow removable antennas, which makes a huge difference as it allows you to go with something better than a shitty rubber duck antenna on an HT and allows you to get a larger antenna mounted on your car. After some quick reading about UHF CB, I don't think I wold have an amateur radio license right now if FRS was like that. Where I live channels on the 2 meter band are still supposed to use 25 KHz spacing, so the 2 meter band only provides 41 repeater channels and 26 simplex channels while UHF CB provides 15 repeater channels and 39 simplex channels when not counting the reserved channels. The only real advantage of FM on the 2 meter band in my area would be that you can use more power with an amateur radio license and there are more channels alloted for repeaters (though there aren't even 15 repeaters in my area let alone the 41 that the 2 meter band would support).

>>1277629
>allow removable antennas

This. Gain antennas are the order of the day for mobile use.

I just received an old scanner off my uncle.
One of these http://www.rigpix.com/bearcat/ubc9000xlt.htm

It appears to be working fine, just a bit rusted and such.

I don't really have experience with cb radio but would like to get into it.

What kind of antenna would I be looking for to hook up to the scanner?

>>1277642
One more thing,

For some reason there's a large cap across the dc in jack.
It appears to have been added by an owner and it was just held onto the PCB with insulating tape.
Would someone have put this in to try and filter out noise from the DC adapter or what?

>>1277645
pic

>>1277645
Yeah, that would be a typical reason.
Sometimes it's added to prevent the power from sagging during load spikes, but I doubt that was the case with your scanner.

>>1277642
>What kind of antenna would I be looking for to hook up to the scanner?

To get you going 3 foot of thin wire poked in the centre of the bnc could be a start. Discone antennas work good for scanners you could build one of those but they are not that practical for the lower bands.

>>1277642
>>1277686
Isn't a long wire all you really need when receiving? It's not like it has to be resonant or anything, right?

I was reading a lot about HF and skywave recently, but my interest was pretty much killed when I learned that people wanted to use the wideband recording ability of SDRs to make "spectrum archives" that other people could go back and listen to on a later date (currently they're still limited by hard drive space though). Does anyone else have a problem with this? I never got into Facebook because I didn't want everything I say tied to my real name on the internet indefinitely, and I'm having a hard time with people wanting to push the same thing on amateur radio. Is there anything one can do other than trying to shoot skip on a CB radio if one wants to have fun with DX without having their name tied to everything they say if they do more than just give a signal report and be done with it? Should I just stick with VHF/UHF and give up on beyond line of sight communications?

>>1277452
He just told me all the garbage qualities of a Baofeng and I would appreciate a specific brand or model of scanner

>>1277277
Not really up on modern scanners, but the Uniden Bearcats have always been good.

There's always streaming options on broadcastify.

Analog gets you a handful of emergency comms/interop channels, but you won't get the "good stuff" that's all p25 digital.
Digital P25 (sometimes also DMR, NXDN, Tetra as well) is a better option since those will do analog as well as digital, but they are quite a bit more expensive.

SDR/Computer is another option, if you want to tinker.

>>1277908
Big data can swallow any band. Basically it's the era we live in. With v/UHF its even easier to attach location data to transmissions so hf may be more forgiving in that regard.

>>1278047
>With v/UHF its even easier to attach location data to transmissions so hf may be more forgiving in that regard.
People aren't going to be archiving shit absolutely everywhere, and my main concern is the possibility of internet accessible archives where a large amount of people would be able to access them. It's much easier to just keep up with whether that's happening locally where various line of sight communications would be affected rather than trying to keep up with that for any place your signal may end up going with skywave. Anyone making archives would also need to be recording from multiple locations if they wanted to attach more precise location data, which would result in significantly more hard drive space being used for not much utility if they were trying to locate signals that normally travel under 50 miles.

>>1277993
Then get a Motorola. How fucking spoon fed do you need to be.

>>1278073
Thanks, that helps

>>1278011
I'm interested in listening in to my local police channel(s) and hear what's going down in my area, forgive me if I sound ignorant, but I want a radio which allows me to manually input a frequency. I'd like a handheld radio with an average or above average range (which doesn't drop significantly while indoors), a clear signal, durable and a decent to long battery life.

>>1278522
>to my local police channel(s)

>Doesn't tell us where

We have no idea what system they use in your area without knowing where it is.

>>1278524
I'm very new to radios so forgive me, do the systems vary by country? Do you need to know the state?

>>1278528
In my state's city its encrypted digital, rural areas use vhf nbfm and in some cases HF SSB and that is all in just one state. I'd narrow it down to at least 20 miles or anons will be telling you stuff that may or may not be applicable to your area.

>>1278536
I live in Sydney, is that narrow enough?

>>1278539
Sounds like they have gone for encrypted P25.

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=1026

>>1278596
>encrypted P25.
And in case you are wondering you will be wasting your time trying for that.

You may do ok listening to the rural 78mhz network if that is still in use and you are in range of that but its likely to be country happenings rather than urban Sydney.

>>1268986
I worked on a fishing boat and that was the tightest shit. Made me feel like a secret agent.

>>1277908
just use CB it's about the most freedom you can get today. But everyone has been recording that for years. I've had hours of tape played in a court case where a neighbor was suing me for harrassment she recorded everything. The amature repeaters allreday record your call sign of everyone that used the repeater just go online it's listed.

