Ham Radio / Ham Radio General

[Anonymous No.611653]

Hey /diy/ I've been looking into Ham radio for a while now. I'm a Canadian, a CompSci and I love technology and electronics.

Thoughts/ experiences/ lessons.

[Anonymous No.611655]

I've never been personally interested in the actual ham radio stuff, but they always seem to have the sweetest looking pieces of equipment

[Anonymous No.611674]

this intrigues me

can anyone explain to me this like I never heard of it before, please

[Anonymous No.611676]

>>611653
it used to be 4chan but with a license. now it's a rich mans hobby. its extremely expensive. you need a license, a full kit of equipment, a large antenna mounted to your roof and its all low-fi audio. more than a thousand dollars to get set up and then it's just like a long range CB radio.

what interests you about it?

[Anonymous No.611691]

>>611676
or you could just buy a handheld like every other amateur.
licensing is $15 + a test where i live.

[Anonymous No.611718]

>>611691
what's the range on those handheld HAMs?
I was always under the impression that you needed at the very least, a huge antenna for world wide reception.

[Anonymous No.611731]

>>611718
> handheld HAM

If you are capable of picking up a meatbeast HAM enthusiast, you go right ahead. Just wear latex gloves, kay?

[Anonymous No.611739]

>>611731
one day too your balls will hang past your knees and you will know, there is no point in keeping up the charade that your body is not failing you

[Anonymous No.611784]

>>611676
idk what you mean:
http://www.durhamradio.com/two-metre-mobile.html

I can buy a radio for less than 600 dollars and I have enough stuff in my work room to make an antenna.

>What interesting you about it
Well I love technology and global communication. I guess I've spent my childhood with the free beauties on the internet and I like seeing a world loosely regulated where I can send small amounts of data and voice around the world.

Plus I love technology and want to fiddle with electronics more than I do now (never enough)

[Anonymous No.611791]

>>611676
Not that guy, but I'm interested in the science/technology behind it. Talking to other fat super nerds is what the internet/real life is for, but the thought that when Super Stalin drops the big one these things might be the only way to communicate across what remains of home sweet home...it's almost reassuring that these kinds of nerds exist.

If some EMP-ish disaster strikes, would these still work? Are they popular enough that you could call for help at any time and someone would at least hear it, even if they can't/won't be able to do anything useful?

[Anonymous No.611802]

>>611791
I am the OPinator, and I agree with how you feel, I want to be able to communicate even in an emergency. Plus with APRS that's full tactical data.

[Anonymous No.611806]

I have a couple multiband/shortwave radios (they receive only) that covers the whole shortwave band--it skips between the broadcast bands normally but you can get it to go in-between, and you can pick up HAM as well.

Its not a lot to hear, really. Its a few old guys talking about 10% old guy stuff, and 90% about HAM stuff they're building or repairing. most HAM guys are on SSB so you would need a radio that can pick that up.

there's not a lot of broadcast stations I can get either, about 90% are spanish (that I don't speak). I am in the central USA..... sometimes I can get south-pacific & far-east stations in english.

I would suggest you get a shortwave radio first and see if you think its worth it to get a HAM. I didn't :|

I have a nice $140 Sony ICF-SW7600GR and a cheapo $20 Kaito WRX-911, and they both pick up the same stuff. the Sony is all digital tuning w/PLL and station memory but the analog-tuning-dial Kaito is quicker and easier to "sweep" around with hunting for signals. the Kaito can't completely cover the HAM bands but the Sony can.

[Anonymous No.611923]

>>611718

Handhelds are usually for VHF work - a few miles with the stock antenna, one or two dozen with a cheap handmade yagi.

HF isn't expensive either: Used transciever for <$400 for something working in good condition, high current power supply for ~100 (or a used car battery and charger for less), dipole antenna for the cost of the wire, plus a tuner for maybe $100-200 if you want to transmit on more than one band.

You could do it for even less than that if you were willing to learn morse code.

[Anonymous No.611925]

>>611806

You've almost certainly got the wrong antenna to pick up very much amateur traffic.

Shortwave stations run at tens of thousands of watts or more using non-directional antennas. Hams in the US are limited to 1500 watts, and guys using that much power typically have fairly directional antennas. The little fraction-of-a-fraction-of-a-wave whip isn't going to pick up much of anything.

[Anonymous No.611933]

>>611791

>If some EMP-ish disaster strikes, would these still work?

Maybe. If they're not plugged into an antenna or mains power they almost certainly would. Even if they're plugged into an antenna, odds are pretty good, especially if the station has some form of lightning protection.

>Are they popular enough that you could call for help at any time and someone would at least hear it, even if they can't/won't be able to do anything useful?

Depends on band, power level, and what frequency you're on. Odds aren't good with a handheld using five watts into the stock rubber duck, but if you can hit a repeater, or you're on 146.52, things get better. Same story for HF, though it's easier there thanks to HF propagation. Key is finding a frequency others are listening on.

[Anonymous No.611940]

>>611933
they're heavily regulated. they have a common emergency channel like most radio systems. so they can both find a 1500W transmitter and you can callout to a specific channel. I know ship radios relay all the comms on the emergency frequency around the world. which is why its so illegal to use it in a non-emergency because you can simultaneously troll every shipyard at once.

[Radiofag No.611941]

I use a hybrid HF transceiver from the 1970s.

It has a solid state receiver with a tube based amplifier section for transmission...best of both worlds.

It produces 100 watts of output.

My furthest contact using an antenna made out of lamp wire is 9302 miles to KC4USV - the station for McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

It can be fun at times, dull at others.

[Anonymous No.611955]

has anyone used the baofeng uv-5r?
I bought one the other day, still waiting to get it in the mail

[Anonymous No.611966]

>>611955
I am interested in getting one of these as a personal radio at my work. I work on a golf course and use radios constantly for communication and sending DTMF tones to our irrigation system. I assume that as long as I can tune to the frequency the system is using I can send the tones?

[Anonymous No.612022]

>>611653
US fag here, I got my ham license because I heard someone talk about studying for theres. Found out where the test was and went, got my license. 0 study 0 prep walk in pay $20 take test. Almost got what ever the second level gets you but I didn't know enough of the regulations to get a good enough score. I dont even know what second level gets you above the first level. Never used my license but its nice to know if I ever wanted to transmit microwaves at 1.5kw I legally could.

[Anonymous No.612024]

>>612022
You can only transmit on the frequencies labeled "T" http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Hambands_color.pdf

[Anonymous No.612025]

>>611966
does this mean your irrigation will be easily hackable? which golf course should i go to to wirelessly water the richfags?

[Anonymous No.612028]

>>612022
You can transmit on all these frequencies labeled T, and yeah the technician licence is mostly common sense.

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Hambands_color.pdf

[Anonymous No.612033]

>>611966
Ham is forbidden to be used in the furtherance of business.

[Anonymous No.612034]

>>612028
Just found my callsign, I had forgotten it. Yes I am an ameture radio technician. That might sound good on a resume if the person reading it has no clue what it means (^_^)

[Anonymous No.612035]

>>612028
>Just found my callsign, I had forgotten it. Yes I am a lisensed ameture radio technician. That might sound good on a resume if the person reading it has no clue what it means (^_^)

[Anonymous No.612037]

>>612028

Just found my callsign, I had forgotten it. Yes I am a lisensed ameture radio technician. That might sound good on a resume if the person reading it has no clue what it means (^_^)

[Anonymous No.612053]

>>612033

>no funz allowed guys!
>HAM

Yeah,sounds right.

[Anonymous No.612057]

>>612053
it's not about no fun, its about stopping commercial interests with more money and resources than the entire HAM community combined from dominating the airwaves and regulatory systems for their own ends. You know, kind of like whats happening with the internet/net neutrality etc right now.

[Anonymous No.612062]

>>612057

Wow,that completely flew over your head.

[Anonymous No.612071]

>>612062
must have flown over my head as well, because i have no idea what the fuck you are talking about either.

> i don't think you're as clever as you think you are.

[Anonymous No.612089]

>>611731
>>611718
handhelds reach much further than "a couple of miles". buddy of mine brings his to work everyday and we listen in on police station precincts in the ghetto for lols.
most of those towns are around 30 miles away.
learn to sync in repeaters and you could reach all over the god damn place.

[Anonymous No.612247]

>>612089
That's pretty good to know! I'm at the top of a hill los to a repeater.

[Anonymous No.612455]

>>612247
bump for radios

[Anonymous No.612765]

>>612247
then you're all set. just google a map of repeaters around the country and buy a nice handheld.
most you should spend is $150 on new.
my favorites are yaesoos

[Anonymous No.612817]

hey guys, anyone know of any compendium of radio organizations links? colorado specifically.

clubs groups organizations whatever.

[Anonymous No.612836]

The coolest thing about this hobby is that it has so many ways in which you can specialize.
You can just talk on VHF or UHV repeaters and have conversations pretty similar to CB (rag-chewing).
Or you can focus on national or continental dxing using the same bands on SSB.


You could also go into short-wave dxing, collecting international qsos and qsl cards.

You could go into QRP, making contacts with very low power.

Digimodes can be fun to, using your computer to make contacts with the radio as "modem".

You could concentrate on contests, seeing the hobby as a performance sport.

Another possibility would be goin into hamnet building up the ham-radio-"internet".

Or you can specialize in the technologie and build you own tranceivers, modify commercial ones or simply focus on building high prformance antennas.

So many possibilities.

I rediscovered radiowaves as hobby ( i was into cb as kid in the 90ies) during my navy time and made the licence. Best choice ever.

I don't hav much or every expensive equipment My shortwave Tranceiver cost 400€, but I paid way to much. Leaned later that i could have gotten it for 150€. For power you can use computerserver power supplies ( but only server units, since they are immune to high frequency and won't overvoltage).
my antenna is just some wire I put in a tree outside. Thats enough.

[Anonymous No.612880]

I <3 HF

[Anonymous No.612885]

>>612880
yea harbor freight is the best.

[Anonymous No.613239]

>>612817
www.arrl. org/Groups/view/colorado
http://www.rockymountaindivision.. org/sections.html
http://coloradosectionmanager.wordpress.. com/

[Anonymous No.614171]

Hey guys I have been looking into amateur radio and it seems interesting. I want to try the unlicensed bands (USA) first to get a feel for using and see if i like it. Since I'm new I think I want to stick to handheld if I can, though home base stations and automobile stations sound hella fun too. Bands/info I have so far in next post.

[Anonymous No.614172]

>>614171

1. Citizen's band radio. This needs a large antenna right? Any resources on top tier antenna size/placement? Looks like I can buy these in singles. (1 radio)

2. Family Radio Service. From what I can see this is exclusively portable walkie talkie package radios. I see that they couple GMRS on the radios unlicensed because they are limited in their output. Can I get radios without the GMRS channels? do these only come in pairs?

3. Multi-Use Radio Service. needs antenna like cb? comes in pairs?

4. Business band. I have found very little on this so far actually.

(5.) I have seen some places like to group WiFi in here as well, but obviously not what we are looking for.

