Of course I mean ham radio operation on HF Voice. Marine use is huge as is aviation as you mentioned.
Of course I mean ham radio operation on HF Voice. Marine use is huge as is aviation as you mentioned.
Olds - it ain't gonna happen. 19.2k is the fastest you'll go, and all that shit you look at is completely illegal.
shortylickens
No Lifer
- Jul 15, 2003
- 80,287
- 17,081
- 136
Rubycon
Madame President
- Aug 10, 2005
- 17,768
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It's hardly dead but trends on long DX communication seem to take the past of least resistance...
Any buttmunch can buy a $300 e-machine, connect it to a broadband gateway, download skype and talk to someone around the world. What fun is that?
With amateur radio it takes far more skill and technical know how from selecting a rig, the band you want to work, proper antennas and types along with polarization, monitoring the solar patterns for ideal skip, etc. The actual antenna mast/tower, rotator for directional "beam" antennas, tuning, drive line (coax), protection against lightning and static build up for non dc type "long wire" dipoles, you name it.
Then you have to catch the right time to make the long shots. The best ones are the QSLs that come in that sound super clear with pounding signals frequently 10+ dB over nine "S" units on the receiver. You know something is up because they have an accent!
The feeling that your 100W signal just made it half way around the globe bests any feeling you get when posting on someone's facebook wall or calling someone a "i love you" in Ventrilo, etc.
The glow of a bunch of EIMACs on top of a box, the dim of the lights in the entire house when you talk far beats anything you see on your computer.
RE: TX without license...that is really, really bad! Fellow HAMs don't like this at all and when the authorities do find you there are stiff fines and they can take away your rigs, etc. You should NEVER do this unless it's a life or death emergency and you should always say so. Only use a friend's call sign if they are with you, etc.
Any buttmunch can buy a $300 e-machine, connect it to a broadband gateway, download skype and talk to someone around the world. What fun is that?
With amateur radio it takes far more skill and technical know how from selecting a rig, the band you want to work, proper antennas and types along with polarization, monitoring the solar patterns for ideal skip, etc. The actual antenna mast/tower, rotator for directional "beam" antennas, tuning, drive line (coax), protection against lightning and static build up for non dc type "long wire" dipoles, you name it.
Then you have to catch the right time to make the long shots. The best ones are the QSLs that come in that sound super clear with pounding signals frequently 10+ dB over nine "S" units on the receiver. You know something is up because they have an accent!
The feeling that your 100W signal just made it half way around the globe bests any feeling you get when posting on someone's facebook wall or calling someone a "i love you" in Ventrilo, etc.
The glow of a bunch of EIMACs on top of a box, the dim of the lights in the entire house when you talk far beats anything you see on your computer.
RE: TX without license...that is really, really bad! Fellow HAMs don't like this at all and when the authorities do find you there are stiff fines and they can take away your rigs, etc. You should NEVER do this unless it's a life or death emergency and you should always say so. Only use a friend's call sign if they are with you, etc.
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Doppel
Lifer
- Feb 5, 2011
- 13,306
- 3
- 0
Yep, it's like that time I broke my arm and my brother was going to rush me to the hospital but I was like "Bro, anybody can go to the hospital and have a physician sort this out. I'm going to do it man-style. Go to the library and grab me a book on emergency medical care and some sh*t from the drug-store. Gonna learn this on the fly!"
Since their appear to be a few HAMs in this thread I figured I might as well post these couple of questions rather than start a new thread. I'm looking into various study guides for the technician license and they all seem to have their strong points and weak points, right now I'm leaning towards the one from the ARRL as it looks to be the most comprehensive of the group. Are there any other guides that you would recommend? If so, why? The other question really only applies after I get my technician license but I might as well ask it now. I currently reside in an apartment with no place to put an antenna. I do not have a balcony and while I do have access to the roof (I have a Dish Network dish mounted up there with the apartment management's permission) I'm not too sure how willing they'd be to let me put a decent UHF/VHF antenna up there. Is my best route to purchase a decent handy talkie type radio or are there other options (other than D-Star) available to me?
I made this in high school, worked pretty good, but we were poor so I never could afford a real radio
http://www.eham.net/articles/2418
This article has a better explanation on how to make it
http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/jpole.html
we learned on some dos based program on a old 486. All we did was study and take the test over and over and over for the whole semester and made some cool stuff. Not to brag but I got 100 percent on the test. And I never learned morse so I failed the second semester, but I could have gotten my tech+ if I had really tried.
http://www.eham.net/articles/2418
This article has a better explanation on how to make it
http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/uham/jpole.html
we learned on some dos based program on a old 486. All we did was study and take the test over and over and over for the whole semester and made some cool stuff. Not to brag but I got 100 percent on the test. And I never learned morse so I failed the second semester, but I could have gotten my tech+ if I had really tried.