>>1279594
>But everyone has been recording that for years.
The difference though is that required someone with a radio tuned to the exact frequency they wanted to record. With wideband recording on an SDR you don't need to tune to a specific frequency and don't even need to set a specific mode, it doesn't matter someone's using AM/FM/SSB/CW/various digital modes, you can record absolutely everything within the bandwidth that your SDR allows (from a few MHz for sub $50 models to higher end models being able to record 100MHz+ at a time) at the same time with only one radio and then go back and listen to the different signals on your computer. Combining that with people wanting to make internet accessible archives means the average person doesn't even need to actually pay for the hardware to do the recording and can just look it up with their smartphone.

>The amature repeaters allreday record your call sign of everyone that used the repeater just go online it's listed.
I thought that was just with EchoLink, IRLP, digital modes, and the occasional club that has streams of their repeater available.

>>1279628
The majority of the repeaters around me have the IDs some are not direct linked to the net. Why would you ever use your real call sign anyway. I use a random club call sign or just look up an active one on the FCC website. Most hams are in it for a social club and like to be tracked anyway like APRS. Others think they are government agents ready to enforce the laws of the radio. Pro tip don't use ham frequencies to communicate but be aware that your transmissions are usually monitored by someone. What are you saying that your worried about backlash anyway especially on a public forum like ham radio. Just talk about how big and firm your antenna is like everyone else.

>>1279644
>Others think they are government agents ready to enforce the laws of the radio
You know they do that because the non licensed people generally tend to interfere with other things hams are trying to do. When it comes to VHF/UHF, there's a lot more that hams are doing on their narrow range of available frequencies than just using FM simplex/repeaters like you can on a cheap Chinese radio. I should also note that the Technician test in the US (which allows you to use the main frequencies people tend to use without a license) is so easy that it basically just serves to filter out people who are both retarded and have no motivation, which lends to the poor opinions hams tend to have of those who broadcast without a license.

>Pro tip don't use ham frequencies to communicate
The whole draw of the amateur radio bands is being able to use more power to talk to people further away. Otherwise, the only real option in common use with a decent amount of coverage in the US is CB radio (as FRS/GMRS radios have shit coverage and MURS isn't in common use).
>inb4 just freeband and have what may as well be a brick since there'll be almost no one else to use your radio to talk with

Jesus fuck there's more hams on here than I suspected. I'll say this much: if you want to get a decent signal, focus on the following in order of importance; antenna location, antenna quality, and radio quality. Baofengs are fine for most things, including digital modes with a little cobbling and the right software. You're missing out on a few modes, (side bands, cw, and am) but those are seldom used above 6 meter wavelength(fucking handy if you're wanting a private convo locally, if both parties can do ssb on 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, or 23cm). Also make sure your radio is set to the right Mode, be it VHF or UHF. I would like to encourage you to get your tech ticket. It's damn easy, and most arrl testers don't even charge the 15 bucks. If Tim Allen can do it, you can. Hope to hear you out there!

Baofeng with third party antenna/whip

>>1279644
>What are you saying that your worried about backlash anyway especially on a public forum like ham radio.
>Why worry about all your conversations in public being automatically recorded and archived for access by anyone at a later date, what are you saying that you're worried about backlash anyway?

>>1280474
Sounds like the echo box on my ham radio. Nothing pisses off hams faster then echo and noise toys on their frequencies.

Has anyone ever had the chance to play around with walkie talkies using either the European LPD433 or Japanese SLPR422 standards? I'm rather interested after reading about them due to how they only allow a max transmit power of 10mW which seems ridiculous when compared to the 500mW to 5W max power that most unlicensed radio standards allow. The Japanese SLPR422 standard does have channels specifically for repeater use though so I figure you must be able to get some range out of them. Unfortunately on some quick searching there doesn't seem to be much information from people who have actually used these radios available in English.

An example model complying with the European LPD433 standard as evidence that they are actually made and I'm not just making this up:
https://www.icom.co.jp/world/products/land_mobile/licensefree/ic-4088e/index.html

>>1262453
> Most likely not. Encryption introduces some serious failure modes

This. Although, the SWAT/OC teams are typically encrypted, most of the other stuff isn't. Especially in an emergency involving a multi-disciplinary team

>>1281064
Have played with LPD433 in Australia. Its in the amateur 70cm band so amateurs can legally go over the top of them with 100w. It has caused most 70cm repeaters to run ctcss to stop interference.

>>1262048
Hey guys. I know that if you transmit without license or in any unauthorized way, you can get foxhunted and caught.

If you receive and listen without a license is there any way people can find out?

>>1282116
You don't need a license to recieve, dunkass.

>>1282116
Yeah, your ok if you only listen, if your using a baofeng or something similar that has the ability to transmit just make sure to disable the transmit option in something like CHIRP so that your 100% safe from accidentally hitting the transmit button.

>>1282189
>just make sure to disable the transmit option

so what do you do when someone says something incredibly american, and you cant resist the urge to correct him and call him a dumbass?

>>1282189
I keep slot A on FRS Channel 7, UV5R only transmits on slot A.