Did I miss anything?

Recommend handhelds for these please.

Also seeking recommendations on stand alone noaa receivers, portable handheld as well as home base and/or vehicle. do these utilize external antennae?

[Anonymous No.614175]

>>614172
also fuck it extra questions:

FM reception requires the old rooftop TV antennas right? directional?

AM reception requires a length of wire? anything specific about dimensions or location?

I think that's all these radio an unlicensed person could/would/should know about? (AM,FM,NOAA,CB,FRS,MURS,BB,WiFi)

[Anonymous No.614181]

>>614172
>>614175

A shortwave receiver for listening to BBC and guerrillas?

[Anonymous No.614185]

>>614172
>>614175
I will answer to the best of my ability.

CB radio can have a large antenna if you want it to, usually when they are truck mounted they are about a meter or so but you can get them smaller for cars or larger for a base station (not mobile structure), it is hard to explain the specifics of how large the antenna is and how it is tuned.

GMRS is kinda weird, it is easier to obtain a gmrs license than ham since you only have to pay and don't need to be tested. Usually gmrs is used for short range communications with handheld or car mounted installations, but you can get some good range on them if there are repeaters in your area.

FRS is something totally different, it's frequencies are very close to that of GMRS and they even share channels 8-14, but it's output is limited to like 2 watts or something, and FRS doesn't need a license.

Business band is kind of ambiguous since it exists in several frequency ranges (uhf/vhf) and what usually ends up happening is that if a business applies for a license they will get a frequency allocated to them slightly above the amateur band (the reason for this is probably so that you can use ham equipment for businesses just on different frequencies) if you are curious search your zip in the universal license database and see all the businesses in your area that have a business license and the frequencies they use.
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp

[Anonymous No.614186]

>>614185
>GMRS is kinda weird, it is easier to obtain a gmrs license than ham since you only have to pay and don't need to be tested.

interesting. I thought the only was to be licensed was through the FCC in one of 3 classes. (Technician, General, Amateur Extra)

Also, I was trying to exclude GMRS and just get FRS since the GMRS is crippled on unlicensed radios.

>what usually ends up happening is that if a business applies for a license they will get a frequency allocated to them slightly above the amateur band

crazy! I had no idea about that. any info about applying? is it crowded/cut throat?

[Anonymous No.614195]

Been a Amateur Radio Op for 38 Years. Alot has changed. Used to be you needed technical smarts and 5-13-20wpm code to get on the air. Also had to go before an FCC examiner to take the test. Hams were mostly Electrical Engineers in the old days. Today code is gone and the technical test is rather easy. It's still fun but nobody knows how to fix their own radios anymore. It's become a "Plug and Play hobby. Used to be you could have conversations with PhD's and MSEE's at night, now it's all far right politics and who's got the strongest signal. 160 Meters is still like the "old days". 75M at night is CB radio. Just not the same. Give it a try but don't spend too much money. Sadly it's a dying hobby. Best days are behind it. (Pic related, National NCX-5 circa 1966 USA made radio have one of these)

[Anonymous No.614222]

>>614186
Well when you pay for a gmrs liscence you get to transmit only on gmrs frequencies, those crippled radios you talk about are referred to bubble pack radios (ya know packaged in a hard plastic shell when you buy them off a hanging rack) and people that use them on gmrs frequencies when they aren't licensed to are called bubble pack pirates. Just an interesting tidbit. A good use case for GMRS (a real transceiver not a bubble pack radio) would be if you had a few dozen acres of land and you wanted to talk to family using a handheld and a base station located at the house.

As for business band I have no clue about how you apply for such a thing. But if you lookup things in your area from that link I posted, you can find how these codes relate as well as their operating band plans and restrictions in this chart
http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/index.htm?job=radio_services

Many of the short range/local communications used in business happen on the IG band, my former high school just happened to operate on 450 Mhz which is outside the ham band, but not outside the operating frequency of most ham transceivers such as my personal favorite the baofeng uv-5r http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-136-174-400-480-Dual-Band/dp/B007H4VT7A

Once I programmed it I let my little brother who goes there now mess with them by holding their repeater high to mess with administrators.

[Anonymous No.614232]

>>614222
Correction, not IG band, IG service. These aren't bands these are radio services.

[Anonymous No.614278]

"1. ANY piece of conducting material will work as an antenna on any frequency.

Even a straightened paper clip will work on 160 Meters. All we have to do is properly match the the transmitter to the the paper clip, and the paper clip will radiate ALL of the power fed to it! The aperture of this antenna will have a radius of 5/32 wavelength (.079 sq. wavelengths cross section area); essentially this is close to the theoretical "Isotropic" source. If this antenna is located in "free space", the radiation will be almost equal in all directions."

Is this true?
Would the radiation pattern from a paper clip be horrible though? I thought this would have high losses?

[Anonymous No.614301]

>>614278
you can use a POS antenna if the person you're talking to has an epic high gain one. their superior ability to recieve and transmit makes up for your inferior quality antenna.

I know at ham festivals they get out their fishing rods and cast wires over trees to make giant dipoles.

[Anonymous No.614307]

>>614278
>a straightened paper clip will work on 160 Meters

Good luck with that!

[Anonymous No.614309]

>>614278
>the paper clip will radiate ALL of the power fed to it!

No. Your effiency/power radiated would be 0.000x amount. Or worse.

And that would only work in imagination land. Nothing would be able to tune that much of a mismatch.

[Anonymous No.614310]

>>614309
fix the cross fader

[Anonymous No.614312]

>>614309
I dont know about that. 160m is a fairly conservative distance for such a low frequency.

[xsauc No.614314]

>>614195
Aye, my dad doesn't use the CB radio when he's on the road, he listens to Satellite radio now.

Times have been changing, communication isn't the same as it used to be...

I want to get a radio so I can hear different stations. I been thinking of getting a HAM radio, but it is only hype. I do want to spend $200 on a decent radio to grab a bunch of signals.
But like the paracord I have hanging on my wall, I just see it as something I want to get into but eventually just put it on the side...

[Anonymous No.614320]

>>614312
What are you trying to say?

[Anonymous No.614323]

>>614312
>Not sure if trolling or ignorant

We are talking 1.8Mhz aka 160 metres as in the wave length.

[Anonymous No.614324]

>>614323
woops
I thought these guys were saying that a paperclip would work over a very small distance or not at all. little do they know that FM radio is roughly 100Mhz while AM radio runs down to about 150khz. so a little pigtail antenna should work just fine.
>>614307
>>614309

[Anonymous No.614326]

If you guys really want an understanding of this stuff Google radio wave propagation as well as USMC MCI 2526B introduction to electronic warfare.

it's more directed towards battlefield communication but explains the science of it as well as mitigating interference and understanding why your communication is shit sometimes.

[Anonymous No.614327]

Same guy as above

also check out USMC MCI 2515 Radio Wave Propagation haha

those books are laid out in a class format with questions at the ends of the chapters.

[Anonymous No.614461]

seems like my earlier post was too wordy so let me tl;dr hoping for answers

Seeking suggestions for:

CB transceivers (home base, car, handheld), antennae
FRS transceivers (home base, car, handheld), antennae (Not GMRS please, it's unlicensed version with FRS has cripplied Tx power I read.)
MURS transceivers (home base, car, handheld), antennae

Also
NOAA Weather receivers (home base, car, handheld), antennae

Please throw ideas, model #s, brands, or resources at me. I want to get into radio but want to become proficient with unlicensed before i take the plunge into licensed hardware.

[Anonymous No.614524]

>>614461

>CB transceivers (home base, car, handheld), antennae
https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/citizens-band-cb-service
There are no height restrictions for antennas mounted on vehicles or for hand-held devices.
For structures, the highest point of your antenna must not be more than 20 feet above the highest point of the building or tree on which it is mounted, or 60 feet above the ground.

>FRS transceivers (home base, car, handheld), antennae
https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/family-radio-service-frs
FRS devices have (...) an integral (non-detachable) antennas.

FRS is actually part of GMRS band, and limited to 1/2 watt, which is the same as the GMRS unlicensed limit use on hybrid FRS/GMRS radios.
https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/general-mobile-radio-service-gmrs

>MURS transceivers (home base, car, handheld), antennae
https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/multi-use-radio-service-murs-0
external antenna can extend the range to ten miles or more.

so no limit on height of MURS antenna?

[Anonymous No.614564]

>>612880
>>612885
>yea harbor freight is the best.

lol. I totally read it in the context it was intended, until you said that.

[Anonymous No.614948]

>>614185

>(the reason for this is probably so that you can use ham equipment for businesses just on different frequencies

No. "Business-band" gear needs to have appropriate licenses and certifications beyond just the Part 97 amateur stuff.

[Anonymous No.614952]

>>614195

>It's still fun but nobody knows how to fix their own radios anymore.

"Nobody" knows how to fix ANY electronics anymore. It's advanced past the days of somebody with a basic knowledge of electronics and a cheap soldering iron being able to accomplish much.

Even the professional radio gear nowadays is all about isolating the failure to a particular board and replacing the entire assembly.

HAM is hardly dying: There's more interest in college clubs than there has been in decades. The hobby is simply changing from obsessing over QSLs back to experimentation.

[Anonymous No.615121]

>>614952
But you have to admit that it gets harder and harder these days.
Tiny SMDs, BGAs, Multi-Layer-Boards etc. etc.
Old Devices are a lot easier to fix than new ones.

[Anonymous No.615135]

>>614948
You might be right, but at the same time I have seen many businesses use cheap amateur radios to transmit on the frequencies they are licensed to use, and never gotten into any trouble with the FCC. My college uses baofeng handhelds for their staff, and my college is licensed to use something along the lines of 460 Mhz, I am told they saved a lot of money over buying similar Motorola handhelds designed for business.

[Anonymous No.615153]

>>615135

If they're not getting in trouble, it's because the FCC is slacking off, not because what they're doing is in any way legal.

Commercially-sold amateur radios should not have the ability to transmit outside of the amateur bands. If they can, somebody did a hardware modification, which then voids whatever approvals they did receive.

[Anonymous No.615167]

>>615153

Clarifying: I see that some of the Baofengs do have Part 90 approval, which then makes them acceptable for land-mobile ("Business Band") use. I'm not too familiar with them, but I'd assume that there's some method that prevents the user from tuning outside of the amateur bands (or land-mobile users from accessing the amateur bands) via software configuration.

[Anonymous No.615205]

>>611966
>>611955
I've got two and they're glorious. I can hit a repeater some ten miles away, and I haven't tried it farther yet. They're ranged 136MHz-155MHz if memory serves, so they're great for other frequencies you're licensed to.

[Anonymous No.615208]

>>612033
Small problem with that, bud. They're probably not setting their receiving frequencies to something ham. See earlier thread regarding UV-5R, but with DTMF capabilities. But, not likely they'll set the frequency to something close to a ham frequency.

[Anonymous No.615485]

>>615121
>614952
But you have to admit that it gets harder and harder these days.
Tiny SMDs, BGAs, Multi-Layer-Boards etc. etc.
Old Devices are a lot easier to fix than new ones.

You need better tools.

Get a stereo microscope off of Amazon. $150 usd. I have very good eyes, and I wish I would have got one earlier. Makes modding and repairs MUCH easier!

Also get a temp controlled soldering/hot air rework station $150usd.

buy a couple pairs of needle sized test probes. $5usd.

BGAs can be reflowed with liquid flux, a hot plate to pre-heat, a hot air gun on the chip, and youtube videos to show you how.

I bought the smallest gauge stranded breadboard jumpers I could find on fleaBay. If solder a jumper to where I want to read, i can clip my instruments to the wire.

It's still possible to repair your own surface mount, you just need to bite the bullet and buy the tools that enable you to work on it.

I'd argue that it's almost easier these days given the availability of PDF datasheets and shear amount of help from the internet.

[Anonymous No.615596]

How is this FRS radio? cadillac?

[Anonymous No.615599]

>>615596
god damnnit...

http://www.amazon.com/Midland-GXT5000-36-Mile-22-Channel-Two-Way/dp/B004TS1J4A/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1395620520&sr=1-7&keywords=frs+radio

[Anonymous No.615949]

>>615485
Yes but this is nothing for ppl with gross motor skilly anymore. Good eyes, a lot of sensitivness and a fair amount of money are required today to work on these things.
And thats why i usually comncentrate on old hardware which i can manipulate with my amateur toolset.
Surely I have a soldering station for which i'd just needed to buy the additional soldering tongs. Yes, and a microsope would of course help. But hey, thats a lot of effort required for something you're just doing in you spare time.

[Anonymous No.616107]

Hey /diy/, I found this thread by searching for Ham Radio in the archives. Radio is something that I'd love to get into, but know literally nothing about. All I'd want to do is listen around for things and not broadcast, I just love the air of mystery around it that's similar to how the earlier days of the internet were.

Does anyone have any tips for me? Good equipment to buy/ useful learning resources etc. I live in mainland Europe if that helps and money isn't really an issue. I've spent more on stupider things in the past.

[Anonymous No.616159]

AMAZON SPECIAL ALERT

http://www.amazon.com/Baofeng-UV5RA-136-174-Dual-Band-Transceiver/dp/B009MAKWC0/
$$$36.48$$$
http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-Dual-Band-136-174-400-480/dp/B0097252UK/
$$$38.49$$$
http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-136-174-400-480-Dual-Band/dp/B007H4VT7A/
$$$38.59$$$
http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-Dual-Band-Improved-Stronger-Enhanced/dp/B00C83AU9S/
$$$38.99$$$

what's the difference between these radios? which one should i buy?

[Anonymous No.616164]

>>616159
There isn't really much of a difference. I got a UV-5R and a UV-5RA+ UV-5R looks more rugged and square, while the UV-5RA+ looks sleeker and more rounded. Depends on your taste

[Anonymous No.616176]

>>616107
Which country if i may ask?
if german then i could recommend you the wellenforum. There are a lot of shortwave listeners there - but the language is german of course.

I'd also recommend shortwave listening to get into the hobby. There you'll find signals pretty easily and in large quantities. On other bands (UHF, VHF, SHF) you can tune hours without getting anything what you can work with.

Starting with an SDR might be a good idea. SDR means software defined radio. The advantage is that you can see a large frequency spectrum on a screen and therefore notice a lot of signals without tuning on every single frequency. Make making out signals a lot easier.

So what is your budget? 100€ 500€ 5000€?

I dont believe thats it isnt an issue at all ;-)

[Anonymous No.616192]

>>616176
>Which country if i may ask?
Netherlands.

As for budget, I guess I wouldn't want to spend more than 700 or so euros but have no idea how far that would get me. I basically would like to listen around internationally, not broadcast. As I said though, I still have a lot to learn about everything. I'll look into SW listening though.

[Anonymous No.616227]

>>616192

then maybe something like that

http://www.wimo .de/bonito-radiojet-1102s-kurzwellenempfaenger_d.html

http://www.wimo.. de/rfspace-sdr-iq-empfaenger_d.html

http://www.wimo.. de/perseus-sdr-empfaenger_d.html

http://www.wimo.de/fdm-s1-sdr-empfaenger_d.html

for using with a computer or

this

http://www.wimo.. de/cr-1-sdr_d.html

as a stand alone radio. Problem: You can't use the waterfall spectrum on this machine. No such feature there.

[Anonymous No.616259]

bump for interest. I want to try out this radio thing but dont know what to get.

I'd like to try CB first. I have checked out radios from midland, cobra, and a couple others, and their top of the line equipment isnt that expensive. so a couple questions:

as far as vehicle, whats a top of the line CB radio, and antenna? id rather NOT drill into the vehicle to mount. also, red led is desirable, but hardly a deal breaker.

also would like a nice top of line base station and antenna recommendations too for home. one thing I have been trying to research with little luck is antenna masts. CB antennas can be 60 feet up. What are my mast options for achieving this?
i found
http://www.channelmasterstore.com/TV_Antenna_Mast_p/cm-1850.htm
is channel master good? that mast seems on the cheap side to me, but im a noob.

[Anonymous No.616262]

>>616259
>red led
red lcd*

[Anonymous No.616272]

>>616259
What are you going to do with your radio?

Do you plan to talk to locals in your area or do you want to go for DX (meaning long distance)

For a local thing you need a vertical antenna, for long distance you use antenna beams (horizontally polarised).

And it also depends on where you live. Actually in the States it is NOT allowed to CB with people which are over 250 miles ( i think) away from your location. So if you have a farm in the prairie nobody is going to care - if you plant to raise that mast on a penthouse in NYC there will be problems.

If you just want to talk for fun an AM only radio is enough. If you plan to do more SSB is something essential. And if you want everything take something with FM too (but again: Actually not allowed in the states).

I'd put something legal in the car and use an antenna with a magnet. My recommandation would be a Wilson 5000. And as radio? Hmm. Something from Uniden. They have the best quality.

[Anonymous No.616275]

>>616259
Skip cb, go to ham, thank me later.

You can do much cooler stuff with ham, you have access to repeater networks, one in my area lets me talk to people 4 states away using a handheld. You can also send data over ham bands, and when you get better licenses you have the ability to work on shortwave which means communicating with amateurs in other countries. Also cb is limited to like 5 watts so its pretty local, and most antennas incur heavy losses since it is a really wide wavelength but with vhf/uhf ham you can actually get a pretty well matched antenna.

[Anonymous No.616280]

>>616275
I'd actually recommend the same. Though there surely is a differnce between talking on CB and on HAM - at least in europe.

And by the way: Thats what you can do on shortwave with a minimum on efforts. Some nice connections today

[Anonymous No.616287]

>>616272
Dunno. Total noob. Wanna talk, get local buddies on, bs.

[Anonymous No.616290]

>>616287
Too add, i would like to explore and learn all the possibilities. to become profient enough to teach maybe.

[Anonymous No.616296]

>>616290
Ham is definitely the way to go then, there is just so much you can do these days. Especially with repeaters and radios becoming smarter and smarter. I was talking to a guy the other day in Ohio (I am in jersey) with my car installation on UHF I was able to hit a repeater in Philadelphia, which was part of a repeater network that linked me to a repeater in Warren Pa to which a person in Ohio connected to.

The guy in ohio had a personal repeater setup in his yard so he could use his handheld anywhere in his town and have access to a 1000 watt base station.

[Anonymous No.616303]

>>616296
I do plan on getting licensed but want to cb first

[Anonymous No.616305]

>>616296
>>616303
I want to get licensed and teach and get others involved at local hackerspace, but some people are on cb anyway. Its good for road trips too.

[Anonymous No.616316]

>>616272
Looked at uniden again, i like the bearcat 980. Says it is sideband, that will allow me to communicate farther?

Checked out wilson 5000 on amazon, looks good. $100 mag base, $20 62" whip, $160 bearcat 980, not bad. Does the mag base come with cable to run to radio?


Any comments on a base station setup?

Thanks for the input.

[Anonymous No.616325]

>>614524

[Anonymous No.616330]

>>615596
>>615599

FRS is always going to be glorified toys. They're nice if you've got a bunch of kids you're trying to keep together in an amusement part, shit for any real communication beyond a mile or two.

>>616159

Whatever you get, just beware that you're getting what you paid for. There's a reason why ham handhelds from the "Big Three" (Yaesu, Kenwood, and Icom) start at ~$100. Those will probably work, but I wouldn't count on them to last very long.

>>616192

If you're starting with shortwave receive-only, 700 euros will get you quite a long way. Lots of fairly nice tabletop receivers in that price range. Just set some cash aside for making your own antenna.

[Anonymous No.616331]

>>616330
I am aware of frs limited distance. But a few people on a rural propety dont need a mile.

[Anonymous No.616341]

Thinking about this weather radio. Comments? Should i get the external antenna and flashing shit?

Midland wr300

[Anonymous No.616343]

>>616341

>Should i get the external antenna

Not going to make much of a difference. Weather radio is local by design, you probably won't need the antenna to pick up your local station reliably.

[Anonymous No.616344]

>>616303
>>616305
What is the point of investing in CB equipment if you are going to ham later, CB has one advantage over ham and that is not requiring a license, there is pretty much nothing better about it. And the licenses aren't even hard to earn, most people get their technicians license without any studying on their first try.

With CB you will mostly be getting truckers and people in cars, since many people don't bother with a base stations. Also without repeaters you are limited to who you can talk to range wise.

[Anonymous No.616348]

Is an antenna like this still desirable for fm radio reception?

Recommendations on brands or models? More elements more better?

[Anonymous No.616350]

>>616343
Aware of this, guess its highly situational. Maybe the downstairs bathroom wont pick it up.

>>616344
True. How about road trips and going places like offroading in the desert or w/e?

[Anonymous No.616353]

>>616348
when you say fm do you mean like fm radio stations or like amateur radio fm? For fm radio it sucks, it is called a yagi antenna, it is directional meaning that unless it is physically pointed at the radio station you are trying to listen to, you will get a bad signal. With HAM it is the same deal, and ontop of that the signals are horizontally polarized as opposed to most stations which are vertically polarized. If you need that simplified it means that signals from a yagi vibrate side to side while most antennas go up and down.

[Anonymous No.616359]

>>616353
I meant like av reciever home theater

[Anonymous No.616419]

I like to experiment with electronics - aside from a lot of great advice given here, having a ham license and a VXR7 on my belt gives me an excuse for what others may see as odd behavior. Most questions can be answered "I'm doing a ham radio experiment" to calm the paranoids,

[Anonymous No.616434]

>>616353

You can mount a Yagi for vertical polarization easily - hell, for satellite and moonbounce you normally use two and do cross-polarization. You also normally use a rotator if you're going to use it for amateur radio use.

[Anonymous No.616454]

>>616280
I'm assuming you have a table top and a huge/decent antenna...

[Anonymous No.616466]

>>616454

Don't need much gain at all for whisper. It's almost cheating to count contacts if you're using five watts into a wire dipole.

[Anonymous No.616484]

>>616466
Oh, I thought you were receiving only/DXing. I've a Grundig handheld so I'm jealous.

[Anonymous No.616686]

bump for interest. still seeking information about

antenna masts

fm radio antennas (av receiver home theater)
am radio antennas (av receiver home theater)

[Anonymous No.616700]

>>616686
Towers:

http://www.ustower.. com/

Antennas

FM (88-108 Mhz)
http://www.kathrein-scala.. com/fm.htm

AM (0,3 - 3 mhz)
Some wire is enough. Though you could always build or buy a loop antenna
http://en.wikipedia.. org/wiki/Loop_antenna

[Anonymous No.616705]

>>616454
>>616466
>>612836


That was actually my station. You can clealy see that my antenna isn't anything great at all. Pretty shabby to be honest. But it works and thats the most important thing. It's just a multi dipole (7,5m span wide) for the the 15 and 10 bands. 4,5m above the ground in the middle.

And yeah. WSPR is nice to watch the conditions - but even speech works pretty well at 5-20 watt on intercontionental connections.

[Anonymous No.616708]

>>616700
wow thanks anon.

us tower is exactly what i was looking for, over 100'!

checked out kathrein, nice selection, looks like http://www.kathrein-scala.com/fm_omni.php is the best one for general home theater use? it seems to cover the entire band as hit every direction. is there something im missing? short range?

still looking at AM. need to buy a loop i can mount up high i guess.

[Anonymous No.616709]

>>616708
>http://www.kathrein-scala.com/fm_omni.php
The problem is just: If you are goping to spend a lot of money on a tower it is a suboptimal solutuion to use an omnidirektional antenna. Then better a yagi with a LOT of gain on a motor - so that you can really get out the best.

Either a loop or you use the tower as angelpoint to stretch some wires to the ground.

[Anonymous No.616813]

The numbers mason, what do they mean!

[Anonymous No.616832]

>>611676
could someone just get a CB radio and a huge antenna?

[Anonymous No.616904]

>>616832
You guys sure have your heart set on cb huh?

[Anonymous No.617090]

>>616904
Funny seeing people try so hard to drive people away from cb.

[someGuy No.617094]

>>616904
>>617090
cb was how I got into being a ham. My grandfather and dad were both big into cb's, I think my dads still got a base unit or two. I wanted to do more than what cb radio would allow.

That said, let them get an ear for it. If you're not pulled in by the possibilities of what you could do once you learned more, then be happy knowing you learned something

[Anonymous No.617204]

>>617094
Cb is like 4chan of radio. Anons should love it.

[Anonymous No.617320]

>>616344

Because it's a fun band to talk on. It's also highly useful if you drive every day.

And there are tons of people to talk to.

Especially while DX'ing. Sure it's technically illegal,but the FCC is never going to do anything about it. They don't seem to give a shit about 11m anymore.

They sent a notice to a site selling amps,and all they wanted the guy to do was just pull the listings/pages. They didn't even bother sending someone to seize any equipment.

>>616904
You sure can. There are some limits,but nothing really restrictive. As everyone has said,a tower with a rotor will help,along with a set of beams. With a good antenna,you don't need that much power. It's mostly dependant on mother nature for long range.

Doing pretty good right now though. I live in the southeast,and I've made contacts in Japan,Ireland,and Alaska to give you some examples with just my little galaxy 959 without an amp.

[Anonymous No.617415]

>>611653
>get radio
>listen to uvb-76 radio station
> forsee end of world
>??
>profit?

[Anonymous No.617721]

Been looking at CB base station equipment, and it looks like the only base station in production is the galaxy dx 2547.

http://www.amazon.com/Galaxy-DX-2547-Station-Counter-Talkback/dp/B002LMIQQU/

do people doing base stations just mount a vehicle unit to a desk?

[Anonymous No.617771]

>>617721

There are a lot more used and older base stations,but that is the only new CB base you will find. And many others use all band rigs that they open up for TX on 11m.(IE HAM rigs with a few jumper settings or parts pulled)

But yes,many people simply use a mobile unit with a power supply because that is more often that not much,much cheaper.

You can either buy a supply or make your own. For most radios,you can get by on a 3-10A power supply. Have a useless old PC? Pretty easy to convert the power supply and tons of guides online.

[Anonymous No.617806]

>>617771
hell, i think there's a thread in here. Someone else is making one. There's good info in it.

[Anonymous No.617877]

>>617771
Yes, and if your lucky and you send with enough power the electomegnetic field will cause your cheap PC power supply to overvoltage and destroy your radio. Great.

If you're spending 100 bucks on a radio just spent another 20 or 30 for a normal power supply.
Or modify a sever power plant - because thei are contructed and build with a bit more care than this consumer shit.

[Anonymous No.617945]

I live in Lubbock TX and I REALLY want to listen to the police scanners. I have a ham radio but don't know how to work it much. Can someone please help?!

[Anonymous No.617948]

>>617945
Baofeng UV-5R+ dualband 136-174/400-480 MHz

[Anonymous No.618029]

>>617948
might work, might not. These days a lot of police communications are encrypted or in digital modes.

[Anonymous No.618209]

>>617877

Is English not your usual language or something?

There is nothing wrong with using a switching supply. It's all I use. Linear supplies are just too fucking heavy and make WAAY too much heat.


...you do know PC PSUs have overvoltage,current,and heat protection(at the very least)?

[Anonymous No.618354]

Hey /diy/, this seemed like an appropriate place for this question:

So I'm an electrical engineering student, and I have recently been doing research into doing some amateur radio astronomy; wherein i discovered radar astronomy. this sounded awesome so i dug into a bit, to find amateurs cant really do it.

I started looking for what kind of consumer equipment there IS that DOES utilize radar, and i was totally underwhelmed.

I found marine radar systems ranging from 1-2000 bucks, and illegal to use on land.
(though i did find a few stories of storm chasers using them anyway, neat stuff)

Sports radars with shitty resolution to see how fast someone is running or pitching i guess.

And aftermarket vehicle radar systems so you dont back into shit.

and radar detectors by cobra or whoever.

is this the state of radar technology accessible to the general public?

only other uses i know of are cop radar guns and weather radar, both outside the reach of consumers.

[Anonymous No.618361]

>>618354

There really aren't a whole lot of consumer applications for radar.

And radar astronomy requires very high power levels(MWs) and very sophisticated equipment(tens of millions to hundreds of millions USD). There are very few(ie single digits) observatories that do that kind of stuff. Not really surprising there are no DIY kits for it on ebay :P

[Anonymous No.618368]

I wanna make the point that the sun spot cycle is coming to an end so if you want to try HF you have like a couple years left. After that its gonna suck for 5-6 years.

[Anonymous No.618371]

>>618368
i thought it was 11 year rotations.

[Anonymous No.618379]

>>618354
Afaik the only thing your list is missing are (some) intruder alarms.
Like the other anon said, you need insane amounts of transmit power to get any results and none of the consumer radars or radar like devices are nowhere near powerful enough.

[Anonymous No.618381]

>>618371
well it is 11 year from peak to peak but its a cyclical cycle so its really just a few really bad years in the bottom of the cycle.

you can make contacts in the couple years when its comming to the peak and the couple when its on the way down. once it's at the bottom it sucks

[Anonymous No.618388]

>>618368

The sunspot cycle really only opens up the higher frequencies. Anything 40 MHz and below is mostly unaffected.

[Anonymous No.618410]

>>618209

No, it is not my first language. Sorry. Though i admit most mistakes i usually make are induced by being a bit too careless.

Yes, switching supplies usually have protection circuits too, I am aware of that.

BUT: The normal, ultracheap, mass-produced, china-ware, consumer-PSUs are not necessarily safe against RF irridation (i think thats the english term).

This is a "feature" which is usually not needed, so often it is not tested or ensured.

Personally i use a modified server psu - since they are made for the more expensive hardware or industry usage, they've usually been given more care in the development/production.
And I even put a crowbar-circuit into the dc line to my rig

I've already seen a cheap normal PSU whcih went up traight to 20V after triggering the PTT - despite the inbuilt protection.

Thats why i highly recommend to give tis subject a bit more care. A tranceiver, cb or ham usually do not grow on trees. At least not here.

[Anonymous No.618452]

Not to derail the thread but /sci/ was no help at all and since there's a lot of radio gurus here;

Would it be possible to make a typical radio (resistors, capacitors, inductors, IC's, etc) that is tuned to the infrared portion of the EM spectrum? E.g. at a campfire you could aim a directional antenna at a coal pit (which isn't producing light e.g.) and transcribe that into a signal, say an audible one?

Photons are photons, yes?

FM: 30–300 MHz,10 m – 1 m
Infrared: 100GHz - 1 THz, 1 mm - 100 um

[Anonymous No.618454]

>>618452
In theory but now you're far beyond rf/microwave and in the territory of "millimeter waves".

[Anonymous No.618456]

is there an electrical engineering specialty that deals with the em spectrum?

[Anonymous No.618457]

>>618456

[Anonymous No.618458]

>>618456
electrical engineering as a whole. when you go specializing it's a science degree. engineers are like the dumb apes of the graduate STEM world when you look at it. best paid too. essentially all the work has been done for them and they just select from standard engineered components. sort of like script kiddies.

[Anonymous No.618459]

>>618458
or maybe a better analogy for the sensitive ones might be that they're like the GPs of the medical world. they're expected to cover every field so they usually work with specialist scientists for whatever project they're working on. Telemetry or optics would be the closest field around since they're essentially obsessed with noise and radios.

[Anonymous No.618621]

>>618458
>>618459
So edgy

[Anonymous No.618675]

>>618410

Ahh,OK. I wasn't sure if there might just be some translation issues or someone was just a little tipsy while typing ;)

And I've never had an issue with stray RF. Coax chokes on the feedline helps to keep that away from your equipment.

It would also probably help to keep the case of the power supply closed. If it's plugged in,the chassis is grounded,and that will help with interference also. They do actually have to deal with a good bit of RF hash because the inside of most computers is very noisy EM wise. (Seriously,put an antenna close to your computer and listen in!)


All of my power supplies are MeanWell units. I get a lot of them from surplus medical equipment auctions. I got a 40A continuous,50A peak supply for $15 because no one knew what it was!

Talk about a steal.


I do get what you are saying though. If you get an expensive radio,don't mess around with a cheap PSU. Where I live though,I can pick up a working Cobra 29 for $10-20,so it's not a big deal if it ever blows up.

[Anonymous No.618862]

>>618454
In theory; OK yes. But since you mentioned wavelength the upside should be my antenna req's, yes?

PS: if I didn' think that it could be done in theory, well, hence the post. Can discreet components oscillate at those gigs?

