Hams on the rise

[Hawk_308]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/...all-time-high/

Ham radio Lic are way up recently . Which is good , more hams the better the chance of contact .

[qrprat77]

Yes, we're everywhere! muah-ha-ha!
You wouldn't believe the number of people who are using CW too, even though they don't have to.

[hua man]

Oh, good. I thought Napolean and Dr Strangepork were starting a rebellion.

[MustangGal]

LOL When I saw it, I thought he was talking pork prices! :D

[TyrannyUnleashed]

This is a good thread to ask...

1. What kind of money might I be looking at to get my own Ham Radio setup? (I have never looked into them)
2. Do I have to be licensed to purchase a setup?
3. Would I be better not being licensed, in a SHTF time?

[Matt In Oklahoma]

This is a good thread to ask...
1. What kind of money might I be looking at to get my own Ham Radio setup? (I have never looked into them)
2. Do I have to be licensed to purchase a setup?
3. Would I be better not being licensed, in a SHTF time?

Seems like some radio guru was supposed to do a post on this subject and some other similar questions! :)

[Hawk_308]

Im a work so sorry for the quick and ugly post.

Its like any thing else you can get in fairly cheap but it can get expensive fairly quick.
The basic lic (Technician)you can get with some light reading and some basic knowledge , 15 bucks 35 questions later you can be licensed . The basic lic you can use for the most part uhf and vhf comms legally which are line of sight for the most part or so ,with the use of repeaters or terrain can get you a bit further 30-100 miles or so . A vhf only radio will cost you under 200 , UHF and VHF radios run from 250 to 600 bucks for the most part plus 20-100 bucks for coax and 25-200 bucks for the antenna and if you are in the house you will need a 12 volt source so a battery bank or 12 volt power supply which is about a hundred bucks .

The next level (General) you will most likly need to study a bit but will give you access to parts of about all the bands which will cover the hf bands ,so world wide comms. But you will need a hf radio which will run from 600 bucks to $15,000 and here is such a wide variance of coax and antenna combos Im not getting into it in a short response .

The next level lic (Extra) is a bunch of studing and only gives you a bit more access legally .

2. Nope you can pick up the equipment anytime you and your budget wants to .

3. No , Its like saying can I buy a rifle and not practice with it and be proficient at it when I need it .

[Jeep]

This is a good thread to ask...

1. What kind of money might I be looking at to get my own Ham Radio setup? (I have never looked into them)
2. Do I have to be licensed to purchase a setup?
3. Would I be better not being licensed, in a SHTF time?

1- cost depends on how far you want to go with Ham radio. They are 3 classes of license Technician/General/Extra Tech gets you on some bands and frequencies General gets you on all the bands and 90% of the frequencies Extra gets you on everything. So cost depends on your license class, and how far you wish to communicate via Ham radio. You have to have at least a General class license to get on the HF bands to talk into other countries. So ballpark figures can be from $100 to $1000 and higher.
2-You do not have to be licensed to buy equipment and listen, the license gives you the right to transmit a signal.
3-Ham radio is not just waiting for SHTF then you getting on the radio. You may not get caught but the chances are 99% you will and not by the FCC. Other Hams will get you, Ham radio operators police themselves and you really need a license to get on the air and practice using your radio(s). Even if you don't get caught, you still need to learn the procedures of transmitting and talking to other Hams. They will know by the way you communicate with them if you have a license or not and they will not communicate with you at all. Getting a license is not that hard and expensive. I recommend you go to www.arrl.org and find a Ham club near you and go to a meeting and see what its all about. These guys will be more than happy to help you get your license and teach you Ham radio. Even if you want to maintain OPSEC by not having a license, the FCC can pinpoint where you are by you just turning on your radio. Besides Ham radio is a fun hobby to get into and as I tell my students when I give a class on Ham radio, you get out of it what you put into it.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

[QUOTE=Jeep;30754] the FCC can pinpoint where you are by you just turning on your radio. QUOTE]
WHAAAAAAAAAAT !!!!??
Ok I've been conversing with someone about HAMs and the reasons I dont have one, if this is true it just moved to the top of the list and I dont even own a tin foil hat.

[Hawk_308]

Ummm what ???

Unless you are running arps or some other gps service the FCC has to pin you down like every one else would , with beams and triangulation when you transmit . Im pretty sure they have nice rigs but I doubt they can track you down any better than a bunch of experienced fox hunter hams .

On Line of site comms you could use a standard portable beam like this with a signal strength meter to locate some one .



But some one using HF in NVIS config or a beam and low power would be hard to locate because of a small ground wave foot print .

[Jeep]

Matt,
Google NLJD-----Nonlinear junction detector that will give you the info. Also like I said before Ham radio is a fun hobby and during a disaster sometimes it's the only means of communications. I have been in places where I could not get a cell phone signal, but had access to a Ham radio repeater using my HT (handheld Ham radio) in case of an emergency.

[Hawk_308]

Learned something new , cool piece of tech from breezing over it.


Thanks Jeep

[qrprat77]

Seems like some radio guru was supposed to do a post on this subject and some other similar questions! :)

Somebody's working on it. Somebody else sent somebody a mountain of PDF's to work through. :P
This thread actually highlights some of the points Somebody's going to make, and mentions some useful tidbits.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Somebody's working on it. Somebody else sent somebody a mountain of PDF's to work through. :P
This thread actually highlights some of the points Somebody's going to make, and mentions some useful tidbits.

LOL hehehehehhe

[qrprat77]

This is a good thread to ask...

1. What kind of money might I be looking at to get my own Ham Radio setup? (I have never looked into them)
2. Do I have to be licensed to purchase a setup?
3. Would I be better not being licensed, in a SHTF time?

1. I'm cheap, but I like quality. I look for older used gear that I can fix. My latest purchase was a Swann 100MX, a radio almost as old as I am, but the parts in it that are likely to go bad with age are easy to replace. Other parts, not so easy, but with a little monkeying around with the circuit, I can make things work with substitutes. It cost me $195 + the cost of the money order, and I had to spend about 5 or 6 hours figuring out how to fix it because the Post Office was kind enough to break it for me. I also like to build my own radios. I've put several together from kits, and even branched out into working up my own circuits a little bit. I'm really beginning to dig that aspect of the hobby a whole lot more. That's cheap, but only accross the long run, I've got radios that have $50 worth of parts in them, but cost me $200 to build because I couldn't order just 1 of some parts, and that's not counting my time.
2. Nope! There's some things you can't get access to, or is illegal for you to possess, but that doesn't mean you can't buy it...
3. Communication isn't something easy to learn when OPSEC is important. when SHTF, OPSEC is key, so it's better to get some communication skills now than to wait until it's needed. By being a ham radio operator, I've been able to practice communicating, practice my ability to maintain communications, and develop a network of friends/mentors who can help me get more knowledge and skill and who can help me in the PAW.

There's more coming guys, I'm werkin' on it.