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Modelworks
Lifer
- Feb 22, 2007
- 16,240
- 7
- 76
I got my start as a kid when a HAM showed me how to make a radio out of a coffee can, paper insert from toilet paper, razor blade, pencil and wire. First I was amazed you could make a radio out of common stuff in a house, second I was even more amazed when it worked without having to have a power source.
Modelworks
Lifer
- Feb 22, 2007
- 16,240
- 7
- 76
I learned by studying electronics first then going into HAM which made things fairly easy. In an apartment one thing you can do is a long wire antenna. As it implies it is simply a long wire. You can run a length near the ceiling of the room or you can run loops around the room near the ceiling for some really nice gain. Wire size doesn't need to be large so something like enameled magnet wire can work. May not look good but it works.
Or you can be sneaky
http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=7546
Linflas
Lifer
- Jan 30, 2001
- 15,395
- 78
- 91
I am guessing kids no longer make foxhole radios. I think Gilbert even sold a cheap kit to make one when I was a kid.
http://www.amazon.com/Now-Youre-Talk.../dp/0872597970
Check the edition and make sure its the most recent. This is the go-to guide for tech licensure. (or at least it used to be.)
As far as UHF/VHF goes - you can go mobile, and apt dwellers are often forced to do that. Impressive rigs exist and mobile ops get multipliers in contests, including field day if I recall.
I'm almost certain if you look in your apt lease you'll find a quasi-legal (now that there is a federal law saying you CAN have an antenna despite what any local or homeowners ordinance states) phrase saying 'no visible aerials, no transmitting antennas, nothing outside the apartment. You are right, they will probably frown on anything terribly visible. However it CAN be done.
You already have a dish up there so you have at least one run of RG-6. You'll make another run alongside that run of 50ohm coax and can easily clip on a vertical dipole for 2 meters. Or use a double helical style (2 rubber ducks)
NOBODY looks up. Seriously safe way here. I guarantee that as long as you don't go crazy and put something ridiculous there it'll be fine for uhf/vhf. I'm so serious about that. NOBODY looks up. I've had HF verticals in trees, I've had yagis pointed off the balcony, and RG-8x strung across the roof. I've done verticals inside rain gutters and feed lines up downspouts. I even had a 5 band folded dipole in the attic that worked awesome for 40-6m at 100W
A J-Pole antenna can be made to look like a stand for holding flower pots, or simply suction cupped to the inside of your shacks window. I operate 2m packet and have a j-pole just for it. The point is to only get to my nearest digipeater so it works fine for that.
You can operate from an apartment, but you surely won't have that booming worldwide signal on HF.
Not only do I have an HT, its currently my only radio. Kenwood TH-F6a. Don't get too concerned with gear. You can get by with an HTX-202 radio shack 2m 5W radio. They run about $40 these days. I keep looking into chicken band conversions (CB is verrrry close to 10M) and even have a CB that I did some dx on a while ago, but the PLL board fried from static when I almost had the thing humming better. I have actually repaired and sold 2 RCI-2950 rigs (10 meter radios) that are somewhat controversial because of a simple CB mod you can make happen. These rigs are so easy to work on and the only limiter is that everyone knows the parts they use and even ebay has the prices jacked up.
THere really is nothing like answering a CQ and having them come back to you - and finding out they are across the Atlantic! Or on California or south America. Just like Ruby said - anybody can fire up a POS computer and skype. I think of myself as being part of a weird nerdy little club, that even geeks shun. Too bad young people are just ignorant anymore. HR is really slowly dying and there isn't much hope for the future unless it gets to be cool to be an op again, but honestly that would ruin it...
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Linflas
Lifer
- Jan 30, 2001
- 15,395
- 78
- 91
A ham in my neighborhood seems to have made his antenna along the roof ridge lines of his house. You really have to look hard to see it but the wires are running right along the ridge lines of his roof. No one has ever noticed or complained about it.
olds
Elite Member
- Mar 3, 2000
- 50,122
- 778
- 126
Ham radio in the 21st century
In high school I built a 200 watt linear that could be matched to almost any piece of wire. Over the years activity level has come & gone, I did do some moon bounce which was fun at the time, but mostly about antennas and especially tracking. I wasn't so interested in yakkin' or braggin'. Contacting people in another country was pretty fun initially.
I have nothing now but have been thinking about software defined radios for a while as I am not so interested in lots of pushy buttons & knobs.
In high school I built a 200 watt linear that could be matched to almost any piece of wire. Over the years activity level has come & gone, I did do some moon bounce which was fun at the time, but mostly about antennas and especially tracking. I wasn't so interested in yakkin' or braggin'. Contacting people in another country was pretty fun initially.
I have nothing now but have been thinking about software defined radios for a while as I am not so interested in lots of pushy buttons & knobs.
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