Bonus: a millimeter Yagi?

[Anonymous No.618866]

>>618621
what part of

>or maybe a better analogy for the sensitive ones might be that they're like the GPs of the medical world. they're expected to cover every field so they usually work with specialist scientists for whatever project they're working on. Telemetry or optics would be the closest field around since they're essentially obsessed with noise and radios.

is

>So edgy

?

Exactly?

[Anonymous No.618868]

>>618456
This infographic is confusing. The second and third charts (omitting the worthless first chart of some wavy lines that are meant to connote a the spectrum of frequencies) relate to each other in a 1:1 relation (√)... however the (4th graphic) temperature "of objects at which the radiation is the most intense...)...

So... can that object be the Sun and doin' the infographic chart correlation cha cha cha cha- green has a temp of between ~10,000K & 10,000,000K... that seems rather hot for ~510nm in my retina.

[Anonymous No.618870]

>>618456
This infographic is confusing. The second and third charts (omitting the worthless first chart of some wavy lines that are meant to visually connote the spectrum of frequencies [I thought that's what exponents did]) relate to each other in a 1:1 relation (√)... however the 4th graphic of temperature "of objects at which the radiation is the most intense"...)...

So... can that object be the Sun and doin' the infographic chart correlation cha cha cha cha- green has a temp of between ~10,000K & 10,000,000K... that seems rather hot for ~510nm in my retina.

All 2000x1185 px of it

[Anonymous No.618872]

>>618866
> questioning trolls

[Anonymous No.618882]

>>618870
>realizes all the other charts are aligned
>assumes the last one is not, but uses some bizarre system instead
>complains that it does not make sense
Seriously?

[Anonymous No.618997]

>>618882

>bizarre
>K

[Anonymous No.618999]

>>618882
>>realizes all the other charts are aligned
>>assumes the last one is not

>realizes all the other charts are aligned

They are?

Did you mean

assumes all the other charts are aligned
realizes the last one is not

?
Seriously.

[Anonymous No.619014]

>>618870
The chart has some poor design choices going against it, but you failed much harder. The sun glows yellow-hot, and your eye does not!

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/bbrc.html#c1

[Variable !jX06HC/Kj2 No.619133]

>>614195
While the bar has been lowered for entry into the hobby, and sure it's not populated with engineers and PhDs, more people are getting into it which is certainly keeping it from being "a dying hobby". There are pros and cons to this, but the biggest pro is that as long as people are still interested in amateur radio, we will still have amateur radio. If too few people were interested because of technical barriers to entry, what's to stop the FCC from auctioning off ham spectrum for commercial use? Honestly I never cared enough to get my tech ticket until the CW test was removed. I'm not interested in CW so it was annoying to have to learn something I was never going to use. Now I'm a licensed operator where I otherwise wouldn't have been.

>>618379
Don't forget the auto doors at large stores. They use radar to sense when someone is entering/exiting the doorway.

[Anonymous No.619242]

>>611966
This guy checking back in after getting a radio

>>612025
Possibly, all you would need to know is the frequency and the correct tones to send.

>>612033
A radio can be used in commercial as long as it is part 90 certified. I went with the UV-B6 before I understood this fully, this is the only low-cost "HAM" radio which can not be used for commercial reasons. Sucks man, at least I can get started with radios now though.

[Anonymous No.619470]

>>612022
For you, and anyone else interested in the U.S. tests, there's a pretty useful site at QRZ.com for drilling on the FCC question database.

Since the question pools are public and are good for several years at a time, it's easy to just sit and click on the pages and memorize what answers go with what questions. in some cases, I don't even need to remember the questions, just see "irregular fading flutty libration" and know that that's a correct answer for whatever question it's with, because the only place those words appear is on a correct answer.

Next time I'm in the U.S., I'll do the Extra exam (where that's from) and be able to do whatever. And all it took was a few weeks of clicking my mouse and learning a few keywords. I have no idea what a Smith chart is or is used for, but I know the right answers to the half-dozen questions that are asked about them.

Same goes for the General class (middle level). The Technician class (bottom level) is so easy that anyone can pass if they just know some basics like Ohm's law, and have a good idea of how bureaucrats behave.

[Anonymous No.619473]

>>618368
>>618381
>implying that we're not heading into another Maunder Minimum
>implying that we're not all going to freeze for the next 30-50 years due to Global Cooling from the Sun going out

[Anonymous No.619482]

>>618999
>visible light: thousands of kelvins
>microwaves: kelvins or less
>x-rays: tens of millions of kelvins

Looks roughly right to me. No idea what you're thinking.

[Anonymous No.620457]

>>618862

The problem is that at those frequencies every little detail of your circuit becomes excruciatingly important. To get the scale of what you're trying to accomplish, look at the difference in price between a 100 MHz oscilloscope and a 100 GHz oscilloscope.

You're far better off trying to do it by directly modulating a light source of some kind than mucking about with antennas.

[Anonymous No.620458]

>>618458

Butthurt physicist detected.

>>618456

You can certainly specialize in RF electronics or similar. "EM" is so broad a term that it's useless: You'd usually specialize in something that's much more specific, like radar, or light, or nuclear engineering, etc.

[Anonymous No.620556]

>>618452
Some receivers working on the terahertz range have been made. Depending on who you ask, that counts as the low end of the infrared spectrum.
As far as I know (and I don't know that much), all the receivers have been made using IC fabrication techniques so that the antenna is on the same chip as the detector, right next to it.

[Anonymous No.620563]

>>620457
>>620556

Hey thanks a lot for your replies. The oscilloscope analogy seems apt. Just curious about it- have no hopes or plans to build one, it's interesting that we could make a radio that detects heat...

[Anonymous No.620758]

Is anyone here going?

[Anonymous No.621160]

>>620758
no, but that picture is interesting. on the righthand column, i assume the Wake in WakeARES and Wake AUXCOMM is in reference to a local chapter?

I looked up AUXCOMM, found almost no info about it.

i know a bit about ares, races, skywarn.

helping hams is another local group?

didnt know what qcwa is, seems like a circlejerk.


QUESTION: are there more programs/groups like this that hams to participate in?

i mean outside your typical local ham club that is just basically a fun club meet.

[Anonymous No.621189]

>>621160
Yea, Wake is the county. I checked out some of the side links and there isn't much on the pages.

As for your side question, I don't know for my area. I'm not even a radio operator, I was just curious about it and thought it would be fun to go.

[Anonymous No.621715]

bump for interest in radios.

if i want mobile unit mounted in my vehicle, what bands are good for that or even have radios build for that?

>inb4 handhelds
i realize i can use handhelds in the car, thats not what im asking

[Anonymous No.621731]

>>621715
Free to use or ham radio?

As free system CB is the only thiing avauilable (correct me if someone knows better. 11m band, 27 Mhz)

Speaking of ham radio - the world is open for you:

There are single units for 70cm, 2m or 10m devices as well as duo, tripple or quadbanders for 10m,6m,2m,70cm and 23cm.

And you could of course always install a shortwave tranceiver which enables you tu use every allowed band between 160m and 10m.

[Anonymous No.621740]

>>621731
>Free to use or ham radio?
ham

>As free system CB is the only thiing avauilable
i believe so. FRS can't into non handhelds. MURS...?

>And you could of course always install a shortwave tranceiver which enables you tu use every allowed band between 160m and 10m.
well that sounds expensive.

but damn..i don't know about having that many radios. maybe if i was in a freaking bus. as far as the single bands you mention with vehicle mount transceivers(70cm, 2m, 10m), do certain ones have more activity on them?

[Anonymous No.621756]

>>611653
you should check out http://www.websdr.org/
software defined radio
receivers all over the world you can use, many bands.

[Anonymous No.621776]

What do you exactly do with all this equipment? Just talk to other ham radio hobbiests?

[Anonymous No.621779]

>>621776
yes... isnt that what its for?

[Anonymous No.622020]

>>621779
i like how that question has no context and no reply to the reply.

NSA what do you think im gonna do with an amateur radio of all shits?

[Anonymous No.622151]

>>621740

Okay, then Ham.

It all depends on waht you want to do and where you live.

Using shortwave (Everything between 160m - 10m, meaning 1,8 mhz to 30 mhz) is mainly for having international contacts or long distance contacts. Antennas are big and pretty visible. Addditonally using SSB takes usually a lot attention and concentration. Better do that from a parking lot.

If you'd like to talk to peolple around you, i'd recommend you a duabander 2m/70cm. Not that expensive and you can also get them used - if the price is important.

On 70cm and 2m you can either speak on a single frequency or, much more comfortable in a car, use a repeater. These are small units, mounted on exposed places which receive your signal and send it out again. That way you do not need to use a lot of power and you can even contact people which you wouldnt be able to speak to because of terrain obstacles or something like that.

[Anonymous No.622215]

>>622020
How is the NSA relevant?
Everyone can listen what the hams are talking. Afaik they aren't even allowed to use encryption.

[Anonymous No.622297]

>>622215
because>>621776
asked a strange question. as in, who gets ham equipment to doesnt just talk to other hobbyists?

[Anonymous No.622302]

>>622297
If you assume he isn't familiar with the topic, his question doesn't sound that strange anymore.
There's quite a lot of stuff in OP's pic just "for talking with the other hobbyists". And many have much more stuff for the same purpose.

[Anonymous No.622514]

How do I into ham radios in Canada?

[Anonymous No.622829]

>>618458
>this sheer level of mad

How dare those bastard engineers exploit scientific discoveries!

[Anonymous No.623020]

>>622829
yea this forced meme of engineers being monkeys is really confused

[Anonymous No.623831]

>>611791
>If some EMP-ish disaster strikes, would these still work?
You should probably keep a backup in a faraday cage/wrapped in tinfoil if you want EMP safety.

[Anonymous No.623849]

>>617945
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/stid/48

try this online resource for live scanner audio

[Anonymous No.624098]

>>623831
also doesn't hurt to keep old tube equipment around and maintained just in case, they're naturally more resistant to EMP damage

[Anonymous No.624117]

>>624098
ARRL made actual tests and IIR the results were:
- Tube equipment isn't much better. The tubes themselves might be ok, but the passives aren't.
- The EMP energy is coupled to your shit mainly by wires, meaning your antenna and power cables.
- Small handheld devices are remarkably immune, see previous point.

[Anonymous No.624800]

>>624117
Pretty shit thread guys. No one posted links to actual lesson plans on getting a license and learning about the ham world

[Anonymous No.624925]

Rate, fill in the blanks, discuss.

[Anonymous No.624986]

>>624800
Sorry they didn't hold your hand tight enough when you were younger, either you're really into it or you're not.

[Anonymous No.625192]

>>624800
You may have to leave your desk.

[Anonymous No.625296]

>>624800
I found the links in 3 seconds on the Webs- it really is that simple.
You know who else didn't provide links?
You didn't.

Bonus;
>learning about the ham world

278 posts aren't enough for you?

[Anonymous No.625903]

Looking at building my first QRP/CW kit (learning morse at the moment).

