Ham Radio Advice needed

[andyt20030]

Hi,

I am thinking about getting a Amateur radio licence and a radio kit.

Does anyone have any advice ?

[gary5wift]

Hi Andy

I've just started this by joining my local amateur radio club - £10 per year membership. They run regular courses, i've just signed up for the Foundation Course and exam (£50). This will get me on the air to practise and learn more.

I've also bought a cheap Baofeng Dual band transceiver (70cm/2m), brand new off ebay for £30. It's a small handheld but quite a few club members have them for everyday carry and say that they are very good and excellent for the price. If you use the repeater network you can reach pretty much anywhere across the globe. So it doesn't have to cost a fortune to get started.

Good luck

[munchh]

good call on the Baofeng, there are alot out there that would say dont buy cheap chinese handies, but i have about 8 i can think of without looking in my cupboard, look for dual band UHF/VHF handies, the accesories are all over ebay, i have never bought a radio without also buying the car adapter so you can work straight off the car battery, but also a speaker mic and an sma-bnc adapter for a small magmount antenna which will improve your reception and transmission greatly, i can list stuff if you wish.

Look for other makes, Puxing and Quansheng i have the TG-UV2 from Quansheng, i always have it with me, it covers alot of freqs including marine, personal/buisness PMR, PMR446 and the usual VHF 2m and 70cms UHF amateur bands (also has FM radio so you can listen to music or the news if needed), its great for the money (about £80) and you can now buy it from most major radio outlets in the UK, its also a full 5watts, some of the cheaper ones are between 2-4 watt.

Dont be affraid of the cheaper ones you will find they are full of features including built in LED lights (something the bigger companies are only just catching up with) , it is alot easier if you find the programing cable (normally usb) and you can download the easy to use software, it makes filling the memory with usefull chanels far quicker.

I have saved files for different days out.

Also check out this site. http://www.hamtests.co.uk/

It is like the mock exams, it will give you an idea straight away what you need to swot up onand it helped me alot. I'm 42 and took my foundation 4 years ago, it was the first exam i had taken for years.

I am only a M6 still and it is amazing what you can do with 10 watts, i have not got to the point that i want to move to intermediate, but then work and life have also come first, if i can help any more just ask, but i'm sure there are a few higher level guys on here?

Just to add, i have bought all my radios through ebay using paypal and direct from Hong-Kong as it always worked out cheaper, although you have to wait a little longer to get it.

[Technik]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I'm also interested in ham/amateur. I only just realised that something like that exists and until now I thought there's only CB
My idea looks like this. I need a radio which I could use when travelling through Europe so I thought a CB would be great for that. On top of that I wanted to get something with a stronger signal that would work in around a 20 mile radius maybe and still fit in the car next to the CB. Also I wanted to install a base station radio at home so I could communicate with my other half when out of home (in a shtf scenario and today). A pair of handheld radios would also be nice so I would still have contact even when leaving the car behind.
Any advice what gear to get "munchh" ?

As far as I know I can get all the Amateur radio equipment and listen through it as this is still legal without the licence but anything more I need the licence. Is that right?

Thanks

[munchh]

No worries, anyone correct me if i'm slightly off track....

So before i go looking for the right links with the full info, be aware of a few things.

If you want to talk to your wife, she will need to get the licence also, but on CB neither of you do. Neither of you do with PMR446.

Also i'm pretty sure you need your full amateur UK licence to be able to use it in other countries, my foundation licence would not let me, but if i had to drive through Europe i would fit a good multi CB.

In Europe there is a far bigger CB community, Italy being the biggest i think, this as i understand is because there are less restrictions, on a sunny afternoon with the 'skip' up (you will learn about the skip) you can here Italian house wives talking to their friends a few miles apart from one another, but as they all seem to be running 100watts plus we hear them, they do not here our 4 watts in return.

So CB driving through europe is a good thing, there are restictions as you move through and a newer 'MULTI' CB will have the various channel blocks for each country, you will be lacking in power compaired with the base station locals, but its what all the truckers use still.

I'm off to find a bit more for you....

P.S. its a good idea to get CB first if you have never used a radio before because you can make all your etiquette mistakes on there before you go onto Amateur, in some areas they can be pretty unforgiving to the new licence holder (just my experience).

[metatron]

Baofeng stuff is fine to start with and great HT's for the money, although a Yaesu FT-817ND and a wonder wand antenna will cover a lot more bases.

[gary5wift]

Hi Munchh

Thanks for the comprehensive builds on my initial reply -all good stuff and I pretty much agree with everything you said. I think Cb is a good alternative but don't think it's necessary to have before Ham though.

Andy - It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to get on the air with Ham radio (Munchh's advise re kit is spot on) and the theory element is pretty straight forward and certainly nothing to be worried about. The hams I've come across have all been really friendly and willing to offer good advice if you are not sure about something or make any errors with etiquette etc. Give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

[munchh]

Haha, yes Mr.metatron you are so right, i have one here in front of me, if i was going out for a while it would be with me, its all ive ever wanted, the handies are just a fetish i cannot get over.

The Baofeng is a copy of the Yaesu VX3r, its not got the same coverage though, the other one i should suggest is the VX2r, although output on the battery is only 1.5watts, its 3 on the car power lead and i can use bothe my local repeaters with it no problem, its also got alot more listening capability with SW aswell. second hand units have been going for around 90 quid on ebay and so it is mabie alot to start with, but they are cheeper than the rest of the VX's.

[munchh]

Hi Munchh

Thanks for the comprehensive builds on my initial reply -all good stuff and I pretty much agree with everything you said. I think Cb is a good alternative but don't think it's necessary to have before Ham though.

Andy - It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to get on the air with Ham radio (Munchh's advise re kit is spot on) and the theory element is pretty straight forward and certainly nothing to be worried about. The hams I've come across have all been really friendly and willing to offer good advice if you are not sure about something or make any errors with etiquette etc. Give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks Gary, all i mean is, it can be awkward to speak on the radio for the first time, i know guys who have been on for ages and still do the 'Yeah..... well.....uuuummmmmm', i find its just about confidence and talking like the person is sitting with you.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/COBRA-19DX-IV ... 564633d2e9
somthing like this is great value and all you need, some of the major sellers on ebay do a start up kit.

Amature is very cool in my opinion though and being able to throw a long wire up a fishing pole using an FT-817 and only 5 watts to speak to the east coast of america still blows me away, it really fits with prepping as it alows you to make antennas yourself and cheaply, the VHF/UHF aagin should be seen as local, but with fixed base station antennas can be as good as CB, but your licence will allow you to use alot more like 4m and 6m and also 10m (just the other side of CB 11m) so you are able to use more power.

There is alot more for you on amature and it will be the thing that will be around after SHTF time?

[Zai]

Not to mention a briefcase solar panel + ft-857D + long wire or wonder wand or dipole has no energy cost!

I use my You kits HB1B like this, it's tiny, fits in your pocket and has the power to reach the US. Unfortunately it's CW (morse code) only.

The reason I got my ham licence was for prepping / emcomms, but I came to love it, and it's great fun and useful too

EDIT: I forgot to mention if you get your full ham licence you can use your radios in most foreign countries.