Any reccomendations for cheap kits in the UK? Not really bothered about capabilities, just something that's easy to build, and that I can take when I go wildcamping.

Also, is there such a thing as a cheap straight key? I wanted to get one for training, but they're so expensive, and the next rally in my area is months away.

[Anonymous No.625941]

>>616832
Then you'd just have an underdriven setup with a shitty low swr and only 40 shitty voice band channels on hf with rednecks on illegal amplifiers howling between hawaii and florida in one conversation.

[Anonymous No.627224]

>>625903
>a cheap straight key
wat

Theyre literally nothing more than a metal contact on a pivot. You can make one out of a scrap aluminum can, or get fancy and use a piece of bar stock.

[Anonymous No.627404]

Discuss pic, recommendations please.


Please breathe new life into this thread.

[Anonymous No.627406]

>>627404

[Anonymous No.627411]

>>627406
Channl guide as well

[Anonymous No.627417]

>>627404
Do you have a link to the excel charts?

[Anonymous No.627419]

>>627417
no... do you have a non sketchy service that doesn't require a sign up or an account?

[Anonymous No.627567]

>>627404
updated

[Anonymous No.627642]

>>627419
WeTransfer works pretty well for me.

What are those labels on the top row?

>>627224
I know, and I've been using a signal generator on my phone (ntonium), but I though that training on something that I'll be using in the future might be a better idea. I've been recommended the AMECO keys, anyone have any experience with them?

[Anonymous No.627647]

>>627419
search anon files

[Anonymous No.627778]

>sneak into storage basement of one of the university buildings
>find literal PILE of antique radio equipment from the 40s-60s
>geek out over the stuff
>they have two Drake 2B receivers
>steal one, figure they'd never notice it
>they never did

>last week
>get call from bro professor
>"they're throwing out a bunch of stuff from the basement of [building], you can come pick through the old equipment if you want anything"
>fuck yes
>show up
>radio equipment is gone
>ask about it
>"Oh that stuff went into the dumpster yesterday"
>RAGE

Moral of the story: steal first, ask questions later. I'm so crushed that all that equipment is just thrown away.
Pic related, a part of the pile showing the 2B I stole and a Hallicrafters HT37 that's at the bottom of a landfill by now.

[Anonymous No.627804]

>>627567
None of these have anything to do with amateur radio, really.

[Anonymous No.627817]

>>627642
>What are those labels on the top row?

criteria for the spreadsheet.

trying to pin down what radio services are available to the average consumer without getting licensed.

and within those radio services im trying to pin down what are the most powerful tx/rx, and most feature rich hardware.

trying to make of best of the best cheatsheet.

[Anonymous No.627862]

>>627817
The problem is that none of those radio services have any users, except CB. And that's, well, CB.

[Anonymous No.627923]

>>627862
good ole childrens band

[Anonymous No.627925]

>>627862
>The problem is that none of those radio services have any users
yeah dawg, commercial tv and radio has no users.

[Anonymous No.627973]

>>627567
>looking up coax
>see different RG types recommended
>RG-213/u
>anons love it
>find Belden 8267
>$1250/1000 ft, $860/500 ft

[Anonymous No.628004]

>>627973
>paying list price for wire and cable

[Anonymous No.628210]

>>628004
alright how do you get it cheaper than found on google shopping?

[Anonymous No.628213]

>>628210
eBay and swap meets

[Anonymous No.628216]

> eBay and swap meets

buy one of these and you can have an infinite supply of cable for free.

[Anonymous No.628242]

>>628213
>ebay
>not on google shopping

[Anonymous No.628258]

>google shopping

they use pay-to-rank tactics with search results which means that Google is now "teh Evil" they promised not to be.

[Anonymous No.628284]

>>628258
>they use pay-to-rank tactics with search results
oh dang full yahoo.

[Anonymous No.628999]

>>628004

>Using unqualified, untested cable for RF

To be fair though, you can get problems even with factory new cable.

[Anonymous No.629004]

>>627973
>>>$1250/1000 ft, $860/500 ft

How much do you really need? Don't forget that losses are measured in DB/100 ft: RG-213/u lists at 1dB/100 ft at 30 MHz. It's going to be much worse at VHF/UHF, so you really shouldn't be running it any further than to the top of your tower.

Power losses eat up more than any negligible savings in cable costs: If you can't afford to buy high-spec cable, you can't afford the project.

[Anonymous No.629041]

>>627567
Midland GXT5000 new FRS / GMRS Radio of choice.

[Anonymous No.629042]

>>629041
Midland XT511 is still Dynamo crank FRS / GMRS radio of choice

[Anonymous No.629043]

>>629042
Dakota Alert M538-BS still amazon MURS base station of choice. Anyone familiar with any other brands?

[Anonymous No.629046]

>>629043
Dakota Alert M538-HT handheld transceiver. They also pimp a bunch of automation shit to go with the radios.

[Anonymous No.629050]

>>629046
Galaxy DX-2547 goddamn that rig is majestic.

too bad the stereotype using it is a old fat fud with a confederate flag hangin up.

[Anonymous No.629051]

>>629050
Galaxy DX-959 belongs in every car.

[Anonymous No.629053]

>>629051
Midland 75-822 handheld cb transceiver, because fuck you thats why.

[Anonymous No.629059]

>>629053
Eton FRX5

dynamo crank AM radio/FM radio/shortwave Radio/weather radio receiver.

damn thats nice

[Anonymous No.629062]

>>629059
Midland HH54VP2 NOAA weather band radio receiver. pretty nifty.

[Anonymous No.629063]

>>629062
Midland WR300 NOAA weather band radio receiver. should be one in every bathroom. it has an antenna port they sell an antenna for it too.

[Anonymous No.629069]

totally not a midland shill, just seems to me that they have the best radios for their niches in these cases.

[Anonymous No.629074]

>>629004
>How much do you really need?
how many bands can use it? whats max height on their antennas?

>Don't forget that losses are measured in DB/100 ft: RG-213/u lists at 1dB/100 ft at 30 MHz. It's going to be much worse at VHF/UHF, so you really shouldn't be running it any further than to the top of your tower.
If you have any help or direction on where I can get help about figuring out whats the best coax to use i'd appreciate it.

>Power losses eat up more than any negligible savings in cable costs: If you can't afford to buy high-spec cable, you can't afford the project.
I'm all far spending dosh on great quality cable. its just, damn. belden(only quality cable maker i really know of outside of corning for fiber) makes ONE model. and theres like 1 merchant. and its well over a buck a foot.

[Anonymous No.629081]

>>629074
Look up a loss table. Heliax is the best, sometimes you can find it cheap.

[Anonymous No.629091]

>>629074
LMR400 or a clone brand should do fine for VHF. Get a good antenna, put it up somewhere high with LOS in as many directions as possible.

[Anonymous No.629726]

I am very new to the ham radio idea but am interested to start learning about all of it.
does anyone have links that go into details explaining how the different operations/signals work and the general uses of them.
tl;dr an all encompassing guide into this.
Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous No.630019]

>>629726
Buy the ARRL HAM RADIO MANUAL

Really good book teaches you just about everything you need to know and prepares you for the test.

[Anonymous No.630109]

>>629726
>>630019

To be more specific (as the ARRL puts out a LOT of books, many of which have somewhat overlapping subject matter):

1) The one all-encompassing Everything About Ham Radio book is the annual ARRL HANDBOOK. This book is huge (1320 pages this year), but is *very* heavily geared toward hardcore technical matters - even the ARRL web site calls it "the most comprehensive guide to radio electronics and experimentation." It also costs fifty bucks.

Luckily, most public libraries carry it, either as a reference book or as an actual checkoutable copy, so you can at least see if it's for you before shelling out for it. (The PDF can also be found online in the, uh, "usual places" if you know where to look.) But basically, the Handbook is sort of the ham equivalent of going to /g/ and asking "What book should I get to learn to program?" It's pretty much what you want if your idea of learning to swim is to be thrown in the deep end of the pool and seeing how well you adapt.

2) If you're actually interested in a more digestible "what's this all about, and how can I actually get a license?" book, you want the ARRL HAM RADIO LICENSE MANUAL. It's only updated as needed, but you have to make absolutely sure you're getting the latest edition on this one, especially if you're intending to get a license, because the FCC changes the test questions every few years, and that's what the book is based on. (And that day is coming very soon. The current question pool for Technician licenses - the license for newbies - will expire on June 30th. The current edition of this book, the "Revised 2nd Edition", will then become obsolete. The ARRL says the new 3rd Edition will be available fpr sale on May 1, which is this coming week. So unless you plan on literally taking your license test in the next two months, wait till next week and buy this one. Amazon will have it, or you can order from arrl.org. Price is thirty bucks.

[Anonymous No.630196]

>>630019
>>630109

thanks anon

[Anonymous No.630263]

>>630109
>2) If you're actually interested in a more digestible "what's this all about, and how can I actually get a license?" book, you want the ARRL HAM RADIO LICENSE MANUAL. It's only updated as needed, but you have to make absolutely sure you're getting the latest edition on this one, especially if you're intending to get a license, because the FCC changes the test questions every few years, and that's what the book is based on. (And that day is coming very soon. The current question pool for Technician licenses - the license for newbies - will expire on June 30th. The current edition of this book, the "Revised 2nd Edition", will then become obsolete. The ARRL says the new 3rd Edition will be available fpr sale on May 1, which is this coming week. So unless you plan on literally taking your license test in the next two months, wait till next week and buy this one. Amazon will have it, or you can order from arrl.org. Price is thirty bucks.

5 star post motherfucker

[Anonymous No.630271]

>>630109
There are scanned PDFs of some of the annuals available online. Torrents, ebook sites, etc. are your friends.

Honestly, if you just get a couple of the older ones and a couple of the newer ones, you'll have everything you want out of the annuals. They reprint the same stuff year after year. Probably downloading every tenth year would be more than you'd ever want.

[Anonymous No.630858]

>>618354
You should link the storm chaser stories. Should be a good read.

[Anonymous No.630870]

>>624117
>ARRL made actual tests and IIR the results were:
Nice, didn't know about this. Thanks

[Anonymous No.630894]

>>630109
Walked in paid $20 took test got a technician license. 0 study. 0 books read.

Never once used it. No idea what priviges I would get with an ameture extra lisense dont really care.

But seriously folks getting a license is easy with a basic understanding of electricity, rf and a tiny bit of common sense. You dont need to study for this shit just go take the damn test. They probably do them twice a month in your area.

[Anonymous No.630898]

>>618354
>illegal to use on land.
Firstly its not illegal, its use would however be against fcc regulation. For the FCC to write laws would require an amendment to the constitution.

Secondly the FCC has an anything goes general waiver for use in emergencies, they fail to define what an emergency actually is. If you owned a cat house in Lincoln County, Nev., and you were out of liquor, wouldn't you consider that an emergency? < an actual argument made to the FCC by someone using a marine radio on land to interconnect with a phone system for emergencies the argument didn't fly by the way.

[Anonymous No.630907]

>>630898
Was there an actual point? Can anon somehow realistically use marine radar on land without getting fines and shit if the FCC finds out?

[Anonymous No.631123]

are there downsides to using SDR? versus physical equipment(when applicable)

[Rcksl No.631205]

>>631123
Only one I can think of is the tuning, speaking from experience I can tell you that some of them have tuning issues. (you have it set to 400 but it is actually listening to 400.05) It may not seem like much but on narrower bandwidths it can make a huge difference. Also buy the ones that have a PAL connector not micro coax as adapters for pal are much easier to find.

[Anonymous No.631222]

What can I do with a license? besides talk to assholes

[Anonymous No.631244]

>>630907
You can ask for an exemption, unless you have a good excuse you will be denied.

You can use it in an emergency.

[Anonymous No.631265]

>>631222
here.

i know what i'm going to do. send out a pirate transmission pretending to be an alien and get 15 min of fame (my transmission since i wont get caught ;-) )

[Anonymous No.631447]

couple questions guys

1. Anyone here have experience with FM transmitters?

I read it is bad to Tx near Rx antennas at a ham station.

2. what the fuck is http://www.dyle.tv/ ? Anyone care to explain this faggotry? Why is this needed? why can''t i just tiny tv with little antenna?

[Anonymous No.631655]

>>629074

>how many bands can use it?

I'm assuming you're asking how many transceivers can use the same antenna, which is a question of the quality of your duplexers, not that of your cable. It's not something people generally do for home amateur radio, since it's normally cheaper to put up another, physically-separated antenna than it is to build or buy a good set of cavities.

>If you have any help or direction on where I can get help about figuring out whats the best coax to use i'd appreciate it.

RG-213/u is pretty much as good as you're going to get for HF/VHF/UHF without getting into the crazy microwave-capable stuff. Minimizing the length of your runs is important, regardless of the cable you use. Many cell towers nowadays actually put all the RF hardware at the top of the tower to minimize their line losses: For them, it's a trade-off between tower construction costs (Cheaper to put it all in the shack than to buy/build a bigger, stronger tower and hang it skyward) and power costs (3db worth of loss means that you're pissing away half your power).

>I'm all far spending dosh on great quality cable.

Try searching around for RG-213/u. It's a military standard, so there are going to be plenty of manufacturers who meet that spec. I'm all for buying cable from a known brand, but if you're going to be able to get at it later, there's no reason to spend 20% more for a minor assurance of better quality.

[Anonymous No.631656]

>>631447

>1. Anyone here have experience with FM transmitters?

What kind of "FM" transmitter? FM is a type of modulation, not a type of transmitter by itself.

>I read it is bad to Tx near Rx antennas at a ham station.

It can damage radio receivers, since the receivers are designed to pick up very faint signals, not ignore ridiculously strong ones. It's also possible to damage transmitters if the signal is strong enough.

Normally it's not much of an issue, as long as you're transmitting in a different band, you're at low power, and you're not standing right next to the antenna. I wouldn't expect a VHF handheld radio on the ground to do much damage to an HF rig connected to a dipole a dozen or more feet in the air.

[Anonymous No.631943]

>>631656
>What kind of "FM" transmitter?
i was thinking along the lines of http://www.amazon.com/Fail-Safe-Long-Range-FM-Transmitter/dp/B003VZU41G/ref=sr_sp-atf_image_1_1?s=mp3&ie=UTF8&qid=1398863967&sr=1-1&keywords=tx-01s

[Anonymous No.632131]

>>611653
True story: In the middle eastern countries they call it lamb radio, as ham is forbidden

[Anonymous No.632657]

>>631943

Check the legality in your area before trying to use something like that. The FCC is damn strict about interfering with licensed users, so be very careful unless you intend to run pirate.

[Anonymous No.632715]

>>632657
Well you can buy little mobile fm transmitters for use in car. I imagine keeping it low will be ok

[Anonymous No.633816]

Bump to save this thread.

[Anonymous No.633824]

>>632715
>>632657
I think as long as it's small, it's no big deal. Under 5 volts, IIRC.

[Anonymous No.633828]

>>611653
9955 Khz Sunday night at 9:00 EST

[Anonymous No.634604]

thinking of getting this

[Anonymous No.634609]

>>634604
Consider also the BladeRF.

[Anonymous No.634962]

Looking for a cheap SSTV solution, maybe with DTMF tone controller?

[Anonymous No.635037]

>>634962
Mmsstv

[Anonymous No.635532]

>>630898
>Secondly the FCC has an anything goes general waiver for use in emergencies, they fail to define what an emergency actually is.

Yes they do. It is anything to do with the "immediate safety of human life and immediate protection of property". In such a case, you can use any radio technology physically available to you to attempt to get help, regardless of normal license requirements, potential interference to other radio users, etc.

Obviously, running low on liquor doesn't qualify.

[Anonymous No.635864]

>>634962

Hey tv noob here.

Anyone here do tv with amateur radio?
Is there non slowscan?
Do they broadcast audio with video?
Do you need converters and view with off the shelf tvs?
How much does it cost to get a transcieve setup?


Thanks.

[Anonymous No.635918]

Isn't this the thing that virgins did before the internet?

[Radio Guy !PqLLOK0ckw No.635921]

>>635918

[Anonymous No.636018]

>>635864

>Is there non slowscan?

Once you get up into UHF, especially the gigahertz spectrum, anything goes. It's a bad idea to do anything other than slowscan on the VHF bands and below for hopefully obvious reasons.

>Do you need converters and view with off the shelf tvs?

Yes.

[Anonymous No.636106]

>want to get into HAM radio
>interested in electronics for a while now
>actually /want/ to learn about all of this shit
>still have to buy expensive kits or complete transceivers

Fuck it, I'll just get an RTL SDR and call it a day.

[Anonymous No.636297]

>>636106
RTL SDR for recieve and a UV 5R for trans is all you need.

[Anonymous No.636333]

>>636106

Speaking of kits, what's out there? Elecraft is obvious, but what else?

Also, I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of projects in the ARRL handbook that aren't all that pricy from a BOM cost. Fabbing up your own PCB and case could get pricey, but that's half the fun IMHO.

[Anonymous No.636335]

>>636297

>UV 5R

Fuck no. There's a reason why they're a tenth the price of other decent ham-grade handhelds and a twentieth the cost of decent LMR gear.

[Anonymous No.636542]

>>636335
I disagree with you. UV-5R is best chinese

[Anonymous No.636550]

>>636542

"best chinese" doesn't make it not a steaming pile of shit.

[Anonymous No.636553]

>>636550
what is it shit?

[Anonymous No.636729]

>>636550
>>636335
UV-5R is certainly the best for price/performance. Just look at the huge user base.

[Anonymous No.637015]

>>636335

Yeah, but you really can't beat "disposable" as a price point when trying to suck newbies into getting into ham radio. $14 for the Technician exam, $28 for the radio, and boom you're on the air. Beats the shit out of 800 bucks and up.

[Anonymous No.637309]

well I ordered a RTL SDR do you also need a transceiver?
i thought the software handled everything does it not.

[Anonymous No.637320]

>>637309
RTL-SDR is just a receiver.
If you want to transmit, you need something else.

[Anonymous No.637326]

So i ordered a RTL SDR usb.
>>637309

>UV 5R Needed to transmit
http://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-136-174-400-480-Dual-Band/dp/B007H4VT7A

>and this adapter would allow me to use my PC mic? with it which kind of seems useless.... since i need the handheld to broadcast?
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Cable-Baofeng-UV-5R-Driver/dp/B008RZJHJU/ref=pd_cp_e_0

Can someone please explain why the SDR wouldn't just allow me to broadcast with my mic in the pc its connected to? or even why would I get SDR if the UV 5R is capable of doing what the SDR does?
sorry guys I am
>>629726
from earlier in the thread. Just waiting for UPS for SDR.

[Anonymous No.637328]

Oh and thank you for all your help it's one of the last places that makes this site still great.
/diy/ I love this board
>>637320
>>630109
>>630019

[Anonymous No.637336]

UV-5Rs on sale for $15 here, http://www.aliexpress.com/item/BAOFENG-UV-5R-walkie-talkie-VHF136-174MHz-UHF400-520MHz-UV5R-dual-band-dual-display-walkie-talkie/1844599885.html

[Anonymous No.637337]

>>637326
>Can someone please explain why the SDR wouldn't just allow me to broadcast with my mic
You are using TV receiver hardware. No amount of software can change the fact that the hardware is built to receive, not transmit. Your question is kinda like asking why you can't use your PC's mic input as a speaker output.

I don't know why you wanted RTL-SDR. Maybe you wanted a cheap wideband multimode receiver?

[Anonymous No.637492]

$15 shipped is fucking crazy. how can they make them for that much?

[Anonymous No.637613]

>>616316
980 would be a decent first radio and it doesn't look like something straight from the 70s. id just get a wilson 2000 mag mount for $80 on amzn the 5000 is way overkill for a stock radio amd the little bit more antennas not gonna make any notable difference. when you get bored of that grab a little one pill amp. everyone and mean everyone on 11m is running illegal power. don't go insane and you'll not even be bothered except if you speak of your cb amp to a hambeast. my radio has a rfx75 built into the back and swings 100w. I don't see the need for anymore power but no way I'd run stock. I actually use a magnum 257hp on 11m, this is illegal as shit but I give zero shits and neither does anyone else also lets me listen in the hf ham bands and if you grab a license you have a fairly capable rig to run 10,11,12m. again jist dont tell the autistic ham beasts. buy a decent swt meter and lean to use it a $50 radio on a well matched antenna will sound better/farther than a $3k radio on an un tuned pos. the uniden 980 has this feature built in and will work okay but not as good as a dedicated meter.

[Anonymous No.637619]

>>616344
> only uses vhf/uhf ham bands.

11m (cb) is in hf right between 10,12m ham bands. hf will talk great distance when skip is rolling and is my favorite part of the hobby. lots of folks to talk to on cb when conditions are favorable I've made contacts from my mobile in WA to almost every state when skip os rolling with just 100w pep. get a good antenna tune to 38lsb and listen you will here the whole damn country when the skip rolls. as for reliable range I talk about 20-30miles without mother natures help so vhf/uhf repeaters will win in that respect.

[Anonymous No.637620]

>>637619
as a newb I'd buy a uv-5r whichever one you like and a decent antenna for it possibly even a mag mount for in car use. under $50 lets you listen to all kinds of traffic and lots o talking when you get your ticket. then for hf work I'd 100% get a cb as its a busy band to not have acces to and no lic needed. the only decision here is weather you care to run legal or not. if your unwilling or afraid of bending the rules get a uniden 980 of you want something new looking or a cobra 148gtl (old one if you can find it). if your comfortable breaking the law like all the other users on 11m get a decent export radio I run and recommend a magnum 257hp. this will get you enough power on 11m to get you out of the mud and is a decent enough little radio to use on the 10,12m bamds when/if you get you license. hook you choice of hf gear to either a 102" whip or a wilson 2000/5000 of w/e mounting or the Sirio turbo 5000 of w/e mounting cause those sleek looks. the first two are the tried and true hf antennas if you don't own one(likeley both I have several of each) you're probably not into radio at all. the Sirio gets good reviews and looks better than the Wilson in my opinion. remember that hard mounting will be better than a mag mount but mag mounts are less commitment for the newby.

I also have a few old kenwood radios that are legal on gmrs and put out 25w for mobile use. tiny antenna ~10 mile range mobile to mobile and no test just a fee for the license. nice thing about gmrs is its fm so sound quality is better than cb (am).

[Anonymous No.637625]

>>637492
Photo related.

[Anonymous No.637948]

Bump

[Anonymous No.638048]

Ok so i have read uv and higher frequency wavelengths cause cancer because the radiation is onizing and knocks electrons off our atoms?

My friend is a base jumper and says (anecdotal i know) that people who jump off am broadcast antennas get sick and get "radiation treatment". This came off as complete horseshit to me. Can anyone clarify?

[Anonymous No.638057]

>>638048
More like they get sick from the sheer wattage they've stupidly chosen to stand directly next to. It's non-ionizing radiation, not cancer-causing stuff ... It's more akin to sticking your fork into an electrical socket. Google "amateur radio rf burns" or "rf safety" will pull up a bunch of stuff.

[Anonymous No.638091]

>>637492
Yet $9 cell phones with color screens and $15 worth of minutes don't amaze you?

They don't even make you get a new number each time you get a new phone. I got like 6 of them now. Mostly I keep them for the batteries and usb chargers.

[Anonymous No.638111]

>>638048
They probably got RF burns. Electromagnetic radiation will not mutate you or give you cancer, but it can burn you. Standing on a 45,000 watt radio tower probably isn't safe.

[Anonymous No.638135]

Thanks for getting me interested in ham radios /diy/. I'm about to buy some stuff and I'll probably try to get a license soon.

[Anonymous No.638241]

>>637492

They did it precisely to fuck with the Japanese.

True story.

"How can we fuck with Japan today?"

"Sell radio at cost, drive down their market"

>and thus it was done

[Anonymous No.638316]

>>637337
It's a piece of shit. It wont do some channels right. Harmonics everywhere. You get exactly what you pay for. A fucking piece of shit. People keep gobbling them up like candy.

[Anonymous No.638471]

>>636553

It's got a crappy receiver and a transmitter that's barely able to get FCC approval. Build quality is going to be junk, and novices are going to spend more time learning about how shitty their purchase is rather than about radio communication.

[Anonymous No.638628]

>>638471
No it's not. UV-5R is the best price/performance/build handheld.

[Anonymous No.638653]

>>636335
>>636550
>>638471
>bitter elitist feels duped about his $400 yeasu not offering much improvement over a $35 chink radio

[Anonymous No.638677]

>>638653
>Jew moron
The improvement is not over deviating to the tune of 16khz (Yes it does), not creating harmonics, clear audio, getting reliable communications, more features, less bugs, and durability.

[Anonymous No.638680]

Automatic tuner (long antenna 10-30m) allows single sideband transmissions from 4-25MHz. Kinda cool when mobile, as in middle of the ocean.

[Rcksl No.638696]

To be fair the baofengs have very shitty narrow-band performance, I programmed it to work frs and I was getting noise on neighboring channels when transmitting.
But the harmonics on it aren't as bad as kenwood/icom/yaesu shills would have you believe.

The fact still stands that you won't find a part 90 radio for this price anywhere, most of the big brand ham HTs are only part 97 certified.

Anyone who tells you that they still suck even for new hams is just an elitist who doesn't want new people who can't afford $500 transceivers to get into ham radio.

[Anonymous No.638779]

Just ordered a uv 5r for £9

[Anonymous No.638802]

>>638696
Yes, yes they are. I'll snap a picture on a spectrum analyzer.

[Anonymous No.638822]

M3 here, my father is an M0 and I havent used a radio since 2005, alls I know is it interferes with my gaymen PC... fucking POS Icom... ferrites dont even work, feelsbadman.jpg

[Anonymous No.638930]

>>638628

In the sense that two tin cans and a string is the best price/performance telephone, sure.

>>638653

I've had LMR customers buy whole fleets of chinkshit, then replace all of them every three months (because they're broken or otherwise nonfunctional) while complaining about terrible performance the whole time.

You can't get a decent Li-ion or Ni-MH battery pack for thirty bucks, what the fuck makes you think a thirty dollar radio is going to be something worthwhile? If you need a cheap radio you can beat the fuck out of, the big three japanese companies make decent handhelds in the <$200 range, some of them based on a common chassis with their LMR products.

[Anonymous No.638936]

>>638822

Where's your antenna, what's your case made out of, and what power level are you using?

[\ No.638959]

>>638802
I haven't noticed it when using SDR, but someone with a spectrum analyzer would know better.

[Anonymous No.639147]

>>638680
Where does the long wire antenna tuner come into use? I have this unit. Inside are like 30 relays. It's separate from the transceiver. A coax leads in and an insulated stud leads out to the long wire (10m+). And why does the transceiver operate over such a huge range (4-24 MHz) with 150W PEP? Am I missing something by owning 20 MHz of the radio spectrum? Understood as no license needed when used on the programmed channels.

[Anonymous No.639157]

>>639147

Basically, the impedance (think of it as the "shape" of the load - it's a combination of resistance, capacitance, and inductance) of any antenna changes with frequency. The antenna tuner matches the impedance of the antenna with the impedance the transceiver is designed for (usually 50 ohms with no inductive or capacitive component) by using variable inductors and capacitors.

For most RF applications, the impedance is usually abstracted by measuring it as an "SWR" or "VSWR" (Standing Wave Ratio or Voltage Standing Wave Ratio). The higher the SWR, the more energy gets reflected back into the transceiver. High SWR is bad for two reasons: First, it means that the transceiver isn't very efficient, because a significant fraction of the energy going out to the antenna gets reflected back into the transmitter (or vice-versa - remember that antennas are symmetrical). Second, most transmitters aren't designed to deal with large amounts of reflected power. Transmitting into high SWR can rapidly destroy the transmitter stage, especially at higher power levels and with solid-state gear. This is why every radio manual will tell you not to transmit without an antenna attached: A bad antenna may have a high SWR, but it's still going to be lower than that of no antenna at all.

Your transmitter probably doesn't give you 4-24 MHz continuously - it's almost certainly a few smaller-bandwidth transmitters that get selected between based on your chosen band or channel.

[Anonymous No.639171]

>>639157
These marine single sideband transceivers code for transmitting on any tenth kHz from 1.7 - 23 MHz, without interruption. I'm harmless without a carrier wave, right? I like proper etiquette, but lacking a license requirement, I remain ignorant.

[Anonymous No.639251]

Hey guys im looking for radio manufacturors(amateur and otherwise) so i can see what is out there. Please throw more company names at me that arent listed here.

Alinco
Yaesu
Icom
Kenwood
Galaxy
Midland
Cobra
Dakota alert
Eton
Grundig
Sangean
Uniden

Other brands im aware of and trying to avoid buying into:

Motorola
Sony
Baofeng

[Anonymous No.639252]

>>639251

What kind of radios are you looking for? Motorola doesn't make much outside of the LMR market nowadays.

[Anonymous No.639278]

>>639252
Atm im looking for hand helds primarily.
amateur single band radios like 2m, 70cm, etc. As well as radio service specific such as gmrs/frs, murs, business band, cb, etc.

No baofeng.

Im trying to set myself up as comms along with networking for the company i work for. Looking to build a collection of nice handhelds to listen/learn with.

[Anonymous No.639350]

>>639278
>No baofeng
man those yaesu shills got to you huh?
Anyway I know woxun has something recent, their KG-UV6X is part 90 compliant.

Essentially look for part 90 or "commercial grade" radios and you should get plenty of hits. They get pricey fast though.

[Anonymous No.639472]

>>639350
Im not completely opposed to them, they get people into the hobby for cheap. But they arent great radios. I wouldnt use one as part of a solution for a customer.


I spent a while checking out amateur band handhelds last night. Why is everything dual band 140/440mhz?

Seriously theres like 2 dozen amateur handhelds and it seems like they are 90% same features.

[Anonymous No.639513]

>>639472
I have a "ham radio outlet" catalog from this quarter, look up online to see if you can browse a digital version. There are a lot of 440/900 as well as 140/900 and a few 140/220 a lot of the 900 mhz ones use digital modes though.

This is just reading thew a few of the catalog items.
Yaseu vx-6r is triband Woxung KG-UV3D also comes in 2/220
kenwood TH-F6A is triband
Not all are the same though, some have gps built in and offer APRS, others have wideband recieve and can at least listen to almost any type of radio transmission. There are a few new digital modes in the works and on their way into adoption (ham digital wars).Hell Icom or one of them just released a HT with a camera where you can take a picture and send it to a mobile or base station part of the same line and have it displayed.

If you think all ham handhelds are the same then you haven't been looking hard enough.

[Anonymous No.639600]

>>639472
>Why is everything dual band 140/440mhz?

Because 220 and 900 Mhz are IARU-2 only and exclusive bands. You can't sell them in Europe, Africa or Asia since hams aren't allowed to use these bands in their countries.
You could surely argue thawt the american market is big enough to make the prdocution of such radios attractive, but producing radios, that you can also sell in the rest of the world is economically better.

[Anonymous No.639942]

>>635864
There are two types of TV signals in America, NTSC and ATSC. ATSC is digital, and hard to broadcast with without very expensive equipment. NTSC is a standard, and hardware to broadcast is extremely cheap.

That said, a single NTSC TV signal with full color and audio will occupy 6MHz of bandwidth, compared to 12.5/20KHz for voice only. While an NTSC transmitter may not cost $20,000, it sure would cost $500+

If you wanted to broadcast amateur TV, your television would need a converter to convert the ham frequencies into something in any of these ranges

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

You are only allowed to transmit UHF(420-450) since VHF and the 220MHz ham bands don't have enough bandwidth for a TV signal

Once you bought your transmitter, you need to check if there are any repeaters you may interfere with, find a vacant block of 6MHz spectrum and start broadcasting. You will need to broadcast your ham call every so often.

As for the TV, if you broadcasted on 426MHz, you would need a 50MHz upconverter to feed the TV signal a 476MHz(channel 15) signal into the antenna port on the TV.

[Anonymous No.640220]

>>639513

The problem with Amateur digital is that the big three are each pushing their own proprietary standard, and all of the existing standards rely on a proprietary vocoder (*MBE), which makes it difficult to do those modes without buying gear that's payed for the appropriate licensees. Theoretically somebody could get a digital project started with CODEC2, but there's been little interest in that that I've seen.

*MBE voice quality blows horrid chunks anyways